Would Gleneagle high school student Gwynevere Kenny-Staddon be alive today if B.C. had a Safe Care Act, as proposed earlier this month by retiring MLA Gordon Hogg?
The answer, sadly, is yes.
What we know of Kenny-Staddon's short life is that she was introduced to drugs early and persisted in using them even though they were life-threatening. Despite efforts of workers with the Ministry of Children and Family Development to intervene, and referrals to detox programs and opioid substitution therapies, the teen took the drugs anyway. She died in the bathroom of a Starbucks in Port Moody.
Hindsight is 20/20, but one wonders what could have happened had the court had the powers under a Safe Care Act to require Kenny-Staddon to be assessed and helped in a safe environment for even just a few days.
Obviously, longer-term recovery services for youth would be necessary once the term had concluded because most families cannot afford expensive private care.
Still, it would have been a start. And, again sadly, Hogg's bill dies with end of this legislative sitting.
Must another young person be lost before our government will improve services and care for vulnerable youth?
