B.C.'s representative for children and youth is still waiting for the government to come up with a child well-being and action plan one year after her detailed and troubling report on the death of an 11-year-old boy living in foster care.
"We had hoped that, frankly, it would be worked on through this past year, and we would be seeing an action plan, a strategy that then could go out to get community and First Nations' direction and guidance," representative Jennifer Charlesworth said.
Charlesworth's 2024 report, Don't Look Away, chronicled the failures of the Ministry of Children and Family Development in the lead up to the death of an 11-year-old Indigenous boy who had been placed in the care of his mother's cousin.
Charlesworth does give the government credit for coming through on several recommendations, including establishing a cross-ministry accountability structure, implementing new training programs, and renewing the commitment to supporting First Nations gaining jurisdiction over community child welfare decisions.
She also details where more action is needed, such as family support, violence prevention, collaboration with First Nations and ministry staffing shortages.
The Don't Look Away investigation found that the caretaker cousin already had several substantiated child protection concerns, and there were allegations of intimate partner violence in the household. Background checks were not properly completed, and the ministry failed to follow up on concerning emails from the cousin. The boy died in the cousin's care in 2021.
While the report does not identify the child, it does say the investigation was spurred by the Fraser Valley conviction of a man and woman accused of inflicting horrible abuse on their two foster children, one of whom, an 11-year-old boy, was tortured and killed. Black Press Media .
Children and Family Development Minister Jodie Wickens acknowledged there is still more to do a year after the report, but defended the government's efforts at taking quick action.
"We've increased our workforce," she said. "We have invested in better IT systems. We've invested in accountability and oversight," she said.
Doubt on staffing progress and funding concerns
Since the release of Don't Look Away, Charlesworth has completed several more reports, two of which focus exclusively on staffing issues.
She identified issues ranging from a lack of qualified candidates to large caseloads to burnout. When all of these are combined, it becomes a vicious cycle, she found.
Wickens said the ministry has increased staffing by 20 per cent, but, according to Charlesworth, that number is based on an insufficient total number of employees.
She also disputes the accuracy of these figures.
"We'll be able to do some more analysis, but I can say initially that 20 per cent seems inflated to us," Charlesworth said.
She is also concerned that general fiscal uncertainty caused by the trade war with the U.S. could lead to worse outcomes for children in care.
"Poverty has a direct impact on child well-being," she said.
And when the ministry's "preventative services" fail, and the government is forced to put a child in a group home, the result can be expensive, topping out at $100,000 per month ($1.2 million per year) for a single child.
"Surely we could do much more and much better for many families with $1.2 million," Charlesworth said.
Progress with First Nations, but oversight questions linger
One of the core recommendations for changing the system in Don't Look Away was to provide more jurisdiction over child welfare to First Nations.
But this presents an issue of oversight. So far, 12 First Nations have signed agreements with the province for full jurisdiction, but none have agreed to allow Charlesworth 鈥� an independent authority 鈥� to oversee them.
"Once jurisdiction is assumed by an Indigenous governing body, the provincial laws no longer have effect," she said. "So that would mean I would no longer have responsibility for oversight."
Some of the nations are creating their own culturally appropriate oversight authorities, but Charlesworth said she is concerned about the transition period.
"Over my career, that's when things get quite tricky, because people don't know who's on for what responsibility," she said. "So I'm actually really worried about this transitional time."
