I think some of the upstream types of interventions we need to see include some of the things that previous witnesses have talked about—really investing in supports and interventions at the family level, not simply removing children but investing in and supporting the families and dealing with the poverty that these families experience, which can oftentimes lead to situations that can be interpreted as neglect or as not caring for their children. Sometimes they just do not have the means to do it. There is also supporting families, supporting women who are making choices to leave violent partners, and making sure that the choice to leave a violent partner does not result in being destitute and being homeless themselves and increasing family homelessness. We need to make sure that the women have support to leave violent partners when they need to and not be in a situation where in order to provide for their kids they sacrifice safety, which is then, of course, is traumatic to the children.
We need better supports in our schools. We cannot have months-long wait-lists for mental health supports in our school systems. People need to be available when those children need them the most. We need to increase access to mental health supports through our medical systems and our community, rather than their only being embedded. In our province, most child mental health supports are embedded in the ministry of children and families, which means that a lot of stigma can be attached to them.