Foster child's death provokes review

Outside experts may review city tot's slaying

By DARCY HENTON AND ELIZA BARLOW, EDMONTON SUN

Alberta's children's services minister says she plans to go outside government - perhaps even outside the province - to find independent experts to sit on a panel reviewing the slaying of a city foster child.

Janis Tarchuk wants external experts to sit with government officials on a panel that will not only examine the specific case but the entire system.

The panel could start probing Saturday's death of an unidentified three-year-old boy as early as next week, she said.

"I am not sure how long it will take, but I can tell you that the process is designed to be very thorough," she said.

"Albertans have an awful lot of questions."

Edmonton and Area Child and Family Services is also conducting an internal review into what happened.

A 32-year-old foster mom is charged with second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm, aggravated assault, failure to provide the necessities of life and child abandonment.

Police were called to the woman's west-end house Friday after the boy was rushed to Stollery Children's Hospital by ambulance suffering from life-threatening injuries.

Paramedics alerted cops that the injuries were suspicious.

The little boy died from his injuries in hospital around 11:30 p.m. Saturday. His cause of death hasn't been released.

The accused woman was a part-time instructor at Grant MacEwan college.

"She was relieved of all her college-related duties and our thoughts are with the families involved," said MacEwan spokesman David Beharry.

He wouldn't say whether the woman had been removed permanently from staff.

By yesterday, the woman's name had been dropped from the list of faculty on the college's website.

The charged foster mom was the owner of the home where the boy had been staying.

She was a single mom and reportedly had three other children, including a second foster child, in her care.

Some social workers say the Alberta foster parents who are single are supposed to be carefully screened because they don't have a partner to share parental responsibilities.

But Cheryl Oxford, spokesman for Edmonton Area Child and Family Services, said all foster parents get the same screening whether they're single or not.

New foster parents are allowed to have up to two foster kids, while more experienced foster parents are allowed up to four, said Children's Services spokesman Sharon Lopatka.

Those numbers could be in addition to the foster parent's own children, Lopatka said.

NDP Leader Brian Mason said he doesn't think there are enough social workers to provide both support for foster parents and protection for the children.

But Norm Brownell, president of the Alberta Foster Parent Association, said the screening and monitoring system is working well and called the tot's death an "isolated tragedy."

"Our whole fostering community is devastated today," he said.

Neither the dead child nor the accused can be identified under the Child and Youth Family Enhancement Act.