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Fireproof Foster Home Needed

July 28, 2008 permalink

Winnipeg children's aid is looking for a foster home for a girl arsonist who intends to repeat her offense. Her attitude is the outcome of five years in foster care. Dad can't stop her since, according to an earlier news story, he is in jail. Children's aid often does not notify the foster family of this kind of behavior, so another home could soon be in ashes.

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Young firebug to get counselling

A 13-year-old girl who said she "had fun" burning down a new home is in need of intensive counselling, not more jail time, a judge said yesterday.

Judge Michel Chartier sentenced the girl to two years supervised probation and released her into the custody of Child and Family Services.

Where she will end up living is not clear. At a sentencing hearing earlier this month, a CFS worker said the agency has no secure placement for the girl and that jail was likely the safest place for her.

She has been in the care of CFS since she was eight years old. She is expected to be lodged in an "emergency placement" until long-term accommodations can be arranged.

The girl was arrested last May after setting a blaze that destroyed a brand-new, $200,000 home in Harbour View South and caused $10,000 damage to a neighbouring home.

In an interview with police, the girl, then 12, said she "had fun" setting the fire and that the family who had been preparing to move into the home "can go to hell."

Defence lawyer Dan Manning argued the girl's tough talk was a defence mechanism masking serious personal problems. Chartier agreed.

Source: Winnipeg Sun, pointed out by a Dufferin VOCA reader

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