Improving Residential Care Practices in British Columbia.
The Federation, in partnership with the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD), is undertaking a comprehensive review of residential care for children and youth in BC. The scope of this review includes residential care services and supports provided in child welfare/protection, youth justice, child and youth with special needs and child and youth mental health service streams.
The work is unfolding in three phases. The first phase - from Spring 2010 to Spring 2011 - focused on comprehensive information gathering and analysis. This phase set the foundation for phase two which developed ideas and recommendations for action. Four key themes or focal points for action emerged from phase one: achieving permanency, delivering an array of accessible residential care services, strengthening foster caregiving and working together effectively.
Through March and April 2011 we conducted working sessions for phase two. These sessions engaged foster caregivers, services providers, MCFD staff, youth and community partners to review the findings and generate ideas and recommendations for action. Phase two also includes an online survey component (see links below) and key informant interviews. A final report with recommendations will be completed in Fall 2011.
In addition to this review, several other complementary initiatives are underway: a review of kinship care options, a review of tertiary care and an Aboriginal consultation process on residential care. The latter is being undertaken by Caring for First Nations Children Society, the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres and the Metis Commission, with their respective constituents.
In phase three, MCFD will integrate the findings from all four complementary processes to develop a five-year strategic plan for residential care. Given the fiscal climate, the focus in the early years will be on low or no cost actions and reallocations, with any further investments in residential care more likely to be achieved in the mid to later years of the plan.
The Board of Directors of the Federation has also decided to draw on the findings presented in all four reports to prepare a response and an action plan that may include training and education, applied promising practice projects, promising practice pilots, research and resource sharing.
Residential Review documents and resources can be found HERE.
Findings reports posted:
The results of Phase One of the review are now available in two reports and a series of fact sheets. The comprehensive findings report includes detailed information gathered through focus group and stakeholder consultations, review of academic literature, review of reports and documented practices from BC and other jurisdictions and statistical analysis. The findings report summary is a short version that pulls out the highlights and main findings. A series of fact sheets that address the key themes that emerged are also available for review (see list below).
Online surveys posted:
As part of the Phase Two work for the review, a series of working sessions were held with foster caregivers. community service providers and MCFD staff from throughout . Participants considered the findings and then worked together to generate ideas for action. We now invite you to provide feedback on the proposed actions. Three short online confidential surveys have been prepared. Just click on the links below and you will be able to share your views and preferences with us:
Achieving permanency
http://app.fluidsurveys.com/s/achieving-permanency/
Delivering and accessible array of residential care options
http://app.fluidsurveys.com/s/arrayofcare/
Strengthening foster care
http://app.fluidsurveys.com/s/strengtheningfostercare/