CHILD WELFARE

ADVOCACY, SOLIDARITY AND COLLABORATION

BY JACKIE BARKLEY, MSW, RSW, CHILD WELFARE ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIR

The pandemic struck hard, and fast, but the Child Welfare Advisory Committee was able to continue doing important work to advocate for the children, parents and social workers involved in the child protection system in our province. We continued to meet every month via Zoom, taking only August off.

A major focus of our work concerned helping to develop the process and membership of the collaborative forum, advocated by the NSCSW to create an avenue for all relevant parties to discuss the challenges being faced in Nova Scotia’s child welfare system.

The year saw the pandemic creating increased difficulties for managing the needs of families in that system.

The death of George Floyd inspired numerous large demonstrations highlighting ongoing grave injustices experienced by Black communities. In addition, the calls for the rights of the Mi’kmaq to a moderate livelihood were brought to dramatic public attention, exposing the federal government’s inaction to clarify significant questions arising from the Marshall decision. These both forced us to always consider the disproportionate challenges faced by Indigenous and Black families in child welfare. As a result, one of the committee’s initiatives was educational work to learn more about Mi’kmaw child welfare issues.

Members of the committee also examined the issues around how the removal of the child tax credit from families of children in care creates severe additional hardship for families working to reunite.

The committee focused outreach work on building capacity, and was able to broaden its membership to include legal aid and community advocates as well as representation from the IWK. Over 20 members of our committee are exchanging invaluable information in our monthly meetings, networking and advocating from numerous perspectives, in addition to the already existing leadership of the College and involvement of Black and Mi’kmaw organizations, private practitioners and union representatives.

We discussed the Children and Family Services Act review in depth and assisted in the preparation of a document prepared by the College outlining significant concerns, which was shared publicly on the NSCSW website.

We look forward to increasing our efforts in the next year, and invite interested individuals and organizations to consider joining us.