Alberta child intervention panel wants to hear from families before publication ban recommendation

One member of the Alberta all-party child intervention panel who was part of a previous roundtable on the matter says the decision to lean toward public accountability over family privacy should be dialed back.

Following Wednesday night's meeting of the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention, Liberal Leader David Swann, who wasalso a participant in the 2014 roundtable on improving the child intervention system, said the focus then seemed to be on dispelling the myththat the government was trying to hide in-care deaths.

All of us are hearing that it's inappropriate and unacceptable to force, especially grieving families [to decide]... about stopping that or enabling that publication ban.- David Swann

"The focus was entirely on making it more transparent," Swann saidafter the meeting. "Now I'm hearing, and all of us are hearing, that it's inappropriate and unacceptable to force, especially grieving families, whether First Nations or not, about stopping that or enabling that publication ban."

The panel has already drafted sevenpreliminary recommendations to improve accountability,timeliness of the review process, cultural sensitivity and compassion toward families involved.

• Alberta child care panel drafts 1st-round recommendations

Another proposalwas up for debate Wednesday,relating topublication bans around sharinginformation abouta child in care, which can be lifted if the child dies.

To prevent the ban being lifted,parents have the right to go to court within four days to put a publication ban back in place. The panel is deliberating whether that's enough time.

Panel wants more information

The 11MLAsand three social work experts on the panel all expressed interest in hearing more from affected families before drafting even a preliminary recommendation. The Ministry of Children's Services is reporting back to the panel with more information before it makes any decisions.

MLA DebbieJabbour, the chair of the panel, also noted the 2014 effort "may have gone too far" in favouring the public's need to know over a family'sprivacy.

"We have to look at the other side and say,'Where do we find a better balance?'"Jabboursaid. "We want to make sure that we do it right. And we want to make sure that we get input from the First Nations communities on how it impacts them and look at all the angles."

Over the coming months, the panel will be hearing from families and children involved with or who have been involved with the child intervention system, including those on reserves.

• First Nations demand change to Alberta's child intervention system
• Family voices are needed in child death reviews: Ministerial Panel member

The panel was formed in December 2016 after gruesome details emerged surrounding the 2014 death of a four-year-old Indigenous girl named Serenityin kinship care.

Emaciated and badly bruised, Serenitydied after she was admitted to a centralAlberta hospital with a suspected head injury while being cared for by relatives. She died from brain damage. Genital trauma also suggested sexual abuse.

• Serenity's death prompts government to set up all-party task force

Between April 1, 2014and Dec. 31, 2016, 73 people under the age of 25 died while receiving government services; more than half of them were Indigenous.

This child intervention panel is the seventh in eight years to review Alberta's child intervention system.

roberta.bell@cbc.ca

@roberta__bell