Child and Family Services
First Nations children are hugely over represented in foster care and other out of home care. As of 2023, a First Nations child was 17 times more likely to be placed in foster care compared to a non-Indigenous child. More children are being taken from their homes now than at the height of residential schools. This is not due to First Nations children being more likely to be abused, as studies show that they are actually less likely to be abused compared to non-Indigenous children. Instead, the reason why the overwhelming majority of these children are separated from their families is because their families who love them are not getting the services and support they need to properly take care of them.A lot of families are poor, and struggle to provide basic necessities such as food and housing. This is not their fault or in their control, because of course poverty never is the victims' fault. Poverty is higher amongst First Nations communities due to the inter generational trauma caused by the genocide Canada has been committing against Indigenous people for centuries. It is also higher due to the widespread discrimination Indigenous people face in their schools, in the job market, in the justice system, and in all aspects of society. On reserves, where many First Nations people live, there are very limited jobs and opportunities.
Disabilities, health problems, and mental health problems are also a reason why many children are taken from their families. Sometimes a parent or caregiver has health problems or mental health problems or disabilities that lead to them not being able to take care of their children. Instead of getting the parent the help, medicine, and treatment they need, the child gets taken away from a family that loves and needs them. Sometimes it's the child who needs these supports but cannot access them without going into care.
Trauma and mental health crises are also higher amongst First Nations communities because of the same reasons that poverty is higher and because of trauma from family separation and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Girls and Two-Spirit People Crisis.
Despite the needs of First Nations people being higher, services on reserves, where many First Nations people live, are worse than services off reserve, and are incredibly inadequate for helping people out of poverty. Of course, the services off reserve are inadequate too, but on reserve it's so much worse. People need support such as mental health therapy, social housing, good education, a good healthcare system, subsidized daycare, income support, and many other things so that they can get back on their feet after trauma, illness, or poverty. And people just aren't getting that.
The services that children and families on reserve do have access to have rigid inclusion criteria, such as requiring an official diagnosis (which can be very difficult to get), so that a lot of the people who need them cannot access them. Services are also confusing and hard to navigate, and don't take into account each family's unique needs such as work hours, making it harder for families.
Even for First Nations living off reserve, the services they get are unequal and inequitable. As I said before, trauma is higher in First Nations communities, and therefore the needs they have are greater. The services they receive, which are the same services as non-Indigenous communities that have much less collective and complex trauma, are not enough to meet their needs. Not to mention, the social services they get from the provinces/territories are not based in their cultures and responsive to their unique experiences and histories, making them inadequate for the off-reserve First Nations communities they are supposed to be helping.
Child and family services agencies are the frontline service providers that can either place a child in foster care or help the family with what they truly need. These service agencies could give prevention services, which fulfill the material and emotional needs of children and families and keep them together, or they could take children away from the families said children need and depend on.
So what causes child and family service agencies to fail children and families?
Well first of all, child and family service agencies (CFS agencies) that are run by provinces or territories, which deliver services to children off reserve, are not based in or responsive of First Nations cultures and values. The same is true for CFS agencies on reserve that are governed by the federal government rather than the First Nation community on said reserve. Without understanding First Nations cultures adequately, these agencies cannot truly understand the children and their situations. In addition, CFS agencies not run by First Nations often have case workers and social workers who have their own biases and discrimination, which cause them to take children from their families. Additionally, children are often taken away after just a couple of consultations with a case worker, which isn't enough to judge what their family situation is.
On reserve, many First Nations communities are setting up their own CFS agencies that follow the guidance and governance of the communities. These agencies are trying their best to keep families together and give them what they need, however, they aren't often able to do so. Why?
Well, the problem is funding. If a CFS agency doesn't have the funding needed to give families the help that they truly need, often what ends up happening is that the children end up in foster care, because the families want their kids to have the services they can't give them. The government isn't giving CFS agencies the funding they need to give families real help. They are also delaying the funding they give so that agencies have to wait long periods for funding. This is made worse by the fact that agencies have to wait until they have no funding left before being allowed to apply for more funding. Their requests are often denied, without clear reasons being given for the denials. And the money given to them is often unpredictable, with changes in policy happening without notice or consultation. The Canadian government's decisions of who is eligible for what help shifts without the stakeholders being consulted. Buildings and other physical infrastructure necessary to provide services are not given resources to be built and maintained. And the whole process of getting money from the government is very confusing and burdensome for CFS agencies, making it so they have less time and energy to focus on actually helping families.
As well, new First Nation-run CFS agencies do need time and support and money in order to build the capacity to provide prevention services. They need to hire and train workers, make plans and processes, and figure out what the community needs and how to best deliver that. The Canadian government, once again, is providing no support for this capacity building, meaning that many CFS agencies cannot deliver prevention services that keep families together.
