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More recent news
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
May 26, 2005
Today Ontario Ombudsman André Marin released his
report Between a Rock and a Hard Place (pdf) to the
public.
André Marin
The following quote from the report shows that the
senior Ministry officials are clueless, and suggests a
weak ministry manipulated by the career bureaucracy:
103 How prevalent is this phenomenon? It is
impossible to say precisely. Senior Ministry
officials advised my Office that the Ministry is
unaware of how many children with severe disabilities
are currently in the protection of Children's Aid
Societies either under Temporary Care Agreements or
society or Crown wardship orders because their parents
are unable to provide necessary residential care. The
Ministry advised that it has never investigated the
issue of whether there are Children's Aid Society
files in which protection concerns have been
"manufactured" so that children with severe
disabilities could obtain residential placement.
In response to scandal, Mrs Bountrogianni said:
The report was written in February, it was given to
me in March, and I did indeed immediately act. Those
30 families were given the services they needed,
following the process of the communities solving the
problems and finding the resources for those children,
and they didn't have to go to the courts to give up
custody of their children.
According to Mr Marin, Mrs Bountrogianni lied, or in
his more diplomatic words, failed to appreciate that the
problem exists. The services mentioned were in fact not
delivered.
The Ombudsman deals with families of severely
disabled children. He estimates there are 150 to 200
cases of parents humiliated by being compelled to sign
documents officially abandoning their children. Mother
Tina Grignard reports:
That was the most disgusting lowest point of my
entire life. I so regret going. ... When I walked
in the corridor, there were about 30 people there and
I wanted to die. I work for the Ministry, the rent
geared to income office. I recognized many of our
tenants in that court. It was kind of awkward. This
is a small community ... My CAS worker ... walks in
the door and I clearly heard three different people
say "[the CAS worker]" is here and [she] comes, walks
right over to me and sits beside me and starts
talking. So now its been confirmed that I'm here not
for divorce court but I'm here for Children's Aid. So
I just wanted to die. I was just so embarrassed.
Mrs Grignard's unease is the consequence of the true
reputation of Children's Aid. Not a good experience
indeed. We wonder, will Mr Marin now go on to deal with
the humiliation, and horror, of thousands of parents
who find that their children do not return from school,
or who have their children kidnaped (protected) by armed
policemen invading their home?
Mr Marin identifies the problem that handicapped
children are shoehorned into the child-protection
system, without grasping why child-protection
bureaucrats prefer crown-wardship to in-home assistance
to competent parents. Once a child is a crown-ward, the
bureaucracy presents the legislature with the dilemma of
providing funding, or letting children go without food
and shelter. Since legislators will not take the latter
choice, continued funding is assured. No such assurance
exists when providing in-home assistance.
164 On a final note, I feel the need to point out
that parents have expressed palpable fear of the
consequences of coming forward to my office to
complain. They are concerned that they will be
punished by the bureaucrats that they depend on to
assist them. I intend to monitor the outcome of my
report and vigorously act, if there is any sign of
reprisal against those who have demonstrated the
courage to speak out against this manifestly unfair
situation.
This is the problem Dufferin VOCA, and other CAS
opponents, have faced for years. We have hundreds of
stories of abuse of families in the name of child
protection, yet must remain silent in nearly all cases,
because of the threat of retaliation by Children's Aid.
Unlike Mr Marin, we cannot protect families with the
powers of government.
Mrs Bountrogianni has responded with a press release in which she promises more
money, increasing the bounty on the heads of Ontario
children payable whenever Children's Aid succeeds in
snatching a child. She does offer to repatriate
children taken into custody. Since the laws of Ontario
permit publishing family names when there is no
protection involved, we are waiting for the names of
repatriated children.
Addendum: CBC reporter
Jane Hawtin speaks to André Marin and mother
Cyndi Cameron. (mp3) runs 7:36.
Chartier Free on Bail
May 26, 2005
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Thu, May 26, 2005
Mother charged with abduction free on
bail
By Sean McKibbon, Ottawa Sun
An Ottawa woman charged with abduction and breach
of probation after allegedly taking her four children
to Sweden was released on bail yesterday.
Marie Emilie Chartier, 35, was released on $400
cash bail and conditions that she reside in Gatineau
with her ex-husband and that he also sign for a $1,000
bond.
She was ordered to have no communication with her
four children, Marie Alexandre, 12, Michael, 8, Aniel,
6, and Mariel Charlotte, 5, and not go within a
kilometre of her kids' school or her mother's house
where the children reside.
Chartier was banned from having any weapons and
given a 10 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew. She was also ordered
to surrender any passports to the court.
Chartier and the children were returned to Canada
on May 16 by Swedish authorities.
INTERPOL ALERT
Police say Chartier approached Swedish officials on
March 31 asking for permission to remain in the
country. She said yesterday following the hearing
that she turned herself in in Sweden after realizing
she would not be granted refugee status there.
Ottawa police sent out an Interpol alert after
Chartier allegedly took the children from their
grandmother's house on March 15.
Star Supports Adoption Disclosure
May 26, 2005
The following article from the Toronto Star. The
Star ordinarily is supportive of the power of government
and social services, so their opposing position in this
article is indicative of a change of opinion.
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May 26, 2005. 01:00 AM
The real shame about adoption
We don't need more sealed files or vetos that
ensure even more secrecy, says Valerie
Hauch
"Unmarried and pregnant — you have sinned.
For shame!'' Such finger-wagging reproofs were not
uncommon for a different generation of women who dared
to have sex outside wedlock and unlucky enough to have
it bear fruit.
In fact, moral denunciation of perceived wanton
behaviour has been such a powerful force in society
that it lingers today in the debate about whether to
pass the provincial government's adoption disclosure
bill.
Ontario's Privacy Commissioner Anne Cavoukian says
it will be an invasion of privacy for women who gave
up babies if identifying information is released
— their lives would be ruined.
But the government's proposed bill already carries
a stringent "no contact'' veto that could be levied by
the birth parent or adoptee.
In any event, to assume that adult adoptees are
going to swoop down on their biological parents and
admonish them for proceeding with adoptions, or make
judgments of a moral nature, is absurd. What they
want is information, knowledge, to find the missing
pieces of the biological puzzle that is part of
discovering self.
What adoptees are up against is the same sort of
patronizing attitude that governments and society have
taken for generations toward the voiceless person in
the adoption equation: "Only we know what's best for
this child and what's best is that the child know as
little as possible."
To assume that the release of a birth name and
other pieces of information is going to have such
dramatic effect on a birth parent's life is to ensure
that ancient, unjust, hypocritical mores endure. That
is the real shame.
Most reasonable people today would not look down on
any woman who gave up her child for adoption.
The women who fear trauma in meeting the adult
version of the baby they gave up — and some who
became pregnant from rape or other awful situations
have just cause — would not have to meet them,
if they asserted a veto. To go farther with the veto,
however, punishes the adoptee, who has the right to
basic information that is part of his or her
identity.
It is ironic that the societal system that
contributed to the very trauma that unmarried pregnant
women endured, in being pressured to give up their
children, was so successful that even today those
women fear what others would think of them if it were
known they had an out-of-wedlock child.
The hospitals that used to encourage these young
women to "forget'' about the children they carried for
nine months often advised them not to even look at
their babies after birth.
I know, because I was one of those babies. My
unmarried biological mother gave birth in Toronto in
the 1950s but she didn't take the advice a nurse gave
her. She took a look. And she decided not to put me
up for adoption right away. She hoped, by placing me
in private foster home, that she and my biological
father could work things out.
Although they would go on to marry and stayed
together for 20 years, they decided when I was
2 1/2 years old to put me up for
adoption.
It's a decision I respect, considering the
circumstances and times. But it never meant I didn't
want to meet them.
Many adoptees — and having met many over the
years I've concluded it has nothing to do with whether
their lives with their adoptive parents were happy or
not —just want to know about their
roots.
They want to meet someone else with their nose,
their penchant for drawing, their inexplicable love of
water (once you meet a biological relative you become
aware of the amazing possibilities that much more than
hair colour is inherited.)
I don't believe any adoptee should expect
involvement in a biological relative's life. But it
can be serendipitous when it happens.
That said, adoptees should be prepared for the fact
that they may find people they don't like. If you
can't ready yourself for any possibility, don't go
looking.
In my case, it was easy to search. When I was
adopted, the birth certificates still included the
birth name (which in my case was my biological
father's). I had the added advantage of having been
baptized in Quebec (my mother is French Canadian).
Quebec baptismal certificates included the parents'
occupations. That made tracking down my biological
father and sending him a letter (when I became an
adult) fairly easy.
We've never met; his choice, his right. My choice
and my right was to ask.
There was surprise on his side at being found, but
no expression of trauma. However, I suspect if he'd
been allowed a veto to me getting any identifying
information — this is what Cavoukian is
proposing — he would have used it.
And what a shame that would have been.
I might not have found my biological mother,
cousins, both my biological father's brothers and
other relatives, many of whom have become very dear
and enriched my life.
I might never have found out my great-grandfather
on one side was a poor immigrant from Spain who became
a wealthy merchant in Newfoundland. The house he
built is now a heritage home and bed-and-breakfast in
St. John's.
I might not have learned that his daughter
apparently dated one Chester Crosbie, father of former
MP John, or that the Newfoundland family, at some
point, was rumoured to have been involved in certain
tradings of alcoholic substances back in the days when
such dealings were, well, illegal, b'y.
I wouldn't have known about another relative who
was considered a bit of a rebel in her day because she
didn't want to get married, loved to sing and had a
stunning voice and was paid to use it at weddings and
other events. Eventually a man came along who caught
her fancy or she wouldn't have ended up as my
grandmother.
I'd never have gasped when I saw the picture of a
great-aunt who looks uncannily like my
daughter.
These are the stories of family. Everyone has
them. Except adoptees.
We don't need more sealed files and hidden records
or vetos that ensure even more secrecy.
