Report Calls for More Social Workers to Protect B.C. Children
Wendy McLeod (October 8, 2015). Kelowna Now. Retrieved from: https://www.kelownanow.com/watercooler/news/news/Provincial/15/10/08/Report_Calls_for_More_Social_Workers_to_Protect_B_C_Children/
B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth has called on the
Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) to do more in order
to bolster child protection at the front lines.
In the report released Thursday, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says the provincial government needs to boost its investment in front-line social workers, adding there is a dramatic mismatch between expectations placed on child protection social workers and the number of staff available province-wide who can do the work.
The report, which is entitled The Thin Front Line: MCFD staffing crunch leaves social workers over-burdened, B.C. children under-protected, states there were fewer front-line workers in 2015 than there were in 2002.
It says that at any given time, 10 per cent of child protection positions in the province are unfilled.
“The provincial government has known about this situation for years, but has not done nearly enough to address it,” said Turpel-Lafond. “Children and families in B.C. have paid the price for this and so have social workers whose job is already difficult enough without the impossible workloads and unfilled vacancies now occurring across MCFD offices.”
The report goes on to say that child protection standards timelines “routinely go unmet and children and youth are too often left in unsafe situation while social workers are increasingly disillusioned and burned out.”
“These standards are there for a reason, to ensure that kids are safe and the work must be done to ensure child protection services meet timelines and reach all impacted children and youth,” said Turpel-Lafond.
However, Children’s Minister Stephanie Cadieux feels differently, saying Turpel-Lafond’s data is out of date and they’ve hired 110 new child protection workers. She says she’s confident the ministry is “moving forward to getting to a place where all of the staff is feeling they can accomplish their jobs and have support they need.”
It was announced last year that the government was going to hire 200 additional staff members.
“We are also doing a lot of work with reorganizing how we do work in the ministry to remove administrative type tasks from the front-line so social workers can spend their time working directly with their clients and families,” said Cadieux. “When all of that work is done, and we’re at the end of this year, if indeed we still see challenges in how our work is being accomplished across the province, then I will have an opportunity at that point to reassess whether or not we need additional staff moving forward.”
Turpel-Lafond is calling on the government to increase the MCFD’s budget by six per cent and have foster care extended from 19 years of age to 24.
“I’m personally less concerned about whether or not we extend foster care in its form to 24 and more concerned with changing the outcome for kids as they age into adulthood,” added Cadieux.
The entire report can be read here. It comes just weeks after Alex Gervais, a B.C. teenager in government care, died while living in a hotel.
In the report released Thursday, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says the provincial government needs to boost its investment in front-line social workers, adding there is a dramatic mismatch between expectations placed on child protection social workers and the number of staff available province-wide who can do the work.
The report, which is entitled The Thin Front Line: MCFD staffing crunch leaves social workers over-burdened, B.C. children under-protected, states there were fewer front-line workers in 2015 than there were in 2002.
It says that at any given time, 10 per cent of child protection positions in the province are unfilled.
“The provincial government has known about this situation for years, but has not done nearly enough to address it,” said Turpel-Lafond. “Children and families in B.C. have paid the price for this and so have social workers whose job is already difficult enough without the impossible workloads and unfilled vacancies now occurring across MCFD offices.”
The report goes on to say that child protection standards timelines “routinely go unmet and children and youth are too often left in unsafe situation while social workers are increasingly disillusioned and burned out.”
“These standards are there for a reason, to ensure that kids are safe and the work must be done to ensure child protection services meet timelines and reach all impacted children and youth,” said Turpel-Lafond.
However, Children’s Minister Stephanie Cadieux feels differently, saying Turpel-Lafond’s data is out of date and they’ve hired 110 new child protection workers. She says she’s confident the ministry is “moving forward to getting to a place where all of the staff is feeling they can accomplish their jobs and have support they need.”
It was announced last year that the government was going to hire 200 additional staff members.
“We are also doing a lot of work with reorganizing how we do work in the ministry to remove administrative type tasks from the front-line so social workers can spend their time working directly with their clients and families,” said Cadieux. “When all of that work is done, and we’re at the end of this year, if indeed we still see challenges in how our work is being accomplished across the province, then I will have an opportunity at that point to reassess whether or not we need additional staff moving forward.”
Turpel-Lafond is calling on the government to increase the MCFD’s budget by six per cent and have foster care extended from 19 years of age to 24.
“I’m personally less concerned about whether or not we extend foster care in its form to 24 and more concerned with changing the outcome for kids as they age into adulthood,” added Cadieux.
The entire report can be read here. It comes just weeks after Alex Gervais, a B.C. teenager in government care, died while living in a hotel.
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