All of this is causing children to suffer immensely. First of all, taking a child away from their family is the most cruel, most traumatizing thing you could do to a child or to a parent, and creates severe lifelong trauma. Secondly, taking a child into foster care doesn't just take the child away from their family, but also from their neighbours, friends, schoolmates, extended family, and basically everyone they know. Children in foster care are usually moved to a new place every year, which creates wave after wave of forced separation from everyone a child meets. Children aren't allowed to contact people they knew while living with their family or in a previous foster home, and often they don't know how anyways since they don't have their contact information. All of this is basically state-sanctioned child torture.
The lifelong trauma caused by this system creates many problems for children. 41% of children from foster care end up homeless by the time they're 24. Less than one percent of youth coming from foster care go on to receive any kind of post secondary education. These are smart kids. These are capable kids. Except, they've been put through so much hardship and given so little support and they are losing opportunities.
So what do we need in order to create a better system for children and families?
Well, a number of First Nations-led organizations have brought the Canadian government to court over its discrimination against First Nations children in the child and family services system. In 2016 the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal told Canada to stop discriminating against First Nations children, but Canada is continuing to discriminate. Therefore, the Tribunal has said that both Canada and the people who brought the case should form their plans for ending the discrimination, and the Tribunal will see if the plans are good.
The plan made by the First Nations is called the Loving Justice National Plan. It was made in consultation with First Nations communities, elders, youth, experts in CFS, and, most importantly, First Nations with experience in the foster care system.
The core tenants of the Loving Justice National Plan are as follows: First Nations communities will govern and run their own agencies, but they will also govern the government of Canada's behaviour when it comes to First Nations child and family services. This is to ensure that Canada is giving the funding needed to keep children together and is not blocking efforts to provide good child and family services. There needs to be flexibility for each nation to have the unique needs of their region met. Canada also must fund CFS agencies in an equitable way. There needs to be a block funding approach so that agencies can use their funding for whatever services they need, rather than only being able to use it for certain things. There needs to be full transparency and public accountability of Canada and the CFS system. And there needs to be adequate accountability measures that force Canada to stop any discrimination it might do in the future. There needs to be research and analysis into the outcomes of the system for children, so as to continually improve the system under the leadership of First Nations communities.
A reformed child and family services system will also provide services for young adults who have come from the foster care or out-of-home care system. Other young adults have a lot of physical, financial, emotional, and knowledge support from their families. Young adults aging out of foster care do not get that, as they are forced away from their families and are pushed into adulthood abruptly, before they are ready. Not to mention, these youth are traumatized. One of the most important services for young adults would be to help them reunite with their families. Healthy relationships are one of the most important things that young adults need in order to thrive both economically and emotionally.
Most of all, the reformed child and family services system needs to be led by, developed with, and accountable to First Nations people with experience being in out of home care, since they are the ones who know best the damages a bad system can cost. The voices of youth and others in and from care are often missing from decision making, even though they know firsthand what children need.
The federal government's plan for reform, on the other hand, does not give authority to the First Nations communities that are affected by the system, does not guarantee adequate funding, and does not have good accountability mechanisms.
The Loving Justice National Plan, however, is not enough on its own to stop discrimination and inequity for First Nations children and families, as the creators of the plan have said.
First of all, it does not address the children who don't live on reserve. Each reserve has a portion of their community who live off reserve, due to a lack of housing, services, and economic opportunities. Each nation needs to be given the authority, support, knowledge, resources, and funding to deliver good, equitable, and culturally based child and family services to their off-reserve members so as to keep the families of off-reserve members together. This requires well-explained and well-understood reciprocal agreements with the provinces and territories.
The Dene Nation and the First Nations living in the North West Territories are not included in the court case between Canada and the prosecution. Therefore, they will not necessarily be included in the Loving Justice National Plan. However, they absolutely should and absolutely need to be included in the Loving Justice Plan, since their children and families have the same human rights to have their needs met and be with their families.
Finally, no matter how good the child and family services system is, children and families will continue to suffer and not have their needs met as long as services in general are underfunded. First of all, people don't just need services for their children, they need many services in order to get out of poverty. Secondly, a lot of children or families have multiple needs or needs spanning multiple service sectors. For example, an autistic child who also has mental health problems might need therapy to learn good coping mechanisms, and also need extra help at school, and also need medication for their mental health, and also need cultural programs. Services need to be integrated so that people can get all the different things they need instead of only having bits and pieces of support. Implementing the Spirit Bear plan is necessary, as it would improve and increase the services offered to communities.
Any agreement made with First Nations communities needs to be well-understood by the communities, and thus they need to be given funding to have independent experts look at the agreements with them.
Ultimately, we can create a future for First Nations children where they grow up with their families who love them, with their communities and culture, and with all of their needs met, so that they can have a happy and fulfilling childhood and a happy and fulfilling life.
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