Dufferin VOCA News January

Children Protected from Protector

March 13, 2007

Another one of those angels who protect your children has been arrested, this time for abusing her own children. She was not a lowly caseworker, but a senior officer. This is likely to be one of those stories we never hear about again.

expand

collapse

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DFCS official denies abuse
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER, Published on: 03/13/07
One of Fulton County's top child welfare officials was arrested after being accused of striking her 8-year-old daughter 34 times with a belt, police said Monday.
Cylenthia Clark, 38, of Fayetteville was charged with felony child cruelty on Saturday. Clark is assistant director of the Fulton County office of the state Division of Family and Children Services.

Cylenthia Clark's four daughters have been placed in protective custody. She is out on bond.

The arrest warrant alleges that on Feb. 7, Clark told the child to remove all her clothes except her panties and then whipped her with the belt on the back, arms, legs and face.
The girl and her three sisters, ages 6, 5 and 3, were taken from Clark's care and placed in protective custody, Fayetteville police Lt. Beverly Trainor said.
In an interview, Clark acknowledged spanking her daughter but said, "I am not a child abuser. I have never abused my children." Clark got out of jail on bond Saturday.
Trainor said the girl's school reported marks on the child's back and arms Feb. 28 to Fayette DFCS. That report was passed on to Fayetteville police.
Clark said her daughter had been aggressive lately, fighting in an after-school program at Hood Avenue Primary and even fighting a teacher who tried to break it up.
"I did spank her, but I didn't abuse her," Clark said. "I don't even want to spank my kids, but it's a last resort."
DFCS spokeswoman Dena Smith said Clark is back on the job but only doing administrative work and has no involvement in child protection cases.
The arrest of one of Fulton's top child welfare officials stunned workers in the county office and leaders in Georgia's child welfare community. Officials at Fulton DFCS have power to investigate parents for child abuse and neglect, and even to remove children from their homes and place them in foster care.
"We would hope that the people we entrust with our children would hold the same values as we do," said Normer Adams, executive director of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children. "The values that people hold reflect in what they practice. How can you take someone's child away, when you're doing something like this?"
Adams said he thinks Clark should be put on administrative leave until the case is resolved.
DFCS officials said Clark arrived in the Fulton office less than a year ago. Clark and her husband are separated, Fayetteville police said, and he lives in another state.
Fulton DFCS workers said the office was shocked to hear the news. "She's a nice person," said Fulton DFCS worker Richard Maynard. "It's unfortunate, and my prayers go out to her and her family."
Shantreas O'Neil, a Fulton social services specialist, said, "All of us doing this work are responsible for protecting the kids, so it would surprise me if this happened to any worker."
Neighbors at Weatherly Walk apartments in Fayetteville said Clark appeared to be a caring mother.
"I was always amazed she could get all those little girls dressed and herself ready for work," said Lori Holt, the mother of twin 8-month-old boys. "I'm doing good to get out of here with bottles and diapers."
Clark said she was surprised to be arrested.
"I'm sure they [Fayette DFCS and police] were following protocol, but from my experience that [an arrest] is reserved for more severe cases," Clark said.
The arrest comes as Fulton DFCS has come under attack from several of its own workers who criticized top managers as arrogant and belligerent. The workers say the management style has prompted many employees to leave, burdening others with more work and leaving some children in danger of abuse and neglect.
State DFCS Director Mary Dean Harvey said the Fulton office has increased its scrutiny of workers since a lawsuit settlement last year in which a federal court ordered the office to improve its care of children.
She said the greater demands may have led some disgruntled workers to complain and leave. She also said the Fulton office is performing better.
Staff writers Kathy Jefcoats and S.A. Reid contributed to this article.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Addendum: Social workers are in the habit of destroying families with false allegations, and when they want to purge one of their own, they do it the same way. This could be a case of social worker fratricide.

Addendum: This later article shows that the mother in this case got preferential treatment.

expand

collapse

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DFCS workers felt pressured to play favorites, advocate says
By Craig Schneider, Kathy Jefcoats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/12/07
Fayette County child welfare workers felt pressure from their state office to close the case against a top employee charged with beating her daughter, the state child advocate said Wednesday.
Child Advocate Dee Simms said Gov. Sonny Perdue personally requested she find out if favoritism was shown to Cylenthia Clark, deputy director of the Fulton County child welfare office.
Clark was charged with felony child cruelty March 10 after Fayette school officials reported marks on the child's back and arms to the Fayette office of the state Division of Family and Children Services. Fayetteville police said that on Feb. 7, Clark ordered her 8-year-old daughter to remove her clothes and whipped her 34 times with a belt.
DFCS officials said the case was handled properly and that Clark was not given preferential treatment. Clark, who has been reassigned to administrative duties at the Fulton DFCS office, could not be reached Wednesday for comment. A month ago, she said she spanked her daughter, but didn't abuse her.
Simms said her investigators interviewed several workers in the Fayette office of DFCS. "It is my feeling that they felt pressure to minimize it [the case] or make it go away," Simms said. She said she hasn't gotten state DFCS's side of the story yet.
Police placed the girl and her three sisters in foster care, but DFCS quickly moved the children into the home of their maternal grandmother, Simms said.
One Fayette caseworker wrote the governor to complain about the way the case was handled. Tracy Murray said the state office "mandated" that her office waive the drug screen and criminal background check in order to quickly place the children with the grandmother.
"Governor, make no mistake the leadership representing this department is in full support of this mother who has beaten her child with no remorse," Murray wrote.
State DFCS Director Mary Dean Harvey said she often reviews individual county cases and, working in consultation with the county, discusses waivers on background checks.
The children have since been placed in the custody of their father, who lives in Chicago, authorities said.
State Department of Human Resources officials say they're conducting an internal investigation. "We haven't found anything to show that DFCS has done anything wrong," said Cathy Lynn, deputy director of the state Office of Investigative Services, an arm of DHR. DFCS is also an arm of DHR.
The difference of opinion sets up yet another conflict between state DFCS, the agency tasked with handling child welfare services, and the child advocate, appointed to keep watch over DFCS. Simms recently issued a blistering report on the Fulton DFCS office.
Fayette District Attorney Scott Ballard also has started an investigation into whether Fayette DFCS delayed reporting the abuse allegations to Fayetteville police.
Harvey said DFCS notified police by fax shortly after receiving the abuse allegation from the girl's teacher.
Ballard said he needs to confirm that, but said DFCS did not follow protocol and telephone police to confirm. Consequently, he said, police did not begin the investigation for another 20 days.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Endless Accusations

