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Patti McLeod, Annette King and Liz Hanson

Parties want answers on group home allegations

In the wake of an explosive CBC investigation

By Taylor Blewett on March 23, 2018

In the wake of an explosive CBC investigation that detailed reports of youth mistreatment in Yukon government group homes, the governing Liberals are left to explain what they did and didn’t do after becoming aware of issues in the system, in the face of mounting criticism.

“The allegations that are coming forward are pretty serious, and for a minister to have known about this for six weeks and then refuse to say what she’s done to correct or alleviate the situation is not very good for Yukoners,” Patti McLeod, the Yukon Party Health and Social Services critic, told the Star Thursday.

Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Frost confirmed in the house Wednesday that she met with one youth “many weeks ago to hear him out, to hear what he had to say and to let him know that I am concerned. I am deeply concerned about what is happening.”

While Frost has said the department took “immediate action” as soon as concerns about group home care came to her attention, details about the specifics of that action have been scarce beyond departmental outreach to the Yukon Child and Youth Advocate Office.

McLeod questioned why the RCMP were not called after the youth told Frost about his own experience – which, according to the CBC, included being locked out of a group home at -25 degrees C.

“I’m getting that nothing was done. That’s all I can get out of her responses so far,” McLeod said of Frost.

NDP Leader Liz Hanson pointed out in a Wednesday interview that even Premier Sandy Silver has acknowledged that he has had long-standing knowledge of problems in government youth group homes.

“This is something that we have been made aware of, and, as an opposition member in this House for years, I have been aware of this issue,” the premier told the house Wednesday. “There have been issues here with group homes.”

Hanson said that admission shocked her.

“My immediate reaction is, ‘so why was the investigation ... announced on Monday night? Why haven’t they done anything in the last 18 months?”

Silver didn’t see it the same way.

“I’m confident that the department, over the last several months, has been working on this issue, and I’m confident that the review that is going to be set up by the minister and her department will get to the bottom of a lot of systemic issues that have been around for years.”

But the referenced review is not under the purview of the department or the minister – a subject that has spawned its own share of questions about the independence of the office of the Child and Youth Advocate.

The government announced Monday night that it would be “co-operating with the Yukon Child and Youth Advocate to conduct a systemic review of the Transitional Support Services (TSS) program.”

While Hanson said she’s not accusing the government of undermining the advocate’s independence, “the way it was communicated had the potential to do so.”

Annette King, the Yukon Child and Youth Advocate, seems to agree.

“Even though that they announced that I’m doing a review because they’re concerned and want to co-operate with it, my concern is that that gets interpreted as influencing the review, and I really want the independence of my office to be held up higher than that,” King told the Star Thursday.

While the department had approached her with concerns about group homes, it was King who took the decision “in the last few weeks” to initiate an “independent, systemic review” out of her own individual advocacy files, of which she said she has “many” on children in group homes.

She hadn’t decided if she was going to do any public communication on the review’s initiation.

Now that the government has gone ahead and done so, and King has seen “what kind of public interest there is in this issue,” she’s looking at how the terms of reference her office is developing and the eventual findings of the review could be communicated.

King stressed that anyone she might interview over the course of the review – including children, youth and staff in group homes – need to know that it’s independent from political or bureaucratic influence.

The government’s expressed co-operation is different from influence, according to King.

“They’re saying, ‘yeah, you’re going to be able to talk to our staff,’ and I’m like, ‘really? Because they’re scared to talk to me, usually.’ But OK, that’s great.”

Over the years, King said, she’s observed fear of reprisal in government care staff who’ve been resistant to speaking out about the system.

“But now they have senior management saying, ‘we support it.’”

This speaks to yet another issue the CBC’s investigation has raised.

The story’s reporting included testimony from a whistleblower in the government youth group home system.

Frost has expressed the desire for staff to “come forward and speak their truth.”

But Hanson questioned “what kind of effective protection are they prepared to provide, have they provided, to people who you would call whistleblowers?”

Richard Mostyn, the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, told reporters Thursday he hopes the Public Interest Disclosure of Wrongdoing Act – whistleblower protection legislation that came into effect in 2015 – as well as a changing culture in government will empower employees who observe wrongdoing to speak out.

“People may not have confidence in that. I am telling them, here in this position ... If there are problems, bring them forward and let us deal with them,” Mostyn said.

Diane McLeod-McKay, the Public Interest Disclosure Commissioner, issued a press release this morning advising government employees that they can call her office if they wish to disclose a wrongdoing or get advice about doing so.

The Yukon Employees’ Union also issued its own call for action in response to “the news of conflict between workers and residents” in Yukon government youth group homes.

A statement released Wednesday brought up chronic under-staffing and inadequate support for group home workers – something the union first brought to public attention several years ago.

“We hope this renewed public attention on behalf of the kids in care and the people entrusted with their well-being will finally force management to make change,” the union said.

“We urge the Department of Health and Social Services to provide the resources staff and residents need, once and for all.”

