P.E.I. government plans 3rd-party review of case involving boy sent to Alberta | CBC News Loaded
P.E.I. government plans 3rd-party review of case involving boy sent to Alberta
The minister responsible for child protection in P.E.I. is promising 'a third-party, external review' of how officials decided to send an Island boy to Calgary to live with a father he barely knew, rather than let him stay with the maternal grandmother who had cared for him for years.
'Reviews of this nature are important,' says minister Brad Trivers
Wayne Thibodeau · CBC News · Posted: Jun 15, 2022 10:17 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 15, 2022
Minister of Social Development and Housing Brad Trivers has ordered a review of the case. (Brian Higgins/CBC)
The minister responsible for child protection in P.E.I. is promising "a third-party, external review" of how officials decided to send an Island boy to Calgary to live with a father he barely knew, rather than let him stay with the maternal grandmother who had cared for him for years.
In a statement to CBC News early Wednesday, Brad Trivers said the department will be working with child and youth advocate Marvin Bernstein through the process.
"The department has been in communication with the child and youth advocate with respect to this case and agrees a third party, external review should take place," said the statement.
It added: "Child and Family Services reviews decisions and practices on an ongoing basis. Reviews of this nature are important to refine processes and to look at ways in which we can enhance support for children and families."
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The case involving the young boy, who is now eight, was the focus of a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision that sided with the grandmother and leveled criticism against the office of the director of child protection.
'Don't deal with children like sticks of furniture'
Back in 2019, the director of child services ordered the boy removed from the care of his grandmother in Charlottetown, placed him with foster parents he didn't know for four weeks, then sent the boy to Alberta to live with his father, who he had only recently met.
The man hadn't known he had a child until P.E.I. officials told him in February of that year. His ex-wife had relocated from Alberta to P.E.I. in 2013 without telling him she was pregnant.
Some of the belongings left behind when the P.E.I. director of child protection ordered an Island-born boy apprehended in August 2019, after he left his maternal grandmother's house in Charlottetown for summer camp. (Wayne Thibodeau/CBC)
P.E.I.'s child and youth advocate had been calling for the province to conduct an internal review of how child protection officials handled the case.
"In my experience, that is highly unusual and wouldn't reflect good practice," Bernstein told CBC News in an interview Tuesday.
"Because you don't deal with children like sticks of furniture. They're human beings, and you start moving children around and you're really affecting their life trajectory, in terms of setting up a placement and removing a child from a caretaker who for all intents and purposes seems to be addressing the needs and developing a strong relationship with that child."
Marvin Bernstein, P.E.I.'s child and youth advocate, said in an interview with CBC News that he would like to see an internal review of how Child Protection Services staff dealt with the case of a young Island boy. (Kirk Pennell/CBC)
Child protection officials removed the boy from the maternal grandmother's care while he was at summer camp. Since then, he has returned to P.E.I. to visit his mother's family only once — a two-week trip with his father last summer.
"Aside from what you're doing to the foster parent or the grandmother, what are you doing to the child, in terms of that disruption without notice?" Bernstein said.
The province did not say how quickly the review could take place, but said the department is "currently exploring options for an external reviewer."
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Wendy McCourt was Prince Edward Island's director of child protection at the time of the events described in the Supreme Court of Canada ruling. She has since retired.
CBC News has tried to reach her for comment about her actions as described in the ruling, but she did not return phone calls.
These decisions are not made in silos, they are made with input from those connected personally and professionally with the child. - P.E.I. Child and Family Services division
Officials with Child and Family Services said they cannot comment on specific cases, when CBC News requested an interview.
But an emailed statement said: "The cases and families that we work with often have multiple levels of complexity and our staff do not take any decisions involving children and families lightly.
"These decisions are not made in silos, they are made with input from those connected personally and professionally with the child(ren) and family and in conjunction with professional clinical judgment that is always grounded in the best interest of the child."
An earlier version of this story said the boy never returned to Prince Edward Island after being sent to live with his father in Calgary. In fact, he did visit his grandmother in Charlottetown in the summer of 2021 for two weeks.
Jun 15, 2022 3:27 PM AT
Wayne Thibodeau
Wayne Thibodeau is a reporter/editor with CBC Prince Edward Island. He has worked in TV, digital and print for more than two decades. In addition to his role as a multi-platform journalist for CBC News, Wayne can be heard reading the news coast-to-coast-to-coast on The World This Hour, co-hosting Island Morning and reporting daily for CBC News: Compass, the top rated supper hour show on the Island. You can reach Wayne at Wayne.Thibodeau@cbc.ca
Follow @JWayneCBC on Twitter