Minister of Social Services Donna Harpauer says the province has made significant improvement in the foster care system since the young boy died, which includes hiring 93 additional front-line staff in the past five years.

Saskatchewan’s Advocate for Children and Youth says the province’s foster care system is broken and in need of serious fixing.

Bob Pringle made the comments on May 20 following the release of his report examining the tragedy of an Aboriginal toddler who died while in foster care in 2010.

The child is referred to only as Mark in the report but the details fit the case of Evander Lee Daniels of Sturgeon Lake First Nation who was just under two-years-old when he drowned in the bathtub of a foster home five years ago.

Pringle says the Ministry of Social Services failed the young boy’s family in a number of ways including not providing the necessary supports to both his biological and foster family and placing him in an overcrowded home where he was at risk.

He says it was only a matter of time before something bad happened.

“When you place five children, and actually the ministry tried to place a sixth child there, that’s a train wreck waiting to happen. There is no other way to describe it. That is irresponsible.”

As he has done in the past, the children’s advocate says the system needs more accountability and one way to achieve this would be licensing foster care homes in this province as is the case in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

“If licensing foster homes brings a higher level of accountability and some liabilities to the province, you know what, if our policies are so good embed them in legislation and let’s see how good they are,” he says.

In the case of Evander Lee Daniels, his foster family had been previously licensed in Alberta to look after two children but in Saskatchewan they were looking after six children, including five in foster care.

The report, No Time For Mark: The Gap Between Policy And Practice, makes a number of other recommendations including the ministry ensure staff are properly trained to supervise foster home investigations, a review be completed to determine reasons why there has been a rapid decline in foster homes and a plan put in place to address this decline and a letter of apology be issued to Daniels’ parents.

Minister of Social Services Donna Harpauer says the province has made significant improvement in the foster care system since the young boy died, which includes hiring 93 additional front-line staff in the past five years.

She also says the province is acting or has already acted upon several of the report’s other recommendations.

However, Harpauer says one thing the government is not currently considering is licensing foster care homes in Saskatchewan.

“The evidence isn’t there in these provinces that do license. The evidence is not there for the improved outcomes for the children, there is no evidence,” she says.

Evander Lee Daniels’ biological father Chris Martell was also on hand to weigh in on the children’s advocate report and the province’s reaction to it.

Martell says he does not believe his family received proper supports from the government both before and after his son died.

He says he is still looking for closure and hopes changes are made so no one else has to experience the pain his family has gone through over the past five years.

Evander Lee Daniels’ biological father Chris Martell

“I just don’t want another tragedy like this to ever happen again to anybody.”

Daniels’ foster mother, Eunice Wudrich, was initially charged with criminal negligence causing death in 2010.

However, a judge acquitted her of these charges in 2013.

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