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→Child protection issues
==Child protection issues==
Child protection law and family law can overlap, but child protection issues are handled under different legislation from family law matters. The child protection laws in BC are contained in the provincial ''[http://canlii.ca/t/84dv Child, Family and Community Service Act]'' (''CFCSA'') and its regulations, as well as the ''Provincial Court (Child, Family and Community Service Act) Rules'', and child protection matters are dealt with in the BC Provincial Court, not the BC Supreme Court. Child protection involves a government authority stepping in. Unlike normal family law matters where two former spouses are the ones making make decisions about how to proceedwith family law case, it's the provincial [https://www.gov.bc.ca/mcf/ Ministry of Children and Family Development] (MCFD) or an Indigenous authority that is taking steps in a child protection matter to protect children from abuse, neglect, and harm or threat of harm. Once they step in, these authorities have a duty to make decisions, including possibly seeking court orders, that ensure the safety and well-being of the children. In ''[https://canlii.ca/t/h5p6m J.P. v. British Columbia (Children and Family Development)]'', 2017 BCCA 308 the Court of Appeal made it clear that the MCFD can seek Provincial Court orders in a child protection case that conflict with existing family orders, including from the Supreme Court order, because the MCFD has to meet its legal obligations and duties "regardless of the nature of the dispute between the parents in the family proceeding". The ''CFCSA'', and not the ''Family Law Act'' or the ''Divorce Act'', directs how child protection matters are handled. As a side note, the ''CFCSA'' still uses the terms ''custody'' and ''access'' even though family law legislation has moved to the terms ''guardianship, parenting time, and contact with children''. Section 2 of the ''CFCSA'' sets out the guiding principlesfor child protection matters:
<blockquote><tt>This Act must be interpreted and administered so that the safety and well-being of children are the paramount considerations and in accordance with the following principles:</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><blockquote><tt>(g) decisions relating to children should be made and implemented in a timely manner.</tt></blockquote></blockquote>
Unlike the legislation in family law, the ''best interests of the children'' is not the most important consideration under the ''CFCSA''. The most important considerations under the ''CFCSA'' are the "safety and well-being of the children".
The first principle is that children are entitled to be protected from ''abuse, neglect, harm, or the threat of harm''. Most of the other principles center around keeping the child with or connected to their family if possible. These principles state that a child's family is the preferred environment their care and upbringing, that the responsibility for protecting children rests primarily with the parents, and that kinship ties and a child's attachment to extended family should be preserved if possible. The principles also say that if a family can provide a safe and nurturing environment for a child with available support services, then those support services should be provided.