On February 7, 2025, your UPE team met with the department on the above-named new policy.
As your UPE team read through the policy, we noticed some language that needed to be clarified or changed altogether. The biggest thing we noticed was that this policy does not inform staff of what constitutes an Unauthorized Absence. The policy directs staff on what to do about an Unauthorized Absence but fails to state what to do upon the youth’s return. There was also an entire section devoted to incident reports, to which your UPE team asked, “Doesn’t the staff know how to write an incident report?” Pointing out the fact that staff has been performing this task for quite some time now. We asked that the section be removed and made into its own policy. Also, there were discrepancies surrounding when to pack up a youth’s belongings and when to send said belongings to storage. In the policy, the word “interference” was used. The union requested that that word be replaced with something different.
The department stated that a youth is considered to be on an Unauthorized Absence if they leave the SWH without permission. The length of time for which a youth must be gone is something that the department will be working on prior to our next meeting. Also to be worked on is what steps staff are to take upon a youth returning from an Unauthorized Absence. Your UPE team requested that the word “interference” be denied since this is the language used in TCI training. A change the department was willing to make at the table was replacing the phrase “shall engage with” with “shall make efforts to engage with.”
Once the changes have been made, the department will send the policy back for review. Your UPE team will ensure that all changes requested and agreed upon at the table have been made.
Thank you to the advocates for your participation,
Eric Booker, Mike Gilbert, Shawn Singh, Sarah Singleton, and Jennifer Wygand