We need openness, tolerance and a break with any
mentality that smears "shame' 'on everyone involved in
an unplanned pregnancy.
Knowing our personal histories adds colour to our
lives and makes us aware that we are not islands and
alone, but part of an incredible, ongoing continuum of
generations.
Valerie Hauch is a Toronto Star writer
and editor.
VandenElsen Living Will
May 26, 2005
Carline
VandenElsen has left a living will. Authorities have
limited their embarrassment by refusing media access to
Carline. According to André Lefebvre, she is in
solitary confinement and limited to one visitor per week,
who can visit her only behind glass through a telephone
connection.
Ombudsman Ignores Ongoing Cases
May 25, 2005
Dr Dolores A Sicheri reports that the investigation by
Ontario Ombudsman André Marin is turning into a
whitewash. She says:
The Ombudsman has had hundreds of calls regarding
this investigation. Cathy Penshold from the
Ombudsman's Office had told several parents that Mr.
Marin is only to investigate seven cases of his own
choosing.
The parents who rights were already terminated for
access to services, are out of luck. These parents
were looking for some justice. He is going to limit
his investigation to those whose rights are presently
being threatened.
Cases where children have been severed from parents
are not over and done with. The injury continues every
day.
Queen's Park Rally
May 24, 2005
The following news report comes from Canada Court Watch.
The mainstream press imposed a total blackout on this news
item.
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Thousands of Canadians rally at
Queen's Park in support of traditional marriage and
family values
By Mike March - Social Justice reporter
Thousands of everyday Canadians, young and old and
from almost every walk of daily life and cultural
group congregated at Queen's Park on holiday Monday to
demonstrate in support for traditional marriage and
family values.
Thousands of people swelled the grounds at Queen's
Park demanding that the Canadian government start
listening to the wishes of the people of Canada
The massive show from the public was fueled by the
recent passing of Bill C-38 by the Liberal government as
well as the recent exposure of government corruption
within some high ranking members of the Liberal Party of
Canada.
The government's Bill C-38 was intended to allow gays
and lesbians to marry persons of the same sex and to force
the will of the minority, special interest, gay and
lesbian groups upon the majority the people of Canada.
Leaders of all major religions and cultural groups
spoke about how the principles of democracy have been
ignored by the Canadian government in this issue.
Speakers spoke of how the government committee
which had been set up to study the issue was stacked
in favour of those who support the gay and lesbian
agenda. Well established organizations such as the
Knights of Columbus with over 70,000 members were not
invited to be a part of the committee process.
When it came to support of the traditional
definition of marriage there was full agreement from
representatives all major cultural groups, including
Christian, Jewish and Moslem that legalizing same sex
marriage was wrong and the way in which the courts are
imposing this minority view on the majority of the
people of Canada, clearly is a violation of the
principles of democracy.
Most citizens in the crowd said that they were fed
up with the Liberal Party and its policies which they
felt were undermining the very foundations upon which
the nation of Canada was built. Many said the family
unit was the foundation for Canadian Society.
Although a very small, ragtag group of gay and lesbians
were gathered at the southern end of Queen's Park waiving
rainbow flags, they were hardly visible amidst the throngs
of mainstream Canadians who had come to Queen's Park in
support of the traditional definition of marriage.
Many demonstrators in the crowd demanded that the
government be brought down in light of recent
corruption and scandals in the upper levels of the
governing Liberal Party of Canada.
OACAS Demands Secrecy
May 24, 2005
Today the Ontario Association of Children's Aid
Societies (OACAS)posted a notice on its news site:
NOTE: The Child and Family Services Act Section 45(8)
prevents the publication of information that identifies
a child, the child's parent, foster parent or member of
the child's family when the child is the subject of a
child protection proceeding. Therefore, OACAS will not
be posting news articles that fall into this
category.
The OACAS also issues press releases, such as in the
case of Lisa Heughan, urging news
editors to withdraw the names of families in cases where
the names have already been published.
There can be no doubt that the party protected by the
secrecy is not the child, but the child protection
bureaucracy.
In the case of Marguerite
Dias who attacked Madelene Monast with a machete on
suspicion of being a snitch, many Canadian newspapers
printed the story without the name of the attacker, even
after she was sentenced to prison. Some newspapers also
suppress the names of Carline VandenElsen and Larry
Finck, the parents in the Halifax standoff. Sending people to prison and
withholding their names is the methodology of medieval
tyrants, not countries respecting the rule of law.
F4J Strikes
May 23, 2005
Stunts by Fathers-4-Justice are becoming too
numerous to mention. In a reference to Pinocchio's
conscience, F4J has placed 6800 crickets in 37 location
across Canada. The Ontario locations are courthouses in
Newmarket, Milton, Oshawa, Whitby and Toronto (Jarvis St
and University Ave), as well as the offices of MPs
Colleen Beaumier (Brampton West), Colin Carrie (Oshawa),
Bill Graham (Toronto Centre-Rosedale), Mark Holland
(Pickering/Ajax), Jack Layton (Toronto), John McKay
(Scarborough East), Bev Oda (Clarington), Carolyn
Parrish (Mississauga Centre), Judy Sgro (York West),
Belinda Stronach (Newmarket/Aurora), Paul Szabo
(Mississauga) and Joe Volpe (Eglinton/Lawrence).
In British Columbia Spiderman climbed the Pattullo
Bridge and the Incredible Hulk climbed the Alex Fraser
Bridge. In Montreal today Robin climbed the Jacques
Cartier bridge, for a while stopping all traffic.
Following is a Toronto area news story about one of
the incidents.
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Crickets dumped in Newmarket
court
May 19, 2005
Protesting unfair treatment of fathers in divorce
cases, the group Fathers-4-Justice Canada said they
dumped 200 live crickets on the family court floor of
the Newmarket courthouse Monday.
The act may have gone unnoticed at first, but will
be evident in the coming weeks and months when the
crickets begin chirping, spokesperson Steve Osborne
said.
"It's the gift that keeps on giving," he said.
The Great Canadian Cricket Caper hit a number of
other courthouses across the country in an attempt to
draw attention to the plight of fathers in family
court.
"We want equality in family law," Mr. Osborne
said. "Fathers should be given equal time with their
kids. All parents should be equal."
Support for Adoption Disclosure
May 23, 2005
John Dunn has made a Submission
to the Social Policy Committee (pdf) in support of the
proposed Adoption Information Disclosure Act
Thoughts on Halifax Standoff
May 22, 2005
Today the Halifax Herald published two stories on the
Shirley Street standoff, one on Carline VandenElsen's
hunger strike, the other below.
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Sunday, May 22, 2005
The Halifax Herald Limited
Child protection system comes under
scrutiny
Expert says laws up to date, despite criticism of
cops' handling of standoff
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE / Staff Reporter
A year ago, a three-day police standoff in Halifax
involving a five-month-old girl, her parents, her
grandmother and heavily armed officers thrust
child-welfare issues in Nova Scotia into the
spotlight.
File
Carline VandenElsen and her husband, Larry Finck,
were recently convicted of charges laid in
connection with a police standoff last May.
File
Larry Finck nails a sign to the front of a house
on Shirley Street in Halifax during a three-day
seige.
During a controversial nighttime effort to enforce
a court order authorized under provincial
child-protection laws, police were rebuffed by the
youngster's despairing parents.
An officer rammed the front door of 6161 Shirley
St. about three times before a shotgun was fired at
police from inside the house.
The 67-hour siege ended with the death of the
baby's 79-year-old grandmother, Mona Finck, due to
natural causes.
Larry Finck and his wife, Carline VandenElsen, were
eventually charged and recently convicted in
connection with the incident. They'll be sentenced in
late June.
The couple's child, now 17 months old, is in foster
care.
Mr. Finck and Ms. VandenElsen are in custody
awaiting their fate. Ms. VandenElsen began a hunger
strike Saturday to protest her plight.
She said she sees no alternative.
"My husband and I are the first Canadian parents to
be convicted of acting to protect our offspring," she
said in a strongly worded release.
Critics of how police and child-welfare authorities
handled the case have said the province's
child-protection laws need to be changed to keep more
families together.
Dalhousie University law professor Rollie Thompson,
who helped with the task the last time the legislation
had a major revision (1989-90), said Nova Scotia's
statutes are in line with other jurisdictions in
Canada.
"It was a significant modernization from the 1976
statute," he said.
Mr. Thompson said that compared to Ontario, which
made major changes to its law that allowed authorities
to take many children from their parents, Nova Scotia
is doing well.
"The Ontario child-welfare system is clogged with
children who've been taken into care or been placed
into care after a court order," he said.
Mr. Finck and Ms. VandenElsen had run afoul of
the law before. He's done time for abducting a
daughter from a previous relationship in Ontario in
1999; she has triplets from an earlier marriage who
are in the care of her ex-husband in Ontario.
Ms. VandenElsen was originally acquitted of
abducting the triplets, who are now about 12 years
old, but she will be retried in Stratford, Ont., this
fall.
That acrimonious custody battle has long played out
in Ontario courts. "It is unlikely (the three
children) can remember a time when their parents were
not fighting over them," a court document says.
In Nova Scotia, aside from well-publicized
criticisms of how Halifax Regional Police and
child-welfare officials handled the standoff, there
have been calls for an inquiry in the case.
Last summer, Ms. VandenElsen urged Canadians to
demand a public probe - an investigation rejected by
the provincial government - into the neighbourhood
episode that made headlines across the country and
prompted letters to the editor of this and other
newspapers.
"Let us all ask ourselves what we would have done
if we had been confronted with the same situation," a
Halifax woman wrote this newspaper in July. "Just
being awakened in the middle of the night is
terrifying enough, without the purpose and the episode
that followed."
The siege was also punctuated by unorthodox
behaviour by Mr. Finck and Ms. VandenElsen. Police
never fired a shot but used a robot to make deliveries
to the house.
