FOR RELEASE – January 30, 2024
Whitehorse…
The Yukon Child and Youth Advocate Office (YCAO) has developed a rating scale to track Yukon government’s progress on recommendations made in systemic advocacy reviews.
“Systemic advocacy issues are themes that we see come up repeatedly in our individual advocacy work. They are issues that are affecting more than a few children and youth, and they require broader policy changes to fix” said Annette King, Child and Youth Advocate. YCAO has identified a number of systemic issues since 2010, ranging from the experiences of children in the care of Family and Children’s Services, to mental wellness for children and youth, to safety in schools.
In their 2022/23 Annual Report YCAO identified tracking government responses to systemic recommendations as a priority for this year. YCAO also committed to creating a simple and consistent tracking tool to hold government departments accountable. “The government is obligated to let us know the steps they are taking to address these issues. In most cases we have not received a sufficient response or action to the recommendations from our reports and policy reviews; this is an important measure of accountability to children,” said King. “The tool provides a snapshot of where we are, and where we hope to get to. It clearly identifies where progress is being made and which areas need more focus and attention to improve outcomes for children and youth.”
The first application of the progress tracker was provided to Yukon government last week. It includes a full description of YCAO’s analysis of progress. It evaluates the response to the recommendations provided in Responding to Sexualized Abuse in Yukon Schools: Review of Policies and Governmental Response, a report written to address the failures in communication and a coordinated government response following charges of sexual interference and sexual assault of a student by an educational assistant at Hidden Valley Elementary School.
“YCAO started with Hidden Valley because it is an example where the department responded publicly, on time, as requested and directly referred to our recommendations” said King.
“Overall, we are optimistic. YG has taken this matter seriously and we are seeing some progress in all areas. This new progress tracker improves our ability to be clear about areas that continue to need more action,” said King.
Over the coming months YCAO will apply the rating scale to recommendations from outstanding systemic reviews. The intention is for these evaluations to be made publicly available at https://www.ycao.ca/systemic.
The Child & Youth Advocate Office is an independent office of the Legislative Assembly. The operations of the office are guided by the Child and Youth Advocate Act. Children, youth or others concerned about a child or youth receiving services within Yukon Government can contact the Child and Youth Advocate Office at (867) 456-5575.
Contact:
Rachel Veinott-McKeough
Policy & Systemic Analyst
Individual Case Worker
Yukon Child and Youth Advocate Office
(867) 456-5575