Three Alberta children died in government care in the past six weeks, province reveals

EDMONTON — Three children in government care have died in the past six weeks in Alberta, including an eight-month-old baby.

The province revealed the deaths Thursday, and vowed to make all such deaths public within four days.

“In order to improve transparency when a child dies, we will be providing information online that confirms the death of a child or youth receiving child intervention services,” Human Services Minister Heather Klimchuk said in a statement. “This will be done within four business days of confirming the death, as long as the appropriate notifications have occurred to family members.”

The government listed the recent deaths, with a few details, on its website:

• November 4, 2014 – A 17-year-old male receiving services
• October 16, 2014 – A 17-year-old female receiving services
• October 15, 2014 – An eight-month-old male receiving services

The changes were prompted by a Postmedia newspaper series a year ago that revealed gaps in child death investigations and the frustration of families who couldn’t talk publicly about the their loved ones because of the automatic ban on their identities.

Using documents obtained under freedom of information rules, the series revealed the province had used its privacy laws to avoid telling the public about the deaths of 89 children in care since 1999.

READ MORE: Alberta to review how it investigates, reports foster child deaths 

Following the series, Manmeet Bhullar, then-minister of human services, released information that showed hundreds of children had died who had previously been in care, were in indirect care, or had injuries under investigation. With those figures added in, the number of deaths since 1999 stood at 741 out of 275,000 children.

Then in April 2014, the province introduced changes to allow the publication of names and photos of children who had died in government care. When Bill 11 became law in July, Bhullar promised to introduce a quick way for families to apply to block such publication.

That promise came through Thursday, in the form of simplified documents.

“My priority is to respect the right of families to choose whether they want to share their child’s name and photograph with the public or mourn in private,” Klimchuk said. “These children were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and their family is dealing with a terrible loss.”