ALIGN News Archives - ALIGN Association of Community Services

Presentation Materials ALIGN Group Care Global Symposium, Edmonton, Alberta February 7- 8, 2019

Ideology, Evidence and the Great Residential Group Care Debate: Whose Keeping Score? ALIGN Group Care Symposium 2019 James P. Anglin Professor Emeritus School of Child and Youth Care University of Victoria

What Works: Lessons learned from implementing, sustaining, and evaluating the CARE Model ALIGN Group Care Symposium 2019 Martha Holden Cornell University

A Tailored Approach to Implementing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Youth Residential Facilities: Lessons Learned from Wolverine Human Services’ Journey ALIGN Group Care Symposium 2019 Cara C. Lewis, PhD Associate Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Co-Founding Editor-in Chief of SIRC Journal

It’s Time for Innovation: Care Planning and the Hoax of Participation and Voice ALIGN Group Care Symposium 2019 Dr. Kiaras Gharabaghi Director, School of Child & Youth Care Ryerson University Toronto, Canada

CIAFV Membership Survey

AndersonDraper Consulting Inc. has been contracted to undertake an evaluation of Community Initiatives Against Family Violence (CIAFV). They are asking members of CIAFV for feedback. The information you share will be used to improve CIAFV and report on the strategic goals. Please note your participation is voluntary and responses will be summarized. Individual responses will not be shared, but some statements may be used as quotes to illustrate common themes.This should take about 10 minutes to complete. To thank you for your time, you can enter a draw for one of three $10.00 Tim Hortons gift cards (your contact information will not be associated with your survey results).

If you have any questions about this survey, please contact the Evaluator, at 780-680-4195 or send an email to michelle.andersondraper@shaw.ca.

Foundations of Caregiver Support Evaluation Survey

Thank you for taking part in the Foundations of Caregiver Support training recently. We are hoping to gain feedback from your experience by collecting evaluations. Below are links to surveys for each module of training one through five. Please take a moment to complete the applicable survey(s). If you have taken more than one training module, please complete the survey for each module you have taken. Each survey only takes approx. 2 minutes and the information collected is valuable for ALIGN and Children’s Services to track their training initiatives. If you have any questions, please contact our office. Thank you and have a wonderful day!

Please Complete Survey

Module 1 Evaluation

Module 2 Evaluation

Module 3 Evaluation F

Module 4 Evaluation

Module 5 Evaluation

OHS Staff Safety Initiative Update

Correspondence to ALIGN from Marika Giesen | Executive Director, Service Delivery Improvement and Integration December 12, 2018

Rhonda and Andrea, thanks for the good discussion on Monday re: moving forward, with the help of a Health & Safety Association, on the social services staff safety initiative. As mentioned, we’ve pulled together some high-level notes below to support your discussions/communications with your respective membership. I hope this is helpful. If you have questions/comments, let me know.Watch for an update early in the new year.

– Over the past several months, ALIGN and ACDS have been meeting with government representatives from Labour, Community and Social Services (CSS) and Children’s Services to discuss shared concerns and collaborative strategies related to the safety of staff in the social services sector

– As a result of these discussions, government will be providing funding to secure the services of a Health and Safety Association (HSA) to develop a variety of resources focused specifically on improving safety for staff in our sector

– We want to be clear that this is not about establishing a sector HSA that members pay into; rather, to use the expertise of an HSA to develop sector-specific resources for our association(s) and its members

– These resources will focus on three key areas:

o Awareness: through provincial and agency-level activities, staff at different levels will be aware of their respective roles and responsibilities regarding safety in the workplace;

o Tools: creating a variety of common tools and templates (e.g., hazard assessments) that take into account the unique environment our social services staff work in; and,

o Training: creating a variety of training resources and identifying training opportunities for all staff that will support their ability to identify and respond to safety issues in the workplace.

– We have been clear that whatever comes from this work, it cannot introduce additional costs for agencies and it must be informed by and developed in consultation with our sector members

– We will have more to share in the New Year when the HSA is selected and begins its work, and we hope you will be willing to work with us as we create these important resources

ALSO See

New OHS Website: Work site health and safety committees and representatives
Applying for a joint work site health and safety committee
HSC HS Rep Approval Self-Evaluation Tool pdf
ALIGN & Bill 30 Occupational Health and Safety Act

Foundations of Caregiver Support (FCS) Update

Update from ALIGN E.D. December 12, 2018

This project has taken a life of its own. ALIGN has provided 3 train the trainer sessions over the last 6 months. We have trained over 150 people to train the FCS modules. To date there have been a total of 685 staff and 200 agency caregivers trained that we know of. We believe that many of the contract foster care programs are working on training their caregivers over the next few months. Thank you for the support and uptake in doing this work. We ask that you report who has been trained in your agencies to us so that in June we can report on the total numbers.

We are moving forward with the assumption that the trainers are making plans within their own agencies to train staff. Our offer of assistance stands, especially if you need an indigenous trainer. Please email or call Nicole nicolem@alignab.ca or 780.232.9199.

We have decided not to offer ALIGN session in January and February. Our contract goes until June and the funding is tight. We hope to run another session for whoever needs it later in the spring. If you are struggling getting the training in, or need help please call Nicole ad we want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to get it done. If we need to ask for more funding we will but need to know the need by March.

See more on ALIGN and Foundations of Caregiver Support (FCS)
ALIGN Presents Foundations of Caregiver Support 101 2018 – 2019 Dates/Locations

Bill 30 Update: Request for Clarity on the Requirements for Work Site Safety & Care Worker Focused Inspections

ALIGN E.D. Update December 12, 2018

Bill 30 and its requirements have been challenging for everyone. We have asked for some clarity on the requirements for work site and safety committees and representatives. https://www.alberta.ca/work-site-health-safety-committees.aspx. Specific to your concerns about employers with multiple work sites, the approvals process is outlined on the webpage (bottom) or I will post on our website. If there are still questions please send them to me and I will get assistance for you.

Yesterday ALIGN and ACDS met with the Ministry of Labor regarding the current Care Worker Focused inspections. We clearly outlined some of the concerns we have heard including the inconsistencies, threats of fines, questions about placements, etc. We were able to have them stop/complete the inspection process. Only those that are currently open will be followed up on and there will be no more in this round. We are told that there is a group of inspectors that have been assigned to this sector. In light of that, ACDS, ALIGN and the 2 ministries have offered to provide the inspectors some insight into the sector, how it works and who the clients are. We hope to do that in January and then we expect to have a debrief session on this current round of inspections later in February.

New OHS Website: Work site health and safety committees and representatives
Applying for a joint work site health and safety committee
HSC HS Rep Approval Self-Evaluation Tool pdf

See More ALIGN Correspondence Re: Bill 30

Update: ALIGN Meets with Minister Larivee at the Legislature Re: Sector Financial Issues

Update: December 12, 2018

Message from ALIGN E.D.

The Board of Directors and I met with the Minister of Children Services Danielle Larivee last week. Our meeting was a result of the letter we sent to the Premier. In our discussion we reviewed who we are, how many people we represent and the current financial issues we are facing. According to the Boland report we are back up to a 47% turnover rate, agencies are reporting difficulty in hiring and ALIGN has had an unprecedented number of jobs posted on our website. Interestingly as I reviewed our history for the meeting we are in a 6 year wave again. It seems that every 6 years we are in this predicament.

We were able to state that in each of those times we were able to develop some sort of business relationship committee which help everyone understand the issues and collaboratively work on them, we also have been able to work on flexibility in contracts and in some cases injections of short term funds as a stop gap. At this time, there is a promise of some funding to cover the paid days off vacation requirements in Bill 17, and there is some discussion of support for the costs of Bill 30. The Minister also assures us she is trying to request increased funding in the 2019/20 budget, with a special emphasis on the group care sector.

We emphasized that the added expectations over the past few years, and in the next few years with the Stronger Safer Tomorrow recommendations in all service delivery areas there is a need to fund those as we cannot sustain the good practice with just minor adjustments. We stressed that group care, contact foster care and kinship care must have attention soon. We would like to see a clear procurement plan, and contracts that includes the costs of the new legislation, regular cost of living increases, and a realistic cost for operating. Generally speaking group care was last procured in 2006 and contract foster care in 2008.

We continue to advocate on your behalf, if you are really struggling you need to make your challenges known to your contract managers. If you are beginning to close programs can please let me know. I have monthly meetings with the policy and program division of the Ministry and we want to make sure they are aware of the challenges within the sector.

Board members of ALIGN Association met with Minister Larivee at the Legislature on Dec 4, 2018. Not all of the board members were able to be in attendance but those that were had an opportunity along with ALIGN E.D. Rhonda Barraclough to discuss fiscal challenges in the sector. We appreciated this opportunity for dialogue and look forward to ongoing input and discussions moving forward.

Jeff Hansen, Aaron Hachkowski, Margaret Martin, Soraya Saliba, Rhonda Barraclough, Hazel Bergen, Bruce Armson, Pauline Smale, Robecca Chahine (Not able to attend: Cheryl Whiskeyjack, Beverly Keeshig-Soonias, Bruce Rafuse, Julie Mann- Johnson)

FSCD Members: PDD Review Panel Update & Call for Submissions Dec 10, 2018

Please take a minute and review Alberta Council of Disability Services (ACDS) Submission to Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) Program Review Panel December 3, 2018. This submission is an excellent and thorough overview of key points for consideration. ALIGN Association encourage any FSCD members to also send in a submission if you are able to do so.

Rhonda Barraclough, ALIGN E.D. will be contacting Andrea Hesse the CEO from ACDS to consider jointly meeting with the advocate to discuss the services to people with disabilities and service providers.

More information is available at Advocate’s for Persons with Disabilities (http://www.Alberta.ca/apd)

Letter to ALIGN Association from Alberta’s Advocate’s for Persons with Disabilities Tony Flores November 19, 2018

This PDD Program Review Discussion Guide Fall 2018 is being used to assist in developing input to the panel.

ALIGN & Sector Alberta Human Services Updates Dec 7, 2018

This newsletter for Alberta Human Service Agencies is packed with news and resources on Indigenous initiative, Alberta Government news and updates, Surveys, Reports, Training and more!

Alberta Mental Health Services Protection Act Updates Nov 2018

Mental Health Services Protection Act Technical Briefing November 2018

QA Mental Health Services Protection November 2018

Fact Sheet Mental Health Services Protection November 2018

Bill 30: Mental Health Services Protection Act has been introduced to put standards in place to ensure residential treatment facilities are licensed and health service providers are appropriately trained and regulated.

Creating new regulations and standards for service providers and treatment facilities supports one of the key actions recommended in Valuing Mental Health: Next Steps and was informed by input received during public engagement activities held last summer.

Protecting Albertans through mental health support (Nov. 27, 2018)

See ALIGN All Updates & ALIGN Communications Re: Bill 30

ALIGN Update Re: Government Relations & Alberta Council Recent Poling Stats

Update from ALIGN E.D. December 12, 2018

Government Relations

According to Alberta Council Recent poling states:

THE UNITED CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADS BY 15% AMONG COMMITTED VOTERS BUT 26% OF ALBERTANS SAY THEY ARE UNDECIDED.

WHILE THE UCP HOLDS A COMMANDING LEAD IN MOST OF ALBERTA THEY ARE TRAILING THE NDP IN EDMONTON

Speculation is an election will be called for March

Our government relations committee (GRC) is meeting in January to compose some questions that are relevant that you and your staff might want to ask those that come knocking on your doors or that you go visit in the New Year. We encourage you to take the key messages (on our website) and invite candidates to your agencies to meet with you. If not, go talk to them about the sector, your strengths and challenges wherever you can. There will be many forums, or they will host office meeting or town halls. Alternatively just ask for a meeting. They need to understand how the sector works, and how we provide excellent services.

The GRC will continue to offer suggestions and questions as they work through some of the communications research we have. I have reached out and hope to meet with Jason Nixon and Leela Aheer from the UCP party and Stephen Mandel and Greg Clark from the Alberta Party. We have also been offered the ability to submit a position statement to the UCP on the sector. I am working on that now.

Here are the candidates as of today. You can get contact information by googling them or checking the Election Alberta website. We strongly encourage you to reach out to those in your home riding and your office riding. We need to inform the politician about the sector.

Constituency	NDP	UCP	ABP	Liberal	Other
	31/87	68/87	47/87	5/87
Airdrie-Cochrane		Peter Guthrie
Airdrie-East		Angela Pitt
Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock		Glenn van Dijken
Banff-Kananaskis	Cam Westhead	Miranda Rosin	Brenda Stanton
Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul		Dave Hanson	Glenn Anderson
Brooks-Medicine Hat		Michaela Glasgo	Jim Black
Calgary-Acadia	Brian Pincott	Tyler Shandro	Lana Bentley
Calgary-Beddington		Randy Kerr	Karen McPherson
Calgary-Bow		Demetrios Nicolaides
Calgary-Buffalo	Joe Ceci	Tom Olsen	Omar Masood
Calgary-Cross		Mickey Amery
Calgary-Currie	Brian Malkinson	Nicholas Milliken	Lindsay Luhnau
Calgary-East		Peter Singh	Gar Gar
Calgary-Edgemont		Prasad Panda	Joanne Gui
Calgary-Elbow	Janet Eremenko	Doug Schweitzer	Greg Clark
Calgary-Falconridge				Deepak Sharma
Calgary-Fish Creek		Richard Gotfried
Calgary-Foothills		Jason Luan	Jennifer Wyness
Calgary-Glenmore		Whitney Issik	Scott Appleby		Allie Tulick (Green)
Calgary-Hays		Ric McIver
Calgary-Klein	Craig Coolahan	Jeremy Nixon	Kara Levis
Calgary-Lougheed		Jason Kenney	Rachel Timmermans
Calgary-McCall	Irfan Sabir	Jasraj Singh Hallan
Calgary-Mountain View	Kathleen Ganley		Angela Kokott	David Khan	Thana Boonlert (Green)
Calgary-North
Calgary-North East		Rajan Sawhney	Nate Pike	Gul Khan
Calgary-North West		Sonya Savage	Andrew Bradley
Calgary-Peigan		Tanya Fir
Calgary-Shaw		Rebecca Schulz	Bronson Ha
Calgary-South East		Eva Kiryakos	Rick Fraser
Calgary-Varsity	Anne McGrath	Jason Copping	Beth Barberree		Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes (Green)
Calgary-West		Mike Ellis
Camrose		Jackie Lovely
Cardston-Siksika		Jospeh Schow
Central Peace-Notley	Marg McCuaig-Boyd	Todd Loewen
Chestermere-Strathmore		Leela Aheer			Derek Fildebrandt (FCP)
Cypress-Medicine Hat		Drew Barnes
Drayton Valley-Devon	Kieren Quirke	Mark Smith
Drumheller-Stettler		Nathan Horner	Mark Nikota
Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview	Deron Bilous	David Egan	Jeff Walters
Edmonton-Castle Downs		Ed Ammar	Moe Rahall
Edmonton-City Centre	David Shepherd	Lily Le	Bob Philip
Edmonton-Decore		Karen Principe	Ali Haymour
Edmonton-Ellerslie	Rod Loyola
Edmonton-Glenora	Sarah Hoffman	Marjorie Newman	Glen Tickner
Edmonton-Gold Bar	Marlin Schmidt	David Dorward	Diana Ly
Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood	Janis Irwin		Tish Prouse
Edmonton-Manning	Heather Sweet
Edmonton-McClung	Lorne Dach	Laurie Mozenson	Stephen Mandel
Edmonton-Meadows			Amrit Matharu
Edmonton-Millwoods	Christina Gray		Anju Sharma	Abdi Bakal
Edmonton-North West	David Eggen	Ali Eltayeb
Edmonton-Riverview	Lori Sigurdson	Kara Barker	Katherine O’Neill
Edmonton-Rutherford	Richard Feehan	Hannah Presakarchuk	Aisha Rauf
Edmonton-South		Tunde Obasan	Pramod Kumar
Edmonton-South West			Mo Elsalhy
Edmonton-Strathcona	Rachel Notley
Edmonton-West Henday	Jon Carson	Nicole Williams	Winston Leung
Edmonton-Whitemud		Elizabeth Hughes	Jonathan Dai
Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche		Laila Goodridge
Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo		Tany Yao
Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville		Jackie Armstrong	Marvin Olsen
Grande Prairie		Tracy Allard
Grande Prairie-Wapiti		Travis Toews
Highwood		RJ Sigurdson
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake
Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland	Oneil Carlier		Don McCargar
Lacombe-Ponoka		Ron Orr	Myles Chykerda
Leduc-Beaumont	Shaye Anderson	Brad Rutherford
Lesser Slave Lake	Danielle Larivee	Pat Rehn	Judy Kim-Meneen
Lethbridge-East	Maria Fitzpatrick
Lethbridge-West	Shannon Phillips
Livingstone-Macleod			Tim Meech	Dylin Hauser
Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin		Richard Wilson
Morinville-St. Albert		Dale Nally
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills		Nathan Cooper
Peace River		Daniel Williams
Red Deer-North		Adriana LaGrange	Paul Hardy
Red Deer-South	Barb Miller		Ryan McDougal
Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre		Jason Nixon
Sherwood Park			Sue Timanson
Spruce Grove-Stony Plain
St. Albert		Jeff Wedman
Strathcona-Sherwood Park		Nate Glubish	Dave Quest
Taber-Warner		Grant Hunter
Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright
West Yellowhead		Martin Long	Kristie Gomuwka

ALIGN Political Toolkit Election 2019 and ALIGN Key Message Election 2019 IGN ED Update Dec 2018 (FCS, Bill 30, Government Relations, PDD Review, Conference..) For Election News and Alberta 2018 Budget Responses Click Here

Indigenous Youth & Community Futures Fund Application Open. Apply by February 11, 2019.

Laidlaw’s Indigenous Youth and Communities Futures Fund is for Indigenous youth-led groups to develop and lead projects where they are immersed in their lands, languages, and cultures; participate in everyday acts of resurgence, reclamation and wellbeing; build relationships within and across Indigenous communities; and learn about and define for themselves what reconciliation means.

Eligibility: This call is open to Indigenous youth-led groups that are based in traditional territories spanning Ontario. A youth-led group generally consists of young people between the ages of 14 to 29. However, we also welcome groups with younger members or adult allies, community helpers, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers playing supportive roles as long as young people, who self identify as Indigenous Peoples, come up with the project idea and lead the project.

You can apply for up to $30,000 for small-scale projects that can last between 6 to 12 months.

Mental Health Service Hubs for Youth (Integrated Hubs) Alberta

PolicyWise for Children & Families is very pleased to share a second opportunity to support the implementation of Community-based Mental Health Service Hubs for Youth (Integrated Hubs) in Alberta. This opportunity is part of Valuing Mental Health.

Integrated Hubs aim to minimize the service gap between child and adult services by providing a youth-oriented ‘one-stop-shop’ for youth to access mental health care as early as possible. Integrated Hubs use a collaborative and integrated care model to improve service access and reduce the personal and public health costs of untreated youth mental health concerns. As Integrated Hubs are community-based, they will be flexible and adaptable to each community’s social, cultural, and health needs.

Further background information about Integrated Hubs can be found here
Integrated Hubs Opportunity Overview/Call for Application

Specifics about the opportunity, including an information package and application form, can be found here
To learn more about the 2^ndcall for applications, please register for the Integrated Hubs Information Webinar on December 5, 2018, from 10:00 AM- 11:30 AM

Introductory Letter to ALIGN from Tony Flores Advocate for Persons With Disabilities

November 19, 2018

My role and responsibilities reflect the input of more than 1900 Albertans and key stakeholders…Read Full

Message from Deputy Minister Bouwsema Re Basic Maintenance Allowance Increase May 19, 2018

Message to ALIGN Association from Deputy Minister Bouwsema Office of the Deputy Minister Children’s Services Re Basic Maintenance Allowance May 19, 2018

The basic maintenance per diem compensation rate has increase by 2 percent retro-active to April 1, 2018. See chart of basic maintenance change for each age. View Table: Changes to Alberta Basic Maintenance May 15, 2018

PDD Program Review – Discussion Guide and Review Panel Presentation Invitations

PDD Program Review – Discussion Guide and Review Panel Presentation Invitations Update November 2, 2018|

To Rhonda Barraclough ALIGN Association E.D.
From Dorothy Badry, Dick Sobsey, Ann Nicol Co-Chairpersons’- PDD Review Panel

As you may be aware, the Minister of Community and Social Services has appointed a community-led panel to oversee the review of the Persons with Development Disabilities (PDD) program. The review panel will be seeking input from Albertans with developmental disabilities, their families and guardians and others involved in supporting their participation in the community about how PDD can support the personal choices, independence, priorities and needs of those who receive services through PDD.

