Inquiry urges cross-border alerts after teen's 2013 death by neglect
Alberta child welfare officials unaware of danger because B.C. closed its case file
A judge is recommending an alert information-sharing system among provinces for highrisk children after a B.C. boy died in Calgary weighing 37 pounds, even though B.C. officials had been aware he was in danger.
Fifteen-year-old Alexandru Radita died in 2013 and his parents, Emil and Rodica Radita, were found guilty in 2017 of first-degree murder.
Justice Sharon Van de Veen, in a fatality inquiry report released Monday, said such standardized cross-boundary communication “may very well have saved Alex's life and (could) prevent similar deaths in the future.”
In May 2013, the severely malnourished boy was taken to hospital but later died from sepsis and untreated diabetes.
Court heard the parents had refused to accept Alex had diabetes when he was diagnosed with the disease in 2000 while living in British Columbia. He was hospitalized twice in B.C. due to malnutrition and taken into foster care but later returned to his parents.
The family moved to Alberta in 2008. The boy's case file in B.C. had been closed, so child welfare officials in Alberta were unaware that he was potentially in danger.
“Alex was near death repeatedly when hospitalized as a result of his parents' resistance to provide the necessary insulin he needed to survive, but his file had been closed for some time,” wrote Van de Veen.
The inquest questioned school, medical and government officials from Alberta and B.C.
Alex was not registered in school for four years before his death, and he received irregular and insufficient amounts of insulin from pharmaceutical companies throughout that time without a physician's oversight.
Van de Veen said planning the proposed cross-boundary alert system should include educational and pharmaceutical authorities. The judge further recommended school boards implement a wellness check system for students with local police agencies.
Van de Veen's report also examined two other high-profile Calgary cases involving children who died because they had not received medical treatment.