Child and Youth Advocate releases Annual Report – Advocate pushes for improved services for young people in care

December 1, 2015

“My Office continues to advocate for young people, so the systems in place to serve them are more effective. Young people involved with child intervention need to be assured that the Government is making its very best effort to provide effective services.”

Del Graff, Provincial Child and Youth Advocate

Edmonton…Del Graff, Provincial Child and Youth Advocate, released the 2014-15 Annual Report of the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate (OCYA).

Over the past year, the OCYA has worked hard to improve its services to young people. At the same time, Government needs to pay closer attention to the quality of services provided to vulnerable children and youth.

This year’s Annual Report highlights the office’s major activities and outlines its efforts to encourage improvements in the child intervention system. Some of these activities include advancing the rights of young people by focusing on quality to better serve children and youth, highlighting provincial Service Reports, engaging young people to provide advice on improving the circumstances of youth, identifying systemic issues, and following up on recommendations with Government.

Included in this year’s Annual Report are:

• Summaries of concluded reports on child death reviews and the serious injuries of young people; and
• Recommendations from four Investigative Reviews.

The report was tabled by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and outlines the work and activities of the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate during the reporting period of April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015.

Progress on recommendations and systemic issues can be found on our website at the link below.

A copy of the Annual Report, Service Reports, and Systemic Issues can be found under Publications at: http://www.ocya.alberta.ca/adult/publications/annual-reports/.

To view progress on our Recommendations:

http://www.ocya.alberta.ca/adult/publications/recommendations/.

The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate is an independent Office of the Legislature, representing the rights, interests and viewpoints of young people receiving designated government services.

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Media inquiries may be directed to:

Tim Chander
Communications Manager
Office of the Child and Youth Advocate of Alberta 780-638-4064
tim.chander@ocya.alberta.ca

NT5