Release of Child Rights Indicator Framework
16 November 2021
FREDERICTON (GNB) – As part of Child Rights Education Week, and leading up to World Children’s Day and National Child Day on Nov. 20, the Office of the Child, Youth and Seniors’ Advocate has released its Child Rights Indicator Framework.
For 14 years the advocate has published statistics related to the well-being of New Brunswick children and youth. This monitoring tool – previously part of the State of the Child Report, which will be published separately later in 2022 – helps inform policy development that takes into account the lives, rights and interests of children and young people.
“The data for 2021 continues to show concerning trends, with the rise in child protection caseloads attributed in part to the strain of the pandemic,” said deputy advocate Christian Whalen. “The report also highlights a continuing concern with the persistently high rate of teen pregnancies in our province compared to the national average.”
Whalen said the data in this report reinforces that governments, community groups and leaders must ensure that help is available to all young people, especially the most disadvantaged; that wellness is examined through the lens of child rights; that a provincial youth suicide prevention strategy is developed; and that a special COVID-19 reconstruction council is established to set forth a recovery plan, while meeting each child’s education and welfare needs.
“The pandemic has also hampered our data collection efforts,” said Whalen. “Many education sector data sets were incomplete this year due in part to the inability of schools to complete student wellness surveys last year. Pandemics are exactly the time when we need to be able to rely on good population health data. Moving forward, we urge the government to take effective measures to ensure the data collection efforts become a focus of pandemic preparedness planning.”
The framework data for 2021 indicates some success, with declines in hospital admission rates for youth mental health disorders, youth crime and youth incarceration. Whalen said the data indicates that more youth and their families are turning toward community-based services.
“This is a testament to the great efforts of all the professionals in schools and health services who are working with integrated service delivery and doing their best to offer services to children and young people where they are,” said Whalen. “There is clearly much more to do as the advocate’s recent report has shown, but these data lines are very encouraging.”
There was also a downward trend with respect to the rate of pre-trial detention of youth, the rate of secure and open custody, and the overall youth crime rate.
The report noted it was unusual that, for one day in November, no youth were held in secure custody at the New Brunswick Youth Centre in Miramichi.
“We have seen occasional days where this happens in neighbouring provinces but, in 25 years of operations at the centre, we had never had a single day without any youth in secure custody,” said Whalen. “This is proof positive that New Brunswick is on the right path, that we can offer youth with offending behaviour better solutions than locking them up. Our overall crime rate in the province will continue to improve because of the important work of diversion that correctional and police officers are using day by day throughout the year. It is important to measure and capture these successes so that they can be celebrated collectively.”
The provincial government is being encouraged to learn from successes and shortcomings during the pandemic and use this data to build on the improvements it has made in upholding children’s rights.
World Children’s Day and National Child Day are celebrated on Nov. 20 each year to commemorate the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provides that all children should be treated with dignity and respect, have a voice, be protected from harm, be provided with their basic needs, and enjoy every opportunity to reach their full potential.
Child Rights Education Week is held Nov. 15-21 and aims to celebrate and promote the rights of children and youth. A list of activities can be found on the advocate’s website.
Media Contact:
Heidi Cyr, communications, Office of the Child, Youth and Seniors’ Advocate, 506-476-9145, heidi.cyr@gnb.ca.