Reviews rip Island Lake agency

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This article was published 04/02/2016 (3557 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five reviews in four years uncovered such stubborn problems at the Island Lake child-welfare agency investigators suggested a get-tough approach.

According to a “quality assurance” review done in 2014 obtained by the Winnipeg Free Press under an access-to-information request, the Island Lake First Nations Family Services (ILFNFS) agency struggled to comply with provincial standards, licensing requirements for foster homes and keeping case files properly updated with detailed information about kids in care.

“It may be time to recognize the fact that sending directives and conducting reviews may have to be replaced (by) more direct action,” investigators wrote. “It’s time for the agency managers to manage the affairs of the agency.”

Investigators launched the review in 2012 “in the aftermath of two high-risk cases.” The details of those cases are not spelled out in the 60-page report, in part because legislation prohibits the release of information about children who die in care.

But one of the two cases could involve an eight-month-old boy who was smothered to death in Garden Hill First Nation when his intoxicated aunt fell asleep on top of him in 2012. Few additional details are available about the case because no criminal charges were laid and no inquest was called by the chief medical examiner.

The review’s release also highlights a significant level of secrecy that surrounds child welfare, especially in the north, and the lack of clear accountability roles.

Despite days of phone calls by the Free Press, no one was available to answer questions about the current state of the Island Lake agency, which serves four First Nations in northeastern Manitoba and is responsible for more than 500 children in care.

The review was commissioned by the Northern Authority, which oversees the agency. Repeated calls to Northern Authority CEO Ron Monias were not returned. The Northern Authority is currently without a First Nations board of directors, after the province took over control of the authority more than a year ago because it repeatedly failed to follow provincial directives.

Repeated calls to the Island Lake agency also went unreturned. It’s not clear whether the Island Lake agency has a functioning board.

The province also failed, after three days, to answer a series of questions about the state of the agency and its ability to care for children. The province said it was up to the Northern Authority to comment.

Confusion over accountability roles have often plagued the province’s aboriginal child-welfare agencies in the years following devolution.

The family services minister, currently Kerri Irvin-Ross, has frequently answered publicly for the system’s failures, but First Nations boards appointed to oversee authorities and agencies have remained largely invisible.

Reviews are launched when a child dies in care, when questions arise about an agency’s competence, or as a matter of routine. Such reviews have traditionally been more common in the Southern Authority, which usually posts completed reviews online, including scathing ones such as the 2008 review prompted by the death of toddler Gage Guimond.

‘It may be time to recognize the fact that sending directives and conducting reviews may have to be replaced (by) more direct action. It’s time for the agency managers to manage the affairs of the agency’ — child-welfare review from 2014

The Northern Authority has never made quality-assurance reviews public, even though several have been done in recent years. Following an access-to-information request, the province also released a review done on the Awasis agency in 2011. But the province refused to release details of at least five more reviews and audits, including a financial review of Awasis and several previous investigations into Island Lake that did little to spark improvements at the agency.

While looking into the Island Lake agency, investigators reviewed case files and interviewed staff and found “serious flaws in the agency’s ability to meet the basic (foster home) licensing standards.” Standards that were often not met include home studies and criminal-record and child-abuse registry checks on relatives and friends who also live in a foster home.

“The list of low-compliance issues may be viewed as indicators of the fact that ILFNFS has not developed the procedures and tools required to meet the placement needs of the agency,” wrote investigators.

The review found social workers were good at dealing with short-term crisis situations, but not as adept at long-term planning for children in care, including case plans, written assessments and file documentation.

“It has been said that the file should tell the story of the child’s life and contain information relevant to the child’s growth, development and changing needs,” wrote the reviewers. “The files fell short in this regard and are below the minimum standards of practice.”

 

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca