Alberta’s system of operating and monitoring foster homes is broken and cannot be repaired without focused policy review, an influx of workers and more funding to alleviate the load on both foster parents and staff to ensure the safety of children placed in the system. Of course, these are all points that have been made before but the recent spate of deaths and accusations of abuse, coupled with recent funding cuts should provide added impetus to get the job done.
What kind of a province do we claim to live in where our most vulnerable children — the marginalized, the special needs and the abused — are removed from their biological homes for reasons of safety and security, and in some cases end up in a situation equal to or worse than where they came from? More to the point, what kind of government sees this happening and makes little or no effort to fix the system so that it never happens again?
No one can dispute that fostering children is difficult — many of these kids have long histories of abuse and neglect and others are mentally or physically challenged. Some come in twos and threes, as Children and Youth Services tries to keep siblings together. These challenges are why there are only 2,500 foster homes across the province and why more than 100 were recently disclosed to have more children than allowed. Of three children that were killed in foster care between 2005 and 2009, all three were staying at homes that had between four and six other children in the home. During that same time period, 17 more foster children died of other causes.
The easy solution is to simply find more foster homes, but who among us is willing to disrupt the tranquillity of our family homes to provide safety and security to a stranger? And of those who are, how can we be certain of their abilities and motives? Friday’s news that a local senior is accused of sexually assaulting two pre-teen girls in a respite home is just one sad tale among dozens. In another local case in which the accused was acquitted, authorities continued to place children in the home even after allegations of abuse had been made known to child workers. Now Minister Yvonne Fritz was caught trying to explain how she didn’t know of a program to cap and cut funding for foster families who care for severely challenged children. It is another blow to an already weakened department.
What has Ed Stelmach done to fix the problem? Nothing. By cutting funding and subsequently increasing the burden on a ministry that already can’t keep up with the demand for its services. In total, last month’s budget cut slightly more than three per cent in budgeted program expenses from Children and Youth Services, including $28 million from child intervention. The budget does toss a paltry $1 million to the foster care support system, totalling a 0.6 per cent increase. But with a budget of only $163 million, how much does Stelmach expect the foster system to accomplish?
We have a pair of abused pre-teens, hoping the individual they’ve accused faces justice. We have a 21-month-old toddler in Morinville buried mere months after she was accepted into foster care. We have overburdened foster families, overworked employees and an underfunded ministry that is being ignored by the provincial government. Biological parents don’t need programs that teach them how to turn on a stove or take out the garbage — they need direct intervention to deal with their own demons before their children suffer because of them.
Every child in Alberta should have a chance not just at life, but a good life. It is time for Stelmach’s Tories to embrace the children in the care of the government and see to their every need instead of letting them twist in the wind.
