Aboriginal girls at most risk of sexual violence in
province's care: report
Government evils existed in the world
over centuries, and still existing today. IN CANADA HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF
INNOCENT CHILDREN WERE FOREVER SILENCED, their lives are cut short and their
promising futures annihilated. We must never forget, for "those Whose Lives Were
destroyed, also by Those That Have to suffer for the rest of Their Lives.” The
past are condemned to repeat it.
Children's
watchdog says 121 children and youth experienced sexual abuse between 2011 and
2014
The provincial
government says there are standards in place to assess caregivers
VANCOUVER (NEWS
1130) – Over 120 children in BC government care were sexually assaulted between
2011 and 2014, and not all of the cases were reported to police.
The latest report from the Representative for Children and Youth
is calling for more support for the victims.
Of the 121
victims, 109 were girls. Aboriginal girls account for 74 of the cases. That
amounts to 61 per cent of the total cases, even though Aboriginal girls account
for 25 per cent of all children in care. Ages of the victims range from three
to 18 years old.
The perpetrators
were mostly known to their victims. They were foster parents, friends or
acquaintances, and peers of their victims. There were cases involving
strangers, but much of the violence involves people known to the children in
care.
Children’s
Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond calls that finding significant. “(It’s)
not inconsistent with what we’ve seen before, but significant meaning we have
an ongoing issue around that and that speaks to the quality of supervision,
supports, accreditation, engagement and review of safety within foster care and
also the intense vulnerability of the children in care.”
The majority of
the attacks happened in a private residence or placement, but there were cases
involving adolescents assaulted in public places like parks. This type of
“sexual victimization” was more likely to happen in larger cities like
Vancouver and Surrey.
Turpel-Lafond
says it’s troubling to not one-third of the perpetrators were other children in
care. She says this element presents a safety risk. “Certainly, the pressures
around protecting children as the responses to that type of peer-on-peer
violence can mean simply removing one of the children and replacing them in
another residence, but placing them in another residence may not adequately
address the safety of other children and youth in the new residence.”
When it comes to
how these incidences were responded to, Tuprel-Lafond says the level of
government support wasn’t always the same and it wasn’t always enough. “The
level of supports and services that they received varied, but were mostly
minimal, were mostly transitory and some of the victims were victimized
multiple times.”
The report found
12 of the cases were not forwarded to police. Turpel-Lafond suspects there are
more cases out there which go unreported and the real number has the potential
to be higher.
The
Representative is calling on BC’s Justice Minister to set up Child Advocacy
Centres around the province to offer help to victims. Turpel-Lafond says
centres like this specifically for Aboriginal children should be the first
priority.
BC’s minister of
children and families thanks the representative for the work and has reiterated
a number of changes it has made to improve the conditions for children in care.
They include higher standards for social workers and revised protocols for
responding to reports of abuse.
Stephanie Cadieux
isn’t able to say if they’ll implement the main recommendations. “It’s horrific
when any child is abused and certainly for those in our care, we have a duty to
do everything we can to protect them. So, we’ll take a look at the advice in
the report.”
The NDP meanwhile is calling for funding to be increased so social workers can better monitor children in care.
The NDP meanwhile is calling for funding to be increased so social workers can better monitor children in care.
Genocide: Canada Aboriginal Children Murdered with
Kevin Annett 1/2
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