10 Years of Advocacy Representative’s Report Card Annual Report 2015/16 and Service Plan 2016/17 to 2017/18 Oct. 24, 2016 The Honourable Linda Reid Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Suite 207, Parliament Buildings Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4 Dear Ms. Speaker: It is my pleasure to present the Annual Report 2015/16 and Service Plan 2016/17 to 2017/18 of the Office of the Representative for Children and Youth to the Legislative Assembly. This document reports on the period April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 and covers activities underway and planned for the period April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2018, and has been prepared in accordance with part 5, sections 17 and 19 of the Representative for Children and Youth Act. Yours sincerely, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond Representative for Children and Youth Province of British Columbia pc: Mr. Craig James Clerk of the Legislative Assembly Ms. Jane Thornthwaite, MLA Chair, Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth Images on inside front and back covers were created by the Representative’s Social Media Youth Team to illustrate articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. CONTENTS Ten Years of Advocacy ............................................. 3 A message from the outgoing Representative for Children and Youth. 3 What has Worked............................................. 3 What Requires Urgent Work.................................... 11 Representative’s Reports 2007 to 2016 .......................... 16 Office of the Representative for Children and Youth ................... 18 Representative’s Mandate...................................... 18 Vision, Goals and Values....................................... 19 Accountability ............................................... 20 Organization ................................................. 21 Working with Others .......................................... 22 Focus on Vulnerable Children and Youth......................... 25 Programs and Activities ........................................... 28 Critical Injury and Death – Reviews and Investigations ............ 29 Monitoring .................................................. 38 Advocacy .................................................... 42 Indigenous Strategies and Partnerships.......................... 53 Communications ............................................. 58 Performance ..................................................... 66 Relevance.................................................... 67 Responsiveness............................................... 69 Accountability................................................ 71 Excellence ................................................... 71 2015/16 Approved Budget ......................................... 75 Appendix 1 – List of Outreach and Communication Activities ........... 77 Contact Information .............................................. 84 2015 release of Cyberbullying report, with Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham 2009 Awards of Excellence, with award winner Chris Tait 2013 Awards of Excellence, with winner Charles “Chuck” Fraser 2015 release of Paige’s Story, with Paige’s aunt Chief’s Gathering, 2016 Youth in Care Week, 2012 TEN YEARS OF ADVOCACY A message from the outgoing Representative for Children and Youth The Annual Report and Service Plan that follows on these pages is the last report I will present during my second and final term as British Columbia’s Representative for Children and Youth. It is hard to believe that 10 years have passed since 2006, when we initiated this Office, a key recommendation of the Hon. Ted Hughes’ B.C. Children and Youth Review. It has been my honour and distinct privilege to serve as B.C.’s first Representative and, before I depart, I wanted to offer this assessment of the first decade of work by this Office. What has Worked Let’s begin with the positive. I believe that the Representative for Children and Youth’s Office has accomplished a great deal of good for B.C.’s most vulnerable kids, through our advocacy work one-on- one with children and their families, through our careful oversight of the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) and through applying strategic pressure on the government and its agencies to effect considerable change that has helped those who need it the most. The following are what I would Creation of Representative for Children and Youth consider five of the Office’s most important accomplishments during In November 2005, the Honourable Ted Hughes was appointed to that time: conduct an independent review of B.C.’s child protection system (Hughes Review). More than 70 individuals with special expertise and more than 300 child welfare groups and other stakeholders 1 Direct Advocacy contributed to the review. In April 2006, Mr. Hughes submitted his RCY’s public profile is often report, the BC Child and Youth Review, to government. The report made 62 recommendations for changes to the B.C. child welfare focused on our reports, which system. The creation of the Representative for Children and Youth have drawn considerable media as an independent advocacy and oversight body was a central coverage during the past 10 recommendation of the report. years and brought about some In May 2006, the B.C. government