CFS should not be the bogeyman By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/10/2018 (2152 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ask anyone who grew up in the 1980s or earlier if they walked to school as a child and the answer will likely be yes. They might follow up that answer with misty-eyed reminiscences about games of hide-and-seek or tag, played until dusk signalled it was time to head home for dinner.

It’s tempting to write those memories off as sepia-toned nostalgia for a simpler, safer time — were it not for the inarguable fact that children today are safer than they were 50 years ago.

Despite what the 24-hour news crawl and social media might have us believe, North American statistics overwhelmingly show a dramatic decrease in the number of children killed accidentally or as a result of criminal activity in the past century.

There are fewer child abductions — from 1987 to 2014, the number of children reported missing per year in Canada has declined by more than 15,000, according to the Canadian Police Information Centre — and those abductions are largely perpetrated by non-custodial parents or people known to the child.

The number of child pedestrians being struck by cars has also fallen dramatically in the past decade, by about two-thirds.

That’s partially why the recent case of Katharina Nuss — a Winnipeg mother who was reported to Child and Family Services after letting her two children go around the corner to a bakery without her — has hit a nerve.

During her investigation by CFS, Ms. Nuss was told that the Child and Family Services Act also deems it illegal for children under 12 to walk to school without an accompanying adult, surely news to many parents.

But the act’s declaration of principles also states: “parents have the primary responsibility to ensure the well-being of their children” and “families and children have the right to the least interference with their affairs to the extent compatible with the best interests of children and the responsibilities of society.”

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In the absence of credible danger, it’s surely in the best interests of children to be able to play independently, to explore their community on foot and to test boundaries.

It’s been said that it takes a village to raise a child; even the most capable parent can use assistance. However, if one of the roles of non-parents in that village — one of the “responsibilities of society” — is as a watchdog to ensure child safety, that role can be enacted in more proactive, constructive ways than immediately involving the authorities without first speaking to the parents — and the children — about behaviour that’s perceived to be dangerous.

As for CFS, no one is suggesting it turns a blind eye to examples of neglect or abuse, merely that it could wield its considerable power with more discretion, especially when a black mark from the agency can have such devastating results for a family.

Adhering so narrowly to the letter of the law in cases such as that of Ms. Nuss and her children doesn’t make for safer kids or a safer community. In fact, it contributes to an environment of fear in which children are ferried to and from scheduled activities, denied the opportunity to become part of a village and prevented from gaining skills to better engage with the world.

Ms. Nuss encouraged her children to expand their horizons and stand on their own two feet, and got an official reprimand for her trouble.

In a time when kids are safer than ever before, CFS should not be the bogeyman striking fear into parents’ hearts.