The drowning of a 10-month-old girl in a bucket of homemade booze should serve as a call for the province to reinforce support networks for children whose parents have addictions, Alberta’s child and youth advocate says.

A new investigative review from Del Graff looked into the death of the girl, who was living at home with her mother, but receiving services from child intervention workers.

Graff’s investigation found those services ultimately did not go far enough to ensure the girl’s extended family was working together to effectively protect her.

“Family and community members tried to create a safety network, but did not have the resources they needed; nor does it appear they knew what to do when the risk increased,” said Graff’s report, published Monday.

The Journal previously reported on the girl’s case in 2014 as part of the Fatal Care series, which looked into the deaths of children in government care or receiving services. In that story, The Journal gave her the pseudonym Jenny and reported she lived on the remote Fox Lake aboriginal reserve in northern Alberta.

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Graff instead chose the pseudonym Lily, whom he described as a happy and curious girl surrounded by a loving family but plagued by her parents’ alcohol abuse. Their drinking often led to domestic violence, forcing their children to stay with grandparents when they felt unsafe.

“The family lived in a community with limited access to alcohol. When legal alcohol could not be purchased, it would be made and stored in containers,” the report said.

Concerns about the parents’ addictions and ability to care for their children were first raised a year before the girl was born.

A delegated First Nations agency, which provides intervention services on reserves, investigated and spoke with members of the extended family. The children’s grandparents agreed to monitor the situation; however, no formalized plan on how to ensure the children’s safety was created.

When the girl was eight months old, intervention workers became involved with the family again. The girl’s mother was assaulted by her husband and then taken into custody for the night because she was drunk and unco-operative with police. A case worker subsequently made several attempts to reach the mother, who declined an offer to enter a treatment program.



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A month later, a fire broke out at a friend’s home where the girl and her mother were visiting. Both had to be rescued by a relative, as the girl’s mother had fallen asleep after drinking.

That incident was to foreshadow what happened a week later, when the girl’s mother again consumed alcohol and fell asleep while caring for her infant daughter.

“Lily’s older brother came home from school and discovered her body in a container of homemade alcohol,” Graff’s report said.

She was taken to the local health centre, where she was declared dead.

The girl’s mother eventually pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death, receiving 90 days in jail and two-years probation. The girl’s siblings were apprehended and placed in the care of their grandparents.

Graff’s latest review is the fourth in which he has highlighted the impact of parental addictions.

The report makes two recommendations, calling on the province to ensure front-line workers receive enough support to allow them to effectively assist in the creation of support networks. As well, the government must ensure people involved in such support networks know what to do and whom to call when risks increase.

'Increase the children’s safety'

“Although there were conversations between Child Intervention Services and Lily’s extended family, further work was needed with family members to help them develop a comprehensive understanding of how they could increase the children’s safety,” the report said.

A previous report on a nine-year-old girl who suffered severe neglect called for front-line workers to also improve their knowledge of addictions and their effects on families.

Human Services Minister Irfan Sabir issued a written statement saying his government accepts Graff’s recommendations.

“This heartbreaking story underscores the need to continuously work to prevent similar incidents,” the statement said. “By strengthening how we work with children, families and our service delivery partners — including indigenous partners — we can improve the system as a whole. We still have work to do, and our government is committed to taking action to implement needed improvements.”

Provincial rules forbid Graff from identifying the victims featured in his reviews.

kgerein@postmedia.com

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