{"id":62656,"date":"2026-02-25T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=62656"},"modified":"2026-02-25T11:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T15:30:00","slug":"amendments-strengthen-support-safety-for-children-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=62656","title":{"rendered":"Amendments strengthen support, safety for children, families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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HALIFAX: <\/strong>Amendments to several acts introduced February 25, will further protect the privacy rights, safety and well-being of children, youth and families in Nova Scotia, according to the Minister of Opportunities and Social Development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes include prohibiting the use of social media to identify children who are the subject of a court proceeding and extending the maximum length of emergency protection orders to one year from 30 days.

\u201cAt the heart of these amendments are children and youth, as well as survivors of domestic violence who deserve privacy, protection and the right supports at the right time,\u201d said Barbara Adams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose navigating difficult circumstances deserve care, respect and strong safeguards \u2013 these changes help ensure that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amendments under the Children and Family Services Act will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– further protect the privacy rights of children who are or have been the subject of a court proceeding by adding social media as a prohibited form of publication; this means publishing information on social media that could identify the child will be strictly prohibited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– make explicit that publication bans related to child and family well-being proceedings remain in place even after a proceeding has ended, including cases where a child or youth has died<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– require any person who has pled guilty or been found guilty of an offence against or involving a child be entered on the Child Abuse Register, including where a conditional or absolute discharge is granted; this strengthens the register as an important safeguard to help protect children and youth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– formally recognize the Minister\u2019s responsibility to offer supports that help prepare youth aging out of care for adulthood \u2013 reinforcing existing practice and ensuring continued focus on successful transitions to independence.

To further support the well-being of children and youth in Nova Scotia, Budget 2026-27 includes funding to establish an Office of Children and Youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Key amendments to other legislation include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– changes to the Domestic Violence Intervention Act will extend the maximum length of emergency protection orders to one year from 30 days, which will improve the safety and security of survivors of domestic violence and their families<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– changes to the Beneficiaries Designation Act will allow electronic signatures for all plans under the act<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– moving the regulation of social work to the Regulated Health Professions Act and repealing the Social Workers Act; the health professions act, proclaimed in 2023, provides common regulatory and accountability processes for all self-regulated health professions under one piece of legislation.

Quick Facts:
<\/strong>– as part of continuous improvement, the Children and Family Services Act requires the Minister to appoint a committee to review the legislation every four years; the amendments include recommendations from the committee
– the current maximum for emergency protection orders (30 days) is the shortest among all jurisdictions in Canada
– five other provinces \u2013 Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta \u2013 explicitly allow electronic beneficiary designations in their legislation

Additional Resources:
<\/strong>Bills tabled in the legislature are available at: https:\/\/nslegislature.ca\/legislative-business\/bills-statutes\/bills\/assembly-65-session-1<\/a>\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HALIFAX: Amendments to several acts introduced February 25, will further protect the privacy rights, safety and well-being of children, youth and families in Nova Scotia, according to the Minister of Opportunities and Social Development. The changes include prohibiting the use of social media to identify children who are the subject of a court proceeding and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[957],"tags":[4253,10,4607,50,48,1077,10444,25,10445,49,270],"class_list":["post-62656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-barb-adams","tag-beaver-bank","tag-families","tag-halifax","tag-n-s","tag-nova-scotia","tag-privacy-rights","tag-sackville","tag-safety-for-children","tag-social-media","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}