Teens in the Tri-Cities and throughout B.C. are at risk of sexual exploitation, lifelong trauma and even death without more services such as long-term recovery beds for drug-addicted youths and laws that allow young people to be placed in care for their safety.
Diane Sowden, the executive director of the Children of the Street Society, said her group often deals with parents whose children are struggling with addiction and related problems. But she said there is little her workers can do to support these families because programs and policies that could help aren't available.
"It's just incredible," Sowden said, "the costs of not doing anything."
Her concerns come as the NDP and the BC Liberals argue about the number of youth addiction beds that are available in Fraser Health in response to an epidemic of overdose deaths, including that of Coquitlam teen Gwyn Staddon in a Port Moody Starbucks washroom in August.
The NDP released government records obtained through a freedom of information request showing a 25% drop in youth substance use beds between 2013 and March of this year. The decrease was worst in Fraser, where the number of available youth addiction beds fell more than 50% over the same period, from 22 to 10 beds.
NDP mental health critic Sue Hammell said the province should have realized overdose deaths were climbing in those years and taken swifter action rather than waiting until the eve of the next provincial election to try to deliver on a 2013 campaign promise to add 500 addiction beds by 2017.
"They knew the numbers were increasing — that's why they promised an increased number of beds," Hammell said.
As of the end of August, 488 B.C. residents had died from fatal illicit drug overdoses and the death toll could top 700 by the end of the year. But Lake said Fraser lost 11 beds because a youth substance use facility in Keremeos jointly used by Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health had to be closed due to issues with the operator.
Those 22 beds will come back on stream when the Keremeos facility reopens in 2017, he said, along with other planned increases, including a new 10-bed youth stabilization unit at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Lake said by the end of 2017, B.C. will have 102 mental health beds and 195 substance use beds for young people up to age 25. By the end of 2017, Fraser Health will have 42 substance use beds for young people, he said, up from 22 in 2012.
Meanwhile, Sowden, who is watching the issue closely, said she is pleased that more substance use beds will soon be made available for young people but she said the length of stay is typically only six weeks, when a much longer period is needed to stabilize teens struggling with addiction.
Sowden, who is a Coquitlam school trustee, also supports a call by B.C.'s representative for children and youth for for secure care legislation and services so youth who refuse to seek help for addiction can be placed in a special facility that will address their needs.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond made the recommendation for secure care for youth earlier this year but Sowden said it has been discussed since 1998, when she was part of a secure care working group. In the intervening years, other jurisdictions have adopted the laws, and though opposed by the BC Civil Liberties Association, she believes they could be a valuable tool to keep kids safe if properly managed so the kids' rights are safeguarded.
"It has to be consistent and there have to be safeguards," she said.
"It's not a jail sentence, it should be what meets your needs," said Sowden, who said she gets calls from parents whose children who are being sexually exploited by pimps and have drug addiction as the underlying problem.
These parents are powerless to do anything and fear for their children, Sowden said, but a secure care law could have youth before a judge within 72 hours, and a decision made by independent experts.
Recent statistics suggests there is no slowing in the number of overdose deaths. In the Fraser region, there have been 172 drug overdose deaths as of the end of August. Across B.C., there have been six overdose deaths so far this year of victims aged 10 to 18, and another 121 aged 19 to 29.
