N.S. called on to do more to help vulnerable pregnant women after ending birth alerts
An advocacy group on Wednesday said Nova Scotia's new policy for vulnerable families could be "set up to fail," a day after the government said it would stop the practice of birth alerts.
The government said Tuesday child welfare services would stop alerting hospital staff about at-risk mothers and newborns who potentially needed protection, and it said it would instead appoint a support co-ordinator for vulnerable families.
On Wednesday, Martha Paynter with Wellness Within, a group that helps pregnant women in the justice system and criminalized pregnant transgender and nonbinary people, said the single co-ordinator wasn't enough.
"I think it's highly unlikely that a single person will be able to handle the volume across the entire province," Paynter said in an interview. "I'm concerned that this new system is set up to fail."
Nova Scotia decided to end birth alerts because it said the practice disproportionately affected people of colour and Indigenous women. Community Services Minister Karla MacFarlane said in a statement Tuesday that the government would change the policy to put a stronger focus on pairing expectant families with the appropriate support to ensure the safety and care of children.
Paynter said the government must create a system that respects families' cultures.
Lana MacLean, a clinical social worker in Nova Scotia, said she has taken part in consultations with the government about the problems with the birth alert system.
"It was a colonial approach that made Black and Aboriginal families much more vulnerable so early in the child welfare system," MacLean said in an interview Wednesday.
The government should tackle the problems of at-risk families through a culturally sensitive lens, she added. "I'm glad that there's no longer birth alerts," MacLean said. "The question is, how do we look at providing appropriate support at appropriate and meaningful times?"
Paynter called the change a "necessary step," adding that ending birth alerts was a recommendation in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. That commission called the alerts "racist and discriminatory and a gross violation of the rights of the child, the mother, and the community."
She added, however, that while the new system is a necessary step, it should still be scrutinized.
The government says it issued 80 birth alerts in 2020-21, down from 95 alerts in 2020-19 and 100 alerts in 2018-19.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2021.
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
Storage shed or shipping container? B.C. Supreme Court settles long-running bylaw dispute
A long-running dispute over whether a structure on a Surrey property violates a city bylaw that prohibits shipping containers on residential lots has been settled by the B.C. Supreme Court