NDP slams proposed Child Act amendment
Rather than being open and transparent, Premier Ed Stelmach's Conservative government is shrouding its child-protection system in more secrecy, the NDP charged Saturday.
NDP MLA Rachel Notley says she's "flabbergasted" the Tories plan to amend the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act to prevent Albertans from using Freedom of Information legislation to request information on the abuse of children in provincial care.
In withholding FOIP documents, it is evident WHOM is being protected - as indicated in the article below - if Policy is amended, victims will be further wronged!
ReplyDeletehttp://poundpuplegacy.org/node/22170#comment-6644
Fri, 2008-10-24 17:09 - Bizzi
Ammunition for lawyer
Child advocate's reports called 'very helpful' for foster kids' lawsuit
By ANDREW HANON, SUN MEDIA
The controversy engulfing Alberta's child welfare system has unearthed valuable ammunition for a lawyer spearheading a class-action suit on behalf of foster kids.
Robert Lee told Sun Media that the provincial child advocate's internal quarterly reports, which detail a litany of complaints against the foster-care system, are "evidence" in his lawsuit involving 400 former foster kids.
"I didn't know they existed," Lee told Sun Media.
"They're going to be very helpful for me, but whether they create enough pressure for the government to fix the system remains to be seen."
The reports were released to the public this week by NDP MLA Rachel Notley after she acquired several years' worth of them through an access to information request.
They reveal complaints of illegal restraint techniques used on kids in care, kids sexually assaulting other kids, and children being placed in inappropriate or even dangerous homes because nothing better was available.
Yesterday, opposition politicians called on Children's Services Minister Janis Tarchuk to resign, charging she had no control over her department.
But Premier Ed Stelmach stood by his minister, saying that there are few people in Alberta who have as much compassion for children as Tarchuk does.
Lee represents 400 former foster kids who claim they were abused in a system that leaves child welfare workers overworked and ill-prepared to ensure the well-being of kids in the state's care.
He commissioned a study of the system that determined it "fails to meet the most basic safety, permanency and well-being needs of children in foster care."
Last month, Lee got his class-action suit certified, but government lawyers have appealed the certification.
At the time, Lee said the government appears to prefer fighting hundreds of lawsuits individually.
One of his clients said this week's release of the reports show little has changed since he was a ward of the Crown in the early 1980s.
The man, now 33, said he lived in 16 or 17 foster homes and group homes throughout his childhood, and suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his caregivers.
In 2000, the man said, he was diagnosed with childhood post-traumatic stress disorder.
He says he's unable to hold a job, suffers from debilitating nightmares and can only sleep for about three hours a night.
"This is obviously a generational thing," the man said.
"If they don't step up to the plate and change things, a whole new generation is going to go through what I went through."