Victoria – Following the release of a series of commissioned reports, the Representative for Children and Youth says “far more needs to be done” to ensure young people’s perspectives are front and centre in child welfare and family law decisions.
“Too often we see adults making decisions on behalf of young people, or we assume we know what they want, which in many situations is not the case,” said Representative Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth. “We need to change our systems to not just tokenize the voices of young people, but to allow them to be fully heard. We also need to recognize that in appropriate circumstances, young people need to be given the power to make choices that impact them.”
The reports, authored by the Society for Children and Youth of B.C., review legal, social science and health science literature focusing on how youth voice is expressed in family law, child welfare and adoption contexts. The reports include the perspectives of young people who repeatedly express frustration over a lack of inclusion in decisions that impact them.
“There was never a moment in my life where my opinion was heard and valued by the system,” states one youth engagement participant.
“Most people think that it is just between the parents, but kids can clearly see what is going on. Kids can have the capacity and the control to know what they want. My dad has an addiction and sometimes I want to be around him and sometimes I don’t, and I can decide for myself,” states another youth engagement participant.
The reports identify a number of ways in which both the Family Law Act and the Child, Family and Community Services Act (CFCSA) can enhance child participation rights, including the establishment of consistent practices to capture the views of young people such as views of the child reports, judicial interviews, easier access to legal counsel and independent advisors, expert professional assessments, more training for professionals in these contexts on how to accurately capture the perspectives of young people, and more culturally attuned ways for young people to share their views including the integration of Elders and Matriarchs who can work with young people to ensure their voices are heard.
“I completely agree with the reports’ findings and the perspective that while legislative reform is essential, this is about really reorienting our thinking around how we see children and youth in these situations and doing all that we can to understand clearly what they think and want,” says Charlesworth.
Charlesworth adds she is deeply concerned that the plans to modernize the CFCSA that were initiated by the Ministry of Children and Family Development in 2022 appear to have stalled, while the Ministry of Attorney General has yet to move forward with the promising changes proposed in its 2024 Family Law Modernization Project Policy Intentions paper.
Charlesworth has written to both ministers, sharing the findings of her office’s commissioned research, and will continue to advocate for enhancements to child participation rights in these legal proceedings that profoundly affect the well-being of young people.
Media contact: Sara Darling, 778 679 2588
Read SCY report: Child Capacity and Participation in Child Welfare & Adoptions
Read SCY report: Child Capacity and Participation in Family Law
