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BCFFPA Board of Directors
Conference Call Summary
March 20, 2006
1.
Minutes from February 13, 2006 accepted as written
2.
Treasurers Report
a.
Budget Meeting – A meeting was held with MCFDS on February 22, 2006
to review the budget. The final budget will be sent soon. The need for
extra funding for the CFFA was also discussed at this meeting. A
proposal will be made to forward to MCFD.
The ATS Fundraising contract expires the end of March so the BCFFPA
will need to make a decision on continuing
3.
President’s Report
a.
Upcoming Meetings –
i.
CFFA meeting is coming up in April. A representative from
MCFD will be attending
ii.
R2S Meeting is coming up in April – The President will attend
iii.
Wards of the Crown video airing with MCFD in Fraser. CWLC
rep. Peter Dudding will be attending this event. Fraser is starting a
new residential program, and this will be the kick off. The
President to attend.
iv.
Provincial Partnership Table – May 2, 3, 4, at the Executive in
Richmond. There will be a board meeting on the 2nd from 1 – 4
v.
Stand Together Conference April 8th and 9th. The BCFFPA is
assisting Hollyburn and Pacific Community Resource Society in
putting on a training event for foster and adoptive parents and
other community professionals. Fed is administering the
registration process.
b.
Meetings Attended
i.
Minister Hagen – minutes shared with board
ii.
FCFS – minutes shared with board
iii.
MCFD Budget meeting – minutes shared with board
iv.
Mark Sieben – The President met with Mark on the 22nd of
February. He appears supportive, and will continue on with
Jeremy Berland’s work.
v.
Jeremy Berland – The President met with him and presented him
with a letter and a pin. He was pleased that his thank you letter
was cc’d to Minister Hagen
vi.
Fraser Region Resource Worker Training – The President attended
to share information on the work of the BCFFPA, including the
Insurance Program. As Social Worker Week is the last week of
the month, she thanked the workers for their dedication and
commitment throughout the year.
4.
Old Business
a.
Survey – A first draft is completed and will be sent to the board at the end
of the month.
b.
AGM 2006 – The package will go out the end of the month with an
invitation letter to guests included. Sheila Dunford informed the reps that
she is not running again this year but hopes to stay involved in other ways.
c.
Agency Agreement –The board was made aware of the original intent of
the partnership. The President shared information around the discussion at
the DBC meeting.
d.
01/03/06: MSC (Melanie Filiatrault/Sheila Davis) Move to accept the Agency Agreement
as it pertains to the database. Carried
e.
Public Guardianship and Paul Jenkinson – The Vice President felt that this
was an excellent and informative meeting. She suggested that the PGT
and Mr. Jenkinson be invited to speak at the AGM and perhaps speak for
15 – 20 minutes after lunch with regard to liability issues for Foster
Parents, and the BCSWA Listening Tour taking place throughout the
province starting in the North. Paul has informed the Federation that he
can meet separately with foster parents if necessary. The information was
sent to the reps, and will be resent for those who did not receive it
previously.
f.
Policy and Procedures amendment – There was discussion with the
Parliamentarian around the accidental deletion of part of the nomination
policy during the amendments being made to the document. As there is a
stand-alone nomination policy in place he stated that the board could just
make a motion to reinstate the accidentally deleted line.
02/03/06: MSC: (Sheila Davis/Melanie Filiatrault) move that we add back into the
revised 2006 P & P manual, the reference section for the Nomination Policy which was
inadvertently deleted carried
5.
New Business
a.
Annual Reports are due by April 15th
b.
Foster Parent Rights – the draft foster parent rights booklet will come with
a motion to the AGM members, that the board continue to work on
designing the document with input from all members, with the final draft
to be sent to all members prior to it being forwarded to MCFD in the
2006/07 fiscal year.
c.
Macro Regional Requests for funding to offset the costs of mail outs for
networking purposes.
03/03/06:MSC: (Sheila Davis/Claude Cuff) Move to give the Interior Macro Region
$600 to aid in communication/networking mail out. Carried
04/03/06: MSC (Sheila Davis/Heather Bayes) Move to give the North Region $600 to aid
in communications/networking mail out upon receipt of a budget. Carried
d.
YAEF Funding – It was noted that this money is included as income for
taxation purposes, and the Federation does not feel it should be. Annette
will look further into the issue, however she did say that money for youth
on Youth Agreements is also considered income. This is another issue
that should come to the Provincial Table in May.
6.
Ministry Liaison
a.
Provincial Table – This will take place in May with the Federation
managing the finances on behalf of MCFD. There will be further
conference calls between MCFD and the Federation to finalize the
planning. The table will include FAFP, Resource Workers, Delegated
Agencies, Foster Parent Support Agencies, Child and Youth Mental
Health, Special Needs, Child Protection, Resources, Youth in Care,
BCFFPA Board, and foster parents. There will be lots of concurrent
working groups in the next year. They will focus on many issues
including recruitment and retention, education, and supports for foster
parents. The board will need to discuss representation on those working
groups. This will entail a time committment, as many questions will have
a short turn around.
b.
Mileage Increase – this will be announced during Social Worker Week at
the end of the month. The BCFFPA will be recognized in the
announcement. Anther part of the announcement will centre on the
spending of discretionary funds by social workers. Once the
announcement is made all foster parents will receive a letter.
c.
The Caregiver Support Services Standards will be released in April, so
feedback will need to be received by MCFD by the end of March.
7.
Regional Updates
a.
Vancouver Coastal – The Regional Delegate Claude Cuff inquired as to
plans for community forums with the implementation of Caregiver
Support Services Standards. MCFD HQ is encouraging MCFD front line
staff to include foster parents in the discussions, thereby including them as
part of the team. This is what CSS is about so modeling of that is
important.
Squamish Foster Parents continue to meet and are looking at becoming a
local. Claude will be up there in April.
He has also met with the Richmond Foster Parent Association
b.
Interior – Vernon and Salmon Arm are working with MCFD on a
Guardianship Review. There is excellent feedback being received from
caregivers. Issues are money for services and supports, lack of resources,
and lack of respect from MCFD.
The Interior Region continues to work hard to assist some locals to get
back up and running again.
The Macro AGM is the Thursday night prior to the BCFFPA conference
They are drafting Policy and Procedures for voting on by members.
c.
North – The North continues to experience lack of respect toward foster
parents as well.
The Regional Delegate Rick Nelson was interested to know if protocols
will be provincial or regional going forward. This will be part of the
discussions at the Provincial Partnership Table. It is hoped that the review
process will go outside the region, in order to get an unbiased review. The
whole issue of protocols needs to come back to the provincial table.
He also asked questions about Aboriginal Children who are adopted by
their caregivers. He wanted to know if their rights are severed. The Vice
President has first hand knowledge, and she is aware that if the adoption
worker fills out a certain section of the adoption application and ticks
section A, the youth may not get status until age 19. Sheila Ridden the
new staff person with OFPA is Aboriginal and can speak to that. Annette
has asked for information from the Aboriginal Team and will forward it to
the office by Wednesday.
Next Meeting May 2, 1-4 PM – Executive Hotel
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