Minister of Children and Families Responds to Report on Child Deaths

By 250 News

    Prince George, B.C. – Minister of Children and Family Development, Tom Christensen, says the recommendations in the report by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, are consistent with the direction the Ministry has already started to move.

Earlier today, the Representative for Children and Youth released her report on the deaths of four northern children who had either been in the care of the Ministry, or at the very least, on the Ministry’s radar. ( see previous story)

At the time of the  deaths, there were serious staffing challenges for the Northern Region of Children and Families, that situation has been corrected. Still  Turpel-Lafond says while staffing levels are now 98%, the problems still exist  and nothing has changed at the front line.

Christensen says staffing levels are the priority “There is not a simple answer that can make everything perfect tomorrow.”  He says it will take time, and the government’s already taken a step in the hiring of an Assistant Deputy Minister for Quality Assurance.

He says there will be reports to the Select Standing Committee on Children, although he did not commit to the semi annual reports  Turpel-Lafond  recommends.

Christensen also commented that while the Ministry is working with First Nations and those  who care for children  he did not commit to  the establishment of an  Aboriginal Children’s Council, which was another of the recommendations in the Turpel-Lafond report.

Turpel-Lafond also noted that while there were lessons to be learned from the four cases she examined, there was an “inability on the part of the Ministry to learn from these valuable lessons.” Christensen  said while it is important his Ministry have “critical analysis” he said the recommendations are not inconsistent with the Ministry’s new “operational framework”.

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