GOVERNMENT WELCOMES AUDITOR GENERAL'S RECOMMENDATIONS ON CHILD WELFARE AUTHORITIES, TAKES ACTION

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Government Efforts Well Under Way To Enhance Child Welfare: Mackintosh

Family Services and Housing Minister Gord Mackintosh and representatives of the province’s child welfare authorities today accepted the recommendations of the Office of the Auditor General on the accountability framework that was in place in 2004 prior to the devolution of child welfare services to the four child and family services authorities.

 

Recommendations also stated the regulations of 1999, which require criminal record, child-abuse registry and other checks only when a person is first licensed as a foster parent or hired with unsupervised access to foster children, be amended so these checks are updated periodically.

 

“Recent reports have recommended more frontline workers and we are acting. Now we are hearing that stronger administrative accountability measures are needed and we will be taking further action,” Mackintosh said. “We are also embarking on a historic initiative to strengthen the ability of child-serving organizations to guard against child sexual abuse.”

 

“Under the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry’s Child Welfare Initiative (AJI-CWI), many of these issues were identified and it was realized that the culturally appropriate authorities would be best equipped to work with agencies, build capacity and engage the communities to improve services to children and families,” said Elsie Flette, CEO of the Southern First Nations Authority.

 

The report, which contains 86 recommendations, does not address the quality of care in the child- welfare system. Considerable progress has already been made to address many of the audit’s most significant concerns but, in response to the report, the Manitoba government and child welfare authorities are announcing the following further action:

·         Creation of a new Child Protection Advisory Council which will develop a comprehensive program available as a tool to enhance the ability of organizations to strengthen safe environments for children. Partnering with Child Find Manitoba, the council will also develop plans for the more effective use of criminal and child-abuse checks as part of the program.  As well, an operational review of the child-abuse registry will also be conducted.

·         An initial investment of $785,000 to double the capacity of the department’s Agency Accountability and Support Unit to 12 members from six.  The unit, which was re-established in September 2004, will provide comptrollership and help all Manitoba Family Services and Housing agencies to achieve compliance with current reporting requirements.  Additional resources will be provided to the authorities to ensure effective financial accountability, comptrollers and quality of services.

·         An initial investment of $1.4 million to step up improvements to the Manitoba Child and Family Services information system will enable better planning and resourcing the child-welfare system. 

·         Establishment of regular reviews by the department and authorities to ensure quality of services by spring 2007.

 

Since March 2004, the provincial government and the child-welfare authorities have already addressed many of the recommendations in the report including:

·         An initial investment of $42 million into child welfare through the Changes for Children action plan, as well as additional resources for foster-care recruitment and improvements.

·         Introduction of legislation to transfer responsibility from the chief medical examiner to the children's advocate for the review of the deaths of children who were in care or had received CFS services in the last year.  The legislation would also require the ombudsman to report publicly on implementation of the recommendations of the children's advocate.

·         Development of a clear and transparent way to fund authorities and their agencies is underway.

·         Re-licensing of foster homes has been prioritized and underway for months, and is expected to be completed by the end of January.

·         Initiation of a review, consistent with the AJI-CWI, by the department and the authorities of all child and family service legislation.

·         Implementation of service purchase agreements with the four child-welfare authorities and most of the agencies.  The remaining agencies will be completed by the start of the 2007-08 fiscal year.

 

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