Children’s Services minister responds to OCYA report

May 24, 2017

Minister of Children’s Services Danielle Larivee issued the following statement in response to the Child and Youth Advocate’s Investigative Review of 15-year-old Levi:

“My thoughts are with this young man’s family as they grieve the loss of their son, brother and grandson.

“We need to do better. When a young person reaches out to us to ask for our help, our instinct is to do whatever we can to support them. Albertans expect that their child intervention system would do the same. However, 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.

“When a young life is lost in such a tragic way, we must ask ourselves, as a society, what could have been done differently for that young person. While some changes have been made in the years following this devastating loss, this story reminds us that we must never stop looking for ways to better support our most vulnerable youth. 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.

“We created the Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention so that we can take a serious look at how our system can be improved and begin to make meaningful changes in the ways we support children, youth and families.

“We thank the Child and Youth Advocate for bringing these crucial issues to light. We accept the intent of these recommendations and will work with the Advocate to understand how that intent can be implemented, as well as how we can make improvements across government to prevent tragedies like this one.”

Media inquiries

Aaron Manton
780-668-1148
Press Secretary, Children’s Services

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