The key partners in the H4S Project were the Directorate of Mental Health of the Ministry of Health, the Provincial and District Directors of Health Services, the WHO Country Office, World Vision Australia, and CIMH.
The Craanes say their complaints to branch managers and to their supervisors, the district directors, were largely ignored.
"It would be at the discretion of various district directors," said Eyleen Schmidt, a spokeswoman for the immigration service, "but based on the results of this particular initiative, it would be logical that other district directors would lean toward doing the same thing in their district".
The fate of the agency's 33 district directors under a new department is also unclear, a factor that may have prompted the New York district's independent appeal for extra staffing.
District directors have a certain amount of discretion, although much less than they had before restrictive immigration laws were passed in 1996, and can offer some relief to illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes and are not otherwise ineligible for resident status.
In view of this, the district directors of health and the NHIA must be actively involved from the early implementation stages for their support and goodwill in this regard.