March 11, 2007

James Nord, an Arizona man in a business where he could make enemies, is anonymously accused of molesting a ten-year-old boy living in his home. When child protectors find the man lives alone, the accusation changes to molesting at the home of the boy's mother. When they can't find her, he is accused of molesting his own sister and son. The caseworker tells the man his file has been closed, but continues to question his friends. He is on a list of low-risk sexual predators, but cannot find the name of his accuser. The caseworker continues because she collects a bounty for her investigation. Child protection is too important to stop for mere innocence, or even absurdity.

expand

collapse

Sunday, March 11, 2007
Man upset over probe for alleged child molestation

Suzanne Cronn-Herald/Review
James Nord reviews a document in his home office on Sunday. Nord has file a $50 million dollar law suit against Cochise County and the state stemming from an accusation of child molestation of which no evidence was found and the case was closed.

By Shar Porier
Herald/Review
SIERRA VISTA — “They don’t care who they screw up.”
The frustration of 66-year-old paralegal James Nord over an alleged incident of child molestation, which he claims landed his name in a file at Child Protective Services as a “low risk” sexual predator, continues as he tries to clear his name.
It all started more than a year ago on Feb. 28 when he got a call from CPS investigator Marilyn Piduch at his home in Sierra Vista. She asked if she could meet with him. He agreed, and Piduch and Marde Closson, local CPS supervisor, came to his home and told him a complaint had been filed. They had been told a woman and her 10-year-old son were living with him, and that he had molested the boy. After an inspection of his home, they found no evidence of anyone living with Nord.
“I’ve lived alone for 18 years, with the exception of my son and his family when they first moved here,” he said.
Wondering who could have made such an accusation, he asked for the name of his accuser and was told the identity could not be revealed.
He filed a complaint with the Cochise County’s Sheriff’s Office for false reporting and harassment against the CPS.
Deputy Cpl. John Filippelli took the complaint and called CPS in an attempt to confirm a name given by Nord as the possible informant. The deputy states in a report that CPS told him the caller wished to remain anonymous but that it was definitely not the person suspected. He then went to Nord’s residence and advised him of the findings.
“Nord advised when CPS completes their investigation he will file a petition to disclose the name of the person reporting. I advised Nord if/when he finds out the subject’s name to contact me, and I will continue the investigation,” he writes in the report.
Though Nord said Filippelli met with him the morning of March 2 and told him CPS had closed the case, there is no such statement in the deputy’s official report. Filippelli’s investigation is listed as active/dead file pending further information from Nord on the identity of the person who called CPS with the complaint.
Part of Nord’s complaint of CPS’ actions involves the continuing investigation involving friends and family after the case had supposedly been closed.
Piduch interviewed Nord’s son, Carl, on the same day and questioned him about the woman and her son.
Nothing further was done until May 17, when Nord requested a copy of the complaint. On June 8, he received the CPS summary report, which gave a different scenario. In the report, Nord was accused of molesting the 10-year-old daughter of a woman while living with her at her residence. The report also states he violently molested and assaulted his sister for four years and molested his son.
Nord and his son were upset over the new allegations listed in the summary report.
“I don’t understand. First it was a boy. Now it’s a girl, my sister and my son. It’s absurd,” Nord said.
Carl Nord says there wasn’t an incident involving him.
“Nothing ever happened to me or my aunt. I checked,” he said. “There are no people living with Dad or he with them. It’s a crock. Somebody’s made up the complaint. They investigated and found no evidence, but, yet, they continued. If the case was opened and closed on the same day, as they said, why did they call me in March?”
Nord decided he was going to get to the bottom of it and tried to get a judge to allow the identity of his accuser to be revealed and his name cleared. The case went before Cochise County Superior Court Judge James L. Conlogue.
Assistant Attorney General Roger Perry Jr. argued against releasing the name. According to documentation on file at the courthouse concerning the case, Perry stated, “There can be no justification for a request that all records concerning the petitioner be expunged from CPS files,” he said, “Arizona maintains a record of the report as it must, according to law.”
Conlogue ruled against Nord’s request and ordered the file sealed.
Nord suspects he was the subject of retribution of someone, but he hasn’t a clue who that may be.
His friend Betty Madrid believes she knows who filed the complaint. Nord was helping her on a legal matter involving fraud. According to her affidavit, Madrid called Piduch on March 1 and said she “was positive that the report was made for vindictive reasons. I told her that because of my accusation, I was being followed … She asked me who I thought would do this.”
Madrid gave four names, but was interrupted by Piduch, who asked how Madrid knew of one of the people mentioned. That made Madrid suspicious, and she told Nord of the conversation.
