Alberta will implement foster care recommendations: minister
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | 6:18 PM ET
CBC News
Janis Tarchuk, Alberta's minister of children and youth services, is promising to follow all eight recommendations of a report into foster care in the province that was prompted by the death of a three-year-old foster child.
Among its recommendations, the report calls for increased monitoring during the first six months of a foster home's operation, and more consistent assessment guidelines for evaluating new foster homes.
Janis Tarchuk, Alberta's minister of children and youth services, says the province has a strong foster-care system, and the changes recommended in the latest review will make it even stronger. (CBC) "What we have here is a very comprehensive review of our foster system," Tarchuk said Tuesday in releasing the report at the Alberta legislature.
"It has looked at all of our standards and our practices. It has compared us to other jurisdictions. They have made some recommendations. I think Albertans should be confident in the fact that all the recommendations have been adopted."
The review was started after a boy who was in foster care died in an incident in an Edmonton home in January 2007. The boy had been rushed to hospital with severe head trauma. He was taken off life support the following day.
The foster mother, who can't be identified, is charged with second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm and failing to provide the necessities of life. She is expected to stand trial on the charges this fall.
The woman, who was a new foster mother, was looking after one other foster child at the time, as well as two children of her own. For a few weeks before the boy's death, the woman was asked to look after an additional two foster children for a time.
Tarchuk insisted Tuesday that the recommendations will only improve an already strong system.
"I am pleased with the review's conclusion that we have good policies, practices in place and that our system is working," Tarchuk said.
None of the recommendations refer directly to the case that led to the review. The department has refused to discuss the details of incident, citing privacy rules.
