Auditor General confirms First Nation children receiving inadequate support as AFN documented
2008 May Report of the Auditor General of Canada
Chapter 4—First Nations Child and Family Services Program—Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Some highlights from the report ...
- Nationally, INAC data show that about 5 percent of the First Nations children living on reserves are in care; the Auditor General estimates that this proportion is almost eight times that of children in care residing off reserves.
- Under federal and provincial policies, Aboriginal children, including First Nations children, should have equitable access to a level and quality of services comparable with those provided to other children. Funding for the services needs to match the requirements of the policies and also support the delivery of services that are culturally appropriate—which is known to take more time and resources. Current funding practices do not lead to equitable funding among Aboriginal and First Nations communities.
- The overrepresentation of Aboriginal and First Nations children in care—and the indications that outcomes are poor—call for all parties involved in the child welfare system to find better ways of meeting these children's needs.
- Our audits have identified a number of other problems that also remain to be resolved, in the areas of staffing, capacity development, and monitoring.
Recommendations:
4.26 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, in cooperation with provinces and First Nations agencies, should
- define what is meant by services that are reasonably comparable,
- define its expectations for culturally appropriate services and standards, and
- implement this definition and these expectations into the program.
4.32 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should ensure that it has up-to-date agreements with the provinces and with First Nations agencies in place. As a minimum, these agreements should consistently define who is responsible for providing the child welfare services required under provincial legislation, and what services will be provided.
4.37 When negotiating agreements with each province, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should, in consultation with First Nations, seek assurance that provincial legislation is being met. INAC should also analyze the information obtained and follow-up when necessary.
4.42 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should resolve the fundamental differences with Health Canada related to their respective funding responsibilities for services to First Nations children in care.
4.43 In order to develop a coordinated approach to the provision of federally funded child welfare services, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should
- ensure that the Department's program rules facilitate coordination; and
- in cooperation with First Nations, work with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and other federal departments that fund programs for First Nations children to facilitate access to their programs.
4.47 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should examine the human resources requirements for this program and allocate sufficient resources to meet these requirements.
4.67 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, in consultation with First Nations and provinces, should ensure that its new funding formula and approach to funding First Nations agencies are directly linked with provincial legislation and standards, reflect the current range of child welfare services, and take into account the varying populations and needs of First Nations communities for which it funds on-reserve child welfare services.
4.73 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should determine the full costs of meeting the policy requirements of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program. It should periodically review the program's budget to ensure that it continues to meet program requirements and to minimize the program's financial impact on other departmental programs.
4.82 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should carry out the on-site compliance reviews required under the First Nations Child and Family Services Program. It should also ensure that its British Columbia region complies with Treasury Board authority.
4.91 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should define the information it needs to manage the program and account for its results, with a particular emphasis on results and outcomes. In cooperation with First Nations and provinces, INAC should develop performance indicators, define the information required, collect the information, and ensure its quality.
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AFN press release
National Chief Praises Auditor General's Report on Child and Family Services
OTTAWA, May 8 /CNW Telbec/ - Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine issued the following statement today regarding Chapter 4 of the Auditor General's Report on First Nations Child and Family Services.
"We welcome the report of the Auditor General. It confirms everything we have been saying since the mid-1990s. First Nations children who are in state care are not being treated fairly and do not receive the same level of services as other Canadian children in similar circumstances. We must ensure that these children are properly cared for and that the child welfare agencies have the proper resources to do the job."
"We agree with the Auditor General's finding that the funding formula does not work. Funding should be tied to the services we expect all children to receive and the actual number of children in care. As the Auditor General points out, the funding formula has not been reviewed since 1988, and it has not been adjusted for inflation since 1995. As a result, the agencies caring for First Nations children receive 22 percent less funding than provincial agencies. As the Auditor General pointed out, unfair funding leads to inequitable care."
"The federal government has long known about these inequities. We proposed solutions in our 2005 Wen:de report and in our 2006 Leadership Action Plan on First Nations Child Welfare. When the present federal government refused to work with us on solutions, we filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2007. The Auditor General's report offers strong evidence which bolsters our complaint. The CHRC has called twice for mediation since they received the complaint. We accepted but federal officials refused in both instances. In light of the Auditor General's report, we will renew efforts with Minister Chuck Strahl, Minister Tony Clement and the federal government to develop an appropriate solution as soon as possible."
