Thank you, Mr. Moses. Your motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The department started developing the Child and Family Services Standards and Procedures Manual in 1998, and despite trying to complete this work, it has never ever been completed and has never kept pace with changes to the act or the best practices in child welfare. Just to note the absence of standardized procedures for all key responsibilities is a significant deficiency. It represents a great failure to support child protection workers and this likely affects morale, staff turnover and, ultimately, the well-being of children when our workers are not supported nor have anything to go by. Committee strongly agrees that these need to be completed by December 2014.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We obviously agree with this recommendation given that I’ve already indicated we intend to have this manual completed by October, and I agree with the Member’s comments as well.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Moses.
Madam Chair, I move that the Department of Health and Social Services, in consultation with the health and social services authorities, develop a process for all parties involved in the delivery of child and family services to share information on best practices and challenges in delivery of these of these services.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Your motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Yes, just briefly, Madam Chair. Just speaking in terms of wraparound services and all those that are working with our child that is in care, I think it is almost common sense and with the Health Information Act that we’re working on that this might be something that we can move forward into where RCMP, teachers and anybody associated with the high-risk child or the child in service that some kind of plan of care of treatment is in place, so this is something that we’d like the department to work on.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Within the system we have actually established the regular quarterly meetings of the directors of social programs to help provide a forum for this exchange. We have also made child and family services a standing agenda item at the Joint Senior Management Committee meetings of CEOs and departmental senior staff that happen every second month. We will explore ways to expand these efforts to include other stakeholders.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services, in consultation with the health and social services authorities, provide training to all child protection workers for all key responsibilities required to carry out child and family services; and further, that the department assess whether the training provided is meeting the needs of child protection workers to deliver child and family services and make any necessary improvements as soon as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Auditor General did indicate that when he was doing their questioning, some of the child protection workers did indicate that they did receive training, but the level of training that they did receive varied from child protection worker to child protection worker, and I feel that that is something that needs to be standardized and something that needs to be in place so that all children that are in child protection cases have the same equal service delivery and we provide that same service delivery. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The statutory training is continually adjusted based on feedback from the different participants, but I hear the Member and I support the recommendation 21. The new action plan will include an evaluation of the Statutory Training Program and it will be updated accordingly.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services implement an ongoing formal process whereby child protection workers have an opportunity to recommend improvements for the child and family services system. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In consultations with the department, we did hear that there were informal consultations with the child protection workers. We want to make sure that there’s something formally in place where instead of child protection workers being afraid to say how they really feel, that as front-line workers, as case workers seeing what’s happening in the homes, on the streets, in the communities, that they provide the recommendations that will really have a strong impact and effect on this act as we move forward and that it should come from the bottom up rather than top down and that we have everybody give quality input into making sure that children receive the services that they need and they get the resources and the type of training that they receive. Thank you, Madam.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Getting feedback and input from the front-line providers is critical, as they’re the ones dealing with the residents of the Northwest Territories on a daily basis. There are two formal processes already in place. Suggestions for improvements to the child and family services system can be brought to the attention of regional directors of social programs, who meet on a regular basis to discuss program matters, and also suggestions for improvements to the child and family services system can be brought to the attention of the chief executive officers, who can place these on the agenda items for the Joint Senior Management Committee, which is meeting on a regular basis with child and family services as a standing agenda item.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services revise the funding methodology for the regional authorities upon completing the assessment of required resources. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It was a recommendation that I think came out of the 2000 report, as well, and something that went right back, I think it even mentioned 1977. It talked about requiring financial and human resources for this area with child and family services and nothing has been developed. There has been no caseload standards being developed and we’ve heard in some cases where a certain child protection worker might have had up to 100 cases and some of them might only have a few. So we want to make sure it’s something standardized, caseload management, and that each health authority has the proper financial and human resources to effectively offer quality child and family services to the clients and the families. So this is a recommendation that came out of that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We’ve already indicated, and I’d like to indicate again, that we agree with recommendation 23.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Department of Health and Social Services establish territory-wide caseload standards for child protection workers; and further, that the department ensure that the caseloads are fairly balanced across the regional authorities; and furthermore, that the due consideration be given to regional variation of duties, demands and available resources. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Thank you. Yes, just briefly, I think the motion states specifically what we need here and I also think that there does need to be inventory assessment of caseloads across the Northwest Territories in the regions and maybe identify which regions have the highest caseloads and start putting some of our resources, financial, human, towards those regional authorities that we can assist and provide quality care for our children and our families. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We do want to move to a more sort of coordinated caseload count, but it’s difficult to arrive at a caseload standard when each case is unique and may require a different amount of time, different expertise and varying resources. There are also regional differences, such as distance between communities, that must be factored into resource decisions.
I’ve already indicated we will be working with the Child Welfare League of Canada to ensure that we are applying best practices in determining caseloads, but moving to one single integrated system, obviously moving to one single integrated system will make it easier to deploy resources as required to areas of greatest need. But in determining caseloads, we must keep in mind some of the varying realities throughout the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
