What happens when we don't put resources into helping children

"It tells me that we continue to have deep frailties in our child welfare system, but I'm not surprised by that, because I look at it. It tells me that we're not putting the effort and resources into fixing it. But it isn't just the ministry: it is in fact a system-wide problem. The healthcare system, the emergency room, these schools.

"It costs money to run a good system, and it takes well-trained and committed people with good values. But when you do something like this to a child, it also costs you, and we will pay one way or the other. I hope we decide to pay upfront to do what's right, because we will end up paying at the backend for the children that get harmed."

Children and Youth Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, in a Tyee interview on her report Who Protected Him? How B.C.'s Child Welfare System Failed One of Its Most Vulnerable Children.