passed the Representative for significant change. But the largest Children and Youth Act establishing the Legislative Assembly’s single component of our work – authority to appoint an officer of the Legislature as the with the biggest staff complement Representative for Children and Youth. in our Office – is dedicated to In November 2006, an all-party Special Committee unanimously advocacy. recommended that Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond be appointed as Working out of three locations – B.C.’s first Representative for Children and Youth. Mary Ellen was Victoria, Burnaby and Prince reappointed in November 2011 to a second five-year term. Annual Report 2015/16 and Service Plan 2016/17 to 2017/18 3 Message from the Representative George – our advocates have opened nearly 17,000 cases since 2007, assisting children, youth and their families across B.C. While RCY doesn’t deliver direct services, our advocates help children and families navigate what can be an extremely confusing system of services delivered by the provincial government and its designates, all the while with a primary focus of educating children and youth about their rights and helping to ensure that those rights are upheld throughout the process. Some of the more common concerns we help with include services denied or unavailable to children and youth, quality of practice or care by those working in the system, ineffective or inadequate planning for children and youth, and children and families feeling as though they have not been treated with proper respect or dignity. While this remains a more quiet function of our Office, it is actually the one that matters the most. As awareness of our Office and this function have grown, RCY advocacy cases opened per year have nearly doubled from an initial 1,191 in 2007/08 to 2,096 in 2015/16 (see graphic). Children, youth and their families in B.C. who are frustrated or stalled by the system are often able to find their voice – and in many cases find better services and outcomes – working with our advocates. I am extremely proud of the fine people we have working directly with kids in advocacy and some of the most satisfying work that I have done during my two terms as Representative has come from my own Number of Adoptions by Aboriginal Status direct involvement in individual advocacy cases. and Fiscal Year, 2006/2007 to 2016/2017* Total Number of Advocacy Cases by Fiscal Year, 2007/2008 to 2015/2016 2,500 advocacy cases 2,096 2,012 2,000 1,811 1,920 1,912 1,716 1,558 1,653 1,500 1,191 1,000 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 4 Representative for Children and Youth Message from the Representative 2 Fewer Children and Youth In Care Since 2006, when our Office began its work, there has been a significant reduction in children and youth in the care (CYIC) of the B.C. government. In 2006/07, there were 9,097 children and youth in care in the province. By 2016/17, that number had shrunk to 7,197. The total number of CYIC on a Continuing Custody Order has also declined by nearly 1,400 during that span, meaning that fewer children are being removed from their homes on a permanent basis and therefore more families are being kept together (see graphic). While this is a positive development, the number of CYICs who are Aboriginal has not changed significantly – slipping from 4,551 in 2006/07 to 4,403 in 2016/17. CYIC with and without CCO, by Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal Fiscal Year Averages 2006/07 to 2016/17 CCO Ab CCO Non-Ab 3,000 Non-CCO Ab Non-CCO Non-Ab 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 Tellingly, the percentage of CYICs who are Aboriginal has actually increased significantly. In 2006/07, just over 50 per cent of children and youth in care in B.C. were Aboriginal. For the current year, the percentage of Aboriginal CYICs is more than 61 per cent. This despite the fact that Aboriginal children and youth comprise only about nine per cent of B.C.’s total child and youth population. Annual Report 2015/16 and Service Plan 2016/17 to 2017/18 5 Message from the Representative 3 Better Education Outcomes and Supports for Children and Youth in Care Since our inception, the RCY has placed a major focus on improving education for children and youth who are in government care. In fact our report, Growing up in BC – 2015, placed a primary focus on education as it is seen as one of the most effective ways to help level the playing field for vulnerable children and youth. One of the best indicators for educational outcomes is the six-year completion rate – the percentage of students who manage to complete high school within six years. I’m pleased to note that six-year completion rates for children and youth in care in B.C. have improved significantly during the past 10 years. The six-year completion rate for children and youth in care on a Continuing Custody Order (CCO) has climbed from a shockingly low 27 per cent in 2007/08 to 41.6 per cent in 2012/13, the most recent year for which full statistics are available (see graphic). And the Ministry of Education’s report How are We Doing? (2015), shows that six-year completion rates for those with a CCO actually rose to 45 per cent in 2013/14 and to a high of 50 per cent in 2014/15. Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond at the Victoria Office Open House, 2007 6 Representative for Children and Youth