Inquests and young people in care

In 2007, the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth (Advocate's Office) became an independent Office of the Legislature established under the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Act. The mandate of the Advocate's Office is to provide advocacy in partnership with children and youth who are in, or on the margins of, state care. This Position Paper was developed to explore how, as an independent Office of the Legislature providing advocacy in partnership with young people, the Advocate's Office should be involved in inquests into the deaths of young people with connections to the child welfare, youth justice and children's mental health systems. The Paper begins with the assumption that the Advocate's Office has an interest in the deaths of children and youth it is mandated to serve. Obviously these children and youth cannot speak for themselves.