There’s a horrific child abuse case in the news – an 11-year-old Indigenous boy died in February 2021 and his two foster parents pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault. They were each sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The judgment, issued in Chilliwack’s provincial court on June 16, gives terrible details of the abuse suffered by the young boy who died and his sister. It also notes that social workers last visited the home in July 2020.
“If there had been a follow-up visit later in the year, (the child’s) emaciated condition would have been observed. No one did anything,” the judge writes.
When the judgment was released, the province’s Representative for Children and Youth, Jennifer Charlesworth, said her office will investigate. B.C.’s First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) called for the Minister of Children and Family Development, Mitzi Dean, to resign.
“Everything about this case — the placement of children into a foster home where the foster parents asked for support they did not receive, the unbearably lengthy period of abuse, and the complete lack of oversight from Ministry employees and officials — leads to a deep concern about MCFD’s ability to effectively provide ‘child protection’ services,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said in a news release.
The judge says the pre-sentencing report indicates that one of the foster parents asked the ministry for assistance “as she could not care for the children, but her request was not met.” There were three adults and six children living in the home.
Both foster parents are Indigenous, and their family members attended residential school. Both were raised by parents with alcohol addiction, the judgment says. The judge names the intergenerational trauma of colonization and the residential school system in his report. One result of the residential school system and colonization is that Indigenous children are vastly over-represented in B.C.’s child welfare system.
“Although the residential schools are closed, their impact endures. The colonialist policies that gave rise to the Indian residential schools continue now and show up in policies, funding, practices and mindsets,” Charlesworth said in a 2022 statement. “We see the impact of inter-generational trauma on the children and youth we serve and support, every single day.”
Minister Dean said she is heartbroken at what the children endured and called the child welfare system “broken.”
“These children deserved safety, support and love and they were failed at every level,” Dean said. “Every young person in care must be able to trust the adults and caregivers in their lives to act with their best interests in mind, and to provide them with safety, care and support. Our focus is on protecting children and youth and ensuring their well-being.”
Dean was appointed Minister of Children and Families in November 2022. Yes, she was in power when the abuse and the deaths occurred, however, the systemic issues in the broken child welfare system far predate her tenure. These issues predate even this government, as the B.C. Green Party pointed out in their call for Dean to resign.
“There is little daylight between this BC NDP government and the former BC Liberal government on the shocking lack of care for the most vulnerable children and youth. In 2015, former BC NDP Premier John Horgan asked the same question I am asking today, ‘I don’t know how many swings at the plate you get? We need to stop defending the ministry and start defending children,’” the Greens said in their news release about the boy’s death.
Of course, everyone involved should be held accountable. However, I think the problems go far deeper than any individual.
As The Tyee reported, the government’s own record-keeping shows a shockingly low rate of compliance for ongoing monitoring of children in care, screening and training.
In April, Charlesworth released a report, Advocating for Change: Five Years in Review, which found that of 216 recommendations her office has made to improve designated child welfare services in B.C., only 14 per cent have been completed.
Charlesworth told The Tyee there is a lack of capacity in the child welfare system due to high rates of job turnover and vacancies, in part because of a labour shortage.
The children’s ministry says the recruitment and retention of social workers is a priority focus, with hiring ongoing and 42 child protection workers hired between April and May. In a statement, the ministry said that all children in care should be seen regularly by a social worker and that MCFD child protection workers had an average of 18 files as of March 2023.
Whatever it takes, the safety of children in care must be top priority. Any staff vacancies should be filled and accountability must be ensured. Condolences and apologies are not enough.
Tracy Sherlock is a freelance journalist who writes about education and social issues. Read her blog or email her [email protected].
