The B.C. Coroners Service and the province’s child representative have confirmed they are investigating the death of a six-year-old child in provincial care on Vancouver Island.
A coroners’ service spokesperson confirmed the agency “was notified and is in the very early stages of investigating.”
Jade Ratchford, on social media, identified her son Oliver as the boy who died.
She told CBC News she was too traumatized to conduct an interview, but sent a statement written by her husband and Oliver’s father, John Ratchford, which highlighted a number of concerns about how and why Oliver was taken from them.
The statement says Oliver was taken from his parents Feb. 22.
CBC News has not been able to independently verify where Oliver was when he died, nor the cause or suspected cause of his death. Social media posts from Jade and an online fundraiser state the boy died Wednesday.
‘Unbelievably tragic’
Representative for Children and Youth Jennifer Charlesworth said the death is being reviewed, as is the case for all deaths of children in government care or receiving government care.
“These situations are unbelievably tragic,” Charlesworth said.
Speaking Thursday, Grace Lore, B.C.’s minister of children and family development, called the case “every parent’s worst nightmare” and said her thoughts were with the child’s family and community.
“I cannot imagine what this family is going through,” Lore said.
“I can say that as the minister and as a mom, it is my expectation and direction to the ministry that we are doing everything, if a child dies in care, so that we understand what happened and how it happened,” she said.
“So we can take actions to ensure that children are safe and protected whether at home or in our care.”
Lore declined to speak on the specifics of the case.
John Ratchford’s statement says Oliver was taken in tense and confusing circumstances, and he and his wife don’t understand why.
It suggests the family needed “help,” not child removal.
They are raising concerns about oversight of the Ministry of Child and Family Development and deaths of children in care.
Data available online from the ministry reports there were 5,037 children in provincial care as of March 31, 2022, the latest point data is available.
Further data, covering January to June of 2023, shows that seven children in care under the Child, Family and Community Service Act died in that six-month span. In 2022, 16 kids died over the calendar year.