The couple's contempt for the child-protection and
justice systems was front and centre in the form of a
sign Mr. Finck placed outside a window. It said All
to Hide the Criminal Abuse of Children by Lawyers.
Theresa Brien, a spokeswoman for regional police,
said recently the department doesn't "have any reason
to believe that we didn't follow proper procedure"
during the standoff.
"However, we do conduct an operational review of .
. . major incidents, and this would be included in
that," she acknowledged.
Ms. Brien said the internal review is ongoing but
she couldn't say when it would be finished.
She said operational reviews are done to examine
police conduct and learn potential lessons from a
particular incident.
Though some Shirley Street residents praised the
actions of police, others who followed the event in
news reports felt the department mishandled the
situation.
"This confrontation surely underscores the need for
a searching public debate to examine policies
governing the creation and use of militarized police
emergency response teams," a Kings County man said a
year ago in a letter to this newspaper.
He said such public scrutiny would ensure
deployment of emergency response teams "is consistent
with fundamental principles of restraint and
proportionality in the use of force."
At trial in Halifax, Ms. VandenElsen was described
as a protective, loving mother. Court heard her
lawyer at the time, Burnley (Rocky) Jones, stop short
of saying her cause justified her means.
"It always boils down to the fact that she has this
undying deep love and connection to her children, and
because she has taken certain actions as a mother she
is now facing these serious criminal charges," he
said.
On May 12, Ms. VandenElsen and Mr. Finck were
convicted of several charges by a Nova Scotia Supreme
Court jury. The verdicts came after two days of
deliberations following a nine-week trial marked by
outbursts and accusations by the defendants.
Nova Scotia's child-welfare and family-services
staff deal with about 14,000 families in the province,
a government official said last May shortly after the
Shirley Street standoff ended.
Of those, some 700 cases a year appear before the
courts. About 30 cases involve a youngster being
taken into protective custody, the province has
said.
The Children and Family Services Act sets out 14
situations in which a child requires protection. But
the law stipulates that details of individual cases
are to be kept confidential which, critics have
charged, makes it difficult to know if the system is
working as it should, and who's to be held accountable
if it isn't.
Asked about the Finck/VandenElsen case, a
spokeswoman with the Community Services Department
declined comment.
"This matter is actually still before the courts,
on appeal, and because of that fact . . . we're not
really able to provide any further information," Terri
Green said recently.
Mr. Thompson didn't want to comment on the
child-welfare system in the context of the Halifax
standoff because, he said, it is so unique.
"It's like talking about a moon that comes through
the solar system once every so many hundred
years."
He said the case "tells us nothing at the moment.
In terms of the broader system and the day-to-day
parents that I've represented and other people
represent, . . . it tells us nothing about
that."
Speaking about provincial legislation, Mr.
Thompson said child-protection laws are "a kind of a
check" on resources and "the approach" of social
workers in the field.
"Legislation isn't what drives the system," he said
in an interview. "What drives the system is resources
and the approach of child-welfare authorities - the
resources they have available to them to do their job,
and the general social-work culture and approach in
child protection."
Mr. Thompson said in general, "there's not been a
demand for massive changes in (child-welfare law) in
Nova Scotia at this point."
What's important, he said, is "that on a day-to-day
basis what matters is the . . . services available
to parents. The statute is not that helpful in that
subject."
On May 13, Mr. Finck served notice he wanted their
convictions stayed, claiming he and his wife were
entrapped by police, but Justice Robert Wright ruled
against his motion.
Court documents filed three days later confirmed
what many observers predicted would be the next
chapter in the saga - the couple are appealing their
convictions.
Commentary:
An inquiry into the case of Carline VandenElsen and
Larry Finck must be avoided at all costs. If held, it
would have to reveal the contents of the complaint
leading to the warrant to apprehend the baby. They are
frivolous, or we would have seen them by now.
Rollie Thompson is quoted as saying: "It's like
talking about a moon that comes through the solar system
once every so many hundred years".
Oh? Just in Dufferin county, with only 50000 people,
social workers enter a new home on a weekly basis, and
always do so with one or more armed policemen as escort.
It's hard to believe it happens in Nova Scotia, with
nearly a million people, only once in centuries.
Every day Carline VandenElsen and Larry Finck are
incarcerated and separated from their baby, the Province
of Nova Scotia is adding to its atrocity. Carline
VandenElsen's demise at the end of her hunger strike
would relieve the child protectors in Nova Scotia, since
it would end their continuing atrocity.
The police are conducting an operational review of
the siege. Here are some suggestions:
- Rifles with telescopic gunsights would enable police
snipers to bring down mothers with between-the-eyes
shots. FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi killed Vicki
Weaver with a headshot while she was holding her
ten-month-old baby.
- A police tank would shield police from gunshots
originating inside the home as well as simplifying the
problem of breaking into a home. The FBI used tanks to
halt child abuse in Waco Texas at a loss of only 74
lives.
- The drug Depo-Provera is administered to sex-offenders
to achieve chemical castration. Medical technology
could produce a pill to give mothers at childbirth
dulling their urge to care for their children, and
eliminating the need for more standoffs.
These improvements will bring Canada up to the
state-of-the-art in child protection.
Letter from Children's Aid
May 21, 2005
The most revealing statements come not from critics,
but from Children's Aid itself. Here is the Executive
Director of Peel Children's Aid suggesting that it is
improper for a father to publish information about his
own family. The letter below contains several instances
of "withheld to maintain confidentiality". These
phrases are in the original CAS letter, not editing
changes by Dufferin VOCA. CAS refuses to provide the
names of family members to their own father.
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PEEL CHILDREN'S AID
PROTECTING CHILDREN AND
SUPPORTING FAMILIES
May 5, 2005
Mr. Karol Karolak
5530 Glen Erin Drive
Apt. #110
Mississauga, Ontario
L5M 6E8
Dear Mr. Karolak:
I am writing to you to address an issue that has
come to my attention. I have recently learned that
you have circulated confidential correspondence
regarding the various complaints processes that you
are currently involved in to individuals not involved
in the complaint processes. The correspondence
identifies members of your family and other
individuals who have been involved with your family in
a professional capacity, some of whom are not subject
to or involved with the current complaints
processes.
Peel Children's Aid recognizes your right to
utilize the various complaint processes legally
available to you and in fact, we have engaged in
several processes to provide you with due process in
this area. These are outlined below:
In 2003, you filed a formal complaint with the
Society concerning the Society's handling of your
referral to the Society in 2002. The Society
investigated your complaint in accordance with its
four level internal complaint process, the final step
of which is a review by an Appeals Committee of the
Society's Board of Directors. The Board of Directors
through their appeals committee heard your complaint
and concluded that the Society had fulfilled its
mandate with respect to child welfare. This complaint
process did not identify any professional misconduct
by any staff involved with your referral.
The Society completed its internal complaints
process in October 2003 and advised you by letter of
November 14, 2003, of the conclusions of the Society's
complaint process. Also in this letter, the Society
advised you of your right to have the Society's Board
of director's decision reviewed by an independent
third party appointed by the Ministry of Children and
Youth Services (Section 68 CFSA Review).
You asked for and received the independent third
party review, which was carried out by Mr. T.
Giesbrecht, the Director appointed by the Ministry.
In his Report dated September 15, 2004, Mr.
Giesbrecht's review reached the following two
conclusions:
"The Society dealt with the provision of its
substantive services, namely the protection of the
welfare of (name withheld to maintain
confidentiality), adequately and on a timely basis.
Sufficient personnel and resources were deployed in a
timely manner to effectively and efficiently serve the
wellbeing of (name withheld to maintain
confidentiality) and (gender withheld to maintain
confidentiality) family. The Ministry of Children and
Youth Services requires Societies to provide a
standard of service at a high level and my describing
the Society's adherence to this high standard as
adequate is to confirm that the service provided to
(name withheld to maintain confidentiality) and the
Applicant and their family was of a high quality."
"I further find that the Society dealt with the
provision of its review services prusuant to Section
68 of the CFSA for dealing with complaints of persons
regarding services sought or received from society in
an adequate and timely manner in that the internal and
external review processes were provided in accordance
with the Ministry approved complaints process and
access to all levels of the complaint process were
made available to the Applicant in a timely
manner."
Mr. Giesbrecht specially notes the high standard
of service with which your referral was handled and he
did not identify any professional misconduct by any
staff involved with your referral or subsequent
complaint.
Our concern is that in accessing the various
complaint processes legally available to you, you have
gone beyond the necessary and acceptable steps of
engaging in a complaint process. You have released to
the public, without consent, the personal and private
information of your family members and the
professionals and organizations involved with your
family. This release of personal and private
information is damaging to the individuals involved
and further, is an invasion of their privacy. It is
not appropriate for you to share your compliants or
the personal and private information of others with
the general public. Mr Karolak, I am urging you to
engage in your complaints processes in a manner that
maintains the privacy and confidentiality of all
involved.
I trust you recognize your obligation to maintain
the privacy of the above-mentioned individuals and
will act accordingly in the future.
Yours truly,
/signed/
Paul Zarnke
Executive Director
Peel Children's Aid
6860 Century Avenue
West Tower
Mississauga ON
L9N 2W5
T 905 363 6131
F 905 363 6133
www.peelcas.org
Carline VandenElsen Reacts
May 20, 2005
Carline VandenElsen, convicted of crimes for her part
in a standoff with the police over custody of her baby
Mona-Clare, has responded with a press release.
André Lefebvre has established a Carline
VandenElsen blog, including events in the lives of
both parents well before the birth of Mona-Clare.
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PRESS RELEASE
Mona-Clare was a 5 month old, happy, healthy
nursing infant at the time she was seized by police in
Halifax after they attempted to break into her
grandmother’s home in the middle of the night with a
battering ram and machine gun.
Police claim they were enforcing an apprehension
order for the Children’s Aid Society of Halifax.
May 21st marks the 1st anniversary of the death of
79 year old Mona Mary Finck and the disappearance of
baby Mona-Clara.