The panel is focused on five topic areas in scope of the review:

· access to services and supports to meet individual needs and goals;

· a service delivery system that: responds to the needs of individuals and families;provides clear lines of accountability and oversight;

· training and supports to enable a skilled and well-trained workforce; and

· engagement with the disability community (i.e. individuals, families, guardians, service providers and workforce) at both the system and individual levels to provide clarity of purpose and outcomes.

In addition to a series of Community Conversation sessions being held throughout the province, there will be opportunities for organizations such as yours to make presentations to the PDD program review panel. This PDD Program Review Discussion Guide Fall 2018 is being used to assist in developing input to the panel.

If you are interested in presenting to the review panel, please contact the PDD Review Secretariat at css.pddreview@gov.ab.ca to:

· confirm your interest in presenting to the review panel; and

· select your preferred city/date to present

The scheduled dates and times to present to the review panel are:

· Thursday, November 29, 2018 – CALGARY (between 1:00 – 4:45 p.m.)

· Thursday, December 6, 2018 – EDMONTON (between 1:00 – 4:45 p.m.)

Presenters can expect to have 30 minutes to share information with the review panel and 15 minutes for questions and answers.

Please confirm your interest by Friday, November 16, 2018. You will then be advised of the specific time allotted for your presentation.

Community engagement tool kits are being shared with other community organizations that will have the option of hosting their own facilitated discussions to gather and share feedback for the PDD review panel.

To learn more about the review panel members and the various ways of providing input to the review panel, please visit alberta.ca/pddreview.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Badry, Co-Chair PDD Review Panel

Dick Sobsey, Co-Chair PDD Review Panel

Ann Nicol, Co-Chair PDD Review Panel

See Additional ALIGN Correspondence/News and Resources related to PDD Review and FSCD

Voices of Albertan’s With Disabilities: Invitation to Sign on to the Open Letter Accessible Canada Act Bill C-81

Voices of Albertan’s With Disabilities: Invitation to Sign on to the Open Letter Accessible Canada Act Bill C-81 November 1, 2018

The draft Accessible Canada Act Bill C-81 is currently being reviewed by the Standing Committee on Human Resources and Skill Development (HUMA).

There has been a number of presentations made to the Committee about amendments that should be made to the draft Bill to strengthen impact. The Council of Canadians with Disabilities is concerned that the HUMA Committee is not going to act on the recommended changes. “ Among those who have been actively monitoring the proceedings, there is a consensus that the Liberals have not been persuaded by what they have heard concerning the need for substantive amendments, including the call for timelines. Instead, they are looking for cosmetic changes. The Liberal Committee members seem to be of the mindset that the entire disability community is behind Bill C-81. To strengthen Bill C-81, we must alter that misperception and show strong support behind the core recommendations coming from the disability community and these are presented in the Open Letter.”

This open letter, has been prepared for submission to Minister Qualtrough. The points in the letter are supported by Voice of Albertans with Disabilities and we have signed onto the letter. The more organizations /people that let Minister Qualtrough know they are in support of changes that will strengthen the draft Accessible Canada Act Bill C-81, the more she can champion our cause.

This email is your invitation to sign on to the Open Letter. Please reply to Steven Estey <steven@ccdonline.ca> to indicate your organization’s willingness to sign on to the letter and copy us in at adf@vadsociety.ca

Sincerely,

Maureen Murphy-Black

ADF Co-ordinator

Voice of Albertans with Disabilities

Charities and Nonprofits: Alberta Election 2019 News & Resources

Includes news, reports, resources and training related to nonprofits/charities and political activities. Be prepared for 2019 Alberta Election and view ALIGN Key Message and Political Tool Kit.

ALIGN & Sector News October 25, 2018

Update date news for Alberta Human Service agencies regarding initiatives, resources and training relevant to agencies who serve children, youth and families. Find out more about impact of postal disruption, PDD Program review, New autism safety resources, upcoming grant deadlines and more!

Letter from ALIGN Association to The Honorable Rachel Notley Re: Bill 17 and Bill 30

The Honorable Rachel Notley,

We want to commend you on leading your party, as government, for a full term and look forward to another term of the NDP next spring. We appreciate your efforts in implementing a number of initiatives for the human services sector and the vulnerable Albertans we serve. As you are aware, ALIGN represents a number of agencies that contract with Children Services to provide a range of services from community support to campus based residential treatment care and everywhere in between. ALIGN also represents Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) agencies.

Over the last year, implementation of Bill 17 and Bill 30 have had some unforeseen and unintended consequences for workers in this sector. While the intention is admirable, the added costs of providing service with respect to the changes required in each piece of legislation are unintentionally prohibitive. ..Read Full Letter

Excerpt: Bill 17 – The Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act
We have been working along with Alberta Council of Disability Services (ACDS) and Alberta Home Visitation Network Association (AHVNA) and the Ministries of Community and Social Services, Children’s Services and Labour to explore regulatory options to changes in overtime requirements in Bill 17. During that time, numerous options were explored and some moments of frustration occurred as well as conflicting information and false starts. We have advocated for the flexibility required to manage the issue. Through meeting with the three Deputy Ministers we have arrived at a confirmation that the existing Caregiver Exemption should be interpreted broadly and applied to most direct service roles across Child Intervention, Home Visitation, PDD and FSCD. As a result of our negotiations and the legislative requirements, and nature of staffing for 24/7 operations, there has been significant added costs for statutory pay and overtime. Many agencies have had to stop offering… Read Full Letter

Excerpt Bill 30 – An Act to Protect the Health and Well-Being of Working Albertans
We continue to discuss the impact and concerns related to changes to OHS requirements in Bill 30 with Ministry officials at Community and Social Services, Children Services and Alberta Labour including the human resource, administrative and financial impacts. Those issues include OHS expectations related to violence, right to refuse work, supervisory expectations and Health and Safety Committees. Although we support the intent and spirit of the legislation it has created some unexpected financial hardships. We have shared our concerns with ministry officials regarding these requirements and the challenges regarding recruitment, retention and training needs as well as the potential for an employer to have numerous smaller “worksites”. Alberta Labour has confirmed that..Read Full Letter

See More Related ALIGN Correspondence & Initiatives
Bill 17 – Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act
Bill 30 Occupational Health and Safety Act

ALIGN Directory – Election 2019 Alberta Nonprofit/Charities and Election News, Tool Kits & Resources Re Political Activity

Important Announcement from Children’s Services Regarding Potential Mail Disruption

Important Announcement from Holley Belland Manager | Children’s Services Regarding Potential Mail Disruption October 19, 2018

While you may have been notified through other channels, we wanted to update you informally on our contingency plans for addressing the possible service disruption affecting mail delivery.

On Wednesday October 17, 2018 , the National Executive Board issued what is known as a “72-hour strike notice” to Canada Post for both the RSMC and Urban units. The National Executive Board has decided that the strike will begin on Monday morning, October 22, 2018, at 00:01 should they not have reached negotiated settlements.

The National Executive Board has opted for rotating strikes. Their locations and intensity will depend on Canada Post’s actions at the bargaining table in the days to come. When the targeted locations of the rotating strikes becomes available, they will disseminate the information immediately.

All payments currently made by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT or Direct Deposit) will continue as usual. This applies to the majority of Foster and Kinship caregivers.

To ensure the delivery of cheques for clients and vendors are not negatively impacted in the event of a service disruption, cheques for Children’s Services programs have been held back from Canada Post as of September 20, 2018 and will continue until a resolution of the strike occurs.

Cheques are being returned to the region’s Accounting Officer or Edmonton and Calgary regional head office for further distribution to originating worksite offices. Worksites will be provided tracking forms and instructions for distribution to vendors and clients. This means that it is the responsibility of each site to ensure that when cheques are returned to them arrangements are made for caregivers to receive those cheques. We hope this information will assist in any inquiries you might receive. It might be valuable to consider posting this information on your respective websites.

Please note that the above does NOT apply for Alberta Family Employment Tax Credit (AFETC) and Alberta Child Benefit (ACB) cheques as these programs are administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. The Government of Canada has contingency plans in the event of a labour action for federally administered programs. Payments for the AFETC and the ACB are expected to be delivered within a few days of regular delivery.

Service Alberta will provide public information via Alberta.ca and will manage other public notifications related to this issue as required.

We will continue to share information as it becomes available.

We hope that this uncertainty will soon end and we will return to normal handling of payments. Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank-you,

Holley Belland

Manager | Children’s Services

Policy, Practice and Program Development

10th fl Sterling Place
9940 – 106 Street
Edmonton, AB T5K 2N2

Desk: 780-644-3484 | Cell: 780-686-2844

holley.belland@gov.ab.ca

ALIGN & Sector News and Updates October 17, 2018

This bulletin includes announcements from Alberta Ministers regarding A Stronger, Safer Tomorrow Action Plan and Cannabis Legislation in regards to caregiver providers. Also find upcoming training, sector resources and news.

ALIGN & Sector News and Updates Oct 4, 2018

See registration for ALIGN Conference, new ALIGN political tool-kit, care worker violence prevention inspection updates, FSCD updates, Foundation of Care training dates, Cultural Solutions training and more!

Update Family Supports to Children with Disabilities Sept 2018

September 2018

FSCD Action Plan – In response to the concerns raised by parents about the FSCD program the Ministry of Community and Support Services (CSS) have changed our Specialized Services policy, Family Centred Supports and Services policy, FSCD Program Outcomes Policy and Overarching Policies and Considerations Policy to confirm that direct services to children are supported and parent involvement is not required in the delivery of specialized services.

In May 2018, Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) listening sessions were held in Edmonton and Calgary. This fall FSCD is hosting additional listening sessions to hear from you if what they heard in May is reflective of family’s concerns about FSCD specialized services; about the changes made in response; about communication between FSCD, parents and service providers; and how the FSCD Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT) process can be more supportive to parents.

If you were not aware of the May listening sessions or the changes made in FSCD, please visit the FSCD website at http://www.humanservices.alberta.ca/disability-services/15655.html. Here you will find a copy of the ‘What we Heard’ report as well as ‘tip sheets’ that provide updated and clarified information about FSCD specialized services. The ‘What we Heard’ report highlights the concerns parents raised and the government’s commitment to changes. You can also contact your FSCD worker or your regional office for more information about the policy updates and the practice shifts being made.

Below are the upcoming FSCD listening sessions across the province. Parents, service providers and others are welcome to register to attend a session. Each listening session is limited to 50 participants due to space and the desire to have small group discussions where FSCD can hear from you. You can register to attend a listening session online through Eventbrite at https://fscdlisteningsessions.eventbrite.ca.

If you are a parent and require assistance with costs for your attendance such as travel, parking, and respite there will be assistance with these costs through your FSCD Agreement or reimbursement. You are welcome to bring your child with you however, there will not be onsite childcare.

If you are unable to attend one of the listening sessions, but want to comment on the “What we Heard Report”, the changes made, ways to improve communication and how the FSCD Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT) process can be more supportive to families, you can provide your input by email to FSCDparents@gov.ab.ca. Alternatively, you can also go to the Listening Sessions Webpage https://www.alberta.ca/fscd-listening-sessions.aspx to provide feedback.

While the listening sessions will be focused on specific discussions as noted above, you are welcome to email FSCDparents@gov.ab.ca with any other concerns or comments you may have or to contact the Executive Director for Disability Services, Roxanne Gerbrandt at roxanne.gerbrandt@gov.ab.ca.

When you register, you will be able to select from any of the following listening sessions:

Grand Prairie, Tuesday, October 9, 2018, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
Calgary, Wednesday, October 10, 2018, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Calgary, Thursday, October 11, 2018, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Calgary, Saturday, October 13, 2018, 2:00 to 4:00 pm
Lethbridge, Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Medicine Hat, Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Red Deer, Thursday, October 18, 2018, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Edmonton, Monday, October 22, 1:00 to 3:00 pm
Edmonton, Wednesday, October 24, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Edmonton, Thursday, October 25, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Fort McMurray, Thursday, October 25, 2018, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
St. Paul, Monday, October 29, 2018, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
Red Deer, Tuesday, October 30, 2018, 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Documents
WHAT WE HEARD Feedback from parents, families and advocates in the Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) program June 2018

Letter from Minister Sabir to FSCD Colleagues June 29, 2018

Letter from Minister Sabir to FSCD Parents June 29, 2018

Policy 10-77 Specialized Services for Children with Severe Disabilities

Policy 2-7 Family-Centred Supports and Services

Policy 2-7 Family-Centred Supports and Services-2

Policy 7-3 Matters to be Considered

Policy 2-8 FSCD Program Outcomes

Information to Parents – Multi-Year Agreements

Information for Parents – FSCD Concerns Resolution

Information for Parents – FSCD Specialized Services Practices and Approa…

Information for Parents – General Specialized Services

FSCD Practice Shift – Service Provider Discussions September 2018-1

ALIGN E.D. Update AGM 2018

Dear 2018/2019 ALIGN Association Members

Welcome to Fall 2018. This has been an extremely busy year with the implementation of Bill 17 and Bill 30, violence prevention inspections in group care, tenders for campus based group care, the review of the child intervention program and now the PDD review, just to name a few things. In this news I wanted to highlight a few things and then talk about the political tool kit and how you can get out and see action in the upcoming months before the predicted election in the spring 2019.

A Stronger, safer tomorrow: a public action plan for the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention’s final recommendations June 2018
There was a pipe ceremony held earlier this month to officially kick off the response for the recommendations. I strongly suggest you review this document as this will be the focus of the Ministry for the next year. See All ALIGN Engagement and Resources Regarding Child Intervention Review Panel

fair and family friendly workplaces the government passed Bill 17
Bill 17 There have been some consequences as a result of this legislation. We have received official notice that the agencies who provide services for the Ministry of Community and Support Services will receive financial support for the minimum wage and statutory holiday costs. My understanding is that our contract managers will be asking you to fill in a template to help gather information. For Children Service’s there have been no official announcements but I believe they are working on gathering information relating to statutory holidays in an effort to compensate contracted agencies. I do not know how this will affect Fee for Service providers. You may want to make sure you have had conversations with the contract managers in the regions. See All ALIGN Engagement and Resources Bill 17

Bill 30 – an act to protect the health and well-being of working Albertans
Bill 30 was also passed earlier this year and in this Act the impacts to agencies are the specific development of safety management systems; an increased focus on worker safety and well being; and hazard assessments in the work place. See All ALIGN Engagement and or Resources Bill 30

Roadmap to COR
ALIGN received a grant to support the Roadmap to COR This course helps agencies develop their safety management system and customizes the requirements of the legislation to fit the unique needs of their agency and the sector. We currently have 72 people from 42 agencies participating. We have requested another grant to run the same program over again this time next year. See All ALIGN Engagement and or Resources Roadmap to COR

New Grant Request
ALIGN is also asking for 2 other grants offered by the Ministry of Labour. One to support the development of an electronic best practice guide for this sector based on the assignments and suggestions of the group currently in the Roadmap program; and the second is to offer some training on wellness in the workplace to support the mandatory training for the committees and also for anyone else who is interested.

Care Worker Violence Prevention Focused Inspection Program
The Ministry of Labour is doing another focused inspection program for group care facilities. I sent out notification about this earlier this week. Be aware that the program is from October 1, 2018 to January 31, 21019. The goal is to change the culture of the workplace to ensure violence is not tolerated or at least mitigated appropriately for workers
See Full Update Here

FSCD Action Plan – In response to the concerns raised by parents about the FSCD program the Ministry of Community and Support Services (CSS) have changed our Specialized Services policy, Family Centred Supports and Services policy, FSCD Program Outcomes Policy and Overarching Policies and Considerations Policy to confirm that direct services to children are supported and parent involvement is not required in the delivery of specialized services. Please find updated policies on our website.

ALIGN 11^th Annual Conference: Strengthening Today, Building Tomorrow – January 24 and 25, 2019 at the Fantasyland Hotel Edmonton.
January 24^th will be regular conference day with our keynote speaker being Virginia Sampson and January 25^th will be a whole day with Dr. Michael Ungar- one of the best- known authors and researchers on the topic of resilience in the world. He is an exceptional speaker and we will be offering single day tickets along with the regular conference registration. We look forward to seeing everyone there in January.

Save The Date ALIGN 3^rd Annual Symposium (Group Care): Global Research on Group Care Symposium Feb 7-8^,2019 at the Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton.
We currently have Martha Holden and James Anglin confirmed and are just working out the details on 2 other academics to support the conference.
Please save the date as more will be forthcoming soon on the details.

ALIGN POLITICAL TOOL-KIT 2019
ALIGN Key Message Election 2019 ALIGN Political Toolkit Election 2019
I want to take a few minutes to outline why we have taken the strategy we have this year in hopes that you will understand the messages well and see your agency as well as ALIGN in them. We hope you can use these messages as a foundation for your discussions with politicians in your constituencies. Our Government Relations Committee (GRC) developed this approach after meeting with some political experts and Paul McLoughlin at our AGM confirmed some of their thinking. At this point the polls show that the UCP has a high likelihood of wining an election in the spring 2019. But polls are only good at the time that they are taken, there are still a number of months to go and any strategy should include both or all parties. Having said that, there have been a few hints about the UCP we should pay close attention to:
If the UCP does become the leaders of the government we will be looking at a whole new legislature so we should not expect that they have a structure as they are very inexperienced in governing as the NDP were when they got in.
Currently the government is in the red zone so little to no spending is happening
There is little investor confidence in either party
The UCP will focus on competition; getting markets reactivated; and the private or outsourcing of delivery of services
The NDP like government services but so far have support the human services contracted sector.
UCP will shrink government, therefore a message of we are the best people to do the work should resonate
There is no new money for either party. We need to argue for incremental increases to support infrastructure and operation in order to sustain the sector.
Our agencies have established business practiced and can prove our services are professionally delivered and cost effective. We work for competitive prices and have good outcomes- we are well established.
We need to remind parties that there is no saving in diminishing the sector as we help Albertans to remain out of hospitals, in their homes, look after their families

Our action request is that nominees talk to their colleagues and make sure they understand the value of the sector and support it. We must be sustained into future.

As nominees are announced, please invite them to visit your agencies or go out and see them, educate people on the work you do for the community. The toolkit helps you with templates for letters. ALIGN will be sending out a newsletter to all candidates soon to ensure they hear from us, we will also be going to some of the platform committees and meeting with high profile politicians. Use the key messages as a foundation for discussion, you should see yourselves as part of a larger sector in there and can outline some examples of the good work you do in your community that the candidate will back and support.

Also encourage your staff to get out and vote!

If you have nay questions or need help please don’t hesitate to give me a call or email.

Rhonda Barraclough

Rhondab@alignab.ca

780.233.5459

ALIGN Presents Foundations of Caregiver Support 101 Training Series 2018 – 2019 Dates/Locations

All modules will be offered in both Edmonton and Calgary same day.
Module 1 is pre-requisite for the other four modules.
Module 2 thru 5 can be completed in any order

Who is this training for?
Foster parents and staff working with children, youth and families in Alberta. Kinship families working towards legal permanency (adoption or private guardianship) are strongly urged to take this training as well.

Why is this training required?
To achieve consistent trauma-informed support for children and families across the province at all levels

What will I learn?
FCS training aims to shift thinking from “what is wrong with this child? To a more informed “what has happened to this child?” and further, “how can I improve the developmental trajectory of this child?”

There are five modules in the training series
Module 1: Colonization, Historical Trauma and Healing
Module 2: The Core Story of Brain Development
Module 3: Child Development
Module 4: Loss and Grief
Module 5: Trauma, Stress and the Developing Brain

See Details, Dates and Locations

ALIGN Resource Bulletin Cannabis in the Workplace Employer OHS Resources

OHS Managers are seeking answers on medical use of cannabis in the workplace and how to address recreational use of cannabis in relation to the workplace. This resource bulletin includes extensive cannabis in the workplace articles, resource and training for Human Service OHS Managers to help support their employees, workplace safety, policy development and safety protocols.

Survey Well-Being and Resiliency Evaluation Framework Deadline August 3, 2018.

Thank you for providing feedback on the Well-Being and Resiliency Evaluation Framework. This framework accompanies the provincial Well-being and Resiliency Framework, and seeks to develop an evaluative reporting and monitoring plan to determine the extent that primary prevention and early intervention programs funded by Children’s Services are achieving outcomes. We greatly value your time and feedback.

