The Yukon Party official Opposition has reached out to the Auditor General of Canada requesting a performance audit of the Yukon government’s Family and Children’s Services branch.

“I understand that you completed a review of this branch in 2014; however given recent events I believe it is prudent to look at this again and to monitor progress,” Patti McLeod, the Yukon Party’s Health and Social Services critic, wrote in her April 16 letter to Michael Ferguson, the Auditor General of Canada.

“Further, given recent media reports, I believe that particular attention should be given to Child Placement Services and Child Protection Services within this branch,” McLeod wrote.

Questions about Yukon government group home care and child protection have dominated the legislature this sitting, prompted by a series of CBC stories reporting allegations of wrongdoing in both.

“The minister hasn’t been very forthcoming with any questions regarding what she’s doing about the situation with group homes in Yukon,” McLeod told the Star this morning. “We felt that it was time to go a little further and invite another level of scrutiny.”

Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Frost told reporters after question period Tuesday that “we do not ever do anything to harm the children that we have in our care, that is absolutely not our practice.

“Our practice as a government is to ensure that every child in our care is given the support they need to be successful in our society; that’s what we’re obligated to do, and we will ensure that we abide by that.”

“If there are concerns brought to our attention, we will follow up on it, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

A media briefing on Transitional Support Services for children and youth in government care was held last Friday.

During the session, Stephen Samis, the deputy minister of Health and Social Services, noted that there have been seven reviews of Family and Children’s Services since 2010, including an audit by Ferguson’s office four years ago.

“We just recently did an analysis of all those recommendations and about … 80-odd per cent of those recommendations have now been implemented, and we are actively working on the ones we haven’t implemented,” Samis said.

The Auditor General of Canada’s audit examined the period between April 2010 and December 2013. It was published in a report to the legislative assembly in February 2014.

The audit examined the department’s compliance with selected requirements of the Child and Family Services Act (CFSA) and related policies.

It found that while the department was meeting many CFSA and policy requirements, several of its “key responsibilities related to the protection and well-being of at-risk children, youth, and their families” were not being adequately fulfilled.

These include failing to ensure all children in care or custody have annual medical and dental exams, neglecting to develop transitional plans for many youth, and conducting few annual foster home reviews.

In her letter, McLeod encourages the Auditor General to consider expanding the scope of the requested audit beyond those matters covered in the 2014 report.

To those who might criticize the Opposition’s letter as hypocrisy from members of the previous government or political point-scoring, McLeod says “regardless of who the government is, there’s a responsibility to Yukoners to make sure that programs are doing what they were intended to do.

“So I have no reservations in calling on the Auditor General to do a review of those programs.”

According to its website, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Canada receives many requests to conduct audits.

“The ultimate decision about what to audit rests with the Auditor General,” the website reads.

“Final decisions about what to audit are made in light of the OAG’s mandate, the significance of the issue, the existing audit schedule, and available resources.”