'The child welfare system in this province is broken': Calls for public inquiry into horrific abuse of B.C. foster children

Warning: This story contins descriptions of child abuse

Calls are growing for a public inquiry into the deeply troubling and horrific abuse of two children in foster care and ultimately, the death of one of them.

Last week, the former foster parents were sentenced in a Chilliwack court to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault.

But a defence lawyer for one of those convicted said there needs to be more accountability for what happened.

“Something has to be done. We have to give voice to this young child,” said Derwin Petri. He represented the foster mom who also supports an inquiry.

The child victims are both indigenous as are the foster parents who can’t be named because of a court ban to protect the identity of the children.

Petri said photos of what the boy used to look like, compared to the images captured on surveillance cameras inside the foster home, show a dramatic change in the child’s appearance.

“He was skin and bones, his face was collapsing on himself,” Petri explained. “The photos I saw from grandma -- beautiful boy, beautiful boy,” Petri said.

“Had someone done a video chat with this child, they would clearly see with this child something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.”

'INCREDIBLY TRAGIC'

The video cameras in the Fraser Valley foster home captured the suffering inflicted on the boy, 11 and his younger sister.

The children were punched, kicked, hit with belts and pieces of wood. They were forced to eat feces and vomit and drink urine. They were forced to eat dog food.

The boy weighed just 28.8 kilograms when he died on March 1, 2021 of a traumatic brain injury. The average weight for a child his age is 49.9 kg.

“The situation in Chilliwack…is incredibly tragic,” said Jennifer Charlesworth, B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth.

“I have been in the career for 46 years. On one hand, I can count the situations that are as egregious as this one,” she said.

“It’s shocking and alarming and it absolutely needs to be thoroughly investigated and we need to find out the best way to do this.”

Charlesworth said either an investigation into this specific case will take place or a broader probe looking at the mistreatment of a number of children in care.

“We are seeing situations, thankfully not as egregious, but certainly we do see situations where we have significant concern about the quality of care being provided to children,” she said

The court heard last week that no one from the Ministry of Children and Family Development had contact with the boy for seven months prior to his death.

We requested an interview with the Minister of Children and Family Development, Mitzi Dean, but were told she was not available. However, CTV News was sent a statement.

“The ministry has policies in place to ensure that children are safe and supported when they are in care. This includes ensuring that children are seen regularly by a social worker. Clearly that did not happen in this case,” the statement reads.

“These children were failed by the system at every level, and that is not acceptable to me. I have spoken to the Provincial Director of Child Welfare, and she has assured me that a thorough review was done by her office and that changes have been fully implemented at the office that was involved in this case and all steps are being taken to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.”

The ministry said that changes at the Hope office include ensuring existing ministry practices are followed including reviewing “all placement decisions for children placed outside their parental home to ensure the care providers have been assessed appropriately.”

But critics say this is not enough.

“This seven-month delay in actually checking on these young children is unacceptable. It’s happened in the past, government has had recommendations to make changes and still it's failed,” said Karin Kirkpatrick, the BC United shadow critic for childcare who is also calling for a public inquiry.

“We need the light of day on this so that we can make changes.”

But when asked by CTV News, Premier David Eby would not commit to an inquiry.

“(MCFD) will continue to do their work to improve and ensure no other child faces this kind of situation,” he said, noting there would be other reviews done.

Petri has written MCFD asking for an inquiry into the role the ministry played in the tragedy.

He said the children were supposed to be at the home for just two weeks, but stayed from October 2019 until February, 2021.

Petri said the foster mom “received no formal training” from MCFD.

He said when his client reached out to the ministry for help and raised concerns early on, nothing came of it.

“The child welfare system in this province is broken,” Petri said.