12-Year-Old Left on DTES Shows “Systemic Collapse” in Child Protection and Addiction Policy

VICTORIA, BC: Conservative MLAs are horrified to learn that a 12-year-old girl in government care was left to fend for herself in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood rife with open drug use, predation, and violence. Reports suggest she had already experimented with fentanyl and was sexually assaulted, yet her group home and the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) allowed her to remain on the streets.

“This is not an isolated case, it’s a pattern,” said Amelia Boultbee, MLA for Penticton-Summerland and Critic for Children and Family Development. “We have seen children in care abused, neglected, addicted to drugs, and even dying under this government’s watch. Sixteen youth deaths in care in the first half of this year alone. How many more tragedies before the NDP admits the system is broken?”

The Conservatives reminded British Columbians of recent, high-profile failures in child protection under the NDP government:

  • Valentino Baker – infant that died while in an out-of-care arrangement (CBC, Aug. 16, 2024)
  • Chantelle Williams – 18-year-old found dead outside while under the guardianship care of Usma Nuu-chah-nulth Family and Child Services (Victoria News, Apr. 3, 2025)
  • Colby – 11-year-old whose death prompted the Don’t Look Away report (IndigiNews, July 16, 2025)
  • Noelle O’Soup – 14-year-old Indigenous girl, remains found in a Vancouver SRO (CBC, Oct. 3, 2022)
  • Oliver Ratchford – six-year-old boy who drowned in foster parent’s backyard (CHEK News, Feb. 29, 2024)

Claire Rattée, MLA for Skeena and Critic for Mental Health and Addictions, noted the clear link between children in care and B.C.’s worsening drug crisis. “Being in care is one of the strongest predictors of ending up homeless, addicted, or dead from overdose. Vulnerable kids need real programs and supports that keep them engaged, safe, and off the streets. But under this government, those programs don’t exist. Instead, children are being funneled straight into high-risk, drug-induced environments like the DTES, with no interventions to stop the cycle of addiction and trauma.”

Elenore Sturko, MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale and Critic for Public Safety and the Solicitor General, pointed to the government’s hypocrisy. “The NDP takes children away from parents struggling with poverty or addiction, only for those same kids to end up on the street using drugs, enabled by government policies. And it’s all at the expense of taxpayers. If it were the Premier’s child wandering the DTES, would this be acceptable?”

The Conservative Caucus of BC is emphasizing the importance of stricter protocols to keep youth in care safe, investment in meaningful transition and complex-needs programs, and compassionate intervention legislation to prevent vulnerable children from disappearing into the drug crisis.

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Media Contact:
Lindsay Shepherd, Conservative Caucus Communications Team
lindsay.shepherd@leg.bc.ca