Who We Serve

SDA Demographic Data

Source: PEOPLE 2021

Source: 2016 Census

The 2016 census figures have gone through some revision since the raw census were collected. This is a routine practice by Stats Can and BC Stats when more information becomes available and is used with the raw census figures to revise the counts to improve accuracy.

MCFD delivers or funds services across the following six service lines to approximately 190,000 children, youth and families every year:

Early Years (ECD & CC)
Children and Youth with Special Needs (CYSN)
Children and Youth Mental Health (CYMH)
Child Safety, Family, Youth and Children and Youth in Care (F&CS)
Adoption (AS)
Youth Justice (YJ)

MCFD Complaints Program

The ministry receives approximately 1,150 complaints each year, 0.61% of the clients served. The ministry’s Complaints program is designed to help the ministry respond to the concerns of children, youth and families in a consistent, respectful, fair and timely manner.

¹ "-" Indicates no counts of complaints.

² "*" Indicate fewer than 10 counts and for the second lowest count.

Complaint issues are accepted when they are about a decision, act, or failure to act related to a service or program offered by MCFD or delegated services or programs offered by a Delegated Aboriginal Agency.

A complaint may not be accepted if it is related to a matter that is before the courts, or is eligible for a review panel hearing under the Mental Health Act or under another Act or Regulation, the complaint concerns are related to a youth justice service, the matter is eligible for a foster parent review or appeal, and/or the complainant does not want to proceed with the complaint.

Over 2020/21, the most common complaint issues were about Case Planning (53%), followed by Information and Communication (20%) and Access to Services (8%).

Eligible complaints can be processed in two ways, Resolution – where, with the support of a complaint specialist, complainants have an opportunity to be actively involved with MCFD or Delegated Aboriginal Agency staff in finding a solution that addresses the complainant’s concerns, and Administrative review – where a Review Authority, a person with no involvement in any matters related to the complaint, will gather information, come to a conclusion, and make recommendations. Approximately 500 – 600 complaint issues are eligible and processed through Resolution each year; over 50 complaint issues are processed through Administrative Review.

More than 50% of complaints following the Resolution process, completed over 2020/21, were completed within 30 days; about 80% of complaints were completed within 90 days.

Following Complaint Resolution, an Explanation of Decision is the most common action taken (52.7%), followed by Complaint Resolution that had no action recorded (19%) and no action taken (10.1%).

“-“ Indicates no counts of complaints.

Less than 20% of Administrative Reviews took longer than 180 days to complete.

Following an Administrative review, the most common response was an explanation of decision (50.9%), followed by Administrative Reviews that had no outcome recorded (21.1%) and no action taken (8.8%).