Children's voices are being heard
New government department has taken on 61 cases since September
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, July 18, 2016
NUNAVUT
It has taken some time but the office of the representative for children and youth is making progress.
Sherry McNeil-Mulak, the representative for Children and Youth, said in June that her office has taken on 61 individual cases involving children and youth in the territory. - Michele LeTourneau/NNSL photo |
When the 2014-2015 annual report from the representative for children and youth was tabled in the legislative assembly at the last session in June, the office had only been open for nine months.
"In 2014-2015 we were strictly under office development - the office wasn't open. The provisions of our legislation to allow us to take cases and to do the work that we're now doing were not in effect," said Sherry McNeil-Mulak, the representative for children and youth.
Now that it's staffed and operational, McNeil-Mulak spent some time with Nunavut News/North to go over the activities of the office.
"Some of those phone calls were issues, people bringing issues to our attention but because our act wasn't in force there wasn't advocacy that could be provided. But we made a very firm decision that that was valuable information."
McNeil-Mulak says a temporary data base was created and nine of those systemic files will be reviewed by the systemic investigator.
"There is absolutely no shortage of systemic issues," she said. "A systemic issue is an issue that affects more than one child or youth, an issue that presents as a potential policy or procedural flaw or a lack of adherence to policy or procedure. Or maybe there's a need for legislative change. It's those big issues that impact a big group of children and youth."
Such issues would involve government departments including Family Services, Health, Justice and Education.
The systemic investigator will be tackling those in the coming year. McNeil-Mulak says the focus so far has been on individual advocacy.
"The individual advocacy part is the part of our office that we said we'd be ready to take on from day one. Because our mandate is so broad we have a very deliberate phased-in approach," she said.
"From the first day that we opened, our phones rang and cases started to roll in."
Since Sept. 30, the office has taken on 61 cases.
"From lower end of the spectrum, someone might call and they want information about a program or service. They might want to know what their rights are. Then we creep up and we get more into the other end of the spectrum - complex advocacy. Then there's that area in between.
"All along that spectrum we look for opportunities to teach youth and their families to self-advocate."
However, she said the cases tend to fall mostly in the moderate to high complexity range.
"They aren't cases that are opened and closed quickly. It signals to us that life is complex for kids and often there are multiple service providers intersecting and providing care in a child's life."
Because of confidentiality, the representative could only speak broadly about characteristics that would make a case complex, such as multiple service providers who are not co-ordinated in their approach or a need for a service that may not be available in the territory.
"And it tends to be something that didn't just happen last week, it's been going on for a while, which not only adds to the complexity but also to the frustration in a child's and family's life," said McNeil-Mulak.
She says so far they are seeing success in individual cases, with each success as different as the cases they involve.
"Sometimes success is getting the right people to the right table to have the right conversation and we play the lead role in co-ordinating that and facilitating that discussion and breaking down the barriers between them, and focusing people on the client.
"When that happens, good things happen for kids. Then kids are placed where they need to be placed, they get the services they need to receive."
Of most importance to McNeil-Mulak is that the child's or youth's voice is heard and that their own needs as they express them are considered.
"That doesn't always mean that what the child puts forward may be the outcome, but it does absolutely need to be considered. That's at the centre of the work that we do.
"That's a success and a shift compared to what we're used to seeing."
Family members have approached the office, but also services providers.
"That wasn't a surprise to us. We expected it. I don't know if we expected (service providers) would be one of the leading ways matters were raised to our attention, but it certainly has turned out that way," said McNeil-Mulak
To date, staff has visited 10 communities and they hope to visit the remaining 15 this year.
"Kids have rights and people need to be aware of that and respect that. People can expect to continue to see us out in communities working with service providers, with schools and just really promoting that message. That's our job and we're just starting."
McNeil-Mulak currently heads a staff of eight, all of whom are Northerners, including three Inuit beneficiaries - this despite 271 of 366 applicants being non-residents.
The office recognized the importance of a culturally representative team, according to its annual report.