In December, Nord filed a lawsuit against the county, the state and all the agencies and people involved in December. His lawsuit claims that Closson and Piduch “… acted with reckless disregard” and failed to determine whether probable cause existed before taking action. He claims violation of his civil rights to due process, loss of reputation and infliction of emotional distress among other charges.
He is seeking $50 million in his suit.
“I suffer from headaches, nausea and nervousness. This whole thing has distracted me from being able to my job. It interferes with my work,” he says in the court paperwork.
“One’s reputation is a significant, intensely personal possession that one strives to protect,” Nord continued. “The CPS takes everything some mystery party says as factual and does not need any corroboration of any sort. They closed the case without any substantiation and put my name in their files.”
He sought help from an Arizona ombudsman, Ellen Stenson, who wrote in a letter the case was closed “as neither substantiated nor unsubstantiated, but rather noted they were unable to locate (the woman and her child).
“We do not have any evidence that the CPS investigation was inappropriate or that CPS has inappropriately shared information about you …,” Stenson said in her response.
Stenson’s findings seem to bolster the stand of the Attorney General’s Office, which is handling the federal lawsuit.
The state, on behalf of all the agencies and parties listed in Nord’s suit, is represented by Assistant Attorney General Perry, who has entered a motion to dismiss on the grounds that Nord has a “lack of cognizable legal theory” and “the absence of sufficient facts.” He states in the motion that CPS, as an agency of the state, is immune from private damages or injunctive relief.
As for Nord’s worry of being classified as a sexual predator in a central registry, Perry says this “is an example of an unwarranted deduction of fact. (Nord) was investigated by the CPS; therefore, he reasons, he has been placed on such a list … it appears (from the complaint) this claim was not substantiated. There was no child living in his home to be concerned about. He is not a convicted sex-offender, subject to registration.”
Perry writes that CPS is required to maintain a record of the report, but this record in no sense is considered a predator list. Therefore, Nord’s deduction that since he was investigated his name exists on a CPS list is unrealistic.
He states in a court document, “… Criminal investigations — even if CPS conducted criminal investigations — can be conducted on no more than a hunch; they can be conducted on a whim …”
Due to the serious nature of the information included in the CPS summary report, the agency had the right to investigate the tip, he argues in the court document.
Perry has tried to have that CPS summary report rejected as evidence. In a phone conversation, Perry said Nord had not authenticated the CPS report. Therefore, it should be disallowed, as should the affidavits Nord gathered.
“I am asking the court to look at facts alleged in the complaint. Nord does not state a cause of action against these people. I have moved to strike things that are not properly brought before the court,” Perry said. “I cannot find a cause that would allow for action against these people. I have to move to strike things that are not properly brought before the court. Even if you were to pretend that all the facts as he presents them are true, he still does not have a case.”
Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever and County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer did not respond to calls for comment on the lawsuit.
Liz Barker, public information officer for CPS, said she could not comment on the pending litigation. However, she answered questions about procedure and policy of CPS. She said when someone calls the statewide hotline phone number, a series of questions is asked. If the answers meet the criteria, a report is forwarded to the proper district office, and staff proceed to investigate.
Barker confirmed that a person’s name remains on file with CPS even if allegations have not been substantiated. If the case is substantiated and a conviction obtained, the name is added to the statewide registry of sex offenders by the department of public safety.
One other irregularity, as Nord sees it, is a provision that provides a monetary incentive to CPS staff to investigate cases. If six cases of abuse or neglect are investigated per month, the employee receives 10 percent of the monthly salary.
Barker confirmed that case workers are paid “a stipend” on the number of cases they investigate. The sum is paid whether the investigations pan out or not.
That makes Nord wonder if such financial gains are ethical and if that policy is part of the problem.
“Was I investigated to make more money? Who thought of this stipend?” he asked. “All I’m trying to do is clear my name. I had a background check run on myself and it came back clean,” he added. “But CPS has my name in a file somewhere, unsubstantiated or not.”
Nord, who claims he is still distressed over the incident, waits for the lawsuit to be heard. “Can you imagine waking up one day to find you’re being looked at as a child molester? And I’m just supposed to take that and roll over and play dead? I don’t think so.”
REPORTER Shar Porier can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at shar.porier@bisbeereview.net.
Source: Sierra Vista Herald

Student Gets Real Sex Ed

March 10, 2007

When Nelson A Boylen Collegiate Institute needed a family studies teacher, they hired the best — a qualified teacher with experience as a children's aid worker. She taught her students so well that she will soon give birth to one of their children.

expand

collapse

Teacher accused of sex with student

Paola Queen, a teacher at Nelson A. Boylen Collegiate Institute, has been charged with sexual exploitation after police received a tip about an alleged inappropriate relationship.

