“Pathways in a Forest: Indigenous guidance on prevention-based child welfare” is a law reform report developed collaboratively by West Coast LEAF and the families, Elders and staff at Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre, Lii Michif Otipemisiwak and the Fraser Region Aboriginal Friendship Centre Association. The report highlights efforts by Indigenous families, communities and Nations to revitalize Indigenous approaches to child welfare, develop comprehensive community-based supports and fight for self-determination.
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Poverty and economic inequality
Recommendations for systemic reform
Recommendation 1: The BC government should work with Indigenous communities to undertake a comprehensive and transparent assessment of the steps that need to be taken to address the disparities in the social determinants of health for Indigenous peoples in BC.-
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Recommendations for systemic reform
Recommendation 2: The BC government should undertake a review of the current breakdown in ministerial responsibilities over primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention supports to assess where responsibilities lie for prevention services. It should then amend legislation and mandates, and reallocate funding to fill the current gaps in service provision.-
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Recommendations for improving financial supports
Recommendation 12: The provincial government must immediately raise welfare and disability rates to the Market Basket Measure (MBM), index them to the cost of living, and remove arbitrary barriers.-
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Recommendations for improving financial supports
Recommendation 13: In the meantime, the BC government and MCFD should bridge the gap between the current welfare and disability rates and the MBM for all families that are at risk of having children apprehended by MCFD.-
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Recommendations for improving financial supports
Recommendation 14: The BC government should amend legislation to ensure that there is no reduction of benefits for families when a child is temporarily taken into care so that income supports and housing can be maintained while parents are working to bring their children home.-
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Recommendations for improving financial supports
Recommendation 15: MCFD should develop a policy for supporting each family with whom it comes into contact to secure all the available provincial and federal benets. This may require training social workers to understand social assistance frameworks or creating a position within MCFD for a social assistance support worker that can help families secure all the benefits to which they are entitled.-
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Recommendations for improving financial supports
Recommendation 17: MCFD must advocate with the provincial government for the creation of a universal kinship caregiver benefit that is provided to all families in kinship care. This should apply to all children living in kinship care including families in which kinship caregivers have been granted guardianship orders under the FLA.-
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Recommendations for improving financial supports
Recommendation 18: MCFD should undertake a legislative review and financial policy review to ensure that all kinship caregivers are receiving the Child Tax Benefit and other benefits for each dependent in their care.-
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Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts
Recommendation 20: The BC government and MCFD must fund and resource supportive housing alternatives where parents and children who are at risk of harm can live. These homes should be specifically qualified to address complex family circumstances. Creative housing solutions where caregivers and children can stay together while receiving wrap-around support are especially needed in remote areas.-
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