ASSESSING SOCIAL WORKERS

In tribute to Ray Ferris I will be re-posting some of his insightful and helpful articles. 

BASIC PRINCIPLES BY WHICH TO ASSESS SOCIAL WORKERS by Ray Ferris

If you want to assess the social workers properly then you need to go back to basic principles. This is what I always start off with and when you do that the matters usually become quite clear. The basic mandate of child protection is to ensure that a child can be made safe at home, or in alternative care. This principle is firmly embodied in the CF&CSA and there are many admonitions to extend help to parents in making sure their children are protected. If we look at what happened to Derek Hoare in the light of these principles, we can quickly see that the director was in dire dereliction of his duty.  

THE BASIC MANDATE OF CHILDREN PROTECTION

Ayn climbed a fence and was missing for a short while, they rushed in to remove her. There can be no doubt that she was at a small risk for an hour or two. This was unforeseeable and could just as easily happen in a foster home. It was in no way due to negligent or irresponsible parenting. 

What the social worker should have done is to sit down with the father and do an in-depth assessment as to what help could be given to make the home safer. It was a simple physical situation. They could have helped him to build a higher fence and they could have offered him some relief help. Something practical. He did not need a psychic re-tread. 

They would have had to spend some money, but not nearly as much as they are spending in the foster home. It has been almost two full years to date. Thousands of dollars to make sure Ayn developed anxiety disorders and a feeling of abandonment.

The ignorance and stupidity exhibited was so severe that it certainly makes one think of malice. Among all the people involved, did not one of them know about attachment deficit disorders, or the mandate to offer assistance? It makes one wonder about malice.

Derek is dad to three children, two of whom live with Autism. He was primary caregiver. One afternoon his autistic daughter Ayn climbed over a backyard fence. When he noticed he called 911 and Ayn was missing for two hours until police found her in a neighbour’s yard. Ayn was seized by child protection and what could have been settled amicably and wisely, turned into a travesty lasting 3 years. Yes, 3 yrs.

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Ray passed away on Dec. 4, 2019 at the age of 90. After a career in civil service in the care and protection of children, Ray retired and championed the rights of children, parents and foster parents who were challenged by government policies and practice. He was generous with counsel to lawyers, MLAs and advocates. He wrote the book, ‘The Art of Child Protection,’ a practical guide for social workers to make best decisions in the interest of children. In the following days, the posts will be material written by Ray Ferris that appeared in my GPS site.

METIS CHILD - JUDGE RULES TOMORROW SEPT 26 - RAY FERRIS SPEAKS OUT, AGAIN!

Ray Ferris has been invested in this case as most advocated spirits are. It’s the case of the Metis child whom MCFD wants to ship from a BC Metis foster parent home to a non-aboriginal home in Ontario because there are two siblings earlier sent there. He has written another piece and sent it to me today. 

(Photo:Mike McArthur/CBC)

"The Metis foster parents spent two days in court last week in Vancouver Supreme Court. Jack Hittrich, their lawyer applied for leave to approach the Supreme Court of Canada on a Charter of Rights application protecting the aboriginal heritage. Of course the MCF director is fighting that tooth and nail and has shown the customary nasty and vindictive behaviour that we have come to expect from the office. There is a publication ban on the case, so you may see nothing in the media. The judge expects to rule tomorrow, Monday Sept 26th. 

RECAP OF JUDGE WALKER'S LANDMARK RULING AGAINST THE MINISTRY OF CHILDREN IN 2015

My GPS weblog covered in 6 parts the momentous litigation between a mother known as J.P. versus the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development. She sued MCFD and won in July 2015.  Hers was a case in which her children were removed from her and given into the care of her husband whom it was alleged had sexually abused them. Justice Paul Walker not only condemned the Ministry but awarded the custody of the children to their mother. Here follows my synopsized version of Judge Walker's 140-page judgement.

Walker's SCATHING INDICTMENT - Part 1 of 6 - Strickland and Tymkow

Walker's SCATHING INDICTMENT - Part 2 of 6 - Closed Minds

Walker's SCATHING INDICTMENT - Part 3 of 6 - Unsupervised Access

Walker's SCATHING INDICTMENT - Part 4 of 6 - First Trial

Walker's SCATHING INDICTMENT - Part 5 of 6 - Trial Two

Walker's SCATHING INDICTMENT - Part 6 of 6 - More Findings

Additional to the 6 part analysis of Judge Walker's ruling, two GPS blog posts comment further to GPS: JUDGE WALKER'S DECISION AGAINST THE MINISTRY OF MCFD … News sources jumped on this story that Judge Paul Walker ruled that the Ministry failed to protect children from sexual abuse by their father, … and GPS: JUSTICE PAUL WALKER STUNNING JUDGEMENT concerns the shock waves caused by the ruling.

As stunning and scathing as it was, the B.C. government has appealed the judgement. It also assigned Bob Plecas to do an independent review. He completed and published that report before year end again MCFD is judged wanting in some areas. Read Plecas' full report here.

A CBC News report headlined the report this way. B.C. child protection system slammed for lack of accountability, leadership, funding - British Columbia - CBC News

The Appeal results are still pending and so is compensation for JP.

PARENTAL CAPACITY ASSESSMENTS (2nd part of 2 parts)

Parental Capacity assessments (2nd of 2 parts)

Written by Ray Ferris. Ray Ferris is a retired child-protection worker and the author of The Art of Child Protection and occasional contributor to this GPS blog.

Let me tell you about a recent case in Victoria family court. A parental capacity assessment was done under contract to the director. This document completely dominated all the judge’s decisions. The PCA was full of serious flaws and I list them below.

