|
click for help
collapse
On this page press one of the expand
buttons to see the full text of an article. Later
press collapse to revert to the original
form. The button below expands all articles.
show all
More recent news
Dr. Cop MD
September 16, 2006
Here is a follow-up to the story of the mother jailed for trying to get
a second opinion on treatment for her baby's kidney
problem. The baby got the disputed surgical implant on
June 30. The mother has drawn a suspended sentence,
meaning that any failure to follow the doctor's orders
will place her back in jail. Parents now have to treat
doctors the same way as cops.
expand
collapse
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Mother who took baby from hospital out
of jail
Saturday, September 16, 2006
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER
A mother who snatched her sick baby from Children's
Hospital and Regional Medical Center and triggered a
statewide dragnet in June walked out of the King
County Courthouse a free woman Friday after being
sentenced on a reduced charge of custodial
interference.
Tina Carlsen ran away with her 9-month-old boy,
Riley, on June 21 to spare him from dialysis treatment
for kidney problems, believing that naturopathic
treatment was a better way to return the baby to
health.
It was the culmination of months of discord with
physicians who ultimately prevailed upon state Child
Protective Services to take custody of Riley to ensure
he received dialysis.
Scott Eklund / P-I
Tina Carlsen is sentenced Friday for custodial
interference for kidnapping her sick baby.
"You're not before this court because there was any
intent to harm your child ... or that you acted for
any reason other than out of love for your child,"
Superior Court Judge Richard Jones told the tearful
defendant.
Jones sentenced Carlsen, 35, to a one-year
suspended sentence on the misdemeanor offense.
Following nearly identical sentencing
recommendations from the prosecutor and defense
attorneys, Jones ordered Carlsen to ensure that Riley
makes all his dialysis appointments. The mother also
must follow all recommendations and conditions of both
CPS and the dependency court in Pierce County that
granted the state custody of the boy.
Carlsen will continue to have unlimited access to
Riley, who is living with his father, Todd Rogers, as
long as Rogers is present.
Carlsen's flight with her son prompted authorities
to issue an Amber Alert and initially charge her with
kidnapping.
"When she was on the run, we didn't know her
intent," Deputy Prosecutor Lisa Johnson told the judge
Friday. "The child's medical condition was tenuous."
If Carlsen had fled the state and was pulled over
on a traffic stop, a felony warrant would appear when
officers ran her name through police databases.
Johnson told the court Carlsen's actions were
"well-meaning" but "misguided."
Defense attorney Michele Shaw portrayed Carlsen as
a strong-willed woman acting out of a deep maternal
instinct to protect her baby.
Before Riley was born, doctors told Carlsen that he
would be born profoundly handicapped as a result of a
genetic defect. They pressured her to have an
abortion, but the mother refused "for personal and
religious reasons," Shaw said.
Carlsen did extensive research on the Internet to
assure herself that Riley would be OK. The baby did
not have the genetic defect, but shortly after birth,
he was diagnosed with kidney failure.
Carlsen stuck to her own faith in alternative
treatments and opposed plans to start dialysis,
prompting doctors to seek intervention by CPS.
The morning of June 21, several hours before
scheduled surgery, Carlsen "panicked" and fled with
her son, according to Shaw's memo to the court.
"I apologize for what this has caused," Carlsen
told the judge with tears in her eyes.
"The state has expended a lot of money. This has
gotten way out of hand. I do apologize for all the
craziness that has trailed behind me."
Jones told her that she got in trouble for
violating a court order giving CPS custody, not for
challenging her doctors.
"I'm not condemning you for considering alternative
or naturopathic medicine," the judge said. "That's a
philosophical issue that could go on until the end of
time."
Shaw said Riley continues to undergo dialysis
treatment and is "thriving."
P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at
206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.
Website Blocked
September 15, 2006
Today the website casinternment went
down. The domain name, registered by TUCOWS INC, is on
status REGISTRAR-LOCK. Today was the deadline for the
website owner to remove the site or go to jail. We have
no way of knowing whether she removed the site herself,
or CAS bullied the webhost. The Russian mirror site is
still available, though it takes several minutes to load
a page.
Addendum: Here is a message from the Canada
Court Watch forum purportedly from the owner of
casinternment. It confirms that she took down the site
herself. It is in the form of a reply to another member
with screen name FYI.
expand
collapse
Re: ON FIXCAS Date Posted: 9/17/2006 1:20:18
AM
casinternment
To FYI
You must have misunderstood what you read. I am
ordered to, with the threat of jail, not to name CAS
workers, lawyers, Judges. I am ordered to not
publicize any information on my court matters, that
includes posting here on this forum even under an
assumed name. My post here today will be used against
me in the next affidavit and will be used as evidence
of my contempt and used to try to jail me.
It is used against me that Courtwatch posted a
letter my son wrote to the judge. This did not
identify my son, it of course was regarding my case.
I received a new affidavit today that states the front
page of site is available on fixcas. This does not
identify my family or children, this is publicizing
the case and this was in an affidavit given to me
today to support my contempt and reason to jail me in
court next Thursday. If I ask for advice on this
forum or discuss my case it is against court order,
even if I do not identify myself and children. As I
say even if I use a pen name, If they can figure out
it is me I will be in contempt. I was even blamed and
accused of writing a post in this forum last March
that I had never seen before. It was someone else's.
The postings I made and other people made this week
regarding my case on this forum are in this new
affidavit and will be used in court for contempt and
for the purpose of supplying evidence to have me
jailed. Also in evidence against me is any other web
site who mentions anything to do with this case. Even
if I myself have no knowledge of this website. They
wish not only to control me but everybody else. They
expect me to be aware of and be responsible for what
everybody else is doing. This is a totally
unreasonable and impractical order.
I am ordered back to court next Thursday with this
evidence of contempt and to attempt to jail me.
This is not about protect children's identities.
This is a gag order to protect themselves and to
intimate us for speaking out critically against them.
If they are successful with me, everybody could be
next. Everybody who reaches out for help,
understanding or advice on this forum or others.
Every web site that speaks out will be targeted. In
my affidavits court watch and fixcas are targeted.
Every body who speaks out critically for change can be
jailed.
Courtwatch and fixcas and any media could not
effectively function if they were bared by law not to
publish names of judges or workers or any information
on individual cases. We need to be able to publish
injustices, not be afraid to speak out about them.
This case could make a precedent for that. They could
go after more people for stating opinion or asking for
advice on this site.
If you too, FYI are before the courts, you could
also one day be in contempt for your above post. If
you mentioned any thing of your case on here you too
could be targeted and held in contempt. I think I
know who you are, and I believe you have published
here information on your case when you were
distraught. You then are as much in contempt of this
law as myself.
In the affidavit that was given to me today the
Frontenac CAS says that they hire people to work in
what they call their "information technology
department." What they do is surf the net and try to
find anyone who has spoken out and report on them. I
am obviously a threat and am targeted by there
stalking and harassing.
This has nothing to do with identifying children.
This has to do with silencing criticism and
intimidating people and trying to stop us from
organizing and informing people of the changes needed
in this out of control child protection industry.
What they are scared of is that I will be a
successful threat to them with valid and well
documented corruption in their system. That I can and
will expose it. I am learning and getting better. I
took down casinternment at 12 oclock, by the court
order. Casinternment will be up again. It will be
better. There will be no law they will be able to use
against me although I am sure they will try in their
will to protect themselves. I think I know what to do
to make it better, just the facts and shorter. What
they said in there affidavit. What they said on tape.
The total conflicting mess of their own records and
affidavits. This is why they are after me, because
they think I will do a good job. They are right.
So not to piss on your crusade but your information
is wrong. The truth of what they are attempting to do
is very scary and you should be very scared at the
obstruction of all of our rights and our ability to
organize and bring attention to a government
organization that is out of control.
Comment: The post ends with a good point, the
statements most damaging to Children's Aid are their
own. The mother has less to fear than she thinks from
jail. Fathers are jailed for years in family cases
without public notice, but jailing mothers attracts the
kind of attention that leads to their release, and
reform.
Bye Bye Baby Goodbye
September 14, 2006
Here is yet another use for the threat of child
removal. A hospital is threatening parents to get them
to remove their medically fragile baby from the only
equipment that can save his life — a saturation
monitor.
expand
collapse
Take your baby home or face foster
care
A MUM who has refused to take her newborn baby home
over fears for his life has been told she faces having
him fostered.
The Goodenough family: Kevin holding Bobbi, 4,
Tina with Denia, 1, Dion, 6, Mercedes, 5, and
Carina.
Tina Goodenough, who gave birth to twin boys in
April, is still coming to terms with the death of one
of the babies, Sonni, born 16 weeks premature.
Now Tina, who has five other children, has been
warned by hospital staff that little Dijon, who has
also been desperately-ill, could be taken into care.
Dijon, now 20 weeks old, is currently in St Mary's
Hospital, Portsmouth. But Tina and husband Kevin say
they are afraid to take their son home without
specialist medical equipment as Dijon has stopped
breathing several times.
Tina and Kevin have been left shattered by the
news. They say that they do not know what to do -
risk the life of their son and take him home or see
him taken into care.
A spokesman for the hospital, which denies Dijon
needs specialist equipment, has confirmed that Tina
was informed foster care was an alternative.
Tina, 35, said: "It's devastating for us because
we cannot even grieve for our other baby until we know
that Dijon is going to be okay."
Up until three weeks ago, Dijon suffered from apnia
attacks, which meant that he suddenly stopped
breathing.
Tina and Kevin, 51, want to take Dijon to their
home in Bellfield, Titchfield, but they insist on
having a saturation monitor, which would alert the
couple if Dijon stopped breathing.
Tina said: "Since he was born we have had to watch
Dijon be resuscitated again and again. It's been
terrible.
