Child-welfare system unsafe for some: NDP

Sarah O'Donnell
edmontonjournal.com

Monday, October 20, 2008

EDMONTON - The Alberta government is knowingly leaving some of its most vulnerable children in unsafe situations, the provincial New Democrats said this morning.

The New Democrats released a series of quarterly reports from the province's child and youth advocate that had previously been secret.

NDP MLA Rachel Notley said the three years of reports from the child advocate show that some youngsters in the child-welfare system continue to be restrained with face-down restraints - which are prohibited. Other foster children are knowingly being left in unsafe situations.

For example, a report covering January 2007 to March 2007 reported that two siblings under the age of six were in a placement where "all parties agreed that their needs were not being met and that the placement was not appropriate."

The caseworker requested another placement, but the children remained there for eight months, during which time there were two other reports about problems.

"We hear a lot from this province of how Alberta is the most prosperous province in the country, but we still seem unable to treat those most vulnerable in our society with the dignity and justice that they deserve," Notley said.

Alberta's child and youth advocate's job is to aid and speak on behalf of children and youth served under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act, which covers the province's foster care system.

Notley also said the NDP was outraged that the child advocate's last three annual reports were only filed last week. The advocate is required by law to file an annual report on his office's work, but reports for the last three years did not appear until last Tuesday, all at once.

"It's not OK. That's just simply a process by which the government is able to sweep the fact that they're not doing a good job under the rug," Notley said. "It's not a question, in our view with respect to the ministry or the advocate. It's a question about the whole system."

Notley called for the child advocate to report directly to the legislature, instead of the Child and Youth Services minister.

sodonnell@thejournal.canwest.com