EDMONTON—As Alberta’s child and youth advocate looks back at the office’s work over the past year, a recent report finds that young Indigenous people are still over-represented in the child welfare system.
Thursday, Del Graff released the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate’s (OCYA) latest annual report, which highlights its major activities between April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019.
Under Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate Act, the youth advocate is charged with standing up for young — often vulnerable — people receiving services under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act, and the Protection of Sexually Exploited Children Act, as well as those involved in the youth justice system.
Over that year, the OCYA reported a total of 4,621 requests for intake services, which serve as a first point of contact for young people seeking advocacy. The report notes that was a 7.6 per cent increase in referral services over the previous year.
Peter Choate, an assistant professor of social work at Calgary’s Mount Royal University found encouragement in that figure.
“That means that the advocate is meeting one of its prime targets, which is to engage in support and advocacy roles for children involved in the (child welfare) system,” he said.
Of those requests, 2,291 were for the Legal Representation for Children and Youth program, which saw an 18.6 per cent increase in referrals from the previous year. Indigenous youth represented 47 per cent of young people receiving legal representation.
“That program remains a really vital program for kids, particularly those in child intervention, who are involved in the court systems, where the voice of the child is difficult to get in front of the court,” Choate added.
According to the report, a total of 2,813 young people received individual advocacy services, which are sought when young people have trouble getting help from parents or community members in resolving problems.
More than half of those requests (59 per cent) came from Indigenous children. The report notes that Indigenous children and youths made up 62 per cent of Alberta’s overall child intervention caseload.
“We continue to see that they are the most vulnerable kids, and not surprisingly, therefore, they’re the ones who are significantly represented in the death reviews,” Choate explained.
When young people recently or currently involved with Child Intervention Services die, or have experienced serious injuries, the advocate has the authority to investigate systemic issues that arise from these cases.
According to the report, the OCYA completed 13 investigative reviews that dove into cases involving 24 young people, half of which died of opioid poisoning. The investigation looked at young people involved with Child Intervention Services, or had been involved within two years of their dying, and highlighted the need for a “youth-specific response to the opioid crisis.”
Systemic investigations, Choate explained, examine not only how the child welfare system is working, but also look at how well it’s working with others dealing with systems that surround and support child intervention.
“Opioid crisis is a good example of that,” he said. “The opioid crisis has pushed all of our support systems to their max, whether we are talking children or adults. The support systems around people with opioids is stretched to it’s limits.”
In March 2018, the advocate’s mandate was expanded to include mandatory investigations, which occur when a young person dies while receiving care. It is meant to learn from tragic situations and events and identify changes to prevent similar tragedies from happening.
Over the past year, the OCYA conducted four systemic reviews and nine mandatory reviews. Of those nine, eight involved young people of Indigenous heritage.
“Over-representation of Indigenous children and children of colour across this country, those are the big issues of child welfare. … And partially, that’s what the annual report is trying to help show, when you look at the numbers.”
During the 2018-2019 year, the office received 11 serious injury reports, 33 reports of deaths that occurred while young people were receiving services, and 25 reports of deaths that occurred within two years of receiving Child Intervention Services.
Of the 58 deaths reported during that time, 16 were deemed accidental, and another 16 were found to have died by suicide. Eight deaths were connected to chronic or acute illness, and one was a victim of violence.
Compared to previous years, Choate noted that there hasn’t been a significant change in non-accidental death rates.
“That means we’re not necessarily getting better. We’re also equally not getting worse in terms of that issue,” he added.
Of the total 69 reports of death and injury flagged in the report, Indigenous youth were over-represented at 57 per cent.
However, Choate was clear to note that the advocate was doing exceptional work, particularly when it comes to increasing focus on Indigenous cases, and looking at the relationship between Indigenous communities and child welfare.
Over the past year, the report notes, the OCYA has repeatedly presented its 2016 findings on over-representation of Indigenous children in the child intervention system, and that the Alberta government has accepted the intent of all of its recommendations in addressing the issue.
More 300 people, many of them front-line workers the report notes, have seen these presentations and have discussed ways that they can or have implemented the recommendations in practice.
“But they are doing exceptional work in systems that have not come to grips with how to solve the racial biases of the system,” Choate said. “You’re looking at something that’s going to take a while to repair.”
