There are more safeguards in place to foster or adopt animals. Time for a priority shake up.

The torture-murder of a defensless little child is one crime for which the death penalty would be approriate.

I hope she is in peace because she sure was not in peace on this earth.

There must be meaningful partnerships between First Nations, federal and provincial/territorial governments, municipalities, voluntary sector and academic institutions that support First Nations right and ability to care for children, young people and families.

They may differ at international, national, legal, cultural, social, professional and program levels from general or mainstream child protection services. Fundamental human rights are a source of many of the differences. "Native agencies are bound by the same provincial child-welfare laws as their mainstream counterparts, but must survive on far tighter budgets under a strict federal funding formula that takes little account of provincial legislation."

See: CANADA to understand the issue..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_child_protection

http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html

http://www.wrcfs.org/repat/stolennation.htm

http://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0212/gm021221a.htm

http://www.afn.ca/article.asp?id=3374

more recent info on : http://www.fncfcs.com

http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.com/nca/pubs/2005/aboriginalchildren.pdf

I remember Mary Ellen Turpel when she was working for Ovide Mercredi when he was National Chief of AFN..

Having worked in the best Treaty & Aboriginal Rights Library in Canada -I have been studying & advocating for Indian Child Welfare since my 20's..& developed AFN's modest holding on Child Welfare while volunteering 5 yrs. to set up Odawa Sweetgrass Childcare Agency & then working another 3 yrs. for the Aborignal Childcare Commission & then for the Aboriginal Justice Consulate..

Raised in Ottawa & the 60's scoop was always a shadow on my parents' back - good thing my father was an college educated man & held a union job!!

Besides I met many offenders raised in provincial care...& their concern is always for the children... Richard Cardinal's legacy hasn't changed much over the decades...sigh

http://dev.cecw-cepb.ca/files/file/en/communityBasedCWAboriginalChildren.pdf

more recent info on : http://www.fncfcs.com

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER & I was raised to believe that activism will engage mankind to change the world.

TFear of blame: post-Gove child protection in B.C.
Author: Early, Marsha
Degree Master of Social Work - MSW
Program Social Work
Copyright Date: 2000
Subject Keywords Gove Inquiry into Child Protection (B.C.); Children -- Services for -- Government policy -- British Columbia.; Child welfare -- Government policy -- British Columbia -- Evaluation.; Social workers -- British Columbia -- Attitudes.; Social workers -- British Columbia -- Psychology.

https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/10458/ubc_2000-0191.pdf?sequence=1

It's 167 pages long...

http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/gove/

The Inquiry's conclusions & examining the role of senior ministry management, were confirmed in over 300 written submissions from social workers, foster parents, contractors, parents, youth, local governments, academics, aboriginal groups, professional associations and individual citizens.

These British Columbians told the Inquiry that many child protection social workers hired by the ministry have no professional qualifications, receive little or no entry-level training, are underpaid and are thrust into demanding practices and given unrealistic workloads.

Many different professionals often provide services to the same children and families concurrently, but they frequently do not realize this because of artificial barriers to communication. Consequently, child welfare services are not delivered in a multi-disciplinary, coordinated manner. The ministry and its social workers often dictate their views to local communities, foster parents and community agencies, rather than work collegially with them.

Youth in the care of the ministry said they are routinely not consulted about important decisions affecting them. Foster parents and community agencies fear reprisal if they advocate for the children and youth in their care.

Social workers said that low morale and poor job performance could often be traced to structural problems within the ministry. Some areas of the province experience a severe lack of placement resources and mental health services for children. Court delays leave children and youth in limbo. Social workers also expressed the view that judges and lawyers need to receive specialized training in child abuse, child neglect ...

# The Caring Across Boundaries photography exhibit is presented by Cindy Blackstock with photography by Liam Sharp. The exhibit highlights why reconciliation is so vital in addressing the inequalities experienced by First Nations children.
# Continued our advocacy work on the implementation of Jordan’s Principle. New Brunswick has announced it will adopt Jordan's Principle in the fall of 2010.

http://www.fncfcs.com/what-you-can-do

http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/files/PDF/UBCIC_OurFuture.pdf

http://www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/docs/nccah%20resources/SOWC%20Canada%20Report%20English.pdf

On February 27, 2007, the Assembly of First Nations [AFN], a political organization representing all First Nations in Canada, and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada [FNCFCS], a national non-profit organization providing services to First Nations child welfare organizations, took the historic step of holding Canada accountable before the Canadian Human Rights Commission for its current treatment of First Nations children. The complaint alleges that the Government of Canada had a longstanding pattern of providing less government funding for child welfare services to First Nations children on reserves than is provided to non-Aboriginal children.

# The Canadian Human Rights Case on First Nations Child Welfare continues with Canada having lost two important rulings in Federal Court.
# Over 6200 people and organizations from 15 countries in the world are following the Canadian Human Rights Case on First Nations Child Welfare making it one of the most formally watched legal cases in Canadian history.
# Redesigned our website www.fncaringsociety.com which receives over 2.4 million hits per year making it one of the most popular child welfare resources in Canada.
# Published a new edition of the First Peoples Child and Family Review and updated our research database.

BUILDING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR URBAN ABORIGINAL CHILDREN

http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/Content/HOC/committee/372/huma/reports/rp1032303/humarp04/humarp04-e.pdf
*********************************************************************************
Aboriginal children are among the most marginalized children in Canadian society. Despite some advances, in almost any measure of health and well-being, Aboriginal children – including First Nations, Inuit and Métis -- are at least two or three times worse off than other Canadian children. As children, they are less likely to see a doctor. As teens, they are more likely to become pregnant. And in many communities, they are more likely to commit suicide.
This disparity is the greatest children's rights challenge facing our nation.

Health depends on a web of economic, social, political and environmental factors. These are some of the factors affecting the health of Canada’s Aboriginal children:

* Poverty
* Lack of education
* Substandard housing
* Poor nutrition
* Lack of access to health care and other social services
* A legacy of family, community and cultural breakdown left by residential school policies

http://www.unicef.ca/portal/SmartDefault.aspx?at=2063

Good general historical information...

CHILD WELFARE

Introduction
Child Welfare and Education: An Historical Overview of Government-Aboriginal Relations

Special Treatment for Aboriginal Children

The Child Welfare System
Aboriginal Peoples and the Child Welfare System in Manitoba

The “Sixties Scoop”
The Indian Child Welfare Sub-Committee

http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html

http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/files/PDF/UBCIC_OurFuture.pdf

CALLING FORTH OUR FUTURE: Options for the Exercise of Indigenous Peoples' Authority in Child Welfare

again, an excellent historical overview for Canadians to read to understand the issue at hand..

Children's Aid Society workers should be reined in, critics say

They are charged with the most essential of duties: protecting vulnerable children from abuse and neglect. They will intervene in the lives of roughly 200,000 Canadian children this year.For most of us, they are generally unseen, save for occasional mentions in news reports, when they rescue children from misery. Or, as sometimes happens, deliver it. Canada’s child-welfare agencies, says University of Manitoba social work professor Brad McKenzie, have among the broadest intervention powers in the Western world. Caseworkers come armed with vaster powers than any police officer investigating crime. It is an immense authority easily abused, without vigilant restraint.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1690967#ixzz17MugIHLY