Edmonton Submission to the Alberta Child Welfare Act Review
Recommendation:That the City of Edmonton’s submission to the Province of Alberta’s “Child Welfare Act Review” (Attachment 1) be approved and that the submission be forwarded to the Minister Responsible for Children’s Services.
Report Summary
- This report presents the proposed City of Edmonton’s submission on the Province’s Child Welfare Act Review.
Report
- In spring 2001, the Minister responsible for Children’s Services announced a review of the Child Welfare Act. In late November 2001, the Minister announced that Albertans could provide their views regarding the Act through the Review website and that a second phase of public consultation would take place in early 2002. Input from stakeholders is requested by the end of February 2002 (an extension has been granted to March 8, 2002).
- The attached submission is based upon existing information from sources including the Edmonton Social Plan, input from a January 28, 2002 focus group of Family and Community Support Services funded agencies and input from Community Services Department staff who are in regular contact with vulnerable children and their families.
- The Review affords an opportunity for the City of Edmonton to inform the Children’s Services Department and the Ma’Mowe Capital Region Child and Family Services Authority of the City’s concerns about services for children and their families. It is our understanding that the City of Calgary is also making a submission to the Review.
- The proposed submission to the Review includes three proposals relating to:
-Funding based on needs and number of cases;
-The growing diversity of the population and the need for special preventive investments; and
-Better co-ordination of services and systems to help ensure a continuum of services from preventive to rehabilitative.
Justification of Recommendation
- The City of Edmonton and the Ma’Mowe Capital Region Child and Family Services Authority have a higher percent of child welfare cases than is proportionate for Edmonton’s population of children. The Children’s Services Department and Ma’Mowe Capital Region Child and Family Services Authority can, in the long term, effect savings through the investment in preventive and early intervention services. Partnerships should be formed to help ensure that services for children and their families are effective and meet the needs. Some of the concerns raised in the proposed submission can be reduced if the proposals are effected.
Background Information Attached
- City of Edmonton Submission to the Alberta Child Welfare Act Review
Background Information Available on Request
- Child Welfare Act Review Discussion Guide 2001.
- Child Welfare Act
(Page 1 of 2)
Attachment 1
City of Edmonton Submission to the Alberta Child Welfare Act Review
CITY OF EDMONTON SUBMISSION
TO THE
CHILD WELFARE ACT REVIEW
February, 2002
CITY OF EDMONTON SUBMISSION
TO THE
CHILD WELFARE ACT REVIEW
Proposals
- That the Alberta Children’s Services Department acknowledge that Child and Family Services Authorities with a disproportionately high number or percent of child welfare cases, compared to population, require funds sufficient to address the needs of the children served.
The Ma’Mowe Capital Region was required to expend beyond budgetary allocations to help children in the region receive the services they require. The number of child welfare cases in the region is disproportionately large when compared with the population. Despite this, the Ma’Mowe Capital Region Children’s Services Authority was required to reduced expenditures below that of 2000-2001, and also to reduce the budgeted amount. Expenditures to ensure the well being of our children must not be subject solely to fiscal considerations, but must be based on the needs of our children.
- That the Child Welfare System recognize the special cultural needs of the increasingly diverse Alberta population, including First Nations, Metis and visible minority communities. The Child Welfare system should also recognize that special preventive and early intervention investments are required in these communities.
Edmonton and Alberta have increasingly diverse populations. Visible minorities form about 18% of the Edmonton population and Aboriginal people form about 4% of the Edmonton population (with slightly more Metis than First Nations people). The Child Welfare System should acknowledge and programs should treat children and their families in a way that respects their unique cultural backgrounds. This will help support these families and enable ethnic/cultural communities to add their strengths to the equation.
- That Alberta Children’s Services and Regional Child and Family Services Authorities consult with, collaborate with and help develop an integrated service network for children and their families; the network to include health, education, municipal Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) programs and community agencies. That the services network include a full range of services from prevention to rehabilitation including day care and out-of-school care.
Services for vulnerable children are delivered by a number of Provincial ministries, including Learning, Human Resources and Employment and Health. In addition, municipal FCSS programs and community social service agencies also play major roles in addressing the needs of children and their families. These services to a greater or lesser degree form a network or system of services that can aid children and their families when needed. Unilateral changes to one part of the system, e.g. to Child Welfare Programs for example, cause difficulties for the entire system. Better co-ordination, planning and integration among parts of the system for vulnerable children and their families is essential for the system to remain as effective as possible.
CITY OF EDMONTON SUBMISSION
TO THE
CHILD WELFARE ACT REVIEW
Introduction:
The City of Edmonton, the capital city of the Province of Alberta, is home to more than 650,000 people[1]. Edmonton has approximately 20% of the population of the Province of Alberta. The Alberta Capital Region, as a whole, will approach a million people by the middle of the current decade. As the service centre for the entire Region, over 70% of the Region’s population have chosen to live and work in the City of Edmonton. The Capital Region as a whole approximates the area for which the Ma’Mowe Capital Region Child and Family Services Authority has children’s services responsibility.
