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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1972-10-19, Page 23t.S4.VE----• S.A.VE - SA:VE THIS MEANS 1 O% DISCOUNT ON t EVfRYTHING,IN THE STORE The child in his own home This is Children's Aid Week in Huron ' County, .and the. County's Children's Aid society is taking an active part in bringing the message of its• services, and the . needs of children and families before the public. Bruce Heath, local director of the CAS,. outlined some of the trends and service changes • taking place in the Society's work in the County. "I'1' we were to be asked what the CAS has been doing in the last year to underscore .w its service tb the public," indicated Heath, "1[ would sax it has been a combinationof two emphasizes. Pulling all stops to prevent children 'coming into care, and beefing up our services to families and children living with their parents. No community or Children's Aid } Society should take pride in announcing that it has "x" number of children in its care. To do so would be implicit acknowledgment of its failure as, a community - with the CAS as the legal agent of that community - to provide alternatives to removal of children from their homes. We cannot emphasize too strongly the need to build on the strengths of families rather than the weaknesses, and build on those strengths in preference to underlining the weaknesses. In the majority of family situations ,coming to our attention, we are not talking about the overtly .__ neglectful parent at all, but rather situations where the family unit can . be improved and strengthened. I would•go further and say that it would even be preferable to leave a child in a 'marginally poor' family situation than to remove him because of what separation can do to . harm both parent and child. Even where circumstances dictate that a child must come into our care, our planning is geared to return the child to his home as quickly as possible. Where long term care is needed, or permanent separation of parent and child is seen as the only alternative, the decision to do so is the result of a great deal of professional soul-searching and due process of law before our Family Court Judge." Last Sunday, all the churches in the County received bulletin covers or inserts outlining a few facets of the CAS and its work. It stressed the responsibility of people to become involved in the work of the Society and to report situations– to the CAS where a person feels a child ,is facing extreme neglect ' or possible abuse. "I am still amazed at how people will rationalize their failure to report serious neglect problems to a CAS," noted Heath. "The Law requires people to report child abuse,. and the same' Law protects the person acting in goo$1 faith who reports the abuse. Even where people do report serious. situations to us, there is often unwillingness to • come forward for court'purposes 1r 04. and prekent the personal" evidence which may be needed for a judge to render a finding.to protect the child.' One • of the most tragic . situations in . my work in" CAS occured a few years ago in Hamilton where a child • died ,;from physical abuse in an apartment building not fifty feet from the Society's office, At the inquest which followed, person after person testified, about theirfsuspicions and knowledge of the abuse over a six month period and yet not one had ventured. across the street to express his. concern, �d seek CAS intervention.'' The church `bullet. also emphasized the need to encourage parents with. problems to be referred to the Society for counselling and assistance, and particularly when problems are first arising. "The sympathetic concern of a friend, relative or neighbour, and the encouragement to seek help with family problems are both particularly important, and do much to _prevent problems from reaching a stage where the situation is hopeless, and we are forced to render an emergency service with , little hope of resolving problems and getting the family back on an even keel. As a Society, we are encouraged by the growing trend of parents approaching us in the first instance and requesting help. In a recent study in the Society, we ascertained that 36% of our family cases were self-referred." (Relative and neighbours account for 26% of referrals' - many with the active co-- operation of parents - police for 11% , public health - 10% , schools, health and ,welfare agencies, and • other professionals for 17% ). This continuing emphasis on the child within the family unit has seen the County Society's children in care population reduced to sixty-eight children at the .end of September. "We reached a peak in the summer of 1970 with one hundred twenty- two children in care, and this number has been reducing since that time;" noted Heath. "A year ago, ninety-six children were in care. Of course, related, to this child care reduction is the fact that many fewer children are on adoption probation - at the end of. September only five children, as compared to seventeen a year ago. A yeas' ago also, there were thirteen children from other Children's Aid Societies on adoption placement with us, whereas this September such placements were down to four children. Although we must intervene in some family situations and .actually apprehend children, or• facilitate a planned ' consent admission into care, these placements must be kept to only situations warranting same or we would be doing a disservice to the families and children we serve, and to the community at large who support us by their tax . dollars and voluntary donations, placement of children becomes a fairly expensive proposition when you examine actual costs. Last year of an . actual operating cost of $261,194, our child costs, when Srou apportion your - social