On Monday, November 20, 2017, OPSEU is planning to hold a provincial rally at Waterloo Family and Children Services which coincides with National Child Day. This rally is part of OPSEU’s “Fix & Fund It” campaign and the continued effort to bring attention to the concerns of child welfare workers regarding the Child Protection Information Network (CPIN). Members of OPSEU Local 334 from the Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society will also hold a rally beginning at noon on November 20th to raise awareness about the impact of CPIN to the child welfare sector. Rallies will be held at both the Peterborough and Lindsay offices of KHCAS.
OPSEU and OPSEU Local 334 are concerned about the expedited pace of CPIN deployment despite the significant problems that persist for child welfare workers with respect to business harmonization, challenges with functionality that require more time for workers to input information, the impact on workload which is reducing the time workers can spend with families and the lack of financial resources from the Ministry to support agency to agency implementation and sustainability of CPIN.
“Many people don’t realize the impact that technology can have on the ability of a worker to spend time with a family,” states Jody Carr, OPSEU Local 334 Vice-President. While OPSEU fully supports a common information system for child welfare, they have repeatedly asked MCYS to fix problems with CPIN prior to bringing other agencies online. The National Child Day Rally is a call to action to the Ministry to acknowledge and alleviate the increased workload and adequately fund implementation and sustainment for children’s aid societies.
The Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society went live with CPIN in April 2016. There are 20 children’s aid societies in Ontario who have gone live with CPIN, and two additional agencies going live on November 20th. Over 4900 employees representing 52% of all frontline children aid society staff in Ontario are now using CPIN every day. Executive Director Jennifer Wilson states, “I applaud the compassion and commitment of the employees to deliver service with care and compassion. CPIN has had an impact, and we will continue to work in partnership with the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, the Ministry and labour to streamline and strengthen the common information system.”
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For more information contact: Jody Carr
