BCFFPA Annual General Meeting
Summary
October 18th 2003

Welcoming remarks were delivered by Jeremy Berland - Assistant Deputy Minister -Ministry of Children and Family Development.

The ADM thanked the board for allowing him the opportunity to speak and extended greetings and regrets from the Minister to those assembled. He acknowledged that the Federation has been through difficult times, and recognized the commitment of the executive in building credibility and improving relationships.

He further acknowledged that the task undertaken by foster parents is of enormous value, and recognized the great contribution made by those individuals in meeting the daily challenges they encounter, as well as the work they do in preparing children and youth for return to birth families and for moving to independence.

The roles of government, foster parents and the ministry are changing. The ministry is committed to out of care options such as:

• Kith and Kin or Restricted Foster Care
• Family and Community based plans
• Court projects such as the Surrey Court Project. This program attempts to bring all parties to the table and engage them in mediation rather than court proceedings
• Better permanency planning through adoption by foster parents or extended birth families

There is a review underway regarding the approximately 4,000 aboriginal children in care in an effort to ensure that their plans of care are working for them. There are plans being developed both regional and provincially to address this group. The Sage report is available on the MCFD web site, and addresses community based service delivery, unique strengths, and building capacity in aboriginal communities

The child in care population has dropped by 1,000, partly due to demographics, in addition to the MCFD policy of taking a second look at family situations prior to bringing children into care.

There is work under way in developing five regional CFCS authorities with the Deputy Minister and ADMs continuing to meet with the planning chairs. In 2005 legislation will hopefully be ready and the authorities will be up and running in the fall of that year.

Keynote Address

Jane Morley - Child and Youth Officer.

Ms. Morley expressed her pleasure at being given the opportunity to speak to the assembly and shared her feeling that foster parents are central to the well being of children in British Columbia. She expressed her opinion that, due to the difficulty of the role foster parents play, it is crucial to have an organization, which supports them and acts as a collective voice.

The theme of her keynote address is that foster parents have a key role to play in terms of advocacy for the children in their care. The Child and Youth office has a function common to the previous Children's Commission and Child Advocate offices. Ms. Morley acknowledged the difficult job foster parents do and her respect for the commitment they have to children. She asked the assembly to consider the complexity and inherent contradiction of the foster parenting role. Caregivers have an important advocacy role, which may lead to differing perspectives from the guardian. This can cause conflict, creating further contradiction, which does not lessen over time.

The office is a combined new statutory office with a new ACT, which has an impact on the role of the office and its reactions.

• mandated services are to support, observe, and advise
• focus is completely on the interest of children and youth.
• independent of services offered
• falls under the Attorney General and is not bound to report to MCFD.
• reporting is annual and filed in the legislature
• the ability to go public with issues gives clout to the office.
• The position is appointed through a cabinet Order in Council for a four-year term.
• The office is made up of a professional team of 15 individuals with child welfare backgrounds, and support staff. These individuals are allocated to different regions of the province, divided by areas of expertise, with 2 associates per region generally. The office has two youth advisors through the Right Way Project.
  • goal is to increase access to relevant services and ensure views of children, youth and families are heard.
  • office does not make decisions; nor does it adjudicate complaints, this is the role of the ombudsman.
  • Although it is not the role of the office it can take formal complaints and has the authority to spark a public enquiry if necessary. In exceptional circumstances it can advocate for children and youth, although it has an obligation to develop self-advocacy for those youth.
  • advises government and communities on service effectiveness and responsiveness, and looks for input from children, youth, families and community groups.
  • The office may investigate child deaths if necessary as the office is allowed to do independent reviews by Solicitor General appointment.
  • Also within the mandate of the office is the ability to ensure the rights and wants of Aboriginal children are heard during the move to Delegated Agency care.
  • The office is also involved in systemic issues such as ensuring stability for children which may be lacking when they are moved to independent living at 16 and to other homes when they become stable and don't require skilled homes.
  • A project is being developed in the Vancouver Coastal region, which looks at 16 - 19 yr old CICs and gaps in services for CICs with IQ's over 70.

