In December 2018, the “Enhancing the Protective Environment for Children of Parents in Conflict with the Law or Incarcerated A Framework for Action” was co-produced by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, and the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of the Fraser Valley. The purpose of the framework presented by the report is to encourage agencies and organizations (with different remits and responsibilities), local Indigenous leadership and institutions, and all others who need to be engaged in enhancing the protective environment for children to work together towards family-focused outcomes for every family affected by the criminal justice system.
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Practical measures and strategies
Improving ways of identifying the children in need of assistance without further stigmatizing them
Recommendation 10: Everyone in the community (neighbours, friends of the family, teachers, sports coaches, elders, religious figures, police, etc.) potentially has a role to play in making sure that children affected by their parents’ conflict with the law are identified, assisted, and protected. Relying solely on the children to come forward and ask for assistance is not realistic. Relying on the parents to come forward and seek help for their children is not reliable. Parents often fear the intervention of child protection services. In many instances they already have a history of contacts with these services. Finally, relying on the justice system itself to transmit information to child welfare and protection agencies is not sufficient either.- Proactively seek to identify children in need of assistance, without labelling or stigmatizing them.
- Increase outreach activities to offer support to the children and their caregivers.
- Ensure that people working with or coming in contact with children as part of their professional responsibilities recognize the children’s signs of distress, isolation, need for assistance.
- Improve inter-agency sharing of information concerning the children while protecting their privacy and ensuring the confidentiality of that information.
- Ensure that all agencies and organizations have a proactive child protection policy that acknowledges the particular issues and needs of children who have a key relationship with a parent in conflict with the law.
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Category and theme:
Audience:
- Academic institutions ,
- Criminal justice system ,
- Faith and cultural groups ,
- First Nations governments ,
- General public ,
- Government of British Columbia ,
- Government of Canada ,
- Indigenous organizations ,
- Municipal governments ,
- Non-profits and community organizations ,
- Provincial and territorial governments (General)
Groups affected:
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