Her parents Carline VandenElsen and Lawrence Finck
were recently convicted for abducting their baby and
face years of imprisonment for allegedly depriving
state authorities of her custody.
No one has explained the apprehension order or why
the Children’s Aid Society went after Mona-Clare
when she was yet a fetus.
VandenElsen will begin a “starving for the
children” campaign and will not eat until Premier
John Hamm and Justice Minister Michael Baker agree to
investigate the actions of police and child welfare
authorities, and the disappearance of her baby.
She urges the public to demand why hundreds of
millions of tax dollars have been expended to fell her
family. She feels no child, parent or family member
should suffer such intolerable pain , suffering and
exploitation.
VandenElsen and Finck believe that thousands of
children across Canada are being criminally abused by
state authorities and lawyers in a multi billion
dollar family law industry and it MUST STOP.
Carline VandenElsen
Mother
May 19, 2005
Addendum: On May 21 the Halifax Herald carried
a story on Carline VandenElsen's hunger strike.
Finck and VandenElsen Appeal
May 19, 2005
Larry Finck and Carline VandenElsen have appealed
their convictions to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
Refer to the standoff page for two news stories.
Long Knives for Adoption Reform
May 19, 2005
A bill is pending in the Ontario Legislature that
would allow natural parents and their adopted children
to reunite by seeing each other's records once the child
reaches the age of majority. This measure would
substantially limit the power of social service agencies
over their wards. The long knives are now coming out in
the form of press releases alluding to those rare cases
in which a parent can be harmed by reunification.
Following is one from the National Post.
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Suicide fears over plan to allow greater
access to adoption files
April Lindgren
CanWest News Service
Thursday, May 19, 2005
TORONTO - Elderly women are contemplating suicide,
fretting about ruined reputations and reliving
horrific rapes as a result of a proposed Ontario law
that would open adoption records to birth parents and
adult adoptees, the province's privacy commissioner
warned yesterday. "There are countless defenceless
individuals who have written to me, begging me to
speak for them and to allow them to preserve their
confidentiality," Ann Cavoukian told reporters before
presenting her concerns to a legislative committee
yesterday. The source of the angst is legislation
introduced earlier this year by the Ontario government
that would make the province's adoption disclosure
regime one of the most open in the world. If passed,
adoptees over the age of 18 will have the automatic
right to obtain copies of their original birth and
adoption records, including their original name and,
in many cases, the identities of their birth parents.
Similarly, one year after an adoptee reaches 18, birth
parents will have access to the adult child's birth
and adoption records, allowing them to know the
child's post-adoption name. To protect those who want
no reminders of the past, the proposed law will also
give both birth parents and adult adoptees the right
to put a "no-contact" notice in their files.
Hearings on Foster Drug Trials
May 18, 2005
A committee of the US Congress
today heard testimony related to the drug trials using
foster children. A witness and four panelists are
listed on the hearing page. All defended the existing
drug trial procedures, suggesting at most that more
advocates should be in place.
Through the courtesy of Leonard Henderson, we have
the submissions by the
Alliance for Human Research Protection to the
committee, not mentioned on the congressional website.
These submissions identify the actual drugs tested, and
the purposes of the trials. Mr Henderson comments:
Not a single invited witness remotely represents
the interest of the children who were targeted and
used as human guinea pigs to test experimental AIDS
drugs and vaccines!
Not a single invited witness represents the concern
of the African-American and Latino community whose
children were targeted.
Not a single invited witness represents any of the
child welfare agencies or research institutions that
are under federal investigation for their role in the
enrollment of these children.
Class Action in Ontario
May 17, 2005
The following text from the website of law-firm Roy
Elliott Kim O'Connor describes a step in the
lawsuit by Anne Larcade:
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Special Kids Class Action
On May 13, 2005, the Ontario Divisional Court
released its decision in the appeal of Larcade v.
Ontario and certified the lawsuit as a class
proceeding.
This lawsuit, launched on May 8, 2001, seeks
damages of $500 million for all families who have
suffered because the Ontario Government failed to meet
its legal obligation to provide services for severely
disabled children. These services were to have been
provided under Special Needs Agreements issued by the
Ministry of Community and Social Services, or through
local Children's Aid Societies.
Sometime in 1997, the Ontario Government
unilaterally stopped issuing Special Needs Agreements
and forced an unknown number of families to surrender
custody of their special needs children in order to
access life-saving services.
In June 2003, Justice Cullity of the Ontario
Superior Court of Justice, dismissed the application
for certification of this class action. The
Representative Plaintiff's appeal from Justice
Cullity's decision was heard by the Ontario Divisional
Court on March 29 and 30, 2005. On May 13, 2005, the
Divisional Court overturned Justice Cullity's decision
and certified the lawsuit as a class proceeding.
Further updates will be provided.
For further information on this class action,
please e-mail your enquiries to info@reko.ca, or
contact our offices at (416) 362-1989.
Douglas Elliott, President of the International Lesbian and Gay
Law Association, was the lawyer representing the
Metropolitan Community Church of Ontario in the court
case that legalized same-sex marriage in Ontario. This
kind of lawsuit is a way to get law enacted directly by
the courts, bypassing the legislature. The Larcade suit
may be in the same category. If successful, it will
open a large additional source of funding for a group of
disabled children. Who can administer this money other
than the Ministry for Children and Youth Services
through its subsidiaries, the Children's Aid Societies?
Mr Elliott is seeking to increase their power at the
expense of families.
Chartier Charged
May 17, 2005
The mother returned from Sweden for fleeing with her
children has now been charged with a crime, and her
children have been returned to Canada, where they face a
future mired permanently in the care of hired hands.
Motherhood is a criminal offense in Canada. This report
is by radio station CFRA in Ottawa.
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Missing Kids Return Home - Mother Charged
Josh Pringle
Monday, May 16, 2005
An Ottawa woman and her four children are back in
the Capital after a worldwide search by Ottawa
Police.
35-year-old Marie Emilie Chartier was wanted after
allegedly abducting her four children in March and
fleeing to Sweden.
Chartier was escorted back to Canada by Swedish
authorities on Friday. Her children arrived back in
the Capital on Sunday.
Police say the children are "happy, healthy and
tired."
Chartier has been charged with abduction and breach
of probation.
The world search began in March when the four
children were allegedly taken from their grandmothers
home.
The search led investigators to Sweden.
Larry Finck Speaks
May 15, 2005
Canada Court Watch posted this interview with Larry Finck
(mp3) made after his conviction.
Chartier Back in Canada
May 15, 2005
A woman who fled Canada with her children in March
is back in Canada. The news is sketchy on details of
how she was returned, but it likely was in handcuffs.
Here is the bulletin from CFRA in Ottawa:
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Mother Accused of Kidnapping Children Back
in Canada
Josh Pringle
Sunday, May 15, 2005
An Ottawa mother accused of kidnapping her four
children and taking them to Sweden is back in the
Capital.
The Foreign Affairs Department says Marie-Emilie
Chartier was returned on Friday to Canadian
authorities.
Ottawa Police will not confirm whether Chartier is
in custody.
Foreign Affairs says the four children will be
arriving back in Canada later this week.
Addendum: Here is a comment on the case, also
dated May 15, 2005:
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The Ottawa Citizen wrote about this story, and the
fact of the matter is that this mother had her kids
under the CAS authority for an unknown reason,
although it is stated that she was NOT abusive to her
kids. The article went on to suggest that she was
fleeing an abusive ex-husband and that the kids were
under the CAS authority at her mother's, (the kids
grandmother's) house.
As executive Director of the Foster Care Council of
Canada, I would like to make it known that the mother
was merely protecting her children from the threats of
her husband, and is not a criminal. I suspect that
the mother of the four children, who is a former
teacher, knows very well the authority and power of
the CAS, and had reason to believe that her ability to
maintain contact with her children was being
threatened by the CAS and she fled.
As a non-abusive mother, she needs as much support
as possible, to maintain the ties between her children
and herself, not be charged with a criminal offense
for being a loving mother.
Please forward this message on to whom ever you
can, and contact the Ottawa Children's Aid Society to
demand that this mother maintain contact with her
children no matter what. This woman should not be
punished.
You can email the Ottawa CAS or phone them at the
information below: fclost@casott.on.ca
1-613-747-7800 (Ask For Executive Director)
Fax: 1-613-747-4540
You can also contact the Minister of Children and
Youth Services to ask her if this mother deserves to
lose contact with her children for trying to protect
them. Please send us the response if you get one from
the Ministry.
Minister of Children and Youth Services:
mbountrogianni.mpp@liberal.ola.org
John Dunn
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://web.ncf.ca/fe281/
Police Surround Family
May 13, 2005
For followers of Children's Aid, the following case is
nothing unusual. The family reports that they are still
together, and have not been served with legal process, so it
is legal to report the full story with names.
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| From: |
"Patricia Ellis"
<Patricia.Ellis@rogers.com> |
| To: |
"CANADA COURT WATCH / JUSTICE NEWS"
<justicenews@canadacourtwatch.com> |
| Date: |
Wed, 11 May 2005 21:51:26 -0400 |
| Subject: |
[justicenews] CAS or Nazi SS |
Would you report on our story?
We are a family that has been continuously persecuted
by the CAS with the help of the armed Waterloo Regional
Police Service.
On April 25, 2005 we requested that Superintendent
Kevin Chalk of the Waterloo Regional Police Service and
President of the CAS Board of Directors assist us with a
meeting with the Board to discus the cowardice crimes
(fraud, forgery, perjury, coercion of a child, destruction
of evidence and kidnapping) committed against us.
On May 3, 2005 our home was surrounded by 3 armed
police and a CAS officer. The road was blocked-off and
they entered our home to question Aneurin over an
accidental fingernail scratch on our sons head. We have
no criminal record, no criminal charges, no mental
illness, no alcohol or drug addictions, and neither of us
smoke tobacco or marijuana. It would appear that our only
crime is that we are black, with children and choose to
protect them from the criminal CAS.
