Underfunding continues to impact indigenous children in government care, according to a recent report released by B.C.'s Representative for Children and Youth.
The report outlines the experiences of those who deliver child and youth services through Delegated Aboriginal Agencies to indigenous children and families.
These support services are inadequate to keep children and youth at home and in their communities, the report found.
Carrier Sekani Family Services is looking forward to a positive outcome in light of its findings.
"It is fitting CSFS provides feedback on reports that directly reflect on the service delivery to indigenous children and their families. This report speaks to staffing and resource issues within Delegated Aboriginal Agencies and our direct feedback was part of the review," said Mary Teegee, Carrier Sekani Family Services executive director of child and family services, co-chair of the provincial Aboriginal Delegated Agencies Forum and B.C. board member of the First Nation Child and Family Caring Society.
The findings were based on interviews with 45 DAA staff who work in child protection and guardianship, including front-line social workers, team leaders and executive directors.
In B.C., over-presentation of indigenous children in care is a reality.
There are about 7,010 children in care across the province with 4,367 (62 per cent) being of aboriginal descent. Approximately 1,870 (42.8 per cent) of these aboriginal children and youth in care are served by DAAs while the remaining fall under the Ministry of Children and Family Development.
The report acknowledges the federal government's provision of First Nations child and family services was discriminatory due to the inequity of funding between children residing on-reserve and those off-reserve, according to Teegee.
That discrepancy continues to impact the retention and recruitment of DAA staff and this directly impacts the service delivery to indigenous children in care.
"Current funding levels by both the federal and provincial governments seriously undermine the capacity of DAAs to deliver essential services to vulnerable children and their families," said B.C.'s Representative for Children and Youth Bernard Richard.
"Furthermore, DAA's funding does not take into consideration that their need is actually greater to address the intergenerational effects of residential schools and other colonial policies in Canada," he said. "The goal should be that DAAs are able to offer services that address the real needs of indigenous families in a culturally-based way."
The report concludes that DAAs are struggling to cover operational costs, salaries and benefits they are often faced with high caseloads that ultimately leads to an inability to meet provincial child protection standards along with recruitment and retention issues.
"We need to look at this because caseloads should reflect the complexities of trauma and impacts of residential schools. There needs to be equitable funding so we can keep children in their homes and in their communities," Teegee said.
"We need the resources to empower children and their families in ways that are reflective to their culture. It's all about having wrap around care to deal with these issues of the past but we also need to be able to look forward into the future."
For more information about the report, go online to www.rcybc.ca/daareport.
