Agenda Index City of Vancouver

REVIEW OF

THE CITY OF VANCOUVER'S

CHILD AND YOUTH ADVOCATE POSITION

JUNE 21, 1999

Table of Contents

Job Performance 6

Table of Contents

Purpose 3
Background 3
Key Accomplishments 6
Key Challenges 7
Other Child and Youth Advocates 9
Consultative Process 9
Key Themes 11

Executive Summary

Ten years ago, the City of Vancouver was one of the first jurisdictions in Canada, and the first municipality, to develop and implement a Child's Advocate position. As the term of the third Child and Youth Advocate nears completion, Queenswood Consulting Ltd. was retained by the City to review the evolution of the position, its successes and challenges, and to develop points of consideration for the future direction of the position. This document provides a summary of that process.

The scope of the review undertaken by Queenswood was determined by the City of Vancouver at the commencement of the review process. Relevant documentation was collected and reviewed, and a limited consultative process was developed and carried out. The consultative process focused on obtaining the input of agencies and individuals whom were most likely to have worked closely with the Advocate, and who would be most likely to provide relevant and pragmatic information. Attempts were made to ensure that the voices of representatives from a wide variety of sectors related to child and youth advocacy were heard. In total, input was receive from 36 separate sources, including the views of 85 individuals.

The majority of those consulted felt that the primary importance of the Advocate rests in the position's potential relationship-building role, both with respect to building links between youth and the City of Vancouver, and in fostering and facilitating relationships amongst community groups. However, many participants also identified a number of structural and procedural factors which may have impeded the effectiveness of the Advocate. These include the lack of a clear accountability system, the lack of clarity with respect to the Advocate's role and mandate, and an age range in those whom the Advocate serves that is too wide to be effective.

Key points for consideration arising out of the review are as follows:

· Clarifying the mandate and scope of the Advocate's work, with a focus on achievable goals;
· Linking the development of the Advocate's workplan with other initiatives of the City of Vancouver; and
· Clarifying the role of the Advocate as a facilitator of advocacy services rather than a spokesperson or lead advocate.

REVIEW OF THE
CITY OF VANCOUVER'S
CHILD AND YOUTH ADVOCATE POSITION

Accordingly, the Advocate outlined a workplan in 1997/98 in which she selected four priorities. These priorities reflect the requirements of the position, as set out in its job description and summarized above. The priorities were the following, and a summary of many activities which took place in support of these goals is included in the "Key Accomplishments" section of this summary.

The Advocate reconfirmed the on-going task of enlisting public support for young people in the community, and obtaining the cooperation of civic departments in promoting the interests of children and youth. Seven specific ways of achieving this goal were outlined.

In accomplishing her specific goals as well as the broader tasks outlined above, the Child and Youth Advocate is guided by a number of policy documents that have been approved by City Council over the past decade. These policy guides include the following:

Civic Childcare Strategy

The Civic Childcare Strategy was adopted by Vancouver City Council on October 23, 1990. It included recommendations for the development of a Vancouver childcare policy, a definition of the appropriate civic mandate, and recommendations regarding the allocation of resources to implement the Strategy.

Vancouver Children's Policy
The Vancouver Children's Policy was adopted by City Council on March 12, 1992. It is a statement of commitment to the children of Vancouver and includes a Children's Policy, Statement of Entitlements and Action Plan.

Vancouver Civic Youth Strategy Policy
The Vancouver Civic Youth Strategy was adopted by Council on March 28, 1995. It is a statement of commitment to work in partnership with youth and the larger community on issues affecting youth. The implementation of the Civic Youth Strategy is an ongoing venture in which policy, objectives and principles of the Strategy are translated into action.

Civic Youth Strategy Progress Reports
The May 14, 1996 meeting of Council approved a recommendation directing the co-chairs of the Civic Youth Strategy Core Committee to provide annual progress reports to City Council regarding the Civic Youth Strategy. Accordingly, progress reports were provided in October 1997 and November 1998.

