So, I posted an introduction to the group a few days ago... Here is the source of the alarming stat that I mentioned... I read this last year and was shocked by it... It's an article from the Vancouver Sun...(here http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/number-of-b-c-kids-in-care-deaths-critical-injuries-jump-dramatically )
"One hundred and twenty children in care or receiving services from the B.C. government died last year, and more than 740 received “critical injuries,” according to a new tally by the children’s advocate.
And while the number of children in care in the province has declined over the last decade, the number of reported deaths and critical injuries has risen at a dramatic pace: Deaths jumped from 72 in 2008 to 120 last year, while critical injuries skyrocketed from 120 to 741.
The way these incidents are reported has changed recently in response to criticisms about the child-welfare system, making it impossible to prove that these vulnerable children actually experienced more serious injuries. The numbers of deaths were also reported differently over time — in the past, deaths from “natural causes” such as an accident or an illness were not counted. Now all deaths are reported.
But Bernard Richard, B.C.’s acting children’s advocate, says the totals still represent emotional or physical trauma being suffered by too many youth"
Now I am wondering seriously just what the hell is happpening with the children in care that so many are dying and experiencing these reported injuries. It also makes me wonder about the quality of life of children i care that doesn't rise to the level of a serious complaint over injury or death.
The first research that I need to do is to try and see if I can compare these statistics to those of children who are not in care.
I need to do some research there.... and get some help with somebody who studies statistics. I am thinking of reaching out to the Math department at University of Victoria. What I need to understand is just how big a variance it is between children in care and not in care who experience critical injuries or are killed.
The next line of inquiry that I want to pursue is how many of these children who are dying or critically injured are First Nations or in non-provincially managed foster care situations.
I am not even sure how to gather that information at this point... but I have some ideas on where to start.
This is a graph that shows the trends --
Last week I reached out to an effective child-care advocate Cyndy Blackstock about my questions regarding the number of native children in care. She said that nobody is actually compiling that research for the entire country... it's all divided up by provinces. So this project is going to involve having to contact all the different provinces and territories in Canada to get a real feel for what is happening. I will keep people updated on this when I start. I am thinking that I should switch my phone to a vonage VOIP account so that I won't have to worry about long distance charges in doing this research. So I need to research how to do that as well.
That's all for now.
Bless all your hearts and all our children and those children who don't have parents.