Does the provincial government know where its children are?
CBC
Years after promising better data collection, New Brunswick isn't keeping track of basic information about how youth are progressing under government care.
The Department of Social Development says it isn't tracking how many youth in care finish high school or how many former youth in care are attending post-secondary schools.
The department also isn't keeping track of how many are convicted of crimes, incarcerated, struggling with addiction, unhoused or unemployed — or how many have grown into healthy, thriving adults.
That's despite calls from the province's child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock and legislative changes introduced in 2022 to mandate tracking outcomes.
Lamrock said the department is holding itself to a lower standard than parents.
"If a parent didn't know if their kid graduated or was in jail, Social Development would knock on their door and ask to interview them," he said during committee hearings at the time. "But Social Development doesn't know."
In response to Lamrock's concerns about tracking how youth in care fare, then-social development minister Bruce Fitch proposed that a register kept by the department also track "outcomes obtained" — an amendment to the bill that ultimately passed into law.
The legislation came into force in January 2024, but the information it addresses still isn't being tracked.
Cindy Miles, the current social development minister, says the department is still following child welfare law.
"I don't see us in a contravention of the act," she said in an interview. "I see us in the implementation process of that right now."
"I'm looking forward to those data points coming together as soon as possible."
In an email, the department said it expects graduation data will be collected and made public by late spring.
Child welfare law says the province may support former youth in care who are accepted to post-secondary school — but Social Development doesn't know how many have accessed that support, or how many complete a post-secondary degree.
Miles also said she is working to gather data on employment, crime, housing and income support.
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