Child intervention recommendations earn mixed reviews

Leader of Métis child and family society says he has doubts about panel’s proposals

The latest recommendations aimed at improving Alberta’s troubled child intervention system are disappointing and don’t do enough to ensure accountability, say critics.

“I hope it’s not a waste of time,” said Donald Langford, executive director of the Métis Child and Family Services Society. “I’m hopeful, but I have great doubts.”

Alberta’s all-party ministerial panel — tasked by the provincial government with identifying systemic problems in child intervention services — was set up after the death of four-year-old Serenity in 2014.

It finished its second and final phase of work in January. Twentysix recommendations posted online Friday included ending the service disparity in Indigenous communities, improving transitional supports for youth entering adulthood, and expanding access to preventative mental health care.

The panel also called for a “thorough, detailed and measurable action plan” by June 30 in consultation with Indigenous leaders and experts.

“We are absolutely committed to ... making sure that we move forward with this and it’s not a report that sits on the shelf,” Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee said Tuesday.

But it’s déjà vu for Langford, who is Métis and has worked in Alberta’s child welfare system for 20 years.

“They’ve built too many action plans for us,” he said, referring to recommendations released by a 2010 review panel. “Unfortunately, I don’t think they’ve ever let a change really solidify.”

A disproportionate number of children receiving services are Indigenous, accounting for about 70 per cent of more than 10,000 children in care.

Two decades ago, that number was 42 per cent, Langford said.

“We’ve got to get back to familybased services,” he added.

“You can’t come into a family and break them down ... and expect them to improve.”

Larivee said there will be more information on cost once the action plan is released.

United Conservative Party house leader Jason Nixon, who sat on the panel, said the recommendations don’t do anything to ensure government accountability.

The final recommendations were made purposely vague, he said: “I fail to see how any of these recommendations will work to prevent what happened to Serenity from happening again, which ultimately was the entire goal of this exercise.”

“By not allowing us to explore the Serenity case in detail to determine how the system failed her, I believe the minister handicapped the entire process from the start,” he said.

Overall, the recommendations focused on providing consistent services across Alberta in a culturally sensitive manner, said panel member Peter Choate, a registered social worker and assistant professor at Mount Royal University.

“We’ve highlighted that the child intervention system, which deals so heavily with Indigenous children, needs to come to reflect ... the populations it serves,” he said.

The system needs to have adequate resources, create a stable workforce and be better connected to communities, he said.

Serenity was severely malnourished when she was airlifted to an Edmonton hospital with head injuries.

She died nine days later after being removed from life support.

Her great-aunt and great-uncle were charged jointly with one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life between May 3, 2013, and Sept. 18, 2014.

By not allowing us to explore the Serenity case in detail to determine how the system failed her, I believe the minister handicapped the entire process from the start.