Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Results — Continued

Goal 2: Children and youth are healthy and safe in their families and communities.

Core Business Areas:

Child and Family Development.

Provincial Services.

Rationale:

The paramount interest of the ministry continues to be the safety and well-being of children and youth. Research and experience has confirmed this can be best achieved in the context of family and community. While the primary responsibility for protecting and supporting the positive growth and development of children and youth rests with families, ministry services work to enhance the resiliency of children, youth, and families. This is addressed by working with communities, individuals, and families to build their capacity to foster increasing positive outcomes for children.

The reality is that despite everyone's best efforts, some children do not experience positive well-being. Some are born with special needs such as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Some develop serious mental health problems. Some are involved in high-risk activities such as prostitution or are at risk for other reasons. As it is our common interest to see the children and youth of British Columbia thrive, the ministry provides services to reduce risk and to prevent and reduce the effects of these conditions and risky activities. We acknowledge that some children and youth lack safe, nurturing family relationships or engage in criminal behaviour. These vulnerable children are placed in our care or custody. In such instances, the ministry takes primary responsibility for protecting and supporting their positive growth and development.

Objective 2.1:

Increase family and community capacity to exercise responsibility and support early childhood development that is informed by current research and evidence.

Strategies:

1. Promote community-based prevention and intervention strategies regarding the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy to prevent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and to promote innovative approaches to assist communities to support individuals and families living with FASD;

2. Develop a prevention focused, community-based, integrated service delivery system for young children and their families that improves outcomes and strengthens partnerships with the private/non-profit and community sectors to broaden community involvement, maximize existing community resources and capacity for Early Childhood Development;

3. Support Aboriginal communities to develop and implement early childhood development strategies to meet their needs; and

4. Refocus supports to children with special needs in child care and community settings to be more integrated and flexible in response to parent needs and work to eliminate the wait lists for existing supported child care services for children up to six years of age.

Objective 2.2:

Transform child welfare practice to be increasingly evidence-based², such that it promotes safety, family continuity, and permanency for children.

Strategies:

1. Transform Government's response to child welfare concerns, through approaches that build on family strengths and maintain family continuity (to keep children and youth safe within their families and communities).

2. Reshape case planning, to rely less on court as a decision-maker and more on community-based Alternative Dispute Resolution processes.

3. Transform planning for children in care to focus more on developing and maintaining family stability and life-long relationships (to better maintain permanency).

Objective 2.3:

A comprehensive service delivery network based on the needs of children and their families.

Strategies:

1. Redesign services to ensure that families, children and youth can directly access services in their community, from a well-defined network of effective and culturally appropriate services that focus on evidence-based³ programming.

2. Create partnerships involving other Ministries, service providers, informal supports and ministry staff throughout the province, through collaborative service initiatives.

3. Reinvest savings into direct family development and youth services, with priority given to Aboriginal services.

Objective 2.4:

Increase culturally appropriate services delivered by Aboriginal communities for their children and families.

Strategies:

1. Implement initiatives to increase the role of the Aboriginal community in addressing identified risks to a child in ways that keep children within their family and community.

2. Promote the development of supports and services for children and families within Aboriginal communities through enhanced partnerships with Aboriginal communities.

3. Implement initiatives to increase the percentage of Aboriginal children in care who are served by a delegated Aboriginal agency or are in the care of an Aboriginal family.

4. Engage with other Ministries and governments in initiatives to improve the socio-economic well-being of Aboriginal children and families.

Objective 2.5:

Increase the sustainability and responsiveness of the service delivery system to specific child and youth populations.

Strategies:

1. Increase the availability and quality of mental health services by implementing the multi-year Child and Youth Mental Health Plan that includes:

• building community and family capacity;
• improving and increasing treatment and support;
• reducing risk by preventing and reducing the effects of mental health disorders; and
• improving performance through greater accountability and outcome monitoring.

2. Minimize youth involvement in the criminal justice system by providing treatment services and community-based alternatives to custody, to assist in the rehabilitation of youth within the justice system.

3. Develop and implement safe care services for sexually exploited youth.