THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND CP MEDIATION

Jenelle Schneider, Postmedia News

Ministry of Attorney General: The government website page for the Ministry of the Attorney General contains this 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. I would like to hear what some of you who have been affected by MCFD's child protection practice think about this mediation theory and its delivery.
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.

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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?

"B.C. Home » Attorney General

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.

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Child protection cases, custody battles, and family law disputes are overcrowded with fury and anguish. In most cases when children are removed from parents, it is a crisis situation. In the earliest stages of the disagreement between PC workers and parents, the stress of the emergency is not lost on the children, from toddlers on up. Court processes seldom lessen the desperation. However, if mediation was practiced and if judges understood that this was an available alternative, court ordeals could be transformed. That's what proponents of mediation claim.

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Thanks to a commenter who informed me that Judge Crabtree's March 2nd ruling on the Bayne Case has been posted online at the Provincial Court database website. It notes the change from 6 mo. to 3 mo of care for the three children.