The NDP is continuing to go after the UCP government about the number of deaths of children in government care.
Children’s Services Critic Rakhi Pancholi says the government needs to follow recommendations that have been made by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate.
“One of the recommendations that has been made by the office for well over a year is around making sure that there is a specific opioid strategy for youth. When we look at the numbers of young people who have died, it’s heartbreaking how many have died as a result of drug poisoning. We know that there’s an opioid crisis going on right now in our province, it’s hitting vulnerable young people the hardest.”
Pancholi says action must also be taken for improving working conditions for staff in Children’s Services, especially in Northern Alberta.
“If we don’t have staff and there are now child intervention staff up north, that means that those kids and those families are not getting support. Case workers are absolutely critical to making sure that the children, the family and the foster parents and kinship parents are getting the right amount of support and are connected to resources that they need.”
Several northern communities, including High Level, have recently had no staff working in Children’s Services offices.
You can listen to our full conversation below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