3. Key Accomplishments

The Advocate has worked directly with children, youth, families and service providers over the last 10 years to support them in articulating their concerns and achieving their goals. In particular, the current Advocate has indicated the Civic Youth Strategy Core Committee as being useful in focusing on the goals of improved participation in the City government. In addition to maintaining attention on issues of child and family poverty and the importance of preventative support and services for children, youth and families, the Advocate has also sought to give a higher profile to the needs of the most vulnerable youth in Vancouver. These include aboriginal youth, immigrants and refugees, gay, lesbian bisexual and transgender youth, and those who are street-involved.

It should also be noted that during the mandate of the current Advocate, the provincial government created the new Ministry for Children and Families. The Vancouver School Board and The Vancouver Richmond Health Board were also reorganized recently. The Advocate was required to work to ensure that children, youth families and community agencies had a say in the re-design of the provision of services.

With these realities in mind, the current Advocate has noted the following key accomplishments:

Another accomplishment noted by the Advocate in her reports to City Council are the projects and programs arising from the Civic Youth Strategy.

It is fair to say that the current Advocate has not dedicated significant efforts to the development of new policy but, rather, has focused her work on the implementation of the policies developed in the first two Advocates' terms.

4. Key Challenges

The Child and Youth Advocate has identified the following issues as requiring further attention in order to raise public awareness and improve services:

· The commercial exploitation of children and youth;
· The continuing work to end child poverty;
· Services for high risk youth - for example, a review of medical and non-medical exclusion from schools; and
· Equitable access to recreational activities, the arts, and sports for all children and youth in the City of Vancouver.

· Enhancing employment opportunities and support for youth;
· Identifying and developing opportunities for safe evening recreational activities for teens; and
· Identifying and developing opportunities and obstacles for safe, legitimate late night entertainment for older youth.

· Unmet treatment and intervention needs of youth in trouble and "at risk." Detox and youth-appropriate alcohol and drug treatment programs, mental health services and help for youth to successfully exit from the sex trade are in short supply;
· A need for on-going clarification of the roles and responsibilities of the various parties to the Strategy to maximize effectiveness and identify constraints;
· A need to explore new ways of doing outreach and how to effectively partner with youth;
· Services specifically designed for aboriginal youth and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered youth are stretched to the limit and under-resourced. Similarly, culturally and linguistically competent services for immigrant and refugee youth are lacking adequate support; and
· The safety and well-being of youth in care of the government and support for youth coming out of government care.

5. Other Child and Youth Advocates

Since the City of Vancouver pioneered the position of a Child & Youth Advocate in 1989, a number of other jurisdictions and agencies have also created and implemented similar positions. Most of these positions were created by the provincial governments that are outlined below. In addition, it is understood that the governments of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick are currently in the process of developing Advocates' positions for young people. The only other municipal-level Advocate that was identified was that of the City of Toronto, which was created in 1998.

While many of these positions have different areas of focus, they all share the basic goal of listening to and assisting with the resolution of the complaints and concerns of youth. All are concerned with safeguarding youths' rights and ensuring that they receive the services they require. For a summary of such positions, see Appendix 1.

6. Consultative Process

In addition to the documentation review outlined above, the current review also included consultations with interested individuals and agencies. The consultative portion of the review was directed and focused in nature, concentrating on groups who have had working relationships with the Advocate and who were considered most likely to provide practical input and suggestions for the future direction of the position. The scope and timeframe of the review did not allow for wider consultations with the public or with all possible agencies and groups. However, the review did seek and obtain input from a wide range of interested parties with different perspectives on, and relationships with, the Child and Youth Advocate.

Efforts were made to obtain the input of a wide range of representative agencies from different service sectors, from child and youth service agencies to child and youth committees, and from youth groups to community resources. For a full list of stakeholders who were consulted, see Appendix 2. Information and input was obtained from a total of 36 sources, including 5 child and youth committees and 2 groups of youth. The consultant also met with staff members from three youth organizations where youth had been invited, but were not able, to attend.

Representatives from each agency met on an individual basis with the consultant, to discuss a wide range of questions that solicited their opinions on the Advocate's mandate, accomplishments, challenges, strengths and weaknesses. Stakeholders were also asked for their views on how the position should develop, what changes might be made to improve the position, and any alternatives which might also serve children and youth from an advocacy perspective. The questions that were used as the basis of the consultative interviews are included as Appendix 3. It should be noted that not all questions were asked of all participants. The consultant focused on questions which were most likely to elicit relevant information and which touched on topics with which the participant was most likely to have had experience.

