‘Foster home’ flex fails to foil fire inspector’s order
If Nova Scotia foster homes all needed to install fire alarms and sprinklers, we wouldn’t have any foster homes, says the head of a company that runs what it calls a foster home in Bridgewater.
A numbered company headed by Norman Greenberg appealed last fall after a fire inspector ordered sprinklers and fire alarms installed at a home it owns on Jubilee Road in Bridgewater.
“If all foster homes that supported people with varying abilities required sprinkler systems installed, we would not have any foster homes,” Greenberg said in a notice of appeal to the provincial regulator penned by Carol-ann Brown.
The numbered company Greenberg heads owns two lots on Jubilee Road and another on Oakland Drive in Bridgewater.
He argued the company’s building at 168 Jubilee Rd. is a foster home, not a small options home or a licensed care facility.
“Like many of our foster homes, these are not permanent homes for these children/adults,” said his notice of appeal. “Due to the needs of our current children, one home parent is always awake within this home (day and night). We are appealing for that reason. Requiring our foster home to have sprinklers would require all foster homes within the province with children with specialized needs to have sprinkler systems and this is not the case.”
PROVINCE CONTRADICTS CLAIM
The problem is the province doesn’t consider what Greenberg is running to be a foster home.
“Nova Scotia does not contract companies to be foster homes,” said Tracy Embrett, the province’s executive director of child and family wellbeing.
“A foster home is a volunteer foster care giver who supports children or youth in the care of the (Community Services minister) in their home.”
They aren’t paid, she said. “They are volunteers who receive funding to support the needs of the child who they are caring for.”
‘OTHER OPTIONS’
Most children in care are in foster homes, she said.
“Sometimes we need to utilize other options to meet the needs of a child in care like a licensed child and youth caring program, or sometimes a temporary emergency arrangement,” Embrett said. “That would be a contracted service provider who can respond to a very short-term need of a placement until a foster care giver or a licensed setting is able to support a child.”
Citing privacy concerns, Embrett wouldn’t speak about the case involving the Bridgewater home where Greenberg was trying to avoid installing fire alarms and sprinklers.
But she stressed they aren’t required at foster homes.
NO ‘EXTRA REGULATIONS’
“Foster homes in Nova Scotia do not have extra regulations outside what any private home would need to have,” Embrett said.
“There’s not a requirement or a regulation for a foster giver to have a sprinkler system to become a foster care giver. If there was an exceptional circumstance that may warrant that, that would be something that there could be a consultation with a fire inspector.”
Nova Scotia has about 850 children in foster care.
Embrett is not aware of any foster care givers having sprinklers in their homes.
“It wouldn’t be something that’s required by Community Services,” she said.
Greenberg – who could not be reached for comment -- is a developmental psychologist.
‘COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMS’
He helped found Alternative Programs for Youth and Families, Inc. to develop anger management programs for at-risk youth, according to the company’s website.
“Norman spent most of his career working for Capital Health - Mental Health Services. His experience with youth and adults led to the creation of Alternative Programs for Youth and Families, Inc. over 30 years ago,” says the company’s website.
“The focus for all programs is to create highly effective community-based programs.”
Brown, who penned the letter appealing the fire inspector’s order, has been the company’s general manager since 1997.
“She brings over 25 years of front line and management experience providing a variety of social services to youth, families, and organizations,” according to the company website.
Brown also appears to work at the Bridgewater office of the provincial victim services program.
‘WE DO NOT AGREE’
In an email late last month to the provincial regulator, Brown indicated she attended a resolution meeting over the matter.
“We do not agree with the necessity of the order or that we meet the criteria however agree to do as requested in the order,” she wrote.
The company that owns the home “will work directly with the fire marshal to move this forward,” Brown said. “I want everyone’s expectations to be realistic in relation to the time frame as safe and appropriate housing must be found for these clients who possess very specialized needs.”
A Sept. 14, 2023, letter from Bruce Parks, a fire inspector with the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg, ordered the company that owns the Jubilee Road home to install sprinklers and a fire alarm before Oct. 27, 2023.
HEAVY PENALTIES
It notes the maximum penalty for violating the Fire Safety Act for an individual or an officer of a company is $25,000, six months in jail, or both.
