British Columbia Ends Birth Alerts
Photo by Isaac Del Toro on Unsplash
On September 16, 2019, Katrine Conroy, British Columbia Minister of Children and Family Development, released a statement regarding birth alerts: “Effective immediately, British Columbia is ending the child welfare practice known as hospital or birth alerts…. We are changing the way we work with and support high-risk expectant parents to keep newborns safe and families together through a collaborative, rather than an involuntary, model. Health care providers and social service workers will no longer share information about expectant parents without consent from those parents and will stop the practice of birth alerts…. Moving to a voluntary approach of providing early supports and preventative services to expectant parents will help them plan and safely care for their babies. This change to practice allows for a more trusting, collaborative relationship with service providers right from the beginning, while empowering women, their families, and their communities to care for their children.”
The statement acknowledges that birth alerts “have been primarily issued for marginalized women and, disproportionately, Indigenous women….We also heard calls to end this practice from Indigenous communities, organizations and the report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.”
In the article for APTN News, Melissa Ridgen notes, “In its Calls for Justice that came out in June, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Women and Girls called on all provincial and territorial governments to end the practice, which often leads to babies being taken hours or days after they’re born and sometimes without good reason.” She notes that Jennifer Charlesworth, the representative for children and youth in British Columbia has said “the move – a first in Canada – will have positive effects…When you use birth alerts, that triggers a system response, it creates fear and trepidation. So even if families are struggling and needing help they might not ask for it because they’re concerned child welfare intervention is going to happen.”
The article raises the question of what will happen to babies who have already been taken on birth alerts prior to the policy change.
The article notes that other provinces are also reviewing their birth alert policies, reporting that, whilst Saskatchewan has indicated that the practice will continue in that province, the Manitoba government is in process of reviewing their policies and has so far initiated some changes with the goal of reducing the number of children apprehended at birth.