Separated From Their Kids, This Dakelh Couple Journeyed Across BC for Justice

Amy Romer, Local Journalism Initiative, IndigiNews

After what they say has been months of refused visits with their four children in foster care, Kimberly and Jordan Joseph packed their bags and decided to walk more than 1,500 kilometres from Prince Rupert, BC to Victoria.

The couple—both Dakelh (Carrier)—say they’re raising awareness about the lack of support for birth parents resulting in too many kids in the country’s child welfare system. 

During their 75-day journey, they met dozens of people with lived experiences of the child welfare system, visited a number of Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) offices, and earned the encouragement of hundreds of supporters.

The Josephs live in Yekooche, a remote community of 87, northwest of Fort St. James. They said they weren’t just walking for Indigenous children and youth—but for every young person in foster care. 

“It’s terrifying for a child to not understand why they can’t talk to their mom and their dad, or talk to their siblings.”

Kimberly Joseph

On July 27, the couple set off, sending updates to their growing Facebook community. As the walk—and blisters—progressed, they alternated between walking and travelling by car, sometimes walking together or taking turns making the journey on foot while the other drove. 

The Josephs said they faced delays when MCFD repeatedly called to arrange visits with their kids, only to cancel after the couple had abandoned their walk to drive north. But they didn’t give up, and kept coming back to try and finish the walking journey. 

By late November, the Josephs had reached Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish).

“It’s terrifying for a child to not understand why they can’t talk to their mom and their dad, or talk to their siblings,” said Kimberly during the stop on Nov. 25. 

Earlier that morning, the Josephs arrived holding hands, listening carefully to Kimberly’s smartphone. They were attending family court virtually—waiting to hear a judge’s response to their refusal for their children’s foster parents to continue caring for their boys. 

For Kimberly and Jordan, it was good news: the couple’s case will go to trial, she confirmed with a smile.

“It Was All False”

There are now nearly 2,000 members of a Facebook group, “Walking For All Children in Ministry Care,” where the Josephs have given regular updates on their way.

Until June 2023, the boys were in custody of Kimberly’s mother in Kamloops, but when she was no longer able to provide the care they needed, MCFD asked Kimberly if she would take them back. 

Though eager to be reunited with the children—of whom Jordan is a stepfather to three and biological father to one—it was not an easy process. The couple said they struggled with MCFD and Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) for almost a year. 

While caring for their children, Kimberly said CSFS had received money through Jordan’s Principle—a legal rule ensuring First Nations children can access services and support in a timely manner—to deliver the couple diapers and baby formula from CSFS’s Fort St. John office to their remote home, where they had no access to transportation.

“They didn’t do it for a month,” alleged Kimberly, who said despite phoning countless times, she had to enlist help from friends and family to get by. “Finally, we showed up at their office and they gave us [an entire month’s worth] of formula. They were like, ‘this is all yours, it’s just been sitting at the office.’” 

“Neglect from whom? What is the actual source of this risk?”

Cindy Blackstock

While Jordan was in counseling after the death of his grandfather, a therapist reported his behaviour to MCFD as “aggressive,” the couple alleged. 

“It was all false,” said Kimberly, who said she wishes the ministry had handled Jordan’s grief with more compassion.

Eventually, they said, MCFD insisted that Kimberly move into a shelter, separate from Jordan—who had been residing in a tiny house. During this time, she was given a chance to prove she could care for her children, but said she was chastized by social workers, who allegedly told her she was neglectful and didn’t dress properly (“but I like to dress cozy,” she said).

A 2021 report released by the MCFD states that 84 per cent of Indigenous children in foster care were there due to what they call “neglect.” 

“But neglect from whom?” said Cindy Blackstock, speaking to this issue at the recent Our Children Our Way National conference in “Vancouver.” Blackstock said she believes that child welfare laws push the blame onto the parents, when they should be asking, “What is the actual source of this risk?” she said. 

While in the women’s shelter, Kimberly said she experienced a health emergency that resulted in her needing to be hospitalized. When MCFD showed up alongside paramedics, she expressed to MCFD that she needed time to recuperate—knowing she would be closely watched and her poor health would make it impossible to comprehensively care for her children on her own. She said she got an ultimatum in return.

“And now they’re saying I could have had the boys but I gave them up,” she said. 

Now that the couple’s children are back in foster care, Kimberly alleges there have been multiple occasions where MCFD has told them there are no funds available to allow them to visit their children, who are divided between foster families in Prince Rupert and Prince George.

But Jordan said after being given a vehicle from Jordan’s aunt, he and Kimberly decided to visit their children using their own money. “It was awesome, we finally had our own transportation,” he said.

When they phoned the MCFD office to ask for a visit, they repeated the same reason—“a lack of funds,” Jordan recalled.

“I feel like whenever we ask for anything, our file gets thrown to the side and they say no.”

Kimberly Joseph

“We told them they don’t need funding—we are already down here, and we’ve got the money to do stuff with the boys.”

