New powers for Alberta child advocate

Alberta’s child advocate will probe the death of every child who dies in government care under proposed legislation introduced Tuesday.

Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee says Bill 18 will also require child and youth advocate Del Graff to review the death of every child who has recently been in care.

“When these heartbreaking tragedies happen, Albertans expect their government to take a hard, honest look at the system and what may have gone wrong,” Larivee told the legislature.

Larivee said the bill “would empower the child and youth advocate, creating for the first time in Alberta a primary authority for reviewing the deaths.

“We would eliminate gaps and roadblocks that prevent important information from being shared across the system.”

The legislation incorporates recent recommendations from an all-party committee reviewing ways to make children safer in government care following the death of a four-yearold girl named Serenity.

Serenity died in September 2014 but it was only revealed in media reports last year that she died of severe brain trauma and showed signs of significant physical and sexual abuse.

It was also revealed that Graff, an officer of the legislature, was denied critical information relating to Serenity’s injuries during his assessment of her case. No one has been charged in her death.

Bill 18 will require any official agencies dealing with the deaths of children in care to share information with Graff. If an agency — including police — wants Graff to delay his review to avoid interfering in an investigation, it must deliver reasons and updates every six months.

Graff will have to report publicly on every death review and deliver broad updates to a legislature committee twice a year.

Given the disproportionate number of First Nations children in the system, Graff will also have indigenous advisers help with reviews and shaping of policy.

Graff said he welcomes the changes but no external review can compensate if information isn’t forthcoming from those closest to the situation.

Larivee agreed that the proactive disclosure element of the bill is critical. Public agencies have been reticent to share information to avoid any legal consequences for breaching privacy, she said. But she said that has to change. “It is a culture shift,” Larivee said. “We’re making it really clear ... to say that this is actually your inherent responsibility to share this information.”

Wildrose member Jason Nixon, a member of the all-party panel examining the child welfare system, said the bill is a good first step.

But he said the panel’s work demonstrated that “culture shift” remains a hurdle.

“That was, in some ways, the No. 1 issue the panel was concerned about,” said Nixon.

“It was clear that in some cases privacy was not just about protecting someone’s privacy but was often about preventing transparency.”