Some of what is being proposed is reasonable and achievableIn an interview, Dunlop agreed that the need for action, which aims to keep families together, with additional support for children and parents alike, has long been obvious. “There was awareness,” she said. “There were past reports that the ministry had done. But this is a priority for our government. Young people have to have opportunities to succeed and thrive.” The minister said that she had some understanding of the broader child welfare system from work earlier in her career, and one of her first events as minister was at an Indigenous healing lodge and child centre in Toronto. The conversations she had at that event, Dunlop told the Post, got her looking closely at the file.
Some of what is being proposed is reasonable and achievable. Indeed, the priorities of the plan are not just achievable, they’re achievable, Dunlop hopes, within 12 months or so — before the next provincial election. But some of the issues Dunlop hopes to address are much broader than those in the child-welfare system. Data is siloed in ways that complicate co-ordination and planning — that’s essentially the default position for every Canadian government. There are major regional inequalities in available services — a child in need of a new living environment will simply have a better chance of finding a good, culturally appropriate placement in the densely populated Greater Toronto Area than they will in a remote northern community. But that’s true across the board, especially for specialized health care or mental health services. And it has ever been thus, and seems set to remain so. Why will child welfare be the exception?
Will the government be able to push ahead before things have returned to normal?
“We recognize there are geographical issues,” Dunlop said when asked what would be different this time. “This is a multi-ministerial push. We’re working with Education and Health, and focusing on mental health. We’re working with universities and on labour training. A lot of these children and families touch on so many different ministries that we need to come together and wrap these families in the support they need. The focus has to be on prevention, not reaction. Prevention and early intervention will keep kids out of group homes, which is the least desirable, and most expensive, way of dealing with these problems.” Keeping a child in a group home can cost the system $100,000 year, her ministry has found.
It sounds promising. It will be difficult. The consultation and rollout process has already been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that remains a major challenge. Will the government be able to push ahead before things have returned to normal? The minister thinks so — and noted that the crisis made the need for change even clearer. “The pandemic really highlighted some of the long-standing issues in the system,” Dunlop said. Some changes implemented on the fly to cope, including sharing of some data and logistics resources, may in fact help with realizing the proposed changes, she hoped.
We should all hope that. Dunlop and her staff have made a convincing case that change is urgently necessary. Now comes the hard part — not just improving the future of children, but literally saving their lives.
https://nationalpost.com/news/matt-gurney-trying-to-avert-two-ontario-child-welfare-deaths-a-week/wcm/1ba6c0df-b3b3-4f06-b7f0-bd4123bdad9b/
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