Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. It’s in regard to the length of time that these custom adoption processes are taking.
Has her department looked at the possibility of doing a review on the program to find out where the barriers are or why the process is taking so long? Has the Minister directed her department to look at the possibility of finding out, of streamlining this process so that it doesn’t take as long as it does now, where it’s taking a year and a half to approve an application?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for the question and for talking to me about it.
I can advise the Member and the House that normally a custom adoption process should not take that long at all. It’s quite a routine process. The department does not have a direct role to play. It merely ratifies adoptions that have been agreed to. Usually this is a pretty speedy process and without too much hardship.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if she had an opportunity to talk to the Minister of Justice to see if it’s possible to make amendments to improve this program and also look at the possibility of improving access for, especially, grandparents to their grandchildren? Since the legislation has been passed, grandparents’ rights to their grandchildren seem to have been watered down, that they’re no longer part of the approval process and also of having the ability of access that they had in the past.
Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding — and I’d be happy to look into that — that as the system stands now, as long as the parties agree on the adoption arrangement, they put the documents together through the adoptions commissioner in regional offices. They just have to submit that to the Supreme Court, and the department issues adoption certificates thereafter. In the situation that the Member has brought forward to me, there were some logistical errors and uncompleted documents that caused difficulty.
I just want to reiterate that the custom adoption process is quite simplified. It’s a process that the department and the government support, and I’d be happy to look into the possibility of making it easier for grandparents, which I believe can be done because we, by and large, as a government support custom adoptions.
Mr. Speaker, in regard to the adoption process, I mentioned to the Minister that a lot of times children are taken away from their home community, from their immediate family, and moved elsewhere. I’d like to ask the Minister: is there a program in place to reunite the children with their families, say at Christmas, Easter, summer, whatnot? Also, who pays for that cost of bringing these families back together during special occasions of the year like Christmas, Easter, summer holidays, whatnot? A lot of times I get that question asked by grandparents wanting to see their grandchildren. Again, if they’re taken out of their home communities, they don’t have that day-to-day access, and they might be lucky to see them at Christmas.
I’d like to ask the Minister: is there that program in place, and is it being explained to the public exactly how that program works?
Mr. Speaker, I think one thing we should be aware of is the fact that adoptions of any kind — and that includes custom adoptions — make an arrangement between a parent and child more like the natural parent and child relationship, in that once you adopt a child, you become responsible for all of their financial issues and other responsibilities that a natural parent would. The adoption process legalizes that relationship. This is a question that often comes up in cases comparing foster-parent situations to adoption. Once you adopt a child or if a grandparent adopts a child, a lot of financial support that might have been there in other circumstances will not be there anymore.
Mr. Speaker, custom adoption is nothing new to aboriginal people. They’ve been doing it for thousands of years, and I think it’s important to realize that that process still exists in a lot of our communities. The frustration that we’re having in the aboriginal communities is that because the way the legislation is drafted, a lot of people are losing the traditional ability to custom-adopt, of how it used to be in the past. So I think it’s important that as government we look at it to see if it’s meeting the measurement of aboriginal people on exactly what their expectations are, especially grandparents.
I’d like to ask the Minister again if she would get back to me on the possibility, dates and times, of whether there are going to be amendments made, along with the Minister of Justice, so that we can amend it to make sure that it takes into account those issues that I raised here today.
Mr. Speaker, I’m happy to make that commitment to look at the process to see what improvements, if any, could be made and whether or not it would require legislative amendments. It is my understanding that over the years we have gone a long way in improving and supporting this process, but obviously if there’s any room for improvement, I would be happy to look at that with the Member.
Question 99-16(2)
Public Service Medical
In my Member’s statement I pointed out that the Yukon government has a better way of ensuring that their employees receive their prescription drug reimbursement in a timely fashion. I pointed out that the G.N.W.T. puts unnecessary stress on its employees who are already sick and need their medication to get better, to stabilize their chronic illness so they can actually make it to work.
New in the mail to me I’ve got an update from the Public Service Health Care Plan, Mr. Speaker, indicating that they are working at getting us a pay-direct drug card, but they’ve put it off for another year, till sometime in 2009. I’d like to ask the Minister of Human Resources: can the Minister look at and work with the negotiation process to see if they can speed up the process of getting it implemented back to 2008?
Mr. Speaker, I’m very pleased that the Member asked that question, because we always want to make sure that our employees are well treated, and we don’t want to inflict any undue hardship on our employees. I’d have to get some more detailed information from the Member, because as I understand it, employees, on a monthly basis, fill out a declaration form with the drugstore of their choice or the pharmacy of their choice, and as long as they submit this monthly form, they only get charged for 20 per cent. Having said that, I’m certainly prepared to improve the system.
Mr. Speaker, there are still employees out there using their cash, and it’s being tied up in the health care system, and it’s much-needed cash, especially in these times.
Can the Minister tell me when he can get back to me with the information he’s committed to? I think he mentioned about some kind of form that they fill out. I don’t know if that exists. Maybe he can tell me about it. I think that the important thing here is that a drug care card will be a lot more efficient and effective for our employees. I’d like to know when the Minister will be working on this issue so that employees get it a lot sooner. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, we can check into that right away. I understand that in the communities drugs are provided at no cost and that in the larger centres that do have pharmacies, with the forms that are submitted, they are only charged 20 per cent. So we’ll undertake to look at which employees are falling through the cracks, and also we will work towards having a more efficient system.
Mr. Speaker, just in terms of implementing this pay-direct drug card, I’d like to know: what exactly are the issues? Negotiations have been underway since 2006. It’s been a couple of years now. What exactly is the issue that’s delaying it for another year, to 2009? Mahsi.
There are a number of issues that have to be dealt with. I guess the most critical one would be for the businesses or pharmacies that dispense the drugs to have the equipment and technology to be able to utilize such a drug card.
Secondly, how do you control costs or dispensing of drugs? It would have to be a system whereby only approved drugs would be dispensed, and there would have to be some sort of cost control.