In addition to the scheduled interviews that formed the bulk of the review, the consultant also received a three survey responses from sources who indicated that they had heard about the review and wanted their input included.

Queenswood was also informed that the Vancouver Coalition for Children and Youth distributed survey questions to its eighty-eight agencies and organizations to obtain their input on the Advocate's position. Twenty-eight of the eighty-eight agencies and individuals had already been identified and included in the consultation process as developed by the consultant. The survey contained an adjusted heading (see Appendix 4), and invited recipients to send their responses to Queenswood Consulting or directly to the City Manager's office. Response to this questionnaire was disappointing, with only two responses received, one anonymously.

Finally, as the consultation process progressed it became apparent that there was a high degree of anxiety on the part of some participants about the City's objective in commissioning this review. These participants expressed concerns that the City intended to use the data collected in the review to justify eliminating the Vancouver Child and Youth Advocate position. This suspicion provides an illustration of one of the main concerns expressed by many participants in the consultative process: that the effectiveness of the Advocate has been compromised by the lack of a clear understanding of the role of the Advocate position and its relationship to other positions within the City structure. One effect of this anxiety was for some participants to limit their discussion to "saving" the position instead of contributing to the discussion of bringing the position into a more current advocacy context.

7. Key Themes

A number of themes arose from the consultations that were held with the representative stakeholders, and are discussed in greater detail below. In general, stakeholders expressed the opinion that the Advocate's role is important in ensuring that the interests of children and youth are considered as part of the City of Vancouver's planning and agenda.

Many participants pointed to the Advocate's potential relationship-building role as being of primary importance, both with respect to building links between youth and the City of Vancouver, and in fostering and facilitating relationships amongst community groups. It was recognized that there are a number of agencies and organizations throughout the City and its communities which offer support and assistance to youth, and that the Advocate can serve a very useful role as the focus and coordinator of those other bodies.

Participants were also able to identify a number of over-arching accomplishments of the Advocate. Responses tended to focus on the work of the current Advocate, although many participants recognized and referred to the work of her predecessors. Accomplishments that fell into this broad-spectrum range include: working with street involved youth; support for youth initiatives; increased participation of youth in decision making; strengthening ties between community organizations; supporting individuals and agencies in advocating on particular issues; and maintaining the perspective of children and youth on the civic agenda.

As well as the general work outlined above, participants identified a number of specific accomplishments as illustrative of the work undertaken by the Advocate to support her overall goals. For example, during the first term, the development of the Childcare Coordinator's position within the City of Vancouver and the development of the Vancouver Children's Policy were considered to be major accomplishments. During the second term, the development of Vancouver Youth Voices, the creation of the Vancouver Coalition for Children and Youth, the development of the Civic Youth Strategy and the strengthening of Parks Board youth workers were considered significant. During the third term, the Advocate has worked to implement the Civic Youth Strategy to improve youths' ability to advocate on their own behalf as a means of fostering youth empowerment.

In addition to identifying the accomplishments of the Advocate, participants were asked to provide their views with respect to challenges or barriers that they felt played a role in the Advocate's position. Again, participants identified both larger, over-arching or structural challenges and more specific problems. Issues that were raised ranged from lack of resources and high expectations to confusion about the position's mandate and relationships between the Advocate and other bodies. Five key issues that participants raised are discussed in greater detail below.

A. Accountability

The major concerns relating to the lack of accountability are the perceived lack of balance in the Advocate's work (that is, work related to young children versus youth versus young adults) and the inability of stakeholders to influence that balance. In short, there is a perceived lack of checks and balances, leading to confusion and difficulty in distinguishing between "what" the Advocate does and "how" she does it. Few participants understood what role the City should play in the latter, and how the Advocate should be accountable to the City in the way she carries out the former.

