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Terri Pelton was sworn in as Alberta’s new child and youth advocate Tuesday morning.
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Pelton, who has worked within social services for more than 30 years and at the advocate’s office since 2007, becomes only the second person to hold the post since it was made an independent office of Alberta’s legislature.
“It’s an honor to be chosen as the next child and youth advocate,” she said in a news release.
“While there are challenges ahead, I strongly believe that by working collectively on shared goals, we as a province can make exceptional positive changes for children and youth in Alberta.”
Pelton takes over at a time when Alberta is experiencing a record number of deaths of children receiving government supports. The outgoing advocate, Del Graff, told Postmedia before he left the top job that some of the major issues Pelton faces include the ongoing push for more government accountability when responding to recommendations related to children and the need to encourage the government to embrace the notion that Indigenous people have the inherent right to care for their children.
“A significant challenge will be how does she help the province to come to the table and try to do their very best to support that moving forward for Indigenous young people and their families,” Graf said.
“And when you consider that 70 per cent of kids in care are Indigenous, that seems to me to be a cornerstone challenge for the province.”