BCFFPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
TELECONFERENCE
SUMMARY
FEBRUARY
9, 2005
1.
Minutes of January 12th
accepted with change to date of opening for Northern Regional Office. Correct date January 17, 2005.
2.
Treasurer’s Report
o A motion was made to assist regions to send foster parents to the AGM in May. A suggestion to have a draw for a holiday was brought forward. This will be looked into further.
01/02/05:MSC:
(Willy Neal) Move to allocate $2,000.00 per region to successfully bring as
many voting members as possible to the AGM for 2005. Unanimous
The
provincial office will administer the funds.
o
The board unanimously
approved the draft budget.
o It was decided to allocate a further $15,000 of
unexpended funds from prior years to legal and professional fees, due to the
possibility that there may be some upcoming FCH contract negotiations.
3.
President’s Report
o The Strategic Planning Process has been stalled until
the office receives the final surveys.
Delegates who have not already responded were encouraged to do so.
o ATS – The board agreed to the signing of a new ATS
contract for fundraising in the 2005/06 fiscal years.
o Support, Fraser Region – The issue of lack of support
to foster parents in the Fraser Region was addressed by the president in a
letter to the MCFD liaison. The
contract manager for this region has since followed up with the president
directly. The President will continue
to address the issue.
o New Staff – a memo has gone to the board informing
them of the hiring of a new staff person.
Vivian will work 25 hours a week. The board was encouraged to call in
and get to know her.
o InfoLetter adoption bio’s – The board discussed this
suggestion, however they have decided to hold off in including adoption bio’s
for the time being due to lack of space and the fact that the adoptive families
includes adoption information in both the BCFFPA and the AFABC newsletters.
o CFFA Symposium – the CFFA poster contest is once
again going forward in June at the CFFA Symposium. The board was encouraged to gather posters from CIC’s for BCFFPA
judging at the AGM. The board received
the information via e-mail. It will
also be posted on the web site.
o YIC Steering Committee meeting – Willy will be
attending. The President will attend
part of the conference.
4.
Ongoing Business
o Legal Custody Issue – The Vice President has done
some research with a lawyer in her area, who has suggested that due to the
BCFFPA contract with MCFD we can approach them to get information on the legal
ramifications of foster parents taking legal custody of their CIC’s. The Vice President will write a letter to
MCFD.
o Lift – The Vice President and the office will
investigate the cost of installing a lift for physically handicapped
individuals. The Burnaby by-laws will
be looked at and costs assessed.
o Programs and Services – One service, which was
suggested, is that the BCFFPA clarify the contract issues and share the
information with foster parents, as the current open-ended method is in the
ministry’s favour only.
o Macro regional council report. – The Interior
Delegate will have this forwarded to the office for distribution with the
minutes. The next meetings are
scheduled for Feb 15th and March 15th.
o Provincial Contract – The President, Treasurer, and
Office Manager will be meeting with the ministry around the budget for the
2005/06 fiscal years. The amount
requested is $150,000.00 for this fiscal.
This is in addition to a request for special funding for specific
projects.
o Training Update – There are now two training sessions
being given. The first is on March
10/11 and the second March 17/18. There
has been a tremendous response.
o AGM – The AGM is being held the 27/28 of May. The board agreed to have a ˝ day Strategic
Planning meeting with Dave Annis on the 26th of May. A room for the Interior Macro council will
be made available for them to meet in the evening if necessary. Four workshops have been booked. Two half
days with Marion Balla of the CWLC, Grief, Loss & Transitions with Jane
Cotter-Kathwaroon, Modeling Behaviours with Isabel St. Pierre, and a laughter
workshop with Karen Berry. Several
different fundraising activities are planned as well. The Fraser Delegate will work with the office to obtain
donations. Reps are also requested to
supply a prize from their regions for raffle/door prize etc.
5.
New Business
o Exception to 6 Bed Policy – The President has written
to the MCFD Liaison requesting discussion of this policy. It was pointed out by MCFD that all
decisions can be appealed if foster parents and/or youth do not agree with SW
decisions.
6.
Ministry Liaison Report
o Foster Home Standards will be out in April. The board requested that they be invited to
provide feedback to the final draft.
This will be done with the input deadline being March 15th.
o The recruitment pamphlets are waiting to be signed
off, and will be delayed for approx. 5 more weeks. Wayne suggested that the office get a quote on printing
approximately 100.
o Youth Justice and Mental Health are very interested
in getting a rider policy to cover their homes. MCFD will forward names of contact people to the BCFFPA Office
Manager
o Youth Advocacy brochure is now ready for approval,
however the BCFFPA has had no input to date.
