Ninety dead children
TheStar.com – Opinion/Editorial – Ninety dead children
February 24, 2009
The shocking death of 90 children and teenagers in 2007, all involved with Ontario’s child protection system, cries out for an accounting. Irwin Elman, the province’s child advocate, rightly labels this loss “too high by any standard.” His office is the ideal agency to address these deaths, given its mission to identify threats to vulnerable children and to advocate on their behalf.
But that accounting is being blocked by government officials. Citing privacy concerns, they are refusing to share detailed information with Elman’s office.
In the interests of getting to the bottom of this matter, the barriers to the flow of information must be removed.
The scope of the problem is outlined in the title of Elman’s annual report to the legislature: 90 Deaths: Ninety Voices Silenced. The dead children were teenagers in foster care or whose families had an open file with a children’s aid society or died within a year of such a file being closed. Some were murdered; some killed themselves; some died accidentally. Most of the deaths were very likely preventable.
Responding to accusations of “stonewalling” in the legislature yesterday, Minister of Children and Youth Services Deb Matthews said a protocol on information flow had recently been signed between her department and the office of the child advocate.
While a step forward, that protocol mainly provides a mechanism through which information can be requested. It doesn’t mean that any substantive information will actually be delivered, especially since the information barriers remain in place.
When staffers in Elman’s office tried to look into complaints of physical abuse from a youth held in detention, they were told they had no right to see reports and photographs of the alleged injuries. And when Elman asked to see children’s aid society documents, including a Child Fatality Case Summary Report required after every death, he was again told privacy rules prohibited such releases.
This seems absurd. If this information is available to CAS staff, whose job is to protect and care for vulnerable children, why should it be denied to Ontario’s advocate for children and youth? Ministry officials take the position that they are simply enforcing existing law on privacy. Then the law should be changed.
Fortunately, an avenue to a quick amendment is open, as the legislature is currently considering changes to the Coroners Act. A provision could easily be inserted in that bill giving the child advocate the right to receive detailed information concerning child and youth fatalities.
Queen’s Park should also consider increasing the advocacy agency’s $3.9 million budget. With just 21 people on staff, it is smaller, on a per capita basis, than similar offices in the other provinces.
The loss of even one child is a tragedy. When that loss is multiplied 90 times among children under the government’s care, the tragedy becomes alarming. Privacy concerns and lack of funding won’t silence the alarm bells.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 10:59 am and is filed under Child & Family Debates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
292 Responses to “Ninety dead children”
« Older Comments | Newer Comments »
Leave a Reply
Ninety dead children
TheStar.com – Opinion/Editorial – Ninety dead children
February 24, 2009
The shocking death of 90 children and teenagers in 2007, all involved with Ontario’s child protection system, cries out for an accounting. Irwin Elman, the province’s child advocate, rightly labels this loss “too high by any standard.” His office is the ideal agency to address these deaths, given its mission to identify threats to vulnerable children and to advocate on their behalf.
But that accounting is being blocked by government officials. Citing privacy concerns, they are refusing to share detailed information with Elman’s office.
In the interests of getting to the bottom of this matter, the barriers to the flow of information must be removed.
The scope of the problem is outlined in the title of Elman’s annual report to the legislature: 90 Deaths: Ninety Voices Silenced. The dead children were teenagers in foster care or whose families had an open file with a children’s aid society or died within a year of such a file being closed. Some were murdered; some killed themselves; some died accidentally. Most of the deaths were very likely preventable.
Responding to accusations of “stonewalling” in the legislature yesterday, Minister of Children and Youth Services Deb Matthews said a protocol on information flow had recently been signed between her department and the office of the child advocate.
While a step forward, that protocol mainly provides a mechanism through which information can be requested. It doesn’t mean that any substantive information will actually be delivered, especially since the information barriers remain in place.
When staffers in Elman’s office tried to look into complaints of physical abuse from a youth held in detention, they were told they had no right to see reports and photographs of the alleged injuries. And when Elman asked to see children’s aid society documents, including a Child Fatality Case Summary Report required after every death, he was again told privacy rules prohibited such releases.
This seems absurd. If this information is available to CAS staff, whose job is to protect and care for vulnerable children, why should it be denied to Ontario’s advocate for children and youth? Ministry officials take the position that they are simply enforcing existing law on privacy. Then the law should be changed.
Fortunately, an avenue to a quick amendment is open, as the legislature is currently considering changes to the Coroners Act. A provision could easily be inserted in that bill giving the child advocate the right to receive detailed information concerning child and youth fatalities.
Queen’s Park should also consider increasing the advocacy agency’s $3.9 million budget. With just 21 people on staff, it is smaller, on a per capita basis, than similar offices in the other provinces.
The loss of even one child is a tragedy. When that loss is multiplied 90 times among children under the government’s care, the tragedy becomes alarming. Privacy concerns and lack of funding won’t silence the alarm bells.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 1:00 am and is filed under Child & Family Policy Context. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Leave a Reply
Recent Comments
This is definitely a wonderful webpage, thanks a lot..
Thank you for this great piece of content. Best Regards
whoah this weblog is wonderful i like reading your articles. Keep up the good paintings! You already know, many people are looking around for this information, you can help them greatly.
Greetings… your blog is very interesting and beautifully written.
I like your quality that you put into your writing . Please do continue with more like this.
Keep it up!. I usually don’t post in Blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work.. beautiful A rise in An increase in An increase in.
I do believe your audience could very well want a good deal more stories like this carry on the excellent hard work.
When are you going to post again? You really entertain me!
I really like your writing style, excellent info , thanks for putting up : D.
Hello there! I really enjoy reading your blog! If you keep making amazing posts like this I will come back every day to keep reading.
Thanks , I’ve recently been searching for info about this topic for ages and yours is the best I have discovered so far. But, what concerning the bottom line? Are you certain concerning the source?
Thanks , I’ve recently been searching for info about this topic for ages and yours is the best I have discovered so far. But, what concerning the bottom line? Are you certain concerning the source?
However, it is virtually all done with tongues rooted solidly in cheeks, and everyone has absolutely nothing but absolutely love for his or her friendly neighborhood scapegoat. The truth is, he is not just a pushover. He is basically that special variety of person strong enough to take all of that good natured ribbing for exactly what it is.
If you don’t mind, where do you host your weblog? I am looking for a very good web host and your webpage seams to be extremely fast and up most the time…
A cool post there mate ! Thank you for posting.
Peculiar this blog is totaly unrelated to what I was searching for – – interesting to see you’re well indexed in the search engines.
I feel that is among the so much significant info for me. And i am satisfied studying your article. However should commentary on some basic issues, The site style is ideal, the articles is in reality excellent : D. Excellent activity, cheers
If wings are your thing, Tinker Bell’s sexy Halloween costume design is all grown up.
My issues have been very similar, with my family. But, we made some different decisions. It’s complex.
I really love this article.