Overview
The legacy of the residential school system and the historically poor relationship between the communities and the department responsible for child protection continue to colour people’s present-day experience with child and family services. Their relationship is marred by lack of confidence and trust in the staff, the policy and procedures, and the administration of the Department of Health and Social Services.
In every community visited by the Social Programs committee during the review, there was unanimous agreement that child and family services’ interventions are too intrusive and damage children, their families and their communities. One reason for using intrusive measures such as apprehension, the committee found, was that when communication breaks down between families and child protection workers, the workers feel powerless and are inadequately trained to use alternative solutions to protect children.
The most effective way to reduce the number of children being taken into care, and to ensure that only those who absolutely must be taken from their parents’ custody are removed, is to use collaborative processes that focus on communication and alternative approaches to dispute resolution.
In order for parents and families to participate and communicate effectively with child and family services, it is necessary to use the least intrusive measures possible, develop advocacy tools to ensure that parents' rights are protected and allow them to participate more equitably, and engage the community in building the foundation for a new relationship with the department that is meant to serve them.
Least Intrusive Measures
16. Amend the act to:
a) add consideration for the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Rights of Aboriginal Peoples to the Principles of the Act;
b) include the presumption of least intrusive
measures with special focus on prevention, early intervention and mediation;
c) include the presumption of working with
the whole family;
d) include the presumption of keeping
families together and reunifying separated children and families to the extent possible;
e) to allow the establishment of an early
intervention team for self-referred cases and cases where a referral was investigated and the child is not currently
in need of protection, but where protection concern exists. The early intervention team should be made up of:
i. the child protection worker,
ii. immediate and extended family
members,
iii. a member of the child’s band council
administration, and
iv. any professionals with sufficient
interest in the child.
17. Change the threshold for apprehension to
include:
a) a child should not be apprehended if the
protection concern would be alleviated by providing financial support or other social services to the family;
b) confirmation that the child protection
worker has considered and/or attempted to provide services which were ineffective in alleviating the protection concern.
18 Develop policy and practice that is culturally
appropriate for the NWT, with special emphasis on consideration for aboriginal culture, extended family support systems and a community-based approach.
Collaborative Process
19. Amend the act to include a presumption of
using collaborative processes, mediation and dispute resolution, from early intervention and throughout the protection process.
20. Integrate collaborative methods into policy and
standards, including dispute resolution, participatory planning and other tools to improve communication.
21. Include in the policy and procedures a meeting
with parents and families for the purpose of outlining all of the options available to them in the child protection process.
22. Language used in the act, in policy and in
practice, should be non-adversarial and contribute to a collaborative process, and building understanding and better communication.
23. A formal conflict resolution policy should be
developed by the Department of Health and Social Services that includes the use of dispute resolution techniques and third-party mediators, negotiators or arbitrators.
24. Use dispute resolution to allow placement or
return of the child to non-custodial parents, relatives and extended families as a means of avoiding apprehension.
Advocacy and Legal Process
25. Amend the act to:
a) revise Section 85(1) and 85(2), to allow
the participation of advocates in all meetings between the child and/or parents, and staff of child and family services, court proceedings and case reviews. An advocate may include:
i. a legal professional or lawyer,
ii. a member of the extended family or a
friend,
iii. a member of the parents’ band
council administration,
iv. a member of an organization active in
the individual’s community, or
v. a professional with sufficient interest
in the individual.
b) Include that if the child is an aboriginal
child and belongs to a band council, notice should be served to the band council prior to both the apprehension hearing and the protection hearing;
c) make the affidavit available, with the
consent of the parents, to the band council of an aboriginal child, if a representative of the band council administration requests it;
d) formalize the child and parents’ rights to
legal counsel at all stages of the child protection process;
e) require full disclosure of the director’s files
for the purpose of the court process;
f)
revise Section 8(4) to provide meaningful access to legal recourse for victims of false reports, and consider other consequences for knowingly making a false report.
26. Establish a mechanism to ensure that every
child’s voice is heard, and that the child understands what is happening to them at every level of the child welfare system.
27. Develop a program for training child and family
services committees in such areas as human rights, the child protection process, and advocacy.
28. Encourage band administrations to participate
and advocate at all levels of the process and include them in training activities.
29.
Work with the Department of Justice to address gaps in services provided by Legal Aid, by:
a) making lawyers more accessible early in
the child protection process;
b) providing resources for assessments and
expert witnesses;
c) extending the billable case management
time lawyers are allowed to work with clients.
30. Start dialogue with lawyers, courts and the
Department of Justice to:
a)
integrate dispute resolution and collaborative processes into court processes;
b) build awareness of child welfare issues
and best practices.
Community Engagement
31.
Develop a client service approach at the department and authority levels, supported in policy and procedure, as well as client service training for staff.
32. Enhance child and family services’ relationship
with the public by conducting more public education, training and workshops in communities, for both the public and staff.
33. Rewrite the act in plain language, with special
effort to avoid use of adversarial language and concepts.
34. Develop plain language policy and procedure
documents for public information; such as guides, “how to” resources, a website, and pamphlets for parents, families and children involved with the child protection system.
35. Develop policy and guidelines describing who
and under what circumstances information from case files may be shared.
Mr. Speaker, at this point, I would like to ask my colleague Mr. Abernethy to continue reading the recommendations. Thank you.