Child, Youth and Family Services
December 3, 2013

Transformation of Service Delivery Helps Ensure Safety and Well-being of Children and Youth

Minister Responds to Report by Office of the Child and Youth Advocate

The Honourable Paul Davis, Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services, outlined the department’s progress to date to help ensure the safety and well-being of children and youth in Newfoundland and Labrador following the release of a report by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate.

“The Provincial Government takes all recommendations made by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate very seriously. Many of the recommendations outlined in this report are consistent with the recommendations of the Clinical Services Review released in 2009, upon which the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services was created. Our government remains committed to implementing change in our service delivery and we are seeing significant improvements in all child and youth program areas.”
- The Honourable Paul Davis, Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services

The Department of Child, Youth and Family Services continues to focus on the transformation of service delivery for children, youth and their families, as well as make the necessary reforms to safeguard the province’s children and youth. To date, the department has implemented new legislation - Children and Youth Care and Protection Act, which includes a number of changes such as allowing a youth to remain in continuous custody up until they turn 18 rather than 16 as per the previous act.

In addition, the department has also implemented new policies, such as the Protection and In Care Policy and Procedures Manual, the Documentation Policy and Guidelines, and the Risk Management Decision-Making Model; the new continuum of care strategy; a new organizational model; a new Training Unit; and, a new Quality Assurance Division. Further details regarding actions taken by the department are outlined in the backgrounder below.

“While cases can be extremely complex in nature, the mandate of the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services is to protect the best interest of children and youth who are, or are at risk of, maltreatment. We all have a role to play, whether we are government, community agencies, neighbours, family members or parents, when it comes to ensuring the safety and well-being of our province’s children and youth.”
- Minister Davis

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is committed to supporting important social programs, strong communities and the health and well-being of children, families and seniors.

QUICK FACTS

• The Honourable Paul Davis, Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services, outlined the department’s progress to date following the release of a report by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate.
• The Department of Child, Youth and Family Services continues to focus on the transformation of service delivery for children, youth and their families and are continuing to make the necessary reforms to safeguard the province’s children and youth.
• To date, the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services has implemented new: legislation and policies; continuum of care strategy; organizational model; Training Unit; and, Quality Assurance Division.
• In Budget 2013: A Sound Plan, A Secure Future, the Provincial Government invested a total of $401,600 to expand the Supporting Youth with Transitions pilot program.
• This program offers hands on interventions to youth located throughout the province who will work directly with life skills coordinators and youth-based organizations to gain life skills, such as communications and problem-solving, as well as assistance in locating and securing appropriate housing and in securing employment and education choices.

- 30 -

Media contact:
Michelle Hunt
Director of Communications
Department of Child, Youth and Family Services
709-729-5148, 725-1593
michellehunt@gov.nl.ca 

BACKGROUNDER
Actions Taken by the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services

Transition of Child, Youth and Family Services Staff
Over the span of one year, the department successfully transitioned approximately 800 child, youth and family services staff from each of the four Regional Health Authorities, beginning with the Western Region in March 2011; Central Region in July 2011; Eastern Rural in October 2011 and Eastern Urban in November 2011; and concluding with Labrador in March 2012.

Organizational Model
The department redesigned and implemented a new organizational model that ensures frontline staff and managers have required tools and supports to effectively provide services to children and youth in need of protective intervention. Key elements of the new organizational model include additional social workers, social work assistants and clerical staff, fewer levels of management and more frontline supervisors, more manageable caseloads, and increased delegation of authority with 13 zone managers as opposed to the previous five.

Children and Youth Care and Protection Act
In June 2011, the Child, Youth and Family Services Act was replaced with the new Children and Youth Care and Protection Act. This progressive piece of new legislation better safeguards the province’s most vulnerable children and youth as it provides authority to intervene when a child or youth is the victim, or at risk, of harm or neglect by a parent; strengthens the principle of best interests of the child; serves to better protect children and youth, as well as provide greater clarity to staff, community, clients and the courts; and contains significant updates and changes, which are more child-centred, reflect best practice in clinical work and promote better permanency planning. Specific changes and updates to the act include reducing the number of temporary court orders for children in care; requiring a detailed plan for the child to be filed with the courts; establishing a process for monitoring all children in care; increasing the age of continuous custody; supporting youth in need of protection longer as they transition into adulthood; recognizing the risk of emotional harm as grounds for protection intervention; introducing a new statutory legislative review process; and, imposing a publication ban that restricts any identifying information about a child and a family subject to a proceeding under the act. Associated policies and procedures were effective on same date of proclamation of the new legislation.

Training Unit
In January 2011, the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services partnered with College of the North Atlantic to announce a new Training Unit dedicated to Bay St. George Campus and ensures a more coordinated, targeted and streamlined approach to professional training for all departmental staff.

Quality Assurance
In July 2011, a new Quality Assurance Division in Grand Falls-Windsor was announced to improve the department’s ability to establish a quality improvement program to ensure greater accountability. This division is responsible for a province-wide program, which includes: auditing clinical files; monitoring and evaluating programs; investigating adverse and serious events; monitoring performance indicators and trends; and, facilitating improvements particularly in the area of risk management.

Continuum of Care Strategy
In June 2012, the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services announced the implementation of a new continuum of care strategy to enhance the care options for children and youth in need of out-of-home placement. This strategy is strengthening foster care by increasing funding for kinship arrangements and foster homes; enhancing supports and training for foster parents; and eliminating the need for current Alternate Living Arrangements by implementing a framework for staffed residential facilities for children and youth who need this level of support. A key component of this strategy includes the Foster a Future…Foster a Child Today multi-media campaign, which has been extremely successful to date with the creation of almost 75 new foster homes bringing the total number of foster families located throughout the province to 591 as of October 2013.

There has been a significant reduction in the number of children in Alternate Living Arrangements from a high of 72 children in 2010 to approximately 20 in October 2013 as children are being matched to more suitable placements such as foster homes.

Information Management and Technology
The Department of Child, Youth and Family Services will implement a new computerized case management system, which will support the clinical practice of social workers and help ensure provincial standards can be monitored. The department is also continuing to engage in improved information sharing practices with partners and agencies when involved in a child protection case. Child, Youth and Family Services is continuing to streamline and coordinate the information sharing process between the different parties involved in child protection cases.

2013 12 03                                     4:40 p.m.