Late policy review puts Aboriginal children limbo

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Only seven days after the provincial government announced the week of Nov. 15 as Celebrate Adoption Week, Lyle Oberg, minister of Family and Social Services, admited the adoption record for Aboriginal children in the province is shameful.

Alberta Liberal Family and Social Services critic, Linda Sloan, questioned Oberg about the inadequate support for Aboriginal children and the adoption process. She said more than 1,000 Aboriginal children are in limbo waiting for adoption.

In fact, "there are 1,821 Aboriginal children in Alberta under permanent guardianship status of social services at this time, but only 40 have been referred for adoption," said Kathy Lazowski, Alberta social services communications director. Lazowski indicated that while the number of Aboriginal children is high, there are certain factors that need to be considered when assessing those numbers.

"You have to realize, many of these children may have special needs. It's one thing to make a broad sweeping statement about a thousand children in care, but you have to look at their circumstances," said the social service spokesperson. She pointed to the social services practise of placing a child into foster care as a temporary situation and acknowledged this situation can sometimes stretch out into years. When foster care is assessed by child welfare as no longer being temporary, social services makes application to the courts for permanent guardianship if the child, said Lazowski.

When the province finally seeks permanent guardianship it can be a lengthy process and child welfare workers must exhaust all family placement resources for the child, said Lazowski. Once that happens a child may then be considered for adoption and then another extensive process kicks in. She also pointed out that some of the children in permanent guardianship are over the age of 12 which gives them a say in whether they want to be adopted or not.

"Last February, a First Nations policy was put into place that the band must consent to an adoption of a First Nation child," said Lazowski. The spokesperson indicated that the policy's directives to child welfare workers to seek consent of Aboriginal adoptions is still under review by the child welfare department. Lazowski was referring to the policy review report on Aboriginal adoptions, written last year, that has yet to released by the minister.

The spokesperson also indicated a moratorium on Aboriginal adoptions has come into effect because of the policy directive to consult and seek consent on Aboriginal adoption cases.

Lazowski said that in the last year there have been 14 adoptions of Aboriginal children with the consent of their individual First Nations.

Saddle Lake Wah-Koh-To-Win Child Care Society at Saddle Lake First Nation in Alberta has been helping Aboriginal children find Aboriginal families for eight years now. The First Nation childcare society has 50 registered foster care families in the community, but it hasn't been an easy road to develop their agency.

"In our mind Aboriginal children are first, but a lot of bands have a hard time getting a child welfare system in place. It's going to take time," said Debbie Halfe, case supervisor at Saddle Lake. Halfe said there is basically a moratorium on Aboriginal adoptions. Bringing apprehended Aboriginal children back into the community has been a priority for them, she said.

"As it is there has to be a system in place to approve adoptions in the community. A lot of people are reluctant to go through the process," said Halfe. The process involves a criminal record check and a home assessment.

While the chief and council in the First Nation community have approval and authority over Aboriginal adoptions, there needs to be an adequate system in place to provide support to foster parents and adoptive Aboriginal parents, commented Halfe.

"There is no standardized process in place that First Nation communities can follow. Every community is at different stages,said Halfe.

Another big struggle the band deals with is getting Aboriginal child welfare social workers who are trained and can handle working with First Nation communities' needs. Saddle Lake is in the process of arranging four adoptions in their community.

More than seven years ago, a group of adoptive parents with Aboriginal children got together to deal with the cultural identity of their children. The group called Cross Cultural Families of Native Children, plans, organizes and hosts cultural camps along with First Nation cultural advisors to give their children a connection to their Aboriginal culture.

"Native communities should have a lot of support because once the kids are back on the reserve that's not the end of the story," said Brian Harris, chairperson of the group. Harris is referring to the repatriation of Aboriginal children by First Nation childcare societies. He believes not enough resources are available to bands from the government for managing child welfare.

"The problem with this moratorium is that while children are in foster care the idea is that it's only temporary, then they wind up staying for years," said Harris. The situation worsens when children are being sent back to their Aboriginal communities after no contact at all with their people, said Harris.

Harris stated the goal of the post-adoption group is to give their children a connection that will enable them to become bi-cultural. We want them to be able to walk into a Native community and know the protocol there, he said. He also wants them to know how to adapt in a white society.

Harris strongly believes Aboriginal children in foster care should also have this support, then maybe the repatriation of Aboriginal children would be less painful for everyone.

The group receives funding from Alberta social services to operate most of their programs. Harris pointed out the group is a non-governmental agency.

"We defer to our Native resource people, we learn about proper protocol e have proper giveaways and we admit our ignorance and ask for help," said Harris. The post-adoption group doesn't discriminate between foster families or adoptive families, he said.

The Alberta social services spokesperson has stated the review of the First Nation adoption policy will take longer to complete because of consultations with First Nation communities still under way. In the meantime the ministry will focus on establishing "forever homes" for long term foster care.