“No kids died on your watch.”

Those are the words every minister of children and family development longs to hear when they are finally, inevitably transferred to another, easier cabinet post.

And trust me, I know from experience that almost any other cabinet post is easier. I was children’s minister for eight months.

A politician can spend his or her time in this difficult position doubling the number of adoptions or recruiting more foster parents.

She or he can hire more social workers or cut the number of children who get taken from their parents.

But in a ministry chock-full of incredible, life-changing stories, it’s always all bad news on the outside.

So when ministers leave, all the media asks is: How many kids died on their watch?

And of course, very sadly, children die. Hundreds die every year in B.C., and some of those are in the care of the government. But when we talk about whether the ministry is doing its job, there are two unalterable facts that go unrecognized.

First, the government simply doesn’t make a very good parent. Government is not a family. Its decisions are

driven by budgets, statistics and procedure manuals, not by the very individual needs of a child.

Parents, biological and adoptive, who give children permanent, stable, loving homes will always do a better job. It’s ridiculous to think otherwise.

Second, some of the children in the care of the government are the most

vulnerable kids around. Some have been beaten or neglected. They didn’t get fed

regularly or they chose to wander the streets after school because it was safer than going home.

Most children who end up in government care don’t come from homes like that, but many do. Those are the children who fight long odds.

For some, simple survival is a mammoth task. They might have health problems –physical or mental. Or maybe behaviour issues. Some are violent to others, some do violence to themselves. And if they can’t overcome those odds, the tragedy of their lives makes good headlines.

So this week it’s more bad news. A new report says children who are parented by the government have more health problems than those who aren’t. Not exactly shocking to anyone who knows the system, but a good headline nonetheless.

What I’m waiting for is the headline that trumpets the story of the teenager who went into government care and ended up, 10 years later, with a university degree.

Or the true story of the adopted boy who suddenly started doing better in school. When his teacher asked him why, he said: I can do my homework now because I know where I’ll be on my next birthday.

Stories like that exist. And for every terrible story of a child who dies in government care, there are hundreds more who get the one thing every child needs more than anything else.

They get parents.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 24th, 2006 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.