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Those drugs prescribed for your kids may become recreational drugs for social workers, or the source for drug sales.

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Portsmouth Herald

12-27-2005

Missing Ritalin leads to charges

By Beth LaMontagne blamontagne@seacoastonline.com

KITTERY, Maine - A Department of Health and Human Services employee has been charged with two felony counts of drug theft for allegedly taking Ritalin prescribed for an 8-year-old.

Kimberly S. Sawyer, 29, of 26 Prospect St., Westbrook, was summonsed on Dec. 2 by Kittery police after an investigation into allegations she had taken the drugs from the child's home, said Police Chief Ed Strong.

Sawyer, a DHHS case worker, was assigned to visit the child's home on a regular basis. The parents, whose name and address are not being released, noticed that after Sawyer's visits, portions of the child's Ritalin prescription were missing, said Strong.

The parents took matters into their own hands and set a trap for Sawyer on Dec. 2, the date of her next scheduled visit.

"The family themselves had put a hidden camera in and caught her on film taking the drugs," said Strong.

The parents notified police. Officer Don Truax investigated the allegations and charged Sawyer with the Class C felony later that day.

Sawyer is scheduled to appear in York District Court on Feb. 9, 2006. If convicted, she could face up to five years in prison for each charge.

Source: website of Portsmouth Herald

This article by Anne Marsden suggests that authorities brushed off warnings of abuses at Fonthill, site of the David S Horne home that housed the killer of Matthew Reid until less than a day before his murder.

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"WHAT HE SHUTS NO-ONE CAN OPEN"

By Anne Marsden

The above title, a scripture found in Revelations 3 vs. 7 in the NIV Holy Bible, was first given to me by a member of my church family who sought to comfort me after one of my sons had been abducted (that's what we believe it was) by the Halton Children's Aid Society and placed in a group home in Fonthill. It did not bring much comfort at the time but my husband and I have now begun to understand why the Lord sometimes shuts doors when no human understanding could possibly establish why? Our experience saw us enter a ministry which recently saw the release of a 3 year old Brantford girl from a very similar situation in less than a week. She is one of many children now reunited with the parents they should never have been taken from because of our experience.

My bible notes Friday, December 16, 2005 was the 13th anniversary of the door opening at the Fonthill group home after nine months of sheer misery for our son and the rest of the family. During his incarceration, we got to know a beautiful teenage girl who the family believed was being severely abused by the home foster parents. We reported the abuse to the Halton CAS, the Child and Family Advocacy Office, MPP Peter Kormos when we managed to speak to him personally on the telephone, and others. We also attempted to adopt her to get her out of the situation but "what He shuts no-one can open". We could not have possibly known that on Friday, December 16, 2005 we would see the same group home in Fonthill where the door was opened for us 13 years to the very day, on CH News. But that's exactly what happened. A fourteen year old girl was a resident there and within a short time of her release to a foster home, a three year old foster child resident was found murdered and the 14 year old girl charged in the murder. Perhaps if there is an inquest we can give evidence related to the abuse we know happened behind those Fonthill Group home doors to a girl of similar age as the one charged with murder, and no-one, including MPP Peter Kormos, would listen.

In 1999 we were faced with closed doors that again took us nine months to open, this time at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital and the family member was my mother. Christmas and her 80th birthday she spent isolated from her family. Family, including our son who knew what incarceration and isolation was, and friends were escorted out of OTMH by Halton Region police, even on Christmas Day. Today we face the same threats if we dare enter my mother's home Brantwood Lifecare Centre after 5:00 p.m. My husband does not finish work until 4:30 p.m. and evening was our visiting time. Again we have repeatedly reported the abuse that goes on behind the doors of Brantwood Lifecare Centre including the isolation of my mother from her family. Again, and more willingly this time we accept "what He shuts no-one can open" because we are assured by our experiences that the promises we read in the bible are true especially "all things work together for good."

A December 21, 2005 Auditors Publication

The internet this year is rife with rumors of the latter-day treatment of a baby boy who cannot be identified.

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INFANT DISCOVERED IN BARN, CHILDREN'S AID LAUNCHES PROBE

Carpenter Being Held On Charges Involving Underage Mother

Bethlehem, Ontario - Authorities were today alerted by a concerned citizen who noticed a family living in a barn. Upon arrival, Children's Aid social workers, accompanied by police, took into protective care an infant boy who cannot be named, wrapped only in strips of cloth and placed in a feeding trough by his 14-year old mother.

During the confrontation, a man identified as the father attempted to stop the social workers. The father, aided by several local shepherds and some unidentified foreigners, tried to forestall efforts to take the child, but were restrained by the police.

Also being held for questioning are three foreigners who allege to be wise men from an eastern country. The RCMP and CSIS officials are seeking information about these who may be in the country illegally. A source with CSIS states that they had no passports, but were in possession of gold and other possibly illegal substances. They resisted arrest saying that they had been warned by God to avoid officials in Bethlehem and to return quickly to their own country. The chemical substances in their possession will be tested.

The owner of the barn is also being held for questioning. The manager of the Bethlehem Inn faces possible revocation of his license for violating health and safety regulations by allowing people to stay in the stable. Civil authorities are also investigating the zoning violations involved in maintaining livestock in a commercially-zoned district.

The location of the minor child will not be released, and the prospect for a quick resolution to this case is doubtful. Asked about when the baby would be returned to his mother, a Children's Aid spokesperson said, "The father is middle-aged and the mother definitely underage. We are checking with officials in Bethelem to determine what their legal relationship is.

The father has admitted taking the mother from her home because of a census requirement. However, because she was obviously pregnant when they left, investigators are looking into other reasons for their departure. The father is being held without bond on charges of molestation, kidnapping, child endangerment, and statutory rape.

The mother was taken to the Clark Institute where she is being examined by doctors. Charges may also be filed against her for endangerment. She will undergo a psychiatric evaluation because of her claim that she is a virgin and that the child is from God.

The director of the psychiatric wing said, "I don't profess to have the right to tell people what to believe, but when their beliefs adversely affect the safety and well-being of others - in this case her child - we must consider her a danger to others. The unidentified drugs at the scene didn't help her case, but I'm confident that with the proper therapy regimen we can get her back on her feet."

A spokesperson for the premier's office said, "Who knows what was going through their heads? But regardless, their treatment of the child was inexcusable, and the involvement of these others frightening. There is much we don't know about this case, but for the sake of the child and the public, you can be assured that we will pursue this matter to the end."

The Hartford Courant has finally reported on last month's Foxwoods Parental Rights Conference. While the article deals mostly with Connecticut, the lessons could benefit children in Ontario.

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DCF Called Too Reliant On Foster Care

By COLIN POITRAS
Courant Staff Writer
December 20 2005

Connecticut's over-reliance on foster care is costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year and may be endangering children the state is trying to protect, a national child welfare advocate says.

National statistics show that children in foster care are physically and sexually abused at rates significantly higher than the general population, Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform in Alexandria, Va., told an audience at the first Northeast Parental Rights Conference at Foxwoods Resort Casino last month.

Helping families in crisis stay together through intervention, guidance and support is less expensive and has been shown to be better for children than putting them into foster homes, said Wexler, whose opinions have been covered in The New York Times and on CNN and "60 Minutes."

Wexler cited a recent University of Florida study that tracked children born to cocaine-abusing mothers. Children who remained with their mothers through inpatient rehab fared better than those placed in foster care, the study found.

"The separation from their mothers was more toxic than the cocaine," Wexler said. "It is very difficult to take a swing at so-called `rotten parents' without the blow landing squarely on the child."

Officials at the state Department of Children and Families say that the agency is removing fewer children and that the state foster care population is declining. But Wexler questioned DCF's effectiveness and says Connecticut lags far behind model child welfare programs in Michigan, Illinois and Alabama.

"Illinois and New York City learned from their mistakes," Wexler said. "They embraced safe, proven programs to keep families together. They slashed [child] removals by 60 percent and with no compromise of safety."

Illinois' foster care population has plummeted, in part, because that state changed the way private foster care agencies are funded. Instead of paying private agencies based on the number of children in foster care - as Connecticut does - Illinois rewards agencies for finalizing adoptions and returning children safely to their homes. Agencies are penalized when children languish in foster care.

As of Nov. 30, more than 6,000 Connecticut children were living in out-of-home care at an annual cost to taxpayers in excess of $260 million. Out-of-home care includes foster homes, group homes, shelters and institutions.

Contrary to popular belief, most children placed in foster care are not victims of serious abuse and probably don't need to be there, Wexler said.

Of the 523,000 children living in foster care nationally in 2003, only 11 percent were victims of serious physical or sexual abuse, Wexler said. The overwhelming majority of children in foster care were removed from their homes because of alleged neglect or issues such as inadequate housing, food or medical care.

DCF spokesman Gary Kleeblatt said the agency has stepped up family preservation since Commissioner Darlene Dunbar took office in early 2003.

The agency has invested nearly $51 million in family preservation programs over the past year, many of them new. Of the 39,779 children being served by DCF, more than five out of six are receiving services at home, Kleeblatt said.

