Child protection in the English speaking world has failed so
frequently because it is fundamentally flawed at so many levels. It appears to
have become a system preoccupied with forensics rather than determined and
successful at helping families. A case might be made that the outcomes of the
cases that are handled by CP are steadily worse.
It is critical that Child Welfare, policy designers, CP
service deliverers, MPs and others with influence, power and a stake in the
discussion, honestly examine the data or conduct new research about CP in B.C.
Reasons to do this abound in the number of families that are now fragmented,
and numbers of children who do not come out of the system better for the
experience.
Child Protection officers insist that in keeping with the
legislation that empowers them to remove a child from his or her parents, such
apprehension is used as a last resort. Many of you question that. You argue
that the taking of a child in too many cases while emotional and difficult is
clinically processed on the basis of superficial evidence and badly done investigation.
The reform of child protection must become a priority for
our B.C. government.
This seems like a good thing!
ReplyDelete---------------------------------------------
Province smooths homes for kids
By Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist May 20, 2011 Vulnerable children who are no longer able to live with abusive or neglectful parents will soon have an easier time finding permanent homes with relatives in B.C.
Under legislation introduced yesterday, children already living with extended family can become a permanent member of that home without first having to go into government care.
"It's going to create a simpler and more streamlined process," Children's Minister Mary McNeil said in an interview. "It's going to promote stability for these children."
Previously, if a child was living with extended family members, the government had to take them into continuing care before courts would consider transferring permanent custody to the relatives.
The legislation eliminates that step, and allows the relative to become the child's permanent guardian more quickly and with less disruption to the child. It also makes it possible for caregivers to continue receiving money from the Ministry of Children and Family Development.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the province's representative for children and youth, welcomed the changes.
"I'm very pleased with the legislation," she said.
"It begins to really pin down our desire to have children not come into care, but to be in safe relationships and strong, good placements."
The ministry will be able to make sure that caregivers are properly vetted, that permanent guardians are wellequipped to provide a good home, and that they receive the necessary financial support, Turpel-Lafond said.
"It's a really important alternative to coming into care and staying in care."
The legislation will apply to children placed with relatives under the Extended Family Program as well as those placed with a friend or relative under a temporary court order.
Under the extended family program, relatives can receive monthly financial assistance up to $625, as well as supplementary dental, health and optical coverage. The program's child caseload has increased to 305 from 195 in March last year.
The legislation is the the latest in a series of moves by the ministry's new leadership team to fix long-standing issues.
Earlier, McNeil acted on one of Turpel-Lafond's key recommendations by re-establishing a director of child protection to provide greater accountability and oversight.
"I'm very pleased with that direction," Turpel-Lafond said. "I think it's a very encouraging sign of coming back and remedying some problems that we've had for a bit."
lkines@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/Province+smooths+homes+kids/4815224/story.html#ixzz1MwHKa5Ar
Anon 4:40 PM,
ReplyDeleteThis works only if you have truly good-hearted extended family or relatives. However, many people have extended family members who would turn on them on a dime given the opportunity ... and now they can be paid to do so as well.
In a recent case, extended family berated the mother and inadvertently assaulted the naturally protective father and then attempted to cover that up. Instead of apologizing, more extended family members were recruited by the offending relative and then jointly manipulated the family and broke up the family by taking custody of the mother and child, thus splitting them from the father.
This was carried out using Child Protection Services as a tax-payer-funded government-backed tool/hammer. Of course, CPS did not openly object to being used (or mis-used) in this way.
Certainly, to have loving grandparents or other relatives care for the children is better than potentially abusive foster parents. But it can be far worse to have covertly-malicious relatives grasping for this role.
Therefore, perhaps not surprisingly, this legislation can result in increased business for Child Protection Services, and other unintended consequences. How many more worms are in the woodwork, ready to come out given these new easy-pay incentives?