The BCFFPA may develop a position paper regarding the moving of long-term CICs once they are stabilized. The question being, "If the ministry standard is to provide stability to children in care, why are these moves allowed to happen in order to save costs?"

Housekeeping

John Noonan - Parliamentarian spoke on housekeeping issues.

• Notice of the meeting was given in June of 2003 via the web page, and InfoLetter. Timeframes were amply met.
• Quorum not met. As there is no ability to conduct business, the Parliamentarian stated that the meeting could be adjourned and the agenda followed, however no business (i.e. voting on elections, special resolutions, motion) could take place.
  • The Board will meet to adopt the auditors report and fill the vacant positions by appointment until the next scheduled AGM in May of 2003. At that time all positions will be open.
  • There will also be a special resolution regarding quorum levels prepared for a vote at that AGM.
  • As there is no current treasurer, and one was not elected from this AGM, the board will appoint to fill the position until May 2004.
  • financial statement may be forwarded to the Registrars office with the assistance of the lawyer if necessary, due to the inability of the assembly to approve without a quorum.
  • The decision was made to adjourn the meeting and have foster parent members present continue to work on encouraging participation in the May 2004 meeting

The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 AM.

The assembly was welcomed back into an informal discussion group

President's report

Last year there was no funding available, subsequent to that the BCFFPA put together a new plan and system of operation for the organization. Members of the executive met with the ICEO's and received funding for contracted services. The provincial board and the office staff have worked hard since that time and have met or exceeded the goals and objectives set out in September 2002. There is currently funding in place until March 2004. Work will commence soon with MCFD representatives in order to address next years budget.

Going forward, the board will be working in creative ways to form collaborative relationships. There is work currently underway to possibly enable the BCFFPA and AFABC to cohabitate in the near future. Now work needs to begin around the issue of rejuvenation. The provincial board would like to assist the regions, areas and locals to do that. The BCFFPA has accrued some monies from fundraising, which could possibly be added to ministry funding and used for this process. It is hoped that members of the executive could go into the regions and help mentor between locals, regional councils and newly contracted agencies and ministry.

In an effort to increase memberships, the board decided to hold a draw for a color television for those new and renewing memberships received by December 31st. In addition, the region with the highest percentage of memberships will receive $1000 from the provincial board. Two-year memberships are now available at a reduced rate as well.

Treasurer's Report

Financial Statements

Topping Eyton and Partners stayed on as auditors for the full 2002/03 year as, initially, the Federation was unsure around whether or not it would continue to operate after December 31, 2003. When the Federation obtained and operating grant at the end of 2002, was given it was discovered that it would be excessively costly to have a new auditor for the three months of the wind down of old services and the start up of new. Efforts are currently underway to find and retain an auditor for the 2003/04-year. Copies of the audit are available from the provincial office.

The Federation continues to administer the William Curtis, Natural Child, Gordon Menzies, and Merv Davis bursaries. In addition, the office makes information and applications for the Public Trustee and Ken Dryden funds available.

Introduction of Nominees

Frank recognized the nominees. Although no election of officers could take place all nominees delivered short speeches and outlined their expertise.

Refocus

Due to the lack of a quorum, the discussion shifted to the rejuvenation process.

• The common goal is to renew and solicit old and new memberships.
• The BCFFPA is the only official voice.
• Regional reps are the conduit for information flow from and to each level of the organization
• The provincial board wants to hear from foster parents

Contracts

Another issue discussed is the lack of 60-day notice given on contacts when a bed becomes vacant. These vacancies are being addressed with a modification agreement, which effectively stops payment for the empty bed immediately. This issue has been addressed in the past. It was suggested that this might be something a position paper could be produced for. This issue will go to the ICEO's

AGM 2004

The assembly decided that the May 2004 AGM would be out of Vancouver in order to encourage more individuals from the Interior and Northern regions to attend, as the majority of attendees were from both of those regions. There is also the possibility of low cost workshops, less expensive accommodations, and free childcare to attend the AGM on Saturday.

Meeting adjourned at 2:30 PM