Child advocate focuses on complex needs

EDMONTON Lee was 14 when he was stabbed. Susan was 17 when she took her own life. Dakota was 19 when he died from his injuries after being hit by a car.

All three were, or had recently been, involved with the child welfare system.

The teenagers are the subjects of the latest death and serious injury reports by Alberta’s child and youth advocate, released Tuesday.

Advocate Del Graff made only one recommendation in the three reports, but told Postmedia he’s concerned similar themes continue to pop up in the files he reviews.

In the three most recent cases, he said, Lee, Susan and Dakota’s complex needs simply were not addressed in the way they needed to be, despite the work government is doing to address gaps in the child welfare system.

“I know they ’re working on this, so I don’t want to be disparaging to their efforts, but I would really like to see some tangible progress,” Graff said in an interview.

The pattern Graff saw running through his latest reports was a lack of communication, and it’s a theme that has been worrying him for some time.

Child welfare workers are doing all they can, he said, but they lack expert skills needed to address cases with the levels of complexity he saw with the three teens.

Plenty of professionals have that expert knowledge, Graff said, but they seem to be consulted only after a child or youth dies or is seriously injured.

In other words, it’s too little, too late.

Case workers can access experts if they need to, he said, but the system isn’t designed for it to happen regularly.

“There needs to be some added assistance to those case workers ... when cases (have) this level of complexity,” he said.

“It’s unrealistic to expect a caseworker to be able to deal with all of this without some expert help, assistance and guidance.”

Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee welcomed the advocate’s recommendations.

“Obviously we need to do better, particularly with regards to providing support to kids with complex needs,” she told media Tuesday.

Larivee is expected to introduce legislation Wednesday aimed at improving child welfare. She said her government has also been working across ministries to strengthen the departments of health, community, social services and justice.