Woman is pregnant after alleged relationship and teen has left high school, police say
March 10, 2007, Betsy Powell Kristin Rushowy, Staff Reporters
She was a child protection worker who taught family studies and now she's a high school teacher accused of having sex with one of her teenage students.
Toronto police have charged Paola Queen, a 35-year-old teacher at Nelson A. Boylen Collegiate Institute, with one count of sexual exploitation after they received a Crime Stoppers tip earlier this month about an alleged inappropriate relationship between a high school teacher and a student.
She is pregnant and is at a "substantial stage" into the nine-month term, Det. Peter Duncan said yesterday.
The student, who has left the north Toronto school on Falstaff Ave. near Jane St., is believed to be 17 and cannot be identified by law.
"This was a very good student, someone who has since left school" and the reasons, while not conclusively known, are "directly related to that pregnancy," Duncan said.
Police allege Queen began a romantic and sexual relationship with the teen not long after she started teaching at the school in September 2005, "one that has continued, to our knowledge, to the present time," said Duncan, of 31 Division. Both speak Spanish, a source said.
A student in Queen's parenting class said she often saw the teacher and two brothers in a car together. "She would let them drive," said the 15-year-old who asked not to be identified.
Queen was obviously pregnant and recently told students not to give her grief in class because of her condition, the student said.
Family members on both sides were also aware of the relationship and the pregnancy, police said.
"From our investigation it appears that both relatives of the accused lady and the victimized youth knew of this relationship and had for some time, several months at least," Duncan said.
Police exercised two search warrants and they found photographs showing the pair with other family members.
The teacher had been living with the student "for short periods at least before she was arrested."
Queen was arrested on Tuesday night.
Under the Criminal Code, no one is allowed to have a sexual relationship with anyone under 18 years old if they are in a position of trust or authority "and certainly any teacher would follow under that description," said Duncan.
A young person at that age is "at an obvious stage in their emotional development" where they would be vulnerable to "friendly behaviour and given a degree of affection would fall into a position where they would develop an emotional attachment with a teacher as somebody in a position of authority."
While he doesn't now appear to be traumatized, "this could be a young man who could take years to fully understand the impact on his life," he said. "I think this is something, morally, is going to disgust some people."
Supt. Roy Pilkington, who runs 31 Division, said it's not uncommon for men in positions of authority to victimize young females, but added: "It's very rare – I've been a police officer for some 34 years – and this is the first case I can recall in Toronto ... where we've had this reverse situation."
Queen has been released with conditions not to attend the school in question. She is to appear at in court April 17. She has no children of her own and is not currently married but may be separated or divorced.
She is also to have no contact with the youth. Duncan admitted this could prove to be problematic if he is indeed the father of the baby. "That's another sad dimension."
Queen is a former child protection worker with Toronto's Catholic Children's Aid Society.
The family studies teacher is now on home assignment, which means she's on leave with pay until the matter has been resolved in the courts.
"That's normally the case when a teacher has been charged with a criminal offence," said board counsel Grant Bowers.
"That's normally their status until the matter has been disposed of by the courts."
If found guilty, she'll be fired; if she's acquitted or the charges are withdrawn, the board will still conduct its own investigation before deciding if she's allowed to return to work, added Bowers.
In a letter sent home with students yesterday, principal Linda Curtis said it's alleged that Queen began an inappropriate relationship "soon after she started as a teacher" at the school in September 2005.
Queen became a teacher in June 2005 after obtaining a bachelor's degree in education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. According to the Ontario College of Teachers, her qualifications are in the areas of family studies, individual and society, and visual arts.
She also has two undergraduate degrees – in arts and social work – from York University, dating back to 1995.
The Toronto District School Board first heard of the allegations from police, Bowers said. He could not say if the school had previously received any complaints about Queen.
The student is not currently attending Nelson A. Boylen, although sources said he has not been transferred to another school.
Even though the charges were laid just days before March Break, the Toronto board has arranged for counselling during the holidays should students or staff request it. A meeting will be scheduled following the break for parents to air any concerns or to seek advice on how to discuss the issue at home.
"Our primary goal is to make sure that the students aren't upset, and to provide any counselling that students may need," said Bowers. "When a person in authority in a school community is charged with anything, it can cause ripples in the school community."
Bowers said the Toronto board has one of the toughest policies regarding relationships. No employee – teacher or any other staff member – is allowed to have sexual relations with a student.
"Any teacher or other employee found guilty (by the courts), or found by us on the balance of probability to have abused a child in any way, is terminated immediately," he said.
"If these allegations are true, and that's a big if, it's extremely regretful and another example of how we have to be vigilant and protect our kids."
The Ontario College of Teachers, the profession's governing body, says if the board alters Queen's terms of employment "if it restricts her teaching duties or terminates her, they must let us know," said communications officer Brian Jamieson.
After receiving the complaint in writing, the college will investigate, and information would be forwarded to an investigation committee to decide if an official disciplinary hearing is warranted. The college's investigation is separate from that of the police.
In cases where teachers are found guilty of professional misconduct for having sexual relations with students, they stand to lose their licence – and, if that happens, it's almost always permanent, said Jamieson.
Bowers said he will notify the college on Monday.
When asked if the boy's family could sue the board, Bowers said that Canada is "rather unique because since the year 2000, the Supreme Court has held school boards and other institutions vicariously liable" for the inappropriate actions of teachers and other caregivers of children.
Source: Toronto Star

Best Kid Culled

March 8, 2007

Another personal story found on the internet. It is another "Sophie's Choice" scenario, in which CAS lets mom and dad keep two kids, they want the other to place with grandma.

