Reports of mistreatment in Alberta child welfare system misleading: minister

Last Updated: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 | 4:53 PM ET

CBC News

Alberta's Minister of Children and Youth Services Janis Tarchuk addresses reporters in Edmonton Tuesday. (CBC)

Alberta's minister of children and youth services said Tuesday that quarterly reports from the province's child and youth advocate don't paint a true picture of Alberta's child welfare system.

"In their raw form, they are very troublesome, but, it's important to note, can also be very misleading," Janis Tarchuk said.

On Monday, NDP MLA Rachel Notley released information from the quarterly reports obtained through a freedom of information request.

According to the reports, children were kept in unsafe or inappropriate foster homes because there was nowhere else to place them, and alleged sexual abuse victims were left in homes with their alleged attackers.

There were also examples of the use of face-down restraints, a practice that has been banned.

Tarchuk insisted the reports paint an incomplete picture, because they only report complaints the advocate has received, without discussing what followup actions were taken.

"Once again, there are hundreds and hundreds of complaints that have come forward that have not been substantiated in that report," she said. "They are afterwards. But they are not in that report."

The NDP also noted Monday that Tarchuk tabled three years' worth of annual reports from the Child and Youth Advocate on Oct. 14, the day of the federal election, an attempt, Notley believes, to hide the information from the public.

Tarchuk said the date was chosen because it was the first day of the fall session of the Alberta legislature. There was a backlog in the annual reports, and she said she tabled them "at the first opportune moment" after receiving them in September.

Tarchuk said she spoke to the advocate, John Mould, about the backlog as soon as she became aware of the situation.

"I have asked the advocate in the past year if he could get caught up. Not only get caught up, but also ask for a commitment in the future that we have more timely submissions of the annual report," Tarchuk said. "He has given me those assurances."

Mould did not attend the Tuesday news conference because he was on vacation.

NDP calls for Tarchuk's resignation

Notley said Tarchuk's answers weren't good enough, particularly since the quarterly reports reveal the same problems keep showing up.

She said Tarchuk needs to be more accountable.

"I think the minister has to take responsibility for not fully keeping the advocate accountable, for keeping her ministry accountable, and for keeping the children of Alberta who are in the government's care safe," Notley said.

Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason called for Tarchuk to step down.

"It is our view that she should resign immediately from her position as children's minister, and if she doesn't resign immediately, the premier should fire her," Mason said.

'Very few resources,' workers say

People who work with children in care said they aren't surprised by the revelations.

"We're putting our children at risk in this province every single day. It's outrageous. It's absolutely outrageous, but it's so normal. I can't go to a courtroom a single day and not have something like this happening," said Pat Yuzwenko, a lawyer with the youth criminal defence office.

"I don't know how the public is supposed to respond anymore because … I don't understand why something hasn't been done before," she said.

Maureen Braun, a union representative for front-line social workers, said the public should not be angry at the people who are trying to help.

"There are very few resources. There's a high turnover of front-line staff and children are coming into the system with very complex issues," she said.

Notley said the child and youth advocate should report to the legislature instead of the minister.