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for
Indigenous rights and self-governance
Title:AN ANALYSIS OF THE CHILD WELFARE LEGISLATION IN BC
Subtitle:THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD PRINCIPLE AND THE LEGISLATIVE EMPHASIS ON THE CHILD’S SAFETY
Recommendation 3: the Alberta Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (CYFEA), provides that the best interests of the child assessment requires decision makers to provide children who have been exposed to family violence any intervention service that “supports family members and prevents the need to remove the child from the custody of an abused family member.” This is a key framing of some of the programming needed to address family violence in the case of the child welfare system and is the approach that many Indigenous community-based family service organizations electively employ to keep families together. We recommend that similar language is included in the defnition of the best interests of the child principle that directs decision-makers to turn their mind to prevention-based supports in assessing the right of the child to be protected from harm.-
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A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AROUND A SOCIAL WORKER’S OBLIGATION TO IDENTIFY LESS DISRUPTIVE MEASURES
Recommendation 5: Recommends that Canadian legislation mimic the language of the US Indian Child Welfare Act, which requires evidence that social workers have made “active efforts” that “proved unsuccessful.-
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A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AROUND A SOCIAL WORKER’S OBLIGATION TO IDENTIFY LESS DISRUPTIVE MEASURES
Recommendation 6: There should also be a requirement that the Ministry respond to alternative proposals by parents, Nations, and community-based organizations that support the parent. The Yellowhead Institute recommends that the legislation include “affidavit evidence from the Indigenous group that there is no available placement.-
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Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services
Subtitle:SYSTEMIC RACISM
Recommendation 12: Project participants also expressed the need for training to cover the following topics: genderbased violence; Indigenous rights, identities, and cultures; the role of ongoing colonialism on intergenerational trauma; the potential for communities and families to provide more appropriate solutions to family healing; and the importance of culture and connection to the child’s well-being.-
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Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services
Subtitle:A TOP-DOWN APPROACH
Recommendation 13: MCFD must review its policies and practices to increase the use of ADR processes, including changing the definition of family in ADR processes to recognize and honour Indigenous conceptions of family.-
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A pathway forward
THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION AND THE NEED FOR MORE SIGNIFICANT GOVERNMENT ACTION
Recommendation 17: Furthermore, the report calls on the federal government to ensure that there is full federal funding for Nations that assume jurisdiction over child welfare-
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Conclusion and Recommendations
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Recommendation 23: MCFD should undertake a comprehensive legislative review of the CFCSA in order to bring the provincial child welfare standards in line with the federal minimum standards. It is essential that Indigenous communities and Nations are adequately consulted in the review process-
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Conclusion and Recommendations
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Recommendation 24: MCFD should amend the guiding principles of the CFCSA to ensure that children’s rights are not viewed as hierarchical but interdependent. The guiding principles should reect the holistic nature of children’s rights including the right of the child to maintain relationships with their family and community, the child’s right to support services, and the importance of maintaining the child’s relationship to their culture-
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Conclusion and Recommendations
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Recommendation 25: (c) consider the impact of family violence on the child and provide all the necessary services to the family in a manner that supports family members and prevents the need to remove the child from the custody of an abused family member.-
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Conclusion and Recommendations
Recommendations for improving advocacy for parents and Indigenous communities:
Recommendation 48: MCFD should work collaboratively with Indigenous communities to develop training and tools to support Indigenous peoples and communities to understand their rights regarding child welfare.-
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