Committee set up to study children’s deaths hasn’t reported publicly in more than 2 years | CBC News

At least 11 children known to the Department of Social Development died in 2022, according to figures provided by the province.

But a committee set up to study the deaths of children in New Brunswick hasn’t publicly reported on what happened to those children and whether any lessons can be learned from their deaths.

The role of the child death review committee is to do a comprehensive review of the death of anyone 18 or under that was reported to a New Brunswick coroner, according to the committee’s terms of reference.

The goal is to try “to understand how and why children die” and to improve the health and safety of children.

The chief coroner oversees the committee, which typically includes a lawyer, a pediatrician, a social worker, and an Indigenous representative, among others.

It was created after the death by neglect of two-year-old Jackie Brewer in Saint John in the late 1990s and has been publicly reporting on children’s deaths since then, typically through news releases.

The public reporting is supposed to include the committee’s recommendations and a summary of the circumstances of the child’s death, without identifying details, to provide context around what happened, according to the committee’s terms of reference.

But the chief coroner hasn’t publicly reported on the committee’s work since May 2021, and it’s not clear why.

A written statement from chief coroner Heather Brander says a news release is issued when the committee makes recommendations following a review. 

That would be a departure from the past, when a death was publicized even if the review generated no recommendations.

The statement doesn’t explain why no news releases have been issued in more than two years, even though the committee has studied deaths during that time and made recommendations. The committee’s terms of reference require the chief coroner to publicize the recommendations and a summary of what happened within 30 days of receiving the review.

Brander wasn’t made available for an interview. 

Former child and youth advocate Norm Bossé said the public has a right to know the committee’s findings.

“What’s at stake is the credibility of their work and the credibility of the whole system,” Bossé said.

Committee revamped in 2017

Six years ago, a CBC investigation called The Lost Children found the committee’s public reports were vague and lacked context. It meant the public knew very little about how at-risk children were dying or what was being learned from those tragedies.

In the wake of that CBC investigation, the committee’s terms of reference were changed to require that the committee’s news releases include more information about the circumstances of a child’s death. Typically, that would include how the child died, how they were known to the Department of Social Development, and the child’s age.

“We believe New Brunswickers will be reassured by receiving additional information and learning more about what work is being done to prevent child deaths in our province,” former chief coroner Greg Forestell said in a 2017 news release.

Bossé was consulted as part of the creation of that new process and applauded it at the time.

He said it’s important to tell the public what happened and what can be learned from it, while leaving out certain details to protect their privacy.

“By not making these reports public, I think there’s a bit of a loss in the system,” Bossé said.

At least 25 children known to Social Development died in 2021 and 2022

The lack of public reporting isn’t because children haven’t died.

In addition to at least 11 children who died in 2022, at least 14 children known to the Department of Social Development died in 2021.

Of those 25 deaths, 16 children died from natural causes, according to information the chief coroner compiled for CBC in June. Four deaths were deemed accidental, two died by suicide, and three deaths were marked as undetermined.

As of June, two undetermined deaths were still under investigation by the coroner, while the other was being investigated by police.

Four reviews since 2021

The lack of public reporting also isn’t because the committee has stopped reviewing deaths.

Since the beginning of 2021, the committee has reviewed four deaths, according to information obtained by the CBC in June but not posted publicly:

• The committee recommended an inquest into a suicide death that happened in 2021. 

• Six recommendations were made this past spring following an accidental death in 2021, but the committee hasn’t revealed how that child died or what it recommended.

• The committee also reviewed a suicide death that happened in 2022, and this past winter, recommended an inquest be held.

• An accidental death in 2022 was reviewed, but didn’t result in any recommendations. It’s not clear how that child died either.

In addition to the press releases about its reviews, the committee’s terms of reference require the chief coroner to publish an annual report on the work of the committee, “including a statistical review of all child deaths reported to the coroner for that calendar year.” That hasn’t happened since 2018.

Bossé would like to see the committee go a step further and publicize its internal monthly dashboard on child deaths, with proper redactions.

“The public has the right to see what is happening with our children across the province,” he said. 

Foster homes becoming harder to find

The details of the reviews are a learning tool for people who work in the system and members of the public, according to Shawna Morton, who represents front-line social workers as president of CUPE Local 1418. 

“When we as a society have failed to keep children safe and keep children thriving, then everybody needs to know what those issues are,” Morton said.

In the past, the committee has raised red flags about social workers having to juggle too many cases, a chronic problem in New Brunswick over several decades. 

Retaining social workers is a particularly critical issue, according to Morton, who described child welfare as being “in a state of crisis” right now.

On top of that, Morton said placements, such as foster homes, are harder to find than ever.

She said it means social workers sometimes can’t access what they need to keep children safe.

“Sometimes, unfortunately, our system is forced to make decisions based on what we don’t have as opposed to what children really need.”