Social worker, investigator involved in Serenity's kinship case felt rushed, inquiry hears

The specialized investigator, who decided allegations of child abuse in a kinship care home where four-year-old Serenity lived were unfounded, testified Tuesday that she regrets cutting her investigation short.

Serenity died in September 2014 after sustaining a head injury at the home of her great aunt and uncle where she and her older brother and sister were placed under a kinship care arrangement— an alternative to foster care in Alberta — in April 2013. 

Serenity's death, and the bruised and emaciated state of her body when she was admitted to hospital, prompted a firestorm of media and public criticism that led to changes to Alberta's child welfare policies. 

At one point the great aunt and uncle faced a failure to provide the necessaries of life charge, but that was stayed in 2019 when prosecutors said there was no chance of conviction.

A public fatality inquiry got underway earlier this month, and is hearing testimony from a number of workers involved with Serenity and her caregivers, including Katherine Tippe, an investigator tasked to look into allegations made by Serenity's biological mother and two other people in July 2013 that Serenity and her siblings were malnourished and being mistreated in the home.

Provincial Court Judge Renée Cochard, who is overseeing the inquiry, asked Tippe if she wishes she would have pushed back against her boss who told her to wrap up her investigation in order to keep to a 60-day timeline.

"Do you regret that?" Cochard asked.