We believe that a lot of people in our great country
are starting to see a likeness between the CAS and the
Nazi SS of the 1930's.
Aneurin & Patricia Ellis we live in Canada our
Phone number is 519 569 8693
Halifax Standoff Couple Convicted
May 12, 2005
This evening in Halifax Carline VandenElsen and Larry
Finck were convicted of most of the charges against
them. They both face substantial jail time as a
result.
On May 19, 2004 police appeared at their home to take
their baby daughter Mona-Clare. Ordinarily, when
falsely accused by the police, the correct action is to
cooperate with the police, then prove your innocence
when the matter comes before a court. But in the
Halifax case, the parents had previously lost four
children through the family court system, all without
ever having been accused of causing harm to their
children. They knew from experience that there was no
relief to be had in the courts. So what are parents to
do when the police come for their children? Meekly give
up their children? Shoot back at the police? There
is no correct course of action for Canadian families,
and will not be until family courts halt the practice
of removing children without cause.
For more, read two
dozen news articles about the trial.
Ombudsman Issues Report
May 12, 2005
Ontario Ombudsman André Marin issued
a preliminary 42 page report to Minister of Children
and Youth Services Marie Bountrogianni on whether
parents of disabled children are being forced to
relinquish custody. The report is confidential.
Congress to Investigate Drug Tests
May 12, 2005
Yesterday a committee of the US House of Representatives
annnounced hearings on the use of foster children for drug
tests. Following is part of the press release:
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ADVISORY
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2005
No. HR-2
CONTACT: (202) 225-1025
Herger Announces Hearing on Protections for Foster
Children Enrolled in Clinical Trials
Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA), Chairman,
Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on
Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee
will hold a hearing on protections for foster children
enrolled in clinical trials. The hearing will take
place on Wednesday, May 18, 2005, in room B-318
Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 2:00
p.m.
In view of the limited time available to hear
witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from
invited witnesses only. Invited witnesses will
include experts familiar with issues related to the
enrollment of foster children in clinical trials.
However, any individual or organization not scheduled
for an oral appearance may submit a written statement
for consideration by the Subcommittee for inclusion in
the printed record of the hearing.
(material skipped)
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Wally Herger
said: "This hearing will explore issues surrounding
the placement of foster children in clinical drug
trials, including under what conditions participation
is permitted. We are concerned about recent
allegations involving the enrollment of foster
children in such trials. This hearing will help us
assess whether there is any substance to these
allegations and if so, what response is
appropriate."
Power Grab
May 12, 2005
The problems of CAS having too much power over
families are to be solved by giving CAS more power. To
understand Marie Bontrogianni's letter to the Toronto
Star, note that "making more services available" means
more funding for Children's Aid, "supports" in social
worker jargon are people who coax, or coerce, others,
and "special needs" means handicaps.
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May 12, 2005. 01:00 AM
More services now for special needs'
children
Province forsakes parents of disabled
Editorial, May 8.
Your recent editorial about children with special
needs identifies some of the complexities in this
difficult issue. I take issue, however, with your
suggestion that our government has "failed to address"
it.
The solution to the problem lies in making more
services available to families of children with
special needs, so that they can access the supports
they need in their communities. And while it is true
that the previous government failed to invest in
children, our government boosted spending on children
with special needs by $74 million in just our first
year -- an increase of 15 per cent in a single
year.
One important area of investment is children's
mental health, which received $25 million last year --
the largest investment it has received in more than a
decade -- and will increase again by a further $13
million this year.
A second investment is in children's treatment
centres, which provide physical rehabilitation for
children with physical and developmental disabilities.
In addition to an operating increase, we committed
funds to build two new centres in regions that didn't
have one and expand four other centres. These
investments won't solve the whole problem. But the
reality is there are more services for children with
special needs today than there were a year ago, and
there will be more next year than there are today. We
will continue to build a system that meets the needs
of children and families.
Marie Bountrogianni,
Minister of Children and Youth Services,
Toronto
Bountrogianni Expands Children's
Services
May 11, 2005
Marie Bountrogianni has found another $270 million to use
to further strengthen the hand of social service agencies at
the expense of families. Here are her remarks to the
provincial legislature yesterday:
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CHILDREN'S SERVICES
Hon. Marie Bountrogianni (Minister of Children and
Youth Services, Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration): I'm pleased to rise in the House today
to inform members of the historic commitment we are
making in partnership with the federal government to
help Ontario children and families.
I was honoured to host Prime Minister Martin and
Social Development Minister Ken Dryden on Friday at
the St. Marguerite d'Youville Children's Centre in
Hamilton. Together, we signed an unprecedented
agreement in principle for the early learning and care
of Ontario's children, a commitment founded on the
principles of quality, universal inclusiveness,
accessibility and development. These four principles
reflect values that are shared not only with the
federal government but with every provincial and
territorial government from coast to coast, and they
are shared by child care workers and advocates,
children's health professionals and parents.
In Ontario, these principles are the cornerstones
of our Best Start plan. At its core, Best Start is a
massive expansion of child care and early learning.
That means making more quality, regulated child care
spaces available to more families and providing more
subsidies so that more families can access those
spaces. But it's much more than that. Best Start
also includes vital services that help children
develop and arrive at school ready to learn: infant
screening, hearing programs, speech and language
therapy and many other services that support early
childhood development. All of these services,
including child care, will be available in community
hubs in schools so it's easy for parents to take
advantage of them.
In the past year, we've already created 4,000 new
subsidized spaces and we're moving forward
aggressively to provide more quality child care spaces
for more Ontario families. Quality, affordable early
learning and child care helps prepare our young people
to arrive at school ready to learn, thrive and
excel.
We are pleased that the federal government is
providing Ontario with approximately $270 million this
year to help build a national early learning and care
program. That is in addition to the approximately
$570 million that is already provided for child care
in Ontario. These are important investments:
investments that pay dividends for decades as children
grow into productive contributors to Ontario's
economy; investments in families whose parents can
work outside the home knowing their children are in a
quality child care program.
Together, we are creating a seamless system of
services for young families and, together, we will see
the results: more quality, affordable child care,
more parents able to balance the demands of work and
family, and more children getting the best possible
start in life.
As I looked around that child care centre on
Friday, I saw a lot of happy people who have been
working on behalf of children for decades. We
committed to them that we would work with our partners
to deliver a quality, affordable child care program,
and that's what we're doing. But the most important
commitment is to the thousands of children in Ontario.
To them, we are providing a lifelong gift of learning
and care. They deserve nothing less.
Press Skeptical of Bountrogianni
May 11, 2005
The Windsor Star today questions the actions of Marie
Bountrogianni in the matter of disabled children. They
suggest she was untruthful when claiming that she only
recently heard of the problem, and that in spite of her
public statements, parents are still required to give up
custody to get treatment for their children. Reissuing
a directive that failed in the past can only fail again
in the future. Mrs Bountrogianni worked closely with
the child protection system before entering government,
and may have assimilated the habit of deception endemic
in that trade.
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Ailing kids' parents doubt CAS
directive
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Minister of Children and Youth Services Marie
Bountrogianni ought to have known more than a year ago
that parents of severely disabled children were
essentially being forced to relinquish custodial
rights in order to get the services they required, say
some local parents.
"I have contacted Marie Bountrogianni's office,"
said Jennifer Bray, who recently signed a temporary
care agreement with the Children's Aid Society for her
mentally disabled son.
"People in her office have corresponded with me.
This has gone on for a year and a half that I have
corresponded with the ministry."
The issue gained public attention April 25 when new
Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin looked into claims that
parents of severely disabled children cannot access
the services their kids need and therefore feel they
have no choice but to sign away custodial rights to
the Children's Aid Society.
Bountrogianni says she learned of the problem about
two months ago.
"Although the issue had been raised before, it's
come to her attention more recently that the scope of
the problem is greater than anyone initially
realized," Bountrogianni's press secretary Andrew Weir
said Tuesday.
"That's why she responded urgently with a strategy
in the regions to develop specific plans to meet the
needs of those children and their families."
REISSUED DIRECTIVE
Even before Bountrogianni's ministry finishes its
own investigation, she has reissued a directive for
children's aid societies not to require parents to
give up custody rights of their children if they don't
require protection.
But Bray says once parents say they can't cope
anymore -- because residential services aren't readily
available -- the CAS automatically considers it a
potential child protection case.
"All kids with special needs require protection,"
Bray said. "It's the way that they word it. The CAS
is doing a very good job helping me out, but I just
don't like that I have to sign away my rights to
receive help."
Dolores Sicheri, a founding member of anti-CAS
protest group Citizens for Social Morality, believes
Bountrogianni's directive is toothless because it has
been issued before by this government and the previous
government.
One woman, who did not wish to identify her
developmentally disabled teenage sons, said she will
have to relinquish custody to the CAS so they can
continue living in a group treatment home. She said
she thinks the government should change the law and
reinstate guardianship to parents where there is no
protection issue.
"But I'm two weeks away from having to sign away my
parental rights permanently, so I don't know if
anything will happen in time.
"It's not fair. I haven't done anything wrong.
Signing away custody is heartbreaking."
Bountrogianni Wants to Help Parents
of Disabled Kids
May 9, 2005
In the continuing scandal of parents forced to relinquish
custody of disabled children to get specialized care,
Minister of Children and Youth Services Marie Bountrogianni
has denounced the policy, and declared her intention to
eliminate the practice, re-issuing a directive to that
end.
As long as her statements are genuine, and the directives
are in place as she stated, this should cure the problem for
now, since Children's Aid Societies are unlikely to defy an
order from the minister. But her directives did not address
one of the most serious problems, the funding. Children's
Aid gets funding from the province for each child-day of
foster care. Under ordinary circumstances, they get $71 per
child day, and give the foster parents $27, leaving $44 per
day to fund their own operations. That comes to over a
quarter million dollars for a baby or toddler held until age
of majority. For children classified as special needs, the
numbers get bigger. For an insight into how much bigger,
Gary Putman, Executive Director of Dufferin Children's Aid,
told the Orangeville Banner on March 30, 2004 that care for
what he described as "needy" children cost $210 per day. It
was not clear from the article whether that was his net or
gross, but either way a young needy child is good for over a
million dollars for Mr Putman's agency.
