
“I’m sorry, they’re gone.”
Just four words, yet every parent’s worst nightmare. The anguish of losing a child feels incomprehensible. That’s why, on March 5, I introduced the Safe Care Act in the B.C. Legislature.
The Bill is designed to protect minors struggling with mental health and addiction challenges. It is a last-resort tool that allows for the limited use of involuntary treatment to protect vulnerable youth at risk of serious harm.
Any decision to implement involuntary care is not something I take lightly. However, I stand firm in the belief that there are times when compassionate involuntary care is necessary to save lives. The Safe Care Act is clear: it authorizes a parent, adoption director, child and family services director or safe care director to apply to the Provincial Court for an apprehension order in respect of a child if the applicant reasonably believes that the child is at risk of serious harm, and no less intrusive measure is available to reduce the risk to the child’s health or safety.
The purpose of the apprehension order is to create the space, under medical oversight, to stabilize the child and give them some time and opportunity to get out of what they may view as an impossible circumstance.
Before applying for an apprehension order, a parent, adoption director, child and family services director or safe care director must first obtain leave of the court, and discuss the child’s circumstances and the voluntary alternatives available. The child must be informed of their rights and when less intrusive options are available, the system defaults to those options.
If these conditions can be met, the Court can allow that a child be detained in a safe care facility for up to 4 days under an apprehension order; under a stabilization and assessment order for up to 15 days; and under an order to extend a stabilization and assessment order for up to 30 days. Each step requires the court to agree that this action is in the best interest of the child and that no less intrusive measures are available or adequate.
Joining me for the introduction of the Safe Care Act was a Squamish mother, Brenda Doherty, who lost her 15-year-old daughter Steffanie to a drug overdose. Steffanie had been hospitalized for a drug overdose, was released from hospital and subsequently, while under the influence of an older man, again overdosed and died. Had this legislation been adopted years ago, it would have given Brenda an option that may have seen her daughter alive today.
For more information on the Safe Care Act, contact: Jordan.sturdy.mla@leg.bc.ca. To follow the progress of the Bill visit: Progress of Bills (leg.bc.ca).