Vancouver City Council |
MOTION ON NOTICE
The following Motion was submitted by Councillor Woodsworth for the Council meeting of July 29,2003:
Re-establishment of the Child and Youth Advocate
WHEREAS the City is committed to advocating for and ensuring a wide range of child and youth voices and involvement in decisions affecting them;
AND WHEREAS on June 26, 2003 Council instructed that a report be prepared by November 15, 2003 on "a comprehensive overview and articulated staffing and budget plan for all civic program support and initiatives related to children and youth to include the Civic Youth Strategy, the Child/Youth Advocate and the Child Care Coordinator";
AND WHEREAS in the area of human service, independence of voice is the hallmark of true advocacy;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Council re-establish the Child and Youth Advocate in 2003, to work within the framework outlined in the attached document and utilizing the information contained in the report previously requested by Council June 26, 2003 to guide implementation, and that this position:
- be independent and report directly to Council;
- be complementary to the existing childcare/child-development and youth-focused social planner positions;
- focus on systemic advocacy, speak out on issues and concerns on behalf of the City to other levels of government, and identify issues and make recommendations;
- work with the community to ensure that a wide range of children and youth voices are heard and included in the City's decision-making processes.AND THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a short-term Steering Committee including youth, representatives from child and youth groups, staff from the City, Board of Parks and Recreation, School Board and Vancouver Police Department, a representative from the Mayor's office and a Councillor be established to coordinate community consultation and bring forward the above mentioned report to Council by November 15, 2003;
AND BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that Mayor and Council appoint a Council member as liaison Councillor to the Advocate and approve the creation, in collaboration with the Advocate, of a Citizen's Advisory Committee, including representative youth and other members as appropriate, to be co-chaired by the liaison Councillor and a member of the community, and that the School Board and Board of Parks and Recreation be requested to appoint liaisons to the Committee.
Child and Youth Advocate
Particulars
1. That the mandate of the Child and Youth Advocate is to work with the community to:
1.1. identify for Council issues and problems in policy and practice that affect the children and youth of Vancouver, and to recommend strategies to address these;
1.2. advocate on behalf of the City government to other levels of government re the needs and issues of Children and Youth;
1.3. focus on systemic advocacy. The advocate will assist individual case advocacy through reports to community and Council which identify the systemic issues raised by individual cases, and through working with the child and youth-focused social planners to strengthen community advocacy groups/organizations to address the advocacy needs of individuals;
1.4. ensure that a wide range of children and youth voices are heard and included in the City's decision-making processes.
2. That the position of Child and Youth Advocate is complementary to the existing childcare/child-development and youth-focused social planner positions. That all three positions, working with the community, form a solid resource base for the City. The complementary nature of these positions is as follows:
2.1. while the Advocate's mandate is to identify issues and recommend strategies to Council, the social planning positions focus on implementation of strategies adopted by Council;
2.2. while the Advocate's primary focus is to speak out on issues and concerns on behalf of the City to other levels of government, the social planning positions have a liaison function in relation to service provided by other levels of government;
2.3. while the Advocate's focus is on systemic advocacy, the child and youth-focused social planners, with the support of the Advocate, work to strengthen community advocacy groups/organizations to address the advocacy needs of individuals;
2.4. the three positions, taken together, provide assurance that the City's commitment to include a wide range of child and youth voices and involvement in decisions affecting them will be advocated for and acted upon.
3. That the position report directly to City Council.
3.1. Council would approve the Advocate's work plan and receive or vote on the Advocate's Reports to Council. These reports would include commentary from relevant City departments, as is the practice for all City department reports to Council, but would not require concurrence from other departments.
4. That the position be full-time and permanent.
5. That there be rotation of individuals holding the position as follows:
5.1. Any individual holding the position should be hired for a term of no less than 3 years with the option to extend the term for 2 additional years. This gives sufficient time for an individual Advocate to assess the current issues of Children and Youth in the City and to establish an active and credible presence with other levels of government, while allowing the City to draw in a timely manner on specific expertise, unlikely to be captured in any one individual, to match the changing advocacy focuses of the children and youth of our city.
5.2. A term condition also assures a freshness of energy and view critical to an active advocacy position.
6. That the position be resourced as follows:
6.1 That Mayor and Council appoint a Council member as liaison Councillor to the
Advocate and approve the creation, in collaboration with the Advocate, of a Citizen's Advisory Committee, including representative youth and other members as appropriate, to be co-chaired by the liaison Councillor and a member of the community, and that the School Board and Board of Parks and Recreation be requested to appoint liaisons to the Committee.6.2 That there be a budget line attached to the position to allow this position to strengthen community advocacy and to assist the Advocate in data /information gathering:
-a part-time Youth Advocate apprenticeship position
-a part-time Support to Parent Voice position
-a line for small research contracts
-a line for honorariums and `coffee/pizza' for community consultations7. That Council re-affirm, and update as necessary, the model of advocacy already adopted by Council for the Child and Youth Advocate.
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