Mother frustrated over daughter’s death in ministry care, lack of transparency

Angela Severight stood in the rotunda at the Legislature on Thursday surrounded by family and friends, all holding pictures of a teenage girl wearing a red hoodie and posing for the camera.

“This is Stellayna,” Severight said. “She was 14. She was an old soul in a young person’s body.”

Stellayna was Severight’s daughter. At 13 years old, Stellayna had got into drugs and gangs and Severight didn’t know what to do with her daughter anymore.

She went to the Ministry of Social Services for help multiple times, but said she’d hear they were busy or to call back later. Then she was told to give the girl up into ministry custody.

Not seeing any other choice, Severight did.

“When I gave her up that day, in that room, it was crushing because as a mother, you don’t want to give your kids up, and for me to give her to that system that had so many flaws and just no accountability, it’s the worst feeling ever,” Severight said.

“In the end, it destroyed me (and) it destroyed my daughter. I have no daughter.”

Things didn’t go well for Stellayna in ministry care. During that time, she was found in a drug house by her youth outreach worker, Bonnie Ford, high with two other girls.

Ford said instead of calling, she went directly to the Social Services office.

“I stood right there when the receptionist called up for Stellayna’s worker and she told the receptionist, ‘Tell her I’m not here.’ I heard that,” said Ford.

It took 29 days for the ministry to go looking for Stellayna after that.

Severight tried to get an order to put Stellayna in detox, but because the girl was now in the ministry’s care, Severight didn’t have the authority to do that anymore.

Severight said that in May of last year, a police officer came to her door and told her Stellayna had been found dead of a drug overdose. Severight said at first, she’d asked the officer if they had arrested the teen.

“ ‘Oh I wish it was so,’ were his own words. ‘Oh I wish it was so. I’m sorry but she’s not here. She’s gone,’ ” Severight said.

The Ministry of Social Services has stayed tight-lipped about the case, even in giving information to Severight. Minister Gene Makowsky defended the lack of information, saying these are complex and sensitive cases and privacy of everyone involved needs to be protected.

“It’s limited as to what I can say in particular cases by legislation and so that’s something that’s part of this scenario and this situation,” said Makowsky.

The minister wouldn’t even say whether this death was considered a serious incident, instead speaking generally that a death would be considered a serious incident.

“I can say that every time there’s a serious incident, there’s an investigation that takes place within the ministry. The information is shared with the (Children’s) Advocate, it is also shared with the coroner’s service and some information, we sit down with the family and provide that,” Makowsky said.

The ministry also wouldn’t say what, if any, policy changes were made as a result of this case in an effort to stop something like this from happening again.

“On a case-by-case basis there may be changes and they could be recommendations by the Advocate or the coroner’s service,” explained Makowsky.

Makowsky said several times the ministry takes situations like this very seriously.

“We have very dedicated people who commit their lives to helping and looking after children. That’s what they do and they take it very, very seriously,” he said.

The Saskatchewan NDP is critical of the minister and Social Services, saying that too often, kids who go into the child welfare system are at a higher risk of harm than they were before. Social Services Critic Meara Conway also thinks the ministry needs to be less opaque.

“The Ministry of Social Services does internal investigations. They are not public facing. They do not release information,” said Conway. “I’m very concerned at the lack of transparency … They hide behind privacy in order to avoid accountability.”

Conway said there needs to be a reckoning in the child welfare system.

Severight isn’t happy with the ministry’s response either, including the minister’s answers to questions asked about this case to him by the NDP during Question Period on Thursday.

“It was an empty speech and it wasn’t felt,” Severight said.

She wants change within the ministry for children in care and for help to be available for families so they don’t have to put their kids in care.

“I’m not going to let this go until there’s some kind of accountability, some change and I need to see it happen,” she said.

Severight wants to sit down with the minister to talk about the investigations into her daughter’s death. The minister said Thursday he’d agree to the meeting.