More money will help alleviate child welfare caseload
Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 28/01) - The Yellowknife Health and Social Services Board received a green light to hire three permanent child protection workers as part of a territorial-wide hiring drive to lessen employee workloads.
Health and Social Services Minister Jane Groenewegen announced a $1.2-million critical investment fund last week. The fund will, in part, hire 10 new workers throughout the Northwest Territories. Priority will be given to hiring Northern residents.
"It's a good start. We have a long way to go but it's certainly going to make a difference," said Al Woods, chief executive officer for the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Board.
"There is no doubt we are overrun."
Funding is subject to approval of the territory's 2001-2002 budget.
Job postings will likely go up in April.
Over the last year, Yellowknifer has talked to past and present child protection workers who say unmanageable workloads are resulting in a crisis-in-waiting situation.
Furthermore, a Child Welfare League of Canada 2000 report recommended the hiring of 22 new workers for the NWT. The report stressed the immediate need for additional staff in Yellowknife and the Deh Cho.
Subsequently, the government approved the temporary hiring of three protection workers for Yellowknife in December. Their contracts expire next month.
The Union of Northern Workers, the union representing child protection employees, said the number of children in need still exceeds staffing.
Adding three employees to the eight existing child protection workers is indeed progress, said Barbara Wyness, UNW communications officer.
"We are cautiously optimistic," Wyness said. "We see it as a move forward."
Woods said a bigger staff is not necessarily better at this point.
"We couldn't handle 10 new workers at once. We simply don't have the office space or the infrastructure," he said,
However, Woods hopes to see funding for an additional seven workers over the next three years.
The three temporary child protection workers wrapping up three-month contracts next month are welcome to apply for the permanent positions, he said.
"They made a difference. The number of cases per workers dropped," he said.
