We don鈥檛 charge people who break the law by failing to report evidence of child abuse or neglect because it鈥檚 鈥渢ricky,鈥� according to Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux.
That was part of Cadieux鈥檚 response to children and youth representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond鈥檚 call for a crackdown on people who fail to report child abuse.
Most charges are tricky, but we lay them because they matter. The law requiring the reporting of child abuse is intended to save lives, and it should be enforced diligently, not just when it鈥檚 convenient.
Turpel-Lafond鈥檚 investigation found that professional and bureaucratic indifference led to the death of Paige, a teenage aboriginal girl who had been the subject of 30 child-protection reports in her lifetime, but who was left largely to fend for herself.
Paige, who had been living in 91原创鈥檚 Downtown Eastside, died of a drug overdose in April 2013, not long after 鈥渁ging out鈥� of B.C.鈥檚 child-welfare system 鈥� the system鈥檚 services were no longer available to her because she had turned 19.
Paige was born under horrific circumstances. Her mother was an addict, unstable, transient, often violent. The little girl was taken from her mother many times, but despite the woman鈥檚 complete inability to provide protection and adequate parenting, the child was always returned to her mother鈥檚 custody.
鈥淒espite the absolute predictability of this tragedy, the child-protection system, health-care system, social-service agencies, the education system and police consistently failed in their responsibility to this child and passively recorded her life鈥檚 downward spiral,鈥� says the representative鈥檚 report, entitled Paige鈥檚 Story: Abuse, Indifference and a Young Life Discarded (bit.ly/1cjEcJJ).
Cadieux said she was 鈥渉orrified鈥� by the report and acknowledged that more should have been done. But she rejected Turpel-Lafond鈥檚 charges of 鈥減rofessional indifference鈥� and systemic racism.
鈥淚 find it offensive that individuals could be seen as indifferent when they have chosen to make this their life鈥檚 work,鈥� she said.
Turpel-Lafond says she 鈥渞ecognizes there are dedicated staff working with children such as Paige and that telling her story can cast a pallor of blame on individual staff and can traumatize these individuals. That is not the intent of this report 鈥� but it is time to own the dysfunction and disarray that resulted in a failure to save Paige.鈥�
She says the government should enforce the legislation that stipulates a fine of up to $10,000 or six months in jail for failing to report child abuse or neglect.
Attorney General Suzanne Anton, like Cadieux, says she favours education over prosecution, noting that prosecution is 鈥渁 rather long, laborious process.鈥�
That seems to reinforce, rather than refute, Turpel-Lafond鈥檚 point about a culture of ministry indifference.
While the law should be enforced, Cadieux and Anton are right about education. We do not suggest clapping social workers in irons and throwing them in jail.
It is not retribution that is needed, but reform, and that could start with giving those front-line workers the training and resources they need to be effective. Most of them have extremely heavy caseloads.
They need consistent policy on when to take children and when to return them to parents. They need to know their concerns will be heeded if they report child abuse, and that appropriate action will be taken.
The government knows what needs to be done 鈥� such as continuing support for teens who age out of care, instead of cutting them adrift. But the government doesn鈥檛 want to take the trouble to act. That鈥檚 the definition of indifference.
Paige鈥檚 story is tragic, but the greater tragedy will be if others like her cannot be spared a similar fate.
