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We are pleased to provide you with current news of impact to residential care providers and the vulnerable children, youth and young adults they serve, as well as press releases relating to OARTY and the sector as a whole.    Should you have any questions regarding the below content, please contact the OARTY Office.

Please click the below links to access the individual sections, or scroll down for more information.

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News

Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth - Bill 117 - June 2016 

In December 2015, the Legislature passed Bill 117 – the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Amendment Act, 2015, which applies to all service providers as defined under the CFSA, including ministry staff, societies, licensed children’s residences and residential care providers, mental health service providers and autism and special needs service providers, among others.  The legislative amendments take effect on June 10, 2016. 

For more information, please see the below Q&A sheets from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.  

 Bill 117 - Questions & Answers - English (pdf)
 Bill 117 - Questions & Answers - French (pdf)


 

Ministry of Children and Youth Services Residential Services Review Panel - Report Released

On May 19th, The Honourable Tracy MacCharles, Minister of Children and Youth Services released the report of the Residential Services Review Panel. You can read her statement regarding the report at: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/news/speeches/05192016.aspx

The report is entitled, Because Young People Matter, and it is organized into 10 key themes with 33 recommendations for improving residential services in Ontario. The key themes included are:

1.  Governance – a focus on the structures and mechanisms that affect the oversight of, accountability for, and service delivery of residential services. 

2.  Voice – a focus on the fundamental importance of youth voice, engagement and participation in all aspects of residential service provision. 

3.  Quality of Care – a focus on the need for quality to be the foundation of service delivery and experience, and governance of residential care. 

4.  Continuity of Care - a focus on the need to look at residential care as a journey that requires continuity of care, a focus on transitions, and an overall perspective of the trajectory of care over time, both at the individual and system levels.

5.  Data and Information – a focus on the data needs and analytical capacity required to evaluate how young people are doing in residential care. 

6.  Human Resources – a focus on the need to ensure that those tasked with caring for vulnerable young people are best equipped to do so. 

7.  Youth Justice – a focus on issues and opportunities in the secure and open custody and detention sector specifically. 

8.  First Nations, Métis and Inuit Young People In Residential Care – a discussion about the importance of ensuring that a specific partnership strategy be considered regarding residential care in an Aboriginal context. 

9.  Unique Contexts and Geographies - a focus on how residential care intersects with young people who identify their life context in unique ways, such as young people who identify as Black Youth, as Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Queer, or 2-spirited (LGBTQ2S), and those who have been identified by the system as having complex special needs. The issue of young people recruited into the Sex Trades is a component of this chapter, as is the impact of unique geographies on residential services and care.

10. Service and Outcome Indicators – an identification of key indicators related to the evaluation of service providers, everyday experiences, and long term outcomes of young people living in out-of-home care.


Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth - Serious Occurrences Preliminary Report

On February 26th, 2016 the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth released a preliminary report on their analysis of serious occurrence reports from January to March of 2014. A full analysis/report of their findings and interpretations will be released over the coming weeks. You can access the preliminary report at: http://provincialadvocate.on.ca/documents/en/SOR_Preliminary_Report_022016_En.pdf

The preliminary report contains nine separate recommendations as follows:

  1. The Serious Occurrence Report form should be reconfigured to reduce multiple reporting categories, highlight risk, and identify Wardship status.
  2. MCYS should direct that all sections of the Serious Occurrence Report form be fully completed. (A person who has had no involvement in the incident that is the subject of the serious occurrence report should be able to read the report and understand what happened).
  3. MCYS should require that the young person involved in a Serious Occurrence be provided with the opportunity to record their version of events in a timely manner.
  4. MCYS should impose standards for reporting on the use of physical restraints that, at minimum, include: a descriptor of the imminent threat or occurrence, details of attempts to de-escalate or prevent the occurrence if applicable, the name of the technique used as an intrusive measure, the initials of all staff involved, the length of the restraint and the time of the incident, a summary of the debriefing procedure, and a record of any injuries that result from the intervention.
  5. MCYS should require immediate staff training in medication administration. This includes diligent record keeping, clarity of instruction regarding PRN dosing, and procedures to prevent medication errors.
  6. MCYS, jointly with the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, should convene roundtable discussions about young people who go missing.
  7. MCYS, jointly with the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, should immediately convene roundtable discussions about the restraint of young people in residential care.
  8. MCYS should create an electronic database, accessible to service providers, the public, children’s aid societies, and the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth that centralizes serious occurrence reporting and allows for robust reporting.
  9. Serious Occurrence Reports relating to the death of children in care should require fulsome descriptions including the name of the disability, the cause of death, the circumstances surrounding the death, those present at the death and names of the guardians and others notified about the child’s death.

The preliminary report is a descriptive analysis of the events recorded in the serious occurrence reports and is not an assessment of the overall quality of care in a residence.


Ontario Hiring More Mental Health Workers for Children and Youth

On January 22nd, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services announced that they are investing $6 million in local mental health services to help an estimated additional 4,000 children and youth, and their families each year.  With this investment, approximately 80 new child and youth mental health workers are being hired to provide local mental health services, including early identification and intervention, crisis services, counselling and supports for families. For more information, see the announcement from the Ministry at the below link.
https://news.ontario.ca/mcys/en/2016/01/ontario-hiring-more-mental-health-workers-for-children-and-youth.html 


 

New Child and Youth Mental Health Lead Agencies Announced

On December 23rd, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services announced three new lead agencies for child and youth mental health.  The lead agencies are part of the Ministry’s Moving on Mental Health plan, which aims to ensure that children, youth and families are able to get mental health services in their communities that are accessible, responsive and based on the experiences of the children and youth who need help.  

