Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General’s report was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on March 4, 2014. This year’s performance audit focused on child and family services. The department is responsible for the overall management of the child and family services system, and the director of child and family services has key obligations under the act to protect children from harm, abuse and neglect. The regional authorities are responsible for assisting the director in fulfilling these obligations.

Many lives are touched by the child and family services system. Across our jurisdiction over 1,000 children – roughly one child in every six – receive services of some kind each year. Approximately 250 children are in temporary or permanent custody of the director of child and family services. The Government of the Northwest Territories spends about $21 million annually on these services.

The Northwest Territories has one of the highest rates of child apprehensions in the country. Over 90 percent of child welfare cases involve Aboriginal children.

The root causes of maltreatment are well known. The Northwest Territories has extremely high rates of poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, mental health issues, domestic violence, homelessness and crime. As well, safe and affordable housing is often unavailable.

Underlying these problems is the legacy of the residential school system. Residential schools caused profound disruption to Aboriginal families, forcibly removing children from their homes and eroding traditional practices that bound Aboriginal families and communities together. The school system lasted four generations. Many children were subjected to physical abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect, or some combination of these types of abuse. While residential schools have been closed for decades, the devastating effects are still being felt today.

Child and family services is a very difficult area in which to work. Child protection workers are routinely exposed to traumatic and stressful situations in which they must make difficult decisions about the well-being of children. They also manage paperwork, prepare legal documents and appear in court. There are many dedicated and committed child protection workers in the Northwest Territories.

Two previous reviews of child and family services have been conducted, the first in 2000 by a national organization known as the Child Welfare League. Among its recommendations were: 1) strengthen

accountability; 2) increase resource allocations for regional authorities; and 3) improve tools and guidance to support service delivery.

The second review was completed in 2010 by the Legislative Assembly’s Standing Committee on Social Programs. Members traveled the territory extensively, hearing from people about how to improve the child and family services system. Eight core recommendations were made, out of which flowed several dozen others. The core recommendations were: 1) focus on prevention and early intervention; 2) take the least intrusive measures possible; 3) set up child and family services committees in every community; 4) provide alcohol and drug treatment options in all communities; 5) address gaps in services for youth; 6) improve administration and procedures; 7) develop a territorial anti-poverty strategy; and 8) develop a strategic plan for implementing recommendations.

The Auditor General’s 2014 Report

The Auditor General’s performance audit covered program delivery between April 2010 and September 2013. Case files for 46 individual children and 36 foster homes were sampled.

Looking to the Child and Family Services Act and the Child and Family Services Standards and Procedures Manual, the Auditor General tested the department against its own rules. Four main questions were asked. First, is there an adequate accountability framework in place? Second, are there adequate mechanisms in place to support service delivery? Third, are the department and regional authorities complying with key requirements under the act? And fourth, are appropriate prevention and youth programs in place?

The Standing Committee on Government Operations was deeply troubled to learn from the Auditor General’s report that there are serious systemic problems with the delivery of child and family services. The department and regional authorities are not adequately meeting their key responsibilities. Deficiencies exist in almost every area examined.

According to the Auditor General, when the regional authorities initiated investigations, they did so within the required 24 hours, in most cases. However, 13 percent of these investigations did not include the required steps to assess the child’s immediate safety. Moreover, not one of the investigations included a longer-term assessment of the potential for abuse or neglect to reoccur. Even more alarming was that in nearly a third of the files, child protection concerns had been reported but never investigated by the regional authorities.

The Auditor General also found that regional authorities did not conduct the necessary checks on

foster homes. In 69 percent of the files examined, children were placed in foster homes which had not been properly screened.

In addition, neither the department nor the regional authorities have developed programming to support vulnerable youth who are not entitled to protection under the act.

Mr. Speaker, now I will turn this over to Ms. Bisaro to finish reading the report.