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By Sydney Chisholm

child welfare

BC child welfare system in crisis, report warns

Feb 6, 2025 | 5:12 PM

VICTORIA, B.C.— A new report from the Representative for Children and Youth (RCY) warns that British Columbia’s child welfare system is at a breaking point, with social workers overwhelmed by high caseloads, inadequate training and a lack of necessary resources to support the province’s most vulnerable children.

The report, No Time to Wait – Part Two, is a follow-up to last year’s findings, which were triggered by the investigation into the death of a child in government care. It paints a stark picture of the challenges facing Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) staff, highlighting severe staffing shortages, excessive workloads and high levels of burnout among social workers.

“We don’t want to discourage people from stepping into this important work,” said Jennifer Charlesworth, the province’s Representative for Children and Youth. “We want to make sure that they are creating the conditions for them in delivering the services and supports and doing that meaningful work.”

Among the key findings of the report:

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• 80 per cent of social workers said they cannot do their jobs properly because their caseloads are too high.
• 77 per cent reported they don’t have timely access to community-based resources, limiting their ability to refer families to support services.
• 76 per cent said new hires are not properly trained before being placed in demanding roles, with some reporting that inexperienced staff were being assigned cases too quickly due to a shortage of workers.

The report outlines 17 recommendations to address these challenges, including:

• Hiring more staff to ease caseload pressures.
• Improving onboarding and training programs for new hires.
• Enhancing worker mental health supports to reduce stress and burnout.
• Introducing mandatory registration for child welfare workers under a professional regulatory body.

According to Charlesworth, addressing these issues is crucial – not only for workers but also for the children and families who rely on the system.

“What we found were things like 80 per cent saying they were unable to do their jobs properly because of caseloads,” she said. “Sometimes there were very concerning comments… new staff were very quickly put onto caseloads because there was a shortage of staff and there was a desperation… a worker was better than no worker, even if that worker was struggling to get up to speed.”

While the report calls for stronger oversight of child welfare workers, Charlesworth said full registration with the BC College of Social Workers isn’t necessarily the best approach.

“We don’t agree that everybody needs to be in the college as it currently stands,” she said.

“That simply wouldn’t be feasible. We’d lose too many workers and the costs of going in that direction would be extremely high.”

Instead, Charlesworth recommends a tiered approach to regulation, distinguishing between registered social workers, social service workers and paraprofessionals such as group home staff.

“We think for a number of reasons, it’s time to put this one to rest and make it happen,” said Charlesworth.

Minister of Children and Family Development Jodie Wickens acknowledged the challenges, pointing to rapid population growth as one of the factors increasing pressure on the system.

“We’ve seen unprecedented population growth in the province of British Columbia,” Wickens told CFJC News. “More than 550,000 people have come here over the last number of years. And so we are grappling with those challenges for sure.”

The minister said the province has taken steps to increase recruitment efforts, including visiting colleges and universities to attract new workers. She also pointed to a 20 per cent increase in staffing over the past two years.

“It’s important work. It’s very difficult work and they are passionate and dedicated to their jobs,” said Wickens. “We’re looking at our onboarding, our training and our retention approaches that are constantly evolving based on our workforce plan. Again, more work to be done and absolutely committed to doing that work.”

When asked about the recommendation for mandatory registration, Wickens said the ministry is evaluating all recommendations carefully.

“We absolutely are looking at all of the recommendations that the representative has made and put forward in regulation as part of something that we are evaluating,” she said.

She stressed that any move towards mandatory registration would need to be balanced against the province’s recruitment and retention challenges.

“I am absolutely committed,” she said. “Our first priority, my first priority as the next year, is to ensure the safety and well-being of all children in this province.”

Despite the government’s assurances, child welfare advocates say they’ve heard similar promises before. The report echoes concerns raised in numerous other reports, including the 1995 Gove Inquiry and last year’s Don’t Look Away investigation, which found systemic failures in B.C.’s child protection system.

The full report can be found here.