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Good Home

October 21, 2011 permalink

Fixcas has previously mentioned frivolous reasons for taking children from parents: reading by psychic, refusing cesarean, playing doctor, walking in cold weather, not guilty of a crime, poppy-seed bagel, obesity, mother's IQ, consuming alcohol at home, parents were foster kids, military service, strolling while intoxicated, hard lemonade, mess following police raid, dad shirtless.

Today we can report some reasons NOT to take children:

  • crack addiction
  • spending entire welfare allowance on illegal drugs
  • credit-card fraud
  • marijuana grow-op
  • domestic violence
  • criminal charges against both parents
  • lack of cribs
  • lack of parenting skills
  • canceling visits with CAS
  • handgun on the fridge
  • administering mid-levels of cocaine to children

A family with all of these traits kept their children even after several visits by CAS.

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Court told crack mom's kids had cocaine in hair

Taranjit Grewal
crackmom Taranjit Grewal (in black coat) leaves court with a supporter Thursday. The judge-alone trial continues Tuesday
(Stan Behal/TORONTO SUN pic).

Crack addict's home 'defied description'

TORONTO -

While under CAS supervision for a year, a crack-addicted mother of two toddlers raised her children in such deplorable conditions that one observer said it “almost defied description.”

Taranjit Grewal, now 23, admitted Thursday she was spending $100 a day - all her welfare cheque, her earnings on fraudulent credit cards and her savings - on her pernicious habit in December 2009.

Two months earlier, Grewal let police into her 2737 Kipling Ave. apartment as a result of a domestic incident with her boyfriend, said Crown attorney Laura Bird.

“When police attended, Ms. Grewal showed them a marijuana grow op in the storage closet.”

Inside, police found eight marijuana plants, two of which were approximately four feet high, Bird told Madam Justice Faye McWatt. The judge-alone trial continues Tuesday.

“Notwithstanding this, the children were left to reside in the apartment with Ms. Grewal.”

CAS were initially involved due to concerns over domestic violence, criminal charges faced by both parents, lack of cribs and parenting skills, court heard.

CAS records indicated that in December 2009 and January 2010, “more concerns were identified and Ms. Grewal’s level of co-operation with the CAS deteriorated. She cancelled a number of scheduled visits,” said Bird.

“The obvious question this case raises is how this could have happened, especially with warning flags of the grow-op, and Grewal’s avoidance tactics,” said Bird in an interview.

And the children remained in the care of a heavy-using crack addict who had isolated herself from her family and the world, court heard.

Grewal pleaded guilty two counts of corrupting the morals of her children, then aged 28 months and 15 months, but she has pleaded not guilty to possessing a 22 calibre handgun found in her apartment on Feb. 23, 2010.

She testified her boyfriend’s friend dropped off the firearm in late November and left it there - without calling or returning to retrieve for three months - while it sat on the top of her fridge unbeknownst to her.

On Feb. 23, 2010, Grewal phoned Telehealth Ontario because she had been vomiting and suffered dizziness that early morning. While on the phone, she became unresponsive and a small child could be heard crying in the background.

Telehealth phoned 9-1-1 and police, firefighters and paramedics responded.

Grewal initially refused to let the police into her home after officers heard the tots inside. Grewal lied that her aunt was inside to conceal the disgusting crack-den conditions.

Bird attacked the veracity of Grewal’s self-serving account, noting she lied during the police statement and to officers on the scene to achieve her goals.

Grewal admitted to those lies but insisted she was now telling the truth, saying “the truth shall set me free.”

Bird suggested Grewal was lying that she didn’t know of the gun’s presence to spare herself a jail sentence.

The two children, now aged four years and three years old, were found with mid-levels of cocaine in their hair strands. They are now in foster care and under different names.

CAS executive director David Rivard said he couldn’t comment on the specifics of a particular case, but his intake officers remove children from dangerous homes.

But most children, up to 90%, remain in their homes under CAS supervision.

“Every effort is made to ensure that the children are safe. We make unannounced visits and scheduled visits,” said Rivard.

Source: Toronto Sun

The next day in another Toronto Sun article there was a picture of the good bathroom.

Grewal bathroom

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