expand

collapse

March 07 (2007)
Bitten By The Scorpion
I have been bitten by the scorpion!
The scorpion being the Children's Aid Society. They have been involved in my family's life for seven and a half years, and they sting is still just as painful. They have been trying to take our son away since he was six months old, and just couldn't seem to do it. But now they just may have found a way to keep him away from us forever. With the help of my "loving" mother of course. They will allow us to have our daughters but not our son, and for th life of us all, no one can figure out why. Especially since they think we're good enough parents to our daughters that it is safe for them to close their file. But yet they would rather have my mother gain full custody of our son. It really doesn't make much sence. My husband has been reduced to supervised access and now must see his son under the close scrutiny of the CAS. That is completely unjustifiable. But what makes it worse is that he is only allowed to have 2 hours a week. Worse still is now they are trying to make things even more difficult for husband by making him sign his life away in paper work before he caneven get to see his son, and if he were to not follow any of the supposed rules for thereputic access, his visits will cease and desist effective immediately. But yet when he was having visits before he didn't have to sign a thing and the so called rules were not nearly as overbearing. The CAS is doing everything in their power to make excuses as to why my husband should be refused his access and they are stalling so that my mother can gain custody of our son.
All of this is because my mother wanted a little boy and she got me instead. And I got to have the little boy that she has always wanted with a family that she has hated for the past twenty-seven years....
In the end it isn't really about a child's wellbing it's about money and power over the less fortunate. Greed is a very powerful thing...I just hope that my son and two daughters can survive the backlash.
We'll just see how much the scorpion will sting when it's under the heel of my boot!!!
Author's profile:

Display name: Crimson
Nickname: Crimson_Sorrow_Forever
Gender: Female
Age: 27
Occupation: CSR
Interests: I love Anne RIce novels and Stephen King. I like all kinds of music. I love to sing dance write
More about me: I'm a mother of three. I'm a student I work I have a loving husband I'm wiccan I'm aspiring to be an author and a Forensic Pathologst I also tend to be a little over dramatic sometimes ob kb I'm turning into a pumpkin Blessed Be on Thy Journey! In Love and Light let Trust and hope be with Thee!
Name: April Willison
Home address: Canada
Marital status: In a relationship

Source: Windows Live message board

Apprenticeship for Crime

March 7, 2007

A report acquired by the CBC says that Ontario's children's aid societies act as apprenticeship programs for criminal behavior. No one will dare suggest correcting the problem by leaving children with mom and dad. Instead, we can soon expect calls for more money for CAS to improve group homes.

expand

collapse

Kids see group homes as 'gateways to jail': child advocate
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 7, 2007 | 7:46 AM ET
CBC News
Almost half of Ontario's young offenders in detention for minor crimes came through the child welfare system, a report from the Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy shows.
The trend is a concern for child advocates across the country and Ontario Child Advocate Judy Finlay said many of the province's young people are beginning to think of group homes as "gateways to jail."
"We're taking them out of very difficult family circumstances, bringing them into state care and then we're charging them for their behaviour. It's very concerning to me," Finlay said.
The report, which was obtained by CBC News, lays much of the blame on group homes that rely too heavily on police to resolve problems that could be handled by staff.
Kids have been charged for everything from refusing to read a book or hitting someone with a tea towel, Finlay said.
One group home in Ontario called police 400 times in a single year.
Ontario is not the only province that needs to fix the system, the report says. A sampling of facilities across Canada found that 57 per cent of young offenders had a connection to the child welfare system, the report said. In British Columbia, a recent study put that number at 73 per cent.
While some teens acknowledge the more serious charges may be warranted, they complain that too often, staff lack the training to deal with troubled kids and resort to calling police.
One teen, who can't be named under federal law, said workers would often provoke him. After he was charged, group home workers had an easy way to threaten him by suggesting a breach of his bail or probation conditions would mean a return to a young offenders facility.
"They threaten you and say you better read that book or you're going back to jail. Come on, what kind of system is this?" the teen said.
Finlay is calling on the province to collect data on police calls from group homes and the charges that result. She also wants to see a mental health worker attached to each group home and higher standards for an industry that costs taxpayers more than $200 million a year.
Source: CBC

Addendum: Here is the start of a comment on this subject by Carolyn Buck, Executive Director of Toronto Children's Aid:

The most recent aggregate provincial data shows that 15% of Crown wards under CAS’ care in Ontario were charged under the Young Offender Act, now the Youth Criminal Justice Act. This is not the overwhelming majority as some critics report.
Young people come to us with an array of difficult experiences. The scars left by the trauma of abuse go well beyond skin deep and unspeakable acts leave indelible impressions at the most vulnerable time in human development.
Source: Toronto Children's Aid

This drivel requires us to go back to elementary arithmetic. Judy Finlay divided the number of young offenders with CAS cases by the number of young offenders (almost 50%), Carolyn Buck divided it by the number of crown wards (15%). Of course the results are different. You are not lying, Mrs Buck, you are just trying to fool us.

The second paragraph goes on to blame the failings of children in care on the parents they were taken from. If that is so, why is the death rate in foster care five times as high as parental care? The most common cause of foster death for young children is "battered". How do parents batter their kids in far-away foster homes? There are indeed unspeakable acts that leave indelible impressions on children, but they come from the child protection system itself.

