Saskatchewan’s children’s advocate is calling for changes to a program that places children under the long-term care of family members, or someone close to them.
The advocate outlined a number of concerns with the placement of children with a person of sufficient interest (PSI), including a lack of oversight, poor assessment processes, and no requirement to consider the child’s preferences.
“Tragically, our investigation and advocacy work has revealed several cases in which children have experienced maltreatment, abuse and severe neglect that resulted in significant emotional physical impact or worse the death of a child,” said Lisa Broda, children’s advocate.
“These children were not in foster care other types of care, but PSI care.”
PSI guardians are appointed by the court. They can be a member of the child’s extended family, a close family friend, or a band member. They receive the same financial support as foster parents, but there’s no direct case management because the PSI becomes the child’s legal guardian.
The only times the guardian and child have contact with social services is during an annual review, which means issues don’t come to light until they reach crisis point, says Broda.
“It's not just about financial support,” she says. “It's not acceptable to not see that child in the same way as you see the other children. It's not acceptable to not provide the same level of planning support.”
According the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth, almost 90 per cent of children in PSI care of Indigenous ancestry, and most are over six-years-old.
Broda outlines a number of recommendations to improve the program, including better training social workers to assess placement families, better management of quality care concerns and clearer rules for requests for contact from biological parents.
“Our findings indicate that immediate changes to the program are needed to support children being with family and ensure their rights are protected,” the report says.
