A new report coming from New Brunswick's child and youth advocate suggests that the child protection system is not set up to protect kids from potentially dangerous situations, despite years of recommendations and reports calling for change.
The advocate's report is now calling for a new Children's Act to replace parts of the current law that is governing the child protection system, with the goal of moving cases through the system faster and placing more focus on protecting the rights of children.
The call for legal reform is the first of two reports about the child welfare system of New Brunswick from new child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock.
Lamrock calls for goverment leadership in enacting new Children's Act
The second report, which is set to be released in the next two or three weeks, will highlight the stories of more than 200 youth and children and frontline child protection staff who have been through the system themselves.
Lamrock told reporters on Friday, May 13, that the clear message here is there's got to be a sense of urgency. Lamrock added that there's got to be a sense of collaboration, and it has to start with leadership of government on this very important file.
Multiple reports and reviews about the child welfare system over the years have showed an under-resourced system that is staffed by social workers juggling a high number of not only complex but also traumatic cases.
According to CBC, those same reports have also questioned whether the system in place is set up to adequately protect kids from harm by favoring family reunification over removing children from potentially risky situations.
The advocate, in the latest report, expresses concern with the number of frontline social workers saying that "rule number one" in child protection is to keep families together, when it should be to have the kids' best interests in mind instead.
According to the report, they see many cases where children are left in situations of harm and where they have been unable to convince the department that it should do more to protect a kid, or an entire sibling group.
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Systemic failure of child protection system seen in New Brunswick
The report also stated that most often, the answer that they are given is that the department is adamant that the courts would not endorse a decision to remove in cases which, to their eyes, are clear cases of endangerment.
The report found that sometimes, the standard to go to court to remove a kid from a situation is so high that Department of Social Development officials cannot be convinced to even try to go to court. The report says that in their view, these are instances of a systemic failure of the child protection system in their province.
Lamrock said that while family reunification is a good first option and staff often want to help kids, there is sometimes an overinvestment in the journey of the parents, without considering the impact on the children. CTV News Atlantic reported that Lamrock describes the decision to remove kids from a home as a "heartbreaking call to make."
