Provincial social workers say they don’t have enough family and community supports to effectively care for and protect children and youth in government care.
In a survey from the province’s independent watchdog for children and youth, nearly 80 per cent of Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) social workers said they lacked the necessary resources to do their jobs.
On Feb. 6, Representative of Children and Youth (RCY) Jennifer Charlesworth published the second part of her investigation, No Time to Waste.
The report details “immediate and sustained steps that must be taken” to ensure the province’s most vulnerable children — those in MCFD’s care — receive adequate services.
“When we are dealing with very vulnerable young people, you would like to think we have a workforce that is well supported by reasonable caseloads, is well trained, and is working in a supportive, healthy work environment,” Charlesworth said in a news release.
Instead, Charlesworth says MCFD has “very committed staff” who are “trying very hard to do their jobs” but face chronic understaffing, overwhelming workloads, and insufficient support systems to do their work effectively.
The report is Charlesworth’s latest in a series sparked by the preventable death of an 11-year-old First Nations boy known by the pseudonym “Colby” — who died in a Fraser Valley foster home four years ago.
The two-part investigation examines MCFD’s child welfare workforce and its capacity to care for vulnerable children.
While part one revealed the degree to which ministry social workers lack the capacity to protect children and youth, part two recommends 17 “practical actions” Charlesworth said she “expects the ministry to take now to ensure young people are well cared for.”
‘Unmanageable workloads’
The survey of 739 ministry social workers found eight in 10 said large caseloads left them unable to do their jobs; and more than seven in 10 reported a lack of sufficient training to understand new policies and standards.
In some cases, social workers said they weren’t offered any onboarding, Charlesworth said during a press conference last week, describing a common attitude that “a worker is better than no worker.”
Overall, her investigation concluded, the ministry has a disconnect between expectations and reality for young people in its care.
Charlesworth noted that instead of a properly trained, “well-supported workforce with reasonable caseloads,” there are rather “deeply committed staff working tirelessly, yet constantly grappling with inadequate staffing, unmanageable workloads, and a lack of essential supports.”
One social worker quoted in the report, who Charlesworth did not identify, stated “there is no possible way” to meet timelines and best practices due to “large caseloads” and a “lack of admin support.”
In addition, a separate internal government staff survey last year revealed MCFD scored lowest of 29 provincial ministries and agencies on “workforce engagement measures” — which assess how engaged, motivated and satisfied employees are in their workplace.
“What this tells us is there is something very wrong,” Charlesworth said.
Social workers request more support
One of Charlesworth’s 17 recommendations is for social workers to have access to enhanced training on working with Indigenous children, families and communities.
This is especially important, Charlesworth argued, given that Indigenous children are more than 20 times more likely to be in government care than non-Indigenous children.
Social workers in the ministry most often requested more resources to serve children with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and other neurodiversities.
And according to Don’t Look Away, another RCY report released last week, nearly half of children in the child welfare system identify as having a disability-related support need.
Social workers’ second most common request was for training to work with Indigenous children, youth, families and communities.
As more Indigenous communities take back control over child welfare, Charlesworth wants to see in-depth and updated information and training about the changing jurisdictional landscape — both when on-boarding social workers, and in their continuous professional development.
Recent federal and provincial legislation enabling First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities to regain jurisdiction over child and family services has created “a new landscape for relationships, understanding of (or confusion about) roles and responsibilities, and influences on decision making,” Charlesworth wrote.
According to her survey, almost half of social workers and their team leaders felt they haven’t had sufficient training about the changes in legislation. And similarly, just over half felt they don’t have the knowledge, skills and support to work effectively and protect Indigenous children, youth and families.
“Training and professional development should not be offered in house by consultants or by completing an online course when it comes to important, complex and continually changing issues such as Indigenous jurisdiction,” said an MCFD social worker quoted in the report.
Charlesworth’s report adds that improving training to work with Indigenous children, youth and families “should be the foremost professional development priority for the ministry.”
“These findings underscore the need for much more progress in this vital area,” she wrote.
A review of training for social workers onboarding with MCFD must be completed by next December, plus a plan for enhanced professional development training — with a focus on Indigenous jurisdiction — by October.
RCY calls for new senior hirings
Charlesworth also called on the ministry to hire more “Senior Leader” practitioners, such as Elders or cultural advisors.
More than three-quarters of survey respondents said they don’t have timely access to culturally appropriate family and community support resources to effectively meet the needs of children, youth and families on their caseload.
One social worker complained MCFD doesn’t have a roster of Elders. “One was hired, however only one team had access to the Elder,” the unidentified employee said.
To date, there are seven Senior Leaders across the entire ministry, Charlesworth noted.
“These are folks with extensive knowledge to deal with complexities and knowledge, and create environments in which workers can say ‘how do I handle this?’” she said.
Charlesworth recommended MCFD identify how many senior practitioners it needs by next October, and to fill those new positions by April 2026.
IndigiNews asked Charlesworth why she set a 14-month hiring timeline, but did not receive a response before publication.
‘Bad for the children, bad for families’
Meanwhile, shortages of community supports and services have caused “abhorrent” delays in Indigenous families accessing help, said one social worker quoted in the report.
“We tell parents they need to complete services before we will return a child to their care,” the MCFD worker said, “and then send them to services where they are waitlisted for months.
“This is bad for the children, bad for families and bad for the community overall.”
Charlesworth noted the importance of children, youth and families participating in cultural community activities, building relationships with Indigenous communities, and connecting with friendship centres.
“This should be supported as part of professional development,” she told reporters. “We need to enhance our capacity to work in a good way.”
Alan Markwart, the RCY’s executive lead, added that MCFD does offer its social workers training, “but staff are generally unable to free themselves up to take part in training.”
Another social worker quoted in the RCY report said they were “so busy that the last thing I can think of is training,” adding that their work “doesn’t stop while I’m gone” to attend educational programs that are offered already.
“I’m so far behind,” the worker added, “that this is just not possible.”
