May 31, 2013 - Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry

B.D. MCKENZIE - DR.EX. (OLSON) MAY 31, 2013
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absolutely given, both in the legislation and morally in
society, to focus on the safety of children as a first
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concern.
And so the time in order to do that is, is often
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sort of limited.
The other piece is that the skill set of workers
may not be such that they can provide both of those types
of services so there needs to be an emphasis on ensuring
that that skill set and clinical capacity is there.
When you move to differential response you say,
we are taking a special focus on that and we are providing
somewhat lower caseloads, not low enough in my opinion, but
somewhat lower caseloads so that people have more time to
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provide more intensive services.
And in the case of the
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way the pilot projects in the general Child and Family
Service authority were established, workers with special
skills and willingness to and experience to work in that
way were recruited to provide those kinds of services that
move naturally into providing that kind of a supportive
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family, family-focused type of service.
So it became more
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systematic.
Doesn't mean it never occurred but it became
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more systematic in this kind of approach.
And if we
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maintain that emphasis and we build practice skills and
knowledge to be able to do that kind of service, that trend
will continue and continue to provide perhaps the kind of
services that families need, which is more support rather
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