Kleeblatt said there were 194 fewer children living in out-of-home placements this November compared to November 2004. But the reason for the drop is unclear. It could be due to the agency's efforts to help families, kids in foster care turning 16 and leaving the system, fewer children entering foster care, an increase in adoptions or any combination of those factors.

Wexler concedes that DCF has made modest gains, but he pointed out that the $51 million earmarked for family preservation is but a pittance compared with the $260 million the state spends on foster care, group homes and institutions.

Wexler challenged Kleeblatt's position that the state is working comprehensively with families. He said a recent report from a federal official monitoring DCF's performance tells a much different story.

The federal monitor's November progress report found that only 20 percent of DCF investigators surveyed said their office had sufficient services to meet families' needs, Wexler said.

More than half of the families who needed help with housing didn't get it and more than a quarter of those identified as needing substance abuse treatment didn't receive any, according to the report.

When services were provided, many times they were inferior. More than half the DCF workers surveyed in the study acknowledged problems with poor quality services and nearly 40 percent acknowledged sending families to services they knew to be inferior.

When it comes to involving families in their treatment plans - seen by many to be a key to their ultimate success - DCF's track record isn't much better, Wexler said. Nearly 58 percent of the cases reviewed by the monitor didn't include a parent's perspective on what the key issues were, despite the fact that most successful interventions begin by addressing the needs the family thinks are important, Wexler said.

In 44 percent of the cases reviewed, there is no indication how progress is to be measured, which is key to whether a parent succeeds in meeting DCF's demands and is allowed to keep their child. In about two-thirds of the cases there were no timelines for completing cases, Wexler said. And in one quarter of the cases, the plan doesn't even say who is responsible for doing what in meeting DCF's goals.

Kleeblatt attributed some of the problems with treatment plans to workers' failure to fully document their work in the agency's computer database.

"The department is focused on improving how our social workers engage families in the process of planning and providing services," Kleeblatt said. "Training that has already begun and is continuing ... will substantially strengthen our staff's capacity to work with families."

Wexler said DCF's failure to make their treatment plans easily understandable to parents is particularly troublesome because parents who fail to meet DCF's goals risk having their children taken away.

Source: website of Hartford Courant

In yesterday's Globe and Mail, Christie Blatchford presented the full story of Jeffrey Baldwin, including material not presented at the trial. It is a damning account of the failure of CCAS, bypassing the usual platitudes about the best interest of the child.

According to his close associates, Leonard Henderson, leader of AFRA, the most active American opponent of the child protection system, has been hospitalized. We have no further information at this time.

Addendum: He returned home on December 21. Here is Leonard Henderson's account of his own illness.

The Welland Tribune has named the murdered Welland boy as Matthew Reid. A reader comment follows the story.

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Three-year-old smothered

BY GREG FURMINGER Tribune Staff

Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 09:00

Local News

Police forensics examiners, after doffing their white coveralls Friday, leave a downtown Welland foster home after gathering evidence in the death of a three-year-old boy Friday. A 14-year-old girl charged with first-degree murder will next appear in court Dec. 23.

Photo: Staff photo Greg Furminger

- WELLAND - A 14-year-old girl charged in Thursday's murder of a three-year-old boy at a downtown foster home was moved there from an open youth custody facility less than 24 hours earlier, The Tribune has learned.

Niagara Regional Police spokesman Const. Sal Basilone said Friday that results of an autopsy conducted at Hamilton General Hospital concluded the child died of suffocation.

Police still aren't releasing details about how the toddler died, but a source told The Tribune the boy was smothered with a pillow.

After speaking with both the boy's foster parents and birth mother, Sgt. Jim Armstrong said Niagara's 13th homicide victim of 2005 can now be identified as Matthew Reid.

Matthew had lived in a foster home on Welland's Frazer Street for more than two years, The Tribune's source said.

The children's aid society responsible for Matthew would only say he was well known by his foster family.

The girl charged with his murder had been a resident at David S. Horne Home.

She first arrived at the open custody and open detention facility on Highway 20 on Dec. 9, said its executive director, Mark Patus.

She moved out of the facility and into foster care Dec. 14.

Matthew was found lifeless at 8:20 a.m. Dec. 15.

It's a pretty sad case, Patus said.

It's absolutely shocking not just for us, but the whole system.

The girl, whose identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, appeared Friday in Ontario court of justice in St. Catharines for a bail hearing.

Dressed in a pink V-neck sweater, the girl tucked behind her right ear the very dark brown hair that falls straight just past her shoulders.

Asked if she understood the first-degree murder charge before her, she said Yes and immediately flashed a smile.

What was said in court by the Crown and defense counsels is automatically protected by a publication ban.

The girl was remanded into custody to await her next court appearance, two days before Christmas, at 9 a.m.

In the meantime, children's aid societies in neighbouring regions continue to co-operate with police investigators, as they also review their own procedures.

As an agency that strives to care for and protect children in need, this is absolutely the worst news we can receive, Family and Children's Service Niagara executive director Bill Charron said in a prepared statement.

The girl charged with Matthew's murder is a Crown ward of FACS, meaning all ties between her and her family have been severed.

We share with the community a tremendous shock, sadness and grief, Charron said of what he called a tragic situation.

We are reviewing every aspect of the case and will co-operate with the police with regard to the investigation, he said.

FACS is reporting this is the first time it has experienced a tragedy of this nature.

There are now about 650 children in the care of the Niagara child welfare agency. Children are placed in foster care every day.

Placement is based on a number of factors, including the needs of a particular child, the history of a foster home and the level of care it offers, said spokeswoman Ann Godfrey.

She wouldn't go into details about the case at hand, nor say how long the foster home had been running.

However, Godfrey did say, It's my understanding they were well regarded foster parents and experienced foster parents.

Last year FACS responded to 5,700 child protection concerns and conducted 43,400 investigations of possible abuse and neglect.

Matthew, who still had contact with his mother, was in care of The Children's Aid Society of Haldimand and Norfolk.

The mother said she had hoped to get custody of her son back and was devastated by his death.

She said the Haldimand-Norfolk Children's Aid Society took the child from her because she was considered an unfit mother.

They also took her four-year-old daughter who is now in the care of her paternal grandmother in London, Ont.

They told me I can't have them because, Your house isn't clean and you have a history of depression', she told the Hamilton Spectator.

She said she was angry at the children's aid society for failing to protect her son.

Where were they? They have to be responsible too, she said.

News of the homicide has devastated our place, executive director Brian Hillier said of the small rural agency.

Our staff are very intimately connected with our kids, our families, our foster parents, he said.

We saw pockets of our people standing around in tears.

Hillier, too, spoke highly of the foster family trying to come to grips with what has happened.

This is a terrific foster home. This is nothing but tragic for them, he said.

Because of the issues involved, Welland's only homicide of 2005 has captured the attention of the national media.

It is also drawing intense scrutiny from Ontario's Ministry of Child and Youth Services.

Anybody who believes this will not fall under a microscope does not know how government works, Hillier said.

The girl's lawyer said there was no decision yet on how to plead.

Based on the evidence that is out so far it's difficult to think of anything more tragic than a three-year-old that's deceased and a 14-year-old who is charged with first-degree murder, said lawyer John Lefurgey.

Police forensics investigators completed their examination of the Welland foster home mid-afternoon Friday.

The homicide investigation is being headed up by the St. Catharines-based major crime unit.

They are being assisted by officers from the Welland district criminal investigations bureau, street crime unit and uniform patrol, and the child abuse unit.

With files from CP

Source: website of the Welland Tribune

An anonymous Dufferin VOCA reader comments:

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Here are a few facts pieced together from different sources.

The Welland Tribune and CTV carried photos of the residence that Bill Charron (Executive Director of FACS) described as an excellent foster home - it looks like the type of property CAS would remove children from on the pretext of being dirty or dilapidated. To me, Charron's comments appeared calculated to distinguish the quality of Matthew's care from the house of horrors run by Eva Bottineau. How comforting to know he died in such excellent surroundings. While proclaiming his confidence in the foster home, Charron seems unaware that public confidence in CAS is the issue.

The girl charged with murder was also a crown ward in the care of FACS for the past two years. On December 9, she was placed in open custody at the David S. Horne Home. (Charron was a founding board member of that facility and an OACAS board member for 8 years). Subsequently, she was relocated to the foster home where the murder occurred less than 24 hours later.

Matthew had lived in this foster home since October and had been in CAS custody for at least two years - which means he was taken from his (now) 23 year-old mother at a very young age. According to CAS, her house was dirty and she had a history of depression.

The mother was herself a CAS ward, lives in Tillsonburg. A second child was placed with a paternal grandparent, but Matthew was not allowed to remain within the family - a custody application involving the woman's stepfather was pending at the time of Matthew's death.

If one were to accept CAS' viewpoint, this could be seen as one more indication these agencies produce unfit parents - the more likely explanation is that Matthew was abducted on a pretext. Not surprisingly, the mother blames CAS for the boy's death.

What I found frightening is that CAS stated that it was now the accused girl's family and was arranging her legal counsel. Consequently, if she acted in retaliation to CAS abuse it's unlikely to ever come out. Also, the Niagara CAS conducts 43,000 investigations annually - a figure that must be astronomical in relation to the area's population. There are 650 kids in its custody.