The newly announced lead agencies are listed below. 

  • Central Ministry Region, Haliburton/Kawartha Lakes/Peterborough Service Area: Kinark Child and Family Services
  • Central Ministry Region, Hastings/Prince Edward/Northumberland Service Area: Children's Mental Health Services
  • Eastern Ministry Region, Renfrew Service Area: The Phoenix Centre for Children and Families

For a list of all lead agencies, or for more information on this Ministry initiative, please see the below link. http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/specialneeds/mentalhealth/moving-on-mental-health.aspx


 

Motherisk Hair Analysis Independent Review Released

The Motherisk Hair Analysis Independent Review was released to the Attorney General on December 15th, 2015; and subsequently to the public on December 17th, 2015. The review looks at hair strand tests conducted via Sick Kids' Motherisk program, one of a number of tools used to determine whether a child was a victim of abuse or neglect.  While these tests are not necessarily a determining factor in the outcome of a child protection case, individuals who may have been impacted have an opportunity to receive the assistance of the commissioner.  The independent reviewer concluded that the hair-strand drug and alcohol testing used by the Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory between 2005 and 2015 was inadequate and unreliable for use in child protection and criminal proceedings and that the Laboratory did not meet internationally recognized forensic standards. The recommendations include the appointment of an Independent Commissioner to assist individuals who may have been affected by Motherisk’s flawed hair testing methodology. While these tests are not necessarily a determining factor in the outcome of a child protection case, individuals who may have been impacted have an opportunity to receive the assistance of the commissioner.  You can access the report at the below link.

http://www.m-hair.ca/ 


 

Residential Services Review - Report Date Extended

The Ministry of Children and Youth Residential Services Panel have announced that due to extensive feedback, they will be taking additional time to compose their report to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. The original date for the report’s release was tentatively set for December 31, 2015, and has been extended to the end of February, 2016.

You can read the full letter from The Ministry of Children and Youth Residential Services Panel at the below link.

http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/specialneeds/residential.aspx 


Cross-Over Youth Project - Program Launch

The Cross-Over Youth Project, a partnership formed at Ryerson University and of which OARTY was pleased to participate in, was developed to help prevent youth in the child welfare system from ‘crossing over’ into the youth justice system. The Cross-Over Youth Project looked at how to create and pilot an integrated model of Family/Youth Justice court. The idea being that the Ministry of the Attorney General could match youth across both systems through the use of records and documents and that the youth would then go before one judge.

As of the last week in October the project launched in four locations: Downtown Toronto, Thunder Bay, Belleville and Chatham. The official launch took place October 28th at Ryerson Universit. For details on the launch and the program, please see the Media Release and Backgrounder below.
Media Release - New Cross-Over Youth Project to help Youth in Care stay out of the Justice System
Backgrounder - New Cross-Over Youth Project (pdf) 


Truth and Reconciliation Commission - Report

On June 2nd the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s report was released. Over 150,000 aboriginal youth were removed from their families and placed in Indian Residential Schools in an effort to “remove the Indian from the child”. This tragic chapter of Canada’s history has been recognized as an act of cultural genocide, and the Commission is working to heal the survivors and the generations that follow through reconciliation and forgiveness.

The report makes numerous recommendations to support the healing process and encourage recognition of native culture, heritage and history. You can access the executive summary, a listing of principles and stories from survivors at the below link.
www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=890 


Child and Family Services Act (CFSA) Review & Report

Ontario launched the third review of the Child and Family Services Act (CFSA) on September 24th.  The review explores possible changes to the Child and Family Services Act while targeting two key areas:

  1. Improving outcomes for children and youth, with specific focus on: 
    • Supporting older youth who are in need of protection
    • Residential services and licensing
    • Information sharing
    • Permanency (seeking to provide permanent homes for children in care), including adoption
    • Supporting Aboriginal children and youth
  2. Modernizing and clarifying the language of the Act

The public engagement process includes:

  • Regional engagement sessions across the province with agencies, organizations, associations and service providers, and with children, youth, and their families
  • Engagement with First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Aboriginal partners
  • Written submissions
  • Social media engagement to help capture and encourage input from youth. 

Organizations and individuals were invited to provide written feedback as part of the review of the CFSA. You can access the  report released April 1st, 2015 at the below link.

http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/documents/about/CFSA2014/CFSAReviewReport.pdf


 

Press Releases

2015-2016 Press Releases
The below press releases are from OARTY during the 2015-2016 membership year (April 1, 2015 - March 31, 2016)  Please see below for earlier press releases from the association.

The following is OARTY's response to the PACY Serious Occurrence Report released February 26, 2016.
 OARTY Response to PACY Serious Occurence Reporting - Feb 26 2016 (pdf)

The following letter to the editor was released in response to the Toronto Star Article of April 24, 2015, 46 CAS agencies, 46 standards of care for vulnerable children.
 OARTY Letter to the Editor - Toronto Star CAS Data Analysis Article of April 24 2015 (pdf)

 

Past Press Releases
 Thriver Inc. Announces Donation of 3,000 Licences to Help Ontario's Youth (pdf)

 OARTY Supports Blueprint for Fundamental Changes to Child Welfare System - Press Release - January 2013 (pdf)

 OARTY Supports Call for Fundamental Changes to Child Welfare System - May 2012 (pdf)

 Unkind Cuts for the Disabled - May 2010 (pdf)

 The Group Home Mess - May 2009 (pdf)