Review of child welfare a wasted opportunity, says leadership

Windspeaker Staff

The newly-released internal evaluation of British Columbia’s child welfare system has been solidly panned by First Nations leadership, who called it a wasted opportunity and an attack on the child advocate’s office.

In an open letter to BC Premier Christy Clark, the First Nations Leadership Council, made up of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the BC Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Summit, called the report entitled Plecas Review, Part One: Decision Time, a biased survey and a unilateral public assessment of the value of independent oversight, specifically, the evaluation of the performance of the current Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

“We find this attack on this valued oversight role to be deeply offensive and inappropriate. Let us be clear in stating that we fully support the important work of the Representative for Children and Youth,” reads a press statement.

“We will also be writing to the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly to indicate that we hope the utterly unfair review of the performance of the Representative can be withdrawn fully and that should such a review be conducted, it should be done in the proper forum, before the Standing Committee on Children and Youth that the Representative has worked closely with for nine years and has appeared before in excess of 30 times.”

The Leadership Council called the report’s assessment of deaths and serious injuries of children in care as having occurred rarely, a “cavalier observation.”

“From July 2007 to September 2015 there have been 2,981 instances of critical injuries and deaths. To be clear, the MCFD is aware of 814 deaths and 2,077 critical injuries in the last eight years. For the current fiscal year of 2015-2016, there are 380 critical injury reports and 90 deaths of children in care.”

And the Leadership Council questions the report’s description of the role of the newly-appointed special advisor to the Ministry of Children and Family.

“The report references Grand Chief Edward John as being brought on ‘to help find ways to address the over-representation of Aboriginal children in care’. We find this to be an attempt… to minimize a need to consult with First Nations’ on these important issues by offloading and mischaracterizing Grand Chief Edward John’s important role as Special Advisor.”

The Leadership Council said the report represents a wasted opportunity to effect the positive change so desperately needed in BC. And they called for investments in child welfare, in the order of $100 million.

The First Nations Health Council (FNHC) too said the latest BC child welfare report is discouraging. The council is a health and wellness advocacy body, and is upset by the approach taken by the province in the release of the review, saying it was prepared without consultation with First Nations in B.C.

The FNHC is troubled with the conclusion of the author, that says critical incidents and deaths of children in care are accepted as an inevitability.

“This is completely inconsistent with the FNHC vision of healthy, self-determining and vibrant First Nation children, families and communities and a serious risk for the wellbeing of our children.

“It is our perspective that more must be done to take care of those children that find themselves in the most complicated circumstances. This will require concerted and coordinated action to restore family and community connectedness, improve social conditions, and address the social challenges inherent to the current epidemic of First Nations children in care.”

The report says 7,200 children are in care in the province. More than 60 per cent of which are Aboriginal.

FNHC says the report doesn’t account for or reflect First Nations perspectives and the vision of services for children, youth and families in British Columbia.

“The exclusion of First Nations in the development of this report further contributes to the erosion of First Nations confidence and trust in the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD),” reads a press statement.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which released its final report on Dec. 15, has called for fundamental change to child welfare systems in Canada. “The TRC has been clear that the current crisis of First Nations children in care is a direct consequence of failed policy,” said FNHC.

Canada has committed to implement the TRC calls to action in full partnership with First Nations across Canada, but British Columbia has promised no similar action, insists FNHC.

In 2015, the Provincial Health Officer and the Representative for Children and Youth released a report titled Growing up in British Columbia. “The report clearly signals that historic inequities continue. This report calls for a government-wide response from the Province of British Columbia in collaboration with First Nations to address the upstream factors that shape the social determinants of health,” said FNHC.