Child Protection System Review Released

New Brunswick should consider child protection workers as an essential service, like police officers and health care workers, in terms of recruitment.

That is one of the findings in a review of the province’s child protection system conducted by a Nova Scotia-based consultant.

George Savoury made 107 recommendations which he said will better enable social workers to protect children from abuse and neglect.

Savoury said child welfare staff are dedicated and committed but are stressed by their workload and the delays in filling vacant positions.

Need For More Resources

In his 175-page report, Savoury said it takes an “inordinate amount of time” to fill vacant positions, exacerbating the workload situation.

“The police and health care fields would not be able to function if they had to deal with such delays in recruitment,” wrote Savoury, who noted it takes an average of 75.5 days to fill a permanent position.

Savoury also said child welfare struggles to maintain priority within the Department of Social Development with many programs.

“In fact, in one situation, child welfare resources were allocated to long term care/seniors, despite the pressures on child welfare,” he said.

Social workers also lack essential tools to do their jobs, such as their own laptops and cell phones with data to access electronic case files in the field, he said.

Separate Child Protection Act Needed

Savoury said staff need to be assured a child’s rights supersede the rights of parents when doing investigating or removing a child from a home.

“Social workers operate under the Family Services Act, which places the protection of children from abuse and neglect as paramount,” Savoury said. “They should not be worrying about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and whether they are intruding on the rights of families.”

Savoury also said the province’s Family Services Act, introduced nearly 40 years ago, needs to be replaced with a new and separate child protection act.

“New Brunswick is one of the only provinces in Canada without its own separate child protection legislation,” he said, noting the current legislation is combined with long-term care and adoptions.

Social Development Minister Responds

In a statement, Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard said she will work with staff to determine priorities and time frames for implementing the recommendations.

“Government has committed to protecting children at risk,” said Shephard. “We recognize that child protective practices are complex and high-risk in nature, and improvements to our system can always be made.”

Savoury said some of the recommendations will mean extra costs, but the additional costs of not acting on them are even greater.

“The lifetime costs for each victim of child maltreatment is $210,012, whereas the costs of each death due to child maltreatment are estimated even higher at $1,271,900,” Savoury wrote.

“The human and emotional consequences for the victim, family and community are beyond cost estimates.”