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Alberta's child intervention panel focuses on better cooperation between ministries

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Alberta’s child intervention panel has reconvened after a summer hiatus to discuss shortcomings in the province’s child welfare system, including the lack of coordination between agencies and ministries.

The panel — launched in the wake of controversy following the death of four-year-old Serenity in government care — hasn’t met since July. It aims to examine systemic issues and recommend ways to improve child intervention. 

On Monday, panel member Peter Choate, a registered social worker and assistant professor at Mount Royal University, highlighted the case study of a mother and her child, who was in care and suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).

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The mother, also diagnosed with FASD, had 24 points of contact across agencies related to child intervention, justice, addictions and mental health, he said. 

“Now think about how many times that mother has to tell that story, how many appointments that mother has to try to figure out how to keep,” he said in an interview. “And she’ll be measured in terms of her success at manoeuvring the system.”

The splitting of the human services ministry in two — one focused exclusively on children’s services and another community and social services ministry dealing with areas such as disability services, homelessness and income supports — slowed down the effective establishment of integrated services, said Jerri Chugg, manager for children’s services in the Calgary region.

Premier Rachel Notley appointed cabinet minister Danielle Larivee to run the children’s services ministry when it was announced in January. 

“Before human services moved back into two ministries, we didn’t have a finalized integrated service delivery (model),” Chugg said. “As we divided, the work shifted to be based on your program.

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“People are still very much trying to find their way in their new ministry setups.”

Speaking as an expert to the panel, she said while there’s a mandate to work collaboratively, the change resulted in a loss of momentum.

“It’s more of a worry that we can see this turning into some silo action if we aren’t staying on top of the intention,” she said.

The NDP believed it critical to have a dedicated minister for children’s services, said Aaron Manton, Larivee’s press secretary

“Throughout the transition to a dedicated ministry, we have and will continue to prioritize collaboration and integrated service delivery,” he said in an email Monday. 

The panel meeting also included discussions about the difference between child intervention services in urban and rural settings, as well as addictions and mental health strategies. 

Ron Thiessen attended as a member of the public, aiming to find answers about a broken system that ruled his childhood from his birth in 1971 to 1990. 

“It’s not easy for me to come here,” he said. “I’m a survivor of many things that happened to me under child welfare.”

He’s concerned that the panel doesn’t include the personal perspective of an adult who spent childhood in and out of care. 

“There is a lot of experience here on the panel, a lot of it is political,” he said. “They need to look for some people like me.”

The child intervention panel is scheduled to meet again Sept. 20 in Edmonton. 

cclancy@postmedia.com

twitter.com/clareclancy

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