"If we had a saturation monitor we could be sure
that if another attack happened we could be there in
time to get him breathing again. Without one, we
could wake up one morning and find that he had
suffered an attack during the night and died. We feel
like we have been pushed into a corner."
Hospital staff have told the parents that because
Dijon has not had an attack for three weeks he is well
enough to go home, but Tina believes that three weeks
is not long enough.
She said: "With all that we have been through,
with the loss of our first son, Sonni, we just don't
think it's right to risk Dijon's life by bringing him
home without a monitor. Of course we would love to
bring him home but not if it puts his life at risk.
"We cannot stay awake for 24 hours a day just
watching to see if he stops breathing. That's crazy
and we have five other children to look after. All we
are asking is either for a monitor to take home or to
keep him in for longer. Any parent can understand
what I am saying."
Portsmouth Hospitals Trust has said that it is
doing its best to deal with the family's wishes even
though it would not normally supply this type of
equipment to patients.
A spokesperson said: "There was a general
conversation between the family and a newly-appointed
senior staff nurse. During that conversation the
mother asked the specific question what would be the
alternatives to not taking him home?
"There was then a general conversation where one of
the alternatives mentioned was foster care. Once a
baby is fit enough to be discharged the best place for
the baby is back in the community, not an acute
hospital setting."
3:00pm Wednesday 13th September 2006
Mother Vilified
September 14, 2006
Comments follow the story.
expand
collapse
Ottawa Sun
September 13, 2006
Drunk mom held
A 46-year-old Kingston woman was arrested Monday
after she flew off the handle when two Children's Aid
Society workers showed up at her house. Police
arrived at a Cherry St. home to help the CAS workers
assess two children at the residence. Upon arrival,
police met the woman, who was extremely drunk and home
alone with her two children, aged 5 and 8. Police
arrested her for disturbing the peace and the woman
spent a few hours in custody before being
released.
We can't understand why the mother in this story was
agitated. Normal mothers love to have Children's Aid
workers help them with threats. Cops have long removed
drunks from public places, but now they can arrest you
for drinking in private.
What happened to the kids? Did CAS leave them home
without mom? They probably are in custody now, where
they will remain for a long time. Critics have
speculated on how the story would sound from the
mother's point of view, but since there are no names in
the article, we will never know.
Carline - A Mother's Convictions
September 14, 2006
A film about Carline VandenElsen, stripped of her
baby for no reason other than practicing motherhood,
then jailed for a standoff with police, is scheduled for
a showing in Halifax.
expand
collapse
Halifax Daily News, Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Films get a second chance
Topical doc: Carline VandenElsen is the subject of
one of the films. (File photo)
Salon des Refuses welcomes films rejected by the
Atlantic Film Festival
By Dean Lisk
The Daily News
FILM - Some of the films rejected by the Atlantic
Film Festival will get a big screen debut after all.
"As an artist, - filmmaker, specifically - you get
pretty used to rejection," said Steven James May, who
is holding a Salon des Refuses Atlantique at the
Khyber Club tomorrow night.
Now in its fifth year, the one-night film festival
is a feel-good chance for people rejected by the
Atlantic Film Festival to still have their movies
screened.
Five films will be shown at tomorrow's screening,
including three works by Halifax directors. They are
Mirco Chen's horror The Birth of Serfs, Convivial
Daze's documentary Carline - A Mother's Convictions,
and Megan Wennberg's comedy My Name Is?
Also being show are the drama Morning Radio, by
Winnipeg director Vanessa Loewen, and the drama An
Open Door, by Los Angeles director Crystal Us.
Unlike the Atlantic Film Festival, where a
committee selects the works which will be shown, the
Salon's selection process is all about the luck of the
draw.
"Every application is assigned a number, and I
write each number on an ibuprofen tablet," said May.
"I put that in a jar, and the first one I pull out is
the first one I screen. I do it until I have a couple
hours of programming."
All you need you need to enter the salon is a film
and a festival rejection letter.
The salon has been in existence since 2001 - when
May received his first rejection letter from the
Atlantic Film Festival.
He named the event after the Salon des Refuses that
Napoleon III created in the 1800s to provide a venue
for painters refused by mainstream galleries because
their art was seen as too progressive.
"Those dudes turned out to be the impressionists,
like Renoir, Monet," said May.
Similar salons have since popped up in all areas of
art, from photography to film and music.
"I've heard there are people that don't like the
salon, but nobody has said anything to my face," said
May. "Some people might not like the films, but I
don't care if they are good or bad, I just put them
out there."
dlisk@hfxnews.ca
One-sided Inquests Supported
September 10, 2006
The Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills
held hearings on Ontario bill 89. It provides that when a child
dies at the hands of a parent after custody is returned
to him, that death must be the subject of a coroner's
inquest. The committee departed from the usual dull
hearing format, presenting action-drama. The first four
witnesses expressed the view of aggrieved, or even
terrified, mothers, none expressed a father's viewpoint.
The witnesses were:
- Jenny Latimer. She told the story of her son Kevin,
fatally injured owing to inadequate supervision
while under her estranged husband's care.
- Julie Craven. A woman in a bad marriage told of the
loss of her son in a murder/suicide by her
ex-husband.
- Witness X. A mother with a bad relationship tells
of her frustration at inability to exile dad from
her eight-year-old child's life.
- Annette Sackrider-Miller. She spoke for her
eight-year-old son. It was surprising that the
committee accepted this hearsay as evidence. Again,
the story was frustration at inability to rid the
family of dad.
- John Muise. This former cop spoke in favor of the
bill.
- Judy Newman. She represented the Attorney General,
and described the program for supervised access.
- Anne Marsden. She said that the provisions of the
Child and Family Services Act are rarely followed
— parents do not get the hearings required by
law, and lawyers appointed for children do not
represent their interest.
- Trinela Cane. She spoke for the Ministry of
Children and Youth Services in support of the bill.
The Hatfields and the McCoys had a legendary feud.
Imagine that when a Hatfield kills a McCoy, the story is
reported in full, but when a McCoy kills a Hatfield, the
story is suppressed. Readers will think (falsely) that
the Hatfields are doing all the killing.
That is what bill 89 does. When a parent deprived of
custody gets a child back and later kills it, we will
get the news. But when a parent does not get a child
back and CAS kills it, it will remain (as now) a
secret.
While the aggrieved mothers giving testimony are
deserving of sympathy, the solution is to disclose all
child deaths, not just those fitting the CAS agenda.
Escape from Canada to Russia
September 10, 2006
Canadians can now exercise free speech by fleeing to
Russia. The website casinternment has
now appeared on a (slow) mirror site in Russia!
This ensures its survival, even with the threat of jail
to the family that created it.
Jail for (name banned)
September 9, 2006
The mother in the Kingston casinternment
family is is now being ordered to jail, unless she
corrects her contempt before September 15. The contempt
seems to be posting names on the internet, and hiding
her runaway son. According to her own statement below,
the boy ran away from CAS, not from her, and she does
not know his whereabouts. The website complies with the
laws of Ontario by blotting out the names of all family
members, but that is not enough for CAS — they
want the names of their own workers (not restricted by
legislation) removed. Ontario needs a family to stand
up in court for the right to mention their own names.
This family too poor for counsel will not be the
one.
CAS seems to want jail someone for a website,
terrifying their other victims. They failed with
Aneurin Ellis, but could succeed in this case. In the
future, CAS websites may be limited to those families
able to hire a lawyer.
Here is the mother's typed version of the judge's
order, verbatim with misspellings.
expand
collapse
9/8/2006 5:24:55 PM
I just received the endorsement from judge
Belch.
3. Following this Court’s finding that XXX XXX
is in breach of the CFSA and the order of Justice
Brennan of march 8, 2006 and thereby in contempt of
that order, XXX XXX is directed to reframe from any
future publications and is to immediately remove from
her internet site any material identifying anyone
involved in these child protection proceedings. The
removal is to be completed by September 15, 2006 and
if it is, then XXX XXX contempt motion is to be
purged. In the event that XXX XXX ignores this court
order, there shall be a warrant to issue for her
arrest and she is to be returned to this court for
determination of penalty pursuant to rule 31 of the
Family Law Rules.
2. Delivery of (son) to the care of the
Children’s Aid Society by September 15, 2006 will
purge XXX XXX conduct in failing to follow the
November 10, 2005 order of Justice Sheffield. In the
event that XXX XXX does not comply with the said
order, there be a warrant to issue for her arrest and
XXX XXX is to be returned to this Court for
determination of penalty to rule 31 of the Family Law
Rules.
4. A copy of this Order is to be served upon the
internet providers of XXX XXX together with a copy of
s. 45(8) of the CFSA.
I have never read in the CFSA that you could not
publish CAS workers names or the name of the society.
I read that you cannot publish your or your children's
names, which I have followed.
The CAS lost my son. I do not know where he is.
They want to throw me in jail for something that is
their fault. he never ran away from me.
Politicians Clueless
September 6, 2006
Foster child Marcus Fiesel broke into the news in
Ohio on August 15 when foster mother Liz Carroll had a
blackout from a heart condition while taking her
children to a park. Two-year-old Marcus disappeared
during the blackout. Six days later the foster mother
appeared on television to plead for help in finding the
boy. She wore the same clothes as on the day of the
disappearance to help viewers remember her.
While the foster mom was looking for the boy, the
police were working out what really happened. The
fosters had tied up Marcus and locked him in a closet on
August 4, then left for a family reunion. They returned
two days later to find him dead. They took him to Brown
County Kentucky, burned the body and dumped the remains
in the Ohio river. On August 10 they dodged a
caseworker visit with the excuse that Marcus was sick.
When the facts became known, foster parents Liz and
David Carroll were arrested and held on ten million
dollars bail each. Ohio child protectors responded with
the usual party line, we cannot comment because of
confidentiality, but we are changing procedures to
prevent a recurrence.
