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Recommendation 13:
The incarceration of one parent often results in various forms of hardship for the rest of the family, particularly the children. Imprisonment disrupts positive, nurturing relationships between many parents—particularly mothers who are often the sole or primary caregiver—and their children. Children and their families suffer economic strain and instability when a parent is imprisoned. Family members are not guilty of anything. All agencies and services involved with the families should try to mitigate the impact on family members at all stages of the criminal justice system, ensuretheir rights are upheld, and ensure they are not discriminated against because of the actions of their family member. Supporting the families and strengthening the children’s positive family connections are necessary to ensure a healthy child development. Different forms of support are needed.
- Encourage the various agencies and services involved with the children to work towards positive family outcomes and to adopt consistent practices in the support of families and positive life outcomes for the children.
- Ensure that families understand the criminal justice process and are aware of the supports available.
- Provide information to families and ensure that the information provided is timely and accurate.
- Encourage and support parents and caregivers to explain procedures, decisions and the truth of the situation to children in an age appropriate manner.
- Ensure that families have access to information and assistance on a range of issues such as housing, benefits and finances, legal issues, health, or childcare.
- Facilitate appropriate contacts between family members and the incarcerated parent.
- Provide guidance to agencies dealing with families of parents in conflict with the law.
- Conduct family impact assessments when new policies and practices are developed that may affect the families of people in conflict with the law.
- Keep incarcerated parents informed about the situation and well-being of their children and other family members, and support them in managing family concerns as appropriate.
Enhancing the Protective Environment for Children of Parents in Conflict with the Law or Incarcerated: A Framework for Action
Group/author:
Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, University of the Fraser Valley – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, University of the Fraser Valley – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
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2018
2018
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Recommendation 20:
The incarceration of a parent, particularly a mother who is a primary or sole caregiver or who has very young children, can have very detrimental impact on the child/children. Various measures can be taken during incarceration, when appropriate, to help maintain the bond between children and their parent, facilitate, contacts between them, and prepare for their eventual reunification. Contact between a child and his or her incarcerated parent can positively impact the child.
- Prior to, or on admission, enable individuals with parental responsibilities to make arrangements for those children, taking into account the best interests of the child.
- Ensure that prison administrations collect information at intake and later regarding the children of detainees, keep that information up-to-date, and protect its confidentiality.
- On admission and on a prisoner’s transfer, assist prisoners (who wish to do so) to inform their children (and their caregivers) of their imprisonment and whereabouts or ensure that such information is communicated to them.
- Make information available about contact and visiting modalities, procedures and internal rules in a child-friendly manner and in different languages and formats as necessary.
- Give due regard in decisions regarding the transfer of the incarcerated parent to the best interests of the child when considering the rehabilitation purpose of the transfer.
- Enforce restrictions on contact of incarcerated parents in a manner that respects the children’s right to maintain contact with their parent.
- Consider significant events in a child’s life, such as birthdays, first day of school, graduation, or hospitalization when granting prison leave to parents.
- Ensure that children are allowed to visit an imprisoned parent, when appropriate, as soon as possible following the parents’ detention and, on a regular and frequent basis, from then on.
- Organize children’s visits so as not to interfere with other elements of the child’s life, such as school attendance.
- Allow arrangements for a qualified person to accompany the children during prison visits if the children’s caregiver is not available to accompany the child.
- Ensure that the prison visit context is respectful to the child’s dignity and right to privacy, including providing child-friendly spaces when possible, facilitating access and visits for children with special needs, and taking into account the children’sdevelopmental needs (physical contact, food, and play).
- Arrange the children’s visits in a flexible manner, particularly when the children’s parents are imprisoned far away from home.
- Use information and communication technology (e.g., video-conferencing, mobile and other telephone systems, internet, including webcam and chat functions), when a family is unable to visit regularly, to facilitate communications between parents and children.
- Assist imprisoned parents with the costs of communicating with their children if their means do not allow it.
- Facilitate imprisoned parents’ participation in the parenting of their children, including communicating with school, health and welfare services and taking decisions in this respect, except in cases where it is not in the child’s best interests.
- Facilitate home leaves for the parents, in particular during the period before their release in order to provide opportunities for them to prepare for fully resuming their parental role and its responsibilities on release, when appropriate.