CAS Harasses F4J Member

March 5, 2007

Fathers-4-Justice has had success in drawing press attention to the injustices of family court, and consequently its members come under intense scrutiny from agenicies with police power. This press release from Jeremy Swanson gives more on the soldier, Ken Sandall, harassed by children's aid.

expand

collapse

CAS INVESTIGATES FORMER OTTAWA F4J COORDINATOR
In November 2006, the Ottawa office of the Children's Aid Society (CAS) investigated the former Ottawa Fathers-4-Justice (F4J) Coordinator for being a member of that group. According to Ken Sandall and another source who was interview by CAS, questions of Mr. Sandall's F4J membership and activities were posed. An official CAS document obtained clearly states that CAS had unverified child protection concerns but pursued the investigation of Mr. Sandall regardless.
While earlier acting in the position as Ottawa-area F4J Coordinator, Mr. Sandall received emails from the CAS making inquiries and demanding information about local F4J policies and activities. When Mr. Sandall did not comply, a damaging and defamatory child protection investigation was launched against Mr. Sandall. According to CAS, they received a mysterious, anonymous complaint-which could not be verified-accusing Mr. Sandall of many false allegations. However, according to Mr. Sandall, CAS' investigation went far beyond the issues and indications provided by this 'phantom' email from an un-named source. The resulting CAS interrogative-style interview of Mr. Sandall was focused on his F4J membership and allegations that the CAS investigator later admitted were not part of that 'phantom' email or any of the allegations contained therein
Mr. Sandall's activities with F4J were limited at the time of his service due to the fact that he is a current serving member of the Canadian Forces. Mr. Sandall supported F4J in a supportive, organizational and administrative capacity. However, after three short months, he was forced to resign as the F4J Ottawa Coordinator for family reasons. Mr. Sandall states that he was not bullied into leaving the F4J position, as the decision was clearly family-orientated. He still maintains his basic membership in F4J and other Fathers and Family Rights groups.
Questioned Saturday Mr Sandall ventured "Is participation in F4J or any other father's rights groups illegal ? Does being a father's rights supporter constitute a danger to children? CAS seems to think so " he said.
Mr. Sandall tried to directly address the CAS investigation from the local CAS Ottawa office up to the CAS' provincial office in Toronto. He received no replies to phone calls and emails and the official reaction appears to ignore all attempts at communication in this matter. Mr. Sandall has launched a complaint to CAS, as well as his Member of Parliament and the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.
"I fear that, CAS will attempt to 'find' and launch another allegation against me in response to my complaint and attempt at redress against them " said Mr Sandall.
-30-

Contact:
Jeremy Swanson (613) 237-1320 ext 2438
Ken Sandall (613) 249-9470
cell (613) 794-7435

Source: email from Jeremy Swanson

United Way Supports CAS

March 4, 2007

When you give a donation to the friendly folks who collect for the United Way, you are supporting the same agency that separates parents and children by force of arms. Here the United Way gives $198,990 to the Mutual Aid Program for Parents, operated through the Children's Aid Society.

expand

collapse

United Way agencies get boost
By JENNIFER O'BRIEN, SUN MEDIA
[ Paragraphs not relating to Children's Aid omitted. ]
Yesterday, dozens of community agencies found out how much money they'll get this year from the United Way of London and Middlesex as it released allocations from its record $6.6-million fundraising campaign last year.
Overall, United Way funding to member agencies will rise to just more than $5 million this year, up from $4.4 million last year.
Also, spending on United Way community services and special programs will rise to nearly $1.63 million from $1.4 million last year.
Yesterday's funding allocations lit up the office for United Way staff, said Helen Connell, the local chapter's executive director.
"There was a feeling of euphoria here today," she said of the office at 409 King St.
"All day long, people have been coming in to find out how much they are receiving . . . We get to see the faces of the agencies and how appreciative they are.
"It really feels good."
The Mutual Aid Program for Parents, operated through the Children's Aid Society received a $55,000 boost, bringing its funding to $199,000 to support a program that helps Spanish-speaking parents.
---
FUNDING ALLOCATIONS

Across Languages, $32,000

Big Brothers, $172,300

Big Sisters, $211,951

Boys' & Girls' Club, $421,000

Canadian Hearing Society, $75,900

Canadian Mental Health Association, $127,703

CNIB, $210,670

Changing Ways, $170,000

Community Living London, $117,051

Crouch Resource Centre, $109,480

Epilepsy Support Centre, $100,000.

Family Service Thames Valley, $401,626

Girl Guides, $46,000

Glen Cairn Community Resource Centre, $159,000

Horton Street Seniors Centre, $70,650

Hospice of London, $126,500

John Howard Society, $318,654

Learning Disabilities Association, $109,000.

London Coffee House Program, $128,600

London & District Distress Centre, $134,493

London Intercommunity Health Centre, $78,655.

London Interfaith Counselling Centre, $85,325.

London Occupational Safety & Health, $90,866

London Unemployment Health Centre, $153,855

LUSO, $120,796

Meals on Wheels, $79,000

Mutual Aid Program for Parents, $198,990

N'Amerind, $61,233

Ontario March of Dimes, $94,785

SARI, $35,500

Scouts, $42,500

Sexual Assault Centre, $60,855

South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre, $104,794

Stevenson Children's Camp, $93,730

Next Wave Strathroy Youth Centre, $124,000

Women's Rural Resource Centre, $58,013.

London Y, $220,000

Youth Action Centre, $66,500

Source: London Free Press

Mom and Daughter Jailed

March 2, 2007

A quip attributed to Mark Twain says: “It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.”

In this item, a mother who wants to be with her daughter, and a daughter who wants to be with her mother are both in jail to keep them separated. Since it is truth, it doesn't have to make sense.

expand

collapse

Originally published February 28, 2007
Amber Alert canceled — Missing girl OK, mom arrested
By Lisa Roose-Church, DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

Submitted photo
Christina Renaud, the Howell-area girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert, turned up unharmed Tuesday at the Royal Oak Police Department. The girl's mother, who is not her legal guardian, is in custody on parental kidnapping charges.

