Current Problems: Child Welfare (1-5)
Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of Alberta"
Updates on this page: 20
October 23, 2024
Blood Tribe welcomes rejection of child welfare settlement
NationTalk; Lethbridge Herald – The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) late last week rejected a $47.8 billion sett:ement agreement on long-term reform of First Nations child and family services after a three-day debate in Calgary. In a statement from Makiinima Chief Roy Fox released on Monday, he says the Blood Tribe welcomes the rejection as...
October 22, 2024
Why Are So Many Alberta Indigenous Youth Receiving Government Support Dying?
Almost 90 per cent of those deaths this summer were Indigenous young people. Audra Foggin, associate professor of social work at Mount Royal University, says no one should be surprised at the high number of deaths among Indigenous youth. Photo via MRU. The Tyee: Data from Alberta’s Ministry of Children and Family Services shows that 89...
August 6, 2024
Reflecting on the Status of Indigenous Child Welfare in Canada on the 10th Anniversary of Tina Fontaine’s Death
by Alexandra Champagne More posts by Alexandra » NationTalk: SLAW – On August 17, 2014, fifteen-year-old Tina Fontaine was found dead in Winnipeg’s Red River. It had been over two weeks since Tina was reported missing. Among the more disturbing details of Tina’s death was the fact that in the twenty-four hours prior to her disappearance,...
April 9, 2024
Child and Youth Advocate releases update on investigative reviews into child deaths and serious injuries
Among the 47 young people who passed away, 35 were Indigenous. Terri Pelton, provincial Child and Youth Advocate, has provided an update to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on her office’s investigative reviews spanning from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024. Reviews were completed and publicly released for 47 young people who were...
March 19, 2024
Nehiyaw and Dene Nations of Treaty No. 8 Adoption and Private Guardianship Law
Nehiyaw and Dene Nations of Treaty No. 8 Adoption and Private Guardianship Law NationTalk: Children and youth are a gift from the Creator and as Sovereign Nations, we maintain the true authority over our children, youth and families. I. When children and youth are adopted or taken into private guardianship without the voluntary consent...
March 15, 2024
‘Our Children are not for sale’: Treaty 8 chiefs
Treaty 8 chiefs announce a new law that prevents adoption and private guardianship without parental or First Nation consent APTN News: First Nations leaders from Treaty 8 met today to announce a new law that supersedes previous legislation over First Nations children within that Treaty area. The law, called the Nehiyaw and Dene Nations of...
December 5, 2023
AFN national chief candidates would back inquiry into Sixties Scoop
National inquiry into removal of Indigenous children could become a key task for next AFN leader CBC Indigenous: Some First Nations chiefs say the next national chief of the Assembly of First Nations should push for a national inquiry into the “Sixties Scoop” and the continued removal of Indigenous children from their families. About 22,000 Indigenous children were...
November 29, 2023
Office of child and youth advocate reports 81 total deaths in 2022-’23
“This represents a massive 29.4 per cent increase in deaths of children in care over last year. This is an outrage” Published Nov 28, 2023 • Last updated 9 hours ago • 3 minute read The Tyee: Edmonton Journal – Published Nov 28, 2023 • Last updated 9 hours ago Alberta’s child and youth advocacy agency released its annual report Tuesday revealing a...
November 27, 2023
Treaty 8 chiefs suing Alberta, Canada over stolen children’s special allowance benefit
APTN News: Treaty 8 First Nations chiefs in Alberta are suing Canada and the province over the children’s special allowance benefit payments saying the money never made it to the children who needed it. Chiefs say the money from the benefit is transferred from the federal government to the province but never reaches or is...
April 2, 2023
74% of youth in care in Alberta are Indigenous. Here’s what 2 of them had to say
‘I strive to this day just to live a normal life,’ said Jesse Koenig, 28 CBC News:A new underground magazine circulating in Edmonton is sharing stories from youth in care — in their own words. Zine & Heard, edited by youth advocate Penny Frazier, shares stories, art, tattoos and more from former youth in care. ...
