Child Protection and Kinship Care

Speaking on the Rafe Mair show on Friday, August 12th, Child and Youth Officer Jane Morley answered a question about "kith & kin" placements by saying that they are not foster care; they are an alternative to foster care. That misses an extremely important point that could put hundreds of children at risk. Extended families can be as dysfunctional as the family that is temporarily losing custody of a child. Before placing a child in a kinship placement as an alternative to foster care, the receiving family should be studied in the same way that foster families are studied. The Ministry of Children and Family Development employs social workers known as "resource workers" whose job it is to do those studies. Reliable sources within the Ministry inform me that home studies equivalent to foster home studies are not being done when kinship placements are made. Home studies are far more than a criminal record check and a review of previous contacts with the Ministry, although even those simple steps weren't followed correctly in Sherry Charlie's case. Not having proper home studies for kinship placements is a cost saving measure that is equivalent to rolling the dice with the lives of children who have to be removed from their homes. Morley should know that and she should be blowing the whistle on the Ministry rather than sounding like its apologist.

According to the Child Welfare League of America, in the United States "One of the most recent stunning changes in the child welfare system has been the major growth in the number of children in state custody who are living with their relatives." One third of children in foster care in the US are living with relatives. In BC the policy goal is to reduce the number of children-in-care so the government conveniently doesn't include kinship placements in its statistics. That wouldn't matter except that they also aren't doing the necessary social work to assure that children are safe in kinship placements.

In many cases kinship care can be superior to foster care in the home of a stranger; however, when troubles run throughout an extended family there can be cases where kinship care is dangerous. The Ministry needs to invest the resources it takes to assure that kinship placements are better than foster care for the children who are placed, not just better for the government because they are cheaper. The Campbell government needs to be held accountable for cutting child protection.