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.

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.

Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts

Recommendation 19: The BC government and MCFD should increase preventative program funding to Indigenous communities for existing or new promising practices. Funding must be equitable, sustained and long-term, and cover the delivery of holistic services as identified by communities. Funding should cover services such as:

• Human resource needs of community-based groups including issues with retention, burn out, inequity in pay scales etc.
• In-home support
• Pregnancy support and baby welcoming programs
• Transition support programming for families after children have been removed or upon being returned home
• Supports for parents whose children are in care
• Provide in-home support immediately as a tool to prevent removal
• Funding for cultural programming that is consistent and frequent

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.

Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts

Recommendation 21: 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.

Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts

Recommendation 24: Frequent family visits and family reunification must always be the top priority and never delayed due to shortages in MCFD resources. MCFD should ensure that staff understand the need to prioritize frequent family visits and, where feasible, work with community-based organizations that are supporting the parent to ease access.

Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts

Recommendation 26: MCFD should work with community-based organizations to assess creative ways that social workers could be placed directly within community including mechanisms that would need to be put in place to ensure this does not undermine the relationship of trust between community and families (i.e this may include frontline workers focusing only on prevention and no apprehension).

Recommendations for improving prevention-based efforts

Recommendation 27: MCFD must work with the Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General to develop a comprehensive strategy for parents that are incarcerated or on parole.

• The strategy must recognize that it is not always in the best interests of the child to remove a child from a parent or guardian that has had engagement with the criminal justice system.
• There must be supports to allow parents to have access with children in prison and while on parole. For example, the government should re-open the mother and baby unit in prisons.
• The policy should set out a strategy for expediting criminal checks so that no child’s placement is delayed because of a criminal record check.

Recommendations for improving advocacy for parents and Indigenous communities

Recommendation 28: The BC government and MCFD must ensure that each parent engaging with MCFD has access to a trained community-based support worker to help them navigate the child welfare process. Community-based support workers must be trained in collaborative, trauma-informed, and culturally safe practices.

Recommendations for improving advocacy for parents and Indigenous communities

Recommendation 31: MCFD to ensure that the Indigenous community supporting the parent has been contacted and assisted to participate in the process where consent has been given by the parent.