The Livingston County Sheriff's Department said early Wednesday that the Howell-area girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert the prior day had turned up at a police station unharmed.
Meanwhile, the girl’s mother, who is not her legal guardian, was being held at the Livingston County Jail for allegedly kidnapping her.
The girl — Christina Renaud, 16, of Oceola Township — turned up OK at the Royal Oak Police Department on Tuesday, the same day authorities in that community had taken her mother, Debbie Renaud, into custody, the Sheriff's Department said. Debbie Renaud lives in Royal Oak.
Police say Debbie Renaud requested visitation with her daughter last week and was to return the teen to her legal guardian Sunday. But the teen didn't turn up or contact her guardian as planned, and the Livingston County prosecutor’s office on Tuesday authorized an arrest warrant against Debbie Renaud for parental kidnapping. Also, police issued an Amber Alert for Christina Renaud on Tuesday.
Royal Oak police arrested the mother later in the day.
Christina Renaud was in protective custody with the Sheriff’s Department this morning.
Sheriff's Detective Marc King is still investigating the circumstances surrounding the teen's disappearance.
Contact Daily Press & Argus reporter Lisa Roose-Church at (517) 552-2846 or at lrchurch@gannett.com.
Source: Daily Press & Argus, Livingston Michigan

Adoptions Don't Work

March 2, 2007

When an adoption is finalized, most jurisdictions issue a phony birth certificate to the adoptee, listing the adoptive parents as mother and father. These birth certificates are useless when it comes to protecting the child from inherited genetic diseases. Another problem is that the phony birth certificates are not recognized for citizenship purposes, allowing an adult to unexpectedly become an illegal alien in his own country — we reported on the case of Ruth Shaw. Here is a third problem — inheritance. Olive Watson was the daughter of IBM magnate Thomas J Watson Jr (1914-1993). To ensure her lesbian lover Patricia Spado shared in her inheritance she adopted Spado as her daughter in 1991. The death of Watson's wife in 2004 activated a provision in the will dividing his estate among his grandchildren. The Watson family does not want Spado to get a share, and is challenging the adoption.

So adopted children can be cut out of their health, citizenship and inheritance. Once adopted children reach the age of majority, they are in practice orphans again.

expand

collapse

IBM heirs battle 'my mother is my girlfriend' cash claim
Big Blues see red over pink adoption
By Chris Williams
Published Thursday 1st March 2007 00:54 GMT
A lesbian woman who had a long term relationship with one of the daughters of IBM president Thomas J. Watson Jr is fighting for her right to a share of his legacy.
Patricia Spado lived with Olive Watson for more than 10 years until they separated in 1992. Watson adopted Spado under Maine law in 1991. At 44 years old, Spado was one year her senior.
The unusual arrangement was designed to circumvent anti-gay marriage laws and allow Spado to become a legal heir to the trust fund Thomas Watson Jr set up for his grandkiddies, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 19.
When the couple separated, Olive Watson signed an agreement with her ex stating: "I have not and that I shall at no time initiate any action to revoke or annul my adoption of you."
However, Thomas J. Watson's 18 grandchildren are arguing that the fund, which was opened on his death in 1993, was aimed at blood relatives and that he had no knowledge of the adoption.
Fund chief Thomas J. Watson III successfully challenged the legality of the adoption in Connecticut, where his father died. Spado is appealing that decision, and is fighting another attempt by the trust to have the adoption annulled in Maine.
If Spado is denied the millions, she could do worse than get a job at IBM, which earlier this year topped a poll of the most fabulous places for gay people to work. ®
Source: the Register (UK)

US Jails Canadian Boy

March 1, 2007

A Canadian boy, and nearly 200 other children, are in jail in Texas. In this case, the pretext is immigration. When children really need help, there are no child protectors in sight.

expand

collapse

Truthdig
We’ll Lock Up Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free
Posted on Feb 27, 2007
By Amy Goodman
“I want to be free. I want to go outside, and I want to go to school,” pleaded a 9-year-old boy, on the phone from prison. This prison wasn’t in some far-off country, some dictatorship where one would expect children to be locked up. He is imprisoned in the United States.
The boy, Kevin, is imprisoned in Taylor, Texas, at the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility. His parents are also locked up there. The tale of how this family became imprisoned is just one example of how broken our immigration policies are in this country. It is a tale of children left behind, of family values locked up, of your tax dollars at work.
The parents are Iranian and spent 10 years in Canada seeking asylum. Kevin, their son, was born in Canada during that time. Their request for asylum was eventually denied, and they were deported back to Iran. Majid, the father, said he and his wife were jailed and tortured there. They soon fled to Turkey and bought Greek passports. They hoped to reapply for asylum in Canada, armed with proof of the torture they suffered in Iran.
On a plane back to Canada, a fellow passenger suffered a heart attack, requiring an unscheduled landing in Puerto Rico. Although they never had any intention of entering the U.S., because the plane touched down here, their passports were questioned and they were detained. The family was shipped off to Hutto. They have been there for more than three weeks.
Immigration detention places the family in a legal limbo that could leave them imprisoned indefinitely, perhaps only to be deported back to more torture in Iran.
This shameful practice of locking up children is bad enough. What’s worse is that it is being done for profit, by the Corrections Corp. of America. CCA is the largest publicly traded private prison operator in the U.S. CCA has close to 70 facilities scattered across the country, recent earnings of $1.33 billion and a gain in its stock-share price of 85 percent in the past year. Industry analysts gush at the profit potential promised by private prisons. Their commodity: human beings.
A recent report issued jointly by two nonprofit agencies—the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—titled “Locking Up Family Values: The Detention of Immigrant Families,” paints a grim picture of the conditions these families endure. While in 2005 Congress directed the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain families in “non-penal, homelike environments,” the report details how prisonlike the Hutto facility is. While ICE announced Hutto as a new facility, it was formerly a prison.
Children as young as 6 are separated from their parents, kept in prison cells with heavy steel doors equipped with a sensitive laser alarm system. The children wear prison uniforms. They get one hour of school per day and one hour of recreation. All non-lawyer visits are “non-contact,” through a Plexiglas window speaking over a phone, to obviate the “necessity” of a full-body cavity search after each visit. Yet the chairman of the CCA board of directors, William Andrews, begs to differ: “The reports come from special-interest groups that are attempting to do away with privatization and the whole immigration situation. ... The family facility, particularly, at T. Don Hutto is almost like a home.” Recent reports put the total number of children at Hutto at between 170 and 200.
Close to a year after massive pro-immigrant marches occurred in every major U.S. city, immigration policy remains broken, with sensational crackdowns on undocumented workers, a planned multibillion-dollar wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and more than 26,000 immigrants in prison.
CCA stock is up but the spirits of 9-year-old Kevin are down as he languishes in his federally funded private prison cell. He wants to go home to Canada, where he was born. U.S. immigration officials now hold his fate and that of his parents: deportation to possible torture in Iran, or political asylum and a possible return to Canada. With a Congress obsessed with nonbinding resolutions and the Bush administration that brought you Abu Ghraib and the Maher Arar deportation scandal, the prospects for Kevin and his parents are grim at best.
Amy Goodman is host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 500 stations in North America.
Source: Truthdig website