It would be helpful if Council was to clearly set what role it saw the Advocate playing, in terms of mandate and the broad activities to support that mandate. The Advocate should be responsible for developing how to best meet the mandate, in liaison with other senior City staff and Council. The Advocate should ultimately be accountable for her activities to Council, perhaps in the form of annual or semi-annual reports, but this might be framed within a reporting relationship within a civic department such as Social Planning, as outlined above.

Several participants, from a variety of sectors, suggested that a reference group or steering committee should have a role in guiding and monitoring the work of the Advocate. One option might be to create a reference group for the position, including a Council member, senior City staff personnel, Parks Board personnel, and community representatives from the child and youth sectors. It should allow for consultation with stakeholders and reflect a wide range of appropriate community interests.

The steering group could receive recommendations from the Advocate about her priorities, focus, and emphases, and assist in the development of an annual workplan. The group should also play a role in reviewing the progress of the Advocate and providing direction by meeting on a twice or three-times yearly basis. The scope and mandate of such a group must be precise so as not to become overly bureaucratic nor undermine the accountability between the office of the Advocate and City Council, as well as between the Advocate and City management.

B. Advocacy Plan

C. Age Range of Mandate

D. Reporting Relationships

While discussing this point, a number of participants spoke at length about perceived difficulties in the relationship between the current Advocate and her City colleagues, including City Council. There is a perception, principally by community-based agencies, that a breakdown in these relations has led to an inability of the Advocate to develop and maintain an effective presence within the City structure. When discussing the role of the Advocate, participants tended to focus on this problem rather than considering the question of the long-term effectiveness and utility of the position of the Advocate.

In considering the long-term implications and requirements of the position, many participants felt that an Advocate would likely in a better position to advance the issues that effect children and youth than a social planner would be. Both options were considered workable, but in the interests of maintaining and fostering openness and relationship-building, preserving an Advocate position but re-framing it within an accountability stream (as outlined above) was the option that was preferred by a significant number of those who were consulted.

Points for Consideration:

Reviewing the accessibility the Advocate position has to City Council, to ensure a continued ability to maintain child and youth issues as part of the City agenda
Maintaining the Advocate's ultimate accountability to Council, but framing this within a reporting relationship within a City department

E. Use of Existing Community Resources

The Advocate has an opportunity to play a more significant role in developing, coordinating, and facilitating local, community based advocacy. There is a strong perception that the Advocate should be "out of City Hall" and into the communities more than she has been. The focus of this work should be on the development and promotion of relationships between existing advocacy groups and those that may develop in the future.

A related concern was that the Advocate should clearly function and be seen as the coordinator of advocacy resources, rather than the primary resource herself. In other words, the position might be more effective if the Advocate operated under a clear mandate that he or she is the coordinator of advocacy voices rather than the "loudest" voice.

Points for Consideration:

8. Points for Consideration

The following is a summary of the points for consideration that arose out of the review process.

Appendix 1
Summary of Other Jurisdictions'
Child and Youth Advocate Positions

A. British Columbia Office of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate

The Province of British Columbia swore in its first Child, Youth and Family Advocate for a six-year term in May 1995, under the authority of the Child, Youth and Family Advocacy Act. The Advocate functions independently of all other provincial government offices and ministries, and has the responsibility of ensuring that the rights of children and youth and their families are protected. The Advocate is also responsible for ensuring that young peoples' voices are heard and considered in the course of service planning and delivery.

The Advocate has outlined the following commitments as part of her position:

· Supporting communities in the development of local advocacy services by establishing a system in which children and youth, people who are close to them, and local agencies and organizations have access to the information and support they need in order to practice self-advocacy or provide community-based advocacy.
· Studying and responding to specific issues affecting children and youth who:

· have visible or invisible disabilities
· have sexually intrusive behaviours
· are involved in Family Court proceedings and/or are in need of legal representation.

