B.C. increases monthly payments to foster care families

Foster families in British Columbia will get a monthly pay raise of hundreds of dollars starting April 1.

Mitzi Dean, the child and family development minister, says families fostering kids age 11 and under will see their payments increase by $450 a month to $1,465 per child, while caregivers for those age 12 to 19 will see a $531 monthly increase to $1,655 per child.

Dean says rates were frozen for nearly a decade under the previous government, and the latest increase is the second implemented since the New Democrats came to power in 2017.

The increased funding, Dean said, will fill a "critical need"for families hit hard by inflation, as they provide childrenwith food, clothing and other essentials as living costs rise.

The province boosted funding for caregivers first in 2019 and injected a further $85 millionin the 2023 budget, affecting approximately 7,800childrenand caregiver families.

Dean says funding is also increasing for other caregivers, including those with high- and special-needs children, along with so-called kinship families who take children under their care from family members.

Kinship care

Katie Robertson, executive director of the Parent Support Services Society of B.C., says she was raised in a kinship care situation herself, and the increased funding will give kids security and stability while helping keep families intact.

"As a youngchild, my mother struggled with a substance use disorder and we lived in deep poverty, and I experienced horrific neglect and violence and abuse,"Robertson said.

"I lefthomewhen I was 13 and were it not for several families providing kinshipcare in my early teenage years, I would not be here today.''

Robertson said kinshipcareis common, especially in Indigenous cultures, when parentscan'tcarefor their own children, who are then taken in by aunts, uncles, grandparents and others.

Relatives who find themselvescaringfor a family member'schild are often caught off guard, representing "a major life change physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially for both the caregivers andchildren,'' Robertson said.

"These increases will help many kinshipcarefamilies to focus on what matters most, giving thesechildrenand youth the best opportunity to live a life filled with love, stability, community and connection,'' she said.

"When kinshipcareis an option, families stay intact, cultures are preserved andchildrenare given a chance to thrive."