Nenan Dane explores possibilities on child welfare rights at Treaty 8

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — First Nations in northeast B.C. explored options to develop their family services during a workshop late last week.

First Nations’ family services group Nenan Dane Zaa Deh Zona Family Services Society brought Treaty 8 communities together for a meeting about child welfare jurisdiction on Friday, January 31st.

‘Reasserting Jurisdiction for Treaty 8’ took place at Treaty 8 offices in Fort St. John, with delegates from Halfway River First Nation, Doig River First Nation and Saulteau First Nation in attendance.

They were considering the principle of implementing their own family services for Indigenous children, youth and families residing in Treaty 8.

Bart Knudsgaard – a social worker who has worked alongside the Ministry of Child and Family Development (CAFD) and the First Nations community during his career – led the event. 

He assisted in developing the Ktunaxa First Nations’ child welfare system, is currently a consultant working with Indigenous communities in B.C. and the Yukon and says Indigenous-centric services are based on “perspective”.

“In other communities, workers are trained in identifying safety issues and risks. A lot of it is very transactional,” said Knudsgaard. “With First Nation communities, it’s looking at the question of ‘what are family strengths?’ and building on those.

“This way families can parent children the way they’ve always wanted to. We can also support them in dealing with past traumas. But it’s coming from more strength-based relations versus simple assessment.”

While Indigenous children under 14 only make up 7.7 per cent of the population, they account for over half of children in foster care, at 53.8 per cent, according to the 2021 census.

In 2020, the federal government implemented C-92: The Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families after discussions with various communities began in 2018. 

It highlighted six points of action, including:

• Reforming child services to a flexible funding model 
• Prevention and early intervention
• Exploring the potential for co-developed family services legislation 
• Accelerating the work of nationwide technical and trilateral data tables 
• Supporting Metis and Inuit to advance culturally-appropriate reform 
• Developing a data and reporting strategy with First Nation communities

Currently, the province has delegation agreements with 117 of 202 First Nations communities across B.C. to develop their own child and family services overseen by the CAFD or Indigenous Child and Family Service Agencies (ICFS).

In addition, 25 of those are run directly by the ICFS, with some offering foster care services, full-on investigation services for child welfare and adoption.

“If Treaty 8 Nations had their own law, they could offer services as part of their community structure,” said Knudsgaard. “They could create an agency like Nenan Dane. It could happen individually or collectively.

“They could do it through the ICFS and have an organization. Those are some options.”

Options like funding, structure and collaboration between Nations and Nenan Dane Zaa Deh Zona were also discussed.

More information about  Nenan Dane Zaa Deh Zona Family Services Society is available through its website.

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