New calls for change follow two more deaths of Alberta children who received government care

Worried that her three-year-old daughter was being hit while in the care of guardians, a mother raised alarms to Alberta's child intervention system.

The investigation that followed couldn't substantiate any abuse.

But soon after the child turned four, she died after being taken to hospital with an extensive brain injury.

Her case is one of two deaths of Indigenous children investigated by Alberta's Child and Youth Advocate in separate reviews released Tuesday.

"There is nothing that can be said to lessen the loss of what she has experienced," child advocate Del Graff said, remembering his painful conversation with the girl's mother. "I just said that I was so sorry for her loss, and that I hope that our review can make it so that this doesn't happen to any more children."

In each report, Graff made recommendations he said would improve Alberta's services to children who receive government care.

In the case of the four-year-old girl, called Marie in the report (which was not her real name), Graff called for changes in the oversight of the kinship care system, which places children in homes where there might be family connections or close relatives.

Training should be mandatory, advocate says

In his report, Graff said potential caregivers go through a home study process to determine their ability. But he noted the process "relies heavily on self reporting by the applicants."

While both Marie's caregivers were told there was kinship care training available, he said, "there was no requirement they attend, nor did they."

Graff called for the training to be mandatory, one of three recommendations made in that report.

The report outlines how child intervention services' involvement with Marie's family began even before she was born.

Concerns about parental substance abuse and domestic violence led to her two siblings being taken into care. After Marie was born, and following a time in foster care, her mother agreed with the plan for all three children to go into kinship care with relatives.

Reports girl spent night alone in basement 

The mother, who had visits with her kids, reported she had heard about problems within a couple of months.

The children not only told her they were being hit but said Marie, who was three at the time, was left in the basement alone all night, and none of them got enough to eat.

A caseworker talked to all three children in a resulting investigation, though they didn't disclose any abuse or neglect at the time, the report said.

The children remained in the care of their guardians. Shortly after Marie turned four, there was a report the siblings were out in the community unsupervised and "looked malnourished."

The case was again referred to child intervention services but there was no documentation of further activity. Three months later, Marie was fatally injured while in her guardians care.

When she was taken to hospital with a brain injury, doctors noticed bruises on her body. The girl weighed 20 pounds, the average weight for a one year old child, the advocate said.

Graf said it's not clear whether the right actions were taken in that case. Hindsight is always 20/20, he said, and caseworkers have difficult jobs.

Those caseworkers, he said, don't appear to have the same access to a similar team of experts he can rely on when doing his investigations, something he has recommended before.

"Caseworkers and supervisors shouldn't be lonely in the decision-making they have to do," said Graff. "It's something that needs to be attended to."

Marie's guardians said she had fallen while playing on a swing. But the following day, the report noted that her siblings told police, "Marie was often hit because she was bad, did not listen and stole food."

Marie's siblings were taken back into care but have since been returned to their mother.

A police investigation is ongoing. The chief medical examiner has not released a cause of death.

No cause of death has been released in the other case reported on Tuesday, that of a nine-month-old baby who is also the focus of an investigative review by the child advocate.

The baby, named Sharon in the advocate's report, died shortly after being returned to her parents care.

Her mother had substance abuse problems. But after completing addictions treatment, baby Sharon and her five siblings were returned to their mother.

Sharon was dead within two months.

Death highlights need for reunification plans

It's still unclear what happened. The advocate's report said the child fell into "medical distress" and had bruising and injuries at the time of her death.

Graff said those could have been caused by resuscitative attempts or resulted from a traumatic event, or possibly an illness.

One recommendation Graff made called for improved procedures to deal with family reunification. He said such plans should be monitored and adjusted after children return home.

Both of the children died within the past two years.

The investigative reviews are Graff's 19th and 20th as Alberta's child and youth advocate.

The two reports contain five recommendations in total.

Previous recommendations from earlier reports have resulted in some progress, Graff said, but the province still needs to move faster in following his guidance.

"We put a lot of time and energy into our recommendations, and we believe they would make a difference for young people. So the sooner they're acted upon the better."