Paula’s Advent Calendar, Day 22 – Lorraine Adolph, Melissa Ekkelenkamp and...
Three years ago this month, Lorraine Adolph, a 68-year-old senior with schizophrenia, froze to death on the grounds of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton. The weather that December was nothing like the warm...
View ArticleAlberta Election: Will no one think of the children?
Cynical reporters – and really, there are no other kind – often laugh at politicians or community activists who fear-monger about the impact of various policy decisions on our kids. “Will no one thing...
View ArticleChild and youth advocate reflects on rights of children
Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate Del Graff spoke about the importance of children’s right to belong and be supported in their communities, schools and homes days after calling for reform of the...
View ArticleSerenity's Law proposal aimed at protecting children is put on ice
A private member’s bill tabled in the Legislative Assembly house Monday would have required adults to report to police any child who needs intervention, under the threat of six months in jail or a...
View ArticlePaula Simons: In a world of Herods, we need to hang on to Christmas hope
It’s a part of the nativity story we don’t make kids’ holiday TV specials about. As the Gospel of Matthew tells it, King Herod, hearing rumours of the birth of a baby who might challenge him for the...
View ArticlePaula Simons: It's time to fill accountability vacuum in child welfare system
Merwan Saher is Alberta’s auditor-general. Del Graff is Alberta’s child and youth advocate. They are both independent officers of the legislature. They both investigate the actions and potential...
View ArticlePaula Simons: PCs should take no pride in 'reply all' distraction
Last Friday afternoon was a hectic day for PC caucus staffers at the legislature. Some of them, it seems, were frustrated by the way the Notley government has been handling the paperwork around the...
View ArticlePaula Simons: No sound, no fury in child intervention panel report
No one can say the Ministerial Panel on Child Invention didn’t try. Its members met for 12 months. They held 35 meetings, heard more than 65 presentations, reviewed 339 public submissions. And they...
View Article'He was pure. He was innocent': Memorial honours toddler found dead one year ago
Anthony Joseph Raine wasn’t always a neglected child. Pictures show the baby smiling and laughing, his eyes shining, and his mother’s eyes shining, First Nations elder Taz Bouchier said at a memorial...
View ArticlePaula Simons: NIMBY neighbours vow to block camp for former foster kids in...
Sturgeon County — John-Mark Gal and Pat O’Connor are evangelical pastors with a dream. For two years, they’ve been working to turn a long-vacant summer camp on the banks of the Sturgeon River, near...
View ArticleTeens' tragic tales: Meet some of children who died from fentanyl poisoning
Child and youth advocate Del Graff reviewed the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 12 young people who died from opioid poisoning between October 2015 and September 2017. All had interactions with...
View ArticleChild and youth advocate says opportunities missed with youths who died in care
Alberta's child and youth advocate is "alarmed" by the number of young people dying by suicide, he says in a new report on eight children and youths who had been in government care. Read More
View ArticleChild and youth advocate reflects on rights of children
'When there are challenges and they are struggling, we need to do all we can to support them.'
View ArticlePaula Simons: In a world of Herods, we need to hang on to Christmas hope
Our community's children don't just need help at Christmas. They need protection, support and justice year-round.
View ArticlePaula Simons: It's time to fill accountability vacuum in child welfare system
Alberta's child and youth advocate has no power or mechanism to hold human services bureaucrats accountable.
View ArticlePaula Simons: PCs should take no pride in 'reply all' distraction
Fellas? It's a parade. And it's a hoot. And you're sending a clear message when you decline or forget to take part.
View ArticlePaula Simons: No sound, no fury in child intervention panel report
So much work. So many good intentions. So little to show for it. And I think the government knows it.
View Article'He was pure. He was innocent': Memorial honours toddler found dead one year ago
Anthony Joseph Raine wasn't always a neglected child. Pictures show the baby smiling and laughing, his eyes shining, and his mother's eyes shining, First Nations elder Taz Bouchier said at a memorial...
View ArticlePaula Simons: NIMBY neighbours vow to block camp for former foster kids in...
"Not in my backyard. Why does it have to be in my backyard?"
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