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| Hon. Barry Penner, Att Gen |
The government website page for the Ministry of the Attorney General contains this very imported page entitled
Child Protection Mediation Program. In the post below I am quoting that page in its entirety and without comment from me. This is the
mediation option of which the Attorney General’s Office wants you to be aware.
What I want to know after you have read this, is, whether you are a social worker or a parent, has this worked for you?
Ministry
of Attorney General
Child
Protection Mediation Program
Sometimes parents or other people who are responsible for the care of a
child disagree with child welfare workers in the Ministry of Children and
Family Development (MCFD) or delegated Aboriginal child and family service
agency (DAA) about a child’s safety and well-being. Child protection mediation
is a collaborative way to reach agreement on the best plan for a child’s safety
with the help of a specially trained, impartial person called a mediator.
Mediators do not take sides, nor do they make decisions or recommendations.
Instead, they encourage people to focus on common interests and work towards a
mutually acceptable solution that is focused on the child’s needs.
Mediation is a process which brings together the parents, child welfare
workers and others in a respectful way to talk about everyone’s interests and
seek to understand each other through sharing feelings, ideas, concerns and
potential solutions for the child.
The Ministry of Attorney General (MAG) and the Ministry of Children and
Family Development (MCFD) established the Child Protection Mediation Program in
October 1997. MAG and MCFD administer the program. MAG’s Child Protection
Mediation Program (CPMP) contracts for mediation services with specially
qualified private sector mediators.
Background
In British Columbia, the
Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA) is the law that describes what
steps must be taken if a child is not living in a safe environment or there are
concerns about a child's safety or health. The law gives child welfare workers
with the MCFD or a DAA responsibilities and powers to take action and make
decisions to keep a child safe. This can sometimes include removing children,
for their own protection, from their families. A child welfare worker is often
called a “delegated social worker.” In most cases, once a child is removed, the
Provincial Court of
British Columbia becomes involved in the child protection case. The child
welfare worker has a responsibility to appear in court within seven days of a
child's removal. A judge will decide if the removal was appropriate. The CFCSA describes other steps
in the court process that may be necessary if the parents and the ministry
cannot agree on ways to make sure a child lives in a safe and healthy
environment.
Court Proceedings and Mediation
Mediation is an option that may be tried any time when MCFD or DAA is involved
with a family under the CFCSA, even before a child is removed or after a
hearing. If the case is already court involved, a judge may suggest mediation
or any of the parties can request an adjournment to the court proceedings so
mediation can occur.
Child
Protection: What Happens When You Go to Court and Parents’
Rights, Kids’ Rights: A Parents’ Guide to Child Protection Law in BC are
information booklets on child protection law in B.C., written for parents,
advocates and other people, about what happens in the child protection process.
Mediation
With mediation, disagreements can often be resolved more quickly and without
the formal processes and confrontational approaches used in the court system.
In mediation, the mediator helps people to negotiate a settlement to their
dispute. In B.C., mediation is used to resolve many kinds of legal disputes,
including small claims disputes in the Provincial
Court and motor vehicle personal injury cases in
the Supreme Court, as well as family disputes that occur when parents separate.
Mediation has been available since 1997 to resolve disagreements about the
care of a child. Every year, more parents and child welfare workers choose to
use mediation. Most of the time, disagreements are completely or partly
settled. Once a referral is made to mediation, the mediator meets separately
with the parents and the child welfare worker for an orientation session to:
- talk about their side of the
dispute;
- help them list the things
they would like to discuss at the mediation andexplain how the mediation
works and give other information about the process.
The mediator will then arrange for the mediation meeting(s). At the end of
the mediation meeting, an agreement is written and then signed on all the
issues that are agreed to by the parties.
