GNWT falling down on child protection
Auditor general report finds many faults with Child and Family Services in the NWT
Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 10, 2014
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
In 69 per cent of audited cases, foster parents were not properly screened prior to children being placed in their care.
This is just one of the major discrepancies revealed last week in a scathing audit released by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada in a report on Child and Family Services in the NWT.
"The Department of Health and Social Services and the health and social services authorities are not adequately meeting their key responsibilities for the protection and well-being of children, youth and their families," the audit report states.
"It's being taken very seriously," said Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy, before outlining immediate steps his department is taking to improve accountability among the regional health and social services authorities that manage services to families.
Under the current system, the director of Child and Family Services has a legal obligation to enforce the Child and Family Services Act, which states children have a fundamental right to protection from abuse, harm and neglect.
Child protection workers, who work with children and families on a daily basis, are also accountable but there is a gap where the managers and CEOs of regional authorities do not carry that burden of responsibility, said Abernethy.
"That (child protection) worker reports to a manager who reports to a director who reports to a CEO of the authority, and those individuals at the higher echelon of the authority do not have the statutory requirement or accountability. But they will," he said.
The director of Child and Family Services has most of the rights and responsibilities of a parent for children who are in temporary or permanent custody. That accountability can be delegated to assistant directors under the act, but currently only one assistant director exists in the NWT. By July, the CEOs of all seven regional authorities will become assistant directors, with all the obligations that go with it.
"Their jobs will be dependent upon it; making sure the terms and conditions of the legislation are met," said Abernethy.
Another major gap is a lack of information about child and family services. No report has been released since 2002.
"How can we make informed decisions if we don't have data?" asked Abernethy before saying that he has ordered the director to provide him with a report from 2002 to 2012 "pretty much immediately" and that future reports be completed for each fiscal year by the following October.
According to information gleaned by the auditor general, 1,042 children received services under the Child and Family Services Act in 2012-13 and 266 children were under temporary or permanent care. Ninety-five per cent of children who received services were aboriginal.
In terms of funding, the Department of Health and Social Services received $21.3 million to deliver child and family services programming, most of which was provided to the regional authorities.
A lack of reporting and investigations both endangers children, and creates barriers for families who are struggling to turn things around and bring their children back home.
"In the Northwest Territories, the vast majority of children who are entering care are as a result of neglect, not abuse," said Abernethy.
In cases of neglect, the department should be working with families to address poverty, health, addiction and other issues that would allow them to provide a healthy home for their children, he said.
"We know children benefit from being with family as opposed to being with other people. So, we want to work on changing this fundamentally to focus more on the family where there is no risk of sexual or physical abuse."
On top of working on addressing the 11 recommendations put forward by the auditor general, work is still underway to follow through on the 73 recommendations made during the 16th assembly, where MLAs conducted an in-depth review of child and family services.
Not mentioned in the audit but included in the 16th assembly's recommendations is the need to support traditional child-care alternatives, where children are placed with relatives within their home community when parents can no longer care for their kids.
This is an area Deline plans to focus on if their self-government agreement is approved by membership this week, said chief negotiator Danny Gaudet.
"There's reluctance for people to take kids now, because on one hand the system recognizes placing the child and giving money for that but it doesn't recognize someone taking the initiative to looking after a child that's in need," he said.
Gaudet questioned whether the so-called "Child and Family Services" really is supporting families or if they are focusing on removing children from homes.
"Right now they're focused on protecting the child, and that's really important, but I keep asking what is it that the system is doing to support a family that's in need."
"We're frustrated as hell in the community that we don't have the tools to do that. That's why we've negotiated self-government."
Creating healthy families takes an integrated approach and involves health care, mental health, addiction services, nutrition, recreation, employment and myriad other issues, which Gaudet said may be why the large bureaucracy of the GNWT struggles to provide a comprehensive approach for families.
Right now, the system is reactionary instead of proactive, he said.
"The first priority should be making sure the kids are never taken away," he said.
NWT Child and Family Services audit
* Of the 36 foster care home files audited, 69 per cent did not undergo required screenings before children were placed in their care. Screenings include reference letters, criminal record checks, home studies, and confidentiality agreements.
* Annual reviews of foster care homes were not completed on 81 per cent of the audited files.
* Of the 46 child protection concern reports audited, 28 per cent reported concerns were not investigated.
* Out of 221 investigation files examined, the required interviews with parents, children, and other parties were not conducted in 27 per cent of investigations.
* Of the 225 audited investigations, 18 per cent were not completed within the required 30 days after a report of concern was received.
* Although legislation requires investigations to include longer-term risk assessment to determine the potential future risk of neglect of abuse, none of the 225 audited investigations contained a long-term risk assessment.
Source: Report of the Auditor General of Canada
