'More children are going to get hurt,' province warned on eve of review
The man who led Alberta's last task force on children who die in provincial care says more kids are going to get hurt while the government conducts yet another review of the children-in-care system.
"It's pretty frustrating to hear that this is the exact same process that the previous Conservative government went through about two years ago," said Tim Richter who chaired the Alberta Child Implementation Oversight Committee in 2014.
"It's really about implementing the recommendations that have been made.
"I'm just frustrated with the delay. More children are going to get hurt before the government takes the action necessary to keep them safe."
On Thursday, Human Services Minister Irfan Sabir, amid calls for his resignation, gave more details about an all-party panel that will review the child intervention system.
The panel has short term and longer term deadlines to report back with recommendations on how to improve the system, culminating in a report to be tabled in the legislature by the minister in the spring.
It will be the seventh review involving childrens' services in eight years.
The last six covered foster care, kinship care and a review of investigations and reporting of deaths and serious injuries.
Preventing similar incidents
Sabir announced the panel in the legislature while answering questions from Wildrose Leader Brian Jean about Serenity, a four-year-old Indigenous girl who died in kinship care two years ago.
"The premier has asked me to establish a committee that will include members from across the aisle that will look into this issue and will make sure there are enough safeguards in place that we can prevent similar incidents from happening," Sabir said.
Serenity was emaciated and badly bruised when she died from a brain injury. Medical records documented injuries that suggested the young girl had been sexually assaulted.
She died in 2014.
That same year then Conservative Human Services Minister, Manmeet Bhullar, asked Richter, to lead the deaths-in-care committee.
It came up with dozens of recommendations. Richter said the NDP, who were then in opposition, felt the committee hadn't gone far enough.
"Now we've had a controversy erupt and the [NDP] minister, the government, seems to be kicking the can down the road," he said.
Richter says rather than another panel, the government should implement recommendations made in previous reviews.
"We don't need to be going over this ground again" he said. "It's highly unlikely that a new panel is going to come up with anything that a dozen previous panels, or reviews or sets of recommendations haven't already come up with."
Richter says the first change the province should make is to have the office of the medical examiner review the death of every child who dies in care.
Seven reviews in eight years
- Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention 2016
- Implementation Oversight Committee 2014
- Ministerial Roundtable: Investigations and Reporting of Deaths and Serious Injuries 2014
- External Expert Panel following death of a child 2011
- Child Intervention System Review 2010
- Kinship Care Review 2009
- Foster Care Review 2008
