VICTORIA — The day Carly Fraser turned 19, the troubled teen lost whatever foster care supports had helped her battle years of mental illness and addiction.

Twenty hours after her birthday, in a moment of despair, she threw herself off the Lions Gate Bridge. Her body was never found.

Carly’s tragic journey through B.C.’s child welfare system was marked by abuse, neglect and confusion, her mother Lisa Fraser said Wednesday.

But the government won’t review her case, answer questions or examine what prompted her to jump from the bridge on Dec. 21, 2014.

Instead, the children’s ministry said because Carly committed suicide 20 hours and 35 minutes after she turned 19, she had aged out of the system and her case wasn’t eligible for review.

Her mother travelled from Burnaby to the legislature Wednesday to seek answers to what happened during the four years Carly was in ministry care before she took her own life.

“I’d like a review,” Fraser said. “Because I want answers to how the decisions were made, who made them, why they made them, and why they wouldn’t listen to anything I said.”

Stephanie Cadieux, minister of children and families, expressed sadness at the suicide, but did not reopen the case. Instead, she asked her staff to double-check whether the policy denying a review was properly applied.

Carly’s case highlights issues raised in a 2014 Vancouver Sun series of stories that depicted the challenges for youth leaving care: foster kids lose their social workers and financial payments on their 19th birthdays, leading to high rates of homelessness, unemployment, poverty, substance abuse and incarceration as most struggle to navigate the complicated adult welfare system.

B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, has urged government to extend foster care for 19-year-olds and also improve supports for those aging out of care.

The ministry “lost track” of Carly in the system, as it does with many other kids, Turpel-Lafond said.

“There was the view with people who worked with (Carly), who were responsible for her care, that she was somehow service resistant,” said Turpel-Lafond, using a social work term to describe kids who don’t respond to help.

“So they basically threw up their hands and let her drift.”

Turpel-Lafond said her office is considering a review of Carly’s case, but also wants the government to provide more services and supports for 19-year-olds who suddenly lose government help.

Cadieux said Wednesday she’s tried to improve the system.

“It’s not true they age out with no supports; there are actually a lot of supports available to youth as they make that transition,” she said.

“But we do know there’s always more we can be doing. We’re looking at that. The reality is my ministry has a mandate to service children up to the age of 18/19 and not beyond.”

Fraser was unimpressed by what she heard from Cadieux and Premier Christy Clark at the legislature Wednesday. Both refused to speak about Carly’s case, due to what they called privacy restrictions.

Carly’s case started when she was 15. She had attempted suicide, was using drugs and couldn’t cope with her mother’s depression and panic attacks. Fraser said she signed a voluntary care agreement with the ministry to place Carly in the Southside Group Home in Burnaby, believing it would give her more help and support.