Two Ohio Republican politicians have published
opinion pieces giving their suggestions for improving
the child protection system. Most of the suggestions
show that Ohio Republicans are clueless — only
the suggestion to open the records of dead children will
help. A third opinion by Richard Wexler gives the real
solution, letting parents care for their own
children.
Ontario politicians are spared the requirement to
give their opinions, because most foster deaths are
suppressed before they get to the press. From what
little is available, many Ontario politicians are just
as clueless as Ohio's Republicans. Howard Hampton and
Andrea Horwath are exceptions.
expand
collapse
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Jones on children's safety
Lawmakers must keep kids safe
BY SHANNON JONES | REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE, OHIO HOUSE
DISTRICT 67
Last week we were reminded how vulnerable children
are when they are failed by a system built to protect
them. Police say Marcus Fiesel died at the hands of
his foster parents. Outrage doesn't even begin to
describe the feelings of this mother and candidate.
As a legislator, the strongest power I'll have is
the power of the purse and when government agencies
come to me with budget requests, I'll fight to divert
dollars from the back office bureaucracy to the front
lines of all child protection agencies.
But lawmakers must do more.
In fact, it was my disgust at a system that allowed
for the rape and murder of nine-year-old Jessica
Lunsford that prompted me to run for the Ohio House.
I supported enacting Jessica's Law in Ohio - a law
mandating a minimum 25-year sentence (without parole)
for child sex predators - and spent the spring
campaigning for its passage. While I'm pleased that
it finally passed, I'll fight to ensure that these
stricter sentencing guidelines are enforced by judges.
Our leaders must do all they can to prevent rather
than just respond to child tragedies. If we're
serious about protecting children, we must also crack
down on child pornography, Internet obscenities, and
sexually oriented businesses - before we read about
another attack or murder of a child. We must insist
on tougher penalties for those who pander obscenity
and sexually oriented material involving a child - on
the first offense before more children are victimized.
Prosecutors tell us that by the time they convict a
pedophile, that criminal has already committed dozens
of similar crimes that went undetected.
This November, when choosing a candidate for state
legislature, vote like your child's safety is
depending on it - because it just might.
www.jones4rep.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Sunday, September 3, 2006
Ohio's system needs a lot of work
BY KEN BLACKWELL | GUEST COLUMNIST
Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is the
Republican candidate for Ohio governor.
The tortured death of Marcus Fiesel tragically
reminds us that Ohio's child protection system can be
as dysfunctional, broken and fractured as the families
it serves. It also highlights several reforms
necessary to avoid this tragedy in the future:
Open all records: Could the child protection
system have done more to protect Marcus? We may never
know because Ohio law allows an agency to keep the
records secret, and so far the Butler County Children
Services Board has said they intend to do just that -
keep the records sealed. That's wrong.
When a child dies, how can the release of the
records relating to the child's case hurt him? Who is
really being protected by keeping the files secret -
the child or the system?
The law that allows these records to be hidden
behind a wall of secrecy should be changed to require
the release of all files for a child who dies while in
the custody and care of the child protection agency.
The only exception should be if the prosecutor
determines that the release of part or all of the
records would adversely affect the prosecution of the
criminal case. But after the criminal case is over
all records relating to the case should be made
public.
Increase state supervision: Marcus' death also
underscores the need to have more oversight over state
and local child protection agencies. Yes, child
protection agencies do a lot of good work. Hundreds
if not thousands of Ohio's children are alive today
because the dedicated workers of our child protection
system were there to rescue them from harm. But those
who work inside the system are also human, and human
beings make mistakes.
The law should require that child protection
agencies be subject to ongoing independent performance
and case reviews. The independent review system used
by Ohio's Department of Aging is a good model for such
oversight.
Give all foster children equal protection. Current
state law requires that each foster child receive an
in-home visit once every 30 days. Unfortunately, some
counties have contracted out these in-home visits to
the same entity that placed that child in that home.
That conflict of interest should be removed, using an
independent third party to visit all network placement
children. All children must have independent
supervision.
Improve information sharing: If a foster parent
runs afoul of the law, this warning light should be
immediately communicated to child support agencies.
This will take technological upgrades and
improvements, but I know how to do this well. As
secretary of state, I have improved that office's
technology and support services, shortening the time
for baseline business transactions from 16 to three
days. Upgrading children's services information and
technology systems can prevent future tragedies from
taking place.
It is a horror that Marcus Fiesel died the way he
did. As your governor, I will fight to enact these
strong, aggressive reforms to make sure that never
happens again.
Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is the
Republican candidate for Ohio governor.
Another Child 'Protected to Death';
Response to Ohio Foster-Care Tragedy Ignores 'Elephant
In the Room,' National Child Advocacy Group Says
9/5/2006 11:50:00 AM
To: National Desk
Contact: Richard Wexler of the National Coalition
for Child Protection Reform, 703-212-2006
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The
outrage that has swept through Ohio in the wake of the
death of a 3-year-old foster child will accomplish
nothing if everyone ignores the most important fact
about the case: Like thousands of other foster
children, this child, Marcus Fiesel, probably never
needed to be taken from his birth mother in the first
place, according to a national child advocacy
organization.
Marcus' foster parents are accused of tying him up
and locking him in a closet overnight. When they
returned to find Marcus dead, the foster father
allegedly burned the body.
"Once again, a child has been protected to death in
foster care," said Richard Wexler, executive director
of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.
"There is no question that Marcus' birth mother was
overwhelmed and couldn't care for him by herself. But
she almost certainly could have cared for him had she
gotten the right kind of help. Instead, the response
of authorities boiled down to
'take-the-child-and-run,'" Wexler said.
Marcus' death comes only months after adoptive
parents in Ohio were convicted of confining 11
special-needs foster children in what prosecutors
called cages.
"Of course the majority of foster parents don't
abuse the children in their care. Many are true
heroes," Wexler said. "But the rate of abuse in
foster care is far higher than in the general
population and far higher than generally realized. In
one recent study, one-third of foster children
reported being abused in care. The rate of abuse in
group homes and institutions -- latter day orphanages
-- is even worse.
"You can't fix the problem by tightening licensing
standards and background checks, or demanding that
caseworkers knock on the door one more time," Wexler
said. "That's ignoring the elephant in the room:
Ohio takes away children at a rate 30 percent above
the national average and double or triple the rate of
model systems with exemplary records for keeping
children safe.
"States that take away too many children will
always be begging for foster homes -- and beggars
can't be choosers," Wexler said.
"The only way to fix foster care is to have less of
it."
http://www.usnewswire.com/
Addendum: On February 22, 2007
Liz Carroll was sentenced to a long term in prison. She
will be able to apply for parole in 54 years. There was no
punishment for the social workers legally responsible for
the boy.
Court Reforms
September 4, 2006
The Ontario Attorney General has posted a document Justice and the Media (pdf) advocating real reform
in the courts of Ontario. It suggests:
- Allowing parties to litigation, their lawyers and
the press to bring unobtrusive sound recording devices
into the courtroom. This is permitted by law now, but
thwarted by informal policies at the courthouse, such as
security staff denying admission to parties with
recording devices (or even roughing them up).
- Allowing access to case records at the courthouse.
This includes providing photocopies at affordable
cost.
- Placing dockets and judgments online.
These reforms should be a real help to parents in
child protection cases. Canada Court Watch reports that
in a case in which they got a recording device into a
courtroom, Children's Aid returned the children to the
parents within an hour, in preference to having their
atrocious conduct recorded.
Other reforms proposed in the document are mainly of
interest to larger organizations, such as the Toronto
Sun or CBC.
Jean Supports Adoption
September 2, 2006
Canada's Governor General Michaëlle Jean, an
adoptive parent herself, supports adoption. The article
does not say whether she supports the methods used to
separate babies from their parents.
expand
collapse
GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA BECOMES
PATRON OF THE ACC
The Adoption Council of Canada (ACC) is proud to
announce that Her Excellency the Right Honourable
Michaëlle Jean C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D. Governor
General of Canada has agreed to be the Patron of the
organization.
This formal grant of patronage provides the ACC
with the name and status of vice-regal office.
The board and staff of the ACC are very honoured by
this announcement, as Her Excellency is the first
Patron of the organization. “We are particularly
pleased that the Governor General has agreed to be a
patron of the Adoption Council of Canada because of
her deep concern about disadvantaged children and her
personal knowledge of adoption” proclaims Sandra
Scarth, President of the ACC.
Killers Try Again
September 2, 2006
Michigan DHS, already known for serial deaths in the
Lethbridge family, is trying again.
In the case of Matt and Jennifer Lethbridge, the
state of Michigan has seized nine children, even
reaching across the border into Canada to grab one.
Their oldest girl died of medical problems, a boy was
murdered, and according to information from the family
not yet in the press, another girl was infected with
hepatitis. In the two occasions in which the
Lethbridges had a child in their own care for over a
year, it suffered no harm.
Last year Ricky Holland, Casey Jo Caswell's son
seized by Michigan DHS and placed for adoption, was
murdered by his adoptive parents. The shameless agency
has just taken another child from Casey Jo for its
"protection".
Sadly, serial seizure is routine in cases of children
killed in protection. In 1999 Massachusetts DSS removed
two children, Kyle and Damien, from their mother Diana
Ross. In June 2001 Kyle Ross was killed by the foster
family's rottweiler. DSS shamelessly took her next
child, Aaron, born two months later, into their
custody.
Maybe real parents should get a chance to care for
their own children.
expand
collapse
Detroit News Online
September 1, 2006
State seizes baby from Ricky's birth
mom
Infant is woman's fifth child taken by officials;
one was boy adoptive parents allegedly killed.
Karen Bouffard / The Detroit News
Ricky Holland
For a few joyous hours Wednesday, Casey Jo Caswell
-- the birth mother of murdered 7-year-old Ricky
Holland -- thought she would get another chance to
raise a child.
