Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving financial supports:

Recommendation 31: 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.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving financial supports:

Recommendation 32: 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

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving financial supports:

Recommendation 33: 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.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving financial supports:

Recommendation 34: 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.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving financial supports:

Recommendation 35: MCFD should develop a plain-language fact sheet for kinship caregivers that sets out the pathways available to them under the CFCSA and FLA. Social workers must be required to provide this information sheet to all caregivers that could qualify for the EFP

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving financial supports:

Recommendation 36: 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

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving financial supports:

Recommendation 37: 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

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts

Recommendation 38: Funding for cultural programming that is consistent and frequent

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts

Recommendation 39: 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 specically 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

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts

Recommendation 40: The BC government and MCFD should work with Indigenous communities to fund and develop comprehensive services for families that are experiencing violence including services for abusive men and services for the entire family. These services should address intersecting needs including historical trauma, parenting skills, and substance use.