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→Child protection issues
Unlike normal family law proceedings where two former spouses decide how to proceed with their case, it's the provincial [https://www.gov.bc.ca/mcf/ Ministry of Children and Family Development], or an "Indigenous authority" under the CFCSA, that manages child protection proceedings. Once these authorities investigate a child protection concern, they have a legal duty to take steps, including possibly seeking court orders, to ensure the safety and well-being of 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 Ministry of Children and Family Development, also called the "MCFD," can ask for child protection orders even if a family law orders about children's parenting arrangements already exist. The MCFD must make its decisions "regardless of the nature of the dispute between the parents in the family proceeding." This means that even if a family law order greatly restricts a parent's contact with a child, if the MCFD becomes involved and decides that parent should have broad access rights, the MCFD can seek that order in Provincial Court and that order will have priorityover the other order. 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 the ''Family Law Act'' and the ''Divorce Act'' have moved to the terms ''guardianship'', ''parenting time'', and ''contact with children''. )
Section 2 of the ''CFCSA'' sets out the guiding principles for 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 childrenis '' is not '' the most important consideration under the ''CFCSA''. The Instead, 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.