Comments (8)

Up 0 Down 2

L M on Mar 28, 2018 at 11:26 am

Unfortunately, the same challenges come up. Some staff are over worked, don't have enough training in Trauma, or simply don't use it. The youth that live there can be difficult, stubborn, challenging (like most teens at some point). I don't believe these kids for the most part want to live there, I'm sure that they would love to be home, safe, with healthy parents\family, in there community...there not, they are stuck at a loveless institutional home like setting. These youth are resilient, survivors, and for the most part blameless in their situation. Sure, they all have choices and they choose to break rules, and get into trouble...BS, Let's not forget for some of those youth, they are intergenerational Residential School Victims, some have FASD, some have Mental Health Issues, some PTSD, health issues, trauma. If these youth were your child or family member, I wonder if your ignorant comments would be the same! Racism and abuse exist everywhere, is it really that shocking that it happens at group homes.

Up 3 Down 0

Humble Measure on Mar 28, 2018 at 9:49 am

Just FYI... The whistleblower protection legislation doesn't protect employees who go to the media with their stories. It only offers protection if employees make a disclosure directly to the PID Commissioner or to a superior or "designated officer" (whoever that might be).

Up 4 Down 4

Yukon Watchdog on Mar 27, 2018 at 8:05 am

Teenagers are teenagers. They push the envelope: at home, in a group home, at school, everywhere. That is part of being a teenager. That is how they learn boundaries; how they learn what is acceptable behavior; how they learn to voice their concerns; how they learn to become champions for different causes.
I believe any kid in the "system" IS a victim of the "system". They obviously don't have the support they need and should have received in their own family home, then when their family home breaks down they're thrown into the "system" where they have to learn to defend themselves, figure out all those teenager feelings, grow into young adults, fend off social deviants, and have to deal with over-worked, over-paid YG employees who can't deal with their own life issues and take it out on the poor kids.
Whoever shut the door on that kid at -25 should lose their job. Did you forget the reason you get that big, fat paycheque?
Those people calling the kids ungrateful and entitled....would you feel grateful if you were abandoned by your family for whatever reason and thrown into the "system"? I highly doubt it.
My heart breaks for these kids. Let's listen to them. Let's not have another Gabriel Smarch situation whereby he cried for help for so long but no one would listen to him. The truth lies in there somewhere and the kids live it. Not just 7.5 hours a day (minus coffee breaks and lunch breaks and quick trips to the bank), but all day and all night. Not for any kind of paycheque. No, they are there because they need support. What teenager doesn't need support? It's a tough time of life.
Let's make sure these group homes are working for the kids and are not putting them into more danger than where they came from. @ Jean, this should not be about employees. This is about the kids. Let's listen to them.

Up 12 Down 1

jean on Mar 24, 2018 at 5:59 pm

Can the employee's union force the government to address the daily abuse that group home workers have to endure to keep their jobs? Anyone with friends who have worked in group homes knows the other side of this one-sided story. The government needs to acknowledge what it's like working day-after-day with a group of ungrateful punks, who have an overwhelming sense of entitlement, who think they're 'victims of the system', believing that it's all someone else's fault and the world now owes them whatever they want. It's no wonder that group home staff have one of the-highest turn-over rates of any profession. I suspect that the government will once again sweep the ever growing group home problem under the rug, in hopes that "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" will prevail.

Up 10 Down 1

Another epiphany for Ms. McLeod on Mar 24, 2018 at 1:00 am

Similar to the daycare debacle timelines Ms. McLeod just became aware there were problems in of all things, 'group homes'.
Does Liz think that maybe 'The Child Protection Act' legislation brought in by the NDP goes too far in protecting children's rights in that there is nothing you can do with unruly problem teens that tend to end up in group homes and they know full well what they can get away with. An NDP generated problem. I challenge some of these latent media darlings to come up with solutions for dealing with some of these youth.
You know it's okay to come out of a political coma and start railing away at what the government of the day has done about a problem that you've know about for months and now are suddenly concerned about but what have you really done for the problem even though you were being paid.

Up 3 Down 6

Let’s get real on Mar 23, 2018 at 7:55 pm

To think this is just a liberal issue is ridiculous. Inappropriate behaviour from poorly trained staff is not new. The department has long standing unethical policies in place which do not assist these staff members in making any good decisions in hard situations. Unfortunately, when we look at budget spending you get what you pay for. This means subpar care for those who are in care.

Ms King will do a great job in making systemic review of the issues which face both the youth in care as well as supporting staff in these facilities. She will likely not be in the liberals good books with her recommendations, but the liberals have only inherited the issues which have been stewing for the last decade.

Let’s hope change will occur and that we can support our most vulnerable.

Up 7 Down 2

Dave on Mar 23, 2018 at 6:33 pm

I imagine what is happening here is the group home residents don’t want to abide by the rules that are in place at these facilities, and then complain when there are consequences. The ‘we didn’t have to listen to mommy and daddy’ types and now the system will cry over how they’re hard done by and how they should be coddled even more.

Up 3 Down 0

get on with it on Mar 23, 2018 at 4:25 pm

Look at the grandstanding!....get out of the way, stop filling the papers with this BS and let folks fix this.....politicians on the losing side are shameless.....and with King playing so coy. She hasn't done anything to fix it herself. Get to work!

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