Looking beyond the numbers

What you should find shocking is certain areas have the highest percentage of vulnerable children in these categories on the island of Montreal.

According to an inquiry commissioned by the provincial government’s Health and Social Services Agency; Kirkland, Pointe Claire north and south and Beaconsfield have the lowest percentage of vulnerable kids in the five categories with 18.3 per cent, 24.5 per cent, 29.3 per cent and 30.3 per cent respectively. In stark contrast Pierrefonds central-north and central-south, Ile Bizard and Cloverdale/A-Ma-Baie revealed many more kids were in vulnerable situations with 41.2 per cent, 46.9 percent, 32.2 percent and 36.8 per cent, respectively.

In light of the inquiry released last Wednesday, social workers from the West Island Health and Social Services Centre (WIHSSC) gathered at the Pointe Claire Holiday Inn to discuss the study’s data at greater length.

“The study did a good job looking at the overall picture of the West Island,” said Fabrice Kamion, a program co-ordinator for the Bread Basket Lac St. Louis, a charitable community organization geared towards providing healthy meals for families in need.

“But (the inquiry) hides many realities of the West Island (there are pockets of poverty). We must be able to target which families need the most help on a case by case basis (with adequate resources), not simply by neighbourhoods,” Kamion added.

In Cloverdale/A-Ma-Baie, 21.4 per cent of the 98 kindergarten children targeted by the study found they were not ready physically to tackle a full day of school. In Pointe Claire south and north, statistics show physical health is not an issue with 10.4 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively. Pointe Claire north’s average family income is $75,489 but 10.9 per cent are low-income earners, largely residing in the Delmar area. The Bread Basket, after much deliberation, began a vegetable garden project last July for the area sponsored by Home Depot.

“The criteria’s to get subventions (from the government) are too strict. Often they’ll see the West Island as an affluent neighbourhood and we’ll get overlooked,” said Kamion. “But we have people here who are not as well off as some might think.”

Social workers also expressed concerns over the lack of data available to target vulnerable kids after they enter elementary. Once children become part of the school system, gathering statistics becomes part of the school board’s responsibility; a problem for social workers due to confidentiality laws.

“The school board facilitates (sharing data) as much as we can with social services by giving the parents the choice to fill out forms to share the information,” said Lucie La Ferrière, the Lester B. Pearson School Board’s director of student services. “But the fact remains confidentiality has to be respected. The results of our data are shared with each school principal, and they have an idea of which skills to work on.”

But once kids leave school, they are no longer part of the school board’s jurisdiction, according to Pearson chairman Marcus Tabachnick. Vulnerable children are often left without the extra services they require to succeed in the classroom, social workers claim. For this reason the WIHSSC social workers and school boards meet regularly to discuss a plan of action.

In order to continuously work in collaboration, the WIHSSC “assumes a certain leadership” in bringing social workers and school boards together.

“There is no lack of good will from the school board, we have the same goals,” said Ruth Bresnen, director of child and youth services. “There are 53 schools in the territory; many social workers try to connect with them. But everyone has there own way of doing things and there lies the problem.”

Recently grants for provincial government initiatives like the 123 GO! Program, Quebec en form and Maison-nee were announced, according to France Remete, director of public health. With the new money expected, Remete hopes the WIHSSC programs will reach more kids already in need.

“We have to be optimistic in creating new programs and there has to be a willingness with partners to find a solid solution,” Remete said. “Perhaps it would be better to serve small communities with smaller projects instead of big projects for big communities.”

Certain social workers, however, would rather see more action taken by government agencies in prevention. Parents ought to receive the proper tools to detect any vulnerability without fear of being labeled and teachers must be adequately educated to answer criteria’s on whether the child is getting the proper aid or not.

Despite the varying opinions, Bresnen views the process as a “positive exchange.”

“No new problems have emerged and that’s reassuring. We can continue to work on the challenges in front of us,” she` said.