In B.C., birth alerts happened between 1980 and 2019. Child welfare workers with the Ministry of Children and Family Development, or a delegated Indigenous agency, reached out to hospitals ahead of a pregnant person giving birth, flagging the child as potentially needing protection after delivery. Many infants, especially Indigenous infants, were apprehended from their parents shortly after being born because of this practice. In many instances the parents were never told they were subject to a birth alert.