Red tape, housing challenges and a health system that is in "survival mode" are forcing children into care but those social impacts aren't being sufficiently considered when it comes to child welfare, said Nunakput MLA Herb Nakimayak.
Further, the Department of Health and Social Services is using a child and family services funding model established in 1998, although it could not provide the Auditor General with a clear justification of how the formula was determined, said Erin Jellinek, a member of the audit team.
The territorial government set aside $23.8 million to pay for child and family services in the 2018-19 budget.
Assistant Auditor General Terry DeJong (right) is in Yellowknife with Glenn Wheeler and Erin Jellinek, members of the audit team.
MLAs are reviewing the latest Auditor General report on the state of child and family services which revealed provision of those services has worsened since the last report in 2014.
The report deals with the performance of the Department of Health and Social Services, which failed to meet key responsibilities to ensure the well-being of children, youth and their families, said assistant Auditor General Terry DeJong, before the Standing Committee on Government Operations, Dec. 12.
The committee will make recommendations to the department and its health authorities using the report and comments from the Status of Women Council, Native Women's Society and people with expertise in the area of child care.
The report tabled Oct. 23 , showed significant deficiencies beyond the 2014 report, said DeJong.
Most troubling was the failure to monitor plan of care agreements, which set out the obligations a parent of at risk children must meet. In almost 90 per cent of cases, the department failed to adequately monitor.
Authorities "did not interview children as often as plans required to ensure children were safe” and therefore had "no way of knowing" if the children were receiving appropriate care, said DeJong.
The authorities placed 14 out of 22 children with permanent guardians without performing basic criminal records checks or home checks. The Auditor General deems that practice troubling because once a child is placed into a permanent guardianship, the director of child and family services no longer has authority over that child.
The Department of Health and Social Services and its authorities must also deal swiftly with the lack of supervision agreements for children who are placed in out-of-territory care, said Glen Wheeler, who led the audit.
In one case, a child ran away from a care facility multiple times and went missing for over a week. But it was unclear whose responsibility it was to bring the child back, said Wheeler.
Since 2014, the practice of issuing permanent guardianship was done without the awareness of senior management, said Wheeler.
While the report offers many recommendations, immediate implementation of supervision agreements with provinces is an urgent fix that demands few resources, he said.
Health and social services authorities did not adequately screen the majority of foster homes nor did they conduct annual reviews “to ensure children were well cared for,” said DeJong.
Funding level unchanged since 1998, lack of staff to complete 'basic functions'
The October report revealed significant departmental vacancies and disparities in staffing of family retention workers from Yellowknife compared to other NWT communities.
On average, there were 30 per cent vacancies within the department, said Health Minister Glen Abernethy when the report was released.
Hay River North MLA RJ Simpson asked whether full staffing would enable the department to meet its "basic functions."
Some employees are performing three or four duties at one time, said Simpson.
One staff member was assigned to perform 3,000 reviews using the new administrative system. It resulted in low compliance, mistakes and failure to follow up on calls for months.
“All of these vacancies I’m sure make it more difficult because people are aware you don’t have the support,” said Simpson.
"If all the vacancies were filled, would the department and authorities be able to have 100 per cent compliance?"
Jellinek said whether or not there is full staffing, the department is still funded with a model determined in 1998.
"The department was unable to provide us with any original numbers of how that was determined," said Jellinek.
Directors lacking qualifications
While the department scurried to fix major problems outlined in the 2014 report, it left issues with accountability unresolved, despite knowing about them since 2014, said DeJong.
Assistant directors "did not have qualifications or experience in child and family services" and had "insufficient preparation” to fulfill their key responsibilities, he said.
While responding to the 2014 report, the department introduced complex administrative changes into an "overburdened system" and "put children at a greater risk." said DeJong.
Child protection workers were not adequately trained to use the new administrative system. It created an error rate of up to 50 per cent and low compliance, said Wheeler.
It also led to missed follow-ups that weren't noticed until months later, he said.
“We found quite significant shortcomings of children not receiving the services they were entitled to under legislation,” said Wheeler.
Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson told the committee there is a "disconnect" between the department and communication with families.
“If we had one child in the system that we failed, that’s not good enough,” said Thompson.
Community roles in the future of family services
Retention of children in their cultural and community and environment "should be first and foremost," said Sahtu MLA Daniel McNeely.
"It really brings me back to the residential school days. I can really understand and relate to the children that are taken out of their home to another home. We’d like to see a retention plan to remain in the community," said McNeely.
Despite numerous audits and reviews "nothing has been done," he said, urging regional evaluations at the community level.
“It should have raised red flags with everybody," said McNeely.
Social determinants are taking children from their families, with little interdepartmental communication about what factors might be forcing children into care, said Nakimayak.
Centralization of services in the capital are pulling away resources from the communities.
"Housing and overcrowding are a problem in the territory. Single parents have had to give up their children to social services so that they can be housed and fed," said Nakimayak.
"The social impacts begin with justice and health. For one child, there are probably multiple files on that person from each department yet they don’t coincide," he said.
Dehcho MLA Michael Nadli is troubled, too, with the continued removal of children from their communities, he said.
"It's pretty depressing in terms of seeing the system fail children," said Nadli, who would like to see children returned to their families and culture.
"Surely the system would have to strive for an ideal outcome of that nature," he said.
Currently there are not "adequate resources" from the department to help people in the communities, including grandparents who are trying to look after children, said Mackenzie Delta MLA Frederick Blake Jr.
"There are just no resources out there and the department is failing to work with them," he said.
The Auditor General noted inconsistencies for support for foster parents who are receiving differing information about what falls under the allowance for foster families and what types of expenses can't be submitted and covered, said Jellinek.