Nov. 22 is Child Welfare Media Day — Will you publish a story?

Dear journalists,

When it comes to B.C.’s child welfare system, we’re telling the same story on repeat — about a “broken system” that spits out broken kids. There’s truth to this narrative, but it’s hardly the whole story. We, a group of Vancouver-based journalists, have been listening to people through this survey, workshops, etc. We’re learning that our collective focus on the tragic serves to further marginalize, stigmatize and divide people.

Youth from care tell us they need to see stories about emerging solutions. Parents whose kids have been removed by the Ministry of Children and Family Development say they don’t feel listened to. Indigenous child welfare leaders are calling for stories that give context to the fact that Indigenous children are so overrepresented in the foster care system.

We have an opportunity to tell stories that really matter. Join us for Child Welfare Media Day. All you have to do is commit to publishing a story about B.C.’s child welfare system on Wednesday, November 22.

Be assured: you’ll have full editorial control over your work. The idea is to extend our reach and deepen our impact by coordinating our coverage, and it’s inspired by the San Francisco Homeless Project. In June 2016, 80+ media outlets called attention to homelessness by publishing a story on the same day. Audrey Cooper, the San Francisco Chronicle’s editor-in-chief, started the project, and since their launch, she says: media partners have produced over 500 stories about homelessness, shelters have been “rushed into opening”, and over “$130 million has been raised by philanthropists”.

Interest piqued? Here’s how to get involved:

1. Confirm your commitment to publishing at least one story on November 22 about the child welfare system. Email CWMD organizer and Discourse Media journalist Brielle Morgan (brielle@discoursemedia.org) by Friday, October 27.
2. Publish a story on November 22.
3. Upload your story on this shared Medium page, so we can collectively paint a fuller picture of the system and model a way for media to work together.

Thanks for your time and consideration,

Brielle Morgan, Katie Hyslop, Tracy Sherlock, Gordon Katic, Laurence Gatinel, Diana Oproescu & Dylan Cohen

On Sept. 7–8, 2017, journalists and child welfare leaders — youth with lived experience, social workers, educators and advocates — came together in Victoria, B.C., to discuss how media can better cover the child welfare system. We asked participants: Whose perspectives are too often missing from the stories we tell? This was Ashley Crossan’s reply. She’s an artist, activist and former youth-in-care. PHOTO: DIANA OPROESCU.