VICTORIA - There is something weirdly self-destructive about the Liberals' handling of the children and families' ministry.
The legislature has been back for three days, and already the government is looking evasive and disorganized. And its wounds are mostly self-inflicted.
The latest controversy is over ministry management changes, why they were made and how they affect its ability to deliver services. Deputy minister Alison MacPhail - the equivalent to the CEO - was shuffled out first, moved into a newly created post in another ministry. Days later director of child protection Jeremy Berland was moved. The government agreed to keep him as an assistant deputy minister and pay him $115,000 a year while he does research at the University of Victoria.
The timing raises obvious and legitimate questions. The inquest into the death of Sherry Charlie, the toddler beaten to death weeks after being placed in care under a new ministry policy, is just being completed. Child and Youth Officer Jane Morley has handed in her report on the ministry's internal review into Sherry's death. And in April Ted Hughes will present his much more sweeping report into the ministry's performance and the effect of eliminating the Children's Commission and the Child and Family Advocate.
And the ministry still has clear problems. Its own internal statistics show that only one in five reports of child abuse or neglect is being completed within the 30-day standard set by the ministry. Thousands are still open more than three months after they were filed. Major questions remain about salvaging a botched regionalization effort that was at the centre of Liberal plans.
So why add instability by removing top managers at such a critical time?
The question is reasonable. And I'd expect it could be readily answered by a candid government. The people in the jobs may be burned out, and need a change. Their new positions recognize their contributions and effort, and will still prove value, the government could say.
Or it could laud their past work, but say the premier's office, or Children and Families Minister Stan Hagen, felt it was time for new managers with different skills. And again, the soft landings could be justified.
Instead, there's been dodging and evasions.
Who, for example, decided that it was a good idea for child protection director Jeremy Berland to move to the UVic research job?
The government isn't saying. Hagen says he had no idea the idea was being discussed until the deal was done, and doesn't think he should have known. It was a personnel matter, and it would be political interference if he had any role, Hagen said.
The Liberal spin types deny that the premier's office was involved, though they won't say who was. (The acting deputy minister signed of on the deal, but he had been in the job only days.)
Two former deputy ministers with long experience think both claims ludicrous. The premier's office is involved in all such decisions, they say. And ministers have every right to know about and block such moves if they fear problems will be created in the ministry. If Hagen really returned from holidays to learn two of his most critical managers had been moved in his absence something has gone seriously wrong with the system, they say.
The result of all this is more confusion and uncertainty - exactly what the ministry does not need.
And it follows a terrible tradition of denial.
As the ministry's regionalization plan fell years behind schedule, the government kept claiming everything was fine. As questions mounted about Sherry Charlie's death, it refused to acknowledge problems or the need for an independent review until political pressure was overwhelming. When critics complained the Coroner's Service wasn't reviewing child deaths properly, the government denied any problems - until 713 abandoned child death files were found abandoned in a warehouse.
By now they should have learned that some clear answers, and willingness to acknowledge mistakes, would be a start to restoring public confidence.
Footnote: Morley has delivered her report on the ministry's handling of its review into Sherry Charlie's death to Attorney General Wally Oppal. Its public release is being delayed while the ministry cuts any information that violates the province's privacy rules. If Morley reported to the legislature, not the attorney general, her office would make those cuts independently.
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It was rather insulting watching Stan Hagen trying to convince us he knew what was happening around him.If the man had a small bit of integrity he would have resigned as events continue to pile up around him. The program of shoving aboriginal kids from one drinking family to one where the guy has had a number of spousal abuse conviction makes us all squirm. It is clear the first nation social workers don't understand what is going on.But they sure should have know whatw as going on. In small communities of a few families, almost everyone either is related to somebody in the case of the Charlie child, or is or has been married to one of the participants. So why did the government gave the authority, with no training to the aboriginal group and let them flounder makes us wonder if anyone was in change. A youing child is dead and after about three years we see people telling different stories of events up to and after her death. we must pity the immediate family
The coroners jury on the death of the Charie child has made a number of recommendations. One is to bring back the position of reviewing all childrens deaths the New Era gang scrapped when they took over.A study had been done by a woman who then tookl over the reduced authority job. )Morley) Will they follow the recommendations? Will Stan keep telling us that as his senior workers leave, he is till in control, he just doesn't know why they got moved or seconded. Sure Stan sure.Who knows but as we all know Gordo does things his way and in his little mind he is always right. Must be a great mind at work!
(editted for syntax from post deleted above)
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Mr Willcocks-- once again you have written a balanced article that gives us a peek at the inner workings of a very dysfunctional operation.
However, to answer your questions about why the government is not candid and why they are so self-destructive in the ways that they deal with this Ministry's tragic dysfunction, I would like to suggest that we must step back and take a good look at the entire operation.
Because it looks to me like the mounting problems have little to do with deficiencies in the day-to-day decisions made by middle and upper level managers that can be tweaked and re-tweaked to help the operation consistently meet it's performance targets over the long term.
Instead, I would go so far as to suggest that the sentence above is a actually an illustration of the root problem here.
