Daphne Bramham: Sadly, children and youth are still not a political priority

There is no process in B.C. that ensures children held involuntarily under the Mental Health Act are only kept in restraints and isolation after every other possible intervention has been tried.

No mandatory, periodic and independent reviews are held for those involuntarily detained. And no independent body is even notified when these kids are being held.

There is no comprehensive plan to provide effective and accessible mental health services to children and youth with special needs, including fetal alcohol syndrome. There is also no plan to reduce wait times for diagnostic services and assessments for them.

Had the government taken to heart the recommendations of B.C.’s representative for children and youth, at the very least some progress would have been made.

But it has not. Nor has the government made much progress on any of Jennifer Charlesworth’s 63 recommendations made in 10 reports over the past five years.