The NDP opposition wants action taken by the UCP government to address the rising number of children and youth dying while receiving child intervention services.
Rakhi Pancholi, the opposition Children’s Services Critic, says they want an all-party committee panel in the legislature to look into the situation with children in government care.
“We did this when we were in government in 2018 as the NDP. We had an all-party panel to look at the child intervention system and make 36 recommendations to address basically kids in care but also the overrepresentation of indigenous children in care. The other thing we’re asking for is transparency around what the government has done to implement those recommendations coming out of that 2018 panel.”
Pancholi was on the Trending 55 Hot Seat and says one of their areas of concern is around children who are transitioning out of government care.
“We’re seeing a rise in opioid deaths and addiction issues and we know that’s affecting these young people as well. One of the recommendations that’s come out of the office of the Child and Youth Advocate is to actually have a youth opioid strategy. We have not heard any response from the Associate Minister of Mental Health or the Minister of Health in terms of implementing a specific youth opioid strategy.”
Pancholi says another recommendation they want implemented is increasing the availability of whole family residential treatment programs.
We talked to Pancholi on the Trending 55 Hot Seat, you can hear that discussion below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Hot Seat