The Ontario legislature is considering changes to the Child and Family Services Act under bill 210. The Standing Committee on Social Policy held four hearings on the bill. Half of the hearing time was devoted to First Nations. Along with the usual functionaries of the social services system, the committee heard from some witnesses outside the system. The links below point to each of the four days record, and list the outsiders giving testimony.

Daily Hansard:

• December 5, 2005
• December 6, 2005
• December 12, 2005
• December 13, 2005

Witnesses:

• Ekaterina Ethier, mother
• Talita Brown, foster child
• Taneacha Campbell, foster child
• John Dunn, foster child
• Christina Alay, abused child
• Aneurin Ellis, father
• Sheila Volchert, grandmother
• Terry Hrankowski, grandfather
• André Marin, Ombudsman
• Mark Austerberry, father
• Karol Karolak, father

Here is a submission to the committee not in the Hansard:

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Social Policy Committee:
Chair: Mario Racco, Liberal www.marioracco.onmpp.ca
Vice Chair: Khalil Ramal, Liberal www.khalilramal.onmpp.ca
Members: Ted Arnott, Conservative www.tedarnottmpp.com
Ted Chudleigh, Conservative www.tedchudleigh.com
Kim Craitor, Liberal www.kimcraitor.com
Peter Fonseca, Liberal www.peterfonseca.onmpp.ca
Jeff Leal, Liberal www.jeffleal.onmpp.ca
Rosario Marchese, New Democrat www.rosariomarchese.ca
Kathleen Wynne, Liberal www.kathleenwynne.ca

Re: Amendments to Bill C210

Gentle men and women:

As a parent of 2 high needs adoptive children, I have had a good look at the operation of the Children Aid Societies of Ontario. I was truly appalled with what I have learned. It has made me ashamed to be called an adoptive parent. Knowing what I now know, I can never again hold a foster parent/adoptive parents with the same innocent regard. It represents my loss of trust in government. I think only of the pain of the biological family coerced into this quagmire.

I gathered my information by speaking to many involved Ontario citizens. I guess I did what you were supposed to do. Initially I thought I was simply unfortunate to have run into "2 bad apples." Instead I found an entire system rotten to the core and in need of reform, a system seeking to coverup its misdeeds. It is a system that functions with our precious children as mere "economic reimbursement units." It is about careers, jobs, and money, but most of all money. The blunt truth does hurt.

The secrecy of the current and proposed legislation facilitates the abuse of human rights. This secrecy can no longer be contained. It has been disclosed to the entire world. The World Government knows how Canada violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It knows how Canada treats its immigrants, the poor, single women, the special needs community, and its children. Only children without parents are entitled to health, education, shelter, and food. It routinely rips children from poor parents to provide these services, truly a black mark on Canada and particularly Ontario. Canada trafficks in children.

I urge you to strengthen the complaint process to protect the rights of families and their dependent children. I would also urge you to strength the powers of the College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers to bring it into line with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the College of Nurses, and the College of Teachers. Any social worker who falsifies his sworn affidavit should be stripped of his credentials. Does it happen? Yes, from personal experience. All professionals who work with the "protected" groups and paid from the public purse should be held accountable to their communities and to the ethical/moral standards of their profession. They draw their mandate and power from these communities. These communities have the right to set the boundaries. They are not simply asking for these rights but demanding them.

$1.3 billion of our Ontario tax dollars are given annually to this industry. It is "a private corporation" funded solely by tax dollars. There are no outcome measures to insure that these monies are spent on our children. Unacceptable! At last it is time for accountability and transparency in government.

Thank you for receiving my comments.

Sincerely,

Dolores A. Sicheri MD FRCPC
Peter Sicheri
Michael Sicheri
15 December 2005
Lakeshore, Ontario

Another child has died in CAS custody. The Hamilton Spectator and the Globe and Mail both carried the story, and both decided to protect the dead boy from emotional harm by withholding his name. The foster child who did the killing was developmentally handicapped. If that euphemism means that she was mentally handicapped, how can CAS blame her, instead of itself, for the death?

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Three-year-old died in 'excellent foster home'

CAS official stands by Welland residence where child suffocated, teen charged

BY CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD AND KAREN PINCHIN
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2005 PAGE A18
WITH A REPORT FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

He was just 3, described by a next-door neighbour the way those of such tender years are invariably described -- "incredible, always smiling, always happy."

He had lived in the two-storey detached house on Frazer Street in Welland, Ont., since October.

She is 14, and, The Globe and Mail has learned, developmentally handicapped. She had just arrived at the house.

They lived, for that brief time, in a foster home regarded by local child-welfare groups as so sterling that, as Brian Hillier, executive director of the Children's Aid Society of Haldimand and Norfolk said yesterday, it is considered "a go-to" place for the agency. "This is an excellent foster home," Mr. Hillier said. "I had, and I continue to have, a high degree of trust in the home."

These should not have been ingredients for a tragedy, but they were: On Thursday morning, Niagara Regional Police responding to a 911 call found the little boy VSA, or vital signs absent, and soon after arrested and charged the teenaged girl with first-degree murder.

A postmortem has revealed the boy was suffocated.

As The Globe reported yesterday, both the boy and the girl accused of killing him were clients of local children's aid societies.

The girl is a Crown ward of the Family and Children's Services Niagara, or FACS Niagara, the agency's executive director, Bill Charron, confirmed yesterday. "The young lady is a ward of ours," Mr. Charron said, "and we're ensuring she gets the appropriate legal representation and that we support her in any way we can."

Though in the home on a "temporary placement," pending a court decision about his custody, the boy had been living there since October, and was well known to the foster mother there.

"This was his placement," Mr. Hillier said. "It was our little guy and this is the kind of foster home that would be [emotionally] wiped out by this."

Both executive directors said their staff have been devastated by the boy's death.

"It is a terrible day," Mr. Hiller told The Globe. "It's the nightmare that all CASes absolutely dread. . . . We're a smaller agency, and our staff have a very strong connection to our kids and our families. . . . There are staff all over this place in tears."

While police continue their probe, the office of the Ontario coroner is keeping a close eye on the case.

"We are aware of the death and that care was being given to both these children by CASes," deputy chief coroner Dr. Jim Cairns said yesterday in a telephone interview. He said his office is actively probing what role the CASes did or didn't play in the events leading up to the little boy's death.

However, whether the results of the coroner's probe -- which Dr. Cairns said will be complete within three weeks -- will be made public immediately depends on the criminal investigation.

It is an arm of the coroner's office, the pediatric death review committee, that provides the only independent review of deaths of children in CAS care.

Mr. Charron wouldn't comment on the specifics of the girl's placement at the home, but said that, generally, it is agency practice to share with foster parents any psychiatric reports and relevant information so that "they understand what the youngster is all about and how to cope."

He said FACS Niagara is "doing a very thorough review of every aspect, to see what, if anything, we missed" and what might be learned to prevent something like this happening again.

"I've been 30 years in child welfare," Mr. Charron said, "and it's the first time I've ever come across a situation like this. Every agency has situations where children are killed or injured, but this is the first time a child in our care has been charged with this type of offence."

While Mr. Charron's first thought was for the little boy's parents, Mr. Hillier's was for the foster mother his agency regularly has used for at least five years and for the woman he described as "a much-loved foster parent."

The confidentiality provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act forbid identification of either the little boy or the teenager.

Following a brief court appearance yesterday at which the girl was remanded into custody, her lawyer said there was no decision yet on how to plead.

Source: website of the Globe and Mail

Canada Court Watch has found more instances of bullying by Children's Aid. They do not report names, but are reliable on facts. Read the letter signed by Rev Dorian Baxter (pdf).

Here is a newspaper story from the Ottawa Citizen on the Ombudsman's efforts to get oversight over Children's Aid.

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Ombudsman seeks power over CASs

Children at risk without oversight of Children's Aid Societies: Marin

Jeff Esau
The Ottawa Citizen

Monday, December 12, 2005

Ontario children are at risk because there is no independent scrutiny of the province's 53 Children's Aid Societies, Ontario's ombudsman says.

Andre Marin says the existing law governing Children's Aid Societies prevents him from investigating the more than 300 complaints he receives annually about CASs.

Even worse, legislation being considered for the child protection system would remove all accountability of CASs, which operate as "private agencies." In other provinces, Mr. Marin says, child protection is a public function or is shared between government and private agencies.

Speaking to the legislature's standing committee on social policy in Toronto last week, Mr. Marin said that not only would Bill 210 fail to provide effective oversight, but it would remove the sparse complaint mechanisms now in place.

"If that small window (of accountability) closes, Ontario will have the dubious distinction of having solidified its position as being at the back of the oversight pack in Canada in ensuring that the most vulnerable of our children have an independent avenue of redress."

The solution, he told legislators, would be to add a single provision to the Child and Family Services Statute Law Amendment Act to give the Ontario ombudsman authority over Children's Aid Societies.

He said no one should be surprised at his persistence because "administrative decisions taken by these societies have life-and-death impact on children in need."

Mr. Marin gives disturbing examples of what can happen when CASs are beyond scrutiny, as in the case of five-year- old Jeffrey Baldwin, who was starved to death in Toronto in 2002. Two people are still on trial in Toronto over the boy's death.

Mr. Marin notes that Ontario affords convicted criminals housed in privatized provincial jails protection by the ombudsman, but fails to extend the same protection to children.

"The sheer irony here in Ontario is that you have the ombudsman's office positioned to help protect convicted criminals, but we've left children in this province in a lurch," he says.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Marin said his decision to make a public statement was prompted by the lack of progress in his months-long campaign of "glad-handing" with Ontario Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers, her deputy minister and the bureaucrats responsible for the bill.

"I've been lobbying the ministry. This is not just me coming out of nowhere last week. I've been quietly working in the background, but there were no results," he said.

Still, Mr. Marin says there are signs of hope. "The minister sent me a message after my testimony saying that she was open to amendments and, again, that's encouraging, but we're not there yet. I haven't seen it on paper."

Ottawa child welfare advocate John Dunn said he is pleased with the ombudsman's public discussion about the issue.

Mr. Dunn, 35, was in care himself for 16 years and lived in 13 foster homes. He recently formed the Foster Care Council of Canada after advocating for himself and others in the area of child protection for five years.

As the new organization's executive director, Mr. Dunn is preparing to circulate a petition to ask the government to "enact legislation giving the Ontario Ombudsman's Office jurisdiction over all Ontario's Children's Aid Societies."

Looking back, Mr. Dunn can identify the rights he should have had as a ward of the state. He hopes the ombudsman can help others by bringing some insight, impartiality and a cool head to the CASs.

Mr. Dunn has seen firsthand that fear and panic often cause parents to make rash and inappropriate statements to the CAS. "Then the CAS worker gets offended and the relationship becomes strained. Things are said between them that cause the worker to label the parent 'emotionally unstable.' They may even truly believe that the parent is like that, but it's only spawned by their fear of losing their kid."

Mr. Dunn thinks the legislation "has a lot of good things in it," such as open adoptions and kinship care. "But the fact that they're going to reduce any external accountability is what inspired my whole petition action," he said.

Source: website of the Ottawa Citizen

On December 5 and 6, 2005 opponents of Children's Aid had a chance to address the Ontario Provincial Parliament. John Dunn spoke, but we do not have his statement.

Here are notes from EkaterinaEthier:

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I spoke to the Minister of Children and Youth Services herself personally yesterday for 15 minutes, passed her my flyers with David and had a speech in front of the Social Policy Committee in regard to bill 210 and the proposed changes in section 68 of CFSA.

The Minister told me that they intend not to remove the directors review process and strengthen the complaint process. She asked me to speak up and give personal examples, as well as propose what exactly needs to be done.

Here are the prepared remarks of EkaterinaEthier (doc).

Aneurin Ellis also spoke to the committee (doc).

For those of you still having doubts, the main objective of child protectors is not children, but money. The following story shows the efforts of child protectors to raid the inheritance of one of their wards.

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Greensboro News-Record

Lorraine Ahearn: A bleak house -- foreclosing on a boy at age 15

Article published Dec 4, 2005

Out of the endless cast of adults to come and go out of this boy's life, bit players in a ruthless, long-running reality show, the only one who really kept his word was a church janitor.

His name was Tracy Studivent, and before he died in 1994, he drew up a will. In it, he left what little he had to his adoptive son, then a toddler. There was a modest CD account, a monthly survivor benefit from Social Security, and the little house on Partnership Court, for which Studivent made a small mortgage payment each month to Habitat for Humanity. It was all he had, and he left it to his son, John.

More than a decade later, the 15-year-old is about to have his house foreclosed upon. His legal guardian, the Department of Social Services, cashes and keeps his $538 monthly survivor benefit to go toward John's upkeep in foster care.

And because the $221 mortgage payment hasn't been made in a year, Habitat is seeking to foreclose on the house, which now sits vacant and boarded up, with a stack of "Condemned" notices tacked to the front door because the grass isn't cut and the utilities are turned off.

So on Friday, John found himself at the center of a dense, bitter, lawyer-heavy hearing on probate, trusteeship and bureaucratic jurisdiction. Big words at the worldly age of 15.

"People say life comes at you fast," the friendly, soft-voiced youth mused as he waited all day in a back room at the courthouse for his case to be called. "Now, I see what they mean."

As John played computer solitaire and fidgeted away a missed school day, six attorneys and a handful of social workers drew battle lines in a unique challenge to the DSS.

In the hearing, to be continued this week, advocates from the Guardian ad Litem program, allied with a unit from Legal Aid, asked a judge to protect the boy's house from foreclosure and stop the DSS from using the boy's money to reimburse itself.

The assistant county attorney for DSS, Lynn Shifton, countered that the actual cost of the boy's foster care is $1,333 per month -- more than twice the survivor benefit John receives -- and that the agency's first duty is to spend the benefit on "current" needs.

That raised the question of whether a foster care child "owes" the DSS, assets or no assets: "If he's in DSS custody," said District Court Judge Susan Bray, "his needs are going to be met regardless."

Though the DSS lawyer pointedly questioned why the newspaper would cover a seemingly obscure -- but public -- juvenile hearing, several of the juvenile advocates and the judge said the case appeared to be a first.

Even with the volume of cases on the juvenile docket -- rivers of splintered families and abandoned children -- the judge told attorneys that John's case had stood out over the years. John was, Bray said, the only child she knew of who owned a house.

"As the 'parent,' when a child has an asset such as a trust fund or a bank account," Bray asked, "don't you have an obligation to try to preserve that?"

The long-languishing case came to a head as child advocates have increasingly warned of the crisis known as "aging out" -- that is, foster care children turning 18 and entering the adult world alone and destitute.

Even at 15, John's story is a trail of broken promises. Abandoned by his biological parents, he was left after Studivent's death with a stepmother he said had him sell drugs for her.

He was next placed with an aunt, who without making their house payment kept John's $538 monthly check. A DSS worker told Judge Bray that the aunt received adoption assistance funds for months after Bray ordered John be taken from the aunt and placed in foster care by the DSS.

After a year of receiving no house payments and no action by the DSS, Habitat operations officer Phil Barbee said he saw little choice but to foreclose and protect John's equity, before the house further depreciates.

As for John? Bored and miserable in his button-down court clothes, the big words sailed over his head. Mostly, he hopes to buy a car one day.

"What's that word for what you need ... insurance?" he said, wondering if Medicare covers that. "If I can't afford to buy a car, I'll just rent one."

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lahearn@news-record.com

Source: website of Greensboro News-Record

Addendum: A court decision two years later favored using social security funds to make the mortgage payments, protecting the child's equity.

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Posted on Wed, Nov. 07, 2007

Court backs teen against DSS

Decision prevents agency from paying itself with 17-year-old's Social Security benefits

ERIC FRAZIER, efrazier@charlotteobserver.com

In a decision that could affect foster children across North Carolina, the state's second-highest court on Tuesday blocked Guilford County social workers from taking a child's Social Security benefits as reimbursement for caring for him.

The case could also have national implications, child welfare advocates say.

The 17-year-old boy, identified only as John G., has an $80,000 house his late adoptive father willed to him. The home was threatened with foreclosure because DSS officials wouldn't use his $538 per month Social Security payment to handle the monthly $221 mortgage.

A judge in 2005 ordered the Guilford County Department of Social Services to apply the boy's Social Security benefits toward the mortgage. But Guilford DSS, like DSS agencies across the state, routinely takes foster children's Social Security benefits as reimbursement for the cost of feeding, clothing and housing the youth.

Mecklenburg officials say, for instance, that they have taken more than $369,000 in Social Security benefits from January to October of this year. An average of 81 children were affected each month.

Cash-strapped DSS officials around the state say they need the money to care for the children, but child advocates equate it to stealing money from abused, neglected and disabled children.

The ruling doesn't automatically block Mecklenburg and other counties from taking Social Security money, but it gives child advocates legal basis to challenge cases like John G.'s in court.

"It's useful for John, useful for the state and maybe can be leveraged nationally," said Lewis Pitts, the Legal Aid of North Carolina lawyer who represented the teen.

"This opportunity should be seized to say to DSS and all child welfare agencies that we realize you have a budget nightmare, but don't take it out from the children."

The Congressional Research Service estimates states take about $150 million a year from foster children. The practice is attracting so much attention that John G.'s fight landed on the front page of The New York Times last year. U.S. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., cited the case early this year in introducing a bill to protect the Social Security benefits of about 30,000 children nationally.

The bill is pending, his office said.

First Star, a national child welfare reform group in Washington, D.C., filed a brief in the case supporting John G.

"This is really the first step in the direction of nationally recognizing that a child has an interest in their own benefits," said Amy Harfeld, First Star's executive director.

"It has major national implications for foster children. I think most people would agree it's unconscionable for states to dip into the pockets of these most vulnerable children just to balance their budgets."

Guilford DSS officials didn't respond to calls and e-mails Tuesday seeking comment, so it was unclear whether they would appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court. Lawyers for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services were studying the ruling, a spokeswoman said, but had no immediate comment.

Pitts said DSS has continued to pay the mortgage while it fights the case in court.

The agency contends that, as the payee for John G.'s Social Security benefits, it had the right to use the money for the boy's care. It argued that federal law protects such benefits from being taken through garnishment, bankruptcy or any other "legal process."

