Child intervention services are necessary and even lifesaving in some cases. In Alberta, Children and Family Services (CFS) handles child intervention.
For those outside of Alberta, CFS is like Child Protective Services. In the third quarter of 2024-2025, CFS delivered child intervention services just shy of 9,000 times across six regions.
The CFS delivers child intervention services only when the legal definition of abuse or neglect is met and a child’s safety is at risk.
Child intervention is a valuable service that can save lives, but there is a growing need for improvement in Alberta.
The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate (OCYA) is required to investigate the deaths and serious injuries of any young person aged 22 and younger who was in government care or had received services within two years before their death.
Between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, the OCYA was notified about the deaths of almost 70 young people and the serious injury of 15 others.
During that time, the office investigated 47 deaths and discovered that 12 of the young people were still in government care and 36 were either still receiving child intervention services or had received them within the last two years.
You might be wondering how youth deaths can happen in government care to begin with. The most common manner of death was accidental, which the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) describes as “A death that’s caused by an injury and there’s no obvious intent to cause death.”
What isn’t immediately clear is that deaths involving drugs are often ruled accidental. Between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, 20 deaths were ruled accidental, including 10 deaths involving drugs or alcohol.
“It’s deeply concerning to see children as young as 12 using substances, and sadly, we’ve seen even younger in the past,” said Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate Terri Pelton.
The OCYA plays an important role in learning why these deaths occur and understanding how they can be prevented in the future, but a recently tabled bill could change that.
Reducing Red Tape
In February, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally tabled Bill 38, which aims to alter legislation, including removing “unnecessary requirements” from the Child and Youth Advocate Act.
The OCYA was created through the Child and Youth Advocate Act to “represent the rights, interests, and viewpoints of children and youth receiving (government) services” in Alberta. The OCYA is independent of the government.
Bill 38 would bring many changes to the Child and Youth Advocate Act and by extension, the OCYA.
For starters, the proposed bill would change the frequency of youth death reports from every six months to annually.
To make matters worse, the OCYA would no longer receive notifications from the government or OCME about the deaths of young people 20 and older.
“If we don’t know about them passing away, we can’t look at what happened for them that might have improved the services for other young people who are coming up through the system,” said Pelton.
Pelton used the example of a surge in young people dying at the age of 23 from opioids. If Bill 38 is passed, the OCYA wouldn’t be able to identify this trend.
In turn, the office wouldn’t be able to investigate and learn what services it should provide to prevent similar trends from happening in the future.
You wouldn’t stop taking your car to the shop after 20 years, would you? If anything, you would start taking it more. It shouldn’t be any different with youth who are entering adulthood.
After all, youths between the ages of 18 and over represented almost 40 percent of serious injuries or deaths, according to OCYA’s 2023-2024 report.
Yet, Nally isn’t aware of this statistic or simply doesn’t care. Diana Batten, the NDP’s children’s services critic, thinks Bill 38 is a convenient way for the UCP government to bury and ignore poor outcomes.
Children’s Services Minister Searle Turton denied Batten’s accusation and claimed that “by actually changing these reporting requirements, it will allow the OCYA to be hyper-focused on youths under 18.”
In response, Pelton stated that her office is already focused there. Instead, she believes there needs to be more focus on young adults who continue to need services and support after child intervention.
Ironically, Nally doesn’t seem to care for what the Child and Youth Advocate is advocating for.
A Time Limit On Caring
A lack of reporting isn’t the worst of Bill 38. Right now, the OCYA investigates deaths of youths up to the age of 24 or older in some cases.
Bill 38 would make youth death investigations mandatory only when a child is under 18 and receiving services, but discretionary when a youth dies within two years of receiving services up to 20 years old.
What is Nally’s reasoning? “This is about making it easier for the advocate (Pelton) to do what’s right and to empower him to make the correct decision,” said Nally.
Pelton, a woman, was left dumbfounded by Nally’s reasoning, stating, “That is not a rationale that I understand.”
You should probably know the gender of the person you are trying to “empower,” Nally. Although, we shouldn’t be too surprised since Nally never actually consulted with Pelton.
At first, Nally claimed “we engaged with the Advocate, as well as other stakeholders” but later clarified that he personally “didn’t do the consultation” and deferred to Turton.
According to Turton, Pelton agreed with some of the items in the bill. Meanwhile, Pelton openly stated that she “can’t get on board with this (bill)” in an interview.
At the very least, Pelton has made it crystal clear that she has major problems with Bill 38 and would rather the UCP government pour resources into supporting youth transitioning into adulthood.
“I’ve said many times that I believe that young people transitioning out of care and into emerging adulthood need more support, and one of the ways we know how they’re doing is by receiving notifications of their death and then reviewing their services,” said Pelton.
“I’m worried about young people leaving government care where the government has been their parent, and they don’t have the natural support of their own family,” she continues.
Pelton isn’t the first Child and Youth Advocate to seek better support for young adults leaving government care. There was former Child and Youth Advocate Del Graff who also advocated for more support for young adults transitioning out of child intervention.
Sadly, Graff and Pelton’s request continues to fall on the deaf ears of a government that cares little for the outcomes of our province’s children outside of government care.
