NEWS RELEASE

April 23, 2002

For Immediate Release

Children’s Advocate Releases Annual Report

Report cites challenging experiences of children and youth in care; the need to enhance the Advocate’s resources to adapt to the devolution process; and the use of hotels as emergency placements by Winnipeg Child and Family Service.

One thousand one hundred and thirty-three case files were opened in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2001, an increase of almost 23% over the previous fiscal year. More than half of the concerns involved the quality of children’s placements while in care, children and youth in the community who might require protection services from an agency, disagreements over Child and Family Services (CFS) involvements in families, access to children in care, and a lack of case planning.

Youth report that they are seldom included in case planning that would allow them to have a say in decisions made about their lives. The vast majority of the time, they are told where they will live, where they will go to school, when they can see their parents or siblings, and when or if, they will be allowed to return home. Should they disagree, they are often labeled difficult or uncooperative.

"I am inspired every day by the incredible strength, resiliency and dignity of the children and youth with whom our office works," Mirwaldt stated. "At this time, it is especially important that the chorus of many, often more powerful adult voices in a large, devolving CFS system do not overwhelm their voices.

The Children’s Advocate reported that her office was supportive of the devolution of child and family services to Aboriginal communities. Mirwaldt said that one of the greatest challenges her office will face is that the resources allotted to the Office of the Children’s Advocate will not ensure equity of accessibility to advocacy services throughout Manitoba. Including the Children’s Advocate, seven Winnipeg based staff members provide services for the entire province. Resource limitations prevent extensive travel and locating any additional advocacy offices outside of Winnipeg.

The Children’s Advocate also reported that Winnipeg Child and Family Services (WCFS) had placed 2,553 children and youth in care in hotels for a total of 61,190 days during a 57 month period ending in January 2000. Children under the age of 12, a majority of which were under the age of 5, were most likely to be placed in hotels. There was little or no programming for children placed in the hotels. Staff caring for children and youth in hotels had varying qualifications and had been contracted by WCFS.

The Children’s Advocate’s findings were contained in two reviews that she conducted on aspects of WCFS’s use of hotels as emergency placements for children and youth. Since the reviews were submitted to WCFS and the Department of Family Services and Housing, WCFS has made a concentrated effort to reduce the utilization of hotels as emergency placements.

"My staff and I continue to develop our role as advocates for children and youth in a system that has begun to undergo historic changes through the devolution of the child and family services system," said the Children’s Advocate. "In this new system, there will be a need for a strong, independent, impartial, and ever-present Office of the Children's Advocate; one that is available and accessible to all."

The Children’s Advocate exists to represent the rights, interests and viewpoints of children receiving, or entitled to receive, child and family services in Manitoba. The Children’s Advocate reports directly to the Legislative Assembly and operates in an arm’s length relationship with the child welfare system.

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Media contact: Janet Mirwaldt

Highlights: Use of Hotels as Emergency Placements for Children And Youth by Winnipeg Child and Family Services.

Highlights: The Use of Hotels as Emergency Placements for Children and Youth by Winnipeg Child and Family Services.

The use of hotels as emergency placements for children has been a long-standing practice of CFS agencies. As a result of community-based complaints, the Children’s Advocate investigated aspects of Winnipeg Child and Family Services’ (WCFS) use of hotels as emergency placements for children and youth. Two reviews on the subject were produced and sent to WCFS and the Department of Family Services and Housing (Department).

The 1^st Review on Hotel Use completed in May 2000

Data pertaining to the period between April 1, 1995 and January 11, 2000 was collected from WCFS’s Executive Accounting Office and analyzed by the Children’s Advocate. Included in the Children’s Advocate’s findings:

2,553 individual children and youth were placed in hotels by WCFS;
children and youth in care spent a total of 61,190 days in hotels;
WCFS calculated that the 1999 per diem for the hotel placement averaged $305 per child, yet the hotel placements offered almost no resources for treatment or care of a child;
children under the age of 12, a majority of which were under the age of 5, were most likely to be placed in hotels. Most of these children were male;
older adolescents were the least likely to be placed in hotels. Adolescents generally remained there for shorter periods of times than those under the age of 12. Adolescents placed in hotels were predominately female;
the average length of stay was 18.12 days per child;
approximately 20% of children placed in hotels were re-admitted into hotels in that same year. These children stayed an average of 40 days over the multiple admissions and they accounted for 50-60% of the total days in hotel care in that year;
it appeared that staff members caring for children and youth placed in hotels were not likely to be WCFS staff. They were employees of private companies contracted by the agency to provide the service in the hotels; and
WCFS and the Department were unable to access statistical data regarding the use of hotel placements given the technology available to them at the time.

The 2^nd Review on Hotel Use completed in June 2000

In June 2000, the OCA received further community complaints regarding the use of hotels by WCFS and the quality of care. The OCA entered into the two hotels mentioned in the complaints and interviewed 15 of the 23 children and youth placed there. Children under 6 were not interviewed. Children and youth were given the option to participate. Seven childcare staff members were interviewed. All staff were contract employees from outside agencies contracted by WCFS.

Included in the Children’s Advocate’s findings:

children as young as three years of age and as old as 17 were placed in hotels;
there was little or no programming for children placed in the hotels;
all described an overwhelming sense of boredom, feelings of isolation, a distrust of adults, and a belief that no one would listen to them;
most were unaware of the case plan for their future;
about half reported being placed in a hotel previously;
qualifications of contract staff caring for children in the hotels varied;
contract child care staff were not assigned to rooms and rotated and were unable to build relationships with the children for whom they cared; and
childcare staff and children reported that agency workers rarely visited the hotel

Based on WCFS supplied hotel placement numbers covering periods between April 1999 to January 2001:

hotel placements had increased by more than 50% in the ten month period ending in January 2001 as compared to the ten moth period ending in January 2000;
WCFS was able to demonstrate a reduction of the number of children placed in hotels for the three-month period ending in January 2001;
In the first Hotel Review, the OCA was concerned about the number of children under the age of 12 who were placed in hotels, particularly those staying for longer periods of time. Since raising the issue, the OCA has noted, through statistics supplied by WCFS, that there had been a shift in the ages of children who were placed in hotels for longer than 30 days. Of the children in this category, the percentage of older children (12 years and older) has increased by 11%.
From April 1999 to January 2001, WCFS reported that 961 children were placed over 22 months. Thirteen (13%) of these children experienced multiple placements, which would indicate a reduction from the 20% average the OCA had identified in its first hotel report covering multiply placements for a period of nearly five-years ending in January 2000.

Note: It is difficult to gauge how WCFS’s performance regarding hotel placements compares to other agencies. As of February 2001, the province accumulated data about placed children and youth in a case management information system known as CFSIS. As of February 2001, nine CFS agencies were not using the CFSIS system or were not yet fully functional on the system. Even if all were on the system, hotel placements are not tracked separately, but are included as part of a category listed as "untracked facilities". When the OCA requested information from the Department, it could not be provided. Instead, it was suggested that the OCA contact each agency directly to gather the information. At the writing of this Annual report, there were 13 independent agencies and five regional offices of the Department that would have to be contacted. Gathering this amount of information is not possible with the limited staffing resources in the OCA.

Further information is contained on page 39 of the Children’s Advocate’s Annual Report for 2000-2001.

Media contact: Janet Mirwaldt.

Office of the Children's Advocate
102-500 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3C 3X1