DSS argued that the state judge who ordered the mortgage paid had violated federal law by subjecting the boy's federal benefits to "legal process." The Court of Appeals, however, said that the federal law was designed to protect Social Security recipients' money from creditors, not to help local governments take it.

DSS' interpretation of the law "is an improper attempt to fashion a shield into a sword to be used against the intended beneficiary of the law," the judges wrote.

Eric Frazier: 704-358-5145.

Source: website of the Charlotte Observer

Today's London Press says that Cynthia (Cyndi) Cameron will be the federal NDP candidate in the riding of Etobicoke Centre. She is one of the parents of an autistic child mentioned in the report by Ontario Ombudsman André Marin.

Ontario child protectors may have found a new way to harass clients circumventing caller identification. A mother menaced by Children's Aid has reported receiving several calls in which no one speaks to her after she answers the phone. Identification of the caller leads to an Ontario government office with only the following recorded message:

You've reached the number 905-521-7460 for the Ontario government located at 119 King Street West in Hamiltion. Should you be calling in response to having seen this number on your call display, please be advised that this telephone number is not a personal telephone number for anyone in this building. This number is strictly for Bell Canada billing purposes. Please hang up, check the number for the office or ministry you are trying to dial and call again. We do apologize for your inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

The Ontario Ombudsman now has only limited power to investigate Children's Aid Societies. He used his limited powers earlier this year to produce a report Between a Rock and a Hard Place (pdf). According to this article by Christie Blatchford he now wants expanded power to examine all Children's Aid matters. According to other sources, the pending legislation bill 210, will eliminate all of his jurisdiction over Children's Aid.

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Ontario ombudsman requests power to probe children's aid societies

By CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

Ontario Ombudsman André Marin wants the power to investigate complaints against the province's 53 children's aid societies.

Appearing last night before the government's social policy committee, which is examining a bill that would amend the laws governing the societies, Mr. Marin cited the notorious Jeffrey Baldwin case as an example of his office's powerlessness.

"We received a complaint in the last month about this case," he told the committee, "and were asked to investigate.

"We had to turn it down. We have no jurisdiction over the CAS."

The complaint seeking a probe into Jeffrey's death of starvation-induced pneumonia and septic shock, Mr. Marin said, is one of 94 his office received in the first six months of this year.

"Last year, we received 305. . . . Because of limits in our mandate, we cannot address them."

His counterparts in other provinces, he said, have the ability to investigate such complaints.

The little boy died while in the custody of his maternal grandparents, approved by the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto as acceptable caregivers for him and his three siblings.

Only after Jeffrey died, weighing at almost the age of six less than he did when he was a year old, did the CCAS find in its files evidence that the grandparents, Elva Bottineau and Norman Kidman, were each convicted child abusers.

Ms. Bottineau, 54, was convicted as a teenage mother of assault causing bodily harm in the death of her infant daughter.

Mr. Kidman, 53, was convicted eight years later of two counts of assault causing bodily harm upon two of Ms. Bottineau's children by a previous relationship.

The two are on trial for first-degree murder in the death of Jeffrey on Nov. 30, 2002.

Mr. Justice David Watt of the Ontario Superior Court has heard evidence that Jeffrey and a sister were confined for such long periods of time to a dank and fetid room that they lived amid their own waste.

The information about the grandparents' criminal past was contained in the CCAS records, the agency has acknowledged, but went undiscovered, prompting Mr. Marin to characterize the agency as having, in effect, "facilitated" the harsh and degrading conditions in which Jeffrey was kept.

"I think the committee was stunned to realize that the CASs, despite receiving a billion dollars in taxpayers' money, run themselves without any independent oversight," Mr. Marin told The Globe and Mail last night in a telephone interview.

He said he received a sympathetic audience, but no firm commitment that the legislation would be amended.

He says it would require only the addition of a "10-word line" to the law.

Source: website of the Globe and Mail

A shrewd mother has hidden her children from Toronto CCAS. Unless she gets help from a good lawyer, she may be behind bars soon.

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Toronto Sun

December 8, 2005

Mom keeps girl in hiding

Spirited child away from police and children's aid

By VIVIAN SONG, TORONTO SUN

A mother who whisked her child away from under the noses of police officers at school Tuesday has refused to disclose her daughter's location to children's aid officials.

Jessica Arnold, 28, whom police listed as missing along with her 8-year-old daughter Lamonee "Layla" Arnold, came out of hiding yesterday and met with investigators and the Catholic Children's Aid Society.

But she refused to reveal where she's keeping her daughter and 4-month-old son.

Investigators believe the mother may have panicked after learning the Catholic Children's Aid Society planned to take Layla away.

The mother went to St. Kevin's Catholic School on Glen Murray Dr. near Pharmacy Ave. and Lawrence Ave. E. Tuesday, where she found police and CCAS already on the scene.

After a confrontation, Arnold slipped away undetected with her daughter over the lunch hour.

CCAS spokesman Anne Rappe declined to say what prompted the school's call to children's aid, citing confidentiality issues.

"We didn't find the meeting satisfactory. We asked for (Layla) to be in our care so we are proceeding with child welfare court," said Rappe.

Police said there are no charges, but the investigation is continuing.

Source: website of the Toronto Sun

It is rare for professional journalists to investigate the press releases from child protectors. In this unusual case in which a Texas newspaper was embarrassed to find that they had published a fake story, they checked the other stories and found that lies were endemic.

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CPS review finds more stories embellished

By Jen Sansbury
The Facts

Published December 03, 2005

Several caseworkers with Child Protective Services in Brazoria County had embellished stories about foster children for publication in The Facts as part of the now-discontinued Fill-a-Stocking fund-raising campaign.

"It's certainly fair to say that some of the changes, some of the inaccuracies, were puzzling and don't seem to have had any effect other than to make the cases or the plights of the children more dramatic," said Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman in the agency's Austin office.

The annual holiday initiative, which started in 1982, featured daily stories during the holidays about needy foster children and encouraged readers to donate to a fund that helped pay for special needs not covered by other sources. Throughout the year, the money was tapped for items such as stylish eyeglasses, graduation gear and summer camp tuition.

The Facts announced this week it would cease publishing the stories this year after learning the CPS-submitted story that ran in Tuesday's edition was fabricated by a caseworker. It told the story of "John," a hurricane evacuee who supposedly had been separated from his mother for months.

CPS officials have reviewed more than 20 of the as-yet unpublished stories and determined most of them reflected only minor changes designed to mask the identities of children, Crimmins said. Those changes included names, exact ages and, in one instance, a family's country of origin.

But at least seven stories appear to include more substantive changes to the featured children's actual circumstances, including misleading information about drug use, fictionalized descriptions of their personalities and incorrect information about the degree of parental abuse or neglect they suffered.

"There are several of them that have at least partial inaccuracies — and you can term those embellishments if you like — where at least some dramatic license was taken," Crimmins said. "There was not an adequate system in place to make sure that the profiles matched actual individual cases."

For example, an article about "Sara," a 19-year-old mother of four whose baby died while sleeping in bed with her, said she tested positive for methamphetamines and had admitted to smoking crystal meth since she was 11. The story said the mother's children gave statements about watching their mother use drugs. It also said she served four months in jail before being put on probation, spent several months in an inpatient facility and has been clean for nine months.

"Sara" now has a steady job and a new apartment and is allowed unsupervised visits with her children, the story, which had not been published in The Facts, said. "Sara hopes to have her children returned to her by Christmas," it said, "She will need assistance from CPS with clothes, toys and bedroom furniture for her new apartment."

In reality, according to the agency's review notes, the mother is in her 20s, had fewer children and the deceased child was sleeping with her on a couch. She tested positive for marijuana, not methamphetamines, and "it is not true about smoking crystal meth." Her children did not give statements against her, she did not serve any time in jail, is not on probation and did not go to an inpatient facility. She has not been clean for nine months, does not have unsupervised visits with her children, a steady job or an apartment, the review said.

In fact, according to the agency's notes, the profile was actually a composite of two different mothers' stories.

Bill Cornwell, publisher of The Facts, said the newspaper's understanding was that only certain details that could identify specific children, such as names, exact ages and perhaps places, would be changed to protect their identities.

"We wouldn't have allowed them to merge two (cases) into one," he said. "All we wanted was some consistency and accuracy, with privacy the main goal. We didn't need this exaggeration. These stories talk for themselves."

Cornwell said he was surprised to learn that additional submitted stories scheduled for publication in The Facts contained inaccuracies.

"This is one of the reasons why we've put a hold on this campaign this year so we can at least get to the bottom of this," he said.

Crimmins said about a dozen caseworkers were asked to write two profiles each based on their cases. He said he could not and would not identify which of the unpublished stories was written by the same author as the fictional story about the hurricane evacuee.

It is too soon to tell whether Child Protective Services would be interested in continuing the program next year, Crimmins said.

"We just know that our participation in the campaign is going to have to be scrutinized," he said.

Crimmins said the stories also had been submitted to the weekly Pearland Journal newspaper, but it had not begun publishing them.