But 11 hours after giving birth at Lansing's Ingham
Regional Medical Center, state Department of Human
Services took custody of the child and forbid Casey
and her husband, Matt Caswell, from having contact
with the 8-pound, 11 1/2 ounce girl named Alexia
Jordan.
"She's devastated," Matt Caswell said.
"The baby's in the nursery, and she's not able to
get any breast milk from her mother."
It's the fifth baby for Caswell, 25. The state
took custody of the other four, including Ricky, and
eventually allowed Tim and Lisa Holland to adopt them.
They both face trial in Ingham County Circuit Court
for the murder of the boy reported missing July 2,
2005, and found in a swamp in January.
Both blame the other for the death. Lisa Holland's
trial starts Sept. 11, while Tim's is scheduled for
January.
Ricky's siblings are now in the custody of Tim
Holland's relatives.
By law, the state must immediately file a petition
to terminate the rights of parents who previously had
children taken away and parental rights terminated, if
there's evidence that another baby would be harmed,
said Steve Yager, director of the state Office of the
Family Advocate.
Ricky was 3 years old when a Jackson Circuit Court
Judge terminated his birth mother's parental rights,
citing longstanding homelessness and unemployment.
In 2005, she married longtime friend Matt Caswell,
who pleaded no contest in 2003 to second-degree
criminal sexual conduct involving a 3-year-old girl.
He claims he was framed and is innocent.
You can reach Karen Bouffard at (734) 462-2206 or
kbouffard@detnews.com.
Big Tony is Watching
September 1, 2006
Nanny state used to be a figure of speech. Britain
plans to have social workers supervise the care of large
numbers of children from before birth.
expand
collapse
Problem children targeted at birth
By Andrew Grice
Published: 01 September 2006
Tough new plans to target babies and young children
in problem families were unveiled by Tony Blair
yesterday. He said social workers should intervene
much earlier to prevent children in "dysfunctional"
families turning into problem teenagers.
His initiative could mean that families who refuse
to co-operate would lose state benefits or have their
children taken into local authority care more swiftly.
The Prime Minister said it was possible to predict
problem children "prebirth" in some cases. He
suggested that single mothers might be forced to
accept state help before their children were born
under the plans to tackle a hard core of more than one
million "socially excluded" people.
In his first interview since returning from his
summer break, he told the BBC: "If we are not
prepared to predict and intervene far more early then
there are children that are going to grow up in
families that we know perfectly well are completely
dysfunctional, and the kids a few years down the line
are going to be a menace to society and actually a
threat to themselves."
Mr Blair added: "You either steer clear and say
that's not for government to get into, in which case
you don't deal with the problem. Or, I think we need
to deal with these particular issues and we actually
do intervene and we intervene at a very early stage."
Denying the plan smacked of a "Big Brother" state,
he admitted many people might be uneasy with the idea
of intervening in family life but said there was no
point "pussy-footing".
Mr Blair was confident that the work would outlast
his time in Number 10.
"For us as a party and a government, this is
something we are passionate about, that we have
developed for a number of years and will continue long
after I've gone," he said.
Social exclusion has emerged as Mr Blair's "big
idea" for this autumn as he tries to show his
administration has not run out of steam. He will make
a big speech on the issue next week and Hilary
Armstrong, the Cabinet Office minister, will unveil a
new government strategy the following week.
The Tories accused Mr Blair of creating a nanny
state, while others stressed that the same early
intervention proposals had been unveiled four years
ago by David Blunkett, the then Home Secretary.
Oliver Letwin, the Tories' policy chief, said:
"The answer is... to encourage social enterprise, the
voluntary sector, community groups and to help people
without trying to run their lives for them."
Tough new plans to target babies and young children
in problem families were unveiled by Tony Blair
yesterday. He said social workers should intervene
much earlier to prevent children in "dysfunctional"
families turning into problem teenagers.
His initiative could mean that families who refuse
to co-operate would lose state benefits or have their
children taken into local authority care more swiftly.
The Prime Minister said it was possible to predict
problem children "prebirth" in some cases. He
suggested that single mothers might be forced to
accept state help before their children were born
under the plans to tackle a hard core of more than one
million "socially excluded" people.
In his first interview since returning from his
summer break, he told the BBC: "If we are not
prepared to predict and intervene far more early then
there are children that are going to grow up in
families that we know perfectly well are completely
dysfunctional, and the kids a few years down the line
are going to be a menace to society and actually a
threat to themselves."
Mr Blair added: "You either steer clear and say
that's not for government to get into, in which case
you don't deal with the problem. Or, I think we need
to deal with these particular issues and we actually
do intervene and we intervene at a very early stage."
Denying the plan smacked of a "Big Brother" state,
he admitted many people might be uneasy with the idea
of intervening in family life but said there was no
point "pussy-footing".
Mr Blair was confident that the work would outlast
his time in Number 10.
"For us as a party and a government, this is
something we are passionate about, that we have
developed for a number of years and will continue long
after I've gone," he said.
Social exclusion has emerged as Mr Blair's "big
idea" for this autumn as he tries to show his
administration has not run out of steam. He will make
a big speech on the issue next week and Hilary
Armstrong, the Cabinet Office minister, will unveil a
new government strategy the following week.
The Tories accused Mr Blair of creating a nanny
state, while others stressed that the same early
intervention proposals had been unveiled four years
ago by David Blunkett, the then Home Secretary.
Oliver Letwin, the Tories' policy chief, said:
"The answer is... to encourage social enterprise, the
voluntary sector, community groups and to help people
without trying to run their lives for them."
Ellis Not in Contempt
August 31, 2006
Earlier we reported on the efforts
of the Waterloo Children's Aid Society to jail Aneurin
Ellis for two counts, one of which was testifying
before the provincial legislature. Today his case was
heard and the judge dismissed the motion. Members of
the Ontario Legislature were alerted to the case against
Mr Ellis. We do not know how much the court was
influenced by the arguments of Mr Ellis, and how much by
the legislature. Here is the order of the judge:
expand
collapse
August 31/06
Defendant argues reference in the impugned e-mail
is a generic reference to Children's Aid Societies at
large. There is no reference to the Children's Aid
Society of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo
specifically. As a committal for contempt is a
quasi-criminal proceeding the wording of the Order
must be strictly construed. As there is no specitic
(sic) mention of the Waterloo CAS there is an element
of doubt whether strictly speaking the Order has been
breached. The motion is dismissed.
Thomas
Lofchik J
Police Chase
August 31, 2006
A Belleville mother tried to escape from CAS with her
two children in a minivan. Police chased the van
through the streets, stopped it by blowing the front
tires and smashed the window to pull the mother out.
The children were terrified, but through good luck
survived their live-threatening experience without
physical harm. Police can be satisfied now that the
children will no longer be cared for by their mother.
expand
collapse
Belleville--The Intelligencer
By Jeremy Ashley
Local News - Wednesday, August 30, 2006 @ 10:00
A 34-year-old woman is in jail after leading police
on a winding chase through the city with her two young
children in the back of her minivan.
Shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday, police and
officials with the Childrens Aid Society were
conducting an investigation involving the woman and
her children at a home on Tracey Park Drive.
According to police, the woman who did not have
legal custody of the children took off from the scene
with the youngsters in the back of her green Ford
Aerostar minivan.
As the van zigzagged through streets in the citys
north end at speeds reaching 70 km/h, police followed
and attempted to get her to pull over and stop safely,
said one officer, who asked not to be identified
The van began intersecting side streets in the west
hill area when officers deployed a stopper stick a
device similar to a spike belt on Murney Street.
With both front tires flattened, the van slammed
into a pole on the east side of the street, just south
of Henry Street.
Sixteen-year-old Haley Dunwell was in her upstairs
bedroom when she heard the commotion outside.
I looked down and saw the whole thing happen, she
said, standing on the front lawn of the home she
shares with her brother, father and step-mother.
The woman refused to open the (drivers side)
window, so the officer had to smash it ... and pulled
her out.
As their mother was being pulled from the front
seat, Dunwell said the children in the rear of the
vehicle were screaming.
It was very disturbing to watch ... there was a
female cop trying to take them out of the van and calm
them down.
Meanwhile, the mother appeared to put up quite a
fight, she said.
She was screaming too, but she wasnt saying very
pleasant things. I thought she also bit an officer,
Dunwell said.
The mother was handcuffed and whisked away in a
police cruiser as a family friend arrived to comfort
the children. A short time later, a case worker with
the CAS picked up the children.
Dorothy Wardhaugh thought firefighters were
responding to a call on her street when she heard the
sirens.
I looked out and saw a police cruiser pull up on my
front lawn ... its something you dont see everyday,
she said.
Wardhaugh, who has lived on Murney Street for 60
years, shook her head as the children involved were
taken away by officers.
Its so terribly sad to see children in the middle
of something like this.
There were no reported injuries to either the woman
or her children and, according to Sgt. Brad Lentini,
there were no injuries to officers as a result of the
altercation.
Police are withholding the name of the woman to
protect the identity of the children.
Forced Experimentation
August 30, 2006
In this article, mother Davina McLean was compelled
to consent to a dangerous medical experiment on her
child by the threat of child removal.
In just the past week's articles, we have cases of
the threat of child removal being used to force a
divorce, a medical experiment and an involuntary sex
act. Legislators dream powers given to child protectors
help children. In fact, those powers harm parents and
children. Parents will not be able to protect their
children, and themselves, until effective protection
from child removal replaces the current sham.
expand
collapse
Professor in police inquiry over brain
damage to boy
Sandra Laville
Monday August 28, 2006
Guardian
Detectives have stepped up an investigation into
claims that the leading paediatrician David Southall
left a child brain damaged as a result of a
controversial breathing experiment 15 years ago, the
Guardian has learned.
