Lack of oversight, quality of care at group home ‘deeply concerning,’ says children’s advocate

When seven-year-old ‘Elijah’ was found in the parking lot outside of a north Saskatoon Tim Hortons at 5 a.m. last June 2, no one in the group home where he lived even knew he was gone.

In fact, it wasn’t until hours later that a staff member from the CBI Health Group home came to pick him up after hearing media reports about a missing child.

An investigation into how and why that could have occurred was launched a short time later by both the Ministry of Social Services and Lisa Broda, the province’s advocate for children and youth.

In her 23-page report released Wednesday, Broda wrote there were failures of Elijah’s needs by both the care home and by the ministry. She said the ministry could have and should have done a better job with its oversight of the group home.

“We’ve seen longstanding and persistent issues within the group home system and this case sort of springboarded us to look a little more broadly with respect to the ministry’s oversight and how they ensure children in their homes are receiving quality of care, (and) that they’re safe and protected,” she said.

There are about 1,000 children in the group home system in Saskatchewan right now.

Background

According to Broda’s report, Elijah was born in 2012 and was diagnosed with moderate symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder and moderate intellectual disability. He doesn’t speak, but rather he communicates his needs through gestures and sounds.

After living in at least two group homes and with a temporary caregiver, he became a long-term ward of the ministry in July 2019. He was placed in the Lawson Heights Saskatoon group home run by CBI Health Group in May 2019. There were three other children in the home, also with complex and special needs.

According to the report, while at the home, staff recorded 63 incidents involving Elijah, including 11 attempts to run away from the home or from outings — some of which were successful.

Care home and ministry communication

By the spring of 2020, Broda says there were questions from managers with the Child and Family Service program about the ability of the company to take care of the children in the Lawson Heights home. A staff behaviour analyst at the home also left during that time.

After some requests from ministry case workers for help, various managers got involved with the company and the ministry agreed to explore options for extra care, security at the home and more assistance.

Broda says about a month after Elijah escaped, the ministry also got several complaints about the care of the children in the home and investigated. A case worker found inappropriate discipline, medical neglect that resulted in another child hospitalized, lack of staff training, lack of COVID-19 protocols, and internal staff dysfunction.

Recommendations

Broda says it’s not just the care home that’s responsible for what happened. The Ministry of Social Services is responsible for oversight and ensuring basic staff qualifications are met before children are sent there, but that did not appear to occur.

She says it’s appalling to learn that’s happening.

“Let’s be clear,” she stated. “They’re contracting these services. If the services can’t meet the requirements or needs of the children, and they’re not hiring qualified staff then, yeah, that’s going to be on that service as well as alternately the ministry because the ministry is the parent.

“They ought to ensure and they must ensure that that service that they are contracting is doing what it’s intended to do and what it set out and what it says it’s going to do.”

Broda’s recommendations include the Ministry of Social Services enhancing and redesigning its group home oversight and accountability structure, developing a permanent resource for group home operators to provide a clear point of contact and support, and enhancing its process for approving group home openings to identify and verify staff qualifications.

The care home operators provided notice last July 30 that they would stop operating the group home. They cited several factors including chronic difficulty recruiting staff, concerns with continuity of care and group home staff having to deal with staff from multiple agencies.

The company continues to operate two other group homes. It’s not clear whether there have been any repercussions, fines or actions taken against CBI Health.

NDP response to report

NDP Social Services Critic Meara Conway says it’s clear the Saskatchewan Party doesn’t care about keeping vulnerable children safe.

In a statement, Conway said: “Our kids deserve the best care possible, but we are seeing a real lack of oversight under the Sask. Party. Minister Carr needs to answer for why her government has not made meaningful interventions to reduce the rate of kids in care while the group home model is on the rise. The Advocate has made it clear that the Ministry of Social Services doesn’t adequately resource or oversee these homes.”

The party is calling on the province to act quickly on the report’s recommendations.

Ministry of Social Services Response

The Child and Family Programs acting assistant deputy minister  wouldn’t comment on anything specific about the case in Broda’s report, citing general privacy concerns of “the youth and families we serve.”

But in a statement, Tobie Eberhardt said the Ministry of Social Services accepts the recommendations.

“We appreciate the vital work of the Office of the Advocate for Children and Youth, and their efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of Saskatchewan’s children and youth,” Eberhardt wrote.

A formal response to the report, she added, is expected in the coming weeks.