Liberals call for study of N.L. foster care woes

The Liberal Opposition wants Newfoundland and Labrador's child and youth advocate to investigate the province's troubled foster care system.

The minister of health, though, says the Liberals are trying to score political points on the issue, given that an outside review is already underway.

A surge in the number of child protection cases have forced administrators to put dozens of children in hotel rooms, under the supervision of private home care agencies, because there are not enough foster parents available to care for them.

As well, a document obtained last week by CBC News showed that more than a quarter of the children in the Labrador Innu communities of Sheshatshiu and Natuashish were in the child protection system in January.

Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones wants Doreen Neville, the child and youth advocate, to step in.

"You have a issue like this which seems to be almost a crisis issue," Jones told CBC News.

"Additional resources should be made to do the necessary work and, you know, if this is to occur, I think they need to look at specifically at Labrador and what's happening in the Innu communities."

Health Minister Ross Wiseman, though, said an investigation by Neville's office would only duplicate work now underway by an external consultant.

"Had the leader of the opposition been paying attention to what was happening in this area during the course of last year, she would have recognized that in the fall of 2007 [we] together with our four authorities engaged an independent review of our foster family system," Wiseman said.