11,000 children caught in jurisdictional limbo

The new federal law titled An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth, and families (also called Bill C-92) came into effect Wednesday. Passed in the days before the federal election, the law proposes to establish protections for Indigenous children and their families, as well as hand over responsibility for Indigenous child welfare to Indigenous governments — who receive responsibility once institutions, policies and laws are developed and approved (presumably based on Indigenous cultural values, principles, and histories, but the law is vague on this).
The law has been criticized heavily for its paternalistic attitude, lack of funding and resources for planning and delivery, and necessary legal changes to ensure the handover is a success. Most First Nations have begun planning the process of implementation anyway. 

READ: 11,000 children caught in jurisdictional limbo

First Nations child advocate says child welfare system ‘eats up’ Indigenous kids

October 1, 2018 by Red Power Media, Staff

Cora Morgan, First Nations Family Advocate at The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) in Winnipeg, Monday, February 22, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba First Nations children’s advocate says the child welfare system “eats up” Indigenous children and is designed to keep their families at a disadvantage.

Cora Morgan, with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, told the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women that the system is set up to apprehend children, not to support families.

“Any challenges that our families are faced with, it’s used against them instead of them being offered support. It victimizes our families,” she said Monday.

“A lot of these things are just perpetual. You can find five or six generations of a family where their children have been taken.”

The inquiry is holding hearings in Winnipeg this week and is expected to focus on child welfare.

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Report on Child Welfare from the Manitoba Chiefs Association

Left to Right: Charlene Gladu, Chief Bill Traverse, Grand Chief Derek Nepinak, Chief Arlen Dumas, and elder Elmer Courchene talk about child and family services. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs will release its own report on child welfare in the province.

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Kate Fort at Turtle Talk

The child welfare system in Manitoba must be overhauled to shift the focus back on the territory of First Nations and on families and the parenting skills gutted by a century and a half of residential schools, aboriginal leaders said on Tuesday.
The 10 proposals, contained in a reported entitled Bringing our Children Home, include a sharp reduction in the number of group homes and foster families centralized in Winnipeg.

Charlene Gladu talks about current conditions children in care face. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

First Nations have been empowered for a decade to run their own child welfare system on the basis of an agreement struck with the provincial government. But practically since its inception, First Nations, especially chiefs, have been at loggerheads with the government over how to run the system at reserve level.
 

Article here.
Report  here