Locks on the fridge: Reforms needed soon to help kids in care, says former group home resident
An Ottawa woman who received "inadequate care" when she lived in group homes as a teen says the province's recently-announced reforms to residential care are badly needed.
The reforms, announced last Wednesday, include unannounced inspections of care homes, better training of workers to improve their care of youth with mental health issues, and greater consultation with young people to ensure they have a say in their care. The Ontario government says the reforms will be implemented in the coming years.
Chloe Hockley, 21, was a member of a youth panel that advised the province on the proposed changes. She was placed in residential care in 2011 when she was 15 and stayed in the system until she "aged out" at age 18. She has just completed a bachelor of arts degree from Queen's University in psychology with honours.
"There are a few places where the system let me down," she said in an appearance on CBC Radio's Metro Morning.
Unannounced visits mean no time to prepare
Hockley applauds plans to put an end to the practice of letting group homes know that an inspection is coming.
"The reality is, by holding announced visits, you're allowing the residences to prepare an ideal environment that meets standards," she said.
"This allots time for staff to take the locks off the refrigerator, to put fruit in the fruit bowl, to take out youth belongings that have been locked up, such as shoes. Keep in mind these are all real examples given from members of the youth panel.
"By holding unannounced visits, you're not giving them that opportunity to prepare. And instead, you are getting to witness first hand the true state of the residences in which children and youth reside."
Hockley said she was once in a foster home where "unauthorized" adults would be allowed to sleep over, and some people would be allowed to sleep on the couch. She said she alerted the Children's Aid Society to the issue, but had to stay at the home for weeks until she could be placed elsewhere.
"Children and youth in this province deserve so much more," she said.
"Youth are coming into residential care because they either have complex or special needs or they have been removed from their households due to abuse or neglect and so they need someone who is going to properly care for them. They need support and guidance to be able to properly go on with life."
Ontario ministry releases blueprint
Last week, the Ontario ministry of children and youth announced it has a new plan to strengthen residential services such as group care, foster care, custody and respite care.
According to a ministry document, Safe and Caring Places for Children and Youth: Ontario's Blueprint for Building a New System of Licensed Residential Services, the ministry said the plans are both short and long term and aim is to ensure children and teens have safe and healthy places to live.
Irwin Elman, Ontario's provincial advocate for children and youth, said the province has begun to listen to young people about life in group and foster homes.
"Young people talk about workers calling these homes at times 'storage,'" said Elman.
He said they also said that they were being "dumped" out onto the streets at 18 "with no place to go afterwards."
Hockley said there is no question that Ontario children and teens in residential care need better care.
"It makes me very angry because children and youth in this province deserve so much better than this. And they deserve to have healthy, nutritious food. They deserve to have every right that children and youth in this province have who live at home," she said.
The ministry says there were 15,469 licensed residential placements for children and youth in Ontario as of June 30, 2017.