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ALL WRONG

Inaccuracies in stories that were submitted to The Facts by CPS, but had not run:

• An article about four malnourished children — two sets of twins — said they were living in a filthy home without electricity or running water and eating rotten food off the floor. The 2-year-old twins "were found to have multiple fractures to several areas of their body, which were in various stages of healing." One set of twins was adopted by their paternal grandparents, the story said, and the other set by maternal grandparents, who had said they had been isolated from the children and would love to take them in. In reality, according to the agency review, the children did not have multiple fractures and they were adopted by non-relatives. Furthermore, this was a composite story combining information from more than one case.

• An article about a teenage boy named "Steven" said he and his seven siblings had been abandoned by their parents. Steven works a minimum wage job to take care of his siblings and they had not seen their parents for more than four months, the story said. "Neither has bothered to return to the trailer where they left their eight children to fend for themselves," the story read.

In fact, according to the review, both the mother and the father, who are separated, visited two or three times a month. The story said the siblings were placed in foster homes together in two groups, but in fact a 1-year-old is not with any siblings.

• An article about "Kayla," a teenager left in CPS care by her mother, said she is "very outgoing and easy to talk to" and "loves to write her feelings down" to help her get through the day.

According to the agency's review notes, "Per the worker, you have to pull words out of `Kayla' and she does not write her feelings down."

Source: website of The Facts

To the difficult question "How can same-sex marriage harm heterosexual marriage?", the Supreme Court of Washington has provided an answer.

The court has thwarted the ability of a married mother and father to raise their daughter in favor of the mother's former lesbian lover. Sue Ellen (Mian) Carvin and Page Britain lived as lovers for twelve years. Midway through that relationship Britain conceived a child with sperm donated by a gay friend, John Auseth, and gave birth to a daughter known only as LB. When the girl was almost six years old, the couple split up and Britain married Auseth. The Supreme Court of Washington ruled that Carvin was entitled to parental rights over LB.

This tangled case is another step in reducing the rights of mom and dad, and we can expect with the spread of legitimate same-sex marriages there will be many more limits on the rights of parents over their own children.

Here is a local copy of two opinions from the court. There are many other views on this case, accessible with a search on [ Carvin Britain Auseth ].

Addendum: On May 15, 2006 the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review this case.

Here is another message from the family we have to identify with the pseudonym Lund. A poster (pdf) sets the mood for their story.

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I am sorry but my wife and I are at the point were we had hoped that our family would be together, but the Scrooge of Christmas still has our child for their own benefit. I was told to spend more time with the children because of my shift work trying to make things more brighter for them. The Brant County CAS has said that I have done an indecent act to my own child. 17 to 27 people we have seen that night said that was impossible but the CAS is allowed to molest our oldest child at a school interview.

Mike
ditto@execulink.com

Many newspapers in Ontario uncritically print press releases from Children's Aid without checking the facts — they can't because the stories lack identifying information, exact names and places. Here is an instance of a newspaper in Texas that printed a story created by local child protectors and had to retract it two days later when it was revealed as a fake. How many Ontario stories are fake?

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CPS says worker's story fake

By Jen Sansbury
The Facts

Published December 01, 2005

The Facts has discontinued this year's Fill-a-Stocking fund-raiser after learning a submitted story about a needy foster child published in Tuesday's edition was fabricated.

Publisher Bill Cornwell said the $1,070 received since Friday will be returned to donors.

During the annual Fill-a-Stocking campaign from Thanksgiving through Christmas, the newspaper publishes submissions written by caseworkers for Child Protective Services of Brazoria County. Each story includes an editor's note explaining that children's identities are protected. Otherwise the stories are represented to the paper — and readers — as true.

However, agency officials on Wednesday said Tuesday's story was not based on a real case.

"CPS apologizes to the Brazosport Facts and to the local community for this mistake," regional director Randy Joiner said in a written statement. "We will make sure that when CPS supports external fund drives in the future that there are clear instructions to staff and appropriate checks and balances are in place to ensure accuracy."

Cornwell said the newspaper relies on its sources to provide factual information, not "creative writing."

"They have violated the trust with this newspaper," he said. "We took the word of a local state agency in an effort to raise money for needy kids.

"We've allowed them to change names and dates and places to honor certain privacy concerns," Cornwell said. But, "there's nothing true about the story that ran."

Managing Editor Yvonne Mintz said she has stressed to officials with the Brazoria County Alliance for Children, the umbrella community organization that ultimately receives and spends the donations, that the stories be accurate.

"Just like anything we put in the newspaper we want to be able to stand by them," Mintz said. "The program brings in a lot of money for kids in foster care, and we don't take lightly the fact that we have to stop."

Tuesday's story featured 10-year-old "John," who was said to be living in an emergency shelter and whose mother had been missing since "the hurricane," apparently a reference to Hurricane Katrina which devastated parts of the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29. Many evacuees from Louisiana came to the greater Houston area, including Brazoria County.

The article included details about a recent ice-skating trip and a Christmas wish to go home. It also included quotes from the boy saying he doesn't think he'll get gifts this year, and he doesn't believe in Santa Claus anymore.

The problem, according to state officials, is the story isn't true.

"It's not based on a real child's story," said Patrick Crimmins, a Child Protective Services spokesman in the state office in Austin.

"We believe that the story was written and submitted with the best intentions in mind," Crimmins said. "The caseworker obviously has real children with real needs, and we don't doubt that her sincere desire (was) to use this story to help generally."

The Facts launched Fill-a-Stocking in 1982 to help raise money for "special occasions and special needs" of abused and neglected children in the county's care. The newspaper publishes the caseworkers' stories, accepts the donations and passes them on to the Brazoria County Alliance for Children.

"We've covered a multitude of things from braces that are not covered by Medicaid to upgrading children's glasses," said Deborah Spoor, the alliance's president.

The money is used all year long to buy birthday and Christmas gifts and cover other expenses during the year that foster families and the state aren't able to pay.

"We've bought senior rings, we've bought prom dresses. We have done band camps, baseball camps, we have bought shoes — specialized shoes like cleats," Spoor said.

In 2004, Fill-a-Stocking raised $9,570. The money will be depleted by the end of the Christmas season, Spoor said. The 2005 money would be spent for gifts and special items in 2006. Spoor said she's not sure what the organization will do come January.

"It's like losing a major grant," she said. "What do you do? You take a deep breath, you step back and try to develop an alternate plan."

For the first time this year, the alliance was acting as a liaison between The Facts and Child Protective Services to ensure the stories arrived at the newspaper in a timely manner.

"I don't think that we ever questioned that the stories were factual, none of us ever did," Spoor said. "Our concern was always that we protect the confidentiality of the child."

Child Protective Services officials said the article was written by a caseworker in the agency's Angleton office, but have not provided any additional information about her or the process for vetting the stories before they are submitted to the newspaper for publication.

"Absolutely, a supervisor should have been reviewing them, but I don't have the details yet about who reviewed this one," Joiner said.

The issue came to light when a reporter for a Houston television station made inquiries about "John" with the Child Protective Services' regional and then state offices.

Regional spokeswoman Gwen Carter, who lives in Lake Jackson, said there are no children fitting the child's circumstances in the 13-county region served by the Houston office. All evacuated children who came to the area and have not been reunited with their parents have been placed with relatives, she said.

Lauren Crim, a local Child Protective Services employee who was involved with collecting the stories for publication in The Facts, referred a call for comment to Crimmins.

Joiner said the agency is continuing to investigate what happened. He said he thinks it's possible the child was a composite of children the caseworker has worked with. She wrote another story for the series that had not been published, Joiner said. It is still being reviewed.

Agency and newspaper officials said no other major errors have been found in the other four stories that had been published so far this year.

Denise Troyer of Lake Jackson, who donated money in her grandchildren's names, said she thinks it is "just sad" that a Fill-a-Stocking story was made up.

"I can't understand that with as many pathetic stories as there are out there why they would do that," she said.

Another early donor, Mildred Walker of Clute, said contributing to the Fill-a-Stocking fund is a holiday tradition.

"I've donated for years now to The Facts, and I've always hoped it did some good," she said. "Can't you change it and give it to some other causes?"

Cornwell said he doesn't know whether Fill-a-Stocking will resume next year. The paper sponsors a variety of holiday initiatives to collect coats, food and cash donations, including Angleton Goodfellows, and will continue this year as planned.

"We're going to reconsider what we can do to help needy kids," he said, "and who we can trust."

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CPSSTATEMENT

A local office of Child Protective Services (CPS) has issued an apology to the editor of the Brazosport Facts for an inaccurate story that was submitted to the newspaper and published Tuesday, Nov. 29, as part of the annual "Fill-a-Stocking" campaign to help foster children.

The story was about a 10-year-old boy identified as "John," living in an emergency shelter since losing his mother in a hurricane. An internal review by the agency has determined that the story written by a CPS worker in the Angleton office was not based on a real child's story.

"CPS apologizes to the Brazosport Facts and to the local community for this mistake," said Randy Joiner, CPS' regional director. "CPS has been an enthusiastic partner in the Fill-a-Stocking campaign, and we sincerely hope that this isolated incident will not overshadow the good work of 7,000 employees and will not damage other worthwhile efforts to help real children with real needs."

