RESOLVING SYSTEMIC AND NON-SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS IN CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES, Part 7

By Ray Ferris (This piece is one of a series Ray will write here.)

MEDIATION

courtesy www.pa-pa.ca

Mediation is another problem area that needs to be considered. Prior to the enactment of the CF&CSA, discussion, negotiation and mediation were considered to be social work skills. Supervisors would sometimes need to mediate disputes between social workers and clients and this was a much-needed supervisory skill. Mediation is usually most successful when there is no great power differential between the parties. It must also be completely voluntary on both sides.

The legislated mediation often fails for various reasons. First, there is a huge power imbalance between the parent and the social worker. The mediation often takes place when the children have already entered care, and so the parties are already in an adversarial situation. So much so, that some parents feel they need their lawyer present at mediation---even at $2,500 at a time.

SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THE MINISTRY OF CHILDREN'S NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM

This is not ‘new’ news but it is informative and only a few weeks old.

The Liberal government spent a minimum of $182 million dollars on a computer Case Management system. It was installed and it went live on April 1^st. The previous software was thirty years old and by every assessment was antiquated and inadequate. One would think that with the criticism that has been directed at the Ministry of Children and Family Development alleging incompetence and poor case management for countless reasons, that the promised change would be precisely that which is needed right now. Wrong!

It is a system after all. It was not specifically designed for MCFD or for Child Welfare case management for that matter. Oh, Oh! Since it’s inauguration design flaws have been immediately encountered and flagged and implementation flaws have frustrated front-line social workers and in some cases overwhelmed them. Social workers were given almost no time to learn this computerized system which appears to be more complicated than anyone imagined. E-Learning was prescribed as the model by which social workers could educate themselves but not with time off to accommodate that responsibility. Rather, they were to fit this duty into their busy schedules. This is inadequate. Further, there were only 17 online training modules which is woefully insufficient.

By all reports these glitches are not the expected anomalies of a new system but rather there are fundamental flaws with both design and implementation. Over 2000 social workers are campaigning to have the government scrap this new system and begin again. It is allegedly responsible already for some high risk incidents. Reports have been received that work loads have actually increased for workers with regard to certain aspects of their jobs. Social workers have left work distraught and in tears. The Children’s Deputy Minister, Stephen Brown is promising to work on improvements by the end of summer. He denies that the system is worse than what the Ministry used before and expresses not knowledge of safety-related incidents. But he does admit that he has heard from staff who are stressed by the software and training provisions.

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. 

PAINFUL BULLETS OF FACT

Aime (mommy) and Ayn

On the day that Ayn was born in 2001 and Derek saw her for the first time, his heart was hers.

On June 16, 2011 Derek Hoare experienced the unthinkable shock of learning that his nine year old daughter Ayn had been removed from her school by the Ministry of Children and Family Services (MCFD).

He is not accused of harming her. In fact his life has been dedicated to nurturing and understanding her. Ayn is autistic.

Derek was informed that the action to remove his daughter from his care was designed to ease his load of responsibility but in fact it created an intolerable burden.

The End of Compassion and the Triumph of Adversarialism / 510

The Federation Press

This is Good Friday, so named because of what transpired as Jesus, the Son of God expired on a Roman instrument for capital punishment. Western Christians term it "good" whereas Eastern Orthodox Christians refer to this sacred day as "Great and Holy Friday."

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A ministry culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between ethics and power, which mistakes policy and court orders for good practice, which misidentifies management techniques for wisdom, and which fails to keep in mind that the measure of a social service ministry is its compassion, condemns itself to social vilification and to judicial inquiry if not full redesign.

DOUG HUGHES - NEW DIRECTOR OF CHILD WELFARE / 509

On March 31, 2011 Mary McNeil, the new Minister of Children and Family Development re-established the position of provincial director of child welfare by announcing the appointment of Doug Hughes as the new Provincial Director of Child Welfare. She did this in order to provide greater accountability across the province and improve child protection practice.

In so doing she has effectively reversed the decision of former children's minister Mary Polak and her ex-deputy Lesley du Toit, who abolished the position in 2008.  Doug Hughes, currently an assistant deputy minister with the ministry’s Interior region, holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Calgary.