An unnamed Alberta social work supervisor has been fired after an investigation into the deaths of twin baby girls.

The three-month-old twins were in the custody of their grandfather, who was driving them from northern Alberta to Ontario. The grandfather, Jerome Kerrigan, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death.

The report says the girls should never have been transferred into Kerrigan's care. The review panel found there was no formal investigation done into Kerrigan's suitability as a parent, in spite of the fact the province was turning over three children into his care. Two of those children, Shaniece and Angel Kerrigan-Kinahan, died in a motel room in Thunder Bay, Ont. halfway through a cross-country road trip in January.

Iris Evans

The report does not deal with how the infants died. Instead it examines how Kerrigan was given custody and why his travel plans weren't scrutinized.

Kerrigan, was driving the children from Slave Lake, Alberta, to their new home in Ontario when his car broke down. It was a cold night, and there was no heat in the car.

Kerrigan says he bundled up the babies and waited three hours for a tow truck to arrive. It took another two hours to get to Thunder Bay, where Kerrigan got a motel room. He then gave the babies a hot bath, fed them each a bottle, and put them to bed.

The next morning, a motel employee found the twins in the room. Kerrigan was charged with criminal negligence.

Iris Evans, Alberta's minister of children's services, lays most of the blame on the social work supervisor who agreed to the arrangements.

"The supervisor demonstrated serious errors in judgment and failed to meet a reasonable standard of performance. Her actions reflected a significant departure from what would be expected of a prudent social worker in these circumstances," said Evans.

A second social worker on the case will be forced to take retraining.

The investigation also found policy changes are needed in the area of private guardianship where a relative steps in to take care of children in foster care.

Evans says 15 changes will be made to the rules to ensure guardians are better screened. But the findings don't appease Alberta's opposition parties.

Both Liberals and the New Democrats say too much blame is being directed at front line workers, and not enough at the minister in charge.