“British Columbia will no longer ask hospitals to alert child-welfare authorities if they believe newborns could be at risk of harm due to their parents’ backgrounds, a practice that resulted in more than half of such notifications being issued for Indigenous mothers.
The B.C. government on Monday said it would end this practice, known as birth alerts, which were often issued without a parent’s knowledge or consent. The policy change is aimed at cutting the number of newborns who are taken into care, sometimes within hours of birth.
The change is to take effect immediately.”
More on B.C. ends controversial birth alert system that affected Indigenous mothers disproportionately via The Globe and Mail.
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