"What happens if a client or parents are dissatisfied with something that happens at AARC?
Policy for clients:
All AARC clients are provided with a process for expressing dissatisfaction (hereinafter called the “Grievance”) with a treatment procedure or a staff decision regarding their treatment. The client is informed of this procedure during the intake.
Goal:
To ensure that any client can submit a written Grievance when he/she feels there is an injustice, inequality, or hindrance to obtaining effective treatment.
Procedure:
A client who wishes to grieve will request a meeting with his/her Primary Peer Counsellor. If no resolution is found at this meeting, the client must put the Grievance in writing, and the Grievance will be directed to the next level of Peer Counsellor and/or Clinical staff. The original meeting will be documented and signed by the Primary Peer Counsellor.
If no resolution is found at any of the above levels, the Grievance will then proceed to the Clinical Supervisor and then to the Executive Director. If no resolution is found at these levels, the client may submit his/her Grievances to the Chairman of the Parent Executive Committee, the Clinical Committee Chairman, and finally if necessary, the Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The Chairman has the authority to resolve the Grievance or bring it to the attention of the full Board of Directors.
Once a final decision is reached, the appropriate staff member will meet with the Client to advise him/her of the outcome.
A copy of the final decision will be signed by the Client and filed in the client’s personal file.
A client who has engaged in the grievance process may expect to be updated weekly about the status of this procedure and may expect a final decision within one month."
http://www.aarc.ab.ca/index.phpLet's look at a situation with which I'm somewhat familiar.
My Special Lady Friend was sent home with a male Oldcomer due to a shortage of female Oldcomers. The host home family, the Clements, are staunch AARColytes, having put four offspring into AARC. While in the Clement home, SLF was forced to perform naked push-ups by her Oldcomer while he masturbated. While this occurred, the Oldcomer, at the time an adult over the age of eighteen, was responsible for SLF.
Upon returning to the centre, SLF complained to her Peer Counselor. Consider now AARC's position. They have released a minor into the care of an adult whose principal qualification for this position of responsibility is his identity as a drug addict. AARC must then acknowledge that this minor client was not only released to this adult with a background that would seem to indicate a high risk for antisocial behavior, but the adult Oldcomer was actually instructed to keep the minor Newcomer confined in his bedroom at night.
Needless to say, this incident did not see the light of day. Had it, the Wiz and everybody at AARC would have been seen to have essentially provided an adult drug addict with a minor to use as a sexual plaything.
How about another scenario in which SLF was assaulted in a host home. SLF was sent to the Gilbertsen home. SLF's oldcomer is now seriously incapacitated with a mental disorder. Again, this Oldcomer was given authority over SLF on the basis that the Oldcomer was also a drug addict. While in the Gilbertsen home, SLF's Oldcomer and her younger sister both attacked SLF. Again SLF reported her mistreatment. Again it was ignored. Let's look at AARC's position in this case. The Gilbertsens also put a number of their offspring through AARC. The younger of SLF's assaillants eventually became a Peer Counselor. So AARC would have to acknowledge that Mrs. Gilbertsen, whose husband was physically incapacitated, was not able to provide protection to the minor Newcomer in her home. Again, this complaint did not see the light of day.
Were the authorities to ever conduct an investigation into allegations such as these, it would be immediately apparent that while in a host home a Newcomer is at the mercy of the Oldcomer, who may be suffering from a mental disorder and whose sole qualification for being given control over another person is their few months spent in AARC.
