Alberta's child advocate opposes change to tracking young adult deaths

Alberta's child and youth advocate says she opposes a government move to stop her office from investigating the deaths of vulnerable young adults age 20 and older.

Last week, the government tabled an omnibus bill that would change the advocate's mandate to review the deaths of children and young adults who have interacted with the province's child welfare system. 

"Because we are the only body that's reviewing these deaths, we're not going to hear about them," said Terri Pelton, the province's child and youth advocate said in an interview Monday.

"There might be a spike in young people who are dying at the age of 23 from opioids who had previously been involved with child intervention. And we're not going to know that."

The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate (OCYA) now reviews the deaths and serious injuries of any young person aged 22 and younger who has a file with child and family services, or whose file was active less than two years earlier. 

The office had previously looked into the deaths and injuries of any such young person age 26 and younger.

For the last four years, the advocate's team of 12 investigators has reviewed and reported on at least 80 young people each year who died or were grievously injured.

Should Bill 38, the Red Tape Reduction Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, become law, Pelton's office would no longer receive notifications from the government or medical examiner about the deaths of young people 20 and older.

According to statistics from the advocate's office, that would exclude at least 12 per cent of the death and injury reviews staff have completed during the past three years.

Pelton says the government needs to know whether children who were receiving intervention, or were in government care, are dying so they can change the way they serve children and young adults who now live in precarious circumstances.

The advocate said most parents wouldn't boot their 18-year-olds out the door and ignore their calls for help as they adapt to adult life.

"I think a guardian is responsible to provide additional support — past 18, in my mind, up to 25 at least, because young people's brains are still developing," Pelton said of children in provincial care.

Through the Transition to Adulthood Program (TAP), the province provides financial support to adults formerly in government custody until they are age 22, and some services until they are 24.

Pelton said although she opposes the proposed change, death reviews are not the only way to advocate for young adults' interests, and she will adapt her work.

Minister says adult reviews unnecessary

At the legislature last week, Children's Services Minister Searle Turton says the bill would continue to mandate child death reviews under age 18, and the advocate would have the option to review deaths of 18- and 19-year-olds.

"These are young adults," Turton said. "They can vote, they can access other services. And for us, it was really important to ensure that those children that are under the age of 18, are they actually receiving the services and supports that they need?"

Turton said he wants to ensure children are more resilient before they reach adulthood.

The government also says the proposed change will ensure the advocate's office and the children's services ministry are reporting the same numbers publicly.

Pelton says although she agrees with some changes to public reporting requirements proposed in the bill, she didn't ask to lower the age for death reviews.

Diana Batten, the NDP's children's services critic, called the proposed move "reckless." She says it allows the government to bury and ignore poor outcomes.

"These are serious injuries and deaths," Batten said. "These outcomes have to be measured in order for us to even remotely evaluate if we're doing the right things for these children and youth."

Batten said she is especially concerned about the bill, given how many Indigenous children are involved with the child intervention system.

A Jan. 27 government report says there were about 8,800 children receiving intervention services in the province, and nearly 7,500 of them were in government care as of December.

As of December 2024, 76 per cent of the children in the government's custody were Indigenous.

Batten said it would be ignorant to believe a child's time in government care had no bearing on the trajectory of their life.

Turton said last week it is "completely false" to say the government is trying to hide the sometimes tragic outcomes of its former wards.

"And by actually changing these reporting requirements, it will allow the OCYA to be hyper-focused on that age category as well," Turton said of children younger than 18.

Pelton says her office doesn't need to refocus.

"It's already focused there, and those young people become these young adults who continue to need services and support."