If Carly Fraser ever had a chance in life, we’ll never know.
The Burnaby teen spent the last few years of her life in a desperate struggle with mental health issues that kept her in and out of care of Ministry of Children and Family Development.
On her 19th birthday, Carly committed suicide by jumping off the Lions Gate Bridge. Her body was never found. That was Dec. 21, 2014.
Her mom, Lisa Fraser, believes her daughter would still be alive if the people tasked with helping her had made different decisions along the way.
This week, Fraser came forward looking for answers as to why this happened.
The tragic ending to Carly’s life was set in motion when she was 15.
In 2011, Carly and her mother signed a voluntary care agreement with the ministry because she had previously attempted suicide and was using a variety of drugs, and her mother felt she couldn’t cope with her self-harming behaviour.
The ministry placed Carly in the Southside Group Home in Burnaby and she appeared to be doing well, attending school and working.
But one year later, the ministry moved her to a basement suite at the objection of her mom, only to be told by the social worker she was “out of time.” Within a few weeks, Carly had quit school and work and was sexually assaulted twice.
The ministry moved her into a different home in Coquitlam, but she ran away, and by January 2013, the care agreement expired.
Carly was living with a boyfriend, on the streets and with any family who would take her in.
By that summer, she was taken to hospital after expressing suicidal thoughts, and a few months later put on suicide watch at Surrey Memorial having been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Last December on her 19th birthday, she leaped from the Lions Gate Bridge. Her body was never found.
Fraser believes the decision by social workers to put her daughter in a suite on her own a couple years prior was the catalyst in her decline.
“If she was being watched, they would have seen (her mental health issues) and gotten her some help instead of letting her out of the hospital all the time,” she told the NOW, adding she would never have approached the ministry with her daughter if she knew how Carly would be treated.
Her mother has asked for a review into Carly’s death, but it was rejected because she was 19.
Under ministry rules, as a 19-year-old, Carly was no longer considered a child or youth and the case couldn’t be considered for a review under policy.
For Burnaby-Deer Lake MLA Kathy Corrigan, who had been working on the file with Carly’s mom for several months, she views the situation as a failure on the ministry’s part.
“I think the system failed her,” she said, pointing out Carly’s mom had repeatedly asked for services for her daughter for several years.
Corrigan is also calling on the ministry to review Carly’s death, noting she was within hours of falling out of the criteria for a review.
“I find it reprehensible because it sounds to me more like an excuse rather than a reason,” she said.
A statement was released from the MCFD Minister Stephanie Cadieux late Thursday.
“I can’t imagine the pain this mother is enduring,” she said in a statement. “I am sorry for her loss and respect her desire to seek answers that might help her make sense of this tragedy. I can assure her that a case review will be conducted for any child or youth in the care of the ministry who dies.”As well, the statement noted when a youth is in care until their 19th birthday and dies within the following 12 months, there will be a case review by the office of the provincial director of child welfare.“I have asked that office to review the circumstances of the matter brought before the House today and ensure that policy was applied correctly,” she said.
Carly’s story comes on the heels of a handful of high-profile cases where a youth has died in the care of the ministry.
As for Fraser, she’s described the months that have passed since her daughter’s death as “hell.”
What she wants now is someone to be held accountable.
“I’m sure there’s more kids out there, there are more families out there,” Fraser said.
“People have to step up and demand change.”