Survey Purpose
The purpose of this survey is to gain a better understanding of community agencies’ experience and perspective as it relates to well-being and resilience overarching outcomes; to clearly articulate measurable outcomes; and identify common indicators.

Voluntary and Confidential
Your participation in this survey is voluntary. The information you provide will be used only for the indicated purpose in conformity with the Alberta Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPP). Your answers are confidential and will be used only for project purposes. Following ethical standards, the information you provide will be stored in a secure database for five years and then destroyed. The results of this project will be analyzed and reported only in group format. No single person or agency will be identifiable.

Dates and Further Information
This survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Please complete this survey by August 3, 2018.

If you have questions about the survey, please let us know at any time. You can reach PolicyWise for Children & Families by contacting the manager of this project, Naomi Parker: nparker@policywise.com

Take Survey

See Previous Correspondence Re Resiliency Framework (Previously Early Intervention – Prevention and Early Intervention Framework)

ALIGN Requesting Members Input on Bill 17 Financial Impacts

July 19, 2018

Dear ALIGN Members:

RE: Budget 2018/2019

Once again I am asking for information on your financial situation and how Bill 17 has impacted you. The Ministry of Children Services has been asking about the pressure points and where they may need to focus their allocation from the budget. In order to advocate on your behalf in the right direction I need help from you.

As you are all aware there was an allocation of money in the Children Services Budget for contracted agencies. On budget day we were told the amount and the way it will be distributed would be announced later.

Now we have been asked by government for some information that will allow them to focus the allocation of money. They are trying to determine the most impact for the dollars and wonder what is needed most at this time. They are specifically interested in Bill 17 impacts.

I have been asked to survey you again. I will do that with a reminder that “no information equals – no problem”. So I really encourage you to answer the questions as silence also means things are all ok. If you cannot answer or feel that you have negligible impacts please just send me a quick note saying that.

Questions:

What sector do you provide most of your services in? Contract foster care; group care; EI; kinship care, family support, youth work
Now that we are 6 months into this year can you tell us what impact the statutory holiday pay has had? What did you pay out in 2017 vs 2018?
Can you tell the difference in your Overtime costs? 2017 vs. 2018? What is it?
Have you made different agreements with your staff to offset payout costs to staff for overtime? For example some agencies no longer allow taking time off, they will only pay out overtime
What other drivers are your financial pressures a result of?
How are you managing the financial pressures? Have you closed services or deceased services?

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, if you have any questions, please send me an email

Please fill in the questions and send them back to me, Rhondab@alignab.ca. I need to have them back by August. 1, 2018.

Sincerely

Rhonda Barraclough

Executive Director, ALIGN

See All ALIGN Correspondence Related to Bill 17

ALIGN AGM Red Deer September 20, 2018

We invite you to our AGM September 20, 2018 at Holiday Inn & Suites, 33 Petrolia Drive, Gasoline Alley, Red Deer from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. and we hope to see as many members as possible. Our Guest Speaker will be Paul McLoughlin, Owner of Word of Mouth Communications. It’s time to think about our Government Relations Strategies and Paul will help us get that started. Member $78.75 Non-members $94.50

Public Action A Stronger, Safer Tomorrow Addresses the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention’s Recommendations

Correspondence from CA Minister Danielle Larivee to ALIGN ED June 28, 2018

Today, our government released a public action plan that will help protect children and support families. You can read our news release online.

A Stronger, Safer Tomorrow highlights 39 actions – including 16 this fiscal year – the Alberta government is taking to improve services for Indigenous families, increase supports for children, youth and caregivers, and address the funding gap on reserve.

This public action plan was developed with Indigenous leaders and communities, as well as front-line partners who work directly with vulnerable or at-risk children and youth. I would like to thank all who participated for their passion and dedication to improving the safety and well-being of children, youth and families in this province.

Our government is taking immediate action. By March 31, 2019, we will have implemented 16 actions to address urgent needs and lay the foundation for important changes to follow. These include new funding for youth suicide prevention programs and Indigenous-led early intervention and prevention services. We will also fully implement Jordan’s Principle and pilot a new assessment tool for kinship caregivers.

Short-term actions, to be completed by 2020, target specific services and supports to improve the wellbeing of Indigenous communities and peoples. Long-term actions involve work with Indigenous partners to develop local solutions and more responsive, integrated services by 2022. This supports our work to hold the federal government accountable, which will be essential to creating significant, lasting change.

This public action plan addresses all the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention’s final recommendations, and is a decisive step forward for Alberta.

It is our roadmap to a province where all children and youth are supported to reach their full potential, where all Indigenous families can access the supports they need in ways that are reflective and respectful of their culture, and where all Indigenous peoples can access the same levels of support, on- or off-reserve.

Our government will continue to work together with Indigenous leaders and communities, as well as other partners, to implement this public action plan. More information will be shared with you soon through your regular communications channels and updates will be posted at ChildrensServices.alberta.ca.

I am committed to reconciliation and to working with Indigenous partners and child intervention stakeholders to make meaningful, lasting changes to the child intervention system. I look forward to working with you to help create a stronger, safer tomorrow for children, youth and families across Alberta.

Sincerely, Danielle Larivee

See More ALIGN Communications/Initiative Regarding Child Review Panel

ALIGN & Sector News and Updates July 5, 2018

Lots of new information! Save the date for ALIGN AGM, partner with MacEwan for help from students with change management, Correspondence from CA Minister Danielle Larivee to ALIGN E.D. June 28, 2018, Research contract for homelessness in Edmonton and more!

AMHSA Working Alone Online Course

AMHSA Working Alone Online Course
This online course is intended to explain how the occupational health and safety legislation addresses workers who work alone, and offer an effective process for ensuring compliance. It will assist the participant in developing the tools necessary to recognize situations in which workers work alone and the hazards related to those working alone situations.

Better Impact

Arrive Safe and Sound
Tips to Help With Your Nonprofit’s Vehicle Safety Program

ACDS

ACDS Staff Safety Toolkit – Free

This toolkit was developed to build the capacity of organizations around the safety of staff. It includes guiding principles based on current best practices in safety training and a framework for sharing key information. The Toolkit looks at staff safety from the three perspectives, other people, place and self. Developed for use by those responsible for in-house training and supervision, and will address the four key elements of motivation, reinforcement, retention and transference to day to day work. The tools will be designed to encourage frontline staff to take an active and cognitive approach to learning that will enable them to identify potential risks, reconcile, experiences and reflect on the core values needed to be safe and successful in their work. The focus is on providing consistent messaging and the sharing useful strategies and resources. This is a living document.

Click here to watch the video and learn more about the toolkit.

View the Staff Safety Toolkit

GeoPro

GeoPro: A complete work alone safety system.
An all-in-one employee check-in, emergency alerting and monitoring solution

Whether your workforce is 10 or 1000, GeoPro can be quickly deployed to ensure the safety and protection of employees working alone – absolutely anywhere.

Together with your choice of lone worker device or employee safety app for Android or iOS, our hosted emergency app and man down monitoring system is simply the easiest and most effective way to monitor employee well-being and respond to safety concerns. GeoPro helps employers minimize risk and address their duty of care for employees working alone.

Book – Client Violence and Social Worker Safety Prevention, Intervention, and Research by Christina E. Newhill PhD (Author)

Book – Client Violence and Social Worker Safety Prevention, Intervention, and Research by Christina E. Newhill PhD (Author)
Effective methods are described together with specific recommendations for approaching, engaging, and intervening with violent clients in both office and field settings. Skills development exercises and guidelines for developing and implementing an agency safety plan enhance the book’s utility as a training tool and professional resource.

Self Care for Human Services Workers Bulletin June 2018

At ALIGN, we know our members make employee health and safety a priority. To assist with that, we maintain a number of online directories so agency directors and staff can easily access the tools and information they need to address their agency/staffing and or personal needs. This bulletin includes recent additions to our directory.

British Journal of Social Services Levels and Consequences of Exposure to Service User Violence:

Levels and Consequences of Exposure to Service User Violence: Evidence from a Sample of UK Social Care Staff 2011
Workplace violence is a serious occupational hazard for many social care staff. This paper details the results of an investigation into the levels of client violence experienced

Caregiver Self Assessment/Employment Standards Exceptions June 12, 2018

E.D. Rhonda Barraclough
In May, Bruce and I attended a meeting with the Deputy Minister Jeff Parr of Minister of Labour, DM Darlene Bowsema of Children Services , DM Shannon Marchand of Community and Support Services, and some of their senior staff. At that meeting we were told that the Caregivers Regulation will apply in all cases of residential care/24 hour operation and crisis support – like CSD workers or contract foster care agencies with emergent situations. Below is a link to a flow chart that will help make those decisions as to when it is appropriate or not to use this regulation for your staffing models.

AM I A CAREGIVER ? is now available on Alberta Labour Standards Website: Caregivers – Employment Standards Exceptions
There are special provisions to the rules outlined in the Employment Standards Code for home care and residential care employees.

This tool reflects the standards for caregivers that have been in place for several years. These rules were not amended by the Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act and it is my hope that by sharing this tool we may be able to address any confusion going forward. To assist in clarifying their application for employers in your sector, I encourage you to share with your association members and sector colleagues
Lenore Neudorf, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategy and Policy Labour, Government of Alberta June 11, 2018Update Regarding Bill 17 – E.D. Rhonda Barraclough June 7, 2018

See All ALIGN Bill 17 Communications
Bill 17 – Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act

Feedback Session for the Resiliency Framework Calgary June 22, 2018

Feedback Session for the Resiliency Framework (previously named the Prevention and Early Intervention Framework,)
Calgary June 22, 2018 10:00 am – 2:00 pm (lunch will be provided)

In follow up to consultations held in May on the Resiliency Framework, you are invited to attend a session with PolicyWise to provide consultation on the evaluation framework that has been developed to support provincial implementation of the Resiliency Framework. Your feedback will be valuable as we move forward with this initiative. Thank you

Enhancing Prevention and Early Intervention

Supports and services towards prevention and early intervention are equally as important as providing quality child protection services in helping to ensure positive outcomes for children, youth and families. The Ministry continues to work collaboratively with community partners to ensure the delivery of a wide range of effective prevention and early intervention programs and services. In 2016/2017, the Ministry initiated a process to redevelop its Prevention and Early Intervention Framework to The Well-Being and Resiliency Framework, in order to ensure alignment with current and emerging trends, research, and Indigenous worldviews. The redeveloped Framework will support decision-making in the Ministry for funding and service delivery; define key elements of services; communicate how the program provides prevention and early intervention; and, outline a process and criteria for the review and improvement of programs and services. Collaboration with Indigenous partners, community agencies and regional staff is underway to ensure Indigenous ways of knowing, recommendations from the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention and current research are incorporated.

Reaching families early, even as early as pregnancy, is an important element of success in the design of proven prevention programs. The emerging body of research on the science of brain development supports the importance of initiating prevention services early to support parent-child attachment and the social-emotional development of infants and young children. For the greatest success, the Framework will be redeveloped to meet the needs of families at multiple levels – across a continuum of needs. The Framework will continue to be based on a continuum of prevention and early intervention service domains: Child Development and Wellbeing; Caregiver Capacity Building; and, Social Connections and Supports.

To support provincial implementation of the Well-Being and Resiliency Framework, an ongoing monitoring and evaluation plan will be developed to ensure the expected short, medium and long-term outcomes are clearly articulated to be specific, measureable, reasonably achievable, relevant and timely. The monitoring and evaluation plan will include indicators and measures for the continuum of services; processes to measure and report on the outcomes and effectiveness of these programs for Indigenous participants; and, support regular reporting on the achievement of the overarching outcome of helping infants, children and youth be safe and reach their full potential. The redeveloped Framework is expected to be completed in Summer 2018, with implementation to follow in the fall. Given the emerging body of research and literature surrounding the enhancement of well-being and resiliency in families, the Framework is intended to be a ‘living document’, that will live on-line, providing the ability to update information as necessary as part of the implementation and evaluation processes.

ALIGN & Sector News and Updates May 23, 2018

This bulletin includes new OHS training and grants as well as new Trauma 101 Train the Trainer series. It also includes links to our membership presentations on Bill 30 and Caseload Trends and more!

Bill 30 Presentation: OHS Act Changes

For those of you unable to attend, here is a copy of the PowerPoint presentation on Bill 30: Act to Protect the Health and Well-being of Working Albertans OHS Act Changes presented by the Ministry of Labor at our annual membership meeting May 4, 201

The Indigenous Thought Leaders Series 2017/2018 Video’s Now Available!

The Indigenous Thought Leaders Series is intended to Enhance Indigenous Innovations and Relationships in Child Intervention Service Delivery.
Selected Elders, advisers, and service providers share Indigenous teachings and current practices in work with Indigenous children, families, and individuals. The presentations showcase specific culturally-based approaches to practice and ceremony with indigenous service users. The individual presentations include teachings from highly respected elders and knowledge keepers in Alberta. Various Alberta-based programs providing culturally appropriate and effective services are highlighted. The presentations give the viewer the opportunity to explore how they can utilize the guidelines and principles in policy development and service delivery.

See Additional Indigenous Protocol Process Video’s

Disclaimer:
Unless otherwise indicated, copyright in these oral history presentations are held by the presenters. You may download this content for your personal or non-commercial use but only in an unaltered form, with the copyright acknowledged and citing the name of the presenter, the date of the presentation and citing ALIGN Indigenous Thought Leaders Day Series. Anyone wishing to make this content accessible through their web site is encouraged to link to the required content on this site. ALIGN Association of Community Services reserves the right to revoke this permission at any time. Permission is not given for any commercial use or sale of this material. It is further understood that no copies of the vidoes may be made and nothing can be used from them in any published form without permission of the original source

Indigenous Protocol Process Video’s

The following video’s are part of the Indigenous Thought Leaders Series.

Selected Elders, advisers, and service providers shared Indigenous teachings and current practices in work with Indigenous children, families, and individuals. These informative protocol videos showcase specific culturally-based approaches to practice and ceremony with indigenous service users. The individual presentations include teachings from highly respected elders and knowledge keepers in Alberta.

See additional Presentation Video’s from The Indigenous Thought Leaders Series

Memo to ALIGN Membership Re: Occupational Health and Safety Grant

Memo to ALIGN Membership Re: Occupational Health and Safety Grant

ALIGN has some good news to share with our member agencies. We were successful in obtaining a 2018 Occupational Health and Safety Innovation and Engagement Grant in partnership with the Alberta Association for Safety Partnerships (AASP) from the Ministry of Labour to provide free training to representatives of member agencies who are interested in developing and implementing a formal Health and Safety Management System.

With the many changes brought about by Bill 17 in January 2018, and the amendments coming to the Occupational Health and Safety Act on June 1, 2018 through Bill 30: An Act to Protect the Health and Well-being of Working Albertans; agencies will have had many new things to learn and become educated in as well as continuing to do the necessary every day work of supporting Alberta’s most vulnerable children and families.

Learn more about our partners and what this means to your agency: Read full ALIGN OHS Training Grant Memo Spring 2018 pdf

Training is intended for member agency directors, supervisors or OHS representatives involved in applying the new OHS Act. It will be offered in Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary and Lethbridge. Training will consist of three full days that build on each other with assignments in between, commencing in June 2018 with the second day in September 2018 and third one in the November/ December 2018. A fourth day for overview and review will be provided early in 2019. Dates to be determined. A strong commitment to attending all the training sessions is needed; training will be free and manuals supplied, individuals will be provided the support they need to be successful.

Once the training is completed and the agency has successfully developed and implemented a health and safety program that meets provincial standards, they will be in a position to apply for a Certificate of Recognition (COR) or a Small Employer COR (SECOR). The COR certifies that the employer’s health and safety management system has been evaluated by a certified auditor and met the requirements as per the provincial standards. Certificates are issued by Alberta Labour and are co-signed by Alberta Association for Safety Partnerships (AASP). Achieving and maintaining a valid COR is required for earning a financial incentive through the WCB Partnerships in Injury Reduction Program.

Registration will be on a first come first serve basis and will be available middle of May – please check the ALIGN training page after May 15th for dates and locations . Only one individual per agency (OHS rep) will be accepted into the program as class size is limited. Larger agencies may place a second person on a wait list. If you have any questions please contact Cathy Mitchell at cathym@alignab.ca

Related Resources

Workforce & OHS Initiatives
Alberta Association for Safety Partnerships(AASP) as a Certifying Partner (Road Map To COR).
Bill 17 – Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act
Bill 30 Occupational Health and Safety Act
Foundations of Caregiver Support (FCS)
Healthy Workplace, Wellness and Safety in the Child and Family Services Sector
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
National Standard Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace – COR/WCB
Workforce Alliance: Cross Association Workforce Survey

ALIGN Meeting CI Review Panel Feedback for Prevention & Early Intervention Framework

We have been invited to provide feedback to the revisions and update of the Prevention and Early Intervention Framework. We recognize the short notice of these meetings however it is unavoidable if we want to have the opportunity to provide feedback prior to the completion deadline of June 2018. Take the opportunity to have a say:

Prevention and Early Intervention Framework
Edmonton – May 24,2018
10:00 am – 12:00pm
ALIGN Association
#250,8330-82 Avenue,Edmonton
Registration Link

Prevention and Early Intervention Framework
Calgary -May 29, 2018
10:00 am-12:00 pm
Hull Services
2266 Woodpark Avenue SW,Calgary
Registration Link

Jon Reeves Presentation on Family Service Caseload Trends 2015-16 to 2017-18

Child and Family Service (CFS) Regions Caseload Trends 1015-16 to 2017-18 presentation by Jon Reeves, Executive Director – Child Intervention – Southern Alberta May 2018 at the ALIGN Membership Meeting.

ALIGN Meetings – Feedback Session for CI Ministerial Panel Recommendation #7,9,11, Calgary May 7, 2018

We have been invited to provide feedback to the Child intervention Ministerial Panel Recommendations #7,#9,#11. Several types of opportunities are being presented to organizations across the province to have input into the action plan for these recommendations. We recognize the short notice of these meetings however it is unavoidable if we want to have the opportunity to provide feedback prior to the action plan completion deadline of June 2018. Take the opportunity to have a say;These session are gather feedback for the following recommendations;

CI Ministerial Panel Recommendation #7,9,11.
Calgary May 7, 2018
1:00 pm-3:00 pm
Mahmawi-Atoskiwin
2323-32 Ave NE,Calgary
Registration Link

CI Ministerial Panel Recommendation #7,9,11.
Edmonton May 8,2018
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Ellerslie Rugby Park
11004 Ellerslie Road, Edmonton
Registration Link

#7. Work with Indigenous communities historic trauma healing services, which include access to ceremony and cultural healing.

#9. Mental health and addiction services culturally appropriate, accessible services for children, youth and families in the child intervention system, with a focus on expanding access (including for Albertans living in remote communities, rural areas, on- and off-reserve) to preventative mental health and addictions services and treatment, including secure services. The Government of Alberta should prioritize implementation of recommendations of the Valuing Mental Health report to improve services for children and families before, during and after their involvement in the child intervention system.

#11.Improve transitional supports for youth in care to adult supports,ans post secondary opportunities that will help them succeed in life. this would expand supports already in place.

Prevention and Early Intervention Framework

Nicole McFadyen ALIGN –Nicolem@alignab.ca

View All Correspondence Regarding ALIGN & Child Review Panel

ALIGN & Sector News and Updates April 23, 2018

Sector news and initiatives relevant to human service organizations serving children, youth and families in Alberta including invitation to Child Review Panel Engagement Meetings, Bill 17 Update, Conference Bursaries, New Training and More!

Letter from ALIGN E.D. Regarding Bill 17 Update April 16, 2018

Hi all,

We have not provided an update since March and feel it necessary to do so. We were fairly optimistic that we had an agreement with the Ministry of Labour as to how to provide some flexibility for the 24/7 operations and the crisis driven intervention work. Under Bill 17 if the agencies are to work as defined in the legislation it would decrease the ability for staff to flex their time and the agencies would have to put restrictions on work schedules due to the overtime costs, and that is not in the best interest of the families those agencies are contracted to serve. At this time our optimism is waning.

We have been waiting for a response from the Ministry of Labour (since March) and to date we have not received one. The staff has been changed there as well so it is frustrating to figure out who is doing what. Our partners in the Ministry of Children Services are just as frustrated.

We recognize that this delay is likely increasing your overtime costs or alternatively decreasing service. We also remind you that there have been no variances or regulation changes made therefore by the letter of the law you should be complying with what it says. If this is creating a hardship to your agency or your families, we encourage you to speak with your contract managers and us. Send us a note as we are sending the example to the Ministry of CS and Labour so they are aware of the challenges.

