Private care group says N.L. auditor general is wrong

A not-for-profit agency in Newfoundland and Labrador is defending itself after a review of government spending questioned skyrocketing costs for the program responsible for children in care.

Rick Kelly, the executive director of Waypoints, said he is confused by the report from the Auditor General that suggested a lack of documentation means there is no way to measure the program's effectiveness or competitiveness.

"The service Waypoints provides is very professional and is a very good quality of care for the people of this province," he told CBC News.

Auditor General John Noseworthy said in his 2009 report, released Jan. 28, that two companies - Waypoints and Caregivers - received more than $10 million in government contracts in 2009 to provide services to children in care.

Noseworthy said the contracts weren't tendered and he couldn't find any written documentation to confirm whether qualified people were being hired.

Noseworthy said the Child, Youth and Family Services Department, through Eastern Health, paid the two private agencies more than $10 million during the last fiscal year to provide living arrangements for the young people.

He found that the annual cost per child ranged from $157,000 to $600,000 in 2009.

Many were children in temporary accommodations, such as hotels or other supervised arrangements, until long-term foster homes could be found.

Kelly said his organization, which was known for more than 30 years as the St. Francis Foundation until a name change two years ago, employs nearly 120 people and has a very strict hiring policy.

"We will not interview people for positions in child and youth care unless they come with a completed degree in social sciences or studies in the child and youth care field," he said.

Kelly said Waypoints runs residential group homes and sometimes puts workers in family homes, and he said they help place young people into the workforce using employment programs.

"We are not in hotels. We have our own facilities and our own homes and we're trying to provide the best amount of care to these young people," he said.

Noseworthy also found the provincial government was lax in documenting how service providers were selected.

"No contract on file. No documentation to show how the two service providers were ever selected," he told CBC News last week.

Noseworthy said putting a contract up for public tender might also attract other companies or groups with the required expertise to deal with children in care, and might result in the children getting better care.

Kelly said he can't see that approach working in this field.

"We're government funded, our staff's job classification went through the process. They're unionized, so treasury board has looked at those classifications," he said.

Most of the money for the work went to another private company that is involved in dealing with the children who are in care.

A spokesperson for Caregivers wasn't available for an interview.