B.C.’s representative for children and youth is speaking out about how child welfare social workers are in a state of crisis after releasing a new report which identified issues with staffing and a lack of supports when faced with complex work.
Jennifer Charlesworth said today the field has been struggling with understaffing for roughly 35 of the 47 years she has worked in it, adding that this has been a problem under all governments.
“What we’re dealing with now is a perfect storm. The complexity of needs are very significant, and the capacity of the system to respond to that complexity is stretched more than ever,” she said, noting difficulties with recruitment amid the current strain on the system.
This report follows the release of a July report, which calls for more comprehensive family supports to enable people to take care of their children. She suggested the government has been moving forward on the recommendations from that report.
This report released Feb. 6 calls for more training and pay, along with transparency on staffing levels.
“What this latest report is, is just to make sure that we’re all clear of what our baseline is and what are some of the challenges,” she said. “In order to move forward we need to make sure that workforce is really supported.”
Charlesworth said she felt encouraged, but said the challenges in the industry are going to be tough as social issues such as the opioid crisis and economic uncertainty stack onto problems in the industry.
The report also calls for mandatory legal professional regulation of child welfare workers, which Charlesworth suggested could increase public confidence between workers and clients.
Charlesworth was on CFAX 1070 with Ryan Price this morning: