FAQs

Keep these provincial numbers where you can find them fast. For any life-threatening situation, call 911. For a child in care emergency outside office hours (normally 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday), call the MCFD After Hours Line at 1-800-663-9122 — in the Lower Mainland, 604-660-8180. To report suspected child abuse or neglect, call the Ministry Helpline for Children at 310-1234, staffed 24/7, no area code needed. For poisoning or exposure to a harmful substance, call the Poison Control Centre at 1-800-567-8911, available across BC, 24 hours a day.

Alongside these, keep your own local numbers on the fridge or in your phone: local police and fire non-emergency lines, your nearest hospital emergency room, a local crisis or distress line, and the names and numbers for your child’s social worker, your resource social worker, and your child’s doctor and dentist.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

It depends on the situation. For anything life-threatening, call 911. To report suspected child abuse or neglect, call the Ministry Helpline for Children at 310-1234 — anywhere in BC, 24 hours a day, no area code needed. For an emergency involving a child in your care that can’t wait until the next business day, call the MCFD After Hours Line at 1-800-663-9122. If a child has swallowed or been exposed to a substance you’re worried about, call the Poison Control Centre at 1-800-567-8911.

If a situation is urgent but not an immediate safety emergency, the Foster Parent Support Line (1-888-495-9122) offers confidential consultation in the evenings and on weekends. When in doubt about whether something is urgent enough to call, make the call anyway — support staff would rather help early than intervene late.

Sources: CFS Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide; MCFD Foster Family Handbook