OTTAWA - Work overload, staff burnout, unrealistic deadlines and
unnecessary paperwork at the Ottawa Children’s Aid Society (CAS) are
putting children at needless risk, warns the Ontario Public Service
Employees Union.
Members of OPSEU Local 454 at the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa
are fed up with government mismanagement. They plan to inform the public
of these issues at an information picket on Thursday.
Date: Thursday, June 28, 2001
Time: 12 p.m.
Place: CAS Head Office, 1602 Telesat Court, Ottawa
A recent study shows that a new assessment system implemented by the
Ministry of Community and Social Services has created mountains of
paperwork - paperwork that forces workers to spend 70 per cent of their
time in front of a computer and leaving only 30 per cent of their time to
actually address the needs of children at risk. As well, unrealistic
deadlines and unmanageable workloads are forcing workers to cut corners.
“Any system that forces workers to cut corners is a system that has
not learned from past mistakes,” said Susan Corlett, president of Local
454. “The Kasonde inquest, and every subsequent inquest, recommended
that the government negotiate and fund realistic workload standards. The
Ministry ignored the recommendations and, instead, gave us tools that do
not work and rules that do not make sense.”
Corlett reports that at the beginning of May 2001 there were over 200
reports of abuse or neglect that had not been investigated. By the end of
that month, that number had swollen to over 400 investigations that had
not even been started.
“In effect, the new Ministry system has created a waiting list for
abuse investigations in the province of Ontario,” Corlett said. “Social
Services Minister John Baird obviously has no idea what is going on in his
own ministry. The children of Ontario do not need another tragedy. They do
not need another inquest. They do need a government that is committed to
adequately funding child welfare services in the province of Ontario.”
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For more information, please contact:
Susan Corlett, President, Local 454; 747-7800 Ext. 2670
Daniel Zimmerman, Vice-President, Local 454; 747-7800 Ext. 2135