South Wales police have broadened their inquiry
into an allegation that Professor Southall assaulted
the boy by carrying out the test and are asking dozens
of parents whose children may have come into contact
with the paediatrician over the years to come forward
if their child suffered any injuries as a result of
his treatment. Professor Southall has denied that his
treatment has harmed any child.
In a letter to parents last week, Detective
Inspector Chris Mullane, of the force's child
protection unit, said further inquiries could be
opened as a result of the responses from parents. The
letter says police are investigating an allegation of
assault on a boy that may have occurred while he was
undergoing treatment by Prof Southall at the
University Hospital of Wales. It asks parents: "Has
your child been treated directly or indirectly by
Professor Southall ... Did your child suffer any
injuries or adverse effects from that treatment ...
Have you reported this matter to the police or any
other body?"
The investigation began after the parents of Ben
McLean alleged that he had been left brain damaged by
Prof Southall's experiments at the University Hospital
of Wales in 1991.
The child's mother, Davina McLean, believes that
without their informed consent, her five-year-old son
was given carbon dioxide to breathe and his airway was
occluded during a sleep study. She claims that she
and her husband were forced to take part in the study
after Prof Southall said they were suffering from
Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, and warned that unless
they allowed Ben to take part he would be taken into
care. Prof Southall has also denied these claims.
When Ben left hospital he was placed in foster
care, but a year later a court found the McLeans had
not harmed their child. Ben, now 20, lives with his
parents and has severe speech and learning
difficulties. Mrs McLean told the Guardian: "We are
pleased that other parents out there who may have
concerns are being contacted. All we want is justice
for our son."
Prof Southall has attracted praise and controversy
during his long career. Last year he was found guilty
of serious professional misconduct and banned from
child protection work for three years after wrongly
accusing the husband of Sally Clark of killing their
baby sons.
Other parents have made allegations against Prof
Southall, who is one of the leading proponents of the
diagnosis of Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, in which
a parent or carer is said to harm a child to attract
attention. He is due to face another disciplinary
hearing before the General Medical Council later this
year.
Many of Prof Southall's peers defend his work, and
say a witchhunt is being carried out against him.
They say paediatricians involved in child protection
are being subjected to a campaign by groups defending
parents accused of abuse.
Margaret Taylor, Prof Southall's solicitor, said he
was not commenting on the police inquiry or on other
aspects of Mrs McLean's allegations.
Shotgun Divorce Opposed
August 30, 2006
An American is suing for relief over his shotgun
divorce.
expand
collapse
Whitman's CPS War
What would you do if someone threatened to take
your kids away unless you dumped your significant
other? If you were anything like Los Gatos resident
Charlie Whitman, you'd tell them to back off. But
that's been easier said than done for Whitman, who's
still waging a six-year-plus legal battle against
Santa Clara County for allegedly violating his First
Amendment right to associate with whomever he wants.
In 2000, Whitman and his fiance Kelly Lynn Tucker got
entangled with the county's Child Protective Services
when they sought counseling for one of Tucker's kids
(to deal with an issue they say had nothing to do with
their parenting skills). We'll spare you the
complicated details for the time being and get to the
part that swayed a federal judge: a county social
worker threatened Tucker's custody of four children if
she continued to see Whitman — essentially
forcing her to leave him. The 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals agreed in 2004 that Whitman's First Amendment
rights may very well have been violated, and now the
case is headed to trial in federal district court.
Whitman, who has no history of drug abuse, violence or
crime, says he was baffled and hurt. Once a
mild-mannered geologist, this whole mess has turned
him into an outspoken advocated for CPS reform. He's
now out to prove that county social workers engage in
a rampant practice of telling parents who they can't
hang out with. So far, he says he has 21 witnesses
who've allegedly been bullied in the same way. With
his attorney Bob Powell, he's seeking more people
willing to testify. County Counsel Ann Ravel defends
the social workers at CPS. "People are human," she
said. "When there's an emphasis on protecting
children, there are bound to be some decisions that
maybe in hindsight aren't the best, but there isn't
any evidence of a widespread problem in the
department." A district court judge, however, decided
there was enough evidence of a bigger problem to try
the case when he denied the county's request for
summary judgment in February. A court date has been
set for March of next year, although Ravel says the
parties might resolve the matter sooner. "We are
absolutely willing to discuss a settlement," she
said.
Reaction to Barrie Demonstration
August 29, 2006
Dangerous gang member
Canada Court Watch reports on a seventy-year-old woman excluded from the courthouse for
being a dangerous gang member.
Some people can only respond to criticism by force of
arms. Here is an abridged version of the latest news
from Canada Court Watch.
expand
collapse
False allegations being used to spread
fear at the Barrie, Ontario court
(August 30, 2006) Court Watch was provided
information coming from an inside source at the
Barrie, Ontario court in which is was revealed ...
that some court employees are ... saying that Justice
Olah was threatened by a group of "deadbeat dads" and
that because of this, steps have been taken to provide
extra security for her. Extra police officers were
assigned to her court on Monday and court staff were
reported as telling citizens that Justice Olah also
was being given 24 hour police security at her home.
According to the inside source ... a police
investigation is now under way.
The group who participated at the event on Friday
were mothers, fathers, grandparents, children and
grandchildren. There were teens and young children
who participated. Most were just good citizens who
were aware of the problems with the court system and
agree that changes are needed to the system to benefit
the future of our children. The citizens, ranging in
ages from 3 years to 70, simply distributed flyers in
the community and in the geographical areas
surrounding the Barrie court to bring attention to the
people that Justice Olah was not behaving like a
competent judge. It was a fun day for all who
participated. Yet, court officials appear to have
transformed this peaceful event into a physical threat
against Justice Olah.
Court Watch acknowledges that the public awareness
campaign last Friday was intended to embarrass Justice
Olah but that this was undertaken in the spirit of
protecting the public's interest. This campaign was
was the result of reporters from the media, including
Court Watch, who on at least two occasions were
threatened with arrest for simply attempting to
quietly and peacefully enter her court and to do their
job of monitoring the court to help protect the
public's interest in the administration of Justice.
Justice Olah's reaction was to kick members of the
media out and to threaten them with arrest. Madame
Justice Olah even had the Archbishop Dorian A. Baxter
excluded from the court, even though a teenage girl
had requested that he attend with her to support her
at the court in which she was the principal subject.
Justice Olah has also impeded parties in obtaining
transcripts.
A good judge would allow a teenage girl to bring at
least one support person of the teen's choice into the
court. A good judge would not put up barriers to
parties obtaining court transcripts. A good judge
would not refuse the media the opportunity to
respectfully argue in court and to allow the arguments
to be placed on court record. A good judge would not
ignore the reasonable wishes of the parties in the
court. A good judge not ignore the age-old tradition
of freedom of the press. A good judge would not
threaten to arrest members of the media without fairly
and honourably allowing argument. A good judge would
not issue instructions (but not orders) in some back
room to have members of the Ontario Provincial Police
select who gets to go into a court and who is made to
stay out and to then have officers padlock the
courtroom doors. A good judge would not be afraid to
have his/her words put on the court record and to have
any orders given put into a written "court order" for
the record. Justice Olah has not acted like a good
judge and has brought dishonour to herself and brought
dishonour to the administration of justice. Prior to
this public awareness event on August 25, 2006, Court
Watch wrote a letter to the Attorney General to seek
assistance but the Attorney General of Ontario was
unable to assist. The only recourse left open to the
citizens of of Canada have was to launch a public
awareness campaign to bring attention to the problem
with Justice Olah and her practices in the court of
public opinion.
The chairman of Court Watch, the Archbishop Dorian
A. Baxter would welcome an invitation to a meeting
with Justice Olah and the court administrators at the
Barrie court to discuss the issues of concern which
affect members of the public.
Serial Rape
August 27, 2006
Previously, Philadelphia social worker Brandon Ware
was infamous for raping a client under threat of child
removal. But he only did it once.
expand
collapse
Investigator charged in sex coercion
case
By Marlene Naanes
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
August 26, 2006
Margate police arrested a Broward Sheriff's Office
investigator on charges he coerced a woman into sexual
acts twice after he told her he could take away her
children, authorities said Friday.
Eric M. Ferber, a child protective investigator,
was arrested Thursday as he returned to the
28-year-old woman's home for the third time, expecting
another sex act, officials said. Ferber, 48, of Lake
Worth, had coerced the woman twice before when he
visited her Margate home on June 1 and July 31 to
investigate the welfare of her children, said
Detective Francis Kolenda.
Ferber was charged Thursday with one count of
sexual battery and transported to the Broward County
Jail. He is a civilian employee who responds to child
welfare complaints. The Sheriff's Office suspended
him without pay while the department conducts an
internal affairs investigation, said spokesman Hugh
Graf.
Margate police are asking anyone with information
about this case or other incidents to call
954-972-7111.
Barrie Judge Targeted
August 26, 2006
On Friday, August 25, two dozen sympathizers of
Canada Court Watch surrounded the Barrie Courthouse
distributing leaflets to passersby. Many were dressed
in distinctive white-on-black Canada Court Watch
t-shirts, though the weather was more suited to
sweaters.
The leaflets were, by title, Madame Justice Lydia Olah - Barrie's Judicial Tyrant
and Do you know of a family
being adversely affected by the Children's Aid
Society.
A cameraman from Barrie's A-Channel filmed the
leaflet distribution for a few minutes.
Courthouse security, at first friendly, turned
hostile during the event, possibly a reaction from the
powers-that-be within the courthouse. One woman in her
seventies was denied access to the courthouse washroom
on the grounds that her t-shirt made her a gang member.
A man handing out leaflets was approached by bylaw
enforcement officer N Heels. He claimed that leaflet
distributors were interfering with pedestrian traffic
and that putting leaflets on the windshields of parked
cars was illegal, subjecting violators to a $180 fine.
