Alberta’s foster care system is welcoming a set of improvements that could help fill the gaps identified in the recent fatality inquiry of a St. Albert teenager.
The government’s Human Services Ministry, responsible for foster care, was not prepared to comment on the fatality inquiry. Spokesperson Roxanne Dub Coelho did, however, say improvements to the system are ongoing.
“There’s lots of things that have been improved over the years and continue to be improved,” she said.
Human Services Minister Dave Hancock was not available to comment this week.
A $34-million information management system designed to provide greater information sharing for caseworkers and their team, has been tested since 2011 and is expected to be implemented province-wide by April.
“We were just finding that as demographics change, as people’s needs change and as legislation has changed over time, that the system that we’re currently using isn’t really quite fitting the bill,” Dub Coelho said.
The new system will allow better communication between the caseworkers and other stakeholders in the child’s development, she said.
The Alberta Foster Parent Association received a $240,000 government grant earlier this year to develop a mentorship program for new foster parents.
Katherine Jones, executive director, said the program will match new foster parents with experienced individuals. The program is being rolled out in the Edmonton area and will become mandatory in 2013.
Jones said this is a step in the right direction for the foster care system.
“There’s always things that can be improved, but I will say one thing, there’s been major improvements in the last few years to the foster care system,” she said.
Roughly 4,500 children and youth in Alberta are in foster care.
One of these children was Samantha Lauren Martin, who spent the majority of her life in a Morinville foster home. Shortly after her 13th birthday, she returned to live with her biological parents, where she died roughly six months later.
The final report from the fatality inquiry was unable to determine a cause of death but did point to a series of problems in the system.
Children with Tetrasomy 18p, the condition Samantha was diagnosed with at birth, often see their pediatrician every three months. Samantha, however, only saw her doctor four times in four years.
Each of her three caseworkers since 1998 went long periods of time – up to 14 months – without meeting her in person, despite a requirement to meet face-to-face every three months.
Judge Marilena Carminati recommended the province ensure caseworkers’ workload is “reasonable” and ensure they have up-to-date medical information about the foster child.
She also recommended policies be improved to ensure children receive annual medical checkups and recommended Children’s Services follow up on medical complaints.
Dub Coelho said the ministry will respond to the fatality inquiry when it is publicly released Nov. 2. Velvet Martin, Samantha’s mother, provided a copy of the report to the St. Albert Gazette earlier this month.
