Child advocacy laws should see age limit rise to 24, committee hears

There was broad consensus on Monday at a review of the law that the age of a youth covered by child advocacy legislation should be raised to 24 years old from 22 years old.

The legislation allows Del Graff, the current youth and child advocate, to speak for people under 22 in government care or who are involved in the criminal justice system.

Graff and several other panellists asked that the age limit be boosted to 24.

Dr. Judi Malone, the executive director of the Psychologists Association of Alberta, said the brain's frontal lobe is associated with planning and motivation and doesn't fully develop until some time between the age of 21 and 24.

“That's key to them becoming their own advocates,” said Malone.

The brain's growth also “depends on the amount of distress and duress that a youth has been under during their development,” she said.

Nearly 30 panellists are providing the standing committee on legislative office with recommendations for amendments to the Child and Youth Advocate Act on Monday and Tuesday at the Federal Building in Edmonton. The act, which was passed in late 2011, is reviewed every five years.

Wildrose MLA Jason Nixon said working with the homeless population and people with addictions taught him how distressing it can be for people to get services taken away at an arbitrary age.

“It always seemed to cause them to panic.” said Nixon.

“What I'm hearing is 24 seems to make sense.”

Graff also recommended his mandate be expanded to include children with mental-health issues and disabilities.

“We do get intake calls from young people who are trying to find services and are not able to,” said Graff. “The struggle for young people with mental-health challenges can be very difficult.”

A recommendation from Alberta Justice called for more details from the advocate's office when it called for systemic change.

“When the advocate provides recommendations for broader systemic change based off of the investigation of a single incident, the linkage between the specific incident and the broader systemic issue ... is not always clear,” the submission reads.

Graff said his office strives to “understand the nuances of the situation” and will often bring in experts to help when it is recommending systemic changes.

The two-day review started with some minor confusion. In his presentation, Graff said he couldn't support a recommendation from Alberta Justice that would add a reference to the Youth Criminal Justice Act in any amendments to the Child and Youth Advocate Act.

At best, it would be redundant because all provincial legislation is already superseded by any federal legislation and, at worst, it could be used to stymie the advocate's requests for information, he said.

A new recommendation was sent to the committee Monday morning that suggested the Youth Criminal Justice Act merely be “taken into consideration.”

Reached for comment after the meeting, Graff said he was happy with the new language.

The review of the Child and Youth Advocate Act continues Tuesday at the Grasslands Room in the Federal Building in Edmonton.