An independent review of British Columbia's child protection system by a retired judge blames instability and budget cuts for problems in the system.
In the 172-page report, former B.C. Conflict of Interest Commissioner Ted Hughes criticized the provincial government for imposing deep budget cuts that have "reverberated throughout the child welfare system from 2002 until recently."
The retired judge was appointed by the government to investigate the province's child protection services following controversy surrounding the death of 19-month-old Sherry Charlie. The child was beaten to death by her uncle after being placed under the home by an aboriginal child welfare agency working with the government.
In the report, Hughes noted that since 1995, the ministry has had nine ministers, eight deputy ministers, and seven Directors of Child Protection. This has resulted "a child welfare system that has been buffeted by an unmanageable degree of change," said the report.
Appended to Hughes's report are also 62 recommendations for the government to improve the child welfare system. The B.C. government announced earlier this week that they plan to implement all 62.
NGO Response
B.C. Child Welfare and Family Committee Chairperson Paul Jenkinson described the Ted Hughes report as "outstanding."
"When you have a child welfare system that's primarily being driven by budget cuts, you really have a system that on many levels will start to fail the children," he said
All the attention and the bad press, he thinks, were a wake up call for the government that more money needs to be put into the system.
Jill Beech, a foster parent and the chairperson of the Foster Parents Support Society says that many teens have suffered as a result of the B.C. government's budget cuts.
"Years ago, there were 7,000 children in care, and now I think there's about 4,000," says Beech. "They cut back so drastically on services that a lot of things were lost in the shuffle. A lot of kids are falling through the cracks."
External Oversight
One of Hughes' main recommendations is the creation of a new body that resembles the current Office for Children and Youth, but with independent status. This office will be highly respected, so that when it issues reports, politicians and the public will be listening, said Jenkinson.
Foster Care Council of Canada Executive Director John Dunn, a former foster child himself, thinks it is crucial to have an independent officer oversee the child protection system.
"It's really important to have an ombudsman—an independent ombudsman—oversee child welfare, for the purpose of monitoring administrative decisions which seriously affect the lives of children in families," said Dunn.
He noted that Ontario has a new bill tabled to give its Ombudsman the power to investigate decisions and actions made by Ontario's child aid societies. The bill was introduced by Hamilton East MPP Andrea Horwath and passed first reading earlier this month.
Ontario made another recent change to its child-protection system. The provincial Coroner's Office plans to soon disclose publicly the details of all suspicious child deaths, the Toronto Star reported. The decision was prompted by the tragic death of five-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin, who died of malnutrition in 2002 while he was under the care of his grandparents. The boy's grandparents were found guilty of second degree murder last week.
Children More Likely To Be Abuse Victims
While children under the age of 18 make up only 21 percent of the total population, they accounted for 25 percent of the victims of all reported physical and sexual assaults in 2003. There is general consensus that the actual number of child abuse incidents is much higher, as many of these cases go unreported.
Dunn was a child who faced physical abuse while he was in foster care, but for him physical abuse was not the only issue.
"Anybody who's important in your life, you end up losing because you move into another home," said Dunn.
The constant relocation from house to house, and having to deal with the associated changes, can be emotionally traumatizing for a child, he said. "I still, at the age of 35, look back at all the people I knew in my life who were important to me, and it's almost as if they've died, because they're suddenly gone."
Yolanda Lambe, a former foster child and the research director of the National Youth in Care Network, agrees.
"My own experience has sensitized me to many of the issues that face young people in the system," said Lambe. "The moving around—they call it 'couch surfing'—or the transiency, is a huge problem for young people."
Lambe, who is now finishing up her Master's degree in sociology, says that as a result of this constant relocation, these children often don't graduate high school at the same level as their peers. They drop out more often, or simply don't go to school at all.
"It's also reflected as a fact that they're changing schools so often, and they're changing communities so often, that they're bound to get behind in their school work."
Additional Reporting by Joan Delaney in Victoria
Feeds