Post-intervention supports often lacking
More supports are needed for Alberta children and their families after child intervention services end, the province’s child and youth advocate said after reviewing investigations into deaths and injuries from the last five years.
“One of the things that drove the writing of this report was the need to take a step back and ask what have we learned,” child and youth advocate Del Graff said Saturday.
The report released Monday includes data on 252 reported deaths or injuries of children and youth between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2017.
Of those cases, 156 were actively receiving child intervention services and the remaining 96 had received services within two years.
Nearly 60 per cent of the reported deaths were due to medical or accidental reasons, which is consistent with national statistics, the report said.
But 21 of the deaths were attributed to violence, with data highlighting the heightened risk for children under the age of six, who accounted for more than 40 per cent of those cases.
“Infants are at an increased risk of violence during their first year due to their physical vulnerability and the presence of stressors experienced by parents or caregivers,” the report said.
Other causes of death included suicide, while some cases were undetermined or pending investigation.
Graff emphasized that when children are apprehended at a young age, it can hinder parentchild bonding, which can then cause difficulties when children return home.
“When there is that lack of attachment and an infant goes into care … return to home (is) where we would consistently see a struggle,” he said in an interview, noting that transition planning can help alleviate those pressures.
It improves long-term outcomes and provides children with a sense of stability, the report said.
“The need for information sharing is just so critical … particularly when you’re dealing with families with complex needs and they have multiple (agencies),” Graff said, pointing to the work of Alberta’s all-party child intervention panel as a step toward addressing this issue.
The panel was set up after the death of Serenity, a four-year-old Indigenous girl who died after receiving care.
Graff ’s report pointed to continued gaps in communication among agencies — “workers often have to make decisions with incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting information.”
Graff stressed that the 252 notifications forming the basis for his review are the “extreme end of the continuum.
“For the most part … child intervention protects children from harm … in the thousands,” he said.