Your rights and responsibilities

To prepare yourself for dealing with Ministry of Children and Family Development, it is important to know:

• Your children's rights
• Your responsibilities as a parent
• Your rights as a parent

Your children's rights

All children deserve to be happy, healthy, and protected from harm. In addition, specific laws protect the rights of children.

BC Child Protection Law

The main BC law protecting children (everyone under 19 years old) is the Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA). This law says that parents or anyone responsible for taking care of a child must make sure that the child:

• is safe
• has enough food to eat each day
• has clothing, shelter, and health care
• is not abandoned or neglected
• is protected from physical abuse and emotional harm
• is not sexually abused or exploited

The law also requires anyone who believes that a child has been or is likely to be abused or neglected to report this to the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The exception to this requirement is in the case of a client-solicitor (lawyer) relationship.

To make a report, call one of the following:

• Help Line for Children: 310-1234 (anywhere in BC)
• Enquiry BC (call no charge). Ask to be connected to the ministry office closest to you:

From Vancouver: 604-660-2421,

From Victoria: 250-387-6121 or

From outside Vancouver and Victoria: 1-800-663-7867 (call no charge).

• Your local ministry office listed under "Children & Family Development — Ministry of" in the blue pages of your phone book.

Ministry workers have a legal obligation to follow up on all reports of neglect or abuse.

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Canada has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognizes that children also have:

• the right to go to school
• the right to live with their families in a "safe and nurturing environment"
• the right to have a say in decisions about them
• the right to stay connected with relatives
• the right to participate in their parents' culture

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Your responsibilities as a parent

Parents have the following responsibilities:

• To keep their children safe, healthy, and happy
• To safeguard their children from injuries, illness, and other harm
• To get proper medical and dental attention for their children as soon as needed
• To send their children to school and make sure they get all the help they need to succeed there
• To do their best to provide their children with healthy food, clothing for all kinds of weather, friends to play with, and a happy home
• To teach their children how to keep themselves safe
• To seek help for themselves or their children when needed

Under BC law, parents are also responsible for protecting their children from neglect and emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. The BC Handbook for Action on Child Abuse and Neglect includes the following definitions of neglect and abuse:

Child neglect

Child neglect means not doing enough to keep your child safe and healthy. It can include one or more of the following:

• The failure to provide adequate food and shelter
• The failure to provide basic health care
• Inadequate supervision or child care
• Inadequate protection from physical risks or danger

The government does recognize, however, that parents who face financial problems or other problems beyond their control may have difficulty providing adequately for their children.

Emotional abuse

Emotional abuse is the most difficult type of abuse to define and recognize. It can include one or more of the following:

• Constant blaming
• Physical or emotional rejection
• Verbal attacks, threats, insults, humiliation, and name-calling

Constant emotional abuse can lead to severe emotional damage. Children who have been emotionally abused may demonstrate extreme anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or self-destructive and aggressive behaviour.

Physical abuse

Physical abuse is the physical harming of a child by an adult or older child. It includes the use of unreasonable force to discipline children or to prevent children from harming themselves or others. The following are some examples of injuries that may result from physical abuse:

• Minor bruising, burns, welts, or bite marks
• Serious burns, cuts, or abrasions
• Broken bones or skull fractures

In extreme cases, physical abuse can lead to the death of a child.

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse is any behaviour of a sexual nature toward a child by an adult or an older or stronger child. It can include one or more of the following:

• Touching or an invitation to touch for sexual purposes or intercourse (vaginal or anal)
• Obscene gestures, obscene communication, or stalking
• Sexual references to the child's body or behaviour in words or gestures
• Requests that the child expose his or her body for sexual purposes
• The deliberate exposure of the child to sexual activity or material

Sexual exploitation

Sexual exploitation includes permitting, encouraging, or requiring a child to engage in any of the following:

• Behaviour of a sexual nature for the stimulation, gratification, profit, or self-interest of someone in a position of trust or authority, or someone upon whom the child depends
• Prostitution
• The making of pornographic material

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Your rights as a parent

Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the rights of parents. If the ministry investigates a complaint against a parent, the parent has the following rights:

• The right to legal information and representation
• The right to understand the legal and court process
• The right to know about all options and the consequences of any decisions or actions
• The right to due process (regular and fair legal proceedings that follow certain rules and principles)
• The right to make a complaint about unfair treatment

Parents are to some extent also protected under the provincial Child, Family and Community Service Act. BC courts must apply the legislation's guiding principles and service delivery principles to ensure parents (and children) receive proper treatment from social workers.

If you face special circumstances

• My partner is violent
• I am Aboriginal (see Child protection and the Aboriginal community)
• I come from another country

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