Few top-level reviews of Alberta child deaths, all-party panel hears

Since 2014, when Alberta began using statutory reviews to examine the cases of children who die while receiving government services, such reviews have rarely been called and none have been completed.

The information that no statutory investigations have been completed in more than two years was revealed Wednesday during the first meeting of an all-party panel looking into how the department of Children's Services handles the investigation of children who die in care.

It was part of a briefing given to panel members and the public by Robert Hopkins, the acting statutory director for the department of Children's Services.

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Between April 1, 2014 and Dec. 31, 2016, 73 children and young people under the age of 25 died while receiving government services, Hopkins told the panel. Of the total, 42 were Indigenous, he said.

Hopkins said that of the 73 deaths, 11 have warranted further investigation through what's known as a statutory review.

Statutory reviews are designed "to evaluate case information and context to make recommendations for quality improvements to child intervention services and professional practice," Children's Services says on its website.

'Safe sleep' and 'injuries leading to death'

All of the 11 statutory reviews that have been called involve cases where children died after being returned to the care of their parents.

Hopkins said two themes have emerged as a focus of investigation.

Seven of the deaths involve an examination of "safe sleep" while in parental care. Four cases involve children who suffered "injury leading to death" after they were returned to parental or family care.

Danielle Larivee, the newly appointed minister of Children's Services, said she's not ready to pass judgment on how things have been done, noting all cases surrounding the death of a child are complex.

"Certainly the program only started in 2014, and did take a while to get off the ground," Larivee told reporters after Wednesday's meeting.

"All of us are going to be looking at this process in depth and figuring out if there's a different way we can do it."

Liberal leader David Swann, who sits on the panel, said there are a lot of "unknowns" surrounding delays in the system.

He said he hopes the panel will be able to unmask some of the mystery, and make improvements.

"I hope over the course of the next few weeks that we'll be able to understand better and be able to either call for more resources if that's needed, or we'll see some changes in the process."

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