BCFFPA Board of Directors
Teleconference Summary
August 14, 2006
1.
The minutes of July 21st, 2006 were passed as amended. New copies to go out to the
board.
2.
Treasurer’s Report
a.
Treasurer - A treasurer is still being sought. Cheques will be couriered to
the President or Vice President
b.
Audit - Waiting for the auditors report. The board will get a copy
3.
President’s Report
a.
Meetings Attended
i.
Minister Hagen – Met with Minister Hagen and Scott Ackles of
BC Lions. There will be 50 seats available to Lions Home Games.
The first game is August 18th. The Minister has indicated that he
will try to cover some costs to assist foster parents. Louie Pasaglia
may be available as well. Science World is also being worked on.
They will contact the office. Canadian Tire and Save on Foods are
other venues which are being worked on, however nothing is
complete for those yet.
Minister Hagen was in Quesnel where he asked the local ministry
office to work on getting funds to offset some of the costs
b.
Mark Sieben
i.
Rate Increase – Mark Sieben has informed Melanie that the
Ministry is looking at creative ways to increase foster parent rates.
ii.
BCFFPA will continue to be involved in the writing and revisions
to the CSSS. He found the forum in May to be very positive.
c.
AGM 2008
i.
A site visit was done to Sun Peaks in Kamloops. The rates offered
are comparable to current rates we are receiving in the Lower
Mainland. Board members will review the web site. A motion
was made and carried to accept the Sun Peaks contract for 2008.
d.
Fundraising Database
i.
The board was previously faxed copies of quotes that had been
solicited for gathering information and data entry services for a
direct mail database. Claude felt that he needed more information.
it was suggested that the current staff could do this, however in
light of the already heavy workload of staff it was clarified that this
was not possible at this time. The issue was tabled until the next
meeting. Ellaine will clarify if the quotes are still valid.
e.
World Forum
i.
The Vice President will be attending in the President’s place. It
takes place the 18-22 of November followed by a board meeting
on the 23 and 24. The BCFFPA Vancouver Coastal Delegate will
be a volunteer at the event. The board will look at who else should
attend and will bring names forward for the next meeting.
4.
Old Business
a.
Photocopier Quotes – Pitney Bowes has offered a rebate with both the
Canon and Pitney Bowes quotes comparable in all other ways. A motion
was made to accept the Pitney Bowes 450 photo copy lease quote.
b.
Technical & Vocational Bursary – tabled to next meeting.
5.
CFFA/AGM 2007
a.
The CFFA Committee chairperson received a verbal confirmation that we
will be receiving $44,000 to assist in offsetting the costs. A letter will
come to the office. The committee met today.
b.
The graphic artist will donate some of his time to development of a
conference logo and other PR. He is hoping to incorporate BCFFPA,
MCFD, and CFFA. He will also send a wish list of advertising
documents. The committee will bring them forward to the board for a
decision. This was provided for in the budget. The committee is hoping
to get sponsors to cover all meals.
c.
A motion was passed for 10% of funds raised at the May AGM be donated
to the CFFA
d.
Sheila Davis will draft up policy regarding coverage of CFFA committee
member expenses and bring forward in September
6.
MCFD Liaison
a.
There will be a call on Wednesday the 16th with the Board and the FAFP
regarding two new provincial advisory committees related to Reportable
Circumstances and Smoking.
b.
There will be two provincial advisory committees meeting as well. The
Retention and Recruitment committee and the Education Committee.
Following that there will be working groups related to these two issues
taking place throughout the province. A lot of the existing work will
happen within the working groups. The advisory table will get out the
plan and then will follow it. MCFD will cover travel cost for people to
travel to the regions. At this point the regional members are unknown, but
will be made up of representation from the BCFFPA, FAFP, MCFD Staff,
Delegated Agencies, Regional Foster Parent Support Agencies, Youth in
Care and CLBC.
c.
There are big plans for Foster Family Month.
d.
CSSS are coming out, and preliminary discussions have begun with the
regions regarding the design of their orientation plan. Foster Parents will
start to be invited to these training committee. The board would like to
see joint training between MCFD and BCFFPA so that foster parents are
getting the same training as MCFD staff. This will enable everyone to
have the same understanding of CSSS. It is important to model
collaborative practice right from the beginning that is what the Standards
are all about.
e.
Smoking policy – there is a need to discuss methods of communication
with foster parents regarding this new policy and get the message out in a
positive way. There are some concerns regarding liability issues coming
forward 20 years down the road.
7.
Regional Reports
a.
North
i.
Rick has been invited to a two-day Collaborative Practice
workshop forum September 25 and 26. The forum will focus on
Alternative Dispute Resolution options such as Family Group
Conferencing and Mediation There is new policy that affect any
parent involved in a mediation process. Melanie will be invited to
those meetings. Mike Doolin of New Zealand, a world renowned
expert on Family Group Conferencing will be speaking on
Alternate Dispute Resolution Processes to be used prior to court
action commencing. This has always been a voluntary service,
however the policy mandate change will shift practice to what is
being called the Presumption of ADR. This means that every
family that has Ministry contact will have the option of using these
processes, so judges will presume that these Alternate Dispute
Options have been accessed. The 26th will be a Mediation Café
discussion.
ii.
Minister Hagen attended a meeting in Quesnel where he talked to
foster children and they talked to him. They gave him a whole list
of wants including the need for computers for those attending post
secondary.
b.
Island
i.
There are currently not many concerns arising. It seems that things
are once again picking up as summer comes to a close. The North
and South Island areas have a good working rapport with MCFD,
however the mid Island does not yet have one. After the AGM
things have gotten better and after the Caregiver Support Services
Framework forum there was a meeting in Nanaimo. Things have
become somewhat more positive and there appears to be more of a
willingness to come together.
Next meeting September 18th 9:30-11:30 am
