There are other children who must be heard and not merely the three Bayne children for whom I advocate a return to their birth family home.
Are you aware that almost 16,000 BC children live outside their family homes at any given time each year? They are children from infancy to age of majority. Some will be more expressive and language proficient than others but all should be heard if they have something to say and particularly if they have a complaint that requires resolution. If they are receiving services from our government then they should have opportunity to express concerns and receive responses appropriate in time and in kind. In his 2006 review of B.C.’s child protection system, Mr. Hughes recommended that MCFD have a complaint system that young people would find accessible, easy to use and would provide a timely response. And they need to be informed that they have this option. As a responsible guardian the government must listen and must make considerate decisions that reflect to a child that he or she has been heard. They must be told that there is a process for complaint and resolution or it will never work.
The Ministry of Children and Family Development regional operations and B.C. delegated Aboriginal Agencies purportedly have a complaint resolution process for children in care but according to a review conducted by the B.C. Representative for Children and Youth (the Representative) and the B.C. Ombudsperson, many children have never known about this process. This special review used a child-centered framework to examine the complaint resolution process of the MCFD regional operations and of B.C. delegated Aboriginal Agencies and the review was delivered in January 2010. The review clarifies that a responsive child-centered complaint resolution process must have the key elements of awareness, accessibility and timeliness and all those points were examined in this review.
One of the conclusions was “Children and youth have a right to voice complaints about services and the care they are receiving. They deserve a complaint resolution process that hears the voice of children, demonstrates commitment to young people, contributes to better individual outcomes and improves services overall for children, youth and their families.”
Hearing the Voices of Children and Youth: A Child-Centered Approach to Complaint Resolution
In this report, Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond and Ombudsperson Kim Carter identify seven ways for the Ministry of Children and Family Development to make its complaint process more accessible and responsive to the vulnerable young people it serves.
To view the full report, click here.
To view the summary report, click here.
To view the video, click here.
To view the news release, click here.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
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Hi Ron; I have not written for a few days because I have been busy elsewhere. Did you know that there used to be a clause in the CF&CSA that a child care plan could not be altered for older children, withoutgiving them a chance to appeal to the child advocate.Joyce Preston was the child advocate until the government terminated the position. Catch 22.If the advocate could only intervene before a move and could not undo it. As most of the social workers did not know the act, kids never got told about their rights.Nothing in the act said that children must be told their rights! In any case that section was thrown out with the child advocate.
ReplyDeleteThe transcript of the three days of Finn Jensen's closing arguments covered 237 pages and cost nearly $700.00 The transcript came out on October 28th and a response has to be in by the end of this week. As Doug Christie is at the otheer end of the country all week this is a challenge. We will cope.
In the next few days I want to write about cases from my advocacy files, interspersed with a few case histories from my book. Cheers!
Ray,
ReplyDeleteWhere can we purchase a copy of your book, and what is the title?
Thank you.
To anon 2.37 PM. Your best bet is to email me at rtferris@telus.net
ReplyDeleteFrom complaint letters through to informing customers of their rights and responsibilities, this service offers a number of services to consumers to make the complaint resolution process easy.
ReplyDeleteWhen you receive a complaint, try and turn it into an opportunity. In other words, don't look at it from a negative point of view, but look at it as an opportunity to improve, a way to refine your service and also as a way to learn about the finer points of complaint resolution, as said repeatedly by your business coach.
ReplyDeletecomplaint resolution