“Where there are aggravated circumstances (the maximum penalty is) a fine of $150,000 or two years imprisonment or both,” Parks wrote.
Companies can be fined up to $50,000 for violating the Act, and up to five times that under aggravated circumstances, he wrote.
According to correspondence filed with the provincial regulator, the numbered company that owns the Jubilee Road home in question now appears to be in the process of settling the matter by installing the sprinklers and alarms the fire inspector ordered.
The case is “currently being held in abeyance as it appears the parties have agreed on a course of action,” Paul Allen, executive director of the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board said in an email.
GAG ORDER
In a brief interview Wednesday, Parks said he could not divulge how many residents live in the building.
“I’m not allowed to discuss this at this time and that actually comes from the Utility and Review Board,” Parks said.
“Even though the appellant has asked to settle outside the review board, until things are complete the review board has directed us that we’re still not allowed to discuss it until it’s been completed.”
His order indicates the building in question does not qualify as a residential occupancy under the building code. Instead, it falls under the fire regulations aimed at supportive living facilities, group homes and hospices.
‘CANNOT SELFEVACUATE’
A residential occupancy “cannot be used for persons who cannot self-evacuate,” Parks wrote in his order.
As of last month, the province had 712 homes providing foster care to children.
“We have a goal of getting to 1,000,” Embrett said.
“We know that the best outcomes for children in care when they can’t live with their parents is for them to live in a family-based setting.”
‘MOCKINGBIRD APPROACH’
Nova Scotia is re-designing its foster care system using the model of the Mockingbird Society, an advocacy group founded in Washington State almost a quarter century back.
“We are the only jurisdiction in Canada to be implementing the Mockingbird approach,” Embrett said.
That involves one hub home surrounded by “a constellation of eight to 10 foster care givers,” she said.
Under the new program, a lead foster parent helps support others in the group.
‘PEER SUPPORT’
“There’s peer support within the foster care givers, there’s informal celebrations, there’s respite that occurs within the constellation,” Embrett said.
“It models an extended family, like many of us have, where you can rely on each other and not have to connect with a social worker and say, ‘I need to make arrangements for respite for a weekend because I’m going away.’ It’s all managed within the constellation when it can be.”
Nova Scotia launched two such constellations in November of 2022, then monitored them, Embrett said. “We had great success and now we’re rolling it out across the province.”
By the end of April, all foster parents in Nova Scotia will be in constellations of eight-10 homes, she said, noting care givers could help each other out by doing things like picking up other kids who live nearby from school.
“There could be a situation where a foster care giver needs to attend to a personal matter and they can call someone in their constellation to help them out,” Embrett said. “The children get to experience close relationships with a wider group of people than just their foster care givers.”
‘BEST RECRUITERS’
The goal of the program is to provide more support for foster parents.
“We know our best recruiters are our current foster care givers, so we’re very hopeful this will attract more people to becoming care givers,” Embrett said.
Community Services has also stopped asking foster parents to provide receipts for their expenses.
“The old way that we used to operate for foster care was we would reimburse based on actuals,” she said. “And that often required submitting receipts. So, it was not a very efficient way for foster care givers and there was an over-reliance on them to use personal funds and get reimbursed for it.”
‘TRUSTING THEM’
Now, depending on a child’s needs, the province issues bi-weekly payments to foster parents. As of April 1, they will range from $984 to $2,270 per child, depending on medical and specialized needs. Foster parents no longer need to provide receipts.
“So, it’s really a contribution to the home,” Embrett said.
“We’re trusting the foster care givers to care for children. We’re also trusting them that they will budget like any other family and provide for the needs of the children.”
That could allow foster care givers to sign a child up for swimming lessons or buy them a new set of sneakers without having to explain the need, she said.
OUT OF ‘THE WEEDS’
“It’s getting out of the detail and the weeds of what the child needs and really, really empowering and valuing these foster care givers that we have,” Embrett said.
“They know what the children need. We have some foster care givers who have been foster parents for over 50 years.”
About a quarter of foster parents in the province are over the age of 65, a worrisome statistic because at some point, they won’t be able to do it any longer.
“That’s why we are trying to attract more foster care givers,” Embrett said.