Foster-care policy oppressive, critics say

Foster-care policy oppressive, critics say


BY LINDSAY KINES, TIMES COLONIST MAY 12, 2010


Foster children are sometimes kept in care longer than necessary because of an “oppressive” government policy that can render their parents homeless, legal advocates say.

West Coast LEAF and Pivot Legal Society want Ombudsperson Kim Carter to investigate the policy, which they say discriminates against impoverished women and aboriginals.

Under the policy, parents on welfare lose part of their shelter allowance if their child is taken into the temporary care of the government. A single mother with one child would lose nearly $200 a month — a 34 per cent cut — and be forced to find a place to live for as little as $375.

“So you can imagine in a city like Vancouver or Victoria, finding a place is extremely difficult on that low a shelter allowance,” said Kasari Govender, a lawyer with West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund.

The advocates argue that parents end up homeless or living in such shabby conditions that they can’t get their children back — even if they’ve taken steps to deal with whatever problems caused social workers to remove the kids in the first place.

“It results in children staying in foster care for a longer period of time,” the advocates wrote in an official complaint to Carter’s office. “It could even result in a parent losing custody of their child permanently.”

Govender said the policy, which has been in place for years, has the potential to harm hundreds of people, since one in three child removals involve a family on welfare.

The advocates argue that, in effect, the Ministry of Housing and Social Development, which controls welfare payments, is undercutting the Ministry of Children and Family Development, which is trying to keep families together. The complaint says society will pay the price since children in the foster-care system fare worse than those raised by their parents.

Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman was unavailable for comment yesterday. The ministry issued a brief statement noting that its workers have the discretion to allow families to keep their full shelter rate for up to three months after a child is taken into temporary care.

But Pivot and West Coast LEAF say the extension is of little use, since most child-protection matters take longer than that to resolve. By the time the child-protection issues are settled in court, the parent could already be homeless and unable to get their child back, the complaint says.

Liza McDowell, an advocate at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, which is participating in the complaint, said women who are fighting to stay clean and sober in some cases lose their children, then their house, then all of their family’s possessions.

“Even if the best intentions of the ministry is to return the children, the children can’t be returned unless you find a home,” she said. “Sometimes, in the worst-case scenario, a woman might spiral down again and that’s something that we really would like to prevent.”

lkines@tc.canwest.co

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