No citations were issued.
Shut Up and Pay
August 26, 2006
The family that established the website casinternment.com
complied with the law by not mentioning the names of
family members on the site. That is not enough for
Children's Aid. The family has now received a legal
motion from Children's Aid seeking to strike everything
they have filed in court in their own defense, to
prevent them from making any statements about the case,
to the public or to participants in the litigation, and
to pay costs ($26,000 in another affidavit) to CAS.
They will not be permitted to speak to witnesses to
prepare their defense. They will even be prevented from
saying that the case is in Ontario. This is the fate of
families too poor to defend themselves. The symbol
▉ appears where the posted original is blotted
out.
expand
collapse
Motion.
- The Society seeks an order pursuant to rules 1(8) and
14(23) of the Family Law Rules:
- striking the Respondent answer and all
material filed in the Continuing Record
without prejudice to right under the orders of
the Honourable Madam Justice Robertson and the
Honourable Mr. Justice Sheffield to
participate in the Court ordered parenting
capacity and psychiatriatric assessments
and
- costs payable forthwith to the Frontenac
Children's Aid Society.
as a result of not having complied with the order
of the Honourable Mr. Justice Brennan of March 8,
2006, and the order of the Honourable Madam
Justice Robertson of March 9, 2006.
- The Society seeks an order pursuant to s. 101 of the
Courts of Justice Act RSO 1990
c C.43 a prohibition on the publication of all details
that refer to this child protection proceeding
directly or by inference in the following ways:
- The name or address or province of residence
of the children.
- The name or address or province of either
biological parents of the children.
- The name or address or province of any person
that the children have resided with or may
reside with as a result of the child
protection proceedings.
- the name or address or province of group home
or foster home of the children.
- The name or address or province of the child
protection agency.
- The name or address of any witness in the
hearings.
- The particulars of any earlier publication
respecting the matter before this Honourable
Court.
- the particulars of any Transcripts or
Affidavits of these proceedings.
- Any information contained in the Society's
material disclosed to Ms.
▉▉▉
- Video or photographs related to
T▉▉ and C▉▉
▉▉▉ and Ms
▉▉▉, and other person that
the children may reside with or have resided
with as a result of these child protection
proceedings, and the residence of either
child.
- the Society seeks an order pursuant to rule s.
31(5) of the Family Law Rules, and/or pursuant to
Rule 1(8), the society seeks an order
- finding the Respondent in contempt of the
order of the Honourable Mr. Justice Brennan
of March 8th, 2006 and the order of the
Honourable Madam Justice Robertson of March
9th, 2006 and
- upon the Court finding in contempt, an order
for the following:
- The Respondent shall not disseminate any
information about employees of the
Society, community and support services,
or any individual or services mentioned in
the Society's Protection Application and
supporting documents.
- The Respondent shall not disseminate any
information that has the effect of identifying
members' of the children's family, Ms.
▉▉▉ and the children
T▉▉ ▉▉▉and
C▉▉ ▉▉▉ who
are the subjects of a proceeding under the Child and Family Services
Act.
- The Respondent shall not annoy, harass,
intimidate, molest or contact, directly or
indirectly any individuals or services
mentioned in the Court documents filed in
these proceedings.
- costs payable forthwith to the Frontenac
Children's Aid Society.
- Such further order as may be deemed by the court
to be in the best interest of the children.
Addendum: Examination of the posted source
documents reveals that CAS routinely scrutinizes
websites opposing their actions, including Canada Court
Watch and Dufferin VOCA.
More on Murdered Toddler
August 23, 2006
In this story the significant facts follow the usual
spin from the agency, reorganizing so this will never
happen again. The press has caught on to the serial
nature of the deaths, and has identified the
high-profile lawyer, Jeffrey Fieger, hired by the
family. That ensures that this case will not be
forgotten. The state attorney seems to think that its
murder of one child is justification for permanently
taking another. Before the mother was silenced by her
attorney, she said that the girl tested positive for
hepatitis B. Sequestering evidence may be one reason
for the state to keep the girl.
To give you an idea of who really cares about
children, the picture published twice by the Detroit
Free Press comes not from the foster parents, but from
the website of the real parents. According to the
mother, the first girl taken, a case complicated by
multiple birth-defects, resulted in termination of
parental rights when the foster-care clock ran out.
Later terminations were based on the doctrine of once
and abuser, always an abuser.
expand
collapse
Detroit Free Press
Foster care agency is shut down
2-year-old was killed in home overseen by center
BY JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
August 23, 2006
Isaac Lethbridge died last Wednesday. The Wayne
County Medical Examiner's Office ruled he was
beaten to death.
The state Department of Human Services on Tuesday
shut down a private nonprofit foster care program that
had placed a 2-year-old boy in a Detroit home where
police say he was beaten to death last week.
The program was run by the Lula Belle Stewart
Center in Detroit, which worked with more than 80
licensed foster homes and supervised nearly 150 abused
and neglected children who are wards of the court, the
center's interim director Janet Burch said last week.
She did not return calls Tuesday.
State social service workers began visiting each of
the Stewart Center's foster homes on Tuesday to check
on foster children and to inform foster parents that
their licenses were being temporarily assigned to the
DHS, meaning the department will supervise those homes
for now, said DHS spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet.
The DHS summarily suspended the Stewart Center's
child-placing license and said it will seek to
permanently revoke it.
The shutdown came less than a week after 2-year-old
Isaac Lethbridge stopped breathing in the home of
licensed foster parent Charlise Rogers, a single
mother and retired autoworker who has been a foster
parent for nine years. Isaac died during emergency
treatment at Children's Hospital of Michigan in
Detroit last Wednesday.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office said
Isaac was beaten with a blunt object or a fist.
Detroit police, who are investigating, did not return
numerous calls for comment Tuesday.
Sorbet said she could not comment on the
investigation into Isaac's death.
"While we can't go into the specifics of the child
protective services information, any time that there's
something like this going on and the safety of
children in licensed foster homes is questioned, then
licensing has to move immediately to investigate and
take appropriate action, which they did," Sorbet
said.
Court records indicate that Isaac's 4-year-old
sister may have been abused in the same home. She has
been moved into a foster home in Washtenaw County
where her younger sister was already living.
At an emergency Wayne County Family Court hearing
Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Yasmin Abdul-Karim
began by offering her sympathy to Isaac's parents,
Matthew and Jennifer Lethbridge, who now live in
Whitmore Lake. Then she told the parents -- who lost
custody of Isaac and his 4-year-old sister last
September -- that the DHS would soon ask a judge to
terminate their parental rights altogether for the
4-year-old.
Two Washtenaw County judges already have terminated
the Lethbridge's parental rights to their six older
children who later were adopted by foster parents.
The oldest of their children, Ashleigh Lethbridge,
died of natural causes in her adoptive home in
February at age 12. Court records said Ashleigh was
born blind and had mental retardation as well as
muscle and nerve conditions.
The Lethbridge children began entering foster care
in 1997 and the parental rights for the older six were
terminated because of environmental and medical
neglect and the parents' failure to fix the problems
that led to the children's removal from their home,
according to court records.
The youngest girl remains a temporary ward of the
court in Washtenaw County.
Attorneys assigned by the court to represent the
Lethbridges asked Wayne County Family Court Judge
Leslie Kim Smith on Tuesday to delay the hearing so
they could subpoena Isaac's foster care case worker at
the Stewart Center. Smith postponed the hearing until
Aug. 31 to decide whether the case should be
transferred to Washtenaw County and whether to accept
the DHS' petition to terminate the couple's parental
rights to the 4-year-old.
The Lethbridges left the courtroom in tears.
"My child was killed and now they want to kill my
family," a distraught Matthew Lethbridge said after
the hearing. "How is this protecting kids?"
The Lethbridges have hired the law firm of Geoffrey
Fieger to sue the agencies, social service workers and
foster parents involved in Isaac's death.
Contact JACK KRESNAK at 313-223-4544 or
jkresnak@freepress.com.
Addendum: Social workers routinely tolerate
higher levels of abuse from foster parents than from
real parents. In this case, that led to the death of
their ward.
expand
collapse
Detroit Free Press
Workers could have saved boy
Center didn't report bruises before child died,
state finds
BY JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
August 29, 2006
Isaac Lethbridge died Aug. 16 of a beating.
Police have not named a suspect in the
2-year-old's death.
Just 12 days before 2-year-old Isaac Lethbridge
died of a beating in a Detroit foster home, two social
services workers let his foster mother keep the boy
despite noting that he was covered with "greenish,
blue and black" bruises and had two black eyes.
The foster mother, Charlise Adams-Rogers, told the
workers at the Lula Belle Stewart Center that Isaac
had been injured during a visit with his biological
parents at a McDonald's restaurant on July 21, even
though the child's case manager had supervised the
visit and reported seeing no such thing.
Nevertheless, according to a state licensing report
obtained Monday by the Free Press, the workers sent
the child back home with Adams-Rogers on Aug. 4 and
failed to report Isaac's suspected abuse to Child
Protective Services as required by law.
By the time a Stewart Center licensing worker went
to the Adams-Rogers' home on Aug. 9, two days after
hearing about Isaac's bruises, she reported that she
"did not see any marks other than a light bruise on
his forehead," according to the state report prompted
by Isaac's violent death nearly two weeks ago.
Wayne County medical examiners say Isaac died of
blunt-force injuries to his head and body on Aug. 16.
His clavicle also was broken. Detroit police have not
identified a suspect in his death.
Adams-Rogers, who declined comment Monday, told the
Free Press on Friday that Isaac was put down for a nap
at 4 p.m. Aug. 16 and was found unresponsive 45
minutes later. She said there were nine people in the
home at the time and she did not know what happened.
