Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Support Indigenous families

Recommendation 126: Frequent family visits and family reunification must always be the top priority and never delayed due to MCFD’s own bureaucratic inefficiencies. Social workers must not be allowed to cancel family visits without written authorization from the Director.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Support Indigenous families

Recommendation 127: Increase the number of culturally appropriate family liaison workers and parenting supports.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Support Indigenous families

Recommendation 128: Implement existing recommendations by the Fostering Change Initiative and First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition. In particular:

1. Remove eligibility restrictions and increase financial and other supports for youth and young people on Youth Agreements and Agreements with Young Adults. Agreements with Young Adults should be increased to at least $1400 per month with no clawbacks.
2. Remove the maximum number of months during which young people are eligible to remain on Agreements with Young Adults.
3. Extend the age till 25 years old for how long MCFD should support young people as they transition into adulthood and continue to receive housing, food, transit, cultural, and other financial supports.
4. Remove the age limit to be eligible for free postsecondary tuition and eliminate the requirement of months in care to be eligible for free postsecondary tuition.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Accountability

Recommendation 129: Train and hire more Indigenous social workers and ensure that all social workers are culturally-competent, committed to decolonizing practices, have better communication skills, and are educated about and sensitive to the intergenerational trauma of family separation.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Accountability

Recommendation 130: Fund and guarantee independent Indigenous family advocates who can advocate for mothers and families in their dealings with MCFD.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Accountability

Recommendation 131: Require that all child welfare decision makers and courts must mandatorily consider the impact of the residential school experience on children and their caregivers.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Accountability

Recommendation 132: An independent and external process for complaints, oversight, and accountability for MCFD neglect investigations, decisions to apprehend children, and for deaths of children and youth in government care.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 175: Increase supports for Indigenous women on conditional release, particularly through income assistance, employment, counselling, and child care. Permit conditional release options that facilitate Indigenous women to be housed with their children.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 177: Establish alternatives to Correctional facilities for all mothers who are primary caregivers or expected to give birth while in prison. In the immediate, implement child-friendly mother-child units in all Correctional facilities so no child is separated from their mother.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 178: For women who do not have primary custody of their children, prioritize the social bond between incarcerated mothers and their children. This includes:

1. Funding for families to cover the costs and logistics of transportation for visits and child-friendly practices during visitation including visitation hours scheduled after school hours, no body searches of children, and allowance for physical contact.
2. Visitation outside the prison setting.
3. Free and unlimited phone calls and introduce video calling technologies, in addition to the right to open in-person visits.
4. Family reunification as a priority post-release by providing all the necessary supports including housing, child care, and parenting support.