Nova Scotia’s acting ombudsman has found vague standards and poor communications among government departments in her review of the case of a child she believes was abused.

The report stems from a specific incident but is a system wide examination of how children fall through the cracks.

“I think everybody felt shocked and dismayed in terms of this child’s death,” says Children and Family Services Executive Director Vicki Wood. “And have done a lot of reviewing of the case and soul searching since.”

Antonia Pinch died in May, 2010.

An autopsy found the cause of death to be blunt abdominal trauma.

His mother’s boyfriend was charged with manslaughter but later acquitted.

“That individual had been subject to several referrals or complaints,” explains Nova Scotia’s acting ombudsman Christine Delisle-Brennan. “So we were taken back at the length of time it took to interview that individual.”

The report does not name the child but reveals Child Protection Services was aware of him for seven months and extremely involved with the family during the three months leading up to the death.

There were five complaints expressing concerns about the child’s well-being.

The case has prompted the acting ombudsman to call for the establishment of a permanent child death review team.

“Certainly across the country there are various child death review committees,” says Delisle-Brennan. “We felt that it was appropriate that Nova Scotia had a child death and injury review committee.”

The acting ombudsman is also taking issue with caseloads, vague and non-existent standards, and a lack of communication among the Departments of Community Services, Health and Justice. 

The provincial government says it will respond to the ombudsman’s report in 30 days and for now it is too soon to say whether the recommendations will be accepted and implemented.

“I can say that we accept the report, take it very seriously and look forward to studying it in detail,” says Children and Family Services Executive Director Vicki Wood.

The IWK Child Protection Team was not involved with this case.

The ombudsman report recommends the expansion of the team’s outreach and education initiatives.

“I think they did actually a good job looking at a very traffic situation with a really high level lens,” says Doctor Amy Ornstein of the IWK Child Protection Team.

The Departments of Health and Justice say they are working together with Community Services and will immediately establish a committee to develop a response to the recommendations presented Tuesday.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell.