A report says major changes are needed in Alberta’s child-welfare system to deal with a growing number of aboriginal young people in care.
But the government is rejecting almost one-third of an expert panel’s recommendations made following a year-long review.
The report says 64 per cent of child intervention cases involve aboriginals under 18, even though they make up only nine per cent of young people in Alberta.
It suggests the province establish a special child protection branch to deal with aboriginal children and their families who live off reserves.
The report also urges Alberta’s child advocate to go to bat for individual children instead of providing advice to the government.
The province has rejected those ideas, but Children’s Services Minister Yvonne Fritz says the province has accepted other recommendations that will strengthen the way it handles child interventions.
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