BCFFPA Board Of Directors
Teleconference Summary
September 22, 2009
1.
Acceptance of Minutes August 17, 2009 – Accepted with changes
2.
Additions/Changes
a.
Add Kids up front to Debbie’s report
b.
Add Scenarios to 3 c
3.
Treasurer’s Report
a.
The Federation is in good Financial condition with a surplus of $4,000 to
August 31
b.
Face to Face – The Treasurer to review financials and inform the board if
a face-to-face is possible
c.
Local audit letters sent
d.
Treasurer’s report accepted
e.
The Treasurer asked the office to contact a birth parent that is having
difficulty accessing services for her autistic child. ED to contact
f.
Former Foster Parent is requesting a loan from the Legal Action Fund.
Moved and carried
01/09/2009:MSC: (Louise Dol/Heather Bayes) Legal Action Fund to loan TI $5000
with a written agreement, drafted by a lawyer, which states that the money is
required to be paid back in full to the Federation upon settlement. Carried
unanimous
4.
President’s Report
a.
Meetings attended –
i.
Met with the Minister to discuss Medical, Education, Rights of
Foster Parents (Minister has taken this up) There may be a media
release in October
ii.
Dan Lindstrom – Medical benefits to discuss the discrepancy in
funding for Aboriginal children in care
b.
Updates
i.
IFCO – ED will attend in Victoria on the 23rd on behalf of the
BCFFPA
ii.
Vice President has approached MCFD in the Interior to try to get
some funding for foster parents from there to attend in 2011
c.
Foster Family Month
i.
Attended a Lions Media Event with the Minister
ii.
Vice President to attend a skate party media event at the new
Richmond Oval . Fraser and Vancouver Reps were unable to
attend.
d.
Rights of Foster Parents
i.
MCFS is excited about and interested in moving this forward. It
will be added to Standards and Caregiver Support Service
Standards. A Draft is being worked on and will be shared with the
board for input. It is hoped that it will be signed off soon.
e.
EI and Maintenance
i.
A letter has been written to EI to get a formal decision on how
maintenance is treated when foster parents are on Employment
Insurance.
5.
MCFD Liaison – W. Matheson
a.
Optical will be moving to Blue Cross in the near future
b.
Ministry continues to deal with changes as a result of financial pressures
c.
Information officer positions have been eliminated
d.
Marilyn Hedlund is returning to Saskatchewan
e.
CLBC is moving back to MCFD effective October 31 so there are cost
pressures there as well.
f.
Each school in the province now has a facilitator in the school to provide
services to any children and youth in care. This is assigned to existing
staff. The names of all foster children and their assigned schools have
been requested from MCFD.
g.
53 hour training is on hold due to financial challenge
6.
Regional Delegates Reports
a.
Vancouver Coastal – The Rep sent regrets
b.
Fraser – There continues to be a lot of protocols going forward
c.
Interior – a Macro conference call will be held this week. Representatives
attended the Community Service Managers meeting with good results. So
far one big issue discussed was Protocols. It is felt that the language needs
to change to investigation.
MCFD is not replacing front line workers when they are away so this is
leading to some lack of services.
Letter regarding payment of maintenance and services for extra sibs in the
Interior will be written to Doug Hughes. There is some confusion as to
whether this is policy regionally although the Federation is unable to
clarify this at this time.
Cheryl MacLeod has stepped down as rep to other pressures. Marcie
Perron will come on after September 24th.
Yvonne Langolais is the new representative for the Vernon area.
d.
North – Sherrie sent regrets
e.
Vancouver Island – S. Davis is acting rep. There are common threads
throughout the province. Relief is paid on the island for the first child but
not the others. There is a Partnership meeting scheduled which the Rep
will attend.
7.
Old Business
a.
AGM Motions – gone to the board for input
b.
Executive directors Report
i.
FP Loan – addressed in Treasurers report
ii.
Insurance Training Dates
1.
The ED will be traveling to Vancouver Island on the 5th and
6th of October, and to Kamloops on the 24th to deliver
training to MCFD, Delegated Agency staff and foster
parents.
8.
New Business
a.
AGM Updates
i.
Training – board members were asked to send in training
suggestions
b.
Face-to-Face board meeting. Some dates will be sent to the board with the
most popular date being the one chosen.
Next Conference Call is Tuesday October 20th 6:30-8:30
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