Research Project

[torontokids]

I just had a thought. Some providers may be looking into joining an agency and starting their own information gathering now to prepare. Some of these questions can be asked when interviewing the agency and this info may be helpful to inform the project. Just another group you could solicit info from.

[cfred]

Yes, Torontokids...good point! I was actually thinking about applying to a number of agencies myself. I have no intention of signing on with any of them....more of just a fact finding mission. I'm also going to speak with a number of people from other work sectors (mechanics, restaurant owners, chiropractor, food truck owner, LCBO, etc) to find out about their inspections (who pays, where is funding from, etc). I can use that to compare to our system. I really need more letters to come in though....the few that I have just aren't going to cut it.

Sooooo....if any of you know people (parents or providers) who are affiliated with or have considered affiliation, I'd really love to hear from them. It is completely anonymous and is not being researched as a biased bit of work. I want to hear from all sides and it needs to be factual.

[cfred]

One thing I want to make clear is that I don't understand fully how the agency sector works. When I say agencies pay for inspectors, these are not, to my knowledge, ministry inspectors. The ministry brought in 6 new inspectors for the entire province, bringing the total up to (I think) around 60. These are the inspectors who would show up at your door if a complaint was lodged against you. They are also the ones who would (I believe) be doing inspections of large facilities. Agencies hire RECEs to do quarterly (or maybe more depending on the agency...not sure on that) inspections of agency affiliated homes to be sure they're in compliance. Ministry inspectors will come around as well, but much less frequently. I want to say annually, but I'm not sure. So agencies don't pay for the ministry inspectors - tax payers do. They pay for the RECEs who come around quarterly with a checklist, etc. The funding for those RECEs comes from us, hence the high fees.

It even looks convoluted in text! The point being, I want to know why the ECEs, some of the lowest paid professionals in the business, are paying for their inspections in full. I want to compare this model to other business inspection models. There are other things the info is useful for, but it might be nice to publicly point out and PROVE that this is how the system is now and why we're not for it.