Social workers optimistic child-protection workload will be addressed

People who work in child protection are cautiously optimistic that government will address long-standing concerns with staffing, according to the union representing all the province's child protection staff.

Workers felt as if their voices were heard when they read an independent review of the child protection system, CUPE Local 1418 president Stephen Drost said.

The report, written by consultant George Savoury, outlined an under-resourced system where staff feel stressed by a high workload of difficult cases.

• Make child protection an essential service, investigator says
• After shocking case of neglect, province's entire child-protection system under review

"Something as complex and important as child protection, you require good, qualified, trained staff," Drost said.

"We've got a serious recruitment, retention issue."

Savoury made more than 100 recommendations on how to improve the system, including more training, new child protection legislation and clearer policies that don't "discourage social workers from doing investigations and/or apprehensions, to protect children."

'Children may be at risk'

The report called for child protection workers to be deemed an essential service, similar to police officers and health care workers, and for all temporary positions to be immediately filled as permanent jobs.

"It certainly would require the government and us as a society to recognize just how important that service is," Drost said.

Savoury found that rules within the province's Civil Service Act mean that temporary child protection workers who have worked in a job for three years must be let go for a year or receive a permanent position. Those who leave often find other jobs.

The problem appears to be exacerbated by a lack of administrative support, leaving social workers spending time doing things like sending faxes and making photocopies.

"A number of the staff stated that they are concerned that children may be at risk, due to their high caseloads, and inability to meet departmental standards," the report says.

Savoury also recommended scrapping the Moncton-based call centre-style system of processing tips about abuse and neglect, which hasn't saved money and has increased "the potential risks to children."

He recommended the "centralized intake system" be moved to individual regions, where staff may already have relationships with the families.

More complex problems

Every chapter of Savoury's 181-page report includes comments from front-line staff who were surveyed by Savoury.

Their comments reveal some of the day-to-day challenges.

One person wrote about how a social worker's caseload doesn't always reflect the actual amount of work they're doing.

"Cases in Saint John generally tend to be complex with family dynamics that are chronic," the unnamed employee wrote.

"There are a lot of instances in Saint John, that cases are families who generationally have been involved with CP [child protection] with concerns regarding: poverty, drug use, alcoholism, domestic violence."

Another comment noted that social workers are dealing with more complex problems.

"We feel that our interventions are only a temporary Band-Aid on the problems as we wait for the crisis to return."

Familiar themes

Some of the themes are not new.

Previous reviews have highlighted a lack of resources for social workers, including the need for more administrative support, and the conflict between protecting the rights of parents while also protecting children.

Similar issues were raised after previous high-profile cases of child death, such as Juli-Anna St. Peter and Jackie Brewer.

Drost admitted it's frustrating to hear the same issues coming up and over and over again.

He said it will take political will to fix those problems.

"He's recommended some significant changes within the whole structure of the child welfare program," Drost said.

"If it's given the attention and priority required by government, these things can be addressed and we can be doing a better job as a society protecting children."

Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard has said her government will work to implement the recommendations, promising she will personally "own" the report.

Savoury was hired to review the entire child protection system last year, following a high-profile case of child neglect in Saint John.

Five children were left to live in squalor, with little to eat, under the watch of the Department of Social Development.

Child and youth advocate Norm Bossé has done an independent review of that case.

He'll present his report, called "Behind Closed Doors: A Story of Neglect," on Monday at 11 a.m.