Investigative Reviews

The OCYA is changing how we publicly report investigative reviews when we are notified of the death of a young person involved with the Child Intervention system that meets the criteria for a mandatory review as required by the Child and Youth Advocate Act (CYAA).  The shift in reporting will provide additional transparency and public accountability regarding the investigative reviews we complete and ensure each young person’s circumstance is reflected in a consistent manner.

The OCYA is required to complete two types of investigative reviews with differing completion and publication requirements.  Due to legislative barriers in the CYAA, we can only publish mandatory reports using this process at this time.

The OCYA will publish a mandatory investigative review of each young person’s circumstance on our website, within one year of notification of death.   As required by the CYAA, the Advocate will provide an update to the Legislative Assembly every six months on the progress of the investigative reviews including:

• the number of completed mandatory reviews of deaths,
• the number of incomplete mandatory reviews, and,
• the reasons that any above-mentioned reviews have not been completed within one year.

Each investigative review will include information about the services and supports that the young person received, findings and highlight trends noted in each individual circumstance.

We will review these trends and, on an annual basis, complete a larger public report that explores the theme(s) that have been identified over that year across all the investigative reviews completed and will contain recommendations.

Please use the latest version of your browser or Adobe Acrobat Reader to view reports (download Adobe Acrobat Reader here).

Our investigative review cycle is available here. 

Our recommendations evaluation framework is available here.

• Investigative Reviews 2013-2017
• Investigations 5- and 10-Year Summaries
• Into Focus: Calling Attention to Youth Opioid Use in Alberta
• Investigative Reviews 2018-2022