"The Auditor General also examined the Alberta model and identified concerns with it and she noted it would require a 75% increase in funding to implement it nationally. We hear growing concerns from Alberta about the new funding formula. The Auditor General's report points to similar concerns."
"The number of First Nations children in state care is a national crisis that requires a national solution. The Auditor General said that the solutions must be developed with active First Nations participation and on an urgent basis that responds to the crisis."
"We have called for a second National Day of Action to reach out to Canadians and ask them to support a better future for our children and for Canada as a whole. We know that Canadians are fair-minded people and when they learn the real story about situations like this, where the government is treating defenseless children unfairly, they will rally in support of our children and families as they did last year."
"Canada is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and is bound to it by international law. Canada should urgently address all known cases of inequity regarding the human rights of children in its care and not stall on implementing solutions. The health and well-being of our children is at stake."
"We strongly agree with the Auditor General's statement regarding Jordan's Principle. We are concerned that children are in state care because it is the only way they can access necessary medical care. No parent should be forced to choose between keeping their child or having them access health care. We are very concerned about how long it is taking the federal government to respond to the needs of First Nations children."
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/For further information: Karyn Pugliese, AFN Health Communications, (613) 292-1877, kpugliese@afn.ca/
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Children on reserves eight times more likely to land in foster care
OTTAWA — Children on native reserves are eight times more likely to wind up in under-funded, poorly tracked foster care that appears to be failing them, says the auditor general.
In a report tabled Tuesday in Parliament, Sheila Fraser urgently calls on Ottawa and the provinces to work with First Nations on badly needed improvements.
Little is even known about how well services are working or how often they fail to meet provincial standards.
"Children are among the most vulnerable people in society," Fraser said. "Some of the most vulnerable children in Canada are First Nations children."
Between 1997 and 2001, the number of kids in care on reserves jumped 65 per cent to 8,791 from 5,340. It has hovered around the same level since.
Among the top concerns is the fact that Ottawa funds First Nation-delivered services using a formula dating back to 1988. It assumes that a fixed percentage of all communities served by an agency need that help - whether or not the real number is higher or lower.
The formula "has not been changed to reflect variations in legislation ... or the actual number of children in care," Fraser said, adding that its use "has led to inequities.
"The services are essential to protect these children from abuse or neglect. The over-representation of aboriginal ... children in care - and the indications that outcomes are poor - call for all parties involved in the child welfare system to find better ways of meeting these children's needs."
In British Columbia, just over half of all children in foster care are aboriginal, yet they comprise just eight per cent of the provincial population.
Poverty, poor housing and addiction lead more often to neglect in aboriginal cases, though rates of abuse are no higher than in non-native homes, says the report.
Fraser blames the disproportionate numbers in part on a lack of emphasis on prevention.
Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said Ottawa is working on new deals with the provinces and First Nations to put prevention first: "The system that we inherited is not a good system. It's based on an old model, really, of child apprehension."
Alberta is the only province so far to reach a new child-welfare agreement with Ottawa to reflect legislative changes - and funding to First Nation agencies is expected to soar 74 per cent by 2010.
Strahl said "two or three" more provinces will sign modernized deals in coming months. But he insists that more money isn't the solution.
The auditor general, however, said child-welfare funding hasn't kept pace with inflation since 1995. She also said Indian Affairs has covered growing costs by shifting funds from housing and other infrastructure budgets. Dilapidated housing on reserves is a common reason why children are removed.
Still, Strahl says early intervention is the key.
"If you can get in early and help the family ... then you can keep the child in the home in a safe environment."
Indian Affairs is also collecting results-based information from agencies that's expected to be in by December.
The number of on-reserve kids in care has spiked over the last 10 years along with program costs. As of the end of March 2007, about 8,300 - five per cent of all children on reserves - had been removed from their homes, says Fraser's report.
Native leaders say the number is closer to 27,000 when children off reserves are considered - a total that outpaces the number of kids removed from their homes at the height of the residential schools system, they say.
The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society along with the Assembly of First Nations filed a human rights claim last year to protest inadequate funding.