MCFD will send the document to the Office Manager to gather feedback
from the board.
o The MCFD Liaison and The President will deal with
protocol issues at Friday’s meeting.
o Prescription drug reimbursement – The MCFD Liaison felt that there are still
grey areas and variations on how foster parents are reimbursed region to
region. He felt that this can sometimes
be problematic. If a doctor prescribes
a medication not covered by Pharmacare, it is a legitimate OTO expense, so will
be reimbursed.
7.
Foster Doll Project
o There is a placement ceremony taking place in Duncan
on February 10th at the Heart of the Matter Conference. Min. Susan Brice, Chief Leanne Joe, Cindy
Blackstock, Kay Dahl, and The President will all be receiving foster
dolls. The Vancouver Coastal Delegate
continues to represent the BCFFPA on this committee.
8.
Regional Update
o On-line training has been developed by North Central
Family Resources. The board felt that
this training should be available province-wide. The ministry has planning in process to update all foster parent
training modules. Training developed in
all areas will be shared and worked on provincially. In discussion with the ministry it appears that there are
currently no repercussions for not completing the training. MCFD agreed with the BCFFPA that there is a
need for a greater level of consistency province wide.
o The Sheila Davis was looking for information from
other regions on whether the youth housing in their area was experiencing any
violence, drinking, drug use etc. There
was no indication from other regions that this is an issue.
Interior Macro Region –
Regional Meetings Update
Submitted by Heather
Bayes
January 19, 2005
Attending: Lila Lachmuth –Thompson, Heather Bayes –Shuswap, Frank
Hetherington- East Kootenays, Esther Swanson- West Kootenays, Cheryl
MacLeod-North Okanagan and Wendy Sutherland –Central Okanagan
There was a discussion around the local reports, Frank has received a
few and we will continue to encourage this method of communication. It was
noted that postage has gone up so a notice will be attached to our report
requesting the locals add that 1-cent stamp. Frank and Esther are working on
the policy and procedure and will report back when they have more done. Wendy and Heather met with Rick Childerhose
in October. Rick suggested a
face-to-face meeting with Ministry counterparts at some future date. We are still looking for someone to be
Treasurer and we will all keep looking.
Brief discussion around budget and fund raising. Reports from the Prov.
Rep and all of the Areas, some issues to come up were: Meds not covered by Pharmacare. CICs returning to care going back to their
original F.P.
At ll:00 am Brenda Richardson from ICS and Jessica Macfarland from OFPA
joined in, discussion around getting the word out to the FPs about Macro. ICS and OFPA have agreed to help with
mailing of an introductory letter to all FPs and to develop a pamphlet to be
distributed at meetings and during FP orientation sessions.
February 15, 2005
In attendance Wendy Sutherland, Lila Lachmuth, Heather Bayes, Cheryl
MacLeod and Esther Swanson.
We had a discussion on the use of alternates for those not able to make
the meeting, tabled to next meeting. No
one has come forward for the treasurer’s position so we will continue to seek
one out. After further discussion about
fund raising it was decided to fund raise for specific projects rather than
general funding. Frank and Esther are
continuing to work on P&P. Reports
from Prov. Rep and Area Delegates.
Discussion about the new Interior Protocol Policy and was agreed that
Heather sign off on them. There was a
lot of talk about the 53-hr. education and the different info each area is
receiving concerning extensions to dead line, on-line availability, and
consequences for not competing on time as well as if only the contract holder
must comply or that partners without contract must complete as well. Brenda from ICS joined us at ll:05 and
talked to some of these concerns. She has a meeting with Nancy McCombe for
clarification and direction on these issues.
The board also talked about the upcoming Prov. AGM and taking the
opportunity to meet face-to-face on the Thursday evening as well as opening the
meeting up to FPs from the macro. Next
meeting will be a telephone conference March 15.
Submitted by Marilou
Bancud
On Thursday, February 10, a
placement ceremony will be held at the “Heart of the Matter: Aboriginal Approaches to Working with
Children, Youth, Families and Communities” Conference in Duncan BC, from 1:00
pm to 1:30 pm.
At this special event, the
remaining Aboriginal foster dolls will be placed with the following new
Honourary Foster Parents –
The President Durnford, President of the BCFFPA
Stan Hagen, Minister of Children and Family Development
Susan Brice, Minister of Human Resources; and
Cindy
Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Caring For Children Society
In addition, Kay Dahl of the
Metis Provincial Council will welcome her current foster doll’s little brother
into her home to ensure these siblings are not separated like many young people
in care often are in our current system.
Honourary Foster Parents are
encouraged to send letters, pictures, newspaper articles, and life/log book
entries to the FAFP office.
_______________________________________________________ © Copyright BCFFPA. All Rights Reserved. BC Federation of Foster Parent Associations 207 - 22561 Dewdney Trunk Road, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 3K1 Phone: 604 466-7487, FAX: 604 466-7490 Toll Free: 1-800-663-9999 email: office@bcfosterparents.ca |