Advocate's report highlights shocking 'systemic' problems in N.B. child welfare system

A teenage boy with a traumatic brain injury took his own life after he was released from a 30-day psychiatric assessment in custody at the youth prison, a place he never should have been.

A 14-year-old boy spent two months in hospital because the provincial government, which had custody of him, couldn't find him a safe place to live.

Two siblings, 14 and 12, lived in an apartment without parents. One of them can't read. Despite five reports of neglect, only one risk assessment had been done, and the department determined the concerns were unsubstantiated.

They're three of 10 examples the province's child and youth advocate highlights in a new report detailing "systemic" problems within New Brunswick's child welfare system.

The report also includes information from hundreds of interviews the advocate's office conducted with youth in care, front-line social workers, group home staff, police officers, officials in the justice system, doctors, teachers and others.

From a lack of transparency within the Department of Social Development to a lack of training on the trauma youth in care face, to problems recruiting and retaining staff who work with the most vulnerable children, the report describes a system that appears to be failing the children it's designed to protect.

"Youth too often leave the system to become homeless, poverty-stricken and health-endangered," the report says.

The advocate's report, called Through Their Eyes, describes an "ongoing crisis" in finding placements for children and youth in the care of the government. Foster parents are in dire shortage, leading to young children being placed in group homes not designed for them.

"We have an 8-year-old who is naïve and innocent in a group home with teenagers, some of who use drugs and alcohol and are prone to violence," a social worker is quoted as saying. 

Other times, siblings are split up, often with little warning, because the department can't find a place where they can live together. One child quoted in the report describes being awakened by a social worker, with only five minutes to get ready to move to a group home.

It's a "crumbling" system that social workers have been trying to navigate without proper resources for years, according to Shawna Morton, a social worker who represents front-line staff as president of CUPE Local 1418.

"Alarming? Absolutely, but it's been alarming for years, and it continues to get worse and worse and worse," she said on Wednesday.

Morton said there are 15 vacancies within child protection staff in Saint John, the equivalent of missing three whole units. The story is similar for many of the community agencies the department works with, which are also dealing with significant staffing problems. For example, Morton said they can no longer access support workers who can help social workers in emergency after-hours situations.

The province recently introduced new child welfare legislation designed to give the department expanded power to intervene when a child could be at risk. The proposed legislation was being debated in a committee at the legislature on Wednesday afternoon, and will continue on Thursday.