Children and Youth with Support Needs – First Nations Engagement
Overview
Who: The Ministry of Children and Family Development
What: Engagement and co-development with First Nation Rights and Titleholders on a system of supports for children and youth with support needs
Where: Province-wide
Why: To build a better system of supports co-developed with Indigenous communities
How: Online
Engagement summary
In November 2022, the Province committed to engaging in deeper consultation with parents and caregivers, First Nations, Indigenous Peoples, communities, experts and practitioners, and others with lived experience to understand how the system of supports for children and youth with support needs can be transformed.
From March 2023 until December 2024, the Province asked for input on B.C.’s system of supports for children and youth with support needs.
B.C. recognizes the importance of children and youth with support needs services that work for every child and is committed to meaningful engagement with First Nations Rights and Titleholders.
The Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD or the Ministry) is guided by the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (the Declaration Act) and the commitment to co-develop legislation, policy, and programming with First Nations Rights and Titleholders. As part of this commitment, the Ministry led an engagement and co-development process with First Nations Rights and Titleholders that explored a system of services for Indigenous children and youth with support needs that aligns with First Nations Rights and Titleholders’ vision for their children, families and communities. This engagement approach consisted of two phases:
Phase 1 (Completed Summer 2023)
- A series of initial, virtual engagements with First Nations Rights and Titleholders were held Spring/Summer 2023 to better understand what is and is not working for CYSN families
- Phase 1 was an opportunity to discuss what elements make up a successful system of CYSN services for Indigenous children and youth with support needs and their families
- The Province gathered the input of First Nations Rights and Titleholders and identified which CYSN topics should be further explored and engaged on
- View the engagement summaries for these sessions
Phase 2 (Completed Summer 2024)
- Building on phase 1, the ministry engaged in deeper conversations with First Nations Rights and Titleholders to co-develop a new provincial service approach for children and youth with support needs and their families
- A series of 2-hour engagement sessions were held virtually between October 2023 and June 2024
- View the visual summaries (PDF, 3MB) for each of the five topics explored during the engagement series
- Extensive analysis is underway to review the suggestions and feedback provided by participants
Engagement learnings
Phase 1 engagement summaries:
- Session 1 Summary (PDF, 200KB)
- Session 2 Summary (PDF, 200KB)
- Session 3 Summary (PDF, 200KB)
- Session 4 Summary (PDF, 200KB)
- Honouring Past Wisdom Engagement Summary (PDF, 145KB)
Phase 2 visual engagement summaries:
- Topic 1: Sharing your vision – Completed November 2023
- Topic 2: Creating a model/system that meets the needs of communities – Completed February 2024
- Topic 3: Supporting access to services – Completed March 2024
- Topic 4: Upholding the safety, effectiveness, and quality of services – Completed April 2024
- Topic 5: Working together to make this a reality
- Visual summary (PNG)
- During topic 5, we asked participants to review the summaries from previous topics to ensure they adequately captured key themes and ideas. Those edits have been reflected in these updated visual summaries: Topics 1 to 5 (PDF, 3MB)
Engagement capacity funding
Provincial funding was available to B.C. First Nations communities to help support their capacity to engage with the ministry and others on their unique needs in the context of supports and services for children and youth with support needs. Grant funding of $25,000 was available to all 204 First Nations communities in BC. Funding requests closed on December 2, 2024.
How First Nation communities choose to share their feedback with MCFD is at the discretion of the First Nation and their community.
Broad engagement on children and youth with support needs services
To learn about the broader engagement on children and youth with support needs, please visit https://engage.gov.bc.ca/children-youth-support-needs
Related engagements
