Alberta advocate to review all deaths of kids in care

Alberta’s child and youth advocate will examine every death of a child in government care under new legislation tabled Tuesday.

The advocate also will have to publicly report on each child death review, and complete each investigation within one year.

Under the changes, any ministry or agency that interacted with a child who dies in care must proactively share information with the advocate, and those people won’t suffer legal repercussions for doing so.

The changes are part of Bill 18. They stem from recommendations made by the first phase of the province’s child intervention panel.

Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee said the notion of proactive sharing marks a massive culture shift for child services.

“The proactive disclosure piece is huge in terms of highlighting the fact that information sharing is as important — or more important sometimes — than the privacy pieces,” she said Tuesday.

Yet there will be no consequences for those who don’t adhere to the new rules.

For Wildrose children’s services critic Jason Nixon, that’s a big problem.

Nixon sits on the child intervention panel struck after details of four-year-old Serenity’s death were revealed by the Edmonton Journal.

The four-year-old indigenous girl was in government care when she died in 2014, weighing just 18 pounds and arriving at hospital with severe injuries that included a fractured skull and a body covered in deep bruises, including her anal and genital areas.

Like other opposition members on the panel, Nixon is galled that his attempts to discuss Serenity’s case have been stymied by the government.

There have been no answers around her death, he said, no charges laid, so the notion of accountability bothers him greatly.

“We have seen through the whole panel process that nobody is in charge,” he said Tuesday.

“That’s one of the largest concerns I still have as a panel member, and the minister still has not answered that question — about who we can hold accountable.”

The changes to the advocate’s role will demand a bump in funding to that office.

Larivee and Nixon both said they expect co-operation in pushing through whatever the advocate needs.

Bill 18 is the first in a series of steps to improve the child welfare system.

The act that governs the advocate is also being reviewed, and the panel continues with its broad review of the child welfare system.

Nixon offered tentative support to death review changes, but said it’s the next steps that will make all the difference in helping Albertan kids in care.

“There are so many other pieces that will have to interact with this legislation, and … those are the questions we’re looking at right now,” he said.

Other changes: Transparency: The advocate will be required to report to the legislature every six months on the number and status of reviews. Timely action: Government departments will have 75 days to respond to advocate recommendations. If a review can’t be completed in a year, the advocate must report the delay. Investigations: The advocate must check with law enforcement if a review will interfere with a police investigation. If so, police can request a delay, but the advocate must check in every six months. An information-sharing protocol will also be signed between the government, advocate and law enforcement agencies.