work and administration overhead percentage, totalled $216,424 or about " five out of every six dollars., The„, annual cost of keeping a child in boarding placement when you total direct fees, other direct costs, and social service overhead approximates $2,300; this increases to $2,800 for receiving home or observation home placement, and to ,$8,000"for the specialized treatment centre. Needless to say, if our child care population were to return to earlier trends, I could only anticipate our costs skyrocketing, and we would he Adoption In the past two years there have been "decreases in the numberlbf children on adoption placement in the province 7,227 in 1971, a decrease of 27% from 1'970. The 4,756 adoption orders completed in 1971 represents a decrease of 9% from 19.70 when there was 5,327. Within the' County of Huron, finalized adoptions, decreased aliaost one third_ ,in the same period, . and both placements and completions. of adoption have continued to decrease during 1972 cfue in most part to the lack of infants being placed for adoption. - Adoption applications provincially peaked in 1970 at 7,881 but. decreased 10% to 7,121 applications in 1971. The County Society reports a similar reduction in applications and with approved homes now standing at forty, a much longer wait for placement of a child is - anticipated. In 1971 there was a decline of 33% in the number of unmarried mothers seeking CAS service in the province. In two - years, this. decline totals 40% . For the first time in many years, the number of unmarried mothers retaining , their child exceeded the number who relinquished the child ' for adoption - 3,322 were retained; 3,052 were taken into ca're.. Also related to the number of infants •q forced to return to a band-aid service to families which was often the case in previous years. Even at present,. we have noted some management problems in coping with a thirty percent increase in services to families in the pace of one year. It cost the Society slightly under ten thousand dollars last year to field one social worker but if we were to eliminate the placement of even four children in foster home or one child in a treatment centre for even one year, then I would think the provision of family ,service staff has been money well spent." Changing available for adoption is the rate of therapeutic abortions. Although the number of therapeutic abortions related to Unmarried Mothers is ti'ot available, the total ;abortion • rate • per 100 live births rose from 4.1 in 1970 to 12 in 1971 in Ontario The reduction of infants available for adoption has allowed the Societies in,.Ontario to make greater strides in placing thehyally and emotionally ha"sicndicapped •child,* the , child of mixed racial background, and the older child. In• 1971 in Ontario there were 4,049new adoption placements, with 3,0.52 infants of unmarried mothers takennto care. The balance of placements of 997 would indicate that the number of Older Children on adoption placement has grown, and many children for whom'homes could not be obtained, or who were classified as unadoptable, are finding permanent homes. At the 1972 a.nnua 1. conference of the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies, the Honotirable Rene Brunelle, Ontario Minister of Community and Social Services, noted the continuing partnership of government' and the local Children's Aid Society 'in the Ontario adoption programme. (continued on page 8A) "A thou h children victims of fete', Cherwill he Tvictims of our neglect.* rhn F .Kit THE BASS FACTORY OUTLET r, STORE Old Air Force Base, Clinton, Ont. A ..TRUE wFACTOR ST TURIN► "EC. CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS. 'a OUR SELECTION WILL: INCLUDE KNIT SHIRTS. DRESS PANTS. CASUAL PANTS; SOX LEATHER ".~FOODS, FOOTYVEAR, SPORTSWEAR, LUNGE'.ET FOR ALL MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY. MANY FIRST QUALITY LINES WILL ALSO BE OFFERED AT DIU000NT PRICES TO PROVIDE GREATER SHOPPING VARIETY. WE ARE OFFERING • 1 AT •THE CHECK-OUT, ON , EVERY PURCHASE MADE, EVEN. ALREADY THOUGH OUR FACTORY OUTLET PRICING POLICY SAVINGS OF UP TO 50% OFF THE REGULAR PRICE OF •COMPARABLE QUALITY MERCHANDISE. NEW FALL HOURS: MON. TO FRI. 1 P.M. to 9 P.M., SAT., 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. iteasik - AT THE WE RESERVE THE.RIGHT TO -LIMIT MAMMIES TO NORMAL•FAMILY REQUIREMENTS SPECIALS EFFECTIVE `TIL SUNDAY, 6 P.M. FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE WE ARE - THURS.-9 A.M. TO 9.P.M. OPEN FRS,-- 9 A.M. TO 9 P.M. S•AT.— 9 A.M. TO 6 P.M. RKET DISCOUNT FOODS MON,— 9 A.M. TO 6 P.M. TUE.— 9 A.M. TO 6 P.M: WED. --.-9 A.M. TO 6 P,M. 'MAXWELL HOUSE AT VANASTRA (FORMERLY C.F.B. CLINTON) AMPLE FREE PARKING.' • INSTANT COFFEE 6on.45 t , � FRESH PICNIC POWDERED DETERGENT. SUNLIGH CHICKEN$ GRADE "A" A FRYING BANQUET APPLE & CHERRY :{t.Mw;cif.'ec::fRC';v,Z.y'kSi.�i:�tv'rA:::I?:<ji':pis.:cafe.•iv''v"utM's;�.:'"0.'`53�. LARGE — WHITE CAUUFLOWEL� STALKS CELERY LETTUC GROCERIES 48 oz. 11N NABISCO 20 oz. MIS week has been officially proclalr'ned Children's Aid Week In Huron County and as.part of that recognitlon.the society is paying tribute to three. foster parents who have given notably) long service" to the cause of bringing. up wards of the society their -.sewn homes. Standing at left, 0.A.S. director Bruce Heath Ind Mrs. D. Dartiift, President of the C.A.S. Board, {5 r. JOHNSON J CLOTHS PKG. 5 5c COKE GLASSES 1 2 R 8 9c HEINZ KEG —• 32 oz. KETCHUP 6 7``c present certificates to these people. Standing at the rear are Mr. and Mrs. Jack Scott who have served for 18 years. Seated, IYf`t to right, 'ate Mr. and Mrs. Pat Patterson who have been foster parents for 25 years and Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Dolmage who have been foster parents for 15 years.