THE REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH ACT, BILL 34

This bill will establish the Legislative Assembly’s authority to appoint a new officer of the legislature, a Representative for Children and Youth (“the Representative”), as recommended by the Honourable Ted Hughes in the BC Children and Youth Review: An Independent Review of BC’s Child Protection System (April 7, 2006).

Appointment of Representative and Deputies:

The Legislative Assembly will be authorized to appoint the Representative on the unanimous recommendation of a Special Committee of the Legislative Assembly for a five-year term, renewable for a further five years.

It will provide for the Representative to be paid a salary equal to that of the chief judge of the Provincial Court of B.C. – the same as other independent officers of the legislature.

Role and Functions of the Representative:

The role of the Representative is to do the following:

To support, assist, inform and advise children and their families;
To increase accountability of ministries or other public bodies responsible for the provision of designated services by monitoring, reviewing and auditing the provision of those services; and
To review, investigate and report on the critical injuries and deaths of children in the child welfare system.

To fulfil this role, the Representative’s functions include the ability to:

Consider the specific needs and life circumstances of youth;
Advocate on behalf of children and families;
Promote establishment of advocacy services in communities;
Monitor the performance of a ministry or other public body against performance measures for the provision of that service;
Monitor quality assurance activities;
Undertake or collaborate in research to improve services or address the needs of children and families; and
Exercise any other prescribed powers or perform any other prescribed functions or duties.

Reviews and Investigations of Critical Injuries and Deaths:

The Representative will have the authority to:

Require a ministry or other public body to provide information respecting the critical injury or death of a child who was receiving, or whose family was receiving, the service at the time of or in the year previous to the critical injury or death;
Conduct a review for the purpose of identifying and analyzing recurring circumstances or trends to inform improvements to reviewable services or broader public policy initiatives; and

Investigate the critical injury or death of a child after completing a review of the critical injury or death if the Representative determines that the service, policies or practices of the ministry or other public body responsible may have contributed to the critical injury or death.

Reviews and investigations can be initiated independently by the Representative. The Representative can also receive requests from the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth to investigate individual cases when deemed appropriate.

Public Reporting and Accountability

The Representative will also be required to make an annual report to the Legislative Assembly on the work of the Representative’s office, and present an annual service plan – both of which will be forwarded to the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth for review. In addition, the Representative will be enabled to make special reports to the Legislative Assembly.

Annual or special reports may include:

Recommendations for the ministry or other public body responsible for services;
A report on the level of compliance of a ministry or other public body with the recommendations made in a prior report of the Representative under this Act;
Information on any other matter the Representative considers necessary.

The Representative will be also be permitted to create reports on aggregate information received through investigations, or on individual investigations, that will be shared with the Select Committee on Children and Youth and other parties as deemed fit. This information can be included in special or annual reports at the Representative’s discretion.

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Media contact:	Carol Carman Communications Director Ministry of Attorney General 250 387-4965

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