Indian Affairs spent $270 million in direct support in 2007 along with $180 million on operational costs, including prevention efforts. The Conservatives added another $43 million in the last federal budget.
Cash crunches especially affect small communities and kids with special needs, says the report.
"We found that 55 of 108 agencies funded by (Indian Affairs) are providing child welfare services to fewer than 1,000 children living on reserve." Those agencies "do not always have the funding and capacity to provide the required range of child welfare services, and also have difficulties with governance, conflicts of interest, training and management."
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Governments fail native children, two reports show
STEVEN CHASE AND BILL CURRY - May 7, 2008
OTTAWA -- The federal Indian Affairs Department is underfunding child welfare programs for on-reserve natives and failing to monitor some of what it does spend, particularly in British Columbia, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser said yesterday.
B.C. native agencies are receiving federal tax dollars to care for aboriginal children, but Indian Affairs is not properly scrutinizing those expenses, the report found.
The verdict is part of a damning investigation of the federal government's approach to child welfare programs. The report pays particular attention to a unique funding arrangement for B.C. communities that it says is not following the rules.
"[Indian and Northern Affairs] pays First Nations agencies in B.C. a pre-determined amount per day of care and makes no attempt to relate this amount to the actual expenses incurred for these children," the Auditor-General's office said.
"We also found that the actual cost of First Nations children placed in care in some First Nations agencies are lower than the amount provided by [Indian Affairs]," it said.
"Further [Indian Affairs] does not review the agencies' expenses to ensure that they are allowable under the program."
Studies show that in British Columbia, an aboriginal child is about six times more likely to be taken into state care than a non-aboriginal child.
Of all B.C. children in state care, 51 per cent are aboriginal, yet aboriginal people represent only about 8 per cent of the provincial population.
Ms. Fraser's office also called for better research on what happens to aboriginal children placed in the care of the state.
"Our legislatures and aboriginal and First Nations communities need to know if the services being provided make a difference. More and better information on outcomes is critical to measure the impact of services and to change or improve them where necessary."
Ms. Fraser's report was released simultaneously yesterday with a separate report from John Doyle, the Auditor-General of British Columbia, also on child welfare services for aboriginal children.
The Doyle report questions the viability of the province's move to shift the delivery of child protection services for aboriginal children from provincial to native agencies.
The report concludes that the government's service delivery approach for aboriginal children has been only partly successful and should be re-examined.
For nearly a decade, the province has been transferring responsibility for child protection to designated aboriginal agencies, but Mr. Doyle's review found that the majority of those agencies were not completely up to the task.
"Only eight of the 24 delegated aboriginal agencies have qualified to deliver full child protection services," the 47-page report says.
In Ms. Fraser's report, her auditors cite many disturbing discoveries from their visits to nearly a dozen reserves. They report an increasing number of babies on native reserves are born addicted to drugs.
But the federal government is letting down these and many other native children with under-funded child welfare programs. Further, Mr. Fraser's latest report to Parliament found virtually no monitoring is taking place to ensure the programs in place do more good than harm.
Although it spends $450-million a year on such programs, the Department of Indian Affairs "does not know whether on-reserve First Nations children are adequately protected and are receiving appropriate services," the report says.
The native population in Canada is growing much faster than the national average, but many children dealing with physical and sexual abuse at home are unable to find refuge.
The large numbers that do end up being removed from their homes are not guaranteed proper care either, as few checkups are done to track these children or monitor the agencies funded to take care of them.
Statistics show an increase in the number of on-reserve children placed in foster care. The numbers spiked by 65 per cent between 1997 and 2001 to nearly 9,000 children countrywide - a number that has remained at that high level ever since.
The hig number of aboriginal children in care was attributed to a "host of reasons" by the province's Minister for Children and Family Development, "some of them historic."
"Unfortunately, that's always been the case," Tom Christensen said.
He said there have been particular challenges in finding out-of-care options for aboriginal children living on reserves, although the number of non-aboriginal children in provincial care has dropped significantly because of such options.
The First Nations Summit welcomed the auditors' recommendations.
Grand Chief Ed John said the provincial report, along with the federal audit, reveal a "startling picture of how the welfare of vulnerable aboriginal children is often subjected to government whimsy."