CHILDREN’S AID SOCIETIES AND CHILD TREATMENT EMERGENCY ROUNDTABLE

October 23, 2009

Sector leaders from children’s aid and children’s treatment met in Toronto on October 21 to strategize a campaign to end the funding crisis in children and youth services.

Joining them at the emergency round table were Executive Board Members and staff from head office and regional offices.

Children’s aid societies say a funding shortfall of $67 million this year will put child welfare and protection services at risk. More than 27,000 children and 42,000 families receive services from the province’s CASs.

Children’s mental health agencies are unable to meet the overwhelming need for their services in the community having not received an increase to their core funding for 14 of 16 years. The economic downturn has seen referrals to agencies rise between 35 and 50 per cent.

About 44,000 children receive services from children’s mental health agencies and yet research shows that one in five, or more than 500,000 Ontario children and youth, will struggle with his or her mental health.

Members from around the province talked about the impact of the funding crisis on their work:

• Family and Children’s Services for the District of Rainy River could close because of inadequate funding of complex, high-needs kids who have to be treated out-of-province.

• The threat of lay-offs of nearly a third of the staff at York Region CAS because of a $5.5 million cut in funding to the agency.

• Agencies are not filling vacancies, causing the workload for existing staff to increase to unmanageable levels.

• Concerns that ministry standards are not being met because of high caseload volumes.

• Prioritization of work is increasingly crisis-oriented with less time available to address less urgent cases. Any work that is not mandated by law gets put on hold in order to do investigations which are mandated.

• Community programs, such as those that teach parenting skills or help youth transition from foster care back to their families are eliminated.

• Appointments are scheduled further apart causing workers to ask: how can you help a child when you see him or her for half an hour every two weeks.

• Wait times to get an appointment have increased.

• There is a focus on short-term crisis intervention in children’s mental health.

• Transportation budgets have been cut, reducing the access youth have to their families.

• Less training for staff.

Pressure by the ministry to slash administration costs has resulted in fewer managers, exposing front-line workers to reduced supervision.

“Workers have an ethical responsibility to blow the whistle of alarm,” said Deb Gordon, chair of OPSEU’s Children’s Treatment sector and a social worker for 23 years in children’s mental health. “The foundation of children’s services is structurally unsound after years of maintenance neglect by government.”

Gordon said the lack of adequate numbers of staff has resulted in a shift to crisis-oriented services with less time available for early intervention and prevention programs.

Rick Pybus, the chair of the union’s Children’s Aid Sector, agreed. In his 24 years as a child protection worker he has seen the threshold for service increase.

“Workers report that in high volume situations if you’re not assessed as being in immediate need of child protective services then your case waits and often ministry standards and guidelines are not met,” said Pybus.

Pybus said the fact that 37 of 49 children’s aid societies have requested a ministerial review of their funding “is a strong statement we need help”.

Gordon said children’s mental health agencies, which are required by government to submit balanced budgets each year, understand the difficult situation CASs find themselves in. Children’s mental health programs perennially face tough choices around what services to keep or discontinue due to completely inadequate funding.

“It is truly alarming that a government would tell a mandated service that has the responsibility to protect children from harm: no bail-out, you’ll have to figure it out yourself,” she said.

Pybus and Gordon said the union’s CAS and children’s treatment sectors have been working together to advocate for more funding for children’s services.

“We often work with the same kids through our respective services, yet government policy for the past 12 years has actually created problems for frontline workers to work collaboratively,” said Gordon.

Pybus said it’s important that the sectors don’t work at cross-purposes.

“We want to make sure that whatever we’re advocating for in child welfare and protection doesn’t take away funding or jobs from children’s mental health,” he said.

Sector leaders agreed to make November 20, National Child Day, a focus for the campaign. Ideas for marking that day included circulating a letter for employers and parents to sign, wearing a royal blue ribbon, organizing a lunch-time walk and having a table at an area mall.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which spells out the basic human rights children and youth everywhere are entitled. These basic human rights are: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest, to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.