So what real checks and counter-balances are there to prevent overtly and covertly malicious relatives from taking advantage of the legislation in order to split and hurt the family, said to be the foundation of a nation?
There needs to be more thought and good design put into this legislation. Otherwise it is just as bad or even worse than the current swiss-cheese Act which results in significant injustice for families and hence the nation. Where is the evidence of the kind of careful and insightful thought ( and both private and public discourse) that is essential to build and improve and bug-proof such legislation? .. aside from platitudes expressed by those politically-inclined or financially-inclined, of course.
I sure hope these changes are for the better; I guess we'll have to wait and see.
ReplyDelete----------------------
After years of stalled reforms, the B.C. government plans to accelerate changes to the way it helps vulnerable children.
The new leadership team at the Ministry of Children and Family Development expects to roll out its "transformation" of the child welfare system in the coming months -more than five years after it was promised.
"I think we agree, the new folks that are here, that it's time to move," said Children's Minister Mary McNeil, who was given the portfolio by Premier Christy Clark in March.
The shift from talk to action marks a departure from the leadership style of former deputy Lesley du Toit, who came under fire for presiding over a period of long, drawn-out change.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the independent representative for children and youth, was particularly critical of the ministry for spending too much time on vague plans that delivered little.
McNeil and new deputy, Stephen Brown, have moved quickly to set a new tone. Within days, they reestablished a director of child protection, as recommended by Turpel-Lafond. They also signalled an end to ongoing conflict with the representative by signing a new protocol with her office.
As for transformation, McNeil and Brown say they agree with the direction du Toit was heading, they just intend to get there quicker.
"It's about action," McNeil said.
Brown, whose academic research focused on managing organizational change, said staff are tired of hearing about transformation. "Let's just get it rolled out," he said. "Let's see how it works, let's shape it and incrementally improve it, and get on with it in relation to the kids and families."
The changes promise to enhance the existing focus on keeping families together. Social workers already use some of the tools, such as family group conferences in which relatives meet to find better ways of supporting children.
But staff will be expected to work closer with colleagues to line up services for families, rather than sending them from one office to the next.
"Instead of saying now go join the next lineup, they're actually saying, 'I will bring in my colleague, who's a mental health worker and let's see if we can get those services linked in,' " Brown said.
A similar change will happen in aboriginal communities, where social workers will put supports in place to help them keep control of their children.
Brown recently visited a number of First Nations that have embraced the new approach, he said.
"They said to me, 'This has been a ground change in terms of how you're working with us. You're not doing to us, you're not taking away our children, you're actually supporting us to re-establish some basic elements of our community.' "
Turpel-Lafond supports the changes, saying she is seeing more detailed plans and timelines at the ministry than in recent years.
"I think it's positive," she said. "I think there are some hard issues yet to face, such as: are there enough people doing this work?"
CON'T FROM PREVIOUS POST
ReplyDelete....But she said the ministry's vision seems to match that of former judge Ted Hughes in his 2006 review of the child welfare system. "I feel much more confident today that we're going in the direction that Mr. Hughes suggested in terms of looking at the new approaches to child welfare, making sure they're adequately funded, evaluated and supported."
The people on the front line, however, remain wary after years of rhetoric. Doug Kinna of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union agreed that workers are tired of hearing about transformation. But he said there is still an information vacuum.
"They need to involve front-line staff and let them know where they're going and what they're doing and how they're getting there," he said.
The union also doubts there are enough resources in a flat-line budget to support all the changes. "You need to spend more and more time with families and they don't have the staffing levels," Kinna said.
lkines@timescolonist.com
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/team+revamps+child+welfare+system/4824177/story.html#ixzz1N6FHjo4V
Anyone who wants to keep tabs on what is happening in the legislature regarding MCFD, just type these, or similar, terms into Google:
ReplyDeleteMcNeil, child protection, Hansard
It's really quite fascinating, and important that we know.
Here's an example of a recent debate regarding the budget for MCFD:
http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/39th3rd/D10512y.htm