“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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Education and employment
Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services
INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS
Recommendation 7: MCFD should collaborate with Indigenous peoples to create a formal plan for recruitment and retention of Indigenous MCFD staff, with clear principles, goals, milestones, and timelines.-
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Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services
INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS
Recommendation 8: MCFD must review hiring and human resource policies to remove barriers for Indigenous applicants and make workplaces safe for Indigenous employees-
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Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services
INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS
Recommendation 9: MCFD should consider the creation of specialized, equitably-resourced, Indigenous-specific teams as recommended by Jane Rousseau in Struggling toward Indigenous representation and service improvement within the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development-
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Recommendations for legislative reform
Recommendation 9: MCFD should review the legislation to assess how the legislation could support a more accountable and robust legal framework for prevention-based supports including by:- Adding a comprehensive list of functions for MCFD at the beginning of the legislation which includes:
- working with community and social services to alleviate and remedy the socio-economic conditions that place families at risk;
- developing and providing services and supports before and after intervention;
- proactively identifying groups of children the recognition and realization of whose rights may require MCFD to undertake special measures and develop special programming
- Replace the reference of prevention services in section 2(c) of the CFCSA, with a legislative provision that places a binding and measurable obligation on the Ministry to provide supports to keep families together who are at risk of having their children apprehended. The provision should place a positive obligation on the Ministry to take active efforts to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs designed to prevent the breakup of the child’s family. The courts must then be satisfied that these active efforts proved unsuccessful in keeping the family together.
- Expand the list of supports under section 5 to include:
- improving the family’s financial situation;
- improving the family’s housing situation;
- improving parenting skills;
- improving child-care and child-rearing capabilities;
- improving homemaking skills;
- drug or alcohol treatment and rehabilitation;
- providing child care;
- mediation of disputes;
- self-help and empowerment of parents whose children have been, are or may be in need of protective services; and,
- transition supports for families who have just had a child apprehended or returned.
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- Ableism ,
- Accessibility ,
- Accessible services and technology ,
- Classism ,
- Courts ,
- Decolonization and Indigenous rights ,
- Disability and parenting ,
- Discrimination and hate ,
- Economic inequality ,
- Education and employment ,
- Health ,
- Health, wellness and services ,
- Housing and homelessness ,
- Human rights system ,
- Income insecurity and benefits ,
- Indigenous children and youth in care ,
- Indigenous issues in policing and justice ,
- Indigenous rights and self-governance ,
- International human rights ,
- Mental health and detention ,
- Policing and the criminal justice system ,
- Poverty ,
- Poverty and economic inequality ,
- Public services ,
- Racism ,
- Substance use
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Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services
INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS
Recommendation 10: MCFD must ensure that efforts are embedded at all organizational levels including by training supervisors, providing opportunities for Indigenous managers, and promoting the involvement of Indigenous employees in strategic planning and practice development-
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Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services
INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS
Recommendation 11: MCFD should develop a mechanism for holding regional offices accountable to implement the necessary changes identified through quality assessments-
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A pathway forward
JURISDICTIONAL SHORTFALLS: THE LIMITS OF MODERN TREATIES AND BILL C-92
Recommendation 18: BC government and MCFD to ensure that children are provided with services while the family navigates the process and develop a consistent mechanism for repaying costs for services provided in the interim-
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A pathway forward
THE SHORTFALLS WITH FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL FUNDING OF CHILD WELFARE SERVICES FOR INDIGENOUS FAMILIES
Recommendation 19: MCFD must continue to work with communities to ensure that they are being adequately funded to provide child welfare services.-
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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
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Category and theme:
- Accessibility ,
- Accessible services and technology ,
- Classism ,
- Culture and language ,
- Decolonization and Indigenous rights ,
- Disability and parenting ,
- Discrimination and hate ,
- Economic inequality ,
- Education and employment ,
- Health, wellness and services ,
- Income insecurity and benefits ,
- Indigenous children and youth in care ,
- Poverty ,
- Poverty and economic inequality ,
- Public services ,
- Racism ,
- Sexism ,
- Workers’ rights
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