Alberta is proposing legislation that would see First Nations notified if social workers were thinking of removing an Indigenous child from a family’s care.
It would ensure that a study would be done of a child’s home and cultural connections before any private guardianship application were approved.
There would also be new streamlined guidelines for social workers to follow when deciding whether to place a child in government care.
The proposed legislation was introduced Wednesday by Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee.
Larivee calls it a step toward improvements following the case of Serenity, a four-year-old Indigenous girl who died of traumatic injuries while in care.
Alberta has about 10,000 children in care; about 60 per cent are from First Nations.