Child's Death Report Not Released

NDP MLA Nicholas Simons says he filed his report
on Sherry Charlie in March 2004
By Nicholas Read, (May 27, 2005). Vancouver Sun, p. B5.

Port Alberni. The author of a report into the violent death
of 19-month-old Sherry Charlie in September 2002
wants to know why that report hasn't been made public by
the provincial ministry of family and children develop-
ment.
Nicholas Simons, newly-elected NDP MLA for Powell-
River Sunshine Coast, was commissioned by the ministry
to investigate the events that led to the death of Sherry
at the hands of her foster father, Ryan Dexter George, in
Port Alberni.
George, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and rec-
ieved a 10-year prison sentence for killing the girl, had a
lengthy criminal record and was on probation for spousal
assault when Sherry was put into his care.
Simons, a former independent social work consultant,
filed the final draft of his report into the death to the
ministry in March 2004. Two weeks ago, the ministry
sent him it's version of the full final report, a draft preci
and a summary version. He was told then that all three
were awaiting signing by deputy minister and director
of child protection Jeremy Berland.
As of Tuesday, however, the report still hadn't been
made public, and Simons would like to know why.
"That's a fair question," he said in an interview. "It's
a fair question that should be asked loudly."
Simons says until the report is released, he isn't at
liberty to discuss its contents. But he added that without
attaching blame to anyone, it does contain information
that could be helpful to social workers and the ministry
in the future - information that could help a similar
tragedy occurring again.
"To me, it's about the best practices in child welfare,"
Simons said. "Should social workers know what will help
improve that practice and protect children? Should that
information be released? You tell me."
Ministry spokeswoman Kate Thompson, said she
couldn't say when the report would be published. "We
don't have an exact time frame for it. We want to make
sure everything's dealt with."
But she rejected any suggestion that its release was
being deliberately slowed.
When you're dealing with matters like these, it can
take weeks and months to conclude everything that
needs to be done, not just days."
But Simons said he believed that if the now disband-
ed children's commission were still operating, the report
would have been released long ago.
"Whether or not the children's commission would
have changed things, I can't say, but they would have
had a report by now," he said.
Established in 1997 in response to public outrage
over the beating death of Matthew Vaudreuil after a
lifetime of neglect, it was the commission's responsib-
ility to investigate deaths such as Charlie's and to
measure ministry performance in looking after child-
ren like her. In June 2002, the year the B.C. Liberals
abolished the commission for economic reasons, it
found that the ministry had acceptable plans for only
half the 9,700 children in its care.
In January 2003 the Liberals shifted responsib-
ility for investigating deaths such as Charlie's to the
provincial coroner's service, but on Tuesday they
said the case was "still open."
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B.C. man sentenced in foster-child death
Globe and Mail. Wednesday, October 6, 2004,
Page A8

Port Alberni -- A man who killed his two-year-old
foster daughter has been sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Ryan George, 32, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter
in the death of Sherry Charlie in 2002.
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Responsibility for children is a big commitment,
says Paul Willcocks. The mishandling of a ministry
By Paul Willcocks, (April 7, 2005).

VICTORIA - The Gove Inquiry, looking at the horrific death of a
little boy who should have been saved, was clear.
"Death and serious injury reviews should proceed promptly . . ."
The Liberals and the NDP both supported Judge Thomas Gove's
recommendations for children and families' reform.
***********************************************
2005 Legislative Session: 6th Session, 37th
Parliament HANSARD. (Wednesday, March 9th,
2005).

Oral Questions: INVESTIGATION OF CHILD DEATHS
AND INJURIES, (page 12397).

Hon. S. Hagen: I can assure the House and all British
Columbians that children in care continue to be safe.
We have not experienced a rise in child-in-care-related
fatalities. Every fatality of a child in care is thoroughly
investigated with accompanying recommendations. I'm
confident we are well served by the coroner's office,
the child and youth officer and the ombudsman, in
addition to the work done by our ministry to track
significant cases and review practices.

J. MacPhail: By the minister's own information,
the number of fatalities of children in care rose from
the last year reported from the previous year. They
rose by 33 percent. So I don't know what the minister
was just doing to this House when he made that statement.

We're not just talking about children in care here.
As the former children's commissioner said yesterday,
measuring success by the number of children in care tells
us nothing about whether kids are safer. All it tells us is
that there are fewer children in care. Why? Because the
province now has no way of independently investigating
the deaths and injuries of children.

Again to the minister: the coroner, by admission,
doesn't have the teeth to investigate the deaths of children.
If the government's child advocate doesn't have that power,
then how can this minister have any confidence that he is
telling the facts that fewer children in care improves the
safety of at-risk kids? What evidence does he have of that?