Child protection system 'stretched beyond limits'
Hagen says he accepts 'balanced' report that paints picture of ministry in constant turmoil

B.C.'s child protection system has been "stretched far beyond its limits" by too many changes at a time of deep budget cuts, former judge Ted Hughes said in a report released Friday. In a scathing indictment of Liberal government policies, the B.C. Children and Youth Review by Hughes paints a picture of a system and ministry in turmoil with a "revolving door" at key leadership positions. "The strongest impression I have gleaned from this inquiry is one of a child welfare system that has been buffeted by an unmanageable degree of change,' Hughes writes. "And much of this has gone on against a backdrop of significant funding cuts, even though it is commonly understood that organizational change costs money."

The report notes that from mid-2002 to mid-2003 the Ministry of Children and Family Development faced a nearly 12 per cent budget cut. The executive and support services -- including quality assurance -- were slashed by 55 per cent, he said. At the same time, the ministry was bringing in new programs to keep more children with their families even as the government cut services that support those families. Social workers received no training in using the new programs, Hughes said.

The ministry also appointed five new regional directors of child welfare, began planning the transfer of services for the developmentally disabled to a new community living authority, and collapsed 11 regions into five. Quality assurance, child- death reviews, and audits were transferred to the regions without the staff left at head office to make sure they were being carried out. In fact, audits on ministry performance were suspended, Hughes found. "Each of these changes, taken alone, posed challenges to the organization," Hughes said. "Taken together, they created a climate of instability and confusion that could only detract from the ministry's work on behalf of children. "Any organization has a finite capacity for managing change, particularly in a climate of budget restraint, and this ministry has been stretched far beyond its limits."

Further exacerbating the situation, the government's core review weakened, or eliminated the very people speaking out on behalf of children and families, Hughes said. In an effort to reduce overlapping services, the government abolished the child, youth and family advocate, the mental health advocate, and the family advocate in the Attorney General's Ministry, while also cutting legal aid funding for family matters. "I don't think there's any doubt that the core review of 2001-2002 took the knife too far," Hughes told reporters Friday.

Children and Families Minister Stan Hagen said he accepted Hughes's findings and called it "a pretty balanced report.'' "I'm not arguing with what he says,'' Hagen said. "But I have to look at where we go from here. ... My job is to take these recommendations, take the budget that we've got, implement the recommendations and move forward.'' Hagen said the B.C. Liberals had to make some difficult decisions when they took over a slumping B.C. economy in 2001. Now the province is in better shape to address these issues, he said, and Hughes's report provides a blueprint. "I think we're finally at a period of time in the history of the ministry where we've got a very constructive balanced report and we also have the resources to carry out the recommendations of the report,'' Hagen said.

Hughes said the troubled ministry has had nine ministers, eight deputy ministers, and seven directors of child protection in the past 10 years. "This turnover has taken a toll in terms of staff morale and the ministry's ability to set directions, frame goals, and make progress. The revolving door has got to stop." Hughes urged the government to move immediately to find people to fill the posts of deputy minister, associate deputy minister, and director of child protection now held by "acting" officials. "Once hired, and barring serious and unforeseen circumstances, the new appointees should be left in office for a minimum of four years," he wrote. "Five years would be better." Hughes said the major complaint he heard most often from groups and individuals was that "kids have nobody out there that will advocate for them either on an individual or a systemic basis. That's one of the things that went by the board. "I just think that they were wrong in what occurred and that's why there's been the instability in the last four or five years."

Current provincial Child and Youth Officer Jane Morley, whose position would likely be dissolved if Hughes's recommendations are implemented, applauded the report, saying that it mirrors changes she has been calling for, particularly in the area of improving advocacy services for children. "I'm really pleased to see him pushing that.''

Morley would not say whether she will be a candidate for the new independent representative for children and youth position that Hughes recommends. "I'm very pleased that he has described the position in a way that I feel is consistent with my vision of it all,'' Morley said. "And I think his recommendations will enhance the position.''

Lindsay Kines, Jeff Rud
8 April 2006

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