Purpose of the Ministry
The Ministry of Children and Family Development promotes and develops the capacity of families and communities to care for and protect vulnerable children and youth, and supports healthy child and family development to maximize the potential of every child in British Columbia. The Ministry supports the government’s Five Great Goals, with emphasis on the first three Great Goals (refer to page 13) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education.
The Ministry is responsible for regional and province-wide delivery of services and programs. In order to effectively and efficiently deliver services and programs, the Ministry is organized into five regions: North, Interior, Fraser, Vancouver Coastal and Vancouver Island (refer to Ministry Contact Information). The Ministry’s responsibilities include: family development, early childhood development, services for children and youth with special needs and their families, child care, child protection, residential and foster care, adoption for children and youth permanently in care, community child and youth mental health, programs for at-risk or sexually exploited youth and community youth justice services. In addition, the Ministry is responsible for a number of provincial services, such as youth custody, youth forensic psychiatric services, services for deaf and hard of hearing children and youth, and the Maples Adolescent Treatment Centre.
The Ministry is also responsible for supporting Community Living British Columbia to achieve its mandate and to enhance services for adults and children with developmental disabilities1. The Ministry and Community Living British Columbia work together, where there is a joint mandate, to ensure there is a co-ordinated approach for supporting children and youth with special needs and their families.
In 2007, two Interim Authorities (Vancouver Island Aboriginal Transition Authority and Fraser Region Interim Aboriginal Authority) were established to support the further development of effective models of service delivery for Aboriginal children and families.
Ministry service delivery partners include: contracted service agencies, family foster homes, communities, school districts, health authorities and other ministries. Approximately 46 per cent of the Ministry’s funding supports service delivery through contracts with community-based service providers.
The Ministry’s legislative mandate includes the Child, Family and Community Service Act, the Adoption Act, the
Youth
Criminal Justice Act, the Child Care BC Act, the Child Care Subsidy Act, the Community Services Interim Authorities Act and
the Community
Living Authority Act.
| 1 | The Community Living BC Service Plan is found at: www.communitylivingbc.ca/ |
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