Opposition parties call for big changes to protect children

Green Party Leader David Coon says the Department of Families and Children needs a major overhaul after the alarming cases of child neglect reported in recent years.

"There's too much operating in silos going on there," Coon said during the CBC political panel's discussion this week of New Brunswick's child welfare system.

The conversation comes after a court case concerning five malnourished children who were found living in unsanitary conditions, with feces smeared on the wall of their Saint John-area home.

Coon wasn't blaming workers with the provincial department.

"People are overburdened," he said. "They're carrying way too many files. You've got compassion exhaustion for some people. It's crying out for reform."

Liberals absent from panel

Liberals, including Families and Children Minister Stephen Horsman, would not take part in the regular panel this week.

"Government is in the process of procuring an external expert to lead the internal review of what went wrong at the Department of Social Development," government spokesperson Tina Robichaud wrote in an email to CBC News.

"Government will also fully co-operate with any investigation by the child, youth and seniors advocate. Until these reviews have concluded, we do not believe it would be appropriate for Government to comment."

Calls for Horsman to resign

Since the revelations of the plight of the five children, Horsman has faced calls from opposition parties to resign his post as minister, and those calls were echoed on the panel.

"I don't think any reasonable person is necessarily blaming Mr. Horsman for this, but at the same time you're at the head of it," said People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin.

"So you do the honourable thing. You resign."

Progressive Conservative Dorothy Shepherd said some of the blame should be targeted at Premier Brian Gallant's office, which she said runs the departments more than ministers do.

"I'm not saying [ministers] don't have the capacity, I'm saying they haven't been given the opportunity to learn," said Shepherd.

Parents can't fail

Shepherd said part of the reason some children fall through the cracks is the treatment of the parents by the department.

"We don't have a system that allows parents to fail," said Shepherd.

Austin questioned the government's spending priorities. 

"We have a government that's willing to put $50 million [toward] a museum in Saint John but doesn't have enough caseworkers to be able to find these cases and to properly maintain these cases," he said.

You can watch the entire political panel in the video above, or you can download the audio podcast here.