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
When Talk Trumped Service: A Decade of Lost Opportunity for Aboriginal Children and Youth in B.C.	British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth	2013
Child protection decision making: A factorial analysis using case vignettes	Stokes, Jaqueline Schmidt, Glen	2012
First Nations Child Welfare in British Columbia	Kozlowski, Anna Sinha, Vandna Hoey, Shawn Lucas, Linda	2012
British Columbia Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect - 2008 (BCIS-2008)	MacLaurin, Bruce Trocmé, Nico Fallon, Barbara Sinha, Vandna Douglas, Janet Barker, Alison Horvath, Scott Hamilton, Laura Gail, Jordan Kitt, Olivia Zelt, Carolyn Fast, Elizabeth Thomas-Prokop, Shelley Hutcheon, Emily Budgell, Danielle Daoust, Gabrielle	2011
Fragile Lives, Fragmented Systems: Strengthening Supports for Vulnerable Infants	Turpel-Lafond, Mary Ellen	2011
Early specialized foster care, developmental outcomes and home salivary cortisol patterns in prenatally substance-exposed infants	D'Angiulli, Amedeo Sullivan, Richard	2010
Growing Up in B.C. - 2010	British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth British Columbia Office of the Provincial Health Officer	2010
Childhood trauma and injection drug use among high-risk youth	Kerr, Thomas Stoltz, Jo-Anne Marshall, Brandon Lai, Calvin Strathdee, Steffanie A. Wood, Evan	2009
Factors associated with the sexual behavior of Canadian Aboriginal young people and their implications for health promotion	Devries, Karen M. Free, Caroline J. Morison, Linda Saewyc, Elizabeth	2009
Kids, Crime and Care – Health and Well-Being of Children in Care: Youth Justice Experiences and Outcomes	British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth	2009

Legislation

Links