How Child Protection Mediation Can Be Used
Parents and the child welfare worker can choose to use mediation when there
is a disagreement regarding the care of a child. It can be used to resolve a
number of issues, including:
- what services the family will
receive and participate in as part of the plan of care;
- the length of time the child
will be in care;
- the amount and form of access
the parent or others have with the child;
- the specific terms of a
supervision or access order; or
- other matters relating to the
care or welfare of a child.
Who Can Ask for Mediation
Any of the parties can ask the other parties to participate in mediation.
The suggestion can come from a lawyer, from a child welfare worker, from the
child’s parents or members of the child’s extended family. The child can also
request the appointment of a mediator. However, in order for the mediation to
proceed, all parties must agree to participate.
How to Set Up a Mediation Session
Once the parties agree to try mediation, they must select a mediator from
the Child Protection Mediation Roster. If there is more than one mediator
listed in a community location, then the parties must agree on whom to select.
They can decide among themselves how they will do it and can review the list
and suggest a mediator to the other party. Once they have agreed on a mediator,
they simply contact that person to get started.
- If there is no mediator on
the list in the location where the people are, the parties should agree on
another mediator, nearby if possible, and contact that person by phone.
The parties can contact any mediator to ask questions about their
background or qualifications if this would help in the selection process.
- Once selected, the mediator
will provide advice and information to all parties about the process and
will schedule and arrange the locations for pre-mediation orientations and
mediation session(s).
- Some areas in B.C. have a
mediation co-ordinator who can help choose a mediator and sometimes can
make scheduling arrangements with everyone.
How to Find a Child Protection Mediator
If the parents and child welfare workers decide to try mediation, they
select a mediator from the Child Protection Mediator Roster and then work with
the mediator to settle the dispute.
Click here for the list of approved
child protection mediators.
For Mediators
If you are a mediator would like to know what qualifications are required in
order to be on the Child Protection Mediation Roster and what is involved in
the selection process, see the information sheet Mediator
Qualifications and Selection.
More Information
To learn more about the Child Protection Mediation Program, read What is Child
Protection Mediation? The brochure is especially written for parents. Here
are some translated versions of the brochure.
More details about child protection mediation are available in a question and answer style.
For more information on a range of options for collaborative planning and
decision making, including child protection mediation, please see Options
for parents and families: Collaborative Planning and Decision-Making in Child
Welfare."
If you are looking to get your kids back faster than by pursuing the court process, mediation is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteDon't kid yourself, mediators are not unbiased. They work with MCFD social workers on a regular basis and have an interest in maintaining positive relations with them or they do not get hired. The MCFD will reject any suggestions of a mediator that you offer unless they know the mediator will encourage you to cooperate with MCFD wishes. In some cases, the mediator MCFD approves of is the professor who taught the social worker at university. Unbiased? Really? If you are looking for unbiased fairness, justice or exoneration you will not obtain it through the mediation process.
Example: the MCFD lawyer may tell you that you have almost 100% chance of a judge dismissing the case and returning your children, but you will have to wait 6 months for a court date. If you want your kids back sooner, you must submit to MCFD regardless of your proven capacity to nurture and protect your children.
You will not receive acknowledgement of your rights as a parent, nor apologies for the trauma your children experience in foster care.
Still, the most important thing is to get your children back in your home where you can assure their safety and well being. Mediation can do that for you more quickly than the court process. You have only to allow the MCFD to save face and not hold them accountable for their unprofessional behaviour, poor quality of service or their disregard of your children's and your rights. They will use your desire to have your children returned as a means to force their continued interference in your family's life, in the form of 'supervision'. This, even though their own lawyer has implied a judge would dismiss the case.
The choice is yours, submit and get your kids back with MCFD supervision, or wait for months, risking your children’s well being, while you wait for a judge to hear the facts of your case.
Mediation? Try coercion and yet another vehicle for the MCFD protect its own from accountability.
Yours in indignation,
Momma Bear
I haven't got a clue about whether MCFD mediation is a good or bad thing, but I know from talking to people who have done mediation in other areas that, for them, mediation was a very bad thing.
ReplyDelete