Interior Metis Child & Family Services

Alternative Dispute Resolution Pilot Project

Project Conception

Interior Metis Child & Family Services is pleased to announce that we were successful in obtaining a grant from the Law Foundation of British Columbia for a dynamic new Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) pilot project.  This project has been in the works since April ‘04 and has gone through several revisions before we were secure in our final presentation to the Law Foundation.  The concept of the “Maamuu” project, meaning “Families Together” comes first and foremost from the need to substantially reduce the numbers of Metis children entering into the Ministry of Children and Family Developments care.  Once an Aboriginal child enters into the Ministry of Children and Family Developments (MCFD) care, and the longer that the child remains in care, the likelihood of returning home is drastically reduced.  Therefore, based on the aforementioned odds we have developed an ADR project that is based on traditional customs of family preservation specific to the Metis community.     

Project Objective

The fundamental objective of the “Maamuu” project is to reduce the numbers of Metis children and families entering into the family court system.  An emphasis on traditional customs will be utilized, enabling the family to work through the child protection issues, thus allowing the child/ren to remain in the home or to return home as soon as safely possible.   In doing so we have developed a front-end client driven project that aims to:

1. Reduce the amount of Metis children and families in the family court system, with intervention at the Ministry intake process,
2. Offer a culturally sensitive facilitation process that meets the traditionally cultural needs of Metis families empowering them to work through the protection issue,
3. Provide a facilitator involved in the planning process; one that will work closely with both the MCFD as well as the families to address the child protection issue.

Project Service Delivery

The need for a project such as this is evident as the numbers of Aboriginal children in care are at all time highs.  Recent statistics indicate that at the end of May 2003, there were 5117 Aboriginal children in care of either the MCFD or one of the delegated agencies.  As the Metis population comprises approximately 1/3 of the total Aboriginal population, it can be surmised that there were at least 1600 Metis children entering into the child welfare system in 2003.  Incidentally, this number is a significant under estimate as the Metis population is grossly unaccounted for due to numerous reasons.  The number of Aboriginal children in care increases with the amount of time that the child/ren are in care.  For example, the ratio of Aboriginal versus Non-Aboriginal children in care is split at 50% upon intake.  However, as the Aboriginal child progresses through Ministry services the numbers increase dramatically; as a staggering 85% of the Continuing Custody Orders are comprised of Aboriginal children.   

In order to alleviate the aforementioned numbers of Aboriginal children entering into the family court system and potentially remain there it was necessary to provide a proactive front-end service that is driven and directed within our own community, by our own community members.  We at Interior Metis Child & Family Services intend to provide a distinct service for our Metis population geared at the MCFD intake process so as to resolve child protection concerns without going into the lengthy, costly and often adversarial family court system. 

Our “Maamuu” project is based on the premise of Family Group Conferencing in that it is a shift in focus from a decision making process that is ‘expert based’ to one that is ‘family/community based’.  The very roots of this process trace back to Aboriginal cultures in which the care and the decision making for the children were considered the natural responsibility of the extended family as well as the community.  The community works together to keep families together with methods based on their own traditional practices. 

We have reviewed numerous modalities of ADR programs in various communities and have come to appreciate that facilitation of a client-directed familial/community planning meeting/process will be the most conducive to achieving our objective of addressing child protection concerns in a culturally sensitive manner.  The objective of facilitation is to assist families to improve their processes for solving problems and making decisions in order to achieve their goals and increase overall familial functioning.  By enabling families to look introspectively into the familial system and allowing them to work towards a solution, families will become less dependant and/or vulnerable to external systems and influences as they utilize their own strengths to overcome adversities. 

This unique ADR project is geared at the MCFD intake crisis stage and is intended to resolve the child protection issue/s in a traditional, culturally specific manner.  Only contested concerns will proceed into the family court system.  With the “Maamuu” project we will provide families, as well as the MCFD the opportunity to address the concern outside of the family court system, and we will be adding a much needed proactive program to our existing reactive programs, thus creating a continuum of seamless transitional services.  For instance, if the “Maamuu” project isn’t successful in resolving the concern, or if the concerns warrant court intervention the next service deliverable would be the “Aboriginal Family Group Conferencing”, and bar no success there, the next service to refer to is the “A Child’s Roots Are Forever” program. 

Not only will Maamuu impact present generations of Metis families, but the implementation of traditional customs and cultural child welfare facilitated in a proactive, less intrusive manner will set the foundation for future Metis children and families to strengthen their communities.  Thus by supporting the present generation of children and families we are investing in the future of our Metis families. 

The benefactors of the “Maamuu” project will be far-reaching.  The children and families involved with the project will be afforded a proactive front-end service that emphasises traditional customs to empower and strengthen the family system, thus enabling the children to remain within their family system and/or communities, or return to their families that much sooner.  In addition to the familial socio-emotional benefit, a service deliverable such as this will have a great cost benefit to the Ministry if families are kept together.  The financial cost of delivering “Maamuu” far outweighs the cost of placing children in care.  Based on the funding received and costs to provide the project, the estimated cost per family for this proactive approach is a mere $1666.00 over the course of the project.  When one considers that there is typically more than one child in a family, and that the ‘regular’ cost of foster placement for one child in $700.00 per month, as well as that the other family members will be receiving services as well, the cost of service delivery is dramatically reduced.  Thus the cost of keeping an Aboriginal/Metis child in care is exorbitant compared to keeping the child out of the family court system and/or MCFD care.           

 The “Maamuu” project will commence in January 2006 and run through to December 31, 2006 with Interior Metis Child & Family Services applying for another year of funding to provide the program for the following 2007 year.  

Our "Maamuu" facilitator, Ana Trottier is available Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30pm. Feel free to call or email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for information or to set up an appointment.