British Columbia

For more information, see the information sheet British Columbia's child welfare system.

Overview

In British Columbia, the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) provides child welfare services under the mandate of the Child, Family and Community Service Act (1996). The Child, Family, and Community Service Act (1996) was amended in 2018 to improve child welfare service delivery and intervention for Indigenous children and families, with the goal of reducing the over-representation of Indigenous children and youth within the province’s child welfare system.

Child protection services in British Columbia are provided through 429 ministry offices in 13 regions and 24 delegated Aboriginal agencies, which have varying levels of delegated responsibility according to the resources and capacity of each agency (Government of British Columbia, 2021). The Federal government is responsible for funding services to First Nations children and families living on-reserve. The Adoption Act (1996), Infants Act (1996), and the Representative for Children and Youth Act (2006), are other legal acts that relate to the well-being and protection of children in British Columbia.

Statistics

British Columbia: Children and youth in out-of-home care in 2022¹
Children in out-of-home care	Child (0-18) population	Rate per 1000
10, 462	926,027	11.30

Statistics Links

Ministry of Children and Family Development Reporting Portal

Child welfare services fall under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial authorities, making it difficult to compile statistics at the national level.

The most notable variations between provinces include, mandate variation by jurisdiction with respect to the age to which children are eligible for service, differences in the length of time a child can receive out-of-home care and the definition of out-of-home care.

References

¹ Pollock, N., Ouédraogo, A., Trocmé, N., Hovdestad, W., Miskie, A., Crompton, L., Campeau, A., Tanaka, M., Zhang, C., Laprise, C., Tonmyr, L. (2024). Original quantitative research – Rates of out-of-home care among children in Canada: an analysis of national administrative child welfare data. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada (44)4. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.4.02.

Publications

Title	Authors	Year
Missing Peices: Joshua's story	Representative for Children and Youth	2017
Room for Improvement: Toward Better Education Outcomes for Children in Care	Representative for Children and Youth	2017
A Tragedy in Waiting: How B.C.’s Mental Health System Failed One First Nations Youth	British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth	2016
Approach with Caution: Why the Story of One Vulnerable B.C. Youth Can't Be Told	British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth	2016
B.C. Adoption Update: December 2015	British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth	2016
Children and Youth in Care - Hotel Placements	British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development	2016
Critical Injuries and Deaths: Reviews and Investigations Update #26	British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth	2016
Critical Injuries and Deaths: Reviews and Investigations Update #27	British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth	2016
Fostering Success: Improving Educational Outcomes for Youth in/from Care	Rutman, Deborah Hubberstey, Carol	2016
Indigenous Resilience, Connectedness and Reunification - From Root Causes to Root Solutions: A Report on Indigenous Child Welfare in British Columbia	Grand Chief Ed John	2016

Legislation

Links