Major legislative issues in the delivery of child welfare services essay
Some significant reforms in Canada have been affected by the organization and management of child protection services. Aboriginal communities played an important role in policy development and service design and delivery. Actually, the involvement of aboriginal communities in the design and delivery of services was “entrenched in British Columbia’s legislation” (Harris-Short, 2012, p. 95). According to the Ontario Child and Family Services Act of 1990, Indian and native people should be entitles to provide their own child and family services” (qtd. in Harris-Short, 2012, p. 95). Besides, it has been mentioned that all services should be provide in a proper way to recognize aboriginal cultural identity, heritage, traditions and the concept of the extended family. As a result, some Canadian provinces adopted provisions within the established legislation for the further delegation of the delivery of child protection services to Aboriginal controlled child welfare agencies.
Based on the UN Declaration on the rights of the indigenous people, adopted by the General Assembly (Article 3), “indigenous people have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development” (qtd. in Harris-Short, 2012, p. 205). Undoubtedly, the Declaration can be viewed as a tool for transformation in the treatment of indigenous people under the international legislation. Although the right to self-determination is a controversial issue, it has already affected the lives of the aboriginal communities in Canada, Australian and the USA.
Moreover, the National Council of Welfare has documented that the majority of aboriginal people serviced by the child welfare system are poor. In addition, it has been reported that the “incidence of poverty among the native people is disproportionately high” (McKenzie & Hudson, 1985, p.128). This fact means that child neglect was one of the major factors that lead to creation of the child welfare system.