March 28, 2023
This crisis is impacting younger children,’ Terri Pelton writes in new report
WARNING: This article contains details of self-harm. 14 of the 18 youths were Indigenous CBC News: Four months after child intervention workers withdrew services, 13-year-old Wren died from a drug overdose. The Alberta girl, who loved to hike, camp and swim, had a traumatic upbringing marked by family violence and addiction. She began harming herself...
March 1, 2023
Child and Youth Advocate releases Summary Report: 10 Years of Investigations
NationTalk: Edmonton…Terri Pelton, Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate, has released a summary report of investigation statistics and trends over a 10-year period, beginning with the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate’s (OCYA) independence from government. This summary report focuses on 634 serious injuries or deaths of young people between April 1, 2012 and March...
January 6, 2023
Sixties Scoop survivor reconnects with birth mom, discovers her culture, decades after separation
It took many years for the pair to develop a mother-daughter relationship WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC News: Tauni Sheldon remembers the first time she saw her biological mom. Sheldon was 23 years old. It was 1993 and she was in the Winnipeg airport, having just flown in with her adoptive parents, Jim...
January 4, 2023
Cree girl who died should never have been taken by Children’s Services, Alberta judge finds
Fatality inquiry examined the circumstances of 4-year-old Serenity’s death Warning: This story contains a graphic image. CBC News: The death of a four-year-old Cree girl in 2014 was the result of her being taken away from her mother by Children’s Services years earlier, an Alberta judge has found. The young girl, Serenity, was living with...
January 1, 2023
Denial rates of services and supports for First Nations children varied drastically by region during the pandemic
The Globe and Mail: Marsha McLeod In 2007, just before the House of Commons rose for its Christmas break, parliamentarians voted unanimously to adopt a principle meant to put the needs of First Nations children ahead of bureaucratic government conveniences. Jean Crowder, the then-MP who brought forward the motion to adopt Jordan’s Principle, warned her parliamentary colleagues...
September 21, 2022
‘The bond is broken’: Data shows Indigenous kids overrepresented in foster care
Statistics Canada released data from the 2021 census showing Indigenous children accounted for 53.8 per cent of all children in foster care. Toronto Star: WINNIPEG – A Winnipeg mother says she was scarred for life when her first child was taken away at birth by social workers, who told her she was unfit to parent...
September 19, 2022
Experts warn ending birth alerts not the only solution to keep Indigenous children with their family
Globe and Mail: Canadian Press – The number of newborns taken into care dropped dramatically as birth alerts ended across Canada, but child welfare experts warn ceasing the practice cannot be the only step governments take to keep families together. “(Birth alerts) really risk being kind of a red herring in the real issue of...
May 5, 2022
All funding to support at-risk Indigenous families awarded to non-Indigenous agency
Toronto Star (Windspeaker): After 12 years of successfully supporting at-risk Indigenous families in the Grande Prairie area who have interactions with Alberta’s child welfare system, Mamewpitaw has not received the provincial dollars to keep operating. Worse than that, says Grande Prairie Friendship Centre (GPFC) president Leonard Auger, the money to support Indigenous families has gone to...
January 10, 2022
Alberta opposition to Bill C-92
Toronto Star – A First Nation in Alberta says it’s been nearly three months since it was supposed to take legal control of its own child welfare but the provincial government won’t recognize the arrangement made possible by federal legislation. “(Alberta) won’t recognize it at all. They won’t sign co-ordination agreements,” said Darin Keewatin, executive...
March 21, 2019
Yellowhead Institue Critique of Bill C-92
“Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit children, youth and families” was graded as follows by the Yellowhead Institute of Ryerson University based on analysis by five Indigenous legal scholars. (See also First Nations Child and Family Caring Society Information Brief in C2A # 4) GRADES: National Standards: …………………… C Funding: ……………………………………..F...
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