Birthalerts

The practice of birth alerts in Ontario is ceasing October 15th.
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child welfare agencies and their approach to working with expectant mothers?
Angela Arcuri, Director of Service at The Children’s Aid Society of the United
Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, and co-chair of the Provincial
Directors of Service Group tells us how child welfare plans to move forward.
What was a birth alert and why was the practice problematic?
A birth alert was the practice of child welfare agencies notifying a hospital and
birth centres of safety concerns before a baby was born. Those concerns might be
due to previous involvement with child welfare, drug use, issues surrounding mental
health or other challenges that could impact their parenting. The practice could
result in the baby being immediately taken away from its mother after being born.
Before the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,
we didn’t really look at the practice critically. We never reflected on its long-
term impact on the infant or their mother, or that the other components of the
baby’s safety, for example their emotional, spiritual, and intellectual safety,
were compromised in those situations. We also didn’t consider how the practice was
inequitable, and led to overrepresentation of Indigenous, Black, and other
marginalized communities in the child welfare system.
Does the end of birth alerts mean hospitals won’t be calling a children’s aid
society if they have concerns? What role do healthcare providers and hospitals have
now with regards to supporting pre- and post-natal patients and their infants?
Hospitals and healthcare staff should absolutely still call if they’re worried
about an infant, child, or youth’s safety and well-being. There is still a “duty to
report” any concerns to their local Children’s Aid Society or Indigenous Child and
Family Well-Being Agency: that has not changed. And if a healthcare professional
has a concern about an expectant parent, they can still ask for their consent to
contact a Children’s Aid Society or Indigenous Child and Family Well-Being Agency.
If the expectant parent does not consent, and concerns remain following the birth
for the safety of the newborn, healthcare staff can still call their local
Children’s Aid Society or Indigenous Child and Family Well-Being Agency.
I’m hopeful that over time, the social workers, nurses, midwives, obstetricians,
and other key partners who work with infants will become an even greater part of
the pre- and post-natal planning so that when the baby is born, they are working
together to put in the place the safety mechanisms to keep the mother and child
together.
Is there a concern that babies at risk might get missed without the birth alert
practice in place?
We know from our partners from other provinces who have already undergone this
process of eliminating birth alerts, that there isn’t evidence that this has posed
significant or additional harm or risk to infants. We’re mindful of people’s
worries and hopefully it helps to hear that in other provinces, people’s worries
haven’t actually materialized.
We also need to realize that continuing the practice is just as worrisome because
of the over-intrusion and irreparable harm that birth alerts were causing,
especially to Indigenous families.
How will Children’s Aid Societies and Indigenous Child and Family Well-Being
agencies support pregnant mothers going forward? What are some of the principles
and considerations that will guide this work?
When we talked as a child welfare system about what should guide our work, we spent
a lot of time reminding ourselves that the family and the child are at the centre
of all this. They are experts about themselves, so they need to lead their plan.
We talked a lot about adopting a truly collaborative and interactive approach. That
means that we are just one of many partners at the table, having conversations
about and considering all the different aspects of a baby and their family’s safety
and well-being. It moves us away from that reactive, most disruptive decision, to
being planful and thinking it through with the people’s voices who are most
impacted by the decisions. In terms of principles and guidance, this was a huge
part of our conversation.
The other consideration we have to put front and centre is the traditional and
cultural values of families. It’s a matter of truly understanding who you are
serving. Do they have socio-economic barriers, like poverty, race, class? We need
to understand those barriers and how they impact, and have impacted, that family.
Because that history, that layering of trauma, is so important in providing the
right support.

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The practice of birth alerts in Ontario is ceasing October 15th.

What’s next for

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