CPS has checked all other stories that have been published in The Facts during this year's campaign. Each story is accurate with the exception of minor details — for example, names or exact ages — which may be changed to protect the identity of individual children.

The Facts and CPS have agreed that stories that have been submitted to the newspaper but not yet published will be returned to the agency.

CPS management will review all the actions and the circumstances that led to the mistake.

"We will make sure that when CPS supports external fund drives in the future that there are clear instructions to staff and appropriate checks and balances are in place to ensure accuracy," said Joiner.

Source: website of The Facts

Here is a story for people who think adoption is the solution to child abuse.

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Masha's Story

Tomorrow night an extraordinary and unprecedented story will air on ABC Primetime about my client, a Russian orphan girl who was adopted by an American pedophile.

When millionaire Matthew A. Mancuso adopted five year old Masha from a Russian orphanage, she had already lived a tragic life. Stabbed by her drunken mother at age three, Masha hoped for a better life in the United States. Instead she was sent to live near Pittsburgh with a pedophile who had a long history of abusing young girls. During the next five years, Mancuso sexually assaulted Masha almost daily while slowly staving her to keep her body thin and childlike. Some of the abuse was photographed, both at their home in Plum Borough and at Disney World. Mancuso traded many of these hard core images on the internet which is how the FBI caught him and rescued Masha.

The ABC Primetime report chronicles Masha's adoption from a small industrial city in the south of Russia to her new home in the outskirts of Pittsburgh and questions many events that could have stopped the depraved abuse, including why no one from the adoption agency ever visited Masha in her new home and why Mancuso's ex-wife and grown daughter were never interviewed about his past. The later could have exposed the claims of his biological daughter that she, too, was sexually abused as a child.

Masha, who was adopted by another family, says she is speaking out now at the age of 13 "because I think that it's wrong what he did. And this is happening so often now. And a lot of times nobody ever tells anybody. Some kids just give up. And they don't have any faith."

Recently Mancuso was sentenced to a minimum of 35 years in prison on top of 15 years from a federal conviction. He could face more time in Florida, including the death penalty, for the crimes he committed in a Disney World hotel room.

During the past month there was an organized effort by the international adoption phalanx to silence this story, and to deny and cover up the actions of the agencies which facilitated this adoption and Masha's abuse. These "Cowards in Adoption" despise the truth, dismiss the victim and defend their entrenched pecuniary interests. Tomorrow they will start answering, both in the court of public opinion and ultimately in a court of law, for their reprobate acts, careless omissions and willful ignorance.

Tomorrow night's shocking account is simply the first chapter of Masha's unimaginable story.

---

MARSH & GAUGHRAN LLP CONTACT INFORMATION

Phone (914) 592-2626
Fax (914) 206-3998
Toll Free (800) 592-2251

Westchester Financial Center
50 Main Street - Tenth Floor
White Plains, New York 10606-1900

Lawyers Professional Building
61 Smith Avenue
Mount Kisco, New York 10549-2813

www.MGLaw.us
www.MashaStory.info

Source: James R Marsh

Here is another death in foster care, this time in Edmonton. The Edmonton Journal, the Edmonton Star-Phoenix and the CBC all carried the story without mentioning any names. Under the pretext of protecting a dead child from emotional harm, a man charged with a capital crime has joined the ranks of the disappeared, the desaparecidos, for the real purpose of helping social services bury their mistake.

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Man charged in baby's death

The Edmonton Journal

Sunday, November 27, 2005

EDMONTON -- An Edmonton man is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the Saturday death of a 13-month-old toddler who was in the foster care of his relatives.

The child, who police have not identified, was taken to an Edmonton hospital Thursday. Hours later, his life-threatening injuries prompted hospital staff to notify police. Police would not describe the boy's injuries or say whether his parents were with him in hospital. The toddler died shortly after 11:30 a.m. Saturday. An autopsy is scheduled to take place Monday.

Police spokesman Jeff Wuite said the 44-year-old man charged could not be named because of the Child Youth Family Enhancement Act, which prevents the release of any details that identify a child, siblings or guardians. The man's first court appearance is expected to take place Monday. Sources say the child was one of three in the Edmonton foster home.

Alberta Children's Services spokeswoman Jody Korchinski would not confirm whether the child had come under government care nor whether two siblings are still in the home. She said whenever a child is seriously injured while in care, a special case review can be done to determine what could have been done differently.

If this is deemed a homicide, it would be the 35th of year.

Source: website of the Edmonton Journal

Addendum: Today, November 28, the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Sun, but not the CBC, have identified the parties involved in the case.

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Mother screams ‘baby killer’ as man charged in child’s death

Edmonton Journal

Monday, November 28, 2005

The mother of a toddler killed on the weekend screamed "baby killer" in an Edmonton courtroom today as the 44-year-old man charged in the child’s death made his first appearance.

Thirteen-month-old Caleb Jerome Merchant died Saturday in the home of his foster parents.

Raymond Douglas Loyer, who is common-law husband of the child’s foster mother, has been charged with second-degree murder. He was remanded in custody and is to reappear in court on the charge next month.

As he made his appearance, the child’s mother, Sandra Mingo, 21, shouted "baby killer."

Afterwards, she said Alberta Children’s Services should have done a better job of screening the people that her child was living with.

Mingo said her son was taken into care by Children’s Services because she has a drug problem.

The boy was placed in the home of a distant relative who Mingo referred to as her cousin. Loyer lives common-law with the relative.

Relatives of the child and the accused attended today’s brief court appearance.

The child is Edmonton’s 35th homicide of the year.

Source: website of the Edmonton Journal

Teenagers in foster care know they are in a prison, regardless of the social service euphemisms. In Yakima Washington those who run away are now put behind bars. The article comes from the Seattle Times, in case the link expires here is a local copy.

Here is a report from the organizer of the conference held November 19, 2005.

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The Conference at Foxwoods was a success and achieved our desired goals. Our speakers were Richard Wexler, Executive Director from National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (NCCPR); William O. Tower, Executive Director, American Family Rights Association (AFRA); Jeff Griffin, Executive Director, Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) and Thomas M. Dutkiewicz, President, Connecticut DCF Watch.

We would like to personally thank all of the speakers for their time and dedication to the issues of child protection and protecting children from abuse by child protection agencies and case workers.

We had parents and legislators from Maine, Mass, Rhode Island and Connecticut in attendance. There was discussions on the abuses by child protection, the judicial system and the drugging of our children with fictitious diagnosis that can not be determine with any testing.

For those who were unable to attend, we are working on editing of the video and making it available not only to you but the media also.

This is only the beginning. We hope to hold conferences throughout the country to start a national dialogue on the issues of parental rights when dealing with case workers who knowingly lie and commit perjury. We look forward in seeing all of you in your state. If you have a venue that a conference can be held and are able to secure that, please contact us at the below email address.

Thank you all who helped and participated in the promotion of this event.

Thomas M. Dutkiewicz, President
Special Family Advocate
Connecticut DCF Watch
P.O. Box 3005
Bristol, CT 06011-3005
860-833-4127
Admin@connecticutdcfwatch.com
www.connecticutDCFwatch.com

Personal information that is readily available to Children's Aid is routinely withheld from parents.

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Privacy laws block help path to teens

By IAN GILLESPIE, FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Too young to help themselves. Too old to be helped by others.

That's the agonizing dilemma faced by parents who want to aid their troubled teens, but find themselves paralysed by privacy laws.

Last week, I wrote about a local woman trying to help her drug-addicted 16-year-old daughter. The woman said her efforts had been thwarted by school officials, health-care providers and police -- all in the name of protecting the child's right to confidentiality.

"I'm a parent screaming -- and I mean screaming -- for help, but nobody can help me because nobody can tell me anything," the woman said. "And I know I'm not the only parent like this."

It seems she's right about that. Her story prompted nearly a dozen messages from local parents in similar straits.

"I went through a similar experience with my son," said one caller, adding the young man was later diagnosed as manic depressive. "I lost control of him at (age) 16 . . . He overdosed and died in Vancouver seven years ago."

The other messages were just as saddening: A woman said she was struggling to overcome the same obstacles with her 17-year-old daughter; a man complained that legal restrictions blocked him from helping his 14-year-old son; a woman said she'd faced the same roadblocks during the last eight years while trying to help her two teenage sons. And on and on.

Whether the legal snare was embedded in the Personal Health Information Protection Act or the Child and Family Services Act or the Mental Health Act, the essence of the complaints was the same.

Because of privacy rules, the doctors, counsellors and cops say they can't intervene -- or provide helpful information to parents -- unless the kid consents.

But again and again, the parents insisted it's absurd to expect the troubled child to share information, accept help or heed advice -- they're either too addicted, too sick, too depressed, too confused or too angry to do so.

"Thank you for highlighting the destructive . . . results that privacy legislation can have on families with troubled children," wrote one reader. "I pray for that woman, but unfortunately, based on experience, she won't get help from the system.

"Only her daughter can (get help) -- but only if she asks. And too often troubled kids are unable to help themselves."

This parent suggested too many professionals hide behind the various privacy laws, which are often vague and open to interpretation.

"My family has been struggling to help our daughter fight anorexia for the last 3 1/2 years," the reader wrote.

