Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, there's a real need for a child and youth advocate in the Northwest Territories. I'm hearing from foster parents and biological parents in the system that in many cases there's a revolving door of social workers. Some of the foster families have four social workers in one year. Some have no contact with the kids' social worker for an entire year. They feel like they have been set up for failure, wrong information given, miscommunication. It's always their fault, Mr. Speaker, and when they complain their homes get shut down. Will the Minister responsible for the social services system, the child and family services system, support the establishment of a child and youth advocate in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within my portfolio, you know, I understand that the Member's frustration and I know that there are a lot of barriers around this department and areas where, you know, we have to protect the child's interest and sometimes that information, you know, doesn't -- we're not able to share the information freely. However, you know, whatever route that this Legislative Assembly chooses to go, I think there's a process that we have to follow as a consensus government, and I would look forward to looking at those types of options. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I mean, this problem is seemingly getting worse by the day. There's been a number of very serious child and family services audits that have revealed serious defects in the system. Can the Minister comment on the implementation of audit recommendations and if the department has successfully responded to all of the past three audits of the auditor general to fix the child and family services system. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been a huge overhaul in the child and family service area due to the fact of the two previous auditor general reports and a lot of the information on those reports are tracked publicly online, and there is information online as to where we are. There are some things that we still are working towards implementing as later in this 20th Assembly. Part of that work is implementing new legislation, and with that legislation will come more changes to the child and family service program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so one of the biggest concerns is when foster parents, in particular, are having issues and feel like decisions are not being made in the best interests of the children under their care, that they are -- their homes are shut down, they're shut out of the system. What ask the Minister -- what does the Minister recommend those foster families do in those concerns? How do they have their concerns raised so we can ensure the best interests of the child are actually being followed and not some other policy that they're not even allowed to see? So how do we ensure there's oversight and accountability of child and family services in the Northwest Territories without this position. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of child and family services is really, I think, not just for foster families, for families, for the children. It is a sensitive area, and the goal of child and family services is always to return the children to their biological family or within their biological family. That is always the goal. And, you know, and I think what sometimes in foster care, some of these children do remain in these homes for a long period of time, and sometimes it takes families time to be able to, you know, do the things that they need to do to be able to get the children back into their care and, you know, and I hear that from sometimes the concerns that are brought to my office, however, our staff do try to work with foster families. I know right now that they're working on a NWT training for foster families too so that they're fully understand their role and the limitations under what can be shared with them, who's the decision-makers when these children are placed in their homes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
