Response to the 2015 Review of the Child and Family Services Act

from oasw enewsletter

Brief Response to the 2015 Review of the

Child and Family Services Act

 

OASW submitted in December 2014 a brief response to the 2015 Review of the Child and Family Services Act (CFSA). We commended the government for its ongoing commitment to work collaboratively to build a more responsive and effective service system for children, youth and their families. We also lent our support towards the Review’s plan to explore possible changes to the CFSA, targeting two key areas which would bring long-awaited improvements:

• Modernizing and clarifying the language of the Act, and
• Improving outcomes for children and youth with a specific focus on:
  • Supporting older youth who are in need of protection (i.e., raising the age from 16 to 18);
  • Ensuring safe and healthy residential services, and licensing;
  • Information-sharing (re: access, disclosure, privacy practices);
  • Permanency (seeking to provide permanent homes for children in care and increasing the age of eligibility for Continued Care and Support for Youth), including adoption; and
  • Supporting Aboriginal children and youth (there is 22 per cent less funding spent on child protection on Indian reserves than for children off-reserves).