Need to expand powers of Alberta's child advocate suggested by auditor general

Alberta's auditor general has put forward ideas that would give the province's child and youth advocate more clout, and compel bureaucrats to explain how they follow or ignore recommendations from the advocate's office.

"Reports from my office are automatically referred to a standing committee of the (legislative) assembly," said Auditor General Merwan Saher. "That's not the case with the child and youth advocate."

Saher submitted his ideas to an all-party legislative committee reviewing the Child and Youth Advocate Act. He said he waded into the discussion after seeing the differences between how recommendations from his office are handled compared to what happens to recommendations made by the child and youth advocate.

"As a matter of principle, I'm simply saying if someone has the right to make a recommendation, the system should assist in public discussion," said Saher.

Recommendations made by the auditor general are supported by the public accounts committee. The committee, made up of MLAs from all parties, can question public servants about how and if recommendations from the auditor general have been followed. There is no similar procedure to handle recommendations from the child and youth advocate.

Child and Youth Advocate Del Graff said improving how recommendations from his office are dealt with is a top priority.

Graff said his office works hard to make fair and balanced recommendations to improve the lives of children, and he wants to see government provide a more "timely and robust response."

"We see about one-third of the recommendations have been completed by government, about one-third of our recommendations are being acted on, and about one-third of the recommendations we've not seen any action on," Graff said.

The Human Services department, which deals with children in care issues, has been under close scrutiny and was sharply criticized last year after stories emerged about the death of a child in care.

Six-year-old Serenity was emaciated and badly bruised when she died from a brain injury in September 2014. Medical records documented injuries that suggested the girl had been sexually assaulted.

Numerous concerns were raised about the Human Services department, and how it failed to protect Serenity.

Need for accountability

Expanded powers for the child and youth advocate would help meet a critical need of keeping track of recommendations as they go through the system, said interim Liberal leader David Swann.

"There does need to be oversight, there does need to be accountability," said Swann.

It's hard to keep track of what happens after recommendations are made by the advocate, he said.

"As we've seen in the past, many of these (recommendations) gradually slip away, and for various reasons don't get implemented."

Swann said all government advocates, aside from the children's advocate, need the ability to work independently without reporting directly to the minister.

The child and youth advocate is an independent officer of the legislature, and reports directly to the legislative assembly. But other advocates, such as the health advocate, the mental health advocate, the utilities consumer advocate, the seniors advocate and the farmers advocate, all report directly to the departments and ministers.

The all-party standing committee on legislative offices is reviewing the Child and Youth Advocate Act, and has been holding meetings over the past two days.

The review must be completed by June.