Bruce and I are I meeting with the Deputy Minister to speak with her about this issue.

I terms of funding. We are trying to figure out what the budget has to offer agencies and for what. This will take some time.

In order to assess and advocate accurately we will be sending out a request for further information with respect to the impacts of Bill 17. WE STRONGLY URGE YOU TO RESPOND. We will be asking – what is your cost of statutory pay this year over last year for the first quarter of the year? What is your actual cost of overtime last year and this year for the first quarter? Did you have any increases in your contract? Did you discuss the added costs of Bill 17 with your contract manager? If so, what was the outcome of that discussion?

It is really important that you send us the information we are asking for. It is difficult to discuss these issues without real information and numbers, as we are constantly asked for them.

If you have any questions please email me Rhondab@alignab.ca or call 780 233.5459

See Previous Related Correspondence

ALIGN Members Staffing Model Survey Deadline April 30, 2018

Good afternoon Everyone,

Thank you very much to those who responded , we appreciate your quick respond, Those who has not responded yet, please do so. ALIGN needs the information ASAP. ALIGN’s responsibility is to advocate for our membership. In order to be able to speak on your behalf we need the complete picture and have specific information from you. We are asking member agencies who have group care contracts with Children Services questions regarding their staffing models. Surveying our membership for the information will be the quickest and most accurate means of getting the information we need in preparation for Bill 30. Please take a moment to complete an email with your answers and send back to Cathy Mitchell at cathym@alignab.ca by April 13, 2017 who will then complete a summary roll for ALIGN to use in their discussions. If you have any questions please call Cathy at 780 915 7156.

What type of agency and population served?

How many group care facilities does your agency have contracted with Children Services?

If your agency is a large facility, how many units have differing staffing models. Please describe.

Of your facilities, how many have a single staffing model for any portion of the day?

For those that have a single staffing model, is it overnight only or other shifts as well?

If more, please describe. In your assessment; how many of these single staffing models provide services to youth that could potentially pose a risk to staff?

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions as in as much detail and as accurately as you can so we can advocate on your behalf with a clear picture of the situation.

Sincerely, Rhonda Barraclough Executive Director

See More on ALIGN and Bill 30

Important: Child Review Panel Community Engagement Invitation April 11, 2018

Invitation from Darlene Bouwsema Deputy Minister Children’s Services to Community Engagement Meetings on Public Action Plan Regarding the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention Recommendations

In March 2018, the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention (MPCI) delivered 26 strong, consensus-based recommendations to strengthen the child intervention system. Government is taking action on the Panel recommendations to improve supports for vulnerable children and families. The panel recommended that Children’s Services engage with Indigenous people and other stakeholders as a part of co-creating a public action plan and reviewing the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (CYFEA). This is one of many steps to implement the recommendations alongside Indigenous families, communities and leaders, and other vested partners. Engagement will produce a detailed, measurable public action plan by June 30, 2018.

I would like to invite you, or a representative from your organization, to participate in the Community Engagement Meetings. Four sessions will be held across the province:

Calgary April 25, 2018 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Coast Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre 1316 – 33 Street NE

Lethbridge April 26, 2018 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sandman Hotel Lethbridge 421 Mayor Magrath Drive S

Edmonton April 30, 2018 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Coast Edmonton Plaza 10155 – 105 Street

Grande Prairie May 8, 2018 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Pomeroy Hotel 11633 – 100 Street

Each session will have discussion tables focusing on the following themes:

Reconciliation
Recommendations 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 23
Support Families and Communities
Recommendations 8, 9 and 10
Sustain Cultural Connections
Recommendations 11, 12 and 13
Utilize the Strengths of Family Systems and Kinship Care Recommendations 14, 15, 16 and 17
Support a Strong, Stable Workforce
Recommendations 18, 19 and 22
Combatting Discriminatory Mindsets
Recommendation 20
The Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act Review
Recommendation 21
Knowledge Mobilization – Research and Data
Recommendations 24, 25 and 26

Please register online and select your preferred location and theme. If you have any questions, please email Aimee Caster, Engagement Specialist at CS.actionplan@gov.ab.ca.

Sincerely, Darlene Bouwsema Deputy Minister
Children’s Services, Government of Alberta T. 780-918-0079. aimee.caster@gov.ab.ca

View All Correspondence, News & Updates for ALIGN & Child Review Panel

ALIGN Association of Community Services will be having their Membership General Meeting May 4, 2018

ALIGN Association of Community Services will be having their Membership General Meeting May 4, 2018 10-4pm

Radisson Red Deer 6500 67 St, Red Deer, AB T4P 1A2

We look forward to having representatives of the Ministry of Children Services to join us

Jon Reeves- Provincial Director, Child Intervention Delivery

Rae-Ann Lajeunesse – ADM Child Intervention

Mark Hatorri – ADM Family and Community Resilience

Please register using the following link:

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3391940

Danielle Larivee CS Minister Correspondence Re: Post Budget Teleconference

Correspondence to ALIGN from Danielle Larivee CS Minister April 4, 2018

Thank you to everyone who joined our post-budget teleconference. For those of you who couldn’t make it, I’m pleased to be able to provide the following summary of the conversation. You can also access and audio recording of my remarks by clicking here.

Children’s Services first year as a standalone ministry was filled with challenging, exciting work and I am very proud of what we have been able to achieve. Budget 2018 supports our ongoing focus to improve the lives of young people and their families. Every child, regardless of whose care they are in, deserves to grow up in a safe, loving, nurturing environment.

In Alberta, we continue to see significant growth in the number of children and youth, which directly impacts many of the frontline services and supports Children’s Services provides to children and families. Our government is committed to protecting vital supports for children, youth and families by investing in frontline services to ensure they have opportunities to thrive and reach their full potential.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to share details on investments our government is committing to Children’s Services in Budget 2018.

Budget 2018 makes an additional investment of $144 million for total funding of $1.35 billion in Children’s Services. In most cases funding increases are targeted to address caseload and the greater complexity of needs presented by the children and families we support…

Read Full Letter Danielle Larivee CS Minister Correspondence Re Budget 2018 sent April 4 2018

Letter from Danielle Larivee Minister Re: Child Review Panel March 2018

Letter from Danielle Larivee Minister March 2018

Dear Ms. Barraclough:

The Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention has delivered its final recommendations to help strengthen our Child Intervention system and improve the lives of children, youth and families across Alberta.
Over the past year, the Panel engaged in an unprecedented open, transparent engagement with stakeholders, families, communities, and Indigenous peoples.

Thank you for presenting to the Panel on behalf of ALIGN on June 14 and 15, 2017. Your input helped shape the Panel’s final recommendations, including those focused on reconciliation, sustaining cultural connections and better supporting families and communities. In doing so, you have helped create a brighter future for children and youth receiving Child Intervention services.

I look forward to reviewing these strong, consensus-based recommendations, which are available online at http://www.alberta.ca/child-intervention-panel.aspx

Our government will continue working with families and communities, valued partners like ALIGN, and most importantly with First Nations and other Indigenous peoples to co-create a public action plan that puts these recommendations into practice. This plan will be released in June.
Thank you again for presenting to the Panel and helping support vulnerable children and families across Alberta.

Sincerely,
Danielle Larivee
Minister

See More on ALIGN & Child Review Panel

Volunteer Appreciation Bulletin March 2018

This bulletin is full of great resources, tools, funding, appreciation gift ideas and more!

National Volunteer Week 2018
April 15 – 21, 2018
“Celebrate the Value of Volunteering – building confidence, competence, connections and community”.

Bill 30 Occupational Health and Safety Act: Help shape Alberta’s New Workplace Rules

The Occupational Health and Safety Act (the act) establishes the minimum standards for healthy and safe workplaces in Alberta. These laws are supported through the internal responsibility system and enforced through compliance activities. An Act to Protect the Health and Well-being of Working Albertans updates the act to better protect Albertans at work. Most of the changes come into effect June 1, 2018.The new Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act takes steps to protect workers from harassment and violence in all its forms. It also requires joint work site health and safety committees or a worker health and safety representative, depending on workforce size. The input will help shape specific rules around these new requirements to ensure the legislation is fair and balanced.

ALIGN will be completing the survey – if member agencies have any questions please email cathym@alignab.ca
Albertans can provide written submissions until April 9, 2018. Specific rules regarding harassment and violence, as well as training and operation of the joint work site health and safety committees, will be added to OHS regulations on June 1.

Correspondence to ALIGN E.D. from Alberta Labour re Bill 30 March 2018

Dear Rhonda Barraclough,

Last year the Government of Albertatook an important step in improvingthe health and safety of workingAlbertans by modernizing the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act) and aligning Alberta’s approach to workplace safety with that of other Canadian jurisdictions. With valuable input from a wide range of industry and labour stakeholders, as well as ordinary Albertans, the new Act comes into force on June 1, 2018.

The new Act contains provisions on harassment and violence, and requires that many Albertan work sites have a joint work site health andsafety committee or a health andsafety representative. Thesechanges better reflect the way that Albertans work, as well as the hazards that they face on the job. They also bring to our province the best practices and requirements for health and safety from the rest of Canada; however, regulatory changes are needed to give full effect to these new provisions.

You/your organization is invited to provide written feedback on proposed regulation (see attachment) for workplace harassment and violence, as well as for the establishment, functions, and training for joint work site health and safety committees and health and safety representatives.

This Discussion Guide with proposed content is available here. You may also view the Discussion Guide at Labour website. Please fill out the questions in the attached guide and email to lbr.review@gov.ab.ca by April 9, 2018.

Your input will help to ensure that Alberta’s OHS legislation is clear, comprehensive, and meaningful. Thank you in advance for participating and helping to make Alberta the best place to live and work in Canada.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Lenore Neudorf Assistant Deputy Minister Strategy and Policy Alberta Labour

ALIGN Compensation Resource Bulletin: Salaries, Wages, Benefits in the Human Service Sector March 2018

Learn more about available tools and resources related to compensation in the nonprofit and or human service sector. This bulletin includes links to executive, employee and consulting resources including salary and benefit surveys and research, calculators, tools and resources related to best practices.

ALIGN Self-Care and Safety for Front-Line Workers Resource Bulletin March 8, 2018

SELF CARE AND SAFETY FOR FRONT-LINE WORKERS March 8, 2018
This resource bulletin includes tools, resources and training to support front-line workers safety and mental health. If you are a supervisor – these resources can assist you in supporting your staff and if you are front-line worker you can access valuable resources that can help you stay safe. Please share with others who may benefit from this resource collection.

Letter from ALIGN E.D. Regarding Bill 17 Update March 5, 2018

Bill 17 – update

Hi all,

We met again with the Ministry of Labor folks and are on a slightly altered path. For all the residential programs, they have agreed that everyone fits under the Caregivers regulation. As many of you had pointed out this is what people were using prior to the legislation changes. I have asked that the Ministry write that clearly within the employment standards fact sheets or in some other clear way.

For the outreach/crisis driven work the primary rationale for the changes would be to allow the sector to respond appropriately to emergency/crisis situations that fall outside of the predictable work day. The following proposal is to amend the Employment Standards Regulation to:

define a category of employment in relation to the provision of “individual and family support services” as funded by the Ministries of Children Services and Community and Social Services in relation to fulfilling requirements of program –specific legislation (legislation to be identified e.g. Family Support for Children’s with Disabilities Act);
Establish a daily overtime threshold of 12 hours in a day;
Propose of 176 hours in a 4 week period before overtime entitlements are calculated; and
Provide an exemption from requirements of the Code around “notice of work times” including notification of schedule changes (section 17 of the Code) to enable scheduling of work within parameters approved by the employer (this supports the ability for employers and employees to structure work schedules suited to the clients/families they are providing care to

Note that:

The employer will need to keep records of when staff do work
No special rules are proposed for general holidays.
No special rules are proposed for averaging agreements since the changes above will have the effect of allowing employers and employees to manage their hours of work within the month (in effect allowing averaging).

The proposal of a 176 hour threshold for determining overtime entitlements over a four week period better aligns with the 44 hour per week threshold in place for most employers in other industries

There are some expectations of who has to support this direction and we need to get those in writing. Once that has been completed then there is a formal approval cycle that this request has to go through.

Again if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Rhonda Barraclough ALIGN Association E.D.
RhondaB@alignab.ca

See Previous Correspondence Related to Bill 17

Letter From ALIGN E.D. To Members Re: Bill 17 Feb. 26, 2018

Feb. 26, 2018 Letter From ALIGN E.D. To Members Re: Bill 17

Executive Directors:

Bruce and I have been working away with the Ministry of Labor to address some of the urgent needs of the sector as a result of Bill 17. Essentially there needs to be a variance or regulation change in order for the 24/7 operations and the crisis/ flexible family intervention driven services to be able to manage within legal work agreements.

We have come to a place now where we need to have a letter of support from the Association. The Board of Directors have been briefed and are in support of a letter written on behalf of ALIGN to go forward to continue this work. It essentially will support the following:

The variance or regulation will create a category of employees defined as those funded by the Ministries of Children’s Services or Community and Social Services to deliver individual and family support services in relation to the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act, Family Support for Children with Disabilities Act, and the Persons for Developmental Disabilities Act. ( this includes residential/group care; specialized services; family intervention and therapeutic crisis type workers);
Establish a daily overtime threshold of 12 hours per day and 184 hours in a four week (no weekly threshold) for this group and exempt those from the requirements of Section 17 of the ES Code (Notice of Work Times) The exemption from Section 17 will allow employees to schedule their own hours within the work month with employer approval. A work month means a calendar month or a period of time from a specific day in a month to the same day in the following month as established by the consistent practice of the employer. (This is inclusive of those job categories above. It provides for flexible scheduling and for 24/7 day week operation. Please note this replaces any other regulation you may have been working with prior like the caregivers regulation. It is different but essentially makes similar hours of work possible)

Once support for these 2 areas is received from the Associations and the unions. Then the Ministry of Labor will move forward to the Minister to ask for a variance or regulation for our sector. Once that is agreed to there will need to be some work on employee engagement and agreement. How that is to be done is still not determined.

If you have any questions or concerns about this please let us know as soon as possible. The letter going forward will be written and sent by the end of this week.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Barraclough Executive Director RhondaB@alignab.ca 780.233.5459 9 cell

See More Communications from ALIGN regarding Bill 17

ALIGN Child Intervention Resource Bulletin February 2018

This bulletin includes new resources, news and updates related to Family Finding, Government of Alberta Child Review Panel and Child Intervention Fact Sheets as well as national news and updates related to child welfare and intervention.

ALIGN E.D. re: Bill 17 February 12, 2018 Correspondence with Premier

February 12, 2018 Correspondence Letter From ALIGN E.D. re: Bill 17

Dear members,

By now you are aware that we have been advocating in support of the impacts of Bill 17. I want to give just a quick update.
We have been working in 2 areas:

1. Financially- we have been advocating that there needs to be increases in contracts for, at the very least, the holiday/vacation pay increases that agencies have to incur as a result of the new legislation. We have shown both Ministries (CS & CSS) a sampling of the costs from those of you that sent them in. We have also shown the costs of overtime as they stood in December. Many of you have probably rearranged your staffing models and worked with your staff to manage the costs associated in this area. We have made it very clear that in those areas where overtime is not avoidable the costs are extremely high.

2. Variance or regulation changes to Bill 17 – In order to make changes we have to show that there is a business driver for change and then be able to make a case for that change along with some solutions about how to make it. The government made it clear that any variance/regulation would need to be sought out by the Association on behalf of the agencies or by agencies themselves. They preferred that we do it collectively. As a result ALIGN and ACDS are working together to achieve one or the other.

We have made a business case that we need a variance/regulation change that covers the crisis nature of the work and the 24/7 operations (group homes, crisis nursery, family support workers, specialized 1:1 workers as examples). We have made a suggestion that a regulation or variance similar to the section 9 caregiver regulation that health currently has would be helpful. In principle there is agreement. We are awaiting a draft.

We are also seeking a definition of scheduled work – as we have explained why having a schedule is not how many service delivery sites providing service to families/ individuals when and where they need it. You can then develop your work site agreements based on this.

The other area we still need direction on is the live-in 24-hour shifts. We are asking about them and if they can be accommodated in this regulation/variance.

Currently the Caregivers Regulation for overtime is hours over 12 in a day and 264 in a month. We are currently looking at overtime pay on hours over 12 in a day and between 184 and 200 (still to be determined) in a one month period, labor will not allow us to go to 264. Most group homes currently work on a 12 week schedule. Knowing the maximum hours your residential/group care staff work in a month would be helpful. Concurrently we need to know know
which agencies have a Union and in their collective agreement what are the hours where overtime is paid.

What comes next is figuring out how we get general consensus from the staff. We need to have majority support. Which means that you as executive directors will need to talk to your staff once we have something for you to view and think about, then quickly talk with them, and somehow ( yet to be determined) we need to have assurance that staff are in agreement.

As we work with the Ministry of Labor and Ministries of Children Services and Community & Support Services, we have also written to the Minister of Finance and the Premier outlining the concerns with the legislation and the need for funding to cover these costs
.

Also view ALIGN Letter to Premier Re Bill 17 February 6, 2018
This is ongoing work. I will update you as we make progress and when we need you to take some action.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me RhondaB@alignab.ca or call 780 233 5459.

Rhonda Barraclough

See More Re: ALIGN and Bill 17

ALIGN Letter to Premier Re Bill 17 February 2018

Dear Premier Notley:

RE: Bill 17, Fair and Family-friendly Workplace Act and the human services sector

ALIGN Association of Community Services ( formerly AASCF) is a membership organization of agencies that contract to government through the Ministries of Children Services and Community and Support Services to provide services to vulnerable individuals, families and children involved within the human services sector. Bill 17 certainly is a renewed and revised standard for employers and for the most part truly is progressive.

We do want to draw to your attention that for agencies that provide contracted services (i.e. 24/7 services in residential care, 1:1 specialized services for high needs individuals; and for the family support workers who provide crisis work) this Legislation is prohibitive to their staff and we require variances to have staff available for those vulnerable Albertans. Hours of work averaging agreements are problematic as they require schedules that the employee must work and in the crisis driven nature of the work that is not feasible. We will be asking for variance in this to accommodate that time and to decrease the burden of overtime. We are currently working with the Ministry of Labour and the Ministries of Community Support Services and Children Services to see if we can get that variance. The reason this is important is because many people choose this line of work because it has been very flexible and fits with their family life, the restrictions in the legislation makes that more difficult for this helping profession as the agencies no longer can afford to accommodate staff in way they have before.

Unfortunately there was no consultation with the sector before the legislation was passed. As a result, it would be very helpful if there was a way to get an exemption to this part of the legislation now for 6 months while we work on the variances necessary so agencies are not outside of the law or having to pay huge amounts of funds in overtime to be compliant. As the legislation is written, the Ministries are not able to ask for the variances so it has been determined that the Associations (ALIGN and Alberta Council of Disabilities Services) must work towards these. This is not an easy task as we were not aware of these changes and challenges prior to January 1, 2018. We are only barely able to accommodate this work as there are many outstanding questions that the government needs to answer as we move forward. None of this is fast work and therefore the agencies are not in compliance. ALIGN Letter to Premier Re Bill 17 February 2018

See More On ALIGN and BILL 17 Here

ALIGN Recruitment & Retention Bulletin February 2018

At ALIGN Association, we understand the challenges that our member agencies face with recruiting and retaining new employees and volunteers and the value of finding the right people. Equally as important is investing in creative, effective ways to keep them! This bulletin includes useful resources, funding options and upcoming training opportunities related to recruitment and retention.

Family Finding Recommended Resources January 2018

Recommended Resources following ALIGN Family Finding Presentation Edmonton Jan 2018

Center on the Developing Child Harvard University
Toxic Stress Effects on the body
Applying Brain Science to Child Welfare
The Science of Resilience
Tipping the Scales: The Resilience Game

AAPPublications/Pediatrics
Turney K and Wildeman C. Mental and Physical Health of Children in Foster Care. Pediatrics. 2016;138(5): e20161118
Mental and Physical Health of Children in Foster Care Kristin Turney, Christopher Wildeman November 2016, VOLUME 138 / ISSUE 5

On Being
How Trauma and Resilience Cross Generations Rachel Yehuda

Campbell Collaboration
The health and well-being of children placed in kinship care is better than that of children in foster care 2016

American Academy of Pediatrics
Unique Needs of Children in Kinship Care

Videos

Behavioral Epigenetics
Moshe Szyf gives a keynote presentation on behavioral epigenetics during the opening conference of the research group “Genetic and Social Causes of Life Chances

The Body Keeps the Score
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s leading experts on developmental trauma, explains how our long-term health and happiness can be compromised by prior exposure to violence, emotional abuse, and other forms of traumatic stress.

