Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre will be stepping up efforts to improve data sharing to coordinate care to support children who have been abused and their families.
It’s one of the three recommendations in the 2024 State of Child Wellbeing in Central Alberta report released Friday by the centre, in partnership with Red Deer Polytechnic and HelpSeeker Technologies.
Alina Turner, HelpSeeker CEO and founder, said the recommendations really focus on health, education, police, justice and social care systems sharing information to get a “360 on whole situation” so they can make decisions together for clients.
One of the reasons the centre was developed was to reduce the number of times children have to retell their story.
Turner said not working together and not sharing data effectively is not just traumatizing for children, it also fails to show how the systems are benefiting, or in some cases a disservice, to clients.
She said data also shows ways to identify child abuse earlier.
“We can predict it. We can prevent it. We can use data to really drive policy and programmatic interventions that will really make a difference,” said Turner who spoke at Friday’s event to release the report, which was held at Red Deer Polytechnic.
RDP says it is committed to growing its applied research program in resiliency and child advocacy, that focuses on integrated practice and harnessing the power of data analytics, to advance best practices that will shape the future of child advocacy.
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The report also recommends that schools, health and community-based supports be involved much earlier in prevention; and that various communities are engaged in co-ordinated efforts that support their unique local needs and strengths.
Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre and other agencies have moved into the new Sheldon Kennedy Centre of Excellence on the grounds of RDP.
Edmonton Police Chief Dale McPhee, another speaker at the event, said the centre’s connection to RDP and its focus on data and research is ground-breaking.
“The key is to do the right things, at the right time, to make the biggest difference. The only way you do that is by using the data,” McPhee said.
Much like the centre’s growing focus on prevention, police officers at Edmonton schools build relationships with youth to remove barriers and support them to get on the right path.
“We spend a lot of money and a lot of resources on trying to make sure we build positive relationships with our youth. Really, that’s how you stem the flow in relation to the justice system, the health system, and everything else,” McPhee said.
He said the Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre, and others like it in Alberta, focus on each child and their unique needs. It’s all about saving children.
“They’re our future. Losing’s not an option. Don’t stop because you’re onto a good thing,” McPhee told the crowd.
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An increasing issue for clients at Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre is child exploitation and human trafficking, and the centre is taking on the role of becoming a hub for prevention and educating health care workers, police, schools and communities.
“This is something you see in Canada, you see it in Alberta, and we see it in Central Alberta. We’ve been dealing with lots of different cases involving child exploitation and human trafficking,” said executive director Mark Jones.
Jones, who was pleased that 120 people attended Friday’s event, hoped they will continue the conversation about centre’s work in the region.
“The more we can make people aware there is a problem, the more we can educate people, the faster we’ll be able to get the kids that need the help. There are kids that are a day away from being abused.”
Between 2020 and 2023, the centre served 2,769 children and youth who collectively experienced 3,098 cases of reported abuse at the hands of 2,511 accused perpetrators.
Thirty-three per cent of the children and youth were from Red Deer, and the rest came from 133 communities, big and small, across Alberta.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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