WARNING: This story deals with situations that may be distressing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
One year after releasing a report into the horrific abuse and death of an 11-year-old boy, British Columbia’s representative for children and youth says the province must do more to protect kids in government care.
The report, titled Don’t Look Away – How one boy’s story has the power to shift a system of care for children and youth, profiled the preventable death of ‘Colby’ (a pseudonym to protect his privacy), an Indigenous boy born with medical challenges and who was placed in multiple foster homes.
He ultimately died in February 2021 while in the care of two extended family caregivers, four days after suffering repeated beatings from his mother’s aunt. When he died, he had multiple fractures and injuries to his brain, head, lungs, organs and skin — and weighed just 63.5 pounds (28.8 kilograms), not much more than half the weight of an average child his age.
The report, penned by representative for children and youth Jennifer Charlesworth, called for an overhaul of the province’s child welfare system, including more family support services, improved violence prevention resources, better support for people providing kinship care and improved collaboration between agencies.
“Our hope was that it would point government in the direction of not just tweaking at the edges, but actually substantively shifting their approach to child, youth and family services, what we called the ‘North Star’ with a different way of thinking about things and with a much deeper focus on child wellbeing, which of course brings in mental health, health care, education, poverty reduction,” Charlesworth said Tuesday.
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But Charlesworth said despite some progress, the province has a long way to go.
She said the province has yet to produce a child wellbeing strategy and action plan, nor a timeline for a first draft.
And she said that despite welcome efforts by the province to improve staffing, much of the new hiring so far has been to fill vacancies, not to expand the workforce enough to deliver the kinds of services that are necessary.
Charlesworth said her concerns were further exacerbated by the current economic climate which is simultaneously putting more pressure on low-income families, while creating pressure for the government to cut services just as they’re needed most.
“We see on a daily basis that in the absence of doing the preventive services, we see very expensive services needed to be provided when a child is older, when the family is in a significant state of crisis or when the child has come into care,” she said.
“It’s going to require an infusion of resources to support families in the short term in order to achieve better outcomes in the longer term — but if our kids aren’t thriving, if they are struggling, and if we’ve got families that are falling to pieces and unable to care for their children, there are significant social, emotional, and financial costs attached to that.”
Minister of Children and Family Development Jodie Wickens told Global News the province has fulfilled nearly two-thirds of the report’s recommendations, and remains committed to implementing the rest.
“Minister (Grace) Lohr stood up at the time and apologized on behalf of government, and we took action immediately,” she said.
“So there are a number of small, quick actions that our government and my ministry took. And then there are larger systemic actions that will take much longer, some of which that are generational in nature.“
The province has improved integration between ministries and renewed its commitment to First Nations self-determination.
Critics say the improvements to the system aren’t enough.
“It’s on the brink of collapse, the brink of functional collapse. And in Colby’s case we can directly attribute the lack of staffing to his death,” said BC Conservative children and family development critic Amelia Boultbee.
“Many children are currently not safe in the system that MCFD currently has designed, especially due to staffing.”
The province was currently working on a child and youth wellbeing plan and outcomes framework.
If you require emotional support the following resources are available:
Kid’s Help Phone (1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868) is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to Canadians ages five to 29 who want confidential and anonymous care from a counsellor.
KUU-US Crisis Line (1-800-588-8717) is available to support Indigenous people in B.C., 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Métis Crisis Line (1-833-638-4722) is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Youth in BC ( Online Chat is available from noon to 1 a.m. in B.C.
Mental Health Support Line (310-6789 – no area code) will connect you to your local B.C. crisis line without a wait or busy signal, 24 hours a day. Crisis line workers are there to listen and support you as well as refer you to community resources.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Crisis Line (1-844-413-6649) is available to individuals impacted by missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2+ people, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419) provides 24-hour crisis support to former Indian Residential School students and their families.
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