The death of a 21-month-old girl who died while in foster care has the child's biological mother calling the province's foster care system flawed, but Premier Ed Stelmach says while the case is tragic the system is strong.
The toddler was in the care of a Morinville-area foster family when she died at the Stollery Children's hospital Wednesday, two days after she had been admitted.
Police have not released the child's cause of death, but they are investigating it as a homicide.
The province has released few details about the case, but says it is investigating what happened, how it screened the foster parents and how it monitored the child.
While speaking to reporters in Lethbridge Saturday Stelmach said the province has a growing number of children in its care, but he says the government is putting more money into social services to take care of them.
"We are investing a considerable amount of money in the whole social area," said Stelmach. "There are more and more children that are in the care of the government, that in itself is an issue that we're going to deal with."
The biological mother of a 21-month-old girl says her daughter was murdered and was wrongfully placed in the foster care system.
The mother, who cannot be named, believes her daughter was unjustly taken from her and adds that she was working with a lawyer to get custody of her daughter.
"Someone murdered my daughter," she said in a statement to CTV News. "I have other children in my care. I am standing here looking at my son."
She says her daughter was under a temporary guardianship order for three months, but insists her child never should have been placed in a foster home because there were family member who were fit to take the child in.