Gathering Wisdom for a Shared Journey VIII Keynote Presentation – Terry Cross
Terry Cross – Founder of the National Indian Child Welfare Association now serving as senior advisor. He is the author of Positive Indian Parenting and co-authored Towards a Culturally Competent System of Care, published by Georgetown University. He has 40 years of experience in child welfare, including 10 years direct practice.

Social and Behavioral Determinants of Toxic Stress
David Williams of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health looks at the social and behavioral factors–including socioeconomic status, race, discrimination, and place–that play a role in triggering toxic stress for children and adults. He also discusses what effective solutions for reducing toxic stress and improving health

Gabor Mate: Attachment, Disease, and Addiction
Jack Shonkoff Harvard University Leveraging the biology of Adversity to Strengthen the Foundations of Healthy Development
Bruce McEwen Rockefeller University The Brain an Body on Stress
Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Health Across the Life Course—Core Story: The ACE Study

See More Family Finding

ALIGN Updates on Bill 17

ALIGN E.D. Rhonda Barraclough – Communication With Rae-ann Lajeun January 16, 2018

ALIGN Impacts of Bill 17 Jan 2018 – revised-1 known and anticipated impacts for Child and Family Service agencies

. As we discussed before most folks are in agreement that the Bill makes sense and is good for Albertans generally, but there has been some unintended consequences for our sector. There are some questions in this document that hopefully Labor can answer. I have to say I keep hearing that people call one time and get and answer then call again for clarity and get a different answer so it has been extremely frustrating. If they can provide answers to some of these questions it would be helpful.

To answer your earlier questions

We have not heard issues with minimum wage – I have only heard from woods homes as its an issue for their driving program. We will have compression issues down the road but hopefully by then contracts will have added compensation. This is also not the case for disability services, they do have minimum wage concerns.
The averaging agreements really don’t help with the overtime debt. Because the agreements require a schedule and in Family Support there is no schedules or they cannot be open/broad enough and in a 24/7operation it will remain a need. Therefore there needs to be compensation in the contracts some how, it is our hope that Children Services is figuring this into the budget and renewals of contracts:
Compensation for holiday pay needs to be added to the contracts as there is no way to avoid those costs and the agencies don’t have it in their current contracts and that I will send examples separately.

Thanks for helping to make this a workable solution. We look forward to our meeting on Thursday.

See More ALIGN Communications related to Bill 17

Upcoming Grants, Award and Bursaries Bulletin January 2018

At ALIGN Association we know how valuable our member’s time is, and one way ALIGN can help is by keeping agencies informed of all of the upcoming funding opportunities available.

View over 70 grant, bursary and award descriptions and deadlines for 2018 relevant to Alberta child, youth and family servicing agencies.

ALIGN & Sector News and Updates January 10, 2018

Well in a blink of an eye it’s 2018 and almost time for our 10th Annual Conference – we hope to see you there! This bulletin includes a recent announcement form ALIGN E.D. Rhonda Barraclough regarding members input for Bill 17 as well as some new and upcoming ALIGN training events and more!

Bill 17 Update and Request for Member Input from ALIGN E.D. Rhonda Barraclough January 5, 2018

Bill 17 Update and Request for Member Input from ALIGN E.D. Rhonda Barraclough January 5, 2018

Happy New Year. As you can see by the note below Bruce and I will be meeting with the Ministry of Children Services and Ministry of ‘Labor on January 18^th. I have been asked to capture any and all details that are at issue to forward them in advance to the Ministry of Labor. As you can see by Rae- Ann’s note I have already made some suggestions early. Can you please respond to me by the end of next week,
January 12 if you have any points to make about the following. Please note this is relating to Children Services not FSCD. If you are an FSCD agency please send your information along as well and I will send it on to that ministry as I have been talking to them as well. Especially the minimum wage issues.Thank you everyone for your patience. We are trying to work diligently with the different Ministries to resolve some of the issues and possibly get some funding into the system to address the OT issues. I need as clear information as possible and within this next week. P{lease send your comments to my email at RhondaB@alignab.ca

As mentioned before the break, we have arranged for a meeting on January 18^th from 11:00-12:00, 12^th floor boardroom at Sterling Place; a couple of the staff from Alberta Labour who were involved in the drafting of Bill 17 will be at the meeting and our hope is that they will be able to answer any of the outstanding questions. This meeting will also be an opportunity to highlight other potential solutions that may address some of the concerns raised by your agencies.

Before then, though, we are also trying to quantify the dollar impacts of recent government policy changes, and have 2 requests along those lines that I am hoping you might be able to provide us some clarifying info on, before the end of next week if possible (recognizing you are on holidays!):

1) I am wondering if you are able to confirm the total OT impacts with new averaging provisions for your agencies. I know you provided us with an analysis several weeks ago, but this was before the new provisions were known and I wasn’t sure if the document you provided me was the total for all of your agencies, or a sampling of them. Although you indicated that the new provisions don’t address some of the concerns you have, it wasn’t clear if they indeed give your agencies any relief from the OT impacts.

I am mindful that the full impact will not be known until there is a more in-depth conversation with Alberta Labour regarding the family support and outreach workers but we would appreciate any analysis you can do on this in the meantime.

2) We would also appreciate confirmation that the minimum wage expectations set out in Bill 17 will not create additional pressure for your agencies. I know you said this was not a significant concern, but if there are anticipated impacts that you feel you want to clarify, this will be helpful for us.

Finally, in order for the staff from Alberta Labour to be prepared for this meeting, I will provide them with a recap of the impacts/suggestions previously identified by ALIGN – recap below.

Currently for Health there is a coordinated homecare regulation that allows flexibility for staff who work in home and have to be available for their clients. If this type of regulation could include Children Services so family support/ outreach workers could be considered like homecare workers then that would alleviate the flexible schedule and what will become a decrease of services for families because under the Bill 17 rules, agencies will not be able to meet all family needs if they go over the allocated hours allowed to be worked.

One agency is doing the following: I’ve given my CSD staff a daily window to work within and flex their time accordingly. For example they can work anywhere between 8 am and 8 pm (the schedule) but not exceed the labor standards of 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and 144 hours over a 4 week period. This still limits the family when they may truly need the staff but it’s what the agency can do. The risk is the family doesn’t get what they need. The actual hours are set between the staff and the families/individual, they are not on a fixed schedule as we can’t dictate when the families are available. We work with many families/individuals who cannot meet during regular business hours.

Under Bill 17 there is a section 74 that allows for schedules and agreements. Possibly ALIGN as an association could get a variance for group care/ 24 hour operations. What is not clear is what if you are not a member of ALIGN, how does that actually work?
The costs of the statutory holidays are also quite significant. All wage employees, regardless if they work or normally would have worked on the Stat are eligible for a cash payment after each Stat holiday; the cash payment is 5% of their earnings in the four weeks prior to the Stat. Many agencies have casual or part time employees who did not receive this before and this is significant for some agencies.

If there are additional items that should brought to the attention of Alberta Labour prior to the meeting, please drop me a line and we will forward the information

See All Correspondence Regarding ALIGN and Bill 17

Summer Temporary Employment Program (STEP) Deadline February 9, 2018.

STEP is a 4 – 16 week wage subsidy program that provides funding to eligible Alberta employers to hire high school or post-secondary students into summer jobs from May to August. Summer positions created through STEP provide students with the opportunity to build meaningful work experience, increase their skills and workplace insight and help prepare them for the future.

A standardized wage subsidy of $7.00/hour to a maximum of 37.5 hours/week will be provided to approved applicants.

As of January 4, 2018 STEP is now accepting applications for 2018. The application deadline is February 9, 2018.

Bill 17 Update from ALIGN E.D. Rhonda Barraclough December 20, 2017

Bill 17 Update from ALIGN E.D. Rhonda Barraclough December 20, 2017

Dear ALIGN Members

Please review the information (see below) I received this morning (Dec 20, 2017) regarding Bill 17.

Please send me your comments regarding any implication you see so that I can provide that information directly to the Ministry.

Rhonda Barraclough, ALIGN Association E.D.
rhondab@alignab.ca

INFORMATION PERTAINING TO BILL 17 DECEMBER 20, 2017

As discussed, the Bill 17 draft regulations have been modified to include flexible work week provisions; hours of work can now be extended up to a maximum of two weeks. Below is an example for your reference:

Example: Flexible Averaging Agreement – 10 hour daily overtime threshold, 2 week averaging period

In this example, the daily overtime threshold specified in the agreement is 10 hours per work day.

Scheduling Requirements:

ü No more than 12 hours per day is scheduled and no more than an average of 44 hours per week is scheduled.

ü All work days and the number of hours to be worked on each of those work days are identified in the schedule.

Overtime Requirements:|

ü If the employee is asked or chooses to work longer daily hours, daily overtime could be payable where hours of work exceed 10 per work day.

ü If the employee is asked or chooses to work more hours in the averaging period, averaging period overtime could be payable at the end of the averaging period for hours in excess of an average of 44 hours.


	Sun.	Mon.	Tues.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.	Weekly Hours	Average/week over cycle
Week 1	0	10	10	10	10	8	0	48
Week 2	0	6	6	8	8	8	0	36	44

I hope this info is useful for you to share with the agencies in order for them to recalculate the OT impacts with new averaging provisions. We would appreciate receiving this information as soon as realistically possible as we hope that the new flexibility will address some of the earlier concerns.

I also wanted to confirm that the minimum wage expectations set out in Bill 17 will not create additional pressure for your agencies. Earlier conversations indicated that this was not a pinch point but wanted to double check.

Thank you for your patience Rhonda and I look forward to receiving an update on the OT implications as well as confirmation of the minimum wage impacts. I hope you get to enjoy some quality time over the holidays with your family and friends.

See Previous Bill 17 ALIGN Correspondence

Changes to Child Intervention E.D. Positions

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: To ALIGN On Behalf Of Rae-Ann Lajeunesse Alberta Government sent to ALIGN December 15, 2017

You may be aware that, as of December 11, Russ Pickford changed roles from Executive Director – Child Intervention North to become the Executive Director for Regional and Community Program Delivery, within our ministry’s Family and Community Resiliency (FCR) Division. Fortunately, we’ll still be working with him in his new role within the FCR Division.

This change has created an opportunity to review and realign the leadership structure for Child Intervention regional delivery. We will be moving forward on some changes to our leadership structure. Effective Monday, December 18, Jon Reeves will be the Executive Director of Child Intervention Services, overseeing child intervention service delivery across the province. Jon believes Alberta is on the leading edge of service delivery and is focused on continuing to improve child intervention practice in Alberta. I know Jon is looking forward to continuing to work with you to improve the lives of children and families in Alberta.

With these changes, Jon will be filling the Regional Director positions in Edmonton and Calgary on an interim basis. These positions should be filled by Friday, December 22.

Rae-Ann

ALIGN Bulletin Human Service Agencies and Christmas Considerations December 2017

With the holidays come many considerations for human service agencies. Find out more about the legalities of office parties, staff mental wellness, the ethics around accepting gifts and more!

ALIGN & Sector News November 2017

So much going on! ALIGN E.D. Rhonda Barraclough updates members regarding Bill 17 and check out upcoming ALIGN training and conference registrations and new sector reports and initiatives.

ALIGN Members – Procurement Update November 20, 2017

Procurement Update November 20, 2017

Late last week there was an announcement that Campus Based Residential Care will be tendered shortly. For those of you who provide that service please stay tuned as I am sure you will receive information soon.

I am told that there has been a procurement plan (5 year) placed before the Minister and at this point there is no permission to move forward with anything other than this one area. I am aware that most of you have contracts that are set to expire on March 31, 2018.

The likelihood is that most of your contracts will be renewed at the same rates. Some may be able to re-negotiate some terms but for the most part status quo may be the outcome. I realize that this means no increases in any part of your operation for a long time.

Budget 2018 may not see any changes or increases. We already have a hint of that with no increases to foster care rates.

As always we will continue to advocate for a plan and for hopeful injections to the wages if nothing else. We need to have some clear information and in reality you need to be thinking about this already. If you have NO increases to your contracts and you are aware of the Bill 17 impacts, what will you do in the new fiscal year- i.e. Do you need to close beds, close programs, are you ok, decrease services and if so what? It would be very helpful if you can let me know what you think you will need to do if there are no changes of any kind.

I would appreciate if you can let me know what you think will happen and if you have any other impacts starting to creep in, like increasing turnover rates, etc. This information is very helpful as we strategize a plan to move forward. If we can we will also make the information available to you so that you can go out and advocate on your or your sectors behalf as we suspect there will be a need for political action. It is the politicians who are stopping things as treasury board.

Again we are trying to give concrete examples of the impacts of no procurement (negotiations or tenders) and Bill 17. I need to have that picture from you to share at table with the Ministry officials and the politicians.

Thanks for sharing I look forward to your information and trying to see what we can do to move the financial pendulum. If you could send me your story or information by November 30 I would appreciate it.

Rhonda Barraclough – ALIGN Executive Director

RhondaB@alignab.ca

Request for ALIGN Member Agencies to Submit Banked OT Hours and Average Salary

November 20, 2017
RE: Bill 17

Bill 17: Alberta’s Fair And Family Friendly Workplaces Act: the new labor code comes into effect January 1, 2018. There are many impacts on your agency and you need to be aware of those. The ALIGN Website has some information and the Ministry of Labor has more. One of largest effects for agencies and specifically anyone who works a 24 hour operation or flexible evening and on call hours will need to consider this:

• You will have to allow employees to take time off in lieu of receiving overtime pay at a rate of 1.5 hours for each hour of overtime worked, as opposed to the previous 1 hour for each hour of overtime.
• There are clear guidelines on how much someone can work in a specified period
• New types of unpaid leaves
• Changes to maternity leaves

There are many other changes your need to make sure you are aware for and are planning for.

Financially the biggest area will be the overtime. We are trying to advocate with the Ministries (CS & CSS) that banked time is a substantial cost and that the agencies cannot shoulder that cost. We have encouraged the Ministry to have a plan in place to compensate agencies for overtime and have explained how this is not just as simple as stopping overtime from happening especially in 24 hour operations and that due to contractual obligations they also can’t just increase the costs – therefore we believe there is a need for a compensation plan on the part of the Ministries.

To help paint a picture for the Deputy Minister of Children Services – Darlene Bouwsema, I need as many folks as possible to let us know their current bank overtime hours in a year and what the average salary for those employees is. I am making a graphic to show the Deputy Ministers. Darlene and Shannon Marchand the Deputy Ministry for Community and Support Services are meeting with the Ministry of Labor Deputy Ministry soon. We have also offered to arrange for them to meet with some of the CFO’s from the agencies and the Ministry to discuss impacts further. At this point we do not know if or when there may be answers. We would like to be able to send a further sample of the overtime impacts at this time because we can at least quantify that number.

Please send a note to me RhondaB@alignab.ca with that information by the end of this week – November 24, 2017

See Related Info

ALIGN Evaluation Resource Bulletin November 6, 2017

This bulletin highlights organizational, program and client evaluation resources that have been recently added to our sector evaluation resource directories. See what’s new!

New – The FACTS about ALIGN Association

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ALIGN Association is please to provide you with a new Fact Sheet Page that provides existing and potential member and or collaborative partners further insights into our associations mission, values and impact

Now Available – ALIGN Journal Volume 8 Fall 2017

Join Us! ALIGN is Celebrating our 50th Anniversary

50/10 Dinner January 24, 2018 Fantasyland Hotel W.E.M. Edmonton
It’s has been 50 years of serving agencies in Alberta and how far we have come! Starting out as the AASCF in 1968 a small group of sector leaders were inspired to collaborate on better addressing the needs of agencies who serve vulnerable Albertans’ and 50 years later we are still going strong! In additions we are also celebrating our 10th Annual Conference – Building Today, Strengthening Tomorrow. In honour of these achievements please join us Wednesday evening January 24, 2018 for dinner and entertainment from 5pm to 9 pm at the Fantasyland Hotel, West Edmonton Mall.

The Role of Caregivers in Assessing and Managing Risk Related to Opioid Use – A Tip Sheet

This Tip Sheet that has been developed by a committee representing provincial Children Services , AFPA and ALIGN.

The Role of Caregivers in Assessing and Managing Risk Related to Opioid Use – A Tip Sheet
As a caregiver you are the closest person to the day-to-day activities of a child or youth who may be using opioids. You have a key role on the team who together ensure the tasks in the above diagram occur, plans are implemented and reviewed as circumstances change.

The tip sheet is going out to all the members as agencies have all types of caregivers providing service to children, youth and families. Specific Caregiver Training has also be developed and will be piloted for the fist time at the Alberta Foster Parent Conference this coming weekend. Once feedback is incorporated into the training the manual will be made available for all to use. I will keep you posted as information becomes available. In the meantime please give the TIP Sheet the widest distribution. Questions can be directed to Cathym@alignab.ca

See Additional or Related Opioid Information

Three New Children’s Service Divisions and Three New ADM’s

Correspondence form Darlene Bouwsema Deputy Minister Children’s Services to ALIGN ED Rhonda Barraclough October 2, 2017

As you may know, the creation of Children’s Services provided an opportunity to re-imagine the organization and its structure to achieve the renewed mandate and focus on continuously improving the services provided to children, youth and families.

As part of the evolution of Children’s Services, I am pleased to officially announce that we have identified three Children’s Services-specific divisions and the Assistant Deputy Ministers (ADMs) who will lead them. Each portfolio will be guided by a leader who has a great respect for the work happening in this ministry, and an unwavering commitment to public service. I am confident that under their guidance, the Ministry of Children’s Services will be well-positioned for success. Effective October 2, 2017:

Gloria Iatridis, ADM will lead the Policy, Innovation and Indigenous Connections Division with responsibility for strategic policy and planning, initiative management (including the Ministerial Panel for Child Intervention), corporate quality assurance and Indigenous and community connections;
Mark Hattori, ADM will lead the Family and Community Resiliency Division with responsibility for early intervention and prevention programming, community programs and early childhood programs and the Early Learning and Child Care Centres initiative;
And Rae-Ann Lajeunesse, ADM will lead the Child Intervention Division with a singular focus on the child intervention system.

I would like to reiterate that no ongoing work will be interrupted. The Ministry of Children’s Services will continue to focus on priorities including the work happening across the province to serve families, the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention and affordable, quality, accessible child care offered through Early Learning and Child Care Centres

There will be no lay-offs as a result of changes and our staff remain committed to serving Albertans. If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please do not hesitate to contact my office, otherwise Assistant Deputy Ministers and their staff will be in touch as part of their regular business with your organization.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment and partnership.

Darlene Bouwsema Deputy Minister Children’s Services

Indigenous Thought Leaders Series

Update April 2018

The Indigenous Thought Leaders Presentation Videos

Indigenous Protocol Process Video’s

Update September 2017

ALIGN has been busy coordinating an Indigenous Thought Leader Symposium that will be held for Children and Family Serving organizations Leadership on October 23, 2017 at the Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton. The day will highlight Alberta Indigenous Thought leaders and Knowledge Keepers and how to move knowledge into policy and service delivery. The Indigenous Thought Leader Symposium is intended to enhance indigenous innovations and relationships in child intervention service delivery. Starting in Ceremony, selected Elders, advisors, and service providers will share Indigenous teachings and current practices in work with Indigenous children, families, and individuals. The presentations will showcase specific culturally-based approaches to practice and ceremony with indigenous service users. The day will include teachings from highly respected elders and knowledge keepers in Alberta. Various Alberta-based programs providing culturally appropriate and effective services will be highlighted. The outcome will be that participants will have an opportunity to explore how they can utilize the guidelines and principles in policy development and service delivery. This full day event will be held in ceremony and highlight cultural practices.

