N.B. social workers must be empowered to do what’s best for at-risk youth: advocates

FREDERICTON — The New Brunswick government must empower social workers to do what’s best for vulnerable young people in care, youth advocates told lawmakers this week.

Their comments were in response to a government report in May concluding that the overdose death of a 16-year-old last year reflected a systemic failure and a lack of humanity within the province’s Social Development Department.

Over two days, several witnesses appeared before a legislature committee in Fredericton looking into the department’s failures.

John Sharpe, executive director of the provincial Partners for Youth organization, said Thursday the Social Development Department should “focus on how to say ‘yes,’ instead of justifying why they say ‘no.'”

He said that over time, the department’s five branches have added their own local policies and procedures, including waiting periods for care and other levels of bureaucracy that he said create barriers for young people who need help.

“We need to eliminate regional executive directors. We need fewer regional managers. We need fewer departmental consultants. And we need more open and transparent system of care,” Sharpe said.

Kelly Lamrock, the provincial youth advocate who wrote the 26-page report on the teenager’s overdose death, kicked off the hearings Wednesday by urging lawmakers to hold the Social Development Department responsible for improving its level of care.

The department, he said, “has repeatedly failed to live up to a clear, unanimous multi-partisan mandate to act more quickly with more accountability.”

Lamrock said the government should require that regional managers — and the department as a whole — track metrics for the children in their care, such as whether they graduate or end up homeless.

He also recommended that the government empower frontline social workers to make decisions in the best interests of vulnerable youth, rather than strictly follow procedures.

In his report on the 16-year-old, Lamrock said a social worker assessed the boy, whom the report calls “Bobby,” after an overdose and told him he was ineligible to join a government support program for youth because he was homeless, the advocate said.

Daniel Mills, deputy minister at the Social Development Department, told Wednesday’s hearing he couldn’t explain why the teenager didn’t receive more help from the province despite warnings.

“Frankly, I can’t,” Mills said when asked why 15 separate warnings about Bobby were treated in isolation and dismissed.

“That’s the crux of it, there are lots of challenges. There are lots of people dedicated to doing the best they can do with what they’ve got.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

Eli Ridder, The Canadian Press