EDMONTON – An Alberta government hiring practice has created a crisis in care that is putting vulnerable children at risk, says the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).
“There’s a drastic shortage of Child Intervention Practitioners because the government changed the way it hired people to do this vital work,” says Curtis Jackson, vice-president of AUPE for the southern region of the province.
“Four years ago, there was a staff of more than 45 in Medicine Hat, including seven teams of five or six practitioners, plus supervisors and intake workers. There are now only 18 staff,” says Jackson.
Child Intervention Practitioners investigate and assess reports of children in potentially dangerous situations. Any delays in doing this work put children at increased risk.
Sandra Azocar, AUPE vice-president for the northern region of Alberta, says the story is similar across the province. “High Level’s staff in this department is down to one supervisor, with no Child Intervention Practitioners. That supervisor is due to leave her position soon, meaning there will be zero staff in High Level.”
Workers in the department of Children and Family Services put the blame for the crisis on the government of Alberta’s hiring policy, called the “Growth Model Series.”
When it was introduced in 2022, the government said it would improve recruitment and retention.
“It has done the opposite,” says Jackson. “Workloads have increased so much that staff are quitting in droves or are being forced to take time off sick. Five veterans have left the department in Medicine Hat in the last few months.”
Instead of hiring people to become Child Intervention Practitioners with a bachelor’s degree in social work or a relevant field, the government is hiring people at a lower classification, needing certificates that require only 10 months of education.
Azocar says: “New workers are being put into difficult situations for which they don’t have the appropriate training or experience. Veteran workers have been given extra duties to compensate for that and to train the new hires. It has caused severe burnout, resignations and increased absence due to illness.”
Jackson adds: “The government claimed this change in hiring was to address recruitment and retention issues. Had they consulted the front-line workers, we would have told them that lowering standards and qualifications would fail. The real solution starts with a positive workplace culture, fair and competitive wages and increased mental-health supports.”
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