Also See
Indigenous Advisory Group
Allying With Indigenous Peoples Cultural Solutions: The Practice of Omanitew

ALIGN Executive Director Report – September 2017

Thank-you to all of you who attended our AGM in Red Deer on September 29th. It looks like our timing with the weather was right! For those of you who weren’t able to attend – please see the following updates and for those of you who were there, you’ll see I’ve included some recent sector updates and training links not yet available at the AGM. If you have any questions about these activities or anything else we do at ALIGN please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Rhonda Barraclough
rhondab@alignab.ca
780 233-5459

ALIGN Executive Director Report – September 2017

This is new info we just received! Children’s Services has officially announced that they have identified three Children’s Services-specific divisions and the Assistant Deputy Ministers (ADMs) Read More

ALIGN has had a very busy spring and fall for 2017. The Child Intervention Panel began in February 2017 and has been a challenge to stay on top of. ALIGN has made two presentation to the panel and has been a resource for the panel organizers to get other speakers that fit certain categories. We have also encouraged agencies to submit to the panel recommendations as per the guidelines outlined or just their thoughts in particular areas. All panel deliberations can be heard on the Child Intervention Panel Website, and all submissions made by members can be seen on our ALIGN Website.

Nicole McFadyen (Child Intervention)and Cathy Mitchell (Occupational Health and Safety, ALIGN Journal and a Mental Health Projects) have settled nicely into their positions and are working well in their areas of interest. I have recently contracted with a communications specialist to help us with some of our messages, fact sheets, and reports in an effort to get a consistent look and feel to our work.

The ALIGN Board has worked hard on the Strategic Plan and the revisions of the bylaws and board policies. We will be moving forward on the planned direction and approving these activities.

In January 2018, we will be holding our 10th Annual Conference and a 50-year celebration for ALIGN. We will go down memory lane a bit and have a great celebration. Registration opening later this week.

As government has moved from the Ministry of Humans Services transitioning to 2 Ministries we have had to develop new relationships and understandings of who does what. There is now the Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) and the second is the Ministry of Children Services (MCS). All child intervention services and the indigenous engagement were moved to the Ministry of Children Services. The Ministry of Community and Social Services still holds disability services, services for family violence among other service areas and they jointly are responsible for contracting. ALIGN has met with the Ministers and Deputy Ministers for both Ministries. Disabilities services also have a new ADM – John Stinson and I will be meeting with him later in October. In Children Services, the ADM for Child intervention has been Mark Hattori that will change in October to Rae Ann Lajeunesse. Mark will have a new portfolio. We have asked to meet with Rae Ann and Mark.

For Child Intervention Services, Jon Reeves and Russ Pickford were appointed as Directors of Child Intervention. Their role is to align all child intervention services provincially and to get more consistency in how services are provided and received across the province. Jon serves the area from Leduc south and Russ from Edmonton north.

Procurement, contracting and contracts continue to be a bit of a ambiguous. We have met with the DM and Minister regarding the need to have contracts move forward. We were told that in reality little will move until the Child Intervention Panel concludes and makes recommendations. We continue to advocate that parts of the system still can be procured, or negotiated.
See P.A.T. Final Reports August 2017 and ALIGN updates.

Bill 17 – Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act

Register Now!
ALIGN Presents Bill 17 Presentations – Register Now!
Bill 17 Presentation St. Albert October 5, 2017
Bill 17 Presentation Lethbridge October 20, 2017
Bill 17 Presentation Calgary October 31, 2017
Bill 17 Presentation Red Deer November 2, 2017

Preliminary-Review-of-Bill-17 (Neuman Thompson September 2017)
On May 24, 2017, the provincial government tabled Bill 17, titled the Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act. Bill 17 includes a number of significant reforms to two of the most important workplace-related laws in Alberta, being the Alberta Employment Standards Code (the “ESC”), and the Labour Relations Code (the “LRC”). The following is meant to provide a summary of some of the most noteworthy reforms that have been tabled as part of this Bill…

Alberta Government – Bill 17: The Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act, changes will come into effect on January 1, 2018.

Alberta Employer Advisor Bill 17 – Proposed Changes to Alberta’s Employment Standards Code

Cathy Mitchell and Nicole McFadyen – Updates June 2017- September 2017

Submission Being Accept Now!
Leadership Bursary
We are excited to announce that we can once again offer agency and individual leadership bursaries. We will not be able to fund academic 2-year bursaries but agency can apply for up to $5,000.00 and individual leaders/supervisors can apply for training, workshops, etc up to $5,000.00. This is only for the remainder of this fiscal year.

We are now accepting submissions for the spring ALIGN Journal. Our fall Journal will be published and available this month

Mental Health First Aid Grant (MHFA):
Both ALIGN and the AFPA have had the Mental Health First Aid grants extended till March 2018 as there are still funds available. The planning committee met in June 6, 2017 to look at our learning’s from last year and begin planning for 2017-2018 year. We have made arrangements to have Kevin Campbell provide two full days of training to caregivers on the importance of “Family Finding” for the children in their care. One day will occur in Edmonton January 24th and Calgary January 23th. The committee has decided to charge a minimal fee to attend and subsidize child care this year.

A memo was sent out reminding agencies that this funding is only available till the end of March 2018 and to utilize the funds if they have staff that needs the training.

Submissions Being Accept Now!
ALIGN Research Journal:
The 2017 Fall ALIGN Journal is currently with the desk top publisher and will hopefully be on line by the end of September. A focused call for contributions is underway so that we can have an edition for the spring 2018

Register Now!
Health and Safety in the Child and Family Services Sector:
ALIGN continues to be a partner on the research team of the Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions Project. Join us for the Healthy Workplace Conference Edmonton October 13, 2017 Graham Lowe author of “Creating Healthy Organizations” will be the key note speaker. A second voluntary survey is currently being completed by human services staff to allow for a comparison with the findings of the first survey results of 2 years ago. The results of this research, surveys and training will be presented at the fall conference.

We met with a representative for the Ministry of Labor in the Partnership Unit in the spring who recommended ALIGN explore the possibility of a collaborative relationship with the Alberta Association for Safety Partnerships(AASP) as a Certifying Partner. Conversations with the ED of the AASP have occurred and the plan is to apply jointly for grant funding from the Ministry of Labor to provide interested agencies with a series of training sessions (referred to as “The Roadmap to COR”) to obtain a Certificate of Recognition. Concurrently we will meet with agencies who have successfully obtained their COR and see what we can learn from them to pass on to other agencies.

We have also begun researching information on the National Standard of Canada on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. We think there is other work that can be done and agencies can benefit from that is not to the extreme of COR yet may help with WCB rates. That will be developed over the next 6 months.

Opioid Strategy:
ALIGN has continued to sit on a working group with the Children’s Services Opioid strategy as it pertains to all caregivers (agency and provincial). Information sheets and a training manual have been developed and is currently being reviewed by ministry staff. Once approved, this information will be provided to all agencies and caregivers.

Child Intervention Practice Framework (CIPF):
Child Intervention Practice committee is presently reviewing how to create consistencies and best practice provincially through the below initiatives. This committee consists of Regional managers. ALIGN and the AFPA.
Also See Child Intervention Review Panel

Collaborative Service Delivery (CSD):
Recently through many different discussions it has become clear that there is some confusion among organizations regarding the understanding of the term Collaborative Services Delivery (CSD). CSD is intended to be an approach in delivering services to Alberta Children and Families under the umbrella of the Child Intervention Practice Framework (CIPF). This approach is being achieved but limited to initiatives such as; the Foundation of Caregiver Support, CSD lead sites, Family Finding and Signs of Safety. Collaborative Service Delivery Leads Table are meeting to discuss future direction of the table.

Foundation of Caregiver Support (FCS):
The Committee is in the process of reviewing the recently released Review of literature with the focus on Aboriginal Peoples and Communities – Trauma, Child Development, Healing and Resilience. The expectation is that organizations in Alberta serving child, youth and families must be Trauma Informed along with understanding Child Brain Development and stress. This is the foundational work for the 101 training that will come out this upcoming year.

The definition of Trauma Informed Care has 4 common elements; Trauma Awareness, Emphasis on Safety, Rebuild Control for person served and the approach is Strength Based. There are many ways for Organizations and their programs to make sure they are meeting these common elements in all the work they do.

Provincial Trauma Training Group
Presently, there is a small Provincial Trauma training working group-Sheldon Kennedy Advocacy Care Centre, ALIGN, Palix Foundation and Children Services are working on sharing approaches for knowledge immobilization and how to best support embedding it into practice across the Province. There is an environmental scan of what types of Trauma Informed Training are currently happening across sectors, and ministries in Alberta with hopes to develop a training navigation resource.

Save The Date!
Family Finding:
Children Services will be bringing Kevin Campbell the Family Finding trainer across the province in 2018, to provide a 4 day boot-camps again and mentoring to help build provincial capacity. We are currently discussing how to bring youth and lifelong networks to Alberta with Kevin. Kevin will also be facilitating 2 workshops at the ALIGN annual conference in January and will also be be providing 2 – 1-day workshops for Caregivers in Edmonton January 24th and Calgary January 23th. Family Finding is an excellent approach to bringing Trauma Informed knowledge into practice, aligning with the Signs of Safety and building resiliency in children through building lifelong networks.

Signs of Safety Working Group:
Signs of Safety working group. Children Services has implemented Signs of Safety 2-day Provincial Delegation training. The working group is looking at how to implement a plan that insures all current CS staff also receive the 2-day Provincial training, whether or not they have had previous training in the past. This is to ensure everyone has received the same provincial specific training. A 1-day training has been developed for agency partners and caregivers. The committee is in the process of developing a plan to offer the training provincially

Early Intervention – Prevention and Early Intervention Framework:
ALIGN has recently had discussions with the Ministry about agency input in to the refresh of the Prevention and Early Intervention Prevention Framework.

ALIGN Indigenous Advisory Group:
The ALIGN Indigenous Advisory Group reconvened in the Fall of 2016 in order to gain some guidance in planning for the upcoming year. Some of the current recommendations that we are working on are:

It was suggested that we convene a circle of government decision makers and others to share what is being done in the research and community sectors.
To bring together a group who has a strong understanding of Trauma and Inter-Generational Trauma to help guide the next step process.
A lot of Agencies have found ways that work for families and we should help highlight these approaches.

Indigenous Thought Leader Symposium
ALIGN has been busy coordinating an Indigenous Thought Leader Symposium that will be held for Children and Family Serving organizations Leadership on October 23, 2017 at the Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton. The day will highlight Alberta Indigenous Thought leaders and Knowledge Keepers and how to move knowledge into policy and service delivery. The Indigenous Thought Leader Symposium is intended to enhance indigenous innovations and relationships in child intervention service delivery. Starting in Ceremony, selected Elders, advisors, and service providers will share Indigenous teachings and current practices in work with Indigenous children, families, and individuals. The presentations will showcase specific culturally-based approaches to practice and ceremony with indigenous service users. The day will include teachings from highly respected elders and knowledge keepers in Alberta. Various Alberta-based programs providing culturally appropriate and effective services will be highlighted. The outcome will be that participants will have an opportunity to explore how they can utilize the guidelines and principles in policy development and service delivery. This full day event will be held in ceremony and highlight cultural practices.

Child Intervention Practice Committee:
ALIGN sits at the CI Practice committee which is presently reviewing how to create consistencies and best practice around Cultural planning.

Elder Capacity Pilot
ALIGN sponsored 3 Elders to attend an Elder Capacity Building pilot and hosted 20 participants at a Cultural Solutions 201 session April 2017 through a grant from Children Services and is in continue discussions to help further the knowledge and practice capacity in these areas. The Purpose of the Elder Capacity Building Pilot is to build elders capacity in urban and rural First Nation settings, who are working with children and families who are at risk of being involved in the Child Intervention system, either through the Ministry of Child and Families or through contracted agencies in Alberta.

Youth in Care Mentoring (YIC) and Alberta Mentoring Partnership (AMP)
A three-year commitment has been made to the agencies that are piloting Youth in Care Mentoring. We are currently working on documenting a service delivery model. There has been an updated literature review completed and the pilots are working with the advisory group to look at consist parts of the delivery and what it takes to offer this program area

Child Welfare League of Canada (CWLC)
ALIGN continues to sit on the CWLC Board. The most recent activity is the National Forum on infant, child mental health in Calgary the first week of October.

Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD)
ALIGN has been working with the regional directors and agencies to get some consistency in services delivery and contracting. Recently the minimum wage increases have been of concern. I believe the government will be making announcements shortly on how to help with this shortfall. FSCD children being in group care is also an area we are exploring to ensure that those children get the right services and the agencies are clear about the mandate with FSCD children and how to work with their families.

The Procurement Advisory Table (PAT) Final Report to the Ministers of Community and Social Services and Children’s Services August 2017

Update September 2017

Procurement Advisory Table – Final Report August 2017

The Procurement Advisory Table (PAT) provided its Final Report to the Ministers of Community and Social Services and Children’s Services. The report includes recommendations for the departments to consider for designing and implementing future contracting approaches.

Arrangements are underway to schedule a meeting involving ALIGN (Rhonda Barraclough) ECVO (Russ Dahms) ACDS (Andrea Hesse) and Deputy Ministers for both Ministry of Children’s Services and Community and Support Services Shannon Marchand and Darlene Bouwsema the second week of September to determine a course of action going forward considering changes that have occurred since the report was tabled in December.

Terms of Reference

Membership List

Previous PAT Updates

See ALIGN Directory of Contracting News

A “Sneak Peak” of AMP New Indigenous Mentoring Resources

SNEAK PEAK: Resources for Mentoring Refugee, Immigrant & Newcomer Children and Youth

To access the resource one more step is required. Please fill in your contact information to assist in the role-out and evaluation of our new resource. AMP will not share your information, it is only for internal tracking purposes. In the next few months they will send you a brief survey asking for feedback.

Notice to Members from Michael Jan August 1, 2017

AMP partners work to expand and enhance quality youth mentoring programs for young adults across Alberta. Here is an exclusive opportunity for a “Sneak Peak” of the new Indigenous Mentoring resources. You might use different language or program labels other than mentoring, but the principles and considerations outlined in the document are valuable for any program that supports Indigenous or non-Indigenous relationships. Share your feedback with Michael Janz michael.janz@albertamentors.ca about how this can be further mobilized into the community.

While ALIGN is a valued “Builder Partner” of the AMP (and Rhonda Barraclough is a member of the Leadership Team), each individual agency should be listed as a AMP Partner! If you have not done so already, please take a moment and fill out our “Partner contact form” so AMP can promote your work and your agency and you can take advantage of our volunteer recruitment capacity! Don’t worry, there is no charge because we are a no-fee partnership

ALIGN Association Strategic Directions Update – We Want to Hear From You!

Dear ALIGN Members,

I hope you are having a marvelous summer. ALIGN is reviewing its strategic directions this summer with the goal of having a strategic plan completed this fall that will lead the way for the next few years. Last week Nicole, Cathy and I held sessions in Lethbridge, Red Deer, Calgary and Edmonton. The feedback we heard has been incorporated into the Draft plan so far. We want to hear for anyone else who may have great ideas. So I have attached a draft of the plan and some of the directions members have been suggesting we move towards. If you have any thoughts on these please or think of other things you would like to see us doing please add them to this document and send it back to me.

I would appreciate your thoughts by August 18. After that we will be finalizing the plan and taking it to the Board of Directors. Thank you for your participation and support. See you in the fall at the AGM Sept 29, 2017

ALIGN Mission/Strategic Planning For Members Feedback

Rhonda Barraclough
rhondab@alignab.ca
Executive Director ALIGN Association

Review Panel Updates July 2017

NEW

Government responds to OCYA reports Minister Sarah Hoffman issued the following statement, on behalf of Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee, in response to the Child and Youth Advocate’s Investigative Reviews released today: July 18, 2017

Alberta’s child-welfare system failed First Nations youth: report Globe and Mail July 19, 2017

Alberta government ‘not going to wait’ for feds to close First Nations child welfare gap July 20, 2017

Child advocate ‘concerned’ about government inaction on death recommendations Edmonton Journal July 19, 2017

Alberta’s child-welfare system failed First Nations youth: report Globe and Mail July 19, 2017

RECENTLY POSTED

Child Intervention Practices in Alberta Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention June 5 2017

ALIGN Partners in Child Intervention Child Intervention Panel Submission June 30, 2017

ALIGN: Presentation to Child Intervention Review Panel (ppt) June 15, 2017

ALIGN Calgary Chapter Submission 1 – Working Relationships and Collaboration
ALIGN Calgary Chapter Submission 2 – The Practice of Child Intervention
ALIGN Calgary Chapter Submission 3 – Funding Community Agency Services A Sector in Crisis

Inter-Agency Foster Care Committee (IFCC) Submission to Review Panel June 29 2017

Child and Youth Care Association of Alberta (CYCAA) Submission to Child Intervention Panel June 2017

VIEW ALL UPDATES & SUBMISSIONS HERE

ALIGN Strategic Direction 2017 – 2022

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS 2017 – 2022

ALIGN Association of Community Services Mission:
One voice, so children, families and communities thrive.

ALIGN Values:

Excellence
Respect
Collective
Ethical Accountable
Courage
Commitment
Integrity

ALIGN Beliefs:

We believe all families and communities have the strengths and capacities to grow and change.
We believe each child and family must be provided the opportunity to maximize their potential
We believe children and families must live in safe, secure, healthy, stable and nurturing environments.
We believe that children and families should have services based on the best knowledge, practices and wisdom.
We believe in respect for the diversity, values and dignity of all people.

ALIGN Objects:

To serve as a community of agencies respecting the diverse needs of Alberta’s children, youth individuals and families.
To act as a collective voice advocating for the rights, causes and issues that directly affect our members and Alberta’s children, youth, individuals and families.
To support excellence in service delivery through shared diverse knowledge, wisdom and evolving practice.
To influence and collaborate with government in the development of legislation, policy and procedures.

Strategic directions are defined as, “a set of three to five aims that set the organization’s fundamental long-range direction.”

View Full ALIGN Strategic Directions – 2017 – 2022

Alberta Care Worker Safety Focused Inspection Program June 8 and September 30, 2017.

Dear Members,

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) announced a Care Worker Safety Focused Inspection Program which will take place between June 8 and September 30, 2017.

The program’s goal is to ensure workers and employers in the sector are aware of their rights and responsibilities to help create healthy and safe workplaces. View the Care Worker Stakeholder Presentation 2017 ppt, that OHS presented to us which is quite informative and explains what they are going to be doing, the rationale and the how.

If you have any questions please contact Cathy Mitchell.

contractor with ALIGN at cathym@alignab.ca. Thank you.

ALIGN to Present at Child Intervention Review Panel. Member Submissions & Presentations Encouraged

May 10, 2017
Dear ALIGN Members,

Over the next few months we have an incredible opportunity to ensure that The Child Intervention Panel (currently tasked with reviewing and revising the current child welfare system in Alberta) are informed, encouraged, educated and influenced by agencies, educators and the families who receive service. ALIGN is preparing to make a presentation to the panel regarding the work that sector agencies do and the need for resourcing the valuable information agencies can contribute. We expect that they will be interested in hearing from various sectors such as group care, kinship and foster care.

The Panel members currently have a basic knowledge regarding intergenerational trauma, the CORE story, child development, and the importance of early intervention among other areas of importance. Over the next 2 months they have expressed interest in furthering their understanding and awareness in these and related areas. Your submissions and presentation will provide them further insights and assist them to better determine what they require additional information on.

It is likely that time lines for presentations will be very short; therefore, I would suggest that agencies collaborate if possible when making written submissions and include an offer to present if you feel it is appropriate. Share your thoughts with the panel

A few recommendations:

I highly encourage you to listen to the live stream audio segments of the child intervention panel. You can listen to them by going to Panel Meetings

If there a group of you doing the same or similar work and you feel that the panel needs to know about it, do a joint submission.
Don’t put too many issues into a submission. Try to keep it to one or two issues so that they can absorb the importance of your concern. Make separate submissions for each topic area you want them to hear about.
Use the guideline on the website Share your thoughts with the panel
If there is research that backs up your point, attach it to the submission but don’t send books. Find relevant adequate article and send the link to them if you can.

ALIGN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REQUEST

If you are sending in a submission or presentations, please submit a copy to me at rhondab@alignab.ca so we can include it on our ALIGN Review Panel Page – this will assist members to avoid repetition. The panel is only sitting to August 1, 2017 so don’t delay – if you want to say something now is the time!

Thank you, if you have any questions or want any advice on this please don’t hesitate to email or call me

Rhonda Barraclough
Executive Director ALIGN Association for Community Services
rhondab@alignab.ca 780 233.5459

For More Resources View ALIGN Review Panel Page

ALIGN Membership Meeting Red Deer June 2, 2017

ALIGN Membership Meeting Red Deer June 2, 2017. An agenda will be sent out closer to the date. Registration is now open through Brown Paper Tickets and we hope to see many member agencies in attendance!

