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By Shari Narine
Windspeaker Contributor
EDMONTON
Updated with a statement from Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee
The latest investigative report released by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate is focused on the suicide of another Indigenous child.
The OCYA’s report, released on May 24, sets two recommendations from its investigation into the death of 15-year-old Levi (not the boy’s real name), who took his life 20 months after his child intervention record was closed.
Those recommendations are: that Children’s Services formalize procedures to allow children to be active participants in the decision-making process; and, that Children’s Services develop a process for early identification of children who may be at risk of being homeless.
Levi’s situation is not unique. In fact, the investigation revealed one issue that has cropped up in three previous OCYA investigative reports, including a special report entitled, Toward a Better Tomorrow – Addressing the Challenge of Aboriginal Youth Suicide.
In these reports, and in Levi’s case, they called for the needs of the children to be addressed and balanced with meeting the needs of the parents.
“What I’ve said is, and I’ve been fairly clear about it, is that if we see a recommendation that keeps showing itself over and over, we’re going to keep saying it over and over because we’re not going to say, ‘We don’t have to attend to this because we talked about it three reviews ago.’ In fact, we have to keep saying it until it’s not coming forward in these reviews anymore,” said advocate Del Graff in an earlier interview this month with Windspeaker.com.
The second issue noted in Levi’s investigation was the need for children to have a say in their future.
“Giving children a voice is a powerful tool – when it is heard,” said Graff in his report. “Not ensuring and considering a child’s voice in circumstances of maltreatment further marginalizes and victimizes them.”
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that a child has the right to participate in decision-making and to have their basic needs met.
The young First Nation’s boy had a tragic life. Levi’s first involvement with Child Intervention Services occurred when he was two months old. And from that day forward, CIS was in and out of his life, sometimes taking action, but more often not, even though the police expressed concern for the safety of Levi and his siblings.
Instead, the focus was placed on Levi’s mother and her partner. Levi was sometimes homeless, and at one point lived in a tent by himself. He was sometimes hungry, and was fed and clothed by neighbours. He was often subjected to his mother’s and her various partners’ abuse of alcohol, their violent behaviour and his mother’s poor mental health.
When Levi finally bonded with a foster father and asked to stay in the home, he was removed. Levi’s cousin committed suicide and while Levi did not witness the suicide, he did witness the body being removed. He never received counselling.
Four months before his suicide, he was taken to hospital after drinking excessively and he admitted to depression. He was found dead after an evening of socializing with his friends.
“Levi was a quiet and reserved young man, who often seemed to be invisible to almost everyone of importance in his life. My hope is that his experience will demand systems pay greater attention to young people who might otherwise not be heard,” said Graff, in a statement.
“It is very clear that, in this case, Children’s Services did not do everything possible to support this young man to grow up safe and healthy,” said Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee in a statement. “Our government commits to learning from the mistakes made in this case and to making improvements to ensure we are there for young Albertans when they need us most.”
Larivee added that the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention was created to se how the system could be improved and “begin to make meaningful changes in the ways we support children, youth and families.”