Two years after the call for a well-being plan for children and teens, the provincial government has released an action plan.
Children and Family Development Minister Jodie Wickens announced the new Child and Youth Well-Being Action Plan and Outcomes Framework during a news conference in Vancouver on Tuesday (June 16). She was joined by Attorney General Niki Sharma, Representative for Children and Youth Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth, and Alex Turpin, a former child in care and member of the ministry’s youth advisory committee.
Charlesworth, the province’s watchdog for children and youth, first put the call out for a formalized wellbeing action plan in July 2024 when her office released the report titled “Don’t Look Away.” That report detailed the findings in the horrific case of an 11-year-old Indigenous boy – given the pseudonym ‘Colby’ in the report – who died while in foster care, as well as the stories of 14 other children who were subjected to harm that either caused life-altering injuries or death, all while in foster care or the child welfare system.
Asked how she feels to see that come to fruition two years later, Charlesworth said it’s emotional.”
“There’s a part of me that thinks, ‘God, why did it take two years?’ We knew so many of the things that needed to be done,” she said.
“However, these things do take time, because it’s not just about putting things on paper and creating a plan. It’s about shifting the mindset and the mental models that we have. Are we going to work together? What would that look like to work together? How do we center children? We think we center children, but maybe we don’t.”
She said all of those aspects are important because they “take time to reimagine” and the teams working on the plan “can’t kind of magically conjure up something that we want to get to without some care and attention.”
She added that there is potential for more work around early help and intervention.
“What do we mean by early help? It’s not just waiting until something breaks, but to actually anticipate some of the things that a family might need in order to get through the tricky parts.
While she is excited, Charlesworth noted that she is still cautious.
“That’s my job as the representative. We’ll be watching very closely, but we’ll also be walking alongside.”
The Child and Youth Well-Being Action Plan and Outcomes Framework, according to a release from the government, will bring ministries together around a “co-ordinated, cross-government approach to better support children, youth and families throughout B.C.”
The plan aims to give a “whole-system view that was missing.” It will also help track whether results are being achieved across government.
“Ultimately, this is about organizing government around people’s needs rather than expecting people to organize their needs around government,” Wicken said.
Some changes implemented through the plan are already underway, with others already in progress, she said.
“For example, we are partnering with Connected Services BC to create better information sharing across government, so families can get support without being bounced from one ministry to another, having to repeat their story over and over again,” she said.
Sharma said that instead of families navigating different system, there will be better coordination between the justice, health, education and social supports, “and a shared focus on outcomes that matter in people’s lives from a justice perspective.”
She also highlighted that the wellbeing plan also builds on work her ministry is doing to improve access to justice for families and victims of intimate partner violence.
Charlesworth said it’s important that Sharma acknowledged how the plan responds to the “epidemic of violence.” She said her office has about 8,000 stories come to them through the years and investigations each year, and about 40 to 50 per cent of those children have experienced violence in their lives.
“That’s significant, and it affects the life course.”
Turpin, who was also a former youth in care, said that as he reviewed the plan, he found himself reflecting on his own experience growing up in care. He said there are so many who don’t come forward because they are scared or uncertain of whether they will actually receive help, and what that help could look like.
“I couldn’t help but think about the moments where a more connected and coordinated system could have made a meaningful difference, not only for me but for so many other children and youth in this province.”