RAY FERRIS TO TIMES COLONIST AND MPPs

A letter from Ray Ferris - Written to the Times Colonist  

Ray Ferris is a retired child-protection worker and the author ofThe Art of Child Protection.

"You report another child welfare horror story. Such professional incompetence is entrenched and institutionalized in British Columbia and many other child welfare jurisdictions. The Internet is rife with horror stories. Ian Mulgrew of the Vancouver Sun recently covered a case that cost an estimated two to three million dollars before the children’s ministry withdrew from the case and returned the children to the mother. Anyone can read the scathing judgement here.

WHAT WE GET FOR WHAT WE GIVE

We pay good money to operate a government for the people.

We pay our taxes, all of us do, as citizens of the commonwealth, the federal government of Canada, and the British Columbia government for a province that we call home. We love it here and together we are the people.

Our expectations are routine enough. We want reliable representation by ordinary people standing in on our behalf to create and manage respectable law and policy to service people and the communities in which we live.

We value statements by government agencies that have the sound of credibility such as “In the best interests of children.” We believe innocently, naively that all agencies mean what they say, or that all employees within them, operate with authenticity.

Then something like this happens.

RAY FERRIS' RESPONSE TO TURPEL-LAFOND's COLONIST ARTICLE

Photograph by: LYLE STAFFORD, Times Colonist

Today, the Times Colonist newspaper published Ray Ferris's most recent letter to the editor. He writes in reference to Sunday, February 24th's Colonist article entitled, "EVERY CHILD DESERVES A HOME," which was written by B.C.'s Representative of Children, Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond. Ray's letter was published with the subject heading, 'Provide foster parents with long-term guarantee'. Ray gave me permission to print it here in its entirety without alteration.

A COMPUTER SYSTEM IS NOT MCFD's ONLY PROBLEM

A Colossal Failure - That's the System that Manages 
Child Protection in B.C.

Today I am featuring a blog remark by Ray Ferris who is responding to a Victoria Times Colonist article written by Lindsay Kines and entitled Children's watchdog says computer system for social workers a “colossal failure,” dated January 25, 2013.  Hers is a copyrighted piece so Ms. Kines credited remarks are seen in red. Ray’s are seen in blue.

DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST

The article is subtitled, MARY ELLEN TURPEL-LAFOND, THE REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, SAYS A DEEPER LOOK AT THE PROVINCE'S INTEGRATED CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IS NEEDED.  

“We’re in deep trouble,” she said. “This is a deeply serious problem,” were the words of Representative for Children and Youth Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, in response to a consultant’s report released by the province on Thursday, which confirms her warning from a year ago that the $182-million integrate case management system is woefully deficient and inefficient.