Mrs Bountrogianni does not say what the funding
formula will be for disabled children who receive
services without loss of custody. Will the Children's
Aid Society still get its megabucks? If so, someone is
bound to ask: "What for?". Why should Children's Aid
get paid for doing nothing while a parent arranges
services from a residential care facility? But if
Children's Aid does not get the megabucks, will the
money go to the parents? Not likely. If properly
implemented, residential care for parents retaining
custody should be a lot cheaper than the current
arrangement.
Toward the end of the Windsor Star article below, Mrs
Bountrogianni announces her intention to provide more
money for children's services. But it is precisely the
large amount of money provided to Children's Aid that
drives them to seek custody of children, and will
continue to do so once the public spotlight is off this
issue, and they can return to business as usual.
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Parents of disabled kids win
support
Minister reissues order to CAS
Craig Pearson
Windsor Star
May 9, 2005
Children's Aid Societies in Ontario should not
force parents to sign away custodial rights in order
to get residential treatment for their severely
disabled children -- which some parents say is
happening -- the children's minister says.
"The children's aid societies are there for
protection," Children and Youth Services Minister
Marie Bountrogianni said in a phone interview. "They
are not there to take parental rights away from
parents of severely disabled children."
New Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin last week
announced that his first investigation will look into
complaints from parents who claim they were
essentially forced to permanently relinquish
guardianship of their children to the CAS in order to
get the services they require.
Bountrogianni said she welcomes the review by the
Ombudsman, who monitors government agencies, but says
even before her ministry finishes its own
investigation she has re-issued a directive for
children's aid societies not to require parents to
give up custody rights of their children if they do
not require protection.
"I understand it is happening in Windsor so I want
to rectify that immediately," Bountrogianni said
Friday. "I've given a re-directive to children's aid
societies not to take parental rights away, that if
there is no protection issue and a very seriously
disabled child comes to their attention they should
get together with community agencies -- as they do in
Hamilton -- to find help for that child.
"There are some parts of the province that do that
better than other parts of the province."
Jennifer Bray complained recently when she was
forced to give up custody of her 11-year-old mentally
disabled son Wesley.
She'd called an ambulance to stop him from wildly
kicking her in her vehicle.
He lived in a facility in London but when he was
released she had not choice but to sign away
guardianship for one year in order to get help, she
said.
For the care to continue after a year, Bray was
told she'd have to give up guardianship permanently
"To take custody as a parent away -- I don't
understand that," she said last month. "I fell
violated."
Bill Bevan, executive director of the Windsor-Essex
Children's Aid Society, said no children come into
care locally without at least some concern about
protection.
"By the time they get to the children's aid
society, they're saying 'I cannot cope,'" Bevan said.
"When you get to the point where you're not coping
well and you feel so stressed that you're not able to
manage this child with such behaviours, that puts the
child at risk."
Nevertheless, Bevan estimates his agency handles
about two cases a year in which -- if funding and
services were more readily available -- parents could
have avoided dealing with the CAS.
About four years ago, Bevan said, children's aid
societies could enter into special-needs agreements
with parents, providing residential service for
severely disabled children without changing custody --
a system he considers beneficial.
Bountrogianni said some children's aid societies
still manage to help seriously challenged children
without taking away parental rights. But the Hamilton
MPP acknowledged that differing intervention could be
a function of how many services are available in
various communities.
"What happens here in Hamilton when children with
severe disabilities are brought to the attention of
the CAS is they immediately have emergency meetings
with all community agencies and try to find placements
for the children," she said. "They don't take the
kids away. They find help for them."
Bountrogianni said that when she found out about
two months ago that parents were relinquishing custody
of their children in order to get help, she was "quite
upset."
She wants to do two things to ensure this situation
does not continue. She wants to channel more money to
children's mental health and other services. Her
government announced in its first budget last year
that it would increase funding in that area by 15 per
cent, or $74 million -- the first increase in 12 years
-- though she says more is needed.
Bountrogianni also said she wants to make a policy
change, including changing the law if necessary, but
wants more information first.
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ...
May 6, 2005
The two pretexts for family courts to break up families
are child protection and divorce. The latter affects a
larger number of children. Fathers-4-Justice in the United
Kingdom has engaged in a series of high-profile stunts over
the last two years that have placed family law on the
political agenda.
Now a similar campaign in under way in Canada. On
December 1, 2004 two F4J members dressed as Batman and
Wonderwoman climbed the facade of the University Club in
Toronto, where the Family Law Bar was gathering for its
annual Christmas Meeting. The demonstrators were arrested
and charged.
Today the pair appeared in court in Old City Hall in
Toronto. To draw attention to the occasion, a demonstrator
dressed as Superman climbed scaffolding near the courtroom.
Other events by F4J Canada occurred the same day in Montreal
and Yellowknife. Following is one of the many news stories
on the incident.
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Friday, May6, 2005
Look Up In The Sky...
Many young children consider their fathers to be
superheroes and on Friday some dads displayed their
alter egos at old City Hall.
Superman
|
People strolling along Queen Street may have spotted
Superman perched in scaffolding outside the courthouses -
Batman and Wonder Woman were also close by. The caped
crusaders from the organization Fathers 4 Justice staged a
protest to fight for the rights of divorced dads and
demanded changes to the judicial system so they can have
equal access to their children.
Brad Mastin, who has one son, was dressed as the Man of
Steel and gave a voice to some of the frustrations fathers
across the country are feeling.
"We're good enough to be a father 365 days a year, but
as soon as we split up with our ex-spouses we don't get to
see our kids anymore," he said. "In the beginning I got
to see my child for five years and now it's been three
years, over three years that I've seen my son."
Distressed dads in Britain have organized similar
protests. In 2004 one father, dressed as Batman, dodged
tight security and made his way up to a balcony at
Buckingham Palace to make his opinion known.
Mastin climbed the scaffolding and hung a sign that
read "Fighting for your right to see your kids." Police
eventually talked the man down from the platform.
"It's parental alienation," Mastin explained. "It
happens all over the country, all over the world, and we
just want to see our sons and daughters and be part of
their lives."
Anne's Brother Speaks
May 6, 2005
In the continuing case of the 13-year-old girl Anne hiding from
Children's Aid, her brother has written a letter to caseworker
Stephen Rainey. He reveals that CAS has ordered
Anne's mother to prevent contact between Anne's younger
sister and the rest of her family.
More Experiments on Foster Kids
May 4, 2005
The Associated Press has approached ten states with
questions about their policy on using foster children
as experimental subjects in medical tests. Besides
New York, six more states reported at least some use
of foster children. No Canadian news agency
has so far asked the same kind of questions. Is there
any chance of this scandal spreading to Canada?
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How Some States Handle Child AIDS Testing
The Associated Press Wednesday, May 4,
2005; 2:14 PM
-- What researchers, state officials and foster
care agencies in various states told The Associated
Press about the use of foster children in AIDS drug
experiments.
CALIFORNIA: No foster child can legally
participate in clinical trials without an order of the
state juvenile court. A spot check of several
counties said they could not locate any records or
officials who could recall ever approving a foster
child for an AIDS drug trial.
COLORADO: Carol Salbenblatt, a nurse who recruits
children for studies at Children's Hospital in Denver,
said there have been very few permanently placed
foster children enrolled in studies. "I would say
very few foster children have been enrolled and only
under very stringent guidelines," she said.
ILLINOIS: At least 193 foster children have been
enrolled in nearly four dozen pediatric AIDS clinical
trials since the late 1980s, including more than two
dozen currently participating, according to records
released under a state open records request. None are
believed to have been appointed advocates.
LOUISIANA: Tulane University said four foster
children have been enrolled in pediatric AIDS trials
since 1992, and each time a judge was asked to
approve. Nanette Russell White, a spokeswoman for the
state foster agency, said three years ago a
16-year-old from Thibodeaux, south of New Orleans,
participated in a drug trial after getting "huge
amounts of information" on "possible risk or harm.
The child didn't suffer adverse effects, she said.
MARYLAND: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore
says some patients who have participated in AIDS
clinical trials are foster children, but declined to
provide exact numbers. The university does not
believe it needs to provide advocates for the children
under its interpretation of federal regulations.
"Johns Hopkins believes that the opportunity to
participate in the PACTG trials should be made widely
available and not be denied to children because they
are in foster care," spokeswoman Staci Vernick
Goldberg said.
NEW YORK: At least 465 New York City foster
children were enrolled in AIDS studies dating to the
late 1980s. Though city policy required the
appointment of advocates, city officials could only
find records that 142 got them. The city has asked an
outside firm to investigate and also is revising its
policy on the use of foster kids in medical
experiments.
NORTH CAROLINA: Dr. Ross McKinney, a pediatric
AIDS expert at Duke University, said a small number of
foster children were enrolled in his studies, mostly
during the late 1980s before better treatments were
available in the marketplace. He said he always got
permission from the state guardian for the foster
children and tried to reach the biological parents as
well because "it was their child first and foremost,
and in most cases foster care was temporary and the
children would return to their parents."
TEXAS: State and county officials couldn't locate
records about foster children used in AIDS studies,
but Dr. Mark Kline, a pediatric AIDS expert at Baylor
College of Medicine, said some of the children he
enrolled were in foster care, mostly from the Houston
area. Kline said he couldn't recall ever appointing
advocates for the children but took great care to make
certain families understood the risks and
benefits.
TENNESSEE: At least since 1990, state law has
generally prohibited the use of foster children in
medical experiments. "Specifically prohibited from
approval is any research that uses juveniles for
medical, pharmaceutical, or cosmetic experiments," the
latest state foster care rules adopted in 2000
state.
