New name, new direction for Children's Aid

Jeff Green | Jul 30, 2014

A change has taken place in the way Family and Children's of Frontenac Lennox and Addington (FACSFLA) does business.

The new agency was formed when the Children's Aid Society of Kingston and Frontenac amalgamated with that of Lennox and Addington in the spring of 2012. The new agency needed a new name and it also took on the challenge of rethinking how it carries out its mission of protecting children in the region. It also was faced with funding cuts of 2% per year over 5 years.

The funding cut also came with some other, positive changes that enabled the new agency to provide more services to children who remain living with their own families.

Steve Woodman came on as executive director to head the new agency, and he said this week that dramatic changes in the way the agency operates have enabled it to meet the funding constraints while at the same time improving the service that it delivers.

“What we have done is put an enormously expanded focus on two things: family preservation and permanency for children in our care. The new funding model frees us up to provide more programs, counselling services and more, to children and families. Before, we could only provide these services once children were within our care. We have been able to cut the number of children in care by 20% in two years. Nine out of 10 children we work with remain with their own families. Most of the families we work with are facing some kind of crisis and by helping them get through the crisis in most cases they are able to carry on and provide the best environment for their children to thrive in,” he said.

In terms of raw numbers, Woodman said that there are currently 352 children in the care of FACSFLA, which is down from 440 a couple of years ago. At an estimated cost of $50,000 per child, per year in care, it is not hard to see where the money is coming from to increase supports for children and families.

On the other side of the coin, Woodman said that the agency is committed to what he calls “permanency” for children. This is accomplished through re-unification with birth families where possible, then through placement with extended family members, and if neither of those options are possible, through adoption.

“Children are much better off when they have a family to go to at Christmas when they are 25 and 30 years old, with people whom they are connected to for a lifetime. Fostering does not offer that, so it is our priority to find permanent solutions.”

That being said, there is a need for foster families as well, particularly for teen-agers. There are 25 youth under the care of FACSLA who are living in group care, and Woodman said that a number of them are very good candidates for fostering. Interested parties are invited to contact the agency at 613-545-3227.

One thing that FACSFLA is stressing with their new strategic plan and their new name as well is that they do not see themselves as a threat to families, as much as they are responsible to safeguard children.

“Families need not see us as a threat. We provide resources and support. The threshold for us to remove children from their families is pretty high.” he said.

The staff at the agency were very much a part of developing some of the new initiatives and protocols. Before completing its strategic plan, the agency sent a number of its staff to tour the province, visiting sister agencies that had been bringing innovative programming to their own communities.

“The staff were asking for these changes. They saw the opportunities and they have been the ones who have brought improvements to our service,” said Woodman.

Legislation requires not only educational, child-care and medical personnel to report suspected abuse to FACSFLA; all adults are required to report suspected abuse when they witness it.

“We have a protocol for evaluating reports that come in,” said Woodman, “and in most cases reports that we receive do not lead to an investigation. However, sometimes we have multiple reports, and the cumulative effect is to tell us an investigation is necessary. So, we tell people that the best thing to do is not to make a judgement call themselves. If they suspect something they should report it. What they saw may only be a part of a larger picture,” he said.

FACSFLA provides services out of offices in Kingston, Napanee, Sharbot Lake and Northbrook.