Too Many Victims: Sexualized Violence in the Lives of Children and Youth in Care

Excerpt from Executive Summary, Page 1-2:

"During the past 10 years, the Representative for Children and Youth has repeatedly raised deep concerns about the treatment of young people who are in the care of the British Columbia government and, in particular, the treatment of Aboriginal children and youth, who continue to be over-represented in the province’s care system.

Those concerns are reflected on the pages of this report, which examines the prevalence and nature of sexualized violence committed against children and youth in the government’s care during a three-year period. This document is the result of a Representative’s review of 145 reports of sexualized violence against 121 children and youth in the care of the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) and the province’s 23 delegated Aboriginal Agencies (DAAs) between 2011 and 2014. While this review is the first of its kind in Canada, the Representative believes much more careful attention is needed by government to both prevention and response to sexualized violence

Overall, the findings of this review can only be described as disturbing. Children and youth in government care are more vulnerable to incidents of sexualized violence than their peers who are not in care. In fact, 2015/16 statistics show that sexualized violence is the most common type of critical injury involving children and youth in care, at 21 per cent. And yet, this report finds that not one specific policy or set of practice standards exists to guide social workers in their role as the guardian of a child or youth in care who is sexually assaulted while in care. Consequently, actions of social workers in the cases of the 121 youth in this review are, not surprisingly, varied and inconsistent, leaving children and youth potentially at risk for further abuse and long-lasting harm.

This review finds that the underlying systems and supports required to prevent sexual victimization and to support victims are underdeveloped, underfunded and uncoordinated. It concludes that B.C.’s most vulnerable children and youth remain at high risk for such abuse." (1-2).