The report prepared by the Office of Child and
Adult Licensing, a division of the Michigan Department
of Human Services, lists several failures by the
private, nonprofit Stewart Center to report and
investigate child maltreatment in the Adams-Rogers
foster home.
Janet Burch, interim chief administrator for the
Stewart Center since Aug. 1, did not return several
phone calls Monday.
The center's child-placing agency license was
suspended by the DHS last week, based on the details
in the licensing report. A hearing on the DHS request
to revoke the center's license is set for Sept. 19 in
Detroit.
DHS spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet said Monday she
could not comment because of the ongoing
investigations.
Last Friday, after a juvenile court hearing for her
two adopted daughters, ages 1 1/2 and 12, who were
removed from her care, Adams-Rogers denied abusing
Isaac and again blamed Isaac's father, Matt
Lethbridge, for dropping the boy on his head during
his July 21 supervised visit.
Matt Lethbridge said Monday that Isaac fell while
in the McDonald's play area but did not hurt his head.
Adams-Rogers' attorney, Marc Shreeman, said last
week that his client had passed a privately arranged
lie detector test and is telling the truth when she
says she doesn't know what happened to Isaac on Aug.
16.
However, the licensing report provides disturbing
details about the apparent lax supervision of
Adams-Rogers' foster home by the Stewart Center and
raises questions about why Isaac and his 4-year-old
sister were placed in the home.
Though the home has only three bedrooms -- and just
two are available for children -- Adams-Rogers' foster
care license with the center since 2002 allowed her to
operate a foster family group home with a capacity for
six children, according to the licensing report.
The Stewart Center's records indicate that placing
medically fragile children or children with emotional
disorders in Adams-Rogers' home "would not be
appropriate." Yet earlier this year, Adams-Rogers
adopted two of her foster children -- biological
sisters ages 18 and 12 -- each of whom has behavioral
and emotional problems, Wayne County Family Court
records show.
The records describe the 12-year-old as having
"aggressive behavior, both physically and verbally."
The girl takes three medications to control her
attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, the court
records said.
On Sept. 17, 2004, Stewart Center workers also
placed a 13-year-old foster child, a girl with
cerebral palsy who had a history of being sexually
abused, in Adams-Rogers' home.
Adams-Rogers later told the agency that the
13-year-old had been diagnosed with leukemia,
scoliosis and arthritis, and had been prescribed
several medications and was to be treated at a
hospital twice a month.
Yet, the Stewart Center could produce no
documentation that any of those diagnoses or
treatments ever occurred, according to the licensing
report.
On April 4, 2006, the report said, the
now-15-year-old girl left Adams-Rogers' home and went
to the Stewart Center on West McNichols -- about 1.5
miles away -- to report abuse. She told workers that
Rogers had whipped her 12-year-old adopted daughter
and said she was afraid to go back, the report said.
A center worker then called Adams-Rogers by phone,
the report said, and Adams-Rogers denied abusing her
adopted daughter but refused to come to the agency to
pick up the 15-year-old.
The report said the center's workers "instructed
the 15-year-old foster child to walk back to"
Adams-Rogers' home alone.
No one at the agency reported the incident to Child
Protective Services as required by law, the report
said.
Contact JACK KRESNAK at jkresnak@freepress.com.
Adult Fears Child
August 21, 2006
This story of a teacher's aide afraid to defend
herself against a six-year-old student shows that
concern for child protection has become so excessive
that schools cannot keep the peace.
expand
collapse
6-year old beats up teacher's aide in
Pasco County
an ABC Action News report 08/18/06
NEW PORT RICHEY - A Pasco County teacher's aide has
been hospitalized after being attacked by a very young
student.
The attack happened at Schrader elementary located
on Little road and State Road 54 in Pasco County.
Deputies say the 6-year old got into an argument
with another student over an MP3 player, and decided
to go home.
As he was walking across a playground, a teacher's
aide tried to stop him and the boy went ballistic.
"He head-butted her, he kicked her. This was all
in the mouth area, so she did sustain some serious
injuries to the mouth. He threw some obscenities at
her. I believe he also said he was threatening to
kill her," says Doug Tobin of the Pasco County
Sheriff's Office.
Deputies say she was so badly hurt, she was rushed
to the hospital.
Yvonne Lyons of the Classroom Teacher's Association
says, "I think always in the very back of a teacher's
mind is: Am I going to be accused of something if I
grab this kid or push this kid, could I have child
abuse charges hanging over my head.".
Deputies say they have no plans right now to charge
this boy with any kind of a crime.
They say right now what he needs is counseling.
Serial Killing
August 18, 2006
To the misdeeds of child protectors you can now add
serial killer. Parents Matt and Jennifer Lethbridge
lost a daughter Ashleigh who died in adoptive care on
February 23, 2006. This week their two-year-old son
Isaac died in foster care, apparently killed.
The information above comes from sources still
confidential. The family has placed an embargo on
information until their lawyer issues a statement.
Internet discussions have suggested a high-profile
lawyer may take the case, turning it into a political
issue.
The parents have a four-year-old daughter still in
foster care. In the days of the draft, once a mother
had lost several sons in battle, her last son was
excused from military service. If child protectors were
as merciful as the army, the last Lethbridge child would
be returned to her parents, not at the next court
hearing, but forthwith.
expand
collapse
Detroit Free Press
Police awaiting autopsy results on
foster child
BY JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
August 18, 2006
The attorney for a Detroit foster mother under
scrutiny after a 2-year-old foster child died in her
care this week said Thursday that his client has no
idea why or how the child died.
"She feels horrible about what happened," attorney
Marc Shreeman said of Charlise Rogers. "She doesn't
know what happened."
An autopsy on the toddler, Issac Lethbridge, is to
be performed today to determine a cause and manner of
the boy's death Wednesday evening at Children's
Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, officials said.
A preliminary report from Detroit police filed
Thursday in Wayne County Family Court said Issac had
second-degree burns on his stomach and back and
bruises on his forehead, shoulder and buttocks.
The child's unexplained death prompted the Child
Protective Services division of the state Department
of Human Services to remove Issac's biological sister
from Rogers' foster home, as well as two of Rogers'
three adopted daughters, ages 20 months and 12 years.
Rogers' third daughter is 18.
Detroit police were called to Rogers' home in the
18000 block of Greenlawn about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on
a report of an unconscious child. Issac was rushed to
Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead
about an hour later, the report said.
No arrest has been made as homicide detectives
awaited results of the autopsy.
Rogers is to appear at a preliminary hearing in
juvenile court next Friday.
Contact JACK KRESNAK at jkresnak@freepress.com.
Addendum: From information posted to the web
in 2003, the family had at that time six children,
Ashleigh, Nicholas, Zachary, Garret, Sean and Gage.
Ashleigh was born with multiple medical problems, when
she needed help the family was afraid to take her to the
hospital for fear of losing her to CPS. CPS eventually
seized all their children anyway. Gage was born in
Canada in a futile effort to hide him from child
protectors. Canadian authorities seized him at birth
and returned him to Michigan.
Here is their description of the Canadian
experience:
Gage was born on my husband's birthday in Canada.
The sight of him, the smell of him, he was so
perfect. There were complications. The cord was
wrapped tightly around his neck and he had to be
admitted and placed on a ventilator, but everything
looked good. Soon we'd be bringing our son home. On
Tuesday afternoon my husband got a call from Canadian
CPS. They'd seized our son without a warrant. If we
tried to visit him they would call the police. They
were moving for termination. They'd never even
talked to us. No one had. Court in Canada was a
farce. No one could do anything since his parents
were foreign nationals. Eventually they transferred
him back to the states (again without notifying us).
Addendum: Police are now treating the death as
a homicide. According to the mother's website, her
children were seized at birth from the hospital, so the
remark about the filthy condition in the home is likely
a slur.
expand
collapse
Detroit Free Press
Boy's death ruled homicide
He was struck with object, officials say
BY JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
August 19, 2006
Detroit police are investigating the death of
Isaac Lethbridge, 2, who had been in a Detroit
foster home.
The death of a 2-year-old foster child was ruled a
homicide Friday after Wayne County medical examiners
determined the boy had been struck by a blunt object.
Isaac Lethbridge died Wednesday at Children's
Hospital of Michigan after he stopped breathing in a
Detroit foster home.
Detroit police were investigating and no arrests
had been made.
Investigators for the state Department of Human
Services were reviewing case files at the Lula Belle
Stewart Center in Detroit, which licensed the foster
home in the 18000 block of Greenlawn where Isaac lost
consciousness.
The foster mother, Charlise Rogers, has said that
she does not know why Isaac stopped breathing.
Child Protective Services investigators removed
Rogers' two minor children, ages 20 months and 12
years, from her home, as well as Isaac's 4-year-old
sister, who was in foster care there. Rogers' home
was the third foster care placement for Isaac and his
sister, who were removed from their parents' Westland
home last September because of the filthy condition of
the home. The sister now is in her fourth foster
home.
Isaac's parents, Matt and Jennifer Lethbridge, said
their attorney had advised them not to comment.
Janet Burch, a retired DHS division director who
became interim executive director of the Lula Belle
Stewart Center on Aug. 1, said everyone at the agency
feels hurt by what happened to Isaac.
"Our goal is to keep children safe," Burch said
Friday. "We take it personally all the way up the
line. We'd like to express our sympathy to the family
and to all those people who are connected to the
family."
Burch said she is investigating the incident, "but
right now I don't have anything I can share."
Contact JACK KRESNAK at 313-223-4544 or
jkresnak@freepress.com.
Conscientious Lawyer Disbarred
August 18, 2006
One reason a lawyer does not fight vigorously for you
in family court is that he, in this case she, could lose
her license. Here is the case of activist lawyer Barbara
Johnson in Massachusetts.
expand
collapse
Activist lawyer disbarred Barbara
Johnson ran for governor in 2002
By Brad Haynes
Eagle-Tribune
— ANDOVER - Barbara Johnson, the flamboyant
Andover lawyer who fought for the rights of fathers,
campaigned for governor in an antique fire engine and
drove a hearse to Washington, D.C., to protest divorce
laws, has been barred from practicing law in
Massachusetts.