Namely that this Ministry, due to the very nature of its core mission, will never work properly if it is governed exclusively by a bottom line-driven business model.
Of course, if that is really the case it would strike at the very core of this government's, and more specifically, this premier's, ideological beliefs about how all its Ministries should be run.
Which is a very difficult thing, indeed, to be candid about.
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I would be fairly certain the decision to move Jeremy Burrland from position of director links solidly to liability. The loss of Sherry Charlies' life was avoidable. It was evidensed in recommendations going back in my limited access to research materials as early in 1985 and the coroners recommendations into the death of Shawn Michael Thomas, a child apparently according to diand and ministry for children and families reports in the hole of jurisdictional disputes at the time of his death. Jurisdictional disputes, lack of clarity, lack of a process outside of community influence puts children at risk, regardless of ancestry, this is a basic fact. In following the paper trail on this historic case the ministry spent a great deal of time avoiding their responsibility, even though, abuse had been reported and evidenced in bruising visible on this babys face, and later confirmed through autopsy reports that showed both deep bruising and broken ribs, the rcmp handed the abuse concern to the ministry, the ministry failed to investigate waiting to connect with the band worker for over two weeks due to confusion on who would be responsible for this band placed child. The day the ministry worker was on her way to speak with the band worker she learned the toddler had died the day before weeks after the rcmp passed the abuse report, another child in the home was charged with this death, both children effectively lost. The coroners report clearly stated that the split jurisdiction, lack of authority definition and responsibility contributed to the death of Shawn Thomas. In an effort to find what resulting actions were taken, I had multiple conversations and correspondence with Jeremy Burrlands office with a final outcome being, 'we do not know, we cannot track it', problem being twenty years later the same issues remain. The same lack of clarity, the same lack of standards and practices, the lack of adequate assessment of risk and unbiased placement, the lack of trained staff and the undue influence of chief and counsel all remain. If Shawn Micheal Thomas was considered a life lost to learn from we would not have lost the many children thereafter by following the same course of unsanctionable placement. Could it be that Jeremy Burrland is being shuffled to avoid answering the questions as to why his ministry is pushing ahead with an aboriginal policy that does not reflect best outcomes as evidenced in child safety or quality of services only in a political ideal. That unassessed programs continue to be structural models, that children continue to die for the same reasons with the only outcome being new stacks of evidence and unimplemented recommendations? How many times will we write this same story only the names change.
Make no mistake whatsoever, the Ministry for Children & Family Development is being run out of the Premier's Office & as all other Ministries, Treasury Board is helping drive this ship into the ground. Gordon Campbell is personally responsible for at least one generation of lost, marginalized and neglected children. He sacrificed them to his political paradigm. Instead of being on a European jaunt, why isn't Campbell sitting listening to the Sherry Charlie inquest? Why shouldn't he have to sit there and see the photos of her after she'd been beaten to death? He might learn a few things about what he has done to some of the children in this province.
Also, Jeremy Berland is no different than many of the bureaucrats of late. He carried out the destruction of the child welfare system, as a good little drone and then he moved on to some other cushy new gig.
Now he will be bankrolled by the taxpayers to study the ongoing devolution/wreckage of the rest of the child welfare system. Up next, Aboriginal services.
The Premier's Office has been very strategic, it removed Alison McPhail, known in government circles to swing a mean hatchet. Watch out wherever she lands, job losses and re-organizations are sure to follow. Then Berland negotiated himself a dandy little gig, so that gets him off the hot seat. Pretty strategic planning to remove the top 2 bureaucrats prior to some major reports on child death reviews & the child welfare system. And have the woman who will respond, Lesley du Toit, the person who will "transform" child & family services towards regionalized authorities will do all of this from South Africa. So much for home grown solutions, eh?
Gove had it right all those years ago. It's the culture of the Ministry and a lack of solid, ethical leadership that continues to doom this portfolio. Hagen is a public joke. He must feel that as well. But to be honest, that's what happens in the culture of the BC government, lots of backroom schemes and plots created by incompetent management hacks who worked the peter principle to their advantage. Meanwhile, the MInistry continues to bleed all the good people, the innovators, those with integrity and good practice who spend more of their time on new & new paperwork and less & less time on the "social" part of the work. Those who have to educate their supervisors & managers, because they've never done the work, so have no idea what they're doing while they play god with children and parents lives 2, or more levels removed from the individuals. And so it goes. It's easy for most people to forget about the Matthew Vaudreuil, Sherryl Charlie, Chassidy Whitford and the Shawn Micheal Thomas' of the world.
As a society we have failed each and every one of these children and many, many more. They paid the ultimate price for our failure and neglect and we will all pay for it too. Our province has come to accept a much higher level of poverty, marginalization, abuse, neglect and maltreatment towards many of BC's children. The BC Liberal government and most especially Gordon Campbell are responsible and clearly don't care about these dead children and those who need assistance yet are failed, time & time again.