· Working towards an integrated system of responsive, coordinated, user-friendly, high-quality services for children and youth.
· Facilitating the creation of a network of youth centres throughout the province.
· Responding to, and keeping track of, both individual requests for advocacy and systemic issues.
· Providing children and youth and their families with full and clear information about their rights, including their right to have service providers' decisions reviewed.
· Establishing just and reasonable procedures for dealing with complaints about services provided and for reviewing decisions.
· Clarifying the roles of the various bodies responsible for reviewing the decisions of service providers.
· Ensuring that the current needs of children and youth are met while various government services undergo transitions.
· Recommending amendments to the Child, Youth and Family Advocacy Act to reflect our focus on advocating on behalf of children and youth.
· Extending the mandate of this office by adding to the list of Acts and services designated under the Child, Youth and Family Advocacy Act, so as to expand the scope of our services.
· Exchanging information with people working in similar advocacy initiatives throughout the country and working in partnership with groups currently providing advocacy services for children and youth in BC.
· Being accountable both to the government and to the general public.

B. British Columbia Children's Commission

The B.C. Children's Commission assesses government services for children and youth under 19 in the province, and advises government on improving these services. The Commission is independent of the Ministry for Children and Families and reports to the Attorney General.
The role of the Commission, as set out in the Children's Commission Act, is

to make recommendations for change;
to ensure that necessary changes are made; and
to ensure that children and youth are respected and treated fairly, that they have access to the services they need and that these services are responsive to their needs.
The specific mandate of the Children's Commission has been defined as follows:

C. Office of the Ombudsman, British Columbia

The Office of the Ombudsman was established by provincial legislation in 1979. The Ombudsman receives inquiries and complaints about the practices and services provided by public bodies. The Ombudsman can investigate to determine if the public body is being fair to the people it serves, and has jurisdictional authority over the decisions and acts of Ministries of the provincial government, crown corporations, health-related government services, governing bodies of professional and occupational associations, and local governments.

The Ombudsman is an independent Officer of the provincial legislature, and is responsible for making sure that administrative practices and services of public bodies are fair, reasonable, appropriate and equitable. It is able to conduct confidential investigations and to protect complainants against retribution. The Ombudsman does not act as an advocate for complainants. It is empowered to advise complainants about what steps to take with respect to decisions or acts of public bodies, investigated complaints, make recommendations, and negotiate resolutions. It cannot, however, reverse the decisions of public bodies, tribunals or appeal boards.

The Office of the Ombudsman includes a team of investigators for issues relating to children and youth. The team has investigated numerous complaints from individuals with respect to such issues as the fairness of school discipline policies and the lack of full disabled accessibility in particular schools. These complaints are received and processed through the general investigatory procedures of the Ombudsman.

In addition, the Ombudsman was asked to monitor government's implementation of the recommendations of the Gove Inquiry into Child Protection. In 1998, the Ombudsman released Getting There, an audit of government's response to the more than one hundred recommendations of the Inquiry. Getting There both recognized the significant steps that had been made to implement the Gove recommendations, and suggested that it was time to move forward with those recommendations that remained outstanding.

D. Alberta Children's Advocate Office

The Alberta Office of the Children's Advocate was created in 1989. Responsible to the Minister of Family and Social Services, the Children's Advocate has two primary goals:

In addition, the Advocate has adopted several guiding principles:

· The focus of advocacy is to empower the child to speak for him/herself or to direct an advocate to do so.
· Advocacy seeks to enhance and support the child's relationship with others.
· Advocacy must be independent to maintain its focus on children.

In 1993 Mr. Bernd Walter, Alberta's Child Advocate, completed his review of the child welfare system in Alberta. Commissioned by the Minister of Family and Social Services, the report was a comprehensive review of the child welfare system and legislation. "In Need of Protection" identified a number of barriers children face in trying to access needed services. The report included extensive recommendations for systemic change. Throughout the course of the redesign initiative the Office of the Children's Advocate has continued to document the problems and challenges within Alberta's child welfare system

F. Saskatchewan Children's Advocate

Established in 1994, the Children's Advocate also has as its primary goal the protection and promotion of children's interests. The Office of the Advocate is guided by a number of directional strategies, which are comprehensive strategies for accomplishing its mission. Its mission is defined as:

Those directional strategies are:

The Advocate has indicated that when she was first appointed to the position, she believed she would be primarily involved in publicly promoting the interests of children. Instead, the Advocate found that she spends much of her time responding to numerous calls regarding individual children where there has been a disagreement about some aspect of the care that child is receiving, often involving different points of view about what constitutes the "best interest" of a child.