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)

Violence in the Workplace – Parking Lot Safety
Violence in the Workplace – Warning Signs
Violence in the Workplace – Working Late

CDC Fentanyl: Preventing Occupational Exposure to Emergency Responders

CDC Fentanyl: Preventing Occupational Exposure to Emergency Responders
The risks associated with fentanyl and its analogs highlight the need for first responders to perform a risk assessment on each crime scene and follow established work practices appropriate for the specific job tasking along with wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) to effectively manage risks that may cause an exposure. Established work practices are written policies and procedures, as well as tactics and techniques, used when fentanyl may be present to minimize the risk of exposure. This DEA website highlights the importance of adhering to established policies and procedures: https://www.dea.gov/divisions/hq/2016/hq092216.shtml.

Children’s Service Practice Notes Methamphetamine: What Child Welfare Workers Should Know

Children’s Service Practice Notes Methamphetamine: What Child Welfare Workers Should Know
To protect and support families, child welfare workers need to know what methamphetamine is and how it affects users This article includes tips on Working Safely with Meth Users

Child Trauma Academy Free Course The Cost of Caring:Secondary Traumatic Stress and the Impact of Working with High-Risk Children and Families

David Mandel Associates LLP Paying attention to worker safety in domestic violence cases

David Mandel Associates LLP Paying attention to worker safety in domestic violence cases by Kristen Selleck, MSW, National Training and Consultation Director.
Successful child welfare interventions with families experiencing domestic violence depends on child welfare staff feeling confident, competent, and comfortable in working with situations where violence is a possibility. As part of our Safe and Together model we discuss safety concerns and safety measures taken by child welfare workers during the course of their daily tasks…

Human Service Worker Wellness and Safety Bulletin April 2017

ALIGN Association of Community Services knows our member agencies make employee safety and wellness a priority so here is a helpful collection of research, tools and training that can support you in that effort. At the bottom of this bulletin you will find direct links to the related ALIGN online directories where you can access additional resources.

DHS Methamphetamine Protocol (PDF)

DHS Methamphetamine Protocol (PDF)
Methamphetamine (meth) labs can pose significant danger to all workers who conduct home visits including child welfare workers. Meth labs carry the risks of fire and explosion, exposure to chemicals and fumes, and volatile confrontations with highly agitated and unpredictable users. It is important to understand the warning signs that you may be approaching, or already in, a meth lab.

eLearning Training Centre Personal Safety Awareness V4.4

eLearning Training Centre Personal Safety Awareness V4.4
6-hour session and includes 27 content areas. Designed for social workers, case managers, crisis workers but open to anyone. The course now includes 35 video clips to enhance your learning experience!

Everyday Self Defensesm for Social Workers

Everyday Self Defensesm for Social Workers
Personal Safety Awareness for Health and Human Service Professionals
Includes fact sheets and training presentations. Janet Nelson has specifically designed her courses to promote job wellness and personal safety awareness in all human service situations. This webcast focused on personal safety issues that social workers face on a regular basis including how to deal with and exit potentially violent situations, safety planning in the office, safety planning for home visits, and practical self-defense.

Fentanyl Safety for First Responders

Fentanyl Safety for First Responders
The status and trends of the illicit drug trade, which includes Fentanyl, Fentanyl analogues and other potent synthetic opioids and analgesics in Canada are ever evolving. The intention of this site is to provide first responders with accurate safety information related to situations where opioids may be involved.

Get Home Safe Lone Worker Safety Monitoring

Get Home Safe Lone Worker Safety Monitoring
GetHomeSafe Corporate is an automated cloud based safety solution for monitoring the safety of any group of lone workers, volunteers, contractors or students.

Guardian24

Certified to BS 8484:2016, Guardian24’s lone worker Smartphone application is the ideal solution for those who don’t wish to carry a dedicated personal safety device.

Guardian24’s innovative software transforms your Smartphone into a fully functioning personal alarm – perfect for those working alone.

Available on all major operating platforms, the application gives users the ability to raise the alarm in the event of an emergency. With a wealth of features and workforce management options, Guardian24’s application is the smart choice for your Smartphone.

Government of Southern Australia Protective Practices for Staff..

Protective Practices for staff in their interactions with children and young people Guidelines for staff working or volunteering in education and care settings. Revised 2011

Protective practices for staff in their interactions with children and young people provides clear advice to adults for the establishment of positive, caring and respectful relationships with children and young people in education and care settings. The main intent of this document is to safeguard the emotional and physical well being of children and young people by promoting in adults an enhanced understanding of appropriate relationship boundaries. In respecting these boundaries, staff can feel confident about meeting their responsibilities to children and young people and meeting the expectations of the professional communities in which they work.

Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions Project

The Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions Project This project is focused on workplace health and wellness for leaders, supervisors, and front-line staff who work in the human-services industry (over 400 agencies) in Alberta. Their are research partnerships, wellness workshops, resources and more. Membership in the HWHP project is open to professionals in the human-services industry in Alberta. Their mission is to serve the over 17,000 persons who work in the following areas: child and youth care child and family services home visitation disabilities services women’s shelters

Health Risk Daily Assessment This tool provides a way for front-line staff to assess risks on a daily basis.

The Helping Cycle this tool provides a way for front-line staff and supervisors to assess risks in specific situations and to find ways to grow challenges into strengths rather than hazards into stress.

Kevin Burns

Are You Personally Top 3 Reliable in Safety?
Reliability is what happens when quality, safety and personal pride guide your work. So, let me ask you this question: are you considered reliable?

Would the people you work with name you as one of the top three most reliable team members in safety and who consistently look out for the welfare of others? If no, then why not?

When you’re at work, your team members want to be able to rely on the other members of the team. All of them. Good team members are reliable. They do the right thing at the right time for the good of the team. Reliability goes a long way in building your reputation…

Knowsley Council Children’s Social Care Lone Working Policy

Knowsley Council Children’s Social Care Lone Working Policy General Risk Assessment, together with a range of advice and guidance for staff.

Nonprofit Program/Client Evaluation Resource Bulletin March 30, 2017

ALIGN continues to develop our Evaluation Resource Directory for nonprofit agencies and organizations serving vulnerable children, youth and families. Take a look at Nonprofit Program/Client Evaluation Resource Bulletin March 30, 2017 to see what’s recently been added

ALIGN E.D. Correspondence – Alberta Community and Social Services Assistant Deputy Minister Announcement

(Correspondence To ALIGN Association April 12, 2017 from David Morhart Deputy Minister Alberta Community and Social Services)

It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of John Stinson as our new Assistant Deputy Minister for the Disability, Inclusion and Accessibility Division of Alberta Community and Social Services. This role provides the strategic oversight of the department’s disabilities support programs, including the statutory director responsibilities, and will work closely with the Service Delivery Portfolio on the provision of supports to Albertans across the province.

John comes from Manitoba with an extensive background in the public service, including roles as Chief Executive Officer of Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, CEO of the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, Vice-President of Acute Care and Planning with South Eastman Health, as well as roles within Manitoba Health and Treasury Board Secretariat. John brings strong leadership skills in multi-stakeholder consensus building, strategic planning and community development. He has led and championed cultural change within and across organizations and brings an effective interpersonal style, including a great sense of humour, that embraces collaborative engagement of staff, colleagues and stakeholders.

John will begin his new role on May 23. In the interim, John Cabral will continue to cover in this role and will be key in transitioning the file on John S’s arrival.

Please join me in congratulating John S. in taking on this new role and in thanking John C. for his continued leadership before his transition back to Alberta Seniors and Housing.

David Morhart Deputy Minister Alberta Community and Social Services

See More Related to Ministry Transition

New Social Worker Tips for Making Home Visits in Child Welfare

The New Social Worker Tips for Making Home Visits in Child Welfare
Always be aware of potential entrances and exits to the home…

NH Children’s Trust Youtube Webinar: Staying Safe as a Home Visitor

NH Children’s Trust Youtube Webinar: Staying Safe as a Home Visitor
Officer Paul Rondeau discusses what home visitors should consider both prior to and during visits, as well as what one should be thinking about to leave a client’s home safely. Officer Rondeau discusses the importance of sharing information with your colleagues and tips for diffusing an angry client. Finally, he covers some general personal safety information from which anyone can benefit regardless of your professional role.

Protective Services Training Institute of Texas Meth Basics & Worker Safety

Protective Services Training Institute of Texas Meth Basics & Worker Safety (PDF)
This training module presents essential information for DFPS staff who may encounter methamphetamine users, settings where meth is used or manufactured, and children at risk due to caregiver meth use or meth lab dangers. It focuses on risk assessment and worker safety in these situations.

Road Post Lone Worker Monitoring Apps Comparison

Road Post Lone Worker Monitoring Apps Comparison
Whether you are a small business with a few employees or a very large government or private enterprise looking for robust workforce monitoring solutions, Roadpost has the expertise to help guide you to the lone worker device and monitoring portal that is the best for you. This chart explains your options and we’re here to answer any questions you have!

ALIGN Executive Director Update Re: Alberta Budget 2017

March 19, 2017

Dear members:

Last week the government announced Budget 2017. We have been capturing the relevant information for you and placing it on our website. There will be more analysis this week but we thought we would share what we have learned to date.

This budget for Children’s Services and Community and Support Services basically is a maintain status quo budget for both ministries. Any increases that are mentioned are to meet current needs. No increases or forecasted increases.

In Children’s Services most increases went to growth caseload areas; financial and support agreements and advancing futures bursary funds. The 60 FTE’s announced are to be put into the system in these growth areas. Exactly where is still to be determined.

Senior staff are optimistic that funds will come with future recommendations made by the Child Intervention Review Panel.

We have had conversations about procurement, contracts, and moving forward with the Minister and senior executives. With the splitting of the ministries it has been a bit confusing about who will address the procurement table recommendations. We have made it very clear that this activity needs to receive focus and cant wait for panels. We are assured that discussions are underway to figure out a way forward for services in child intervention.

We also feel it is very important that the Panel get an accurate picture of the entire system and recommendations for improvement. Please review the minutes and live casts. The meetings are open to the public. I would encourage you to attend or at least listen to it. If you feel an area needs to be highlighted please send in a submission. www.childinterventionpanel.ca

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email or call rhondabarracloug@alignab.ca 780 485-3580

Rhonda Barraclough ALIGN Executive Director March 19, 2017

ALIGN Letter to The Honorable Joe Ceci Re RE: Contracted Sector for Children’s Services

On March 6, 2017 ALIGN Executive Director sent a letter to the Honorable Joe Ceci Minister of Finance & President of the Alberta Treasury Board regarding contracted sector.

Contracted Sector for Children’s Services Letter March 6, 2017

Excerpt 1
While FCSS funding has been substantially increased and that certainly helps, the funding for the agencies that provide services to the more vulnerable and those at risk of having their children enter care have not. These contracts have been stagnant for about 2 years or longer. We had been working with the Ministry of Human Services to find a way forward in the procurement activities to get to a better funding model and closer to true costs…

Excerpt 2
It is our request that you and the Ministers of Community and Social Services and Children’s Services consider a small injection of funds to at least bolster wages. There are many other areas like operating costs for example that need to be considered as well but at this moment the wages are paramount….

Healthy Workplaces Conference October 2017

Healthy Workplaces Conference 2017

Mark your calendars! The Healthy Workplaces Conference 2017 will occur on October 13, 2017 at the Lister Centre, University of Alberta. This province-wide conference will showcase the final results and provide tools for developing and implementing sustainable workplace wellness programs for non-profit human service agencies. Participation is open to all human services agencies in Alberta

As leaders and employees in the nonprofit human-services sector of Alberta, you are invited to participate in a province-wide educational and resource/networking conference marking the completion of the Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions project that ALIGN has been participating on (See below). Join us for an exciting day of project results, policy framework descriptions, workshop opportunities, and professional networking.

Topics: Employee engagement and wellness

Keynote: Dr. Graham Lowe, “Redesigning Work to Support a Vibrant Workforce — Lessons for Human Services.”

Date: Friday, October 13, 2017

Location: Lister Centre, University of Alberta, 11613 87 Avenue NW, Edmonton AB

Time: 8:30 am to 4:00 pm

Cost: $95 (Early bird before June 30), $125 Regular fee (All prices include the registration fee, coffee breaks and lunch.)

Conference Brochure

Conference Registration Web Page

The Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions Project

Public Board Call

Premiers Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and the Provincial Parent Advisory for FSCD looking for applicants to sit on public board

Public Board Call FSCD and PCSPD March 2017 regarding a renewed focus on disability services and the request for people to apply to sit on the Premiers Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and the Provincial Parent Advisory for FSCD. ALIGN Executive Director Rhonda Barraclough encourages those agencies in this area to have people from within your networks to apply. The premiers council is trying to expand its reach and I think it would be great way to ensure FSCD and families with persons who have disabilities in them get involved and can influence future directions of the services. Also note the deadlines are very short. So please let people know as soon as you can so they have time to apply.

Rhonda Barraclough
Executive Director

Contact Ms. Vicki Bertoia Director PCSPD Secretariat at 780 422-2726 or Ms. Roxanne Gerbrandt, Disability Support Branch FSCD PPAC at 780 408-8369

ALIGN Journal Volume 8 Fall 2017

Editorial – Being Called to Take Action and Being wicihasowin by
Research Paper – I Want to do Good so Bad: Exploring Health Capabilities
Pilot Project Review – Children and Youth in Care and Mentoring
Literature Review- Best Practices for Supporting High Risk Youth and Youth with FASD in School:
Book Review- Redesigning Work: A Blueprint for Canada’s Future Well-Being and Prosperity
Case Study – Initial Steps in Developing a Meaningful Partnerships: A Case Study of Mahmawi-atoskiwin.

ALIGN and Sector News and Updates Feb 24, 2017

This bulletin includes news and updates for AB agencies serving children, youth and families. See what’s new with Ministry transition, Child Review Panel, Sole-Source Contracting and more!

AB Child Review Panel 2017

ALIGN REQUEST FOR AGENCY/EXPERTS PARTICIPATION
At the announcement of the Child intervention review panel ALIGN Board members and our ED crafted a letter to Premier Notely, the Minister at the Time, and the leaders of the opposition to remind them that child intervention should be a nonpartisan issue. We also encouraged the panel have some experts from the field on it. The new Minister has appointed Drs Bruce MacLaurin, University of Calgary, Peter Choate, Mount Royal University and Patty, Lubecan- Benson from Native Friendship Centre. We feel this is a great place for local experts to have impact on the system and inform the those that are also sitting on the panel about the complex nature of this work.

NEWS

Ministerial Panel On Child Intervention Meeting 1 Summary

Ministerial Child Review Panel Feb 9, 2017 Minute 2nd mtg

All
Child Intervention Review Panel Articles, News and Updates

ALIGN Journal From Theory to Practice Residential Care for Children and Youth Special Edition Vol. 3 March 2017

This particular Special Edition is a compilation of the work that was created and presented at the
From Theory to Practice: Residential Care for Children and Youth Symposium April 28-29, 2016.
The ALIGN Association of Community Services co-hosted this learning event with the Ministry of
Human Services. The session was an opportunity for staff of both the Ministry and agencies to
come together and learn about several organizational models of residential care and how important
it is to use evidence informed practice in our care of these children and youth no matter the
environment. We explored how crucial the Foundations of Caregiver Support are and the significance
of developing meaningful relationships with the children we care for in order to assist the
change process. There was information shared about the effects early trauma and chronic stress
has on brain development and how we as caregivers can help undo some of the early harm done
to children.

CONTENT

Editorial Foundations of Caregiver Support – Jon Reeves

Growing Simple Interactions Inside Everyday Practice – Junlei Li

What Does It Mean to be Trauma Informed? From the Perspective of the Neurosequential Model. – Emily Wang, PH. D., R. Psych.

Sanctuary 101: An Overview of the Sanctuary Model – Ibet Hernandez

The Teaching-Family Model; An Evidenced Based Model – Michele Boguslofski

The CARE Program Model: Theory to Quality Practice in Residential Child Care -Jack Holden and Charles V. Izzo

ALIGN ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Strengthening Today, Building Tomorrow 2017 A Big Success!

ALIGN ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Strengthening Today, Building Tomorrow 2017
Thanks to all our wonderful keynotes and presenters at our 9th Annual Conference last week and of course to all the hard working volunteers and enthusiastic delegates who showed up eager to learn more about working with children, youth and families

ALIGN Youth Care Bulletin January 2017

If you work with youth this bulletin is for you! Included you will find resources, training and news to assist you with your youth program or youth in care initiatives

Important Sector Announcement and Updates Jan 2017

Important Sector Announcement and Updates Jan 2017
January has brought some significant changes to the sector including a new Child Services Minister, an announcement of who will be on the Child Intervention Review Panel and more!

Transitioning From Care Guide – Revised Edition

Now Available! Revised Edition (Please Note: This a large file and may take a minute or two to display)
Transitioning From Care Revised Version 2016
Jeff Solberg in collaboration with AASCF and AFPA. Developed to improves outcomes for youth in care and their caregiver

Human Services Evaluation Resource Bulletin Dec. 2016

This bulletin is full of great evaluation resources and tools to help support your organization with your evaluation efforts be they client, program or organizational. ALIGN serves a broad range of service providers within the human service sector so I’ve tried to include resources relevant to the varied needs of our members. Don’t forget to check out the great articles and training opportunities in the side bar too!

ALIGN Executive Directors Update October 2016

ALIGN Executive Directors Update October 2016
This document was presented to the Board of Directors at our last Board meeting. It is a comprehensive review of the work we are doing at ALIGN. The Board requested that I forward it to the members as a good Executive Director Update. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact myself, Nicole and Cathy at anytime. We want our members to be informed.

Rhonda Barraclough
Executive Director

ALIGN Leadership Development Program

Update October 2016

ALIGN is in the beginning stages of creating a leadership development program. The final stages of the leadership bursary funds are depleted. At this point we will be closing the application process. We will need to complete a review of the outstanding bursaries and see if there is any money left to offer; otherwise, we will complete a final report this year. ALIGN will have sufficient funds for us to administer the pay out of outstanding bursaries. A request has gone forward for further bursary funds but no word at this time. A good news report will be completed and sent to the Minister. The ALIGN Board will determine if we develop further strategies looking at leadership in the sector and create a plan we can offer to agency leaders moving forward. This requires further discussion at the Board level. ALIGN E.D. and Board President have had discussion with the Banff Centre and currently have an offer on the table.

Alberta Mentoring Partnership Youth in Care (YIC) Mentoring Project

Update September 2017

SNEAK PEAK: Resources for Mentoring Refugee, Immigrant & Newcomer Children and Youth

Alberta Mentoring Partnership Youth in Care (YIC) Mentoring Project Update August 2017

Notice to Members from Michael Jan August 1, 2017

Alberta Mentoring Partnership Youth in Care (YIC) Mentoring Project Update October 2016
ALIGN sits at the Alberta Mentoring Partnership leadership table and chairs the Youth in Care (YIC) Mentoring Project
The National Mentoring Conference: Mentoring is Catching On will be held in Nov 2016 and our project will be presenting there. We have also written an article that will be published in our next ALIGN Journal which will be of interest across Canada.

CBC News – Liberals will support motion demanding action on First Nations child welfare

Liberals will support motion demanding action on First Nations child welfare CBC News October 31, 2016
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett vowed Monday to support an NDP motion demanding an emergency injection of funds into Indigenous child welfare services to comply with legal orders from the Human Rights Tribunal…

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)

Update January 2017

Mental Wellness for Children and Youth in Care: Support for the Caregiver Conference Edmonton January 25, 2017

The main theme of the Mental Wellness for Children and Youth in Care: Support for the Caregiver symposium was the mental wellness of children and youth in care, the use of psychotropic medications and how caregivers can become more knowledgeable in supporting these youths. Caregiver encompassed agency and department foster parents, kinship parents, adoptive parents, residential and group care staff. The theme of the day presented by culturally informed medical experts, is the mental wellness of children/youth in care and the use of psychotropic medications considering issues such as the child’s emotional, medical and cultural needs. Youth themselves and representatives from the Office of the Children’s Advocate presented. The day ended with a panel discussion. Presenters: Dr. Wanda Polzin; Clinical Director at CASA in Edmonton, AB Dr. Lana Potts; Family Physician Siksika Family Clinic and Jeffery Cheng and Sheena Stevens; CYS Mental Health Nurses.