An MCFD employee replied they’d look into scheduling a visit, but one week later — after multiple inquiries from Kimberly and Jordan — they said they were told there was no supervisor available to attend a visit. 

“I feel like whenever we ask for anything, our file gets thrown to the side and they say no,” said Kimberly.

IndigiNews requested comment from MCFD, who said that although it could not comment on individual cases, it noted that “recruitment and retention are a continuous priority for the ministry and direct child and family service staffing numbers are stable.” 

“In the last two years, there has been a 17 per cent increase in staffing levels and staffing has been up year-over-year since the pandemic,” the statement reads.

IndigiNews also reached out to Carrier Sekani Family Services, but did not receive a response by time of publication.

“We Decided We Wanted to Walk”

For Kimberly and Jordan, their frustrations soon reached a tipping point. 

“We decided we wanted to walk,” Jordan said. The couple spent one week preparing — alerting police they’d be walking the road, telling friends and family, and creating a Facebook group. 

“It was a really nice send-off,” Kimberly recalled. “People came to see us and it was fun.” 

After just a day of walking, she was shocked to find roughly 500 people had joined their Facebook group by the time Kimberly regained cell service — and nearly 100 messages of encouragement. The number of people in the group soon grew to close to a couple thousand.

“We were like, ‘No way!’ And then people were stopping for us along the way, giving us their food and drinks.” 

Originally, the couple’s plan was to walk just the 700-kilometre route from Prince Rupert to Prince George—because their children had been split up between homes in the two cities. 

“Being close to nature, seeing all the animals and getting to connect with everything has been awesome.”

Jordan Joseph

But when the Josephs finally reached “Prince George,” they felt so encouraged by the public’s support that they decided to extend their journey to the province’s capital — an additional walk of more than 800 kilometres south. 

They packed up their car and began leapfrogging their way down — alternating between walking and driving in a shared effort. 

The couple said they’ve found the walk healing. 

“I’ve opened up a lot about my past,” said Kimberly, who herself grew up in the “child welfare” system. “I really don’t ever talk about my past, but I think walking has helped me quite a lot.”

Jordan said the walk has been healing for him too. “Being close to nature, seeing all the animals and getting to connect with everything has been awesome,” he said. The couple weren’t as fond of the countless tiny frogs, grasshoppers, beetles. “We hate insects,” the couple said in unison.

Kimberly says that—besides offering counselling—MCFD also wants her to take parenting and relationship courses. But she believes the structure of such programs are colonial. 

“There’s Indian time, right?” she said. “I’ve never liked Western structure.” 

During their walk, Kimberly and Jordan met with many people through social media who shared their own experiences with the child welfare system. 

“It’s a lot easier to open up to people like that,” Kimberley said, “than to have someone sitting across from you that you don’t really know, that doesn’t say anything back to you other than, ‘How do you feel about that?’”

“I keep telling them if you arrange a visit for us and we can show up, you have no excuse. You should be ready for us to receive our kids.”

Kimberly Joseph

When she and Jordan spoke to IndigiNews in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, it was actually their second time reaching the community. Back in October, the couple had walked as far as Lions Bay— 40 kilometres north of Vancouver—just when MCFD called about a visit they’d managed to arrange with their children. The Josephs headed back north. 

When they resumed their walk in November and finally reached Vancouver, the couple visited two local MCFD offices to ask staff what support systems they have for Indigenous mothers needing help.

Kimberly recalls staff at both offices telling her she should make complaints through “the main office.”

Later, after reaching “New Westminster,” the couple received another phone call from MCFD, alerting them to another visit the agency had arranged with their children. So for a second time, the couple returned north, only to learn the ministry had cancelled the visit due to “poor weather,” said Kimberly. 

“I keep telling them if you arrange a visit for us and we can show up, you have no excuse. You should be ready for us to receive our kids,” said Kimberly.

“Cherish Every Moment”

On Nov. 30, the couple updated that they were finally being given an opportunity to visit their boys for a few hours.

“I can’t wait to see our boys,” Jordan told the Facebook live. “Love and miss them so much.”

With winter quickly approaching, Kimberly doesn’t think they’ll actually reach “Victoria” this year, though she hasn’t completely laid the idea to rest. 

In fact, she’s already planning next year’s walk. 

“We want to do it until something’s done for the foster children,” she said. 

With a pre-trial date being set, Kimberly and Jordan now want to focus their attention on preparing for their day in court, hoping to finally be reunited with their children.

“We have to be watched every time we see ours, so cherish every moment with your kids.”

Jordan Joseph

“Not all parents get to hug their children, not all parents get to play with them, wake up to them, go to sleep and tuck them in,” Kimberly said.

As the couple ponders the next steps on their journey, Jordan added that “time is precious” for any parent. 

“We have to be watched every time we see ours,” he said. “So cherish every moment with your kids.”