"At one point, a doctor told my husband he had no rights -- only responsibilities. Instead of working as a team to help the child, the family is shut out and, tragically, the child is the big loser."

The most poignant letter came from a woman who identified herself as Christine. Her envelope contained one note to me and another addressed to the woman I wrote about last week.

"Dear mum," stated the letter. "I read about your worries in The Free Press. . . . I empathized, because I've felt as hopeless as you, as frustrated as you, as angry as you must feel sometimes.

"My son has been going through depressions since he was 16, and now, at 28, I believe he is an alcoholic. I went to the doctor when this first started and was told . . . she couldn't tell me anything about his behaviour and condition because he was 16 and (she suggested) maybe I should take a stress seminar.

"When I said I was concerned he might commit suicide, she said it was a valid concern."

The woman explained that she attended some Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to get tips on how to help her son. Instead, she gained some insight about herself.

"I had become obsessed with my son's problem," she wrote, "and had forgotten to take care of myself."

In the end, this woman urged the other worried mother to look after her own needs because "it doesn't mean you love your daughter any less."

That's not the answer these parents are seeking. But it's worth remembering that in a bid to save their kids, these parents need to make sure they don't lose themselves.

Source: website of the London Free Press

Paul Martin has announced compensation for aboriginals abused in foster care.

• The amount, $2560 per year in foster care, only sounds generous. At current rates, Ontario pays Children's Aid Societies over $25,000 per child-year in foster care.
• The agreement does nothing to eliminate unnecessary foster care placements now or in the future.
• The entire agreement is an illusion that could be wiped out by dissolution of parliament next week.
• The final paragraph slams Christians, shifting the blame and slandering a rival to the moral authority of the state.

In the following article, we show only the paragraphs relating to foster care.

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CNN.com

Conference to address aboriginal child abuse

Thursday, November 24, 2005 Posted: 1343 GMT (2143 HKT)

KELOWNA, British Columbia (AP) -- In an unprecedented summit, Canada's leaders will sit with aboriginal chiefs Thursday to settle outstanding claims of child abuse and treaty violations -- termed by one native leader "a national tragedy."

But Fontaine hailed a proposal by Ottawa to give more than $1.7 billion in cash payments to atone for decades of abuse of First Nations children forced to attend Christian residential schools.

Some worry that any progress made at the conference could be washed away when the opposition in Parliament is expected to topple Martin and his minority government in a vote of no-confidence, after he refused to call early national elections.

If the school abuse deal is approved in court, survivors of rape, beatings and cultural isolation would likely be paid by the end of 2006, though the average abusive victim is now 60 and many are sick or dying.

"It is an agreement for the ages," said Fontaine, who was one of the first to go public with his own story of sexual abuse at the Fort Alexander School in Manitoba.

"We hope the settlement package will bring comfort and a sense of victory and vindication for the children and grandchildren of survivors as well," he said.

That history has long been cited by aboriginal leaders as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction on reserves.

The agreement is open to more than 80,000 former students who can apply to receive $2,560 for each year spent in the once-mandatory system meant to "Christianize" native kids.

Almost 15,000 people have sued for damages since Ottawa acknowledged in 1998 that abuse was rampant in the schools. During much of the last century, about 100,000 First Nations children, aged 4 to 18, were sent to Christian residential schools in nearly every province.

Source: CNN

Amanda Reed has started a new blog centering on the Jeffrey Baldwin case.

This is a familiar story pattern. A father is accused of a sexual impropriety and exonerated. But as a result of actions during the pendency of the charges, his family and career are destroyed. In this case, the fatal blow was putting his name on the child abuse register, ending his career as a teacher.

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On June 24, 2004 my daughter's 11 year old female friend accused me of touching her. I was charged, arrested and placed in custody. The CAS of Bruce County got immediately involved and insisted my daughters go to their mother's house.

The next day I was transported to Owen Sound but was unable to have a bail hearing, so spent that night in the Owen Sound jail. Kara Wall, the CAS worker, visited me and told me that I was to have no contact with anyone under 16.

The following day I was granted bail. With input from the CAS and my ex-wife, my bail conditions included that I could not live in Bruce County. So I went to Brantford to live with my parents.

The CAS worker called and insisted that I sign a voluntary agreement or they would hound me until I did. They also intimidated my partner who was still living in our home in Wiarton to sign one as well. When our lawyer found out, he helped us to revoke our agreements. It was after this the CAS made a motion to intervene to place my partner's 15 year old son in protective custody. We made a counter motion, it went to court in February and we won. We are still waiting for the Justice's decision on whether the CAS will pay court costs. The CAS then placed me on the Child Abuse Register. Requests for expunction have been deferred to a hearing yet to be heard.

In August 2004, my bail terms were modified to allow me to live back in Bruce County, but one of my parents had to live with me. Also, it was modified to stipulate no contact with minor females. Because of this, I was placed on administrative leave without pay from the Bluewater District School Board.

My ex-wife finally filed for divorce and wanted sole custody of my daughters. There was a case conferrence and the judge made an interm order that I have no contact with my daughters. I haven't seen them since June 24, 2004.

In May, I had my days in court and was aquitted. The school board reassigned me to teach a grade 2 class in the fall. Near the end of September my union called to inform me the school board had received a letter from the CAS three weeks earlier. The letter stated I was not to be placed in a position of trust with children.

The CAS wanted me to sign a consent to allow them to share information with the school board. My union said no way. The school board placed me on administrative leave without pay for insubordination. The union has my consent to view the CAS's information, but the CAS is too busy to have time to send them the files. Instead they have written the union stating that while the court might have aquitted me, they have a higher burden of proof and feel that I am guilty. Because of this, the union's two grievances have been denied by the board and it will be going to an arbitrator. If I win the arbitration, I will go back to the classroom and the Union will sue the CAS for lost wages. If I lose the arbitration, my teaching career will be over but the Union intends to sue the CAS for potential earnings that have been lost.

This is the short version. I could provide more detail if you want. Also, if anybody you know wants to pick up a torch for me, I'm all for it.

Dan Blenkinsop
email: blenk@bmts.com

Today, through the courtesy of a Maine reader with a scanner, Michelle Goodwin, we post a two-year-old story of a legislator, Ed Dugay who was excluded from a child protection case, though child protection was within the scope of his legislative responsibilites. Your elected representatives really do not have much control over social services, and pleading for relief by petitioning them is futile.

In the following case, CAS attempts to prevent a single mother from associating with a man. According to professor Stephen Baskerville, the first objective of the state in gaining control of a family is removal of the father. In this, and many other CAS cases, they also endeavor to prevent the reentry of a father substitute into a family. Also, while the police and child protectors are legally separate agencies under different ministries, in practice they act together as a single unit. This is not the first case where police enforce the unsubstantiated word of a social worker in preference to an order from a court.

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Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Dear Chief McElveny,

I am the agent for a complainant who hand delivered her complaint on October 3 and then on October 4, 2005 when the officer in charge of Brantford police refused to give her the information she needed to make her complaint on October 3, 2005.

The complaint is not complicated. Officers of Brantford City Police threatened her with arrest if she did not hand her daughter over to a CAS worker. The complainant is a single mother who had a court order which placed her daughter in her care and neither the CAS nor the police had any order from a Justice of the Peace or a Judge. And, further no paperwork, not even a receipt for her daughter or an officer's card, was left with the complainant. The reason given for apprehending the child was that Ontario Works had informed the CAS that she was living with a man who the court said she should not live with. There was no evidence to support this statement and if there was any doubt in the mind of the CAS that the complainant's daughter was at risk there is a court procedure set out in the Child and Family Services Act that would have allowed the matter to be before the court without the trauma that was caused this little girl.

The complainant hand delivered a copy of the court order to you through the receptionist at headquarters on October 5, 2005 and you were asked through our organization to have the child returned to the mother in accordance with the court order. You failed to respond. The matter went before a Judge on October 8, 2005 and the little girl was returned to her mother but not without cost to the emotional health of the child who now believes her mother gave her away to a stranger. She had no idea that her mother was threatened with arrest if she did not do so and that the CAS would have taken her anyway as her mother could not look after her in jail. Coercion invalidates any action that is seen as voluntary and a threat of arrest is I am sure you will agree coercion.

As I am sure you are aware our Criminal Code protects children under 14 from being removed from the supervision of their parent without lawful reason. In this case there was no lawful reason. The matter could and should have waited until the Monday and a court application made if there was any concern. However, as we know possession is nine tenths of the law and in many cases these children are not returned for months, if at all, regardless of the CAS concerns being groundless, which many of our audits show is the case. We have been involved in many such cases throughout Ontario and the safeguards built into the Child and Family Services Act are simply not being adhered to.

I have also been involved as agent for dozens of police complaints throughout Ontario and I can truthfully say none of the complaints, except one, worked out as an appropriate means of obtaining what was desired - a change in how police do things. I was not surprised, therefore, when I got a call from Inspector Scott Easto saying that all correspondence in this matter was lost and he required the complainant's copy to proceed with the complaint. Inspector Scott Easto inferred that I am being unco-operative in this investigation because I don't believe it is our responsiblity to furnish Brantford Police with the complaint and the correspondence, most of it hand delivered, yet again.