B.C. TO CREATE REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

VICTORIA – Government is acting quickly to implement key recommendations of the Hughes report by introducing legislation to establish a new Representative for Children and Youth as an independent officer of the legislature, Attorney General Wally Oppal announced today as he presented Bill 34 to the house.

“Government is following through on our commitment to implement the Hughes report recommendations and build on the strong foundations already in place in British Columbia,” said Oppal. “The Representative will be an independent officer of the legislature with the powers recommended in the Hughes report to advocate on behalf of children and families, ensure accountability and investigate critical injuries and deaths of children in our child welfare system.”

Under the new legislation, the Representative for Children and Youth will be appointed by the Legislative Assembly on the unanimous consent of an all-party special committee of the legislature. The mandate of the Representative will be to:

· Provide better and expanded advocacy opportunities to foster improvements to our system of services for children, youth and their families;

· Provide for the independent review and investigation of deaths and critical injuries that occur within in the child welfare system; and

· Provide for a strong system of accountability to the public through independent public reporting.

The legislation also establishes the role of an all-party Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth to work with the Representative in fostering greater awareness and understanding of the child welfare system, as recommended by the Hughes report. This committee will also be responsible for receiving and reviewing service plans, annual reports and ongoing reports from the Representative, and can refer individual cases to the Representative to investigate when deemed fit.

“Under this new and improved model, the Representative will have full discretion to advocate for children, initiate reviews and investigations and release reports in a way that is fully independent from government and uniquely focused on the child welfare system,” Oppal said.

“We are committed to building a system that works in the best interests of children and youth, and today we are taking an important step toward achieving that goal.”

The current Officer for Children and Youth will continue in her role until the Representative for Children and Youth is appointed. Government established a transition team immediately following the April 7, 2006 release of the Hughes report led by the Deputy Attorney General to facilitate the transition and transfer of responsibilities from the Officer for Children and Youth to the new Representative for Children and Youth, addressing both organizational and staffing responsibilities.

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1 backgrounder(s) attached.
Media contact:	Carol Carman Communications Director Ministry of Attorney General 250 387-4965

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