A flawed computer system used by front-line social workers can be repaired without exceeding the project’s $182-million budget, Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux said Wednesday.
Cadieux said the government will follow the recommendations in a new consultant’s report and focus on improving the integrated case management system for child protection workers.
“We’re prioritizing child protection,” she said. “It’s going to get done right.”
The fixes are expected to be finished by the fall of 2014 and will require further staff training.
“We believe that we can do it within budget,” she said.
NDP children’s critic Carole James scoffed at that notion.
“I don’t believe it,” she said. “I’ve got huge concerns.”
James said small organizations delivering government services have been particularly hard hit, because they lack the staff and resources to handle the complicated computer system.
“The ideal, of course, is to fix it,” she said. “No one wants to see more tax dollars taken away from kids and put into a computer system. But it has to be a workable solution.
“I’m skeptical the government can fix this system. I hope they can fix it with no resources, but what I worry is kids will fall through the cracks.”
Cadieux said the director of child welfare reviewed 19,000 cases and found no instances in which the switch to the new system jeopardized a child’s safety.
The system went live in government offices in April 2012 and promised to improve information sharing across ministries, flag safety issues and boost efficiency for front-line case workers.
But social workers soon complained that the system was overly complicated and buried critical information under a series of hidden tabs. The consultant’s report released Wednesday showed that the Australian state of New South Wales abandoned a similar system rather than sink more money into it.
But Cadieux said that was an older version and she’s confident B.C.’s system can be upgraded. She said many of the initial problems have already been corrected, though she acknowledged that social workers still want a system that is less cluttered and more efficient with enhanced search capabilities.
She said the focus on child protection may mean that government does not proceed with plans to expand the system into other areas such as child and youth mental health.
Deputy children’s representative John Greschner welcomed the government’s decision to focus on child protection in the project’s final phase. “But it’s too early in the process to conclude that everything’s fine and everything’s been solved,” he said. “We’re going to follow it closely.”
Greschner said the representative’s office would continue to monitor the situation to make sure that all the issues raised by workers in the field are addressed.
“We’ll continue to be concerned as well about all the cases that have been opened since ICM was implemented and whether or not all the required data has been stored and is accessible,” he said.
Despite the problems experienced by child protection workers, Cadieux said the system is generally working well for the government as a whole.
“We are one of the first jurisdictions, that we’re aware of, anyway, that is going to this multi-ministry, multi-program type of IT solution. We’re being looked at by other jurisdictions.”
