The majority of social workers in the child welfare system are so overburdened by cases, they’re unable to do their jobs properly, according to a new report from B.C.’s child and youth watchdog.
Jennifer Charlesworth said the existing understaffing and unmanageable workloads in the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) puts children in care at risk because they’re more likely to fall through the cracks without proper oversight.
“What we see here is a situation where social workers are often unable to provide the responsive and thorough support that children and their families need. This puts young people at risk,” Charlesworth said in a statement.
That was the case with the 11-year-old Indigenous boy who was tortured and killed by the pair tasked with his care in 2021 on a First Nation in the Fraser Valley.
“Social workers in this province have incredibly difficult jobs and to see how understaffed and overworked they are is truly disturbing,” Charlesworth said.
“We have known about chronic understaffing at this ministry for decades, yet successive governments have not addressed these challenges. Now, here we are yet again, reeling from the death of a child that was entirely preventable.”
A report released last week called Don’t Look Away investigated the circumstances that led the boy, referred to by the pseudonym Colby, and his younger sister to be placed in the care of relatives who starved, whipped and abused the children.
That report found that despite a rule requiring MCFD social workers to meet with foster children at least once every 90 days, no one checked in on the children in the seven months before Colby was found badly beaten in February 2021.
Paramedics flew Colby to a hospital in Vancouver, where he died.
The foster parents, whose names are protected by a publication ban, last year pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In a paired followup report released one week later, called No Time to Wait, Charlesworth says the boy’s death happened within the context of a child welfare office that was not fully staffed. For example, she said one social worker overseeing Colby’s file went on medical leave for two months and was not backfilled.
High stress levels
That report is based on a survey with 700 social workers and their supervisors carried out by Charlesworth’s office in April and May.
Her office also held focus groups, community engagement sessions and reviewed ministry data on staffing.
Charlesworth heard that MCFD social workers are dealing with an environment rife with stress, burnout and fear. She urged the government to address the “critical circumstances.”
Many social workers are taking sick leave or quitting at a much higher rate than other public service jobs, according to the report, with 90 per cent of social workers reporting very high stress levels.
Previous audits obtained by the representative’s office show that, because of their excessive workload, many social workers are not following provincial standards.
Alan Markwart, a researcher in Charlesworth’s office, said there are approximately 2,000 MCFD front-line social workers, and he estimated “several hundred” more social workers would have to be hired in order to improve the current situation.
However, Charlesworth stressed the solution is not as easy as just hiring more social workers.
She said the ministry should develop and implement a workload measurement tool that would help determine manageable caseloads for social workers and where staffing needs to be beefed up.
Such a tool, Charlesworth said, would take into account which social workers are handling more complex caseloads – such as cases that involve family violence or substance use like in the case of Colby’s family.
CBC News has reached out to Minister of Children and Family Development Grace Lore for comment and is awaiting a response.