May 31, 2013 - Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry

B.D. MCKENZIE - DR.EX. (OLSON) MAY 31, 2013
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Q
And she sort of tried to avoid the service, and
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the agency didn't always come back.
How, how do you get
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someone like that to be engaged with the system so they
don't fall through the cracks, so someone like Phoenix
doesn't fall through the cracks?
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A
Well, I earlier referred to sort of different
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tiers of what I would talk about as a pyramid of services
that should be provided for enhancing child and family
welfare in our communities and I talked about the universal
and then sort of tiers of the early intervention services
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where we need targeted programs.
And those targeted
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programs might be a part of family enhancement within, from
-- offered within the child welfare system, it might
include other targeted programs that are also provided by
the community, and for some of these families and this,
this mother might fall into that category, the issue of
whether the services are provided on a voluntary basis or
not is sometimes a moot point. The, the service might have
to be involuntary, and that would involve either the child
welfare agency or some other agency providing those
services to the family, or the matter would be referred
directly for an investigation and the child, if safety is a
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threat, would be taken into care.
And so some of these
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sort of targeted programs can be voluntary and, and some
family enhancement services can be voluntary, and some can
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