MCFD Staff Shortage / Part 188 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/

A New Series: MCFD child protection is not working for children and families. The system is broken. The Bayne Family is currently the high profile display case that illustrates where and why the breakdowns repeatedly occur. An analysis may prescribe corrections.


EPISODE THREE: MCFD STAFF SHORTAGE IMPLICATIONS

Families matter. That's the primary reason I mention child protection staff shortages. Of course the shortages have implications for MCFD administrators and for social workers, and that matters. However, it is how these shortages impact the families already involved with MCFD and others inevitably to be entangled with MCFD that truly matters to me.

There are over 9,000 B.C. children living in the care of the Ministry. More than fifty percent of these are Aboriginal. Consider the potential for hundreds of families to receive inadequate service by an understaffed, under resourced MCFD.

An independent review of the B.C. child protection system was published in 2006 under the title 'The B.C. Children and Youth Review (The Hughes Report). It bears the name of his author, Justice Ted Hughes. Shortage of child protection staff had several implications for Hughes. It is not easy to fill the positions left by departing social workers. Child protection social work is not everyone's dream portfolio. Hughes called it the most difficult government job. In speaking to the skill set required for child protection work, the Hughes report mentioned formal training, toughness, warmth, intelligence, compassion, decisiveness and determination are requisite. That's an interesting but plausible list and it strikes me that if social workers are hired who lack half of those protection skills, the service provided will be inferior.

One of MCFD's responses to the Hughes Report was the addition of 180 positions in child protection and mental health services but that was negated by a provincial budget projection in February 2009 calling for a decrease of 185 jobs. Social workers have their own concerns with staff turnovers but so do the parents whose children are in the MCFD system. Parents have at times had to work with an array of social workers and this discontinuity is not merely frustrating to parents but discouraging because relationships, service, understanding, history and data gathering are interrupted.

Resource: Two informative study projects 'Hands Tied' and 'Broken Promises' produced by Pivot Legal Society of Vancouver, a non-profit legal advocacy organization. Pivot Legal Society, 678 Hastings St East, Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1R1 Canada, Tel. (+1) 604 255 9700 / www.pivotlegal.org

BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD / Part 187 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/

A New Series: MCFD child protection is not working for children and families. The system is broken. The Bayne Family is currently the high profile display case that illustrates where and why the breakdowns repeatedly occur. An analysis may prescribe corrections.

EPISODE TWO: BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD

109 child protection workers formerly employed by MCFD participated in a survey, the results of which are insightful if Ms. Dutoit and Ms. Polak want to improve system functions for families and employees.


The Child, Family and Community Services Act (CFCSA) is the cornerstone of B.C.'s child welfare program and it cites as its guiding principle “the best interests of the child.” Present MCFD child protection social workers may believe that they are empowered to act consistently in a child's best interests. On the other hand many may not. They may feel conflicted because they want to do more for a child or take different actions or even to speak out, but they cannot. That is what caused many of the survey respondents to say that they felt they had not been able to accomplish 'best interest' results for children. Many felt they gave inadequate service to children and/or families because of deficient resources, overwhelming case loads and burdensome clerical duties. CFCSA proposes a family-centred approach to child protection services that is supportive of parents and extended families and many respondents stated that they were unable to achieve that end result and did not have access to preventative and supportive service options before the disruptive removal of a child. This services shortage is due largely to the government’s budgetary cutback which impairs the child protection system from fulfilling its mandate to families. The government must re-evaluate priorities and bump up its financial commitment to children and youth so that parents and families no longer become casualties in a system that is failing to support families to keep their children safe in the home and to preserve their children's cultural and kinship connections.

Resource: Two informative study projects 'Hands Tied' and 'Broken Promises' produced by Pivot Legal Society of Vancouver, a non-profit legal advocacy organization. Pivot Legal Society, 678 Hastings St East, Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1R1 Canada, Tel. (+1) 604 255 9700 / www.pivotlegal.org

EXIT INTERVIEW / Part 186 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/

A New Series: MCFD child protection is not working for children and families. The system is broken. The Bayne Family is currently the high profile display case that illustrates where and why the breakdowns repeatedly occur. An analysis may prescribe corrections.

EPISODE ONE: EXIT INTERVIEW

MCFD is losing at least ten percent of its staff every year. Social Workers leave MCFD. Knowing why they leave might be valuable information in retooling yet again.

The legislation entitled Child Family and Community Services Act (“CFCSA”) was inaugurated in 1996 with great promise that child welfare and protection would experience a manner of service delivery devoted to the support of families caring for children in the family home. Social workers wanted to be associated with such progressive intentions. For the past many years many social workers have been jumping ship for personal reasons but often because child protection practices are not living up to expectations. Child protection practices are not living up to CFCSA principles.

More sick days are logged by MCFD staff than across other government departments. Then many of them leave. Social workers leave because they are unable to deal with work related stress. Social workers leave because they are dismayed that they cannot accomplish superior work when the system is under-resourced in terms of personnel and services. They feel that they are unable to accomplish the outcomes projected by the CFCSA of affecting a family centred approach to child protection that actually supports the parents and extended family and communities to care for children safely. Social workers feel they have unmanageable case loads. They do not have funding for or access to preventative and supportive resources with which to help either children or parents. Social workers leave because the system is crisis driven rather than care and solution driven. Social workers leave because they have lost confidence in management and supervisory leadership.

Social workers say that they might stay if they had reduced caseloads and access to improved services and supports for families.

Resource: Two informative study projects 'Hands Tied' and 'Broken Promises' produced by Pivot Legal Society of Vancouver, a non-profit legal advocacy organization. Pivot Legal Society, 678 Hastings St East, Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1R1 Canada, Tel. (+1) 604 255 9700 / www.pivotlegal.org