Thank you, Madam Speaker, I will try again. Madam Speaker, as my colleague, the Minister of Justice, has stated, our departments have developed a plan of action to implement the changes recommended in the family law review. The Department of Social Services will work closely with the Department of Justice in revising the Child Welfare Act. However, in addition to these legislative changes, there will be a requirement for major changes to existing policy and procedures. This will, of course, require retraining of existing staff.
Here is a brief outline of what will have to be done to make the legislative and policy changes a reality:
- Assist in drafting the revised Child Welfare Act;
- Develop and train local child welfare committees wherever communities want to take on this responsibility;
- Negotiate agreements delegating ministerial authority to communities for child welfare;
- Revise child protection policies to recognize the role of child welfare committees and to give them the scope they need for innovative solutions;
- Revise child apprehension and placement procedures;
- Restructure budgets to provide funding to communities and local child welfare committees;
- Develop and train local bodies to take on this responsibility;
- Revise custom adoption procedures;
- Revise adoption policies to institutionalize the open adoption concept and recognize community roles in the process;
- Revise placement criteria and procedures in line with the recommendations of the family law review;
- Develop and fund local counselling resources to provide pre-adoption counselling;
- Clear custom adoption backlog of 1,500 cases and deal with annual volume of 400 applications.
Madam Speaker, these changes will start the process of family law reform. However, the task will not be complete at that point. The real work is the ongoing implementation by communities as they adapt to their new roles and responsibilities and determine solutions that respect local traditions and values. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
---Applause