Johnson, 71, who also has been an acerbic critic of
the Massachusetts court system, said yesterday she'll
fight her disbarment all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court.
Yesterday, she called the process under which she
was disbarred a "kangaroo court," and compared the
state to a Third World country, but remained
nonchalant about life after losing her license.
"They'll disbar me, which is fine. I'll write my
judicial murder mysteries," Johnson said. "I'm going
to kill off a judge in the prologue of every one.
It'll be like a Where's Waldo murder mystery, and I'll
use real names for the judges."
"I'm having so much fun," she said with a grin,
puffing one of her always-lit cigarettes and letting
out the gravelly laugh which became familiar during
her 2002 independent gubernatorial campaign.
Johnson may have had too much fun, though, bringing
her contentious public persona into the courtroom and
bringing confidential legal matters into public light.
Judge Francis Spina of the state Supreme Judicial
Court ruled Aug. 16 in favor of the disbarment
recommendation by the Board of Bar Overseers writing
that "the judicial system and the public must be
protected from her repeated misconduct."
Johnson was disbarred for putting sensitive
confidential information from two of her cases on her
Web site, for refusing to pay legal fines after being
held in contempt, and for conducting herself in an
"insulting, vituperative" manner in court, among other
charges.
"The respondent's misconduct has been directed
toward her clients, opposing parties, other counsel,
judges and other adjudicators, witnesses and innocent
third parties," Spina wrote. "She has made
inflammatory and contemptuous statements both verbally
and in writing on her website. ... Her misconduct
demonstrates her outright refusal to conform her
conduct to professional standards and ethical
requirements."
Johnson admits to her colorful language and
tenacious demeanor, but she dismissed the rest as the
corrupt Massachusetts justice system's "purely
political" response to its most vocal critic. She
notes in particular that the charges came down just
three weeks after the 2002 gubernatorial election.
In that race, Johnson spent $52,000 of her own
money, petitioned herself onto the ballot, and got
herself on several televised debates with the four
other candidates, arguing a platform of father's
rights, court reform, and the abolition of judge
immunity.
She also rode an antique firetruck plastered with
campaign signs more than 5,000 miles around the state
"dousing the flames of corruption in the court
system."
In 2003, she drove a hearse covered in slogans and
children's toys to the Million Dads March in
Washington, D.C., mourning the "death of fatherhood"
due to the courts' handling of divorce law.
Johnson became well known in the Merrimack Valley
and among fatherhood rights activists for her
successful defense of Brian Meuse of Haverhill, who
was accused of kidnapping his daughter from her
mother, who had temporary custody and had taken the
child to Florida. Meuse was found not guilty by an
all-male jury in May 2002 after Johnson argued he had
no choice but to take the 14-month-old girl because
the mother was not getting her the medical care she
needed.
Johnson claimed her activism in the gubernatorial
campaign and on the Internet has put the state courts
on the defensive.
"This all has to do with my Web site," she said,
referring to www.falseallegations.com, which offers,
among several things, running "Bar Wars" commentary on
her legal struggles, records of her criminal and
family court cases, legal advice to parents accused of
sexual abuse, and an online store - Forever
Fascinating - selling T-shirts, mugs, and a "sexually
explicit" screenplay.
Johnson said the Web site, which she started in
1998, registered 850,000 hits last year. "That's
2,500 per day," she said. "And, when you think, it's
this short, fat, little old lady living in a very
dirty house.
"They want to shut me up, but they won't be able
to," said the grandmother of five, while sitting in
her "cockpit" - a desk stacked high with two
computers, a television, and legal paperwork far over
her head.
Johnson said she may even weigh into this year's
gubernatorial race with a radio ad, but she said she
lacks the money to compete in the present "war of the
multimillionaires." She has no regrets, though, about
spending her retirement money on her last campaign.
"You can't take it with you. I never saw a hearse
with a luggage rack," she said.
Intrusion
August 18, 2006
Here is the latest from Georgia mother Rachel Bortz,
who got child protectors in her life following the
accidental death of her child.
expand
collapse
August 18, 2006
What ELSE Do They Think They Are ENTITLED To?
Well, not even a week after the last visit (July
24), Annette showed up to do another random visit
(July 31). This time, it seems, they are beginning to
change their direction.
First, she began by asking the usual questions
about whether Jackson was attending his speech and OT
appointments, and whether I was going to homeschool
him. Then she began asking questions such as whether
Don was still working, how Don and I were doing
relationship-wise, and then started asking questions
related to my pregnancy and our upcoming addition.
She asked if I was going to breastfeed, and then told
me that she would need my prenatal records so she
could confirm that I was getting prenatal care, "as
not getting prenatal care could be considered
maltreatment."
It drives me nuts that they believe they are
entitled to so much personal information. Of course I
am seeing my doctor regularly, but I think they are
getting ridiculous in their questions. Last I
checked, this was my marriage, my health, my grief
process, MY CHILD! What is going on in the world that
makes it ok for a perfect stranger to ask such
personal questions?
I am praying that the next few weeks pass quickly,
and that the Judge puts an end to this ridiculousness.
Please continue with your prayers, and we would love
to see you in court August 29th (I believe it is in
the afternoon this time). Thank you everyone, for
your continued support. I will update again very
soon.
— Rachel Bortz
Jail for Kids
August 15, 2006
Since parents no longer have authority over their own
children, it is necessary for the justice system to take
their place. This article shows the first step toward a
Gulag for Canadian pre-teens.
expand
collapse
Justice minister hints at jail time
for pre-teen offenders
Minister of Justice, Vic Toews followed the PM at
the podium and also got a warm reception from the
crowd of law enforcement workers when he opened
the Canadian Professional Police Association's
annual legislative conference Monday morning at
the Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa.
CREDIT: Ottawa Citizen/Julie Oliver
Janice Tibbetts
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Children aged 10 and 11 who
run afoul of the law should be brought before the
courts, Justice Minister Vic Toews said Monday in a
controversial and surprise proposal to expand the age
of criminal responsibility, which currently kicks in
at age 12.
''We need to find ways of ensuring that children
are deterred from crime,'' Toews told the annual
gathering of the Canadian Bar Association. ''We need
to give courts jurisdiction to intervene in the lives
of these young people.''
Speaking to reporters later, he did not rule out
incarceration of children under 12, but he said the
courts' primary focus should be treatment programs
outside the jail system.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act, which replaced the
young offenders act three years ago, purposely
excluded children under 12 because the Liberal
government of the day said 12 is considered to be the
age at which a young person can understand their
actions and consequences.
The law applies to 12- to 17-year-olds, the same
age limits as the former young offenders act, which
replaced the juvenile delinquents act in 1984.
Several provinces, along with the former Reform
party, lobbied hard to include 10- and 11-year-olds in
the criminal justice system during heated debates in
the late 1990s, arguing they are old enough to be held
accountable for their crimes.
Toews said on Monday it's often too late to
rehabilitate troubled children who cannot be charged
until age 12.
''The theory is that the child welfare system will
take care of those children but that is not the case
in most provinces,'' he said. ''In most provinces, in
fact, the child welfare system is allowing criminal
conduct to continue among those types of children.
They're being used by gangs and drug couriers to do
break and enters, there are other kinds of very
serious crimes, so by the time they're 12, they're
already criminals.''
Toews was unclear on the kinds of sanctions the
courts should have the power to impose.
''We need to have a special way for the courts to
intervene in a positive fashion in the lives of these
children in some type of treatment program and I think
that needs to be discussed,'' he said.
The prospect of including 10- and 11-year-olds in
the criminal justice system sparked an angry response
from Heather Perkins-McVey, a lawyer for the bar
association.
''Does he want the death penalty for them too?''
she asked. ''This concerns me that we're going back
to the Dark Ages. Maybe we should have work houses
too.''
Perkins-McVey said the criminal justice system is
not the proper place for handling wayward children,
who are currently apprehended by child welfare
authorities and offered treatment in group homes.
Rather than bringing these children before the
courts, the federal government should increase funding
to the provinces for improved child welfare services
if the justice minister is worried that the
authorities are not doing their jobs, Perkins-McVey
said.
''The criminal justice system is not a place to
obtain treatment for anyone,'' she said.
Including 10- and 11-year-olds in young offender
laws is not mentioned in the Conservative party's
election platform, which proposes other get-tough
measures, such as making it automatic for youths
charged with serious crimes to receive adult
sentences, and instructing judges to consider
deterrence and denunciation when sentencing youths
convicted of crimes.
Criminologists and sociologists have had varying
opinions on the wisdom of making children under 12
legally responsible for their actions.
Some say for some children, the window of
opportunity to rehabilitation is closed by the time a
child is 12, while others counter 12 is the cut-off
age for being able to understand criminal behaviour
and consequences.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, young people
convicted of crimes do not carry criminal records into
adulthood.
Toews did not say whether he plans legislation any
time soon.
Addendum: The government repudiated this idea
the next day.
Voice of DCF Victims
August 9, 2006
A Florida
father, Greg Pound, has assembled an hour and a half of
video of parents recounting their experiences with
Pinellas County (St Petersburg) DCF.
Among the reasons cited for taking children from
their parents:
- a neighbor's dog bit a child
- prescription drugs mimicked illegal drugs on a test
- a vindictive neighbor's complaint
- a dad tripped on a cord, accidentally breaking his
son's leg
- spanking
- A Christian mother kept her eighth grade daughter
from last chance dance
- a young mom left six-month-old twins with her
sister, treated as abandonment
- a dad had a heart attack, after recovery DCF wants
to keep his child
- refrigerator under repair
Some of the stories included:
|