Jason Luan, the Associate Minister of Mental Health & Addictions for the current UCP government of Alberta made an announcement on January 23rd, 2020 opening a $9.1-million safe house to replace a temporary PChAD Protective Safe House that has been serving the local community of Red Deer, since 2006.

At first glance this appears like good news, but there are many problems with the PChAD model. The Protection of Children Abusing Drugs (PChAD) Act is an Alberta law that took effect on July 1, 2006. The process allows parents, or a legal guardian, to petition the court for a Protective Court Order for their child to be taken INVOLUNTARILY to a “Protective Safe House” for detoxification, stabilization and assessment. The court order is for an initial 10-day period with an option to increase that stay by another 5 days if parents are willing to go back to the court to apply for the extension.

I cannot begin to explain how trying the PChAD process was for myself and my then 16 year old daughter Zoe. After an emotional disclosure of circumstances with an AHS counsellor, I was given a requisition to present to Alberta Law Courts to secure a hearing with a judge in a family courtroom. The courtroom is filled with family court cases and you are sworn before the judge to speak about your child and explain the circumstances that have led you to this desperate point of involuntarily admitting your child. Others in the courtroom are listening to your situation and the atmosphere is incredibly intense. The judge in my case, made me feel very uncomfortable and I felt that his questions were derogatory. I was made to feel like I was a horrible parent as I tried to explain my child’s situation and addiction in order to receive the court order. This procedure was like nothing I had experienced before and I felt completely victimized. Once the judge granted the court order then I was instructed to connect with the Protective Safe House to secure a bed and advised that I generally had 24 hours to get my daughter to the safe house either voluntarily (ideal, but not always possible) or to involuntarily transport her to the safe house. In my daughters’ case we had to coerce her and have the police escort her there.

She was extremely angry and felt very violated by what we had done. To be honest I felt just as angry and violated by the system myself. Detox was very difficult and dangerous for her as is with most people going through it. The staff at the safe house was pleasant, although they wouldn’t give us a lot of information citing privacy issues. We tried to visit her, but she didn’t want to see us. I thought about applying for the extension for another 5 days, and hoped to get some kind of input from staff to see how she had done over the 10 day detox, but that didn’t happen and they couldn’t divulge any information to me so I was in the dark about what to do. When Zoe finally agreed to see me, she begged and pleaded with me not to apply for the extension, so I didn’t. After 10 days, she was released in my care with a treatment plan that was not shared with me, again for privacy issues. The staff told me that Zoe would have to share the treatment plan with me. Sadly, my husband and I brought her home knowing that the 10 day detox process had not been successful. She left in the middle of the night while we slept and met up with another youth that she had met in the protective safe house during their stay there together. They were both arrested the next day trying to steal liquor from a liquor store in the town where the other girl lived. This was my daughters first arrest and created a lot more problems for her moving forward from this experience. In the end, two PChAD court orders failed my daughter. She died on November 7, 2016 from fentanyl poisoning less than 4 months after she had turned 18.

The evidence (https://www.cmaj.ca/content/190/41/E1219 clearly demonstrates that involuntary treatment does not work. The reality Is that adolescents also have rights and forcing them into institutions against their will, will only produce more harm than good.

In June, 2018 The Office Of the Child and Youth Advocate released a 52 page investigative report to the then NDP government in Alberta entitled: INTO FOCUS: CALLING ATTENTION TO YOUTH OPIOID USE IN ALBERTA. The report investigated 12 youth (1 of which was my daughter) who had access to the PChAD program, not only once, but several times. All 12 of these youth died.

Several recommendations were made in this investigative report including the following with regards to PChAD.

Recommendation 5: The Ministry of Health should undertake a review of the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs (PChAD) Act and its policies, so the related services better meet the needs of young people and their families.

The OCYA investigation and its recommendations were lost in the 2019 election and change of leadership in AB, and it’s a shame because the youth in this report who slipped through the cracks DESERVE BETTER, and the youth who have died since and their desperate families deserve better.

More access to a program that is flawed and has failed youth and their families is NOT helpful. Before any more support is given to PChAD, a review should be conducted of the act and its policies. The current UCP government has set up review committees on a variety of other things, since taking office – a review of the PChAD act should be a priority before putting youth into a dangerous situation.

Minister Luan, I ask you how many more youth do Albertan families have to bury before the PChAD order is reviewed and the recommendations are implemented?

Angela Welz - Zoe’s Mom