Child welfare

Philip and Sonja Hathaway say they will camp in front of the B.C. legislature until they receive news of when they will get their newborn daughter back. (Hollie Ferguson/News Staff)

‘You’re failing’: BC Green Party critical of ministry that apprehended baby in Victoria

Leaders from the party met the media to discuss systemic racism

 

Chief Clinton Key, of the Key First Nation, speaks during a news conference about the launch of consultations regarding Bill C-92, federal legislation that re-affirms the rights of Indigenous communities to establish and provide their own child welfare services, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

First Nation chooses affluent Vancouver launch pad to reform Indigenous child welfare

Campaign aims at doing what’s best for children on the ‘front lines of colonization’

 

Alexandru Radita is shown in a handout photo from his 15th birthday party, three months before his death. A child welfare official from British Columbia testified Tuesday in an inquiry into the Calgary teen’s death. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Government of Alberta *MANDATORY CREDIT*

B.C. child welfare official testifies at inquiry into teen’s death in Calgary

Alexandru Radita was diabetic and weighed 37 pounds at the time of his death in 2013

 

BC Premier David Eby speaks during a press conference in Vancouver, Tuesday March 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rich Lam

Saskatchewan First Nation comes to B.C. to talk about taking over child welfare

Key First Nation expresses heartbreak and outrage following death of teen in B.C. care

BC Premier David Eby speaks during a press conference in Vancouver, Tuesday March 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rich Lam
A British Columbia advocacy organization says child poverty decreased in the province in 2020 due to government benefits launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the progress may be wiped out by rising living costs. A silhouette against the sky of a man holding a child in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, June 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Charlie Riedel

Pandemic benefits pushed down B.C.’s child poverty rate in 2020: advocacy group

Report shows 2020 child poverty rate was 13.3 per cent, a decrease from 18 per cent in 2019

A British Columbia advocacy organization says child poverty decreased in the province in 2020 due to government benefits launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the progress may be wiped out by rising living costs. A silhouette against the sky of a man holding a child in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, June 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Charlie Riedel
Protesters gather outside the Kelowna Court House during the sentencing of fraudulent social worker Robert Riley Saunders. (Jacqueline Gelineau)

Unregistered social workers should not be allowed, says governing body

After a fraudulent social worker was caught stealing, the association is calling for regulations

Protesters gather outside the Kelowna Court House during the sentencing of fraudulent social worker Robert Riley Saunders. (Jacqueline Gelineau)
Traevon Desjarlais-Chalifoux, 17, was found dead in a closet of an Abbotsford group home in September 2020 after being reported missing four days earlier. His mother testified on the first day of a coroners’ inquest into his death on Nov. 28, 2022. (Credit: GoFundMe)

Speed up shift to family care, says B.C. coroner’s jury in death of Cree teen

Jury has made 18 recommendations arising from death of group home resident Traevon Desjarlais

Traevon Desjarlais-Chalifoux, 17, was found dead in a closet of an Abbotsford group home in September 2020 after being reported missing four days earlier. His mother testified on the first day of a coroners’ inquest into his death on Nov. 28, 2022. (Credit: GoFundMe)
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller, centre, Minister of Justice David Lametti and and Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu, appearing via video conference at left, participate in a news conference regarding the order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to compensate Indigenous children and their families, in Ottawa, on Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Tribunal says $40B Indigenous child-welfare agreement doesn’t satisfy all orders

Tribunal throws future of the deal into question as it urged the parties to continue negotiating

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller, centre, Minister of Justice David Lametti and and Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu, appearing via video conference at left, participate in a news conference regarding the order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to compensate Indigenous children and their families, in Ottawa, on Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
An eagle feather and a baby hospital ID bracelet sit on a photo of a newborn baby during a press conference in support of the mother who’s newborn baby was seized from hospital by Manitoba’s Child and Family Services, in Winnipeg on Friday, January 11, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

‘A red herring:’ Experts warn ending birth alerts not the only solution

‘What we really need to get at is issues of systemic racism, poverty and domestic violence’

An eagle feather and a baby hospital ID bracelet sit on a photo of a newborn baby during a press conference in support of the mother who’s newborn baby was seized from hospital by Manitoba’s Child and Family Services, in Winnipeg on Friday, January 11, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Kids gather on one of the main docks in Tofino, as they participate in a massive global climate strike, in Tofino, B.C. on Sept. 27, 2019. In a national report released in 2022, study authors found climate change to be one of the top 10 threats facing children and youth in Canada. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Melissa Renwick)

Climate change now considered one of top threats facing Canadian children: report

