Hello Amazing and Mighty People.
My name is Alexis Folk. I am pleased to be back with a unique and informative podcast episode with Honourable Mitzi Dean, Minister of Children and Family Development. I wanted to interview Minister Dean to hear her journey, background ,experience, and education behind her that made her applicable for this position working as Minister of the uniquely talented community!
We also learn that being the Minister of Children and Family Development is a very rewarding job. You have somewhat of a voice in making a small to large difference in the lives of all types of people whether it’s taking their concerns into consideration, or working with government stakeholders to develop funding models that mandate the support that adults require when transitioning to a different branch of government supports. Newly named SAJE supports offer youth in care a stronger path to adulthood | BC Gov News
As well there is also a new model of support in progress for youth in need of care. CYSN Engagement Updates – Province of British Columbia
Hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed hosting it. So I can get a heads up on what to expect when working for MCFD, as well as to hear from her about Strengthening Journeys to Empowerment, the new branch supports for young adults.
I have a couple of questions to ask you about your career. I’m interested in knowing what your responsibilities are and kind of what education and what experience is needed to make a difference.
I grew up in England. And so I went to the equivalent of like school, you know, elementary school and high school in the UK.
And then I did an undergraduate degree. And then after I got my degree, I was looking at what kind of job I could get and all the jobs I was interested in. All said, you’d need to have a Social Work Diploma. So in the UK, there’s a diploma for perhaps doing social work. So I decided I wanted to go and do a Master’s in Social Work along with my diploma, so that I could be a qualified social worker and then I could apply for these really interesting jobs.
So I got my MSW, and I actually went straight into child protection social work. And I worked in the UK and I worked in Scotland as well. So the law in Scotland is actually quite different for child welfare and child safeguarding. So that was a really interesting experience. And I worked my way up from being a frontline worker to being a manager.
Then when I came to British Columbia, I had to have all of my qualifications certified, which was fine. I saw a great job as an executive director of a community social service agency here on South Vancouver Island, and I applied for that and I was successful in getting that position. And so I actually ran a range of services for over 10 years here on, on South Island from, like, early years programming to, uh, youth, uh, who are at risk of harm, youth at risk of homelessness, women who are experiencing gender based violence, people who are experiencing mental health and addictions issues, seniors programming, so a whole kind of range of services.
The community experienced a lot of cutbacks during those years, so I was in that position from 2007. To 2017, and we had a provincial election in 2017, and my local, I used to, I used to regularly go and meet with my local MLAs. So Maureen Caris decided she was gonna retire, and so we had a chat about who should run to replace her.
That was eventually how I decided that I was gonna run. And I ran in 2017. I’m very, very honored to be the MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin . And, uh, and I was reelected and I, I thank my community for that. And I got a phone call from the Premier John Horgan to ask me to be the Minister for Children and Family Development, and I’m so honored.
I’m honored to have somebody with so much experience in social work up here today, because that’s actually what I want to go into. Social workers, psychology, working with people with disabilities, because they experience a lot of…
Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s a wonderful idea. And one of the mottos in all of our ministries, I think, is nothing about us without us.And we’re all very much, um, trying to make sure that we listen to the voices of people with lived experience in, you know, policy changes and service delivery. Because, you know, people with lived experience can explain to us how the government might put systems and policies in place. That actually puts up barriers for some people and what we want to do is to make sure we don’t have barriers and we want to make sure that people are able to access the services that they need in the way that suits them best and that helps them achieve their goals and their outcomes the best way.
That is a great ministry approach and I hope to be part of that team one day because I strive to work towards making a difference in people’s lives. One of the things I know is that I, when I was employing people in the, um, in the organization that I was running here for 10 years, I’m, I’m interested in the whole person.
So it isn’t just the qualification. It’s also what, what are people’s values? What do they bring to the position? What previous experience do they have? Have they done any volunteering? People come at the whole person into these roles because these roles are a calling. This is being in service. So this isn’t just being functional at something.
This is really bringing your whole self into the work. And so, you know, I, I, that’s really important to me when I’m looking at, at hiring people and making sure that we’ve got the right fit. Thank you. I’m not sure if you know, but I’m working with Axis right now through the Ministry of Life Skills program and I really enjoy it.
Their hearts are into it. The people are so nice there. So good job hiring people. That’s what I need. It’s like so many people come into this kind of work because they’re personally motivated, not because they’re financially motivated. I was visiting a yesterday and there was a woman there who’d worked there for Many, many years, and, um, she was, she loves her job because she helps people, and she helps people with their goals, and she sees them build up their skills, create their dreams, and then launch off into, you know, employment or further training, and she was standing there telling all of us, and the premiere was there, Egan, as well, and she was so passionate about her work, she had tears at the time that she was telling us how much she loves her work, you know, I think that’s why we all come into this kind of, Profession of being in service.
Not only do the staff have a connection to them, we also have a deep connection and it’s really sad to leave our people when… I know, and that’s the thing, like, the work is also so much about relationship. All those different relationships, and that’s where we get strength, empowerment, and support, and then, you know, we have that grief when people move on and we’re, we’re not there with them anymore.
I know what you mean. As Minister of Child and Family Development, you must encounter some pretty interesting challenges or barriers that you have to work through. What are some of those? There are a lot of barriers, for sure. Um, there were many cuts in my ministry, and the ministry was, wasn’t really fully funded for a long, long time.
And, you know, we know that indigenous children and youth have been overrepresented in the child welfare system for far too long. There are big, big, uh, shifts that we need to make in practice, in policy, and in legislation to make sure that the government over intrusion in the lives of indigenous children and families is stopped and that the, uh, intergenerational trauma It’s also, um, stopped and we can support children, youth and families in, in healing.
Um, and so we’ve passed significant legislation that supports indigenous nations in exercising jurisdiction over child and family services. And we’re in the early stages now of writing agreements with nations so that they take on the delivery of services and the prioritization of how they want to approach serving children, youth and families of their nations.
You’re benefiting everybody. Well, I’m in service to everybody, and I do my best. You know, there’s a lot of work that gets done, um, and I’m just one person. I do my bit, but everybody else around me is doing their bit as well. As a person looking to make a difference in people’s lives, I was interested in knowing, is this just clearly a ministry for a child and youth with disabilities, or does it fund…
All kinds of disabilities, like a broken eye, where they’re just specific to chronic illnesses and disabilities. Yeah, so my ministry is responsible, uh, it used to be for young people up to the age of 19. Now, we have programming and a mandate past, uh, the age of 19 up to 27. Um, but really primarily the ministry supports kids who have needs.
in the community. So not, um, not like a broken arm, you know, kids would go to health, health services for that, but children and youth who have support needs, so children and youth who have neurodiversity, uh, children and youth with disability, with complex needs. Awesome. I’m interested in hearing more about the program, but when you age out, because I’m 16 now and I’m nervous, very nervous to age out.
Well, this is really exciting because we really only just launched this a while ago and it was, um, it was made possible actually because of the decisions that we took during the pandemic when COVID hit. So we now have what’s called, um, strengthening abilities and journeys to empowerment. The SAGE program, and we changed the law in order to be able to do this.
So we have a suite of different programs available through, um, services that support young people who have been in government care. Uh, get through that transition into young adulthood. So, um, they can stay in the home that they’re living in, they, uh, for a couple of years if they choose to do that.
There’s an unlimited earnings exemption, which means they can go out and earn money and build up work experience, put that on their resume, and, uh, they won’t be penalized or have anything pulled back from them. Uh, we have rent supplements for young people who are in market rentals. 600 a month for up to 24 months, as long as they qualify, um, really, really increased access to life skills training, cultural connections, um, and getting support to take advantage of the, um, post secondary tuition.
And then next year we will be introducing, uh, the income supplement. So all young people leaving government care. at the age of 19 will receive 1, 250 a month for the first year. So lots of different supports to help young people from care thrive and not just survive. Interesting. That was, that was very helpful.
Thanks for that. Yes. And one last question. This might be a shot in the dark question, but this is a question I like to ask everyone who’s on my podcast. What do you think makes a mighty person? I, I think it’s a couple of things. I think it’s having a vision and being grounded at the same time. I think always having that humility and knowing where you’re coming from and having that leadership of wanting to move things forward in a way that benefits lots of other people.
Well, thanks for the conversation today. It has been very beneficial to me, and I look forward to working with you in the future. I look forward to that, Alexis. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.
Meeting Mighty People by Alexis Folk 