 A Review of First Nations Child Welfare in New Brunswick
Ombudsman and Child and Youth Advocate Bernard Richard has recommended sweeping changes to the child welfare system on First Nations, reducing the number of agencies to three from the current 11.
He called for the establishment of a single First Nations Child and Family Services Office that would provide financial and administrative functions to the three agencies, and made recommendations related to funding, governance, service delivery standards, training and accountability.
He also delved into the deep-seated issues affecting First Nations communities, such as poverty, drug addictions, domestic violence, and the erosion of the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet cultures and languages.
“My objective was to recommend changes that will reduce the duplication of administrative work being done in each community in order to maximize frontline social work services. In my view, it is necessary to maintain and augment the number of social workers in each community who provide culturally based services and to give them access to the same resources employed by social workers in the rest of the province.” |
