New Brunswick’s social development minister has introduced several changes to child protection legislation.
Dorothy Shephard said one of the key changes is reducing the time a child under the age of 12 is under the minister’s care before permanent placement can begin.
Currently, a child must be in the minister’s care for 24 consecutive months in a five-year period. The amendments would change it to 24 cumulative months.
“When that happens, the minister, on a case-by-case basis, can begin permanency planning,” said Shephard. “That’s going to give a child more stability.”
Mental Health Treatment Centres
Another one of the changes would allow youth care homes to temporarily care for children with complex mental health needs.
Shephard said families would no longer be separated on paper and would be reunited more quickly.
“Sometimes in the past, the family has had to give up their custody of that child in order for them to receive the necessary mental health services that they require,” she said.
Child Protection Act
Other amendments include kinship care as an alternative to foster care and transfer of guardianship as an alternative to adoption.
Shephard said the changes will pave the way for a separate child protection act, which she hopes will become law within two years.
“We don’t want to fast-track this without doing our homework, but because I think we can rely on our other provinces to help us with what they’ve already done, I think we can get it done sooner than 24 months,” she said.
A separate child protection act was one of the recommendations made in two reports into the province’s child welfare system.