Videos

Welcome & Introductions Mental Wellness for Children and Youth in Care: Support for the Caregiver Edmonton January 25, 2017

Office of the Child and Youth Advocate Randy Baker, Lee Bowers & Adreana Brochu OCYA Representatives & Youth

Panel Discussion

The Importance of Caring for the Care Giver Dr. Wanda Polzin, MA, RSW, EdD Clinical Director – CASA

Understanding Psychotropic Medications for Children in Care Jeffrey Cheng /Sheena Stevens Nurse Consultants – CASA

Who We Are First Nations People in Alberta Dr. Lana Potts Family Physician

Celebrating and Supporting Diversity Presented by David Rust

Drugs 101 Jennie McLester

View All Conference Video’s

History

Because of the good work done by the Psychotropic Medication Committee who developed the “Pathways to Better Mental Health” resource, the same individuals were asked to participate on the MHFA symposium/ training committee. The committee members representing foster parents ALIGN, Ministry of Human Services, agencies, CASA, and the AFPA met on June 20, and August 11 and Sept 15 to discuss the symposium development and other training that will be helpful to support caregivers in the mental health area. “Caregiver” encompasses agency and department foster parents, kinship parents, adoptive parents, residential and group care staff.
The main theme of the symposium will be the mental wellness of youth in care, the use of psychotropic medications and how caregivers can become more knowledgeable in supporting these youths. We plan to have medical expertise as well as culturally informed individuals presenting. Representatives from the OCYA have agreed to present and this will include hearing from youths who are or who have experienced treatment with psychotropic medications. The presentation will include what worked, what didn’t work and what could caregivers do differently to support the youth better.

Workforce Alliance: Cross Association Workforce Survey

The Alberta Government: Workforce Alliance was launched in April 2012 to address support for a stable and sustainable workforce that meets the needs of children, families and adults with disabilities. It consists of government representatives and service providers, who work together to create a long-term plan for the workforce.

Alberta Human Services Workforce Alliance Strategic Plan – (2013 and revised 2016)
Building the Social Services Workforce of the Future April 2013 Submitted by: Human Services Workforce Alliance

ALIGN Workforce Alliance Update October 2016
ALIGN was previously requested by the Workforce Alliance to complete a cross association workforce survey but it is unclear at this time if this will proceed as it seems to be less of a government priority following reorganization of the Ministry

The Extent of the “Main Associations Contracted” Sector Prepared by Boles Consulting May 2015
A significant component of the nongovernment social service sector, including non-profit and for-profit agencies, enters into contract and grant funded agreements with the Ministry of Human Services to deliver services to vulnerable individuals and families. Most of the agencies hold membership(s) in one or more of 4 associations which commit to supporting their efforts and promoting the delivery of quality services. The group of agencies is identified here as the “Main Associations Contracted” sector and referred to as the “MA Sector” or “Sector”. The 4 associations, their members, and the Ministry of Human Services have a collective interest in describing the Sector…

AASCF (ALIGN) Review of Provincial Budget 2015
The Workforce Alliance continues to work as a joint government and community committee that gives advice to the Ministry on issues of workforce. WE sit at that table and continue to advocate strongly for a healthy viable human services contracted workforce

AASCF (ALIGN) 2014 Membership Survey Results & Analysis Boles Consulting
Includes data on impact on wage increases, workforce turnover, retention and recruitment and related workforce information.

AASCF (ALIGN) Annual Report 2013/2014
Workforce Challenges/ Issues and Efforts to Date
The Workforce Alliance remains a viable committee. At this time it is considering what a healthy workforce is and what it can do to work towards developing that. Currently a literature review of this area is underway and some data is being gathered to draw a picture of the sector including the agencies that sit within AASCF, ACDS, AWSA, AHVNA. This is collaborative work that is being conducted with government input as well.

Over the past year the focus has been on wage increases, contracting and looking at ways to make contracts more consistent and flexible, and training in various parts of the sector.
Wage increases:

Generally speaking in 2012/2013 there were $1500.00 bonuses for front line delivery staff and a 5% increase in wages. There was some variation on this in certain sectors. At the time it included Women’s Shelters, Child and Family services contracted agencies and agencies contracting to provide PDD services, and brain injury providers

AASCF (ALIGN) Membership Minutes 2013
Workforce Alliance – This is a provincial committee because the Premier and ministers decided this sector is important and they need to deal with our issues and concerns. Even though there was a bad news budget they kept their commitment. The work that needed to be done couldn’t be done without this sector. We have come a long way in the last 5 years.The agencies will be given the task on how the wage increase money will be allocated. There is another wage increase year but accountability and responsibility comes with the money. As they continue to invest money in this sector they need information from us on what a difference the increases are making. We will be sending out a survey to gather this information. Operational costs have been discussed is a separate issue.

Alberta Workforce Updates & News
AB Human Services Contracting
ALIGN Reports
Provincial Budgets

Child Intervention Practice Framework

Update October 2018

ALBERTA PS4LLC CAREGIVER INFORMATION PACKAGE 2018

Practice Strategies for Lifelong Connections
The integration of the original 6 Practice Strategies and the philosophy and 4 strategies of Lifelong Connections has resulted in principle-based practice approach called Practice Strategies for Lifelong Connections. The original 6 practice strategies focused on the “front end” of practice, specifically intake, assessment and decisions related to children coming into care. They embed family centered and strengths-based practice early into the assessment process through slowing down and critically thinking through decisions, involving parents as active partners and engaging extended family and natural supports early in the process of safety planning for children and youth…

Practice Strategies for Lifelong Connections pptx
Practice Strategies for Lifelong Connections is a principle-based practice approach under the Child Intervention Practice Framework that includes 10 practice strategies focusing on promoting safety, well-being, and connections, from intake to file closure and supports critical thinking in decision making, creating and maintaining connections, and thoughtful transition planning…

4 Areas of Connection
Through consultation with stakeholders, 4 key areas where strong relationships are critical were identified. They describe how strong lasting relationships support overall well-being and safety of children and youth. These key areas focus on the importance of human relationships within a family and community context and guide creating and maintaining meaningful connections for children and youth to people who love them unconditionally. The 4 areas of connection expand our understanding of permanency for the children, youth and families we all work with, moving the focus beyond just legal permanence. These connections are established and maintained through collaboration, critical thinking and intentional planning for children and youth.

Frequently asked Questions: Practice Strategies for Lifelong Connections – Caregivers

Family Finding – Caregivers
Family Finding is an approach that seeks to build and maintain a natural support network for children and youth disconnected from their home and community. It helps children and youth in care connect or reconnect with, create, and maintain relationships with adults who are important to them. These people can include parents or guardians, siblings, past caregivers, extended family members, adult siblings from previous placements, teachers, daycare providers, or anyone else they have had significant relationships with in the past. These relationships are important for children’s well-being, allowing them to know who their family is and where they come from, to know their cultural or religious heritage, and to establish supportive connections into their adulthood…

Signs of Safety®An Overview for Alberta
Signs of Safety is an approach to Child Intervention that was developed by Child Intervention staff to enhance child safety and uses professional social work concepts such as strengths-based and solution-focused methods and integrates them with the family’s expertise and cultural knowledge. It encourages a balanced and rigorous exploration of danger or harm as well as indicators of safety and focuses on risk assessment and safety planning...

Update September 2017

Child Intervention Practice committee is presently reviewing how to create consistencies and best practice provincially. This committee consists of Regional managers. ALIGN and the AFPA.
See index for related topics

Update October 2016
Agencies were asked to submit a PQR in 2016 and were required to answer if they would be providing “Trauma Informed” programming. Through the work of the document of Foundation of Caregiver Support it is the expectation of CFS that anyone providing services will be Trauma – Informed in their practice. This term used in conjunction of the understanding of the three pillars of the Foundation of Caregiver Support are expected to provide clarity to the sectors providing front line services.

Nicole McFadyen (ALIGN) has spent the last few months attending several different “Trauma Informed” training sessions. Some have been Provincial intiatives like the Neurosquential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) funded by the Alberta Children and Family Sevices and provided by Hull Child and Family Services. Others, have been Trauma Informed Training from Early Childhood Development Support Services (ECDSS) , as well as Alberta Health Services Trauma training webinar. All courses do provide information regarding the Core Story, Brain Development and Trauma. They do provide information on working with individuals who have experienced trauma and the neruodevelopmetnal approach to understanding these individuals. Some also look at how being a caregiver in the field provides exposure to vicarious trauma and Trauma Informed practice from an organizational level. Presently the Palix Foundation is working on their own Trauma training series. The Sheldon Kennedy Advocacy Care Centre is also developing an online Trauma Awareness Training. In collaborative conversation with Agencies, CFS, Palix Foundation and the Sheldon Kennedy Advocacy Care Centre and the Foundation of Caregiver Support Steering Committee (FOCS), there has been some agreement that the general term may be providing misunderstandings with regards to the overall definition and/or terms of references for the term “Trauma Informed ” practice. Presently we are meeting to work out a definition that will give everyone a better understanding of where individual sector practices sit on the spectrum.

The FOCS is doing a literature review to look at different Evidence – based models of therapy that are Trauma-Informed. The committee has also requested advisory from the Provincial Collaboration table for future recommendations and direction. Children and Families Services division has completed the development of 101 training to look at 4 main areas from this document. The Core Story of Brain Development, Grief and Loss and Trauma, Stress and the Developing Brain. This 101 training series is presently being piloted the AFPA Fall 2016 conference and the ALIGN 2017 January conference. They will be requesting feedback from participants in order to make changes to the curriculum as the pilot rolls out over the next several months. The developers are also in the beginning phases of providing a fifth module to look at Multigenerational trauma through an Indigenous lens. The 101 training series working group has invited ALIGN to join the group to provide review and input into the training curriculum and delivery. This group is meeting later this fall to work on implementations of participant feedback.

Alberta Human Services Enhancement Policy Manual (Manual) 2016 contains policies and procedures that direct casework staff when delivering services under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (CYFEA). The policies have been written in a second person active voice and directly address casework staff unless another role is specifically identified. The Manual is comprised of three distinct parts: Enhancement Policy Manual – Intervention, Enhancement Policy Manual – Placement Resources, and Enhancement Policy Manual – Adoption…

2015

Alberta Human Services Child Intervention Practice Framework (CIPF) Focus on Aboriginal community conversations, the policy and legislative review of the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act and the Child Intervention Practice Framework (CIPF)

2014

Ministerial Roundtable: Investigations and Reporting of Deaths and Serious Injuries Summary Report (April 2014)

Roundtable reading and resources

CIPF Engagement Summary Results of Stakeholder Engagement on the Child Intervention Practice Framework Principles Child and Family Services Division Results of Stakeholder, October 2013 – February 2014

Revised Enhancement Policy Manual (Manual) November 2014
Contains policies and procedures that direct casework staff when delivering services under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (CYFEA). The policies have been written in a second person active voice and directly address casework staff unless another role is specifically identified.

Child Intervention Forum May 2014
Video’s From Child Intervention Research Forum – May 1, 2014

CIPF Stakeholder Engagement
CIPF Engagement Summary – Results of Stakeholder Engagement on the Child Intervention Practice Framework Principles, October 2013 – February 2014

Child Intervention Round Table

Health, Wellness and Safety in the Child and Family Services Sector

Update September 2017

Health and Safety in the Child and Family Services Sector:
ALIGN continues to be a partner on the research team of the Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions Project. Join us for the Healthy Workplace Conference Edmonton October 13, 2017 Graham Lowe author of “Creating Healthy Organizations” will be the key note speaker. A second voluntary survey is currently being completed by human services staff to allow for a comparison with the findings of the first survey results of 2 years ago. The results of this research, surveys and training will be presented at the fall conference.

Update May 2017

Healthy Workplaces Research Team Meeting Tue May 30, 2017 9am – 12pm
Contact: ttbarker@ualberta.ca

AGENDA
Preview preliminary survey results
Review Conference plans
Review end-of-project plans It appears that our original goal to “influence” provincial wellness policy needs to be altered: we want to “be” provincial wellness policy. This means that we need to undertake a campaign to encourage the Ministry of Labour to take up our Healthy Workplaces Framework as its recommended framework. To do this we need your help to develop a clear strategy with action items for the rest of the year. Your contribution is vital, as it has been throughout the entire project.

Survey Open Now! – 2nd Round
Workplace Health Survey of the Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions (HWHP) project.

Healthy Workplaces Intervention Framework: We are beginning to see a framework that we can make available to non-profit human-services sector agencies in 2017.

Now Open for Registration – The Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions

Healthy Workplaces Conference 2017

Topics: Employee engagement and wellness

Keynote: Dr. Graham Lowe, “Redesigning Work to Support a Vibrant Workforce — Lessons for Human Services.”

Date: Friday, October 13, 2017

Cost: $95 (Early bird before June 30), $125 Regular fee (All prices include the registration fee, coffee breaks and lunch.)

Conference Brochure

Conference Registration Web Page

Five Ways to Reduce Stress at Human-Services Work. Ideas from participants of our Be a Wellness Leader Workshops to make the office a place you want to go every day.

Wellness Program Ideas for Your Workplace. Our infographic lists wellness program ideas suggested by participants of our Be a Wellness Leader Workshops. Any wellness initiatives must be developed based on and evaluated against the Five Wellness Pillars, following the Wellness Cycle.

The Healthy Workplaces Framework Infographic.

The Healthy Helping Cycle Healthy Helping Cycle This article explains the relationship between the process of client assistance and health and the growth of a vibrant, healthy organization.

Be a Wellness Leader Workshop Slides. Take good notes

Health Risk Daily Assessment This tool provides a way for front-line staff to assess risks on a daily basis.

Welcome to the Be a Wellness Leader Workshop.
The following items have been developed by the Healthy Workplaces Project Team members and tested at conferences and in the Winter 2016 BWL Workshop Series. They are presented here for the use by non‐profit human‐service agencies in Alberta. There is no charge for their use and they are presented “as is.” The workshop is intended to be a half‐day or 2‐3 hour format and presenters can adjust the time to the situation. There is no cost for the materials.

Workplace Health and Wellness-The Next Step in Workplace Productivity
Presented at ALIGN Chapter Meeting, Norwood Centre, November 5, 2016

Learning From Employees The Healthy Workplaces Research Summary Report By Thomas Barker, Project Lead Hoa Tran, Research Coordinator July, 2016 (ALIGN Partnership)

See OHS Library

Signs of Safety/Family Finding Updates

ALIGN Signs of Safety

Fall 2016 Nicole McFadyen (ALIGN) has been invited to sit on the Signs of Safety working group. Updates to come in this area.

Signs of Safety Is an innovative strengths-based, safety-organized approach to child protection casework. The model of its approach was created in Western Australia by Andrew Turnell and Steve Edwards, who worked with over 150 front-line statutory practitioners and based it on what those practitioners know works well with difficult cases. The Signs of Safety approach has attracted international attention and is being used in jurisdictions in North America, Europe and Australasia

See News and Resources for Signs of Safety

Child Welfare League of Canada Board Member Updates

Update October 2018

CYS and the Service Delivery Regions June 2016

Update CYS and the Service Delivery Regions – Where Things Are At June 2016
Edmonton and Calgary either have or will be raising the following issues with ALIGN

Child and Youth Services (CYS) Contract Updates

Update – August 2016

First-quarter, sole-source government service contracts disclosed The Government of Alberta’s online database has been updated with service contracts awarded outside a formal competition process during the last fiscal quarter.

Procurement Advisory Table The Agency and Human Services Procurement Advisory Table (PAT) is intended to provide a platform for informal, focused dialogue between Human Services and a small group of leaders from the service provider sector about the ministry’s contracting and procurement practices. The PAT provides an opportunity to leverage the experience, ideas and influence of these sector leaders on the design and implementation of future-state contracting strategies or approaches. The development of these strategies will align with Human Services’ goal of integrated service delivery, and support service delivery partnerships that are efficient, effective and achieve the outcomes Albertans need and expect.

Terms of Reference

Membership List

Update CYS and the Service Delivery Regions – Where Things Are At June 2016
Edmonton and Calgary either have or will be raising the following issues with ALIGN

Child and Youth Services (CYS) Contract Templates: Summary of April 21, 2016 Discussion (ALIGN and Human Services) and Recommendations

Innovations in Outcome Based Service Deliver in Calgary, Alberta February 2015 by Susan Gardiner, Bruce MacLaurin and Jon Reeves

Human Services Annual Report 2015-16

Human Services Annual Report 2015-16
The ministry’s annual report for the year ended March 31, 2016, was prepared under my direction in accordance with the Fiscal Planning and Transparency Act and the government’s accounting policies.
All of the government’s policy decisions as at June 3, 2016 with material economic or fiscal implications of which I am aware have been considered in the preparation of this report…

Honourable Irfan Sabir Minister of Human Services June 2016

ALIGN Bulletin – Alberta Budget 2017

Hi Everyone – The following includes communications, news, updates and sector responses to the Alberta Budget 2017. View Here

ALIGN Executive Director Update Re: Alberta Budget 2017
Danielle Larivee Minister Children’s Services March 16, 2017
Budget 2017 Briefing For Community And Social Services Stakeholders.
Alberta Budget 2017 Inclusion Alberta Response
CCVO Budget 2017 Holds the Line on Spending March 17, 2017
Alberta Government Alberta Budget 2017

Wage Freezes for Alberta Agencies, Boards and Commissions 2016

Wage Freezes for Alberta Agencies, Boards and Commissions The freeze will be in effect for two years, beginning April 1, 2016. The freeze applies to all agencies, boards and commissions listed under Alberta’s Public Agencies Governance Act. List of agencies, boards and commissions impacted

School of Social Work University of Pittsburgh RISK ASSESSMENT, VIOLENT CLIENTS AND PRACTITIONER SAFETY Workshop Handout

School of Social Work University of Pittsburgh RISK ASSESSMENT, VIOLENT CLIENTS AND PRACTITIONER SAFETY Workshop Handout Prepared by: Christina E. Newhill, Ph.D., LCSW (PDF)
Topics Include
• How and why client violence is a critical issue for social workers and other human services
professionals
• Identification of key risk markers for violent behavior within three spheres:
• How to prepare oneself to ensure safety in both office and field settings

ALIGN Annual Report 2015

I am sure you have noticed it has been a busy year. Very busy! Fortunately, it has been
a good busy. Good because it reflects all the work we are doing, how we are engaged,
and how we are contributing to our sector in so many ways, training, planning, and
developing new approaches.

A major undertaking this year has been our rebranding as ALIGN Association of
Community Services. This is a brand which reflects our strength, Together for Children
and Families. We are aligned with each other and those who share our goals the
sustainable delivery of services to vulnerable children and families in Alberta. Our logo
expresses these theme further, star trails in circular alignment, diversity, and the ripple
effect of our work.

Thanks to our staff, partners, and our members for your contribution this past year, and
in the year to come.

Jim Pritchard
President
ALIGN Association of Community Services

Solo Protect

Worker safety protection, 24/7/365 alarm support. The SoloProtect worker safety solution is used by a wide range of lone workers to reduce risks to their personal safety as they carry out their normal job functions.

Youth Work Essentials Risk -Assessment The Frame Work

Risk -Assessment The Frame Work
Sample Assessment – Risk Assessment is the backbone of the health & safety process. It needs to involve everyone that is responsible for the safety of the group and those that will be carrying out the activity

Recent Tweets

ALIGN 2 weeks ago

I saw news clip on this - they call it Ghosting. Many businesses struggling with no shows for interviews -people working a few days and not showing up again - was concerns its becoming normal &acceptable. Anyone else dealing with this? Suggestions on how best to address this? twitter.com/WestHendayYeg/…

It’s unacceptable. What people don’t often know is you will be working 30-80 hours a month for free. The amount of time spent setting up interviews only to have no one show or training ppl only to have them quit 2 weeks in. Paper work, appeals, lack of funding, it’s all very hard
— Leah McRorie (@WestHendayYeg) February 7, 2019

YESS 2 weeks ago

Youth voices matter! The 2019 Without a Home study aims to help prevent & end #youthhomelessness by surveying 2,000 young people with lived experience. Have YOUR voice be heard by connecting with Jessica at YESS to participate! Call 780.468.7070 Retweeted by ALIGN

ALIGN 2 weeks ago

Big thanks Arlene for Imparting Important Insights into Improving Services for Kids in Care! Big thanks @AlbertaCYA for sharing! #groupcaresymp2019 twitter.com/AlbertaCYA/sta…

This morning Arlene gave a keynote at @alignalberta Group Care Symposium! She shared stories highlighting the importance of connection, safety and access to resources for young people in care. #groupcaresymp2019 #abyouth pic.twitter.com/kXIe9mvPmb
— Alberta C&Y Advocate (@AlbertaCYA) February 7, 2019