1. The psychologist took five months to do the report, claiming it was necessary to read thousands of pages of legal documents. He did no such thing. He read reams of ministry records that he had no business doing because it made him clearly partial and he is supposed to be impartial.

2. He stated he followed standard guidelines, but he failed to state whose guidelines.

3. He stated he was an expert witness before the court. He was not. An expert witness has to be qualified at a court hearing and his expertise can be challenged. His testimony has to stand up to examination and cross-examination under due process.

4. Under section 64 (2) b of the CF&CSA the judge may consider any written submission or documents he considers relevant. So legally a PCA has no more standing than say a school report or a letter of support for a parent.

5. In soliciting input from other professionals such as psychologists and registered counsellors he misrepresented himself. He said he was doing a court ordered assessment. He was under contract to the director.

6.Because of this misrepresentation others felt obliged to share information, which they would otherwise not have done. One of them stated that had he known, he would have not considered him to be impartial and would have been reluctant to help him. ( In one Vancouver case, the judge did not trust the PCA ordered by the ministry, nor the one contracted by the parent and so he ordered his own to be done. Speaks for itself. )

7. The parent sent relevant sections of the PCA to all the professionals who were quoted. They all provided letters confirming that he had misrepresented himself and made a number of changes to their information so that it was skewed in favour of the director. Some of them specifically asked him if he was audio recording the telephone interviews He said he was not, so they took careful notes of what they said. He presented their input as verbatim in his report and so misled the court.

Conclusion. I could go on, but that is enough for a blog. I write this for those readers who may be suffering from a surfeit of parental capacity assessments. I hope this information is of help to you in instructing your lawyers how to deal with these reports, because most lawyers swallow the psychobabble and do not know how to challenge it. Do not hesitate to contact me if you need help with this sort of problem, rtferris@telus.net

LISTEN TO RAY FERRIS - SCRAP THE CHILD, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES ACT

Ray Ferris is my friend. He lives in Victoria so our opportunities for personal contact are few. Our interaction and friendship has been conducted largely online and by phone. We found one another when we were advocating for the return of Paul and Zabeth Bayne's children. That process took over four years to realize a satisfactory outcome. Ray is in his early 80's, is active, alert, articulate and altruistic to the core. He had a career in what is now the Ministry of Children and Family Development, precisely that ministry whose conduct of cases he now finds frequently appalling.

Here in this snatch of prose, he is expressing himself about what has transpired over the past several decades in the care of children by government authorized agencies in British Columbia, Canada.

GETTING PEOPLE, TO GET ALONG: Principles for Empowering People To Be Their Best

Yesterday, I introduced you to a man whom I have known for a number of years, both personally and professionally. I met Dr. Orieux as a dentist, but I got to know him in his capacity as, for want of a better term, a corporate counselor. Dr. Kevin Orieux occupies a unique dual-role in the corporate world. On one hand, he is a professional trainer who teaches leaders how to serve the needs of their people and thereby inspire those same people to ever higher levels of personal performance and fulfillment. On the other hand, he is the owner of the Cloverdale Dental Clinic and he still practices dentistry two days a week. He has written two books on how leaders can create synergy in group settings. The principles that he expounds can positively transform group dynamics, in a business operation, a church, or even in a community service organization such as the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development. In yesterday's blog, I recommended that the Ministry of Children and Family Development would profit enormously if at either a local office or at a regional gathering of social workers, or at the Victoria office of the Ministry, Dr. Kevin Orieux were invited to consult and to teach what he knows. Let me tell you about him and what he can contribute. 

Parents BEWARE! Ayn's Van Dyk's Story, It Could Happen To You: Part 3 / 598

This post in its entirely is a quoted article by Carrie Russo who is a San Pedro Special Education Examiner (published  August 9, 2011 on Examiner.com.) She has recorded as well as anyone has, the synopsis of a heartbreaking family crisis. She writes from her home in California and she has done her homework well and spoken to Derek in order to glean these facts. Her previous two segments were referenced on this GPS site yesterday. This is her latest comment. I credit and quote it in its entirety.

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE – PART 2or5 / 564

Ray Ferris is my guest writer for the next five GPS posts. He retired after a career that included significant years with the MCFD and he has written a book entitled 'The Art of Child Protection.' In five parts here is the substance of a letter already sent to specific officers of the government and offered publicly now using the Bayne Case to expose flaws and to propose remedies in the child protection system.

Yesterdays' post was Part One and entitled "The Bayne Case is an Example of Flaws." It provides the facts of the case and a summary.

NUMEROUS OTHER CASES, ANALYSIS AND REMEDIATION – PART 2

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE – PART 1of5 / 563

Ray Ferris is my guest writer for the next five GPS posts. He retired after a career that included significant years with the MCFD. In five parts this will be the substance of a letter already sent to specific officers of the government and offered publicly now using the Bayne Case to expose flaws and remedies in the child protection system. Here is part one of his letter.



THE BAYNE CASE AS A GRAPHIC EXAMPLE OF FLAWS – PART 1
My purpose in writing to you is to draw your attention to the facts in a particular case and in some related cases in order to illustrate a number of serious problems in the child protection system. Some of these problems are systemic and others are not. Where the problem is systemic, I offer some suggested remedies that can be tried. I think that there are possible remedies for the non-systemic problems, but they are deep-seated and difficult to correct. It can be noted that non-systemic problems cannot by remedied by making administrative or systemic changes. This is one of the reasons why the past systemic changes recommended by people like Gove and Hughes have not worked and have in many respects simply created new problems.