- Offer programs to incarcerated parents that support and develop a positive child parent relationship.
Enhancing the Protective Environment for Children of Parents in Conflict with the Law or Incarcerated: A Framework for Action
Group/author:
Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, University of the Fraser Valley – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, University of the Fraser Valley – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Year:
2018
2018
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Recommendation 42:
The healthcare professional should complete a written report that includes the prisoner’s account of the incident and their assessment of any physical injuries and/or psychological impact. This report should be included in the use of force review if the prisoner consents, and a copy should be provided to the prisoner.
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Recommendation 80:
The healthcare professional should complete a written report that includes the prisoner’s account of the incident and their assessment of any physical injuries and psychological impact. This report should be included in the use of force review if the prisoner consents, and a copy should be provided to the prisoner.
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Recommendation 165:
The Federation of Law Societies of Canada, law schools in Canada, and the Canadian Judicial Council must provide mandatory training to all law students, lawyers, and judges on the legacy of residential schools, Canada’s obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous legal traditions, Gladue principles, and the systemic failure of colonial legal systems to uphold justice for Indigenous people.
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Recommendation 40:
The federal government must guarantee:
- Access to clean drinking water; food security based on a traditional diet; critical infrastructure including roads and sanitation systems; and essential health, education, child care, housing, transport, recreational, cultural, and emergency services on every reserve.
- Safe, affordable, and livable housing for every woman on her reserve that is independent of her matrimonial status.
- Affordable child care and licensed day care options on every reserve.
- Complete complement of maternal and infant/child health services on reserve to enable women to remain closer to home to give birth.
- Free public transportation between each town and city located along the entire length of Highway 16 and all other highways, with a number of safe homes and emergency phone booths along the length of all the highways.
- Increase funding on all reserves for programs and services that strengthen traditional and cultural knowledge grounded in Indigenous laws, values, and practices.
- Range of anti-violence services including preventive programs, crisis intervention, victim services, advocacy support, restorative justice circles, shelters, transitional housing, and second-stage housing on every reserve.
- Cultural sensitivity training for all first responders such as police, healthcare professionals, and social workers who assist survivors of violence on reserve.
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Category and theme:
- Accessibility ,
- Accessible services and technology ,
- Culture and language ,
- Decolonization and Indigenous rights ,
- Discrimination and hate ,
- Emergency response ,
- Gender-based violence ,
- Health ,
- Health, wellness and services ,
- Housing and homelessness ,
- Poverty and economic inequality ,
- Pre-natal care ,
- Public services ,
- Sexism
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Recommendation 45:
The federal government must eliminate the discrepancy in federal education funding for First Nations children being educated on reserve and First Nations children being educated off reserve, and provide sufficient funding to close educational attainment gaps.
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Recommendation 9:
The Director of Police Services must work with the Independent Investigations Office and the Coroners Service to audit deaths and serious injuries in city cells in BC over the past 10 years, including an analysis of race, disability, housing status, and gender, and, make the findings and recommendations for reform publicly available.
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Recommendation 9:
MCFD together with the Ministry of Citizens’ Services to initiate the development of a cross-ministry plan, in collaboration with the ministries of Health, MMHA, Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and Education, and in association with DAAs, health authorities and Community Living BC, to routinely collect high-quality demographic and service data that allows for disaggregation, providing an essential foundation for more effective policy development, program provision and service monitoring for children and youth with special needs and their families, including those with FASD who are receiving services from these public bodies. The cross-ministry plan to be completed and implemented by April 1, 2022 and fully
implemented by March 31, 2024.
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Recommendation 17:
The CRC was created by Article 43 of the CRC to implement it, by way of General Comments, and provide international standards that apply to the work that B.C. judges, lawyers and other professionals do in family law. They identify children’s rights and the importance of legal guarantees and apply procedural safeguards in describing how to implement children’s rights in judicial proceedings, which includes but is not limited to obtaining children’s views and requiring all appropriate legal representation (see CRC General Comment 14, para 93). These guarantees and safeguards are not implemented in B.C. nor across Canada and should be implemented (Brown, findlay, Martinson, & Williams, 2021; CBA 2020; Jackson & Martinson, 2019; Martinson & Tempesta, 2018; Martinson & Raven, 2020a).
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