Edmonton’s Children:
In 1996 the municipalities comprising the Ma’Mowe Capital Region Child and Family Services Authority region (City of Edmonton, Strathcona County, St. Albert, Leduc) had 160,000[2] children age 0-14, this represents 26% of Alberta children of this age group.
Municipality / Number of ChildrenCity of Edmonton / 126,805
Strathcona County / 15,660
City of St. Albert / 11,260
City of Leduc / 3,350
Leduc County / 3,010
Ma’Mowe Capital Region Total / 160,085
Province of Alberta / 614,485
The Ma’Mowe Capital Region had approximately 30% of the Alberta Child Welfare cases in 2000-2001. Child Welfare cases in the Ma’Mowe Capital Region have remained, for the past number of years, approximately 30% of the Alberta case total. Thus, the region has an over-representation of child welfare cases when compared to population.
In addition, the number of Child Welfare cases in the Ma’Mowe Capital Region with different statuses (i.e. Out of Care, In Care/Temporary, In Care/Permanent) have all been steadily rising.
The Aboriginal Population:
The City of Edmonton reported the second highest municipal Aboriginal population of Canadian major cities.[3] Aboriginal people formed 4.1% of the City of Edmonton population and 3.8% of the Region’s population. However, it is widely believed that Aboriginal People are under-reported in the Census of Canada.
Edmonton / Capital
Region / Alberta
Number of Aboriginal People / 25,280 / 32,825 / 122,835
Percent of Alberta’s Aboriginal Population / 20.6% / 26.7% / -
Percent of Total Population / 4.1% / 3.8% / 4.6%
The Aboriginal population itself is diverse. Alberta and Edmonton’s Aboriginal citizens self-identified as:
City of Edmonton / AlbertaFirst Nations / 44% / 58.5%
Metis / 51% / 40.9%
Inuit / 1% / 0.6%
While children age 0-14 comprised 20.7% of Edmonton’s population, Aboriginal children of the same age, comprised 34.7% of the Aboriginal population of the City. This indicates that the Aboriginal population of Edmonton is “young” when compared to the total population.
In Edmonton Aboriginal children age 0-14 years of age comprise 6.9% of children age 0-14 years. Yet, Aboriginal children formed 42% of the number of children in care of child welfare authorities in 1994.[4]
Growing Population Diversity:
The Edmonton population is growing in diversity. While people with cultural/ethnic backgrounds that are English (23.3%), Canadian (20.7%) and Scottish (16.5%) are the majority of Edmontonians; approximately 18% of the Edmonton population (1996) had visible minority backgrounds. The following table provides the number of people with visible minority backgrounds, their background and the percent of the Edmonton population that they form. It is expected that the number and percent of Edmontonians of visible minority background will increase in years to come. Respect for the diversity and cultural differences will become a more significant requirement in the future. Respect for diversity should be included in service delivery approaches.
Edmonton population by visible minority designationTotal visible minority population / 110160 / 18%
Black / 10360 / 1.70%
South Asian / 22525 / 3.69%
Chinese / 38060 / 6.24%
Korean / 1785 / 0.29%
Japanese / 1365 / 0.22%
Southeast Asian / 8395 / 1.37%
Filipino / 10000 / 1.64%
Arab/West Asian / 7570 / 1.24%
Latin American / 6350 / 1.04%
Visible minority, n.i.e. / 1590 / 0.26%
Multiple visible minority / 2150 / 0.35%
Prevention and Early Intervention:
Alberta Children’s Services Department, through the regional Children’s Services Authorities, has a mandate for and has provided funding support for and contracted with community social agencies for the delivery of preventive and early intervention services for children and their families. The Ma’Mowe Capital Region Children’s Services Authority, with significant community input, had developed and was implementing a framework for early intervention services[5].
Recent cutbacks required by the Ministry of Children’s Services, to the support for preventive and early intervention services are reducing the ability of these services to provide early aid to children and their families. Prevention and early intervention services have been demonstrated to be effective in reducing the need for taking children into care and, in the longer term, accruing savings to the funding body[6]. The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families indicates that adequate prevention services can reduce the need for and substantive costs of:
-protective services,
-foster care,
-health costs,
-medical treatment of injuries due to abuse,
-special education costs,
-psychological care for child maltreatment cases,
-juvenile justice system and correction services,
-adult criminality, and
-projected tax revenue lost.
In the longer term, reductions to and elimination of some prevention and early intervention programs may see the need for more children and families requiring intensive intervention with the potential for more children coming into care.
Early intervention and prevention programs are an overlapping responsibility with municipal FCSS (Family and Community Support Services) programs. Expectations for municipalities to assume the costs of early intervention and prevention programs for children and their families, which were cut back or eliminated by Regional Children’s Services Authorities, may not be readily supported by municipal councils. The FCSS program must remain subject to local priority setting based upon the needs of the entire community and not be subservient to provincial downloading.
In 2001, the City of Edmonton received $9.407 million from the FCSS cost-sharing partnership program with the Government of Alberta. 79.3%[7] of the allocation is already invested in preventive services for children and their families. In addition, the City of Edmonton invests $2.3 million from the municipal tax levy to fund FCSS and Out-of-School Care services.