Racism, poor mental health, bullying also identified by authors

Kids gather on one of the main docks in Tofino, as they participate in a massive global climate strike, in Tofino, B.C. on Sept. 27, 2019. In a national report released in 2022, study authors found climate change to be one of the top 10 threats facing children and youth in Canada. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Melissa Renwick)
An air ambulance like this one took a Langley child to hospital after a fall from a window. (Black Press Media files)

B.C. Toddler falls from third-storey window

Child taken to hospital by Air Ambulance

An air ambulance like this one took a Langley child to hospital after a fall from a window. (Black Press Media files)
Protesters, including First Nations groups, gathered outside the Kelowna Court House during the sentencing of fraudulent social worker Robert Riley Saunders (Jacqueline Gelineau)

5 years prison time ‘not enough’ for fraudulent social worker: First Nations leaders

Robert Riley Saunders stole over $461,000 intended for vulnerable, primarily First Nations, youth

Protesters, including First Nations groups, gathered outside the Kelowna Court House during the sentencing of fraudulent social worker Robert Riley Saunders (Jacqueline Gelineau)
(Courtesy photo)

Child hunger a major concern as Canadians hit by soaring food prices

About a third of people who rely on Canadian food banks are children

(Courtesy photo)
Protesters in front of the Kelowna court house (Jacqueline Gelineau)

Trust in social systems ‘destroyed’: Victim of fraudulent Kelowna social worker

Sentencing begins for fraudulent social worker Robert Riley Saunders

Protesters in front of the Kelowna court house (Jacqueline Gelineau)
Elliot Eurchuk, seen in a 2016 handout photo, died of an overdose at age 15 after being prescribed prescription opioids. His mother, Rachel Staples, wants secure care for addicted youth to prevent other families from suffering the same trauma. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Rachel Staples, *MANDATORY CREDIT*

Families say ‘forced’ addiction care won’t work for youth while others say it could save lives

‘here is a loss of trust when you throw a kid into secure care, involuntarily’

Elliot Eurchuk, seen in a 2016 handout photo, died of an overdose at age 15 after being prescribed prescription opioids. His mother, Rachel Staples, wants secure care for addicted youth to prevent other families from suffering the same trauma. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Rachel Staples, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
VicPD has taken over the investigation of a child’s sudden death on March 24. (Black Press Media file photo)

Child’s sudden death investigation now being handled by Victoria police

Child was involved in well-being check the morning of the death March 24

VicPD has taken over the investigation of a child’s sudden death on March 24. (Black Press Media file photo)
Alberta RCMP say a concerned motorist found a child on Highway 881 in St. Paul and brought the child to the RCMP detachment. (File photo by Black Press news services)

Alberta RCMP investigating after child found wandering on highway in sub-zero weather

St. Paul Education investigating incident involving bus-riding kindergarten student

Alberta RCMP say a concerned motorist found a child on Highway 881 in St. Paul and brought the child to the RCMP detachment. (File photo by Black Press news services)
Indigenous families are grossly overrepresented in birth alerts in B.C. File photo of reporter Anna McKenzie and her daughter taken by Captured Memories Photography. Bayleigh Marelj, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Indigenous lawsuit seeks damages from B.C. for disproportionate birth alerts

Suit alleges alerts motivated by discriminatory and harmful stereotypes about parenting capabilities

Indigenous families are grossly overrepresented in birth alerts in B.C. File photo of reporter Anna McKenzie and her daughter taken by Captured Memories Photography. Bayleigh Marelj, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Members of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation burn a copy of the Indian Act during a ceremony where they held the first sitting of their legislature and signed a constitution after implementing the historic Maa-nulth Final Agreement in Anacla, B.C., in the early morning hours of Friday April 1, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

West Coast First Nations’ child care repatriation an early success story

Huu-ay-aht First Nations’ Social Services Project makes strides as children in care declines

Members of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation burn a copy of the Indian Act during a ceremony where they held the first sitting of their legislature and signed a constitution after implementing the historic Maa-nulth Final Agreement in Anacla, B.C., in the early morning hours of Friday April 1, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A vigil takes place where ground-penetrating radar recorded hits of what are believed to be 751 unmarked graves near the grounds of the former Marieval Indian Residential School on the Cowessess First Nation, Sask. on June 26, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor

VIDEO: Cowessess First Nation gets control of children in care

Nation the first to sign an agreement with Ottawa that sees jurisdiction over children returned

A vigil takes place where ground-penetrating radar recorded hits of what are believed to be 751 unmarked graves near the grounds of the former Marieval Indian Residential School on the Cowessess First Nation, Sask. on June 26, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor