Questionable spending practices, nepotism and a lack of supervision are among a litany of problems Saskatchewan's provincial auditor has found at a Regina safe house for sexually exploited teens.

The findings were part of a highly critical 27-page report released Thursday by auditor Fred Wendel to a provincial legislative committee.

Auditor Fred Wendel's 27-page report was released to the standing committee on public accounts on Thursday.

Wendel's review followed a CBC-TV investigation in February that revealed a series of problems at Oyate House, which has received $1 million from the Saskatchewan government over the past three years.

Lack of guidance

In his report, Wendel focused on financial and administrative concerns and said the Oyate board of directors failed to give proper direction to staff and management at the facility.

"As a result, management and staff there did not receive clear guidance on how to address the needs of children in their care," the report said.

Among Wendel's findings:

• Oyate wasn't ensuring the money it received from the Department of Community Resources was being used for the purposes for which it was intended.
• The safe house, which cares for teenage prostitutes who are trying to get off the street, didn't have "the required knowledge, skills or abilities" to care for sexually exploited children.
• Staff turnover was a big problem, with the centre seeing 60 new staff over the past three years even though there are normally only six staff at any one time. Oyate has had four permanent directors and three temporary ones since 2003.
• Several employees at the centre were relatives of supervisory staff, in violation of policy.
• The Oyate board of directors paid more than $10,000 for honorariums to themselves, though their agreement with the province did not permit it.

The report also criticized the provincial government for not properly supervising Oyate's activities.

It notes the Community Resources Department selected Oyate to run the safe house even though the home had no experience in the residential care of children.

No word from minister

Buckley Belanger, the minister responsible for the Community Resources Department, was not available for comment Thursday.

However, assistant deputy minister Bob Wihlidal said the province is working with the Oyate board to tighten its procedures, as recommended by the auditor.

"We're confident that when those recommendations are implemented we will have an effective and much-needed service here in Regina," he said

Saskatchewan party MLA June Draude said the province shouldn't have allowed the problems to go on as long as they did.

Opposition MLA critical

"I'm absolutely shocked and I'm hurt that this government has put our at-risk children more at risk," she said.

"The part that really annoys me and bothers me is the fact that the government had had an opportunity for the last three years to pick up the phone and say to the board of directors: 'What's going on here?'"

Wendel said his report did not examine the standard of care the children received while in Oyate House, saying a separate report by the Children's Advocate will deal with that.

However, his report said that according to Oyate management and the department, children tended to run away much more frequently from Oyate than children did from other residential programs for youth.

The safe house stopped accepting new clients on April 13.