Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee says extended family caregivers keep kids connected to their communities
CBC News: More children in the Yukon’s child welfare system are staying with extended family, not community caregivers or group homes, according to a new report.
Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee tabled the 2020-22 annual report for family and children’s services in the territorial legislature Wednesday. The report found a 137 per cent increase in the number of extended family placements between 2017 and 2022.
McPhee called that a “positive move.” “That is an opportunity for kids to stay better connected to not only their extended family, but to their communities,” she told reporters Wednesday.
Since 2019, about 60 per cent of children in out-of-home care have been placed with extended family. That’s compared to 28 per cent in 2017. There are currently 210 Yukon children in out-of-home care, and 128 of them are with extended family.
The report is the first to review child welfare services in the territory since the government implemented changes to the Child and Family Services Act last year. Those changes were co-developed with Yukon First Nations governments. They include developing a cultural plan for each child to ensure they retain ties to their language, traditions and ceremonies.
Ninety-five per cent of children in out-of-home care are Indigenous, according to the report.
Yukon NDP Leader Kate White said that’s a hard reality that stems from the ongoing trauma of residential schools. “We see that in Yukon a lot because we have entire generations of children that were taken away from their families and never had the opportunity to grow up in what a family looked like,” she said after Question Period Wednesday.
White said keeping Indigenous children with family is important, but the government still has to provide supports. “It’s also important that Yukon government supports the families where we’re placing children,” she said. “We can’t just drop kids into households and expect that they’ll thrive.“
McPhee noted inflationary measures introduced in November offered families an additional $500 per month until March. She said her department is working on getting more funding for these families going forward.
McPhee said the report showed the Yukon is moving in the right direction. The Child and Family Services Act, she said, is now more closely aligned with the federal Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, and several Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action.
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For child welfare, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said territorial and provincial governments should work to keep “Aboriginal families together where it is safe to do so” and improve data collection.
A new electronic case management system has made it easier to keep records and have them accessible to First Nations governments and child and family services programming, McPhee said. She also said the report recognizes other improvements to child welfare in the territory.
The annual report, she mentioned, also shows that services offered to children transitioning out of the system and into adulthood have increased nearly 200 per cent. Those services can help young adults no longer in care find housing and employment, and are available until they are 26.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ethan Lang, Reporter
Ethan Lang is a reporter for CBC North in Whitehorse. Previously, he covered the Yukon Legislative Assembly for the Whitehorse Star. He also wrote regularly for the Halifax Examiner in Nova Scotia before moving North, covering forestry and housing.