Day Care and Out-of-School Care
The Alberta Government provides subsidies for pre-school day care for families meeting financial and other requirements. Out-of-School care for school age children, is subsidized by some municipalities through the Family and Community Support Services Program (FCSS). Out-of-School Care is not available across Alberta. Parents who require Out-of-School Care for their school age children are often faced with the option of leaving their children in potentially high-risk situations such as self-care. In some instances, families move from their current municipality of residence to a municipality that offers an Out-of-School Care subsidy.
Many families previously eligible for day care subsidy are not able to access Out-of-School Care services or must pay very high fees. Increasingly, Out-of-School Care subsidies are becoming available only to the lowest income families and inhibit other low-income families from obtaining employment. In addition, families often must place their children in the lowest cost programs with not necessarily the best of care.
The cost of childcare is becoming prohibitive for many parents. The Province does not directly fund Alberta childcare centres and costs are rising. As well, wages for childcare centre staff are often, at or just above, minimum wage. Low wages, therefore, mean that childcare centre staff often have incomes below the Statistics Canada Low Income Cutoffs.
Child Development and Recreation
Research conducted by Statistics Canada (National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth) confirmed by research at McMaster University indicates that children who receive “proactive subsidized child care/recreation” are lower users of physician specialists, social work and child care services than children who do not receive these services. The beneficial effects of subsidized recreation services on improved competency for children are most noted for youth with an initial behavioural disorder. This suggests that children who receive structured recreation services improve behavioural problems and perform better in school and later in life.
Children are the Future of Alberta
Alberta’s children are the greatest resource this Province has. Our children are our future. The Child Welfare Act, and Alberta’s approach to children, must be based upon values and principles that reflect the high importance that we place upon our children and our future. Since its being passed in 1990, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been approved by over 190 countries. In 1992, the City of Edmonton symbolically ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The principles espoused in the Declaration provide an initial set of underlying values upon which to base services for vulnerable children.
“Every child has the right to:
- Survival and development
- An adequate standard of living
- The highest attainable standard of health and effective health services
- Special care, if he or she is disabled, that ensures dignity, promotes self-reliance and facilitates active participation in the community; and
- Social security and child care services and facilities
(United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund)
The Importance of Child Development
Responding to the critical needs of children includes, but must go beyond, terminating violence, abuse or neglect. The full developmental needs and potential of children must be considered and responded to, especially in cases where the government is acting as parent.
In many instances the difficulties facing families which require child welfare interventions have been years in development. “Quick fixes” are not likely to result in long-term solutions and well developed children. Children’s developmental needs, beyond returning a child back to a difficult home situation, must be included in longer term plans for and with children and their families.
Service Funding
In fiscal 2000-2001 Ma’Mowe Capital Region Children’s Services Authority was budgeted $158,401,000. This represented 29.5% of funds allocated to Alberta Children’s Services Authorities. However, the number of child welfare cases averages 35% of the provincial caseload.
Ma’Mowe Capital Region Children’s Services Authority spent $171,488,000, or 32% of all funds allocated to Children’s Services Authorities and therefore had a $13,087,000 deficit in fiscal 2000-2001.
Despite the fact that Ma’Mowe Capital Region Children’s Services Authority had an 8% deficit, it was still required to sustain a major budget reduction in addition to eliminating the deficit.[8]
The following eight community programs in the Ma’Mowe Capital Region were cut- back and twenty-two eliminated from contracts/funding by Ma’Mowe Children’s Services Authority due to the provincial requirement to reduce expenditures.
Contract Reductions
- The Family Centre (Roots and Wings)
Kids Kottage
- Metis Child and Family Services
- Native Counselling Services
- Fee for Service per diems in Family Connections, Knottwood and Mother Bear
- Edmonton Adopting Beyond Infancy Association
- Y.E.S.S. Youth Emergency Shelter Service
- Edmonton Adopting Beyond Infancy Association
Contract Terminations
- Aboriginal Youth & Family Well-Being
- Bent Arrow-Rites of Passage
- Bent Arrow- 1 Group Home
- Boys and Girls Club-Community Development
- Ben Calf Robe-Going Home Program
- Big Sisters/Big Brothers – in school mentoring
- Boyle Street Co-op
- Britannia/Youngstown Aboriginal Youth Project
- Canadian Native Friendship Centre – Teen Drop-in
- Edmonton Catholic Schools – Maskosak Program
- Edmonton City Centre Church Corporation – Crossroads House
- Edmonton Community Services (City of Edmonton) – Pride through Play
- Edmonton Community Services (City of Edmonton) – Bus to swim
- Edmonton Youth Justice Committee
- McMan Youth and Family Services – Respite Home
- Mennonite Society – Welcome Home Program
- Northeast Youth Project
- Oskaya Family Services
- Partners for Youth Outreach Society (Community Development)
- St. Albert FCSS – Making a Difference
- Strathcona County FCSS
- Cross Cultural Families of Native Children
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