Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Protective services is an area I raised with the Minister not that long ago and my concern is the return of children to parents who are well-known or have been known or suspected to have been some type of abusers of substance, that playing a role in why the children have been taken away or put into custody of some sort, or even given up in whatever the circumstances required. My questions at the time were specific to the area of testing the parents for whether they continue substance abuse sort of lifestyle. Now, I fully believe that we need to play a role in this. I think the logic behind it is are we putting the children first? How are we doing that, and can we be tested in the sense of our logic? My belief is that we have to always exercise on the side of caution and if we're a little extra cautious in favour of the child, that speaks to why our principles are as they are. I have no doubt that protective services is mandated and puts into practice fully that position, but my area of concern raised directly with the Minister is the area of testing the parents when we consider, or when we reconsider sending them back to the families or reuniting the family. I've always been in favour of the concept. I have no concern about the objective of the mandate or returning them to the family, but it's, I guess, the underlying sense that I'm trying to describe here is I want to give the child or children the best chance that they have and not put hurdles or certainly landmines in front of them by sending them back to sort of a sorry situation. So given the fact that I've emphasized in a couple different ways my concern with this problem and the feeling that I feel very strongly that we have a role to play here, where is the Minister taking this issue? I'll note that he has had some correspondence with me on this, but where has he taken this issue and if it hasn't gone very far, would he be willing to engage his judicial folks to find out if we could do something of this nature whereas one of the requirements of returning a child or children that is back to their parents who through some fact or statement of understanding that they were some type of substance abuser that they agree to be tested to ensure the children are being returned to a safe home. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Robert Hawkins on Item 17: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 15th, 2007. See this statement in context.
Item 17: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 17: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 14th, 2007
Page 930
See context to find out what was said next.