Ottawa to hand over child welfare services to Indigenous governments

CBC News | Politics

Nov 30, 2018 | John Paul Tasker

Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott said Friday that the federal government plans to hand over control of child welfare services to Indigenous governments, in an effort to drive down the massive number of Indigenous children in foster care.

Philpott, standing alongside First Nations, Inuit and Métis national leaders, said forthcoming federal legislation, co-developed with Indigenous leaders, will devolve authority to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to care for their own children in need of foster care.

It’s a departure from how the current system works, which leaves most Indigenous kids housed in provincially governed child welfare systems that critics say are inattentive to their unique needs.