The first publicly released child death investigation since the proclamation of The Advocate for Children and Youth Act in March 2018, shares the story of an Indigenous youth who died tragically in a vehicle accident in a rural community. The report investigated and analyzed services that were provided to the youth by education, mental health, addictions, youth justice, and child and family services. The Advocate’s investigation reveals that while there were good intentions from service providers, those services did not provide the meaningful interventions he needed and missed countless opportunities to help him change the course of his life.
In the final five years of his life, Circling Star received services from education, mental health, addiction, youth justice, and CFS systems. However, instead of coordinating their interventions in the small region in which Circling Star lived and attended school, these public systems worked in isolation from each other and, as such, delivered disjointed services to Circling Star and his family. Services were ill-coordinated and sometimes even worked at cross purposes.
For a list of findings and recommendations see:
http://manitobaadvocate.ca/wp-content/uploads/Final-Circling-Star-2018.pdf