WISCONSIN: State officials said they wouldn't
consider medical experiments. "The Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services has
absolutely never allowed, nor would we even consider,
any clinical experiments with the children in our
foster care system. Our goal to make sure children
are nurtured in safe homes with strong families,"
spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said.
Addendum: There is more on this story. The
Associated press has another article titled Researchers Tested Drugs on Foster Kids. In case
the link dies, here is our local copy.
Family Prevented From Caring for
Daughter
May 4, 2005
The following story from CBC News reports that the
teenaged girl from British Columbia seeking alternative
medical treatment in the United States has been sent
back to British Columbia.
It appears from the story that the girl's health will
be better with her Canadian doctors than with the
alternative, and that is the only kind of case of
involuntary medical treatment that reaches the press.
These articles, containing snippets of privileged
information, can only come from the social services
system. In cases where the proposed treatment is
harmful to the patient, such as unnecessary psychotropic
drugs or confinement to a mental hospital, the press
remains silent, and no one in social services feeds them
with information. Even in the present case, the lack of
names makes it impossible to confirm the accuracy of the
story.
For the dangers inherent in involuntary care, refer
to an interview with Thomas Szasz on The
Therapeutic State, or a speech by Siv Westerberg, in which he shows that
the police state has been supplanted by what he calls
the socio-medical totalitarian state. The oppression is
not conducted by the army or the police, but by persons
the public initially thinks of as their friends:
doctors, therapists, teachers and social workers.
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Teen back in B.C. for cancer treatment
Last updated May 4 2005 08:38 AM PDT
CBC News
VANCOUVER - The Okanagan girl who has been
fighting to avoid blood transfusions as part of
chemotherapy treatment is back in hospital in
Vancouver, says a source in the B.C. Ministry of
Children and Families.
Doctors in B.C. have told the 14-year-old, who is
a Jehovah's Witness, that they need to have the option
of giving her blood transfusions while she's getting
chemotherapy treatments.
The teen and her family then fled to Ontario to
avoid that court order. But an Ontario judge ordered
her to be returned here.
Now under government guardianship, she was flown
back to Vancouver on Tuesday night. And the ministry
source says she is now at B.C. Childrens Hospital.
While Children and Families deputy minister Jeff
Berland will not confirm the girl's whereabouts, he
admits it will be a tough hurdle if the girl actually
does need a transfusion.
"It will be tricky, but it isn't the first time
these kinds of cases have happened in Canada. They
happen from time to time and doctors and social
workers have established ways of working through
them," he says.
Berland also says his officials and hospital staff
will work with the parents to try to restore
relationships that has been damaged by all the court
action.
"Our hope would be that we'll be able to work with
the parents and restore to them their rights and
responsibilities as soon as possible, " he says.
"It's not our intention to deprive the parents of
their role of planning for their daughter."
More on Foster Kids as Guinea Pigs
May 2, 2005
On a New York radio program Amy Goodman interviewed a
New York City councilman, a representative of the
Alliance for Human Research Protection and the
Commissioner of the Administration for Children's
Services (ACS).
The number of children used in the tests, initially
reported as 50, then 100, is now disclosed as over
465.
The law requires parental consent for this kind of
trial. But for children in ACS care, the legal rights
of "parent" vest in a bureaucrat. The bureaucrat is
sure to follow the orders of his superior in preference
to protecting his ward, so parental consent is a sham,
as is brought out in the interview.
ACS Commissioner John Mattingly lost credibility with
his answers. When asked for the true number of children
involved in the tests, he gave a 321 word politician's
answer without really shedding any new light on the
question. More than a year after the scandal broke in
the press, he was unable to name any of the
pharmaceutical companies involved, though the BBC
identified GlaxoSmithKline. He did not identify the
drug involved in the tests, or the scientists.
The program Democracy Now has a transcript of the
interview and a link to an audio "Segment" in real media
format.
Treatment Forced on Girl
May 2, 2005
Sad stories like this appear in the press from time
to time. A girl whose life might be saved by medical
technology refuses treatment because of her parents'
religious beliefs. Should we give her the treatment
anyway?
The powers that Children's Aid accumulates with these
heartbreaking stories are rarely used for life-saving
treatments. In day-to-day cases, they are used to force
children to take psychotropic drugs. The quoted story
contains information known only to Children's Aid, so
they must have fed it to the press.
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Cancer teen search slows
By ROB LAMBERTI, TORONTO SUN
The search for a cancer-stricken B.C. girl,
believed to be hiding among fellow Jehovah's Witnesses
in the Toronto area to avoid blood transfusions,
stalled yesterday as authorities prepared to go to
court.
Although Toronto Police aren't actively seeking the
14-year-old, expecting the issue to become a court
battle, an order of apprehension issued in B.C.
remains on police computers.
Late Saturday Judge Peter Jarvis of the Ontario
Superior Court held a hastily called hearing about the
girl.
Some cancer patients require transfusions because
chemotherapy inhibits the production of blood cells.
Doctors want the authority to give the girl a blood
transfusion if they determine she would die without
one.
"What we have here is a case whether a capable
person of any age can decide her treatment," said
Shane Brady, the family's lawyer.
Although Jehovah's Witnesses say blood transfusions
go against their beliefs, religion is not the primary
issue, Brady said.
The hearing is expected to resume at 10 a.m.
tomorrow in Superior Court in Toronto.
The court and police don't know where the teen, her
43-year-old dad and 41-year-old mom are, but Brady
said they will be at the hearing.
The hearing is to challenge an April 11 B.C.
Supreme Court ruling ordering the girl to undergo
blood transfusions.
B.C. courts ruled the girl is capable of making a
decision, but B.C. law requires that a person be 19
years or older before they are allowed to refuse
lifesaving medical treatment.
Brady denied that the family came to Ontario last
weekend to enter a more lenient judicial jurisdiction
that would override the B.C. rulings.
BETWEEN TREATMENTS
He said the teen is between chemotherapy treatments
and came to Toronto seeking a second opinion from the
Hospital for Sick Children and, if necessary, from a
U.S. hospital.
He refused to say if he knows where the family is
staying, but he said authorities in Ontario, such as
the Children's Aid Society, know her whereabouts.
The girl had surgery to the right leg to remove a
tumour.
Brady said the teen is seeking an alternative to
blood transfusions. He said reports that she needs
urgent transfusions were "grossly unfounded."
The teen, who usually covers her bald head with a
hat, is believed to be using crutches or a wheelchair.
An air ambulance to return her to B.C. is on standby,
sources said.
A Priest's Story
April 30, 2005
The Wall Street Journal has an article about a priest falsely accused of sexual molestation. The
motive for the accusations is to get settlement money
from the Catholic Church.
In the 1980's there was a wave of prosecutions of
daycare operators for ritual Satanic abuse of children
in their care. Notwithstanding the absurdity of the
accusations, hundreds of people were convicted and
jailed. In at least some cases, such as the Amirault
case, the convictions were supplemented by large
insurance payouts to compensate the purported victims.
The first journalist to write critically of the
prosecutions was Dorothy Rabinowitz. In an article in
Harper's, and later many articles in the Wall Street
Journal, she exposed the fallacious cases against Kelly
Michaels in New Jersey and the Amirault family in
Massachusetts. The tide turned, and over the next 13
years, all of the criminal convictions fell apart, and
the prisoners have been freed.
A decade later, large numbers of Catholic priests
were accused of sexual abuse. Many have been convicted
and are serving time, and the church has paid millions
of dollars in damages. Now the same Dorothy Rabinowitz
has written an article in the Wall Street Journal
questioning the truth of the allegations against one
convicted priest, Gordon MacRae. If this kind of
journalism spreads beyond the Wall Street Journal, we
may see more cases of falsely accused priests.
Today in the US and Canada, millions of families have
been broken up by family law in its two main forms,
divorce and child protection. So far no journalist of
the Rabinowitz caliber has seriously questioned the
actions of the family destruction industry. Maybe in
the future another series of articles exposing the sham
of child protection will open up the eyes of the public
at large to the atrocities now occurring daily.
In case this article disappears from the web, here is
our local copy, A
Priest's Story.
Anne's Father Reports
April 29, 2005
Canada Court Watch has posted a letter from Anne's
father (pdf) giving more details about his family's
ordeal. It suggests that lawyer billings in the case
are approaching a quarter million dollars, and that an
anonymous letter to his employer reported enough
damaging material from the CAS files to place his
continued employment in jeopardy. See also Anne's full story.
Government Response to Cameron Case
April 28, 2005
On March 21 the London Free Press reported on the case of Alex Glinka and Cynthia
Cameron, who were required to relinquish custody of
their son Jesse in order to get him needed residential
treatment. The case brought on much press coverage and
a discussion in the
Provincial Legislature.
The announcement by Ontario Ombudsman André
Marin on April 25 of a special investigation into the policy requiring parents to give up
custody in exchange for treatment was welcomed by
CAS reform groups -- for example, a letter by John Dunn (pdf).
Today the Globe and Mail printed an article that may
show the government's intention on this issue. With the
phrase "according to a copy of the directive obtained by
The Globe and Mail", the article surely is the product
of material supplied by the Ontario government. It
starts with the usual political tactic of blaming your
predecessor, John Baird. In short order, it suggests
that additional funding will solve the problem. Really?
In cases where Children's Aid offers to treat a child in
exchange for custody, they already have enough funding.
Maybe they need a policy change instead. Still, over
the next weeks or months, we can expect an announcement
of more funding for Children's Aid, further
strengthening their hand at the expense of parents.
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Ontario Tories cut funding for
disabled kids, paper shows
By KAREN HOWLETT Thursday, April 28, 2005
TORONTO -- The roots of a controversy dogging the
Ontario government over its treatment of severely
disabled children date back to 2001, when its
predecessors at Queen's Park pulled the plug on
funding for support services.
