First Nation child welfare needs cash intervention

First Nations Child and Family service agencies will begin to receive an initial $15 million from an agreement with the Department of Indian Affairs set to be released this month.
The agreement was signed last April with the federal, provincial governments and First Nation leaders in Alberta. The funding is supposed to help First Nation Child and Family deliver their newly adopted Alberta Response Model as part of the province's input to the agreement.
In order for the money to flow, the 18 First Nations Child and Family agencies in the province had to submit business plans. So far, most have been approved, said Glen Luff, Media Relations for Indian and Northern Affairs.
In a press release, INAC estimates that an additional $98 million could be provided over the next five years.
The provincial government introduced the response model as a new approach to the child welfare service delivery six years ago. The model is based on families receiving support and services before they reach crisis using community-based services, and allows more access sooner to adoption for children in care.
In 2004, the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act came into effect.
In background material from INAC, since the new Act, child intervention caseloads were cut by 22 per cent. Over the same time period for First Nations agencies without early prevention and intervention services, caseloads increased.
"If the standards and similar outcomes are to be achieved then funding has to be put in place so that there is a degree of success," said Chief Charles Weaselhead of Treaty 7 First Nation.
First Nation agencies want to establish some outcomes with the criteria and standards that are equivalent at the federal and provincial level and realize the financial burdens on the First Nations services, he added.
"A lot of this is about jurisdiction and I think given the environment that we are in as First Nations, the gap that has been created both financially and administratively over the long years, we still have a ways to go, but at this point it looks very favorable, said Cindy Blackstock."
It's about being able to take a hard look at the things that challenge First Nations children, whether it is in academics, housing or the whole issue of poverty, stated Weaselhead.
The new money will be introduced to First Nation agencies' current budgets to start addressing equality in regard to infrastructure, salaries, administrative costs and general care of children.
"The funding disparities are huge, not only for the child welfare portfolio, but for the differential response (Alberta response model) to work. You need to have volunteer sector services to refer to things like food banks and domestic violence shelters which are available to community members off-reserve," said Blackstock of the First Nations Caring Society.
Another concern Blackstock has is that while there may be new money available to First Nations child and family, it may mean INAC will decrease or cap current funding for First Nation children.
"The level of funding is still not entirely clear and there's questions about the department clawing back money, the children's special allowance according to the records we've been given, and they are also looking at capping maintenance costs, which is the cost of children coming into care," said Blackstock.
Blackstock said in December 2007 she obtained INAC documents access to information about the authority on the Alberta deal and it indicates claw backs.
"The auditor general is investigating INAC at the moment for their funding formula for child welfare and they are due to release their report in May of this year," said Blackstock.
She expects the auditor's report will validate wide scale under investment in First Nations child welfare system by the federal government.
There are 9,000 children on reserve in care, and the best estimate is at least 27,000 kids are in care on and off reserve overall in our country, she said.
The 2007 Wende report, published by the First Nation Caring Society of Canada, said 10.2 per cent of status Indian children are in care.
The services for a non-Aboriginal kid comes from a western value structure, so it is more of a cultural match and they do better, said Blackstock. Not only do Aboriginal children lack resources, the programs offered are a cultural mismatch, she said.
"What we are hearing in the Wende report is that the real preference was to invest in locally developed strategies that are reflective of the unique needs and culture and context of First Nations," said Blackstock.
There is evidence that this works, but the department of Indian Affairs went wholesale in the direction of the differential response, she said.
The extensive Wende report spans three phases as it sets out to develop an equitable federal funding formula for First Nations Child and Family Services.
The request for the Caring Society's review and its report came out of the Joint National Policy Review of First Nation Child and Family Services.
Alberta's First Nations participated in a detailed case study of 12 First Nations Child and Family Services agencies. They were surveyed on the range of services provided: costs associated with providing equitable culturally based funding formulas and management information systems, jurisdictional disputes and prevention services in order to inform the funding formula research.
"First Nations children come into care for far different reasons than non-Aboriginal children; they come into care because of neglect driven by poverty, poor housing and substance abuse," said Blackstock.
Those three factors are not responsive to short term interventions, if people are poor it's not likely that they won't be poor in six months, she concluded.