CODE OF PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE / Part 300 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/

I offer what you read here today, not as an assessment of what is, but what might be. It is offered with the conviction that social work is beneficial within our society and that good social workers want to accomplish altruistic goals for fellow citizens. Do you think that our Ministry of Children and Family Development and particularly the social workers employed within the child protection arm of the Ministry could use a Code of Professional Excellence and of Service Excellence like this?

CODE OF PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE
Recognizing the importance that BC citizens place on MCFD, our Code of Professional Excellence sets clear principles to guide our practice and to inspire professional excellence among the entire MCFD team. We want to exceed citizen expectations.

KNOWLEDGE: We are always learning about children, youth and families as well as our practices and service opportunities and always teaching one another. We manage what we know in order to share it across the regions.
HIGHEST STANDARDS: We observe the highest standards of integrity, competence and professionalism. We want to be the best and do our best and we take pride in our purpose and work.
INNOVATION: We continually examine and improve our operations and services and discover better problem solving options as well as use education and technology to improve our efficiency.
COLLABORATION: We are a team of teams working together in British Columbia to make the best possible use of our collective resources for the benefit of all our case clients.
CONTRIBUTION: We want our children, youth and families in our cities, towns, villages, communities and among our First Nations communities to be better because we have been involved to assist them.

CODE OF SERVICE EXCELLENCE
The companion code to the Code of Professional Excellence is our Code of Service Excellence.

RESPONSIVENESS: We demonstrate our availability by a prompt service response to calls from institutions and private citizens and seek to accomplish our work in a timely manner in keeping with our mandate.
UNDERSTANDING: We develop solutions to achieve the best interests of children, youth and families by our understanding of their life situations, sensitivity to their needs and desires and by direct personal attention by our professionals who have the appropriate experience and compassion.
VALUE: We manage our work efficiently, delivering sensitive yet pragmatic solutions to achieve best case results that serve the best interests of families as well as children.
THINKING AHEAD: We anticipate the needs of our case clients by briefing them about their rights, about courses of action, about mediation and legal options and all things related to their life situations.

CLARITY: We listen to our case clients and maintain open and active communication to ensure clear understanding of the issues, responsibilities and tasks at hand and in the future.