The Advocate sees her role now as primarily looking to find ways to work together and come to a common understanding about what will work best for a specific child. Advocacy is required when those directly concerned or involved in deciding a child's best interests do not work together, or when a child or young person is not involved in the decision making.

G. Manitoba Children's Advocate

Manitoba created its Office of the Children's Advocate in 1993 under the Child and Family Services Act. Reporting to the Family Services Minister, the Advocate was created in order to provide an advocacy voice on behalf of children in care.

The Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy was created under the Ministry of community and Social Services in order to protect the rights and interests of children, youth and families receiving or seeking services provided by that Ministry, the Ministry of Solicitor General and Correctional Services, and the Ministry of Education and Training (residential schools).

The office employs advocates to mediate complaints, negotiate with service providers, government officials and the community, identify systemic problems affecting youth, and advise the Ministries of gaps in service delivery.

I. Quebec Commission for Human Rights and Youth Rights

The Commission as a whole ensures that Charter rights are upheld, that the interests of children are protected, and that the rights recognized by the Youth Protection Act are respected.

The Youth Protection Act has been in force in Quebec since 1979. It is concerned solely with young people under 18 years of age whose security or development is in danger. These are children who are considered to be in difficulty of some kind abandoned, mistreated, or exploited children, victims of physical or sexual abuse, and children who exhibit serious behavioural problems at home or at school. The Youth Protection Act confirms that child protection is a collective responsibility, incumbent on every adult member of society, and especially on the people whose work brings them into contact with children.

Under the Youth Protection Act, the Commission is directed to do the following:

Specifically, the Commission's investigations involve the services rendered by:

· a child and youth protection centre in charge of the case;
· a foster family to which a child has been entrusted;
· any institution, organization or person acting under the Youth Protection Act (rehabilitation centre, police officer, transport personnel, hospital, etc.);
· any institution or person responsible under the Young Offenders Act for the custody of an adolescent found guilty of an offence.

When a case is brought to its knowledge, the Commission first attempts to rectify the situation quickly. If a more thorough investigation is conducted and the Commission concludes that rights have been violated, it will propose measures to correct the situation and prevent its reoccurrence. If need be, the Commission will take any legal steps required to protect the child's rights and interests.

J. City of Toronto Children's Advocate

In January 1998, Toronto City Council appointed City Councillor Olivia Chow as the city's first Children and Youth Advocate. She chairs the Children and Youth Action Committee and is a member of the Budget Committee and the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee. In appointing a Children and Youth Advocate, Toronto City Council made a commitment to improving the health and well-being of children and youth in Toronto, and making sure that the needs of young people stay on the City's political agenda.

The Advocate works closely with the City's Children and Youth Action Committee. That Committee draws city councillors, school trustees and members of the community to represent the interests of young people. As well as advising on political decisions, the Committee is developing a number of policy initiatives with respect to children.

Appendix 2
Participants in the Consultation Process

(Asterisks indicate members of the Advocate Review Committee)

1. Aboriginal Friendship Centre and Urban Native Youth

Ian Mass, Deputy Advocate

4. Broadway Youth Resource Centre

Jeff Brooks, Director, Social Planning, Community Services*
Penny Coates, City Childcare Coordinator, Social Planning*
Debbie Anderson, Youth Services, Parks and Recreation
Greg Eng, Recreation Manager, Parks and Recreation*
Coralys Cuthbert, Social Planning*
Wendy Au, Social Planning*

11. City of Vancouver Child and Youth Advocates (former)

Dr. Penny Parry*

12. Civic Youth Strategy Core Committee

Misha Luckman
No young people available

16. Environmental Youth Alliance

Ray Edney, Greater Vancouver Mental Health Society
Deb Mearns, Downtown Eastside NSO
Cheryl Mixon, Family Services
Gerry Adams, Urban Native Youth

22. Kiwassa Neighbourhood House

Dave Martin, Youth Development Worker

26. South Vancouver Family Place

Andrew Holeton
No young people available

28. The Gathering Place

Theresa Da
No young people available

33. West End Community Centre

Dianne Goldberg, Program Director

35. Windermere Secondary School

36. Youth Action Centre

Appendix 3
Questions Used as the Basis for Consultations

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