On February 21st, 2006, there better be a significant amount of concrete funding going into MCFD (for supports to families, children in care, for staff, for offices. The alternative is that many more children and staff are simply not going to make it.
Jeremy Berland to move to UVic research job
Anybody know if Berland will be getting any paper out of this?
It seems two years would be about the right amount of time for a grad degree.
Does the research that Berland produces enter the public domain or does it remain the property of UVic? Berland? BC Gov't? or ??
Who owns the research?
All is well in the minisrty with Stan the man in position. Now he has passed the coroners jury recommenrdations to "The judge" as he called ex Judge Ted Hughes. Thak God, Ted Hughes is honest as the day is long.
Wonder if there is any connection to the report not coming down till late April? When does the house rise from the spring session?
Stan and Gordo can run but can't hide. Kudos to Adrian Dix for shaking the tree, and for keeping shaking it . The children who died, were simply not an issue as far as the present govenment was concerned. Wonder when the ex judge Oppel will be releasing the report he got this week, or will everone have to go freedom Of Information? Open and accountable government. No way Gordo. I still can't understand why a mountie corporal could hear the partial results of an autopy and walk away for a few months. Those poor children in care. I guess the older brother didn't cry enough to upset the killer in the house.so he managed to stay there for those extra months
EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT BUDGET, NO AMOUNT OF MONEY WOULD EVER BRING BACK MY LITTLE GRANDDAUGHTER, BUT IN THE LONG RUN OF HER DEATH, I SEE MY ANGEL AS A SACRIFICER, ONE WHO DIED SUCH A TRAGIC DEATH, AND ALSO LIVED A HORRIBLE LITTLE LIFE OF VIOLENCE, JUST TO SAVE ALL THE OTHER SHERRY'S OUT THERE. I HEAR HOW SOME VOICE THIER CONCERNS, ONE WOULD HAVE TO HAVE BEEN THERE TO TRULY UNDERSTAND THE DEVASTATION OF THE DEATH OF A MURDERED BABY, I FOR ONE FEALT THAT PAIN, AS WE SIT HERE AND SAY SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE AND YET ANOTHER INNOCENT ONE'S LIFE IS IN JEOPARDY. HOW CAN ONE PREVENT SUCH TRAGIC EVENTS UNLESS YOU CAN FORSEE THE FUTURE. MONEY WILL ONLY BENEFIT THOSE WHO WANT TO BE PAID TO DO THERE JOB TO SAVE CHILDREN, I'D GIVE ALL THAT I AM TO SAVE MY GRANDCHILDREN. I WOULDN'T ASK FOR A DIME TO LOOK AFTER MY LOVED ONES. MONEY IS NOT HAPPINESS, MONEY CAN ONLY PAY FOR THE JOB THEY WERE HIRED TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE. I AM GLAD ABOUT THE BUDGET THAT HAS BEEN ALLOCATED TO CHILDREN, BUT HOW MUCH OF IT WILL REALLY GO TO THOSE THAT REALLY NEED IT, I SAY THERE NEEDS TO BE A BETTER STRATEGY MADE AND THAT WOULD BE TO SINGLE MOTHER'S WHO STRIVE TO BE A BETTER PARENT AND LOOK AFTER THEIR CHILDREN, I KNOW BECAUSE EVEN IN MANY CASES DEAD BEAT DADS DON'T MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR THEIR KIDS, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEIR NEEDS ARE MORE IMPORTANT. MY DAUGHTER JULIANNA TRIED TO THE BEST OF HER ABILITY, BUT WE HAVE TO REMEMBER SHE IS NOT THE ONE BEHIND BARS FOR SUCH A VICIOUS CRIME. I WILL PRAY FOR ALL CHILDREN WHO NEED TO BE LOVED, I SAY QUIT SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY ON HOW TO MAKE THINGS BETTER BUT START SPENDING BUDGET MONEY ON WHERE IT REALLY NEEDS TO GO, BY THE TIME ALL THE BUDGET MONEY HAS BEEN ALLOCATED OUT MOST OF IT HAS BEEN SPENT ON WHERE IT SHOULD GO, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. IF MY GRANDDAUGHER IS THE LEGACY OF THE HUGE BUDGET INCREASE THEN WHEN WILL I SEE POSITIVE STEPS TAKEN TOWARDS MAKING OUR WORLD A SAFER PLACE TO LIVE IN AT NOW EXTRA COST. I MEAN WERE TALKING ABOUT CHILDREN HERE, I SAY MAKE ALL FOSTER PARENTS HAVE A CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK DONE EVERY TWO YEARS, AND NOT JUST ONCE.
IVE SAID WHAT I NEED TO SAY.
The sad truth is nothing has changed this little darlings death did not teach anyone a lesson the social workers continue to make unforgivable mistakes and the powers that be continue to aide in covering them up
The smaller north island communities are a prime example the children are being placed in 9 and 10 different homes before they are one years old, they are returned to their natural families, sexually abused and given to yet another foster family. The children suffer over and over again and no social worker is ever held criminally responsible for their actions
Someone needs to stand up and take note and help these kids
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