A non-partisan panel tasked with finding ways to improve the province’s review process when a child dies in government care is holding its second meeting Thursday.
The public is is invited attend the Ministerial panel on Child Intervention’s meeting at the Federal House in Edmonton Thursday morning.
READ MORE: Alberta moves forward with non-partisan panel to review child deaths
The 13-member panel was established by the Notley government in January after media reports and the child and youth advocate suggested that for two years, there had been little action taken after a four-year-old girl, known as Serenity, died in kinship care.
The girl died while in the care of extended family. She was sent to hospital with severe brain trauma and signs of physical and sexual abuse. Serenity was also found to be severely malnourished.
READ MORE: Mother of 4-year-old Alberta girl who died in kinship care speaks out – ‘They completely ignored me’
In a report, Alberta Child and Youth Advocate Del Graff said the warnings signs of mistreatment were investigated but dismissed.
Initially, all four opposition party leaders said they would boycott the panel unless the NDP promised to commit to an open process and to protect bureaucrats who speak out. They later said they were satisfied with the NDP’s commitment to meeting those standards and agreed to end their boycott.
The panel includes MLAs from the NDP, Wildrose, Progressive Conservative, Liberal and Alberta parties.
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