‘Deeply flawed’ case management program must be revised says Turpel-Lafond

VICTORIA – Independent children’s representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says a B.C. government program designed to improve information flow for child protection cases isn’t doing its job.

In a newly-released report, Turpel-Lafond says the government’s Integrated Case Management system is deeply flawed and needs immediate and dramatic improvements.

The new system was supposed to enable government child-protection workers to spend more time working directly with clients and less time on data entry.

The province’s child protection workers began using it in April.

Turpel-Lafond says problems with the system compel her to publicly state it cannot adequately protect vulnerable children and families.

The B.C. government says it will respond to Turpel-Lafond later today.