The Notley government needs to take action in response to the recent five-year report from the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate and from other related investigations, says area MLA Jason Nixon.
A member of the Minister's Child Intervention Panel, Nixon says action is needed to ensure findings aimed at improving safety for young people in government care are translated into action.
"We need to make sure that the results of the child advocate's investigations, as well as all these other government panels, are starting to be implemented," said Nixon, the United Conservative Party house leader and MLA for Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.
"What we've seen so far is recommendations, and it's good that we are having those recommendations, but there's no concrete action being taken by the government to implement those recommendations, and there needs to be.
"Somebody needs to be held accountable and to take responsibility to make sure we are not just having a government discussion on it, but that we are actually taking the results of that discussion and protecting kids."
The Child and Youth Advocate Act was proclaimed in 2012, creating the Child and Youth Advocate under the Ministry of Children's Services.
The advocate's mandate is to conduct investigations into "systemic issues arising from a serious injury to or the death of a children who was receiving a designated service at the time of injury or death."
The report details cases investigated by the advocate over the past five years, including fatalities.
In all, 255 serious injuries or deaths of young people were reported to the advocate between April 2012 and March 2017.
Over the reporting period the advocate received 36 notifications from the Ministry of Children's Services regarding the serious injury of a young person.
In those cases, 60 per cent were injuries caused by someone who knew the child, and 40 per cent by someone unknown to them.
During the reporting period, the advocate received notification of 216 deaths of a young person.
Of those cases, 21 were the result of violence, 47 per cent at the hands of someone the young person knew, 43 per cent by a parent or guardian and nine per cent by a stranger.
Suicides accounted for 35 deaths.
In the report the advocate said there is a need for "additional supports for children and families during and after child intervention involvement. Child welfare services must ensure that safety of young people. However, workers often have to make decisions with incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting information."
The advocate also said, "Information sharing within and between child-serving systems becomes critical to resolving issues, providing necessary supports and ensuring positive outcomes for young people."
MLA Nixon says acting on the findings should now be a priority for government.
"After five years it is still alarming that almost half of children that are losing their lives in care are for reasons that are not natural," said Nixon.
"Half of the deaths are from abuse and suicide, and I think for Albertans the fact that so many children are still losing their lives inside our system is alarming.
"When it comes to kids losing their lives in government care, it's time for the government to take serious action. It's important that we talk about it, but the time for talk is done."
Children Services Minister Danielle Larivee provided the following statement to the Gazette regarding the report:
"The most urgent issue raised in the report is the distressing over representation of Indigenous children and youth in our child intervention system.
"We must do more to address this issue, in partnership with Indigenous people and Indigenous leaders, and I will be fighting hard at the summit in Ottawa later this month for real action from all governments across Canada."
The complete report is available on the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate Alberta website.
"We need to make sure that the results of the child advocate's investigations, as well as all these other government panels, are starting to be implemented,"
