FORCED RESCUE MAY SAVE TROUBLED KIDS

B.C. task force recommends giving police and protection workers
authority to save children from drugs and pimps

Police and social workers need new powers to rescue children from
drugs, alcohol and pimps, a government task force says in a
controversial report to be released today.

It recommends that specially designated police and protection workers
be given the power to remove children from situations of extreme
danger -- even against their will.

Children could be held in designated facilities for up to 72 hours
while other, longer-term solutions are found.

Currently, there is no legal way to hold children at risk unless they
are charged with a criminal offence or meet the criteria for
hospitalization under the Mental Health Act.

The report, by the Secure Care Working Group, follows years of calls
from desperate parents and social workers for new legislation that
would let them help kids in danger.

Today's report will be distributed for public debate, said deputy
minister Mike Corbeil. ``It is under active consideration in the
ministry but it would require legislative changes and I don't know if
it would be part of the legislative calendar next year. The report
shows we need a continuum of care so we need to look at how we beef up
resource requirements.''

He said the number of children eligible for the proposed safe care
would be ``about 20 at any one time, according to service providers,
or a lot more if parents were deciding.''

Andrew Irvine, president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said
he agrees with the report ``in principle.''

``We are pleased to see government taking a pro-active role to protect
children. We think children do deserve special protections. But we
can't comment further until we see the report itself.''

The report says children and youth at risk are younger and more out of
control than ever before and their numbers are growing.

``In the Vancouver downtown east side, the number of 12-year-olds on
the street has increased alarmingly in the last two years, and there
are even some 10-year-olds,'' the report says. ``Victoria service
providers reported that high-risk activities are starting at age eight
and service providers in Prince George reported six- and seven
year-olds coming to agencies for service related to alcohol and other
drugs.''

The task force emphasized that safe care must not be ``the last stop''
but rather ``a bridge to other, longer-term services.''

``Security in such safe care should be based more on intensive
supervision of staff, rather than locks and bars, and the capacity to
lock doors should be used as little as possible.''

The report says children who are being sexually exploited may need to
be protected from their pimps more than from themselves and suggests a
voluntary, specialized service.

Safe care must be available in communities across B.C., the task force
said, and not in the form of a particular building but in small,
cost-effective specialized foster homes or even by detox services
brought to the child's home. Parents told the task force that ``it's
illegal to save your kid's life'' and said they fear criminal charges
for breaking the law to rescue their children. Many said their
children threaten to report them to police for abuse or assault.

``One mother described having to hire a bailiff to kidnap her
daughter; another used handcuffs to keep her daughter in the car on
the way to a remote family cabin, where she held her -- in midwinter
- -- until the extended family was able to find a place to take her for

treatment.''

Service providers told the task force: ``We literally have to stand by
and watch kids die.''

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady