Why community social services a good investment; We should be helping children before family problems spiral out of control

By Michelle Fortin 

A recent report from children and youth representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond was aptly titled "Trauma, Turmoil and Tragedy."

It's a sad review of the lives of 89 children who harmed themselves or committed suicide, and the supports they received from the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

It's important to learn from these cases.

But wouldn't it make more sense to invest in keeping children from ending up in such desperate situations, in providing com-munity supports to help parents cope with their problems, so they could in turn raise their children successfully, and in addressing problems before they spiral out of control?

That's what we do in the community social services sector.

In her report, Turpel-Lafond found, unsurprisingly, that family dysfunction and poverty were at the root of the troubled lives of these 89 children.

Half of the children were exposed to domestic violence at an early age. "Domestic violence can leave a child with emotional pain, deep stress and some-times physical trauma," Turpel-Lafond notes. The resulting lack of trust means children don't talk about their own problems, or learn the skills to solve them.

About 75 per cent of the children were born to mothers with substance-abuse problems. The information on fathers is scarcer because so many simply weren't around.

And 27 per cent of the parents had themselves been children in the ministry's care, suggesting a failure to provide the support they needed to grow into healthy adults ready to raise their own children.

The ministry's work is important and difficult, and the representative's oversight is vital.

But this report, like so many others, should force us to look at how we can help children, and their families, before problems are so serious that children must be taken into an imperfect, costly system of government care.

That's our role in the community social services sector. Sometimes, the intervention can be straightforward - counselling for addiction issues, workshops on parenting skills, help with a job search or relationship problems. Sometimes, the support needs to be more extensive, over a longer term. We work with parents, prospective parents, young people and children facing difficulties.

It's challenging. Our agencies - non-profit, private, aboriginal, large, small - work across the province, with people who need a little or a lot of help to make the best of their lives. Some 64,000 people work in the sector, supported by thousands of volunteers.

And it has become increasingly more challenging because our work isn't adequately supported. Funding has been frozen or cut as demand has increased. Our hard-won expertise and innovative approaches - which could help government be more effective in addressing community problems - haven't really been tapped.

All governments face pressures to deal with each emerging crisis.

But the representative's report is a sharp reminder that we need to focus much more on prevention, rather than fixing damage once it is done.

It is important that the best services and supports are available for children and youth as they face huge challenges.

It is equally - or more - important that we fund and support the community-based programs that strengthen families and keep children from needing those kinds of drastic interventions.

Michelle Fortin is the executive director of Watari Youth, Family and Community Services and the chair of B.C. Addiction Specialists and Allied Professionals, and is writing on behalf of the Roundtable of Provincial Social Services Organizations.