The Ministry of Community and Social Services sent
a directive to the province's children's aid societies
in January, 2001, ordering the agencies not to enter
into any new special-needs agreements with parents of
disabled children.
According to a copy of the directive obtained by
The Globe and Mail, the ministry said special needs
should be met by "other more appropriate community
service providers."
But local agencies did not have the resources to
provide support services, Children's Aid Society
officials and parents say. As a result, they said,
families were left to fend for themselves or sign away
custody of their children to a CAS in order to gain
access to support services.
"We obviously see it as a problem," John Liston,
executive director of the Children's Aid Society for
London and Middlesex, said yesterday. "If services
had been available, would they be on our doorstep? I
don't think so."
A video about the situation entitled An Act of
Desperation prepared by his office says it all, he
said. "A parent only does this out of desperation and
a sense that if they don't, the child will be worse
off."
Prior to the directive, the province helped
families who needed to put severely disabled children
in residential treatment without requiring the
families to give up custody.
The government was put on the defensive this week
after Ontario Ombudsman André Marin launched an
investigation into whether parents of children with
severe disabilities are being forced to give up
custody of a child to gain access to support
services.
He said his office has received complaints from
half a dozen families.
Minister of Children and Youth Services Marie
Bountrogianni said in an interview that the answer
lies not in reinstating the special-needs agreements
but by providing the funding to train and hire more
therapists so that disabled children don't have to
wait as long to receive help. She said the government
has already provided $200-million for children's
services in last year's budget.
John Baird, the former Progressive Conservative
minister who signed the directive, said it was never
the intention that parents would have to give up
custody of a child. The directive explicitly states
that "parents will not be forced to relinquish
custody" in order to access special needs.
When he learned in 2001 that parents were being
forced to do just that, he said he secured an extra
$28-million in government funding for services. "I
thought it was abhorrent," he said in an interview.
"I said, 'This practice will end immediately.' "
But the practice did not end, said the CAS's Mr.
Liston. Many parents are forced to go through the
anguish of walking into a courtroom and effectively
saying, "I'm abandoning my child," he said.
Tina Grignard of St. Thomas is one of the lucky
parents who narrowly escaped having to give up custody
of her 11-year-old son, Jordan, who has Down syndrome
and severe behavioural problems.
When she began looking for help, Ms. Grignard
said, everyone told her to go to the CAS. Jordan was
moved to a group home in Guelph a year ago, where he
is doing extremely well, she said. He was initially
placed under a temporary custody agreement with the
CAS. Three weeks before the CAS was to assume
permanent custody, and after she had made countless
phone calls and wrote numerous letters to provincial
government officials, funding came through, she
said.
Foster Children Used as Guinea Pigs
April 24, 2005
A scandal broke in New York on February 29, 2004 when
The New York Post published three articles by Douglas
Montero describing the use of foster children as guinea
pigs in drug tests. Wendy McElroy wrote a commentary for Fox News at
the time. In November 2004 the controversy was renewed
when the BBC broadcast a program New York's HIV Experiment based on the story
of foster mother Jacklyn Hoerger.
While this story lacked some essentials, such as the
name of the drug used, or the scientists in charge, it
was a damning account. Wendy McElroy published a second story.
Now the city agency is investigating. From the
story, it appears that a whitewash may be under way.
Here is a story from the New York Times:
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Private Firm to Investigate AIDS Charges
Against City
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: April 23, 2005
The city's Administration for Children's Services
has hired an outside research firm to investigate
allegations that the city inappropriately put foster
children into medical trials for AIDS drugs in the
1980's and 1990's and that foster parents who objected
to the trials lost custody of the children.
The agency also said it would form a panel of
national health care experts to review the findings of
the investigation, to be conducted by the Vera
Institute of Justice, a New York-based nonprofit
research group. The agency's commissioner, John B.
Mattingly, said he thought that children's services
had acted appropriately but that he has asked for the
outside investigation to allay concerns raised by some
reporters and by a minority advocacy group. Most of
the children in the trials were African-American or
Hispanic.
"We are taking this step because, while we believe
that the policies in place at the time reflected good
practice, we acknowledge the need for transparency in
all of our dealings with the public," Mr. Mattingly
said. "For us to be effective in our mission to
protect New York City's children, we must have a sense
of mutual trust with those families we seek to serve."
Accusations that the city had allowed babies in
foster care who were not perilously ill to be used in
medical testing of AIDS drugs were first reported in
The New York Post in 2004.
At the time, officials from the agency and from the
hospitals where the trials had taken place said they
had been legitimately conducted on only foster
children dying of AIDS who had no other medical
options at the time.
But when Mr. Mattingly took over as commissioner
last August, he decided to do an internal review of
agency records to be sure that no inappropriate trials
had been conducted.
Yesterday, he said that exhaustive reviews of
available records had produced no evidence that the
agency acted wrongly. The review by the agency staff,
he said, determined that about 465 children had taken
part in the trials between 1988 and 2001, with most
participating before current treatments for AIDS
became commonly available.
He said that according to the records only two
children were removed from foster parents who refused
to undergo the trials and that both of those children
had serious medical conditions that required
treatment.
But Vera Hassner Sharav, the president of the
Alliance for Human Research Protection, a
Manhattan-based medical watchdog group that has
pressed for a more thorough investigation, said that
the agency could not be relied upon to conduct a fair
investigation. She said that documents filed with the
federal government showed that many of the foster
children were only presumed to have AIDS. "It's a
hell of a thing to give a child toxic drugs when they
are only presumed to have AIDS," Ms. Sharav said.
Addendum: Wendy McElroy has another article
reacting to the announcement of the investigation by ACS, Transparency Crucial for Accountability.
Psychotropic Drugs Forced on
Children
April 23, 2005
The May/June 2005 issue of Mother Jones Magazine
contains an article showing how drug companies collude with
government agencies to force psychotropic drugs on
unwilling children.
Anne Pleads with Canadian
Tire
April 21, 2005
The girl Anne has found that Canadian Tire is funding
Children's Aid, and has written a letter to Canadian
Tire requesting them to cease their support.
Persons wishing to help Anne can leave a message for
the president of Canadian Tire toll-free at
1-800-387-8803. The email of the department of Canadian
Tire responsible for this function is
foundationforfamilies@cantire.com and they have a Canadian Tire Foundation for Families website.
Dr Dolores Sicheri joined Anne with her own letter to Canadian Tire President and
Board of Directors.
Here is the webpage of the York Region Children's Aid Society thanking Canadian
Tire. In case it changes in response to
controversy, we record its content on April 21, 2005
(without the embedded links):
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On September 30, 2004, Canadian Tire Associate
Dealers from across the Toronto Suburbs presented four
vans to the Children's Aid Societies of York, Peel,
Durham and Halton Regions through the Canadian Tire
Foundation for Families.
The total contribution of the three-year lease for
all four vehicles comes to nearly $90,000.
The Society is very fortunate to have such a
valuable partnership with Canadian Tire Foundation for
Families. The Foundation for Families objective is to
help families when they need it most. Throughout
recent years the Foundation for Families and York
Region CAS have worked closely together to provide our
children and families with the help and support they
need and deserve.
The van continues to be an invaluable component of
day-to-day service delivery. It has been used for a
variety of purposes, including the transportation of
children to recreational activities such as the CAS
annual Camp Chipmunk as well as other essential
services. The new van was also quite useful during
the holiday season to deliver toys, food and gifts for
the 28th Annual Christmas Program.
The donation celebrated the beginning of Child
Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month in October.
Chartier Wanted in Sweden
April 13, 2005
Marie-Emilie Chartier, who escaped from Canada with
her three children in March, has been refused permission
to stay in Sweden. Her current whereabouts are
unknown.
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CNEWS
Wed, April 13, 2005
Mom, kids seen in Sweden
Authorities miss chance to nab child abductees
By ANDREW SEYMOUR, Ottawa Sun
AN OTTAWA mom accused of abducting her four kids
has disappeared again after approaching immigration
officials in Sweden asking to remain in the European
country. Ottawa police said Marie-Emilie Chartier
approached Swedish officials on March 31 asking for
permission to remain in the country with her four
children, Marie Alexandre, 12, Michael, 8, Aniel, 6,
and Mariel Charlotte, 5.
Chartier, 35, is wanted by Ottawa police after
allegedly taking the children March 15 from their
grandmother's house and heading to Montreal, where she
boarded a flight to Amsterdam. She then continued on
to Stockholm.
Despite the fact Ottawa police sent out an Interpol
alert to 52 countries in the days after the alleged
abduction, Ottawa police Det. Gina Rosa said it
wasn't until after Swedish authorities started
processing her request that anyone realized she was
wanted in Canada.
By the time Swedish officials went to tell her her
application was rejected and take her into custody,
she had vanished again.
"The officials are in possession of her passports
and her expired airline tickets," Rosa said, adding a
Swedish inspector has now joined the case in hopes of
tracking Chartier down.
Even though she is now without her passport, Rosa
said Chartier can still travel by car, boat and train
to more than a dozen other Western European nations as
a result of the Schengen Cooperation, which allows
people to travel without passports among member
countries.
Rosa said Canadian authorities intend to ask that
Chartier, who is wanted on a Canada-wide arrest
warrant, be extradited back to Canada to face four
counts of abduction and a breach of probation.
If and when the children are found, Canadian
officials could face a lengthy legal battle to return
them home.
An application needs to be made under the Hague
Convention and that can only be done if she is found
in a country that abides by the international legal
agreement.
Police said it appears Chartier planned the trip
well in advance, securing passports for herself and
her children as well as contacting several travel
agents to arrange for plane tickets to Stockholm.
Rosa said police are still unsure how Chartier is
supporting herself or the children while in
Sweden.
andrew.seymour@ott.sunpub.com
Marie Bountrogianni Speaks
April 13, 2005
Minister of Children and Youth Services Marie Bountrogianni spoke to the University
of Toronto School of Social Work on March 30,
2005.
She proudly announced a massive expansion |