VICTORIA – Two years after the release of a landmark report calling for a full overhaul of the child welfare system in the province, BC’s independent oversight office for children and youth says while some significant changes are in effect, coordinated service delivery, a stronger workforce and early intervention services and support are still urgently needed.

“Children shouldn’t have to wait for the adults tasked with keeping them safe and fully supported to take the necessary actions to allow them to not just survive their childhoods, but to truly thrive,” said Representative Jennifer Charlesworth. “While we’re seeing some important momentum, there is still much more that needs to be done for our kids.”

Two years ago, Charlesworth released the report Don’t Look Away – How one boy’s story has the power to shift a system of care for children and youth, which investigated dozens of missed opportunities that lead to the death of an 11-year-old boy at the hands of family caregivers and then looked at the child welfare system as a whole. The report made more than 60 recommendations focused on strengthening supports for families, responding to family and intimate partner violence, improving quality assurance and inter-agency collaboration, increasing workforce capacity and supporting First Nation self determination and jurisdiction for their children’s well-being.

Today, the Representative issued a progress report highlighting where government has made progress on her office’s recommendations and where progress is stalled.

Key recommendations that have been completed include:

• The creation of a government-wide Child and Youth Well-Being Action Plan and outcomes measurement framework, the first of its kind in Canada, that sets a shared direction between ministries for improving outcomes for children and youth in BC. It sets out how the system will shift away from reactive crisis responses to focus instead on preventing challenges through better coordination between ministries and service organizations.
• The development of a Ministry of Children and Family Development Workforce Plan that articulates how the ministry’s strained workforce will be strengthened.
• An increased focus on the transition of jurisdiction of child welfare from government to First Nations across several ministries, as well as enhanced training for front-line staff who are involved in these transitions.

Key recommendations where progress is stalled include:

• RCY’s companion reports to Don’t Look Away, No Time to Wait: Parts One and Two, called for increased recruitment and retention of front-line staff. Since the release of these reports in 2024, the number of delegated child protection workers has decreased (76 fewer staff), and several areas of the province continue to experience serious staffing shortages.
• The report called for more support for family/kin caregivers who are supporting 5,700 young people in the province. While a review is underway, it will not be completed until 2027.
• While risk assessments have been enhanced where family violence is occurring and young people may be unsafe, community-based supports for supporting families and young people who are experiencing violence are still not consistently available throughout the province.
• Early help supports for families to prevent crises and child protection intervention are inconsistent and not adequately funded.

“When we look across the spectrum of what has happened since we investigated the story of the little boy who spurred these actions, there is no question that there is positive momentum – we are seeing a recognition that an all-of-government approach is needed to support young people and their families and we are seeing a renewed commitment to move away from simply crisis response to proactive support. But progress has been inconsistent and data tells us young people are continuing to be harmed at a frankly alarming rate,” said Charlesworth noting when her office released the report, her office had received 6,437 reports of young people who were injured or died while receiving government services in 2023/24. Last fiscal year that number jumped to 7,371, a 14 per cent increase.

“What we see in the numbers, and the stories of young people we continue to learn about is that there is still a tremendous amount of work to do to make sure the young people of today are strongly positioned to shape our communities of tomorrow. We all need to stay committed to doing all that we can collectively to ensure our systems of support are strong, connected and consistent now and into the future,” said Charlesworth.

To view the Don’t Look Away Progress report visit: https://rcybc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/RCY_DLA-Two-Years-Later_July2026-final.pdf

To read the original report visit: https://rcybc.ca/reports/dont-look-away/