News Release

FREDERICTON (CNB) – The NB Families Case Management System, the provincial government’s child welfare case management computer system, has been implemented at St. Mary's First Nation.

"I am pleased that we were able to work with Child and Family Services at St. Mary's First Nation to ensure the successful implementation of NB Families," said Social Development Minister Sue Stultz. "Replacing the manual, paper-based case management system with a computer system will greatly improve the delivery of child welfare services in their community. This system will provide their social workers with quick access to case information that may be critical to helping a child in urgent need."

The Department of Social Development provided software, computers, training and user support to three social workers at St. Mary’s First Nation.  

"The implementation of NB Families is definitely a progressive step for our social work staff and, ultimately, for the community,” said Chief Candice Paul. “With this case management system, we take our rightful place among our provincial peers.

“I thank Social Development for its time, effort and expertise and also, our staff of social workers for adopting this new system with determination, enthusiasm and professionalism. This is a huge step forward in terms of service delivery and accountability and a better working relationship between the province and First Nations."

St. Mary's First Nation was the site of a pilot project as the first Aboriginal community to use the system. An implementation report will be prepared to determine the effort and operational costs required to support future implementations in other First Nations communities.  

The implementation of the system in First Nations communities was a recommendation from the Child and Youth Advocate's report entitled, Hand-in-Hand: A Review of First Nations Child Welfare in New Brunswick.