September 2006
Dear Caregivers
I hope everyone had a great summer and welcome back to the busy school year.
Your board has been busy since June. Here are some of the highlights:
A committee has been busily working on the BCFFPA 40th AGM that will be held in
conjunction with the CFFA next May in Richmond.
A venue for the May 2008 AGM has been secured at the Delta Sun Peaks Resort just
outside of Kamloops.
A meeting with Minister Hagen [at the time] and representatives from the BC Lions football
team resulted in an offer of 50 tickets to foster families for the remaining home games this
season. We express our heartfelt thanks to the Minister for arranging this opportunity and
to the BC Lions organization for their generosity.
A special promotion with Science World will be launched on October 4th, 2006. This will
give children free admission to this attraction when their foster parent(s) purchase ticket(s).
A meeting about the provincial forum was held in August. This has resulted in the creation
of Retention and Recruitment and Education, provincial working groups. These committees
will also included foster parents throughout the province.
Accepted an invitation to meet with Minister Christensen on September 22, 2006.
Met with Ed Barry, Public Guardian, on September 22, 2006 to discuss issues surrounding
protocols that his office has requested. That office is the watchdog for critical incident
reporting for children in the care of MCFD. The BCFFPA is looking at ways for the reporting
back to the PGT when allegations are unfounded, thereby having this noted on those files
as well as MCFD held foster parent files.
I would like to extend a special thanks to Minister Hagen for all the work that he accomplished
during his tenure in the support of children and families. We welcome and look forward to
developing a mutually beneficial relationship with Minister Tom Christensen.
We have engaged Minister Christensen, and his staff, to outline our concerns with Joint Special
Report released this past week by the Provincial Health Officer and the Child and Youth Officer.
Your input is always welcome and appreciated on any issues. This allows our Board to better
represent foster parents.
Sincerely,
Melanie Filiatrault
