Bill 22 stresses safety for children
Overhaul of child-intervention system emphasizes Indigenous involvement
EDMONTON First Nations ties and the need to keep kids safe are the cornerstone of changes to Alberta’s child intervention system announced by the provincial government Wednesday.
The overhaul includes formal notification of an Indigenous child’s band following an application for private guardianship, mandatory home inspections and cultural-connection plans, strict new public reporting requirements around deaths and injuries, and funding for supports being tied to a child, rather than their guardian.
The Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (CYFEA) rejig comes from work by Alberta’s allparty child-intervention panel, formed after the death of Serenity, a four-year-old Indigenous girl who was a ward of the state living in kinship care before she died.
Along with 26 recommendations to improve the child-welfare system, the panel called for a “thorough, detailed and measurable action plan,” to be developed with Indigenous leaders and experts. That four-year plan included more funding for kinship providers, a better process for assessing potential caregivers and an aggressive tact with Ottawa.
FOCUS ON FIRST NATIONS
The changes to Alberta’s childwelfare system under Bill 22, introduced in the house Wednesday, largely centre on Indigenous needs. Of the 10,647 children receiving intervention services in Alberta, 6,547 are Indigenous.
First Nations currently have no formal role in court processes around children who are members of their band — something Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee said Wednesday is both wrong and unfair.
That all changes under Bill 22, which would mandate First Nations be given legal notice when anyone applies for private guardianship of a child in their band. They will then be able to make a court presentation.
Adam North Peigan, president of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta, is buoyed by the changes.
“If we look at the atrocities of the Sixties Scoop and what happened with children’s services coming into our communities and removing our kids, it really took the onus off the Indigenous people from any kind of decision-making whatsoever,” he said Wednesday.
“What this bill does is it allows Indigenous communities to have more input and more decisionmaking in what’s in the best interests of our kids.”
Bill 22 also makes Indigenous involvement an explicit part of the CYFEA. For the first time, the act will be governed by a set of guiding principles.
Protecting children from harm is No. 1 on that list, followed by the importance of community and family in a child’s life, and maintaining connections and relationships. The fourth and final principle spells out clearly that “Indigenous peoples should be involved in the planning and decisions impacting their families and children.”
Guiding principles will clarify the act and make sure it’s being applied consistently across the province, Larivee said.
The change also writes the word “safety” into the Act 17 times, replacing the word “survival.”
“We wanted to make it clear that the No. 1 thing … is safety,” Larivee said. Reports and decisions about kids — they all must be rooted in that, she said.
MORE TRANSPARENCY, CLOSING LOOPHOLES
Under Bill 22, the children’s services minister becomes responsible for key reports about children in care, and the department will have four days to post online all deaths, injuries and serious incidents.
A complete review of the CYFEA would also happen every five years.
Bill 22 also closes a loophole, requiring all private guardian- ship orders to be made under the CYFEA. Currently, those orders can go through the Family Law Act, which doesn’t require home visits or cultural plans.
Larivee called Bill 22 “a decisive step forward for Alberta,” but emphasized it’s only the first in three planned updates to the CYFEA.
North Peigan is encouraged by the government’s direction so far.
“At the same time, we look forward to further developments … and we’re hopeful the government will continue to engage our communities and our people as this process continues to roll itself out,” he said.