Too many aboriginal kids
in protective care

Kelly Cryderman
Calgary Herald

CANADA — Aboriginal children make up a greater proportion of neglected or abused Alberta kids in protective care, showing national increases are being seen in Calgary.
Even as new federal money is pumped into children’s services on reserves across the province this year, aboriginal children comprise 59 per cent of all Alberta kids in some form of foster or group care -- up from 54 per cent in 2003.
Aboriginals make up less than six per cent of Alberta’s population.

“There’s some real horror stories out there,” said Kirby Many Fingers, a council member at the Blood Tribe. “It’s grown to be a real crisis.”

The Alberta government said there were 8,938 kids in care as of March, and of those, 5,303 were aboriginal. About 1,744 of those children are from Alberta reserves, Indian and Northern Affairs reports.

Assembly of First Nations national Chief Phil Fontaine has often blamed a lack of funding and an inefficient system for the problems, and says it has long been the case that on-reserve children are not treated the same as other children in same circumstances.

Recently, federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser reported at least one in 20 First Nations children who normally live on a reserve are in the care of a government or First Nations agency. Across Canada, that means there were 8,300 First Nations children from reserves in care.

The federal government is responsible for paying for welfare services for on-reserve children, but the auditor general’s report said there is no way to tell whether the federally funded programs meet provincial standards of care, or whether they’ve helped children.

The funding formula for the $450 million spent on the program every year is also out-of-date and assumes each First Nations agency has six per cent of on-reserve children placed in care -- even though the range is zero to 28 per cent.

British Columbia and Alberta told the federal government that provincial requirements are not being met on reserves because of a lack of funding from Ottawa, or flexibility in the funds available.

For instance, Phil Goodman, an assistant deputy minister at Alberta Children and Youth Services, said workers at on-reserve children’s agencies get paid less than their off-reserve counterparts.

Goodman added that services are harder to come by in rural aboriginal communities. “In Calgary, it’s a lot easier to find counselling and therapeutic resources.”

In Alberta, there are 18 delegated First Nations agencies that provide child-care services on most reserves. Their work must adhere to provincial standards and is paid for with federal dollars.

This year, Alberta became the first province to apply a prevention-focused approach to First Nations child and family services. The plan, announced in 2007 by then-Indian affairs minister Jim Prentice, focuses on dealing earlier with neglected or abused children -- as soon as a teacher or neighbour notices signs -- as it helps families get early help or counselling so they can more often stay together.
In past years, the federal government had funded services for children on-reserve that were primarily focused on what happens after they are apprehended.

The federal and provincial governments are touting the new money for Alberta -- which will amount to almost $100 million more over five years.

“The money at least provides some opportunity,” Goodman said. “It still won’t bring them up to parity.”

Many Fingers said the child protection services corporation at the Blood Tribe has done better than many reserves in the country because it has been focusing on prevention services for more than a decade.

“We’ve always taken an approach where we want to focus on prevention and support services,” Many Fingers said.
Indian and Northern Affairs has agreed with all of the auditor general’s recommendations, and Robert Eyahpaise, Indian Affairs director-general for social policy and programs, said moving toward a preventive model -- like Alberta has already done -- will help.

“I’m not going to say we’ll see a significant drop,” in the number of children in care, Eyahpaise said, “but we will see effects as time goes by.”

kcryderman@theherald.canwest.com