Damage Control

January 30, 2010 permalink

Wanda Secord

from Durham Region News

More on the scandal surrounding phony psychologist "doctor" Gregory Carter. For six years he had a lucrative practice providing evaluations for the Durham CAS. Each time CAS got custody of a child, the province provided funding of $30,000 per year, plus whatever extras CAS could justify by putting labels on the child. Along the way, other parts of the family destruction apparatus drained the family funds until they were penniless. Wanda Secord, Durham CAS executive director, was the person who got to spend the provincial money. Now she is claiming the status of innocent victim, trying to right the wrong done by Mr Carter. Below is an article in the Toronto Sun by a reporter who interviewed Secord. Our comments are interspersed in red.

expand

collapse

Arrest sparks review of Durham CAS custody cases

By DON PEAT, Toronto Sun, Last Updated: 29th January 2010, 10:44am

The Durham Children's Aid Society is diving into six years' worth of files to determine the role a Whitby man accused of posing as a psychologist in court may have played in child custody cases.

Greg Carter, 63, was charged this week with three counts of fraud, two counts of obstructing justice and two counts of perjury. He'll be back in court in March.

Wanda Secord, executive director of the Durham Children's Aid Society, told the Sun Thursday the society is "very concerned" about the criminal allegations and the College of Psychologists' complaints against Carter.

She should be concerned. She was the chief beneficiary of "doctor" Carter's chicanery, but shows no indication in this interview of willingness to accept responsibility for the fiasco.

"We're taking this matter very seriously," Secord said. "We are looking at our files to determine what role (Carter) played in the cases and then we'll undertake a review if necessary."

So far, the society doesn't know how many cases he was involved in.

Carter was contracted by the society to provide services like behavioural assessments from 2003 to '09.

The CAS terminated his contract in the spring because of complaints, Secord said.

But she said the society did check with the college and at the time Carter was a member in good standing.

He's registered as a psychological associate -- not a psychologist.

Police allege Carter presented himself as a psychologist and called himself a doctor during testimony in court.

Secord added Carter was "well established in our community, having provided services to a number of other services, such as school boards and the court systems. He was a well-respected and an established practitioner in our area."

This suggests "doctor" Carter was a member of the Den of Thieves, the group of professionals switching roles from case to case, always with the objective of draining the family financially and raiding the taxpayers for reimbursements.

The work he conducted for the society fell within the range of a psychological associate, Secord said.

But she couldn't say whether the society was aware whether Carter ever claimed to be a psychologist in court for one of its cases.

Maybe she should read the papers. Christie Blatchford reported in the Globe and Mail that in one case Ontario Superior Court Justice Craig Perkins referred to him 32 times as "Dr Carter".

Despite the controversy, Secord said the society isn't reviewing the qualifications of all its professionals under contract.

The most revealing statement of all. Mrs Secord does not care whether her experts are qualified. She will only check up on them if a public scandal develops.

"We have not at this point but that's food for thought," she said.

Source: Toronto Sun