CFS workers need more training: inquest report

CFS workers need more training: inquest report

WINNIPEG - A 200-page report into the death of two-year-old Nadine
Beaulieu makes sweeping recommendations for social programs to help
teenagers, child-care workers and foster parents.

Beaulieu was put into foster care while her parents dealt with
separation, abuse and alcoholism. She died of a blow to the abdomen in
1996 while she was in foster care on the Pine Creek First Nation, east
of Swan River on the shore of Lake Winnipegosis.

Her foster father was charged with manslaughter, but the charges were
dropped.

The inquest report recommends that all child-care workers, health
workers, teachers and day-care workers be given mandatory education
and training in fetal alcohol syndrome to help them recognize its
effects in children. It also recommends that training and support be
provided to parents and foster parents of children with FAS.

Social workers and the directors of the West Region Child and Family
Service agency faced harsh criticism in the report. The judge found
the agency did not have properly trained staff, did not conduct
thorough case reviews, and did not conduct a proper review of its own
of the little girl's death.

The judge also says Child and Family Services workers in general
should make it clear to foster parents that they have the right to ask
that a child be removed from their home. He writes, "a home with a
frustrated foster parent is not a safe place for a child to be."

IN BRIEF: Excerpts from the inquiry
reporthttp://winnipeg.cbc.ca/indepth/beaulieu20040312.html

Stella Bone, executive co-ordinator of West Region CFS, says at the
time, social workers did the best job the could with the resources
available – and many things are different now.

"Training is better now within our agency. The skill level is higher.
There has been a number of our staff who have graduated from the
[Bachelor of Social Work program] through the University of Manitoba,"
she says.

"We have also hired Dr. Cathy Jones. She is the special needs
coordinator, she is an expert in FAS, she does the assessments for
children."

Bone says the agency accepts the judge's recommendations.

Kelly Beaulieu, Nadine's father, says the report is a harsh reminder
of what he's been going through since his daughter's death.

"I love her, and now, after this report, I'll let her rest in peace,
and tell her from my own words when I go back to my reserve to go put
a flower on her and tell her, 'My baby … I'm done. I'm done what I had
to do for you, and I will love you forever, until I die.'"

Beaulieu was actively involved in the inquest, questioning witnesses
directly

http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/serv...aulieu20040312



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