Addendum: Alex Jones calls this a concentration camp, since it holds people not for wrongdoing, but for being a member of a group.

Addendum: The boy Kevin and his family were returned to Canada on March 21. The camp remains in operation.

expand

collapse

Canadian boy, parents arrive in Toronto after Texas prison stay
Last Updated: Thursday, March 22, 2007 | 7:41 AM ET, CBC News
A nine-year-old Canadian boy and his Iranian parents arrived safely in Toronto on Wednesday night after being held for six weeks in a Texas detention centre.
"Thank you for everybody who helped us," Kevin Yourdkhani said, clutching his bags at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Masomeh Alibegi holds up immigration papers as she walks with nine-year-old son Kevin Yourdkhani and his father Majid after arriving at a Toronto airport on Wednesday.Masomeh Alibegi holds up immigration papers as she walks with nine-year-old son Kevin Yourdkhani and his father Majid after arriving at a Toronto airport on Wednesday. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Kevin and his parents, Majid Yourdkhani and Masomeh Alibegi, flew into the airport from Houston, landing in Toronto at about 5:45 p.m. ET. The couple had tears in their eyes after leaving the plane.
The family was allowed to come to Canada after Immigration and Citizenship Minister Diane Finley agreed to give them temporary residency permits two weeks ago. The permits arrived in Texas on Monday.
Finley said she granted the permits in the best interest of the boy. The family is now trying to claim refugee status.
Kevin's parents arrived in Canada 10 years ago seeking asylum, but were unsuccessful and deported to Iran in December 2005. Kevin was born when they lived in Canada.
The parents said they faced torture in Iran and made another attempt to seek refuge in Canada with the use of stolen Greek passports.
But on a flight to Toronto from Guyana on Feb. 4, a passenger suffered a heart attack and died, resulting in the plane being diverted to Puerto Rico.
U.S. officials discovered their false documents and detained them for five days before sending them to the T. Don Hutto detention centre near Austin, Texas. The converted medium-security prison has been condemned by human rights groups and is the subject of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The family said living in the centre was awful.
"It was miserable condition they had over there," Majid Yourdkhani said, standing by his wife as he spoke to reporters at the Toronto airport.
"There are almost 200 children that live there in very bad conditions. Now most of the children there have chicken pox, eye infections, flu."
His wife said the family is relieved to be back in Canada, and young Kevin said he can now resume his life in Toronto.
"I will go back to my school, to my teachers," the boy said.
Source: CBC

Children Snatched

February 28, 2007

The mother identified only by her maiden name Lisa Sweet has lost her children again. Below are two posts by the mother to Sarnia's Smoking Gun about yesterday's apprehension.

expand

collapse

CAS took the kids at 12.30 pm today, based on saying I missed appointments. I have the letters from both the dentist and the doctor saying that I haven't missed any appointments all. Then they say my kids are dirty, the school called yet they do not call on the girl who threatens to kill her kids. The principal just doesn't like me. My kids are never dirty. It's that the worker cannot get my husband on drugs or anything like that. They want six months and that stupid court clinic assesment thingy.
My mother-in-law wants to sue them now as we have done everything that they want us to do.
On Friday my oldest daughter threw a fit at school, so they called CAS on me saying they are concerned.
I'm not sure how I'm going to fight it this time as no matter what I do nothing is good enough for that worker.
I want a worker change but they refuse, she is way to biased against me to begin with.
They let my ex friend threaten her kids with I'm gonna shoot you you stupid ..... she locked him in his room when he got suspended from last Thursday until today. Yet CAS turns their heads because her kids are 4 and 5 and don't know how to talk yet.
I want to take it to the media but im not sure how to.
Lisa

Thanks bizzi, I'm so heartbroken right now, had to watch them take my four-year-old away crying. As soon as she saw the police outside and the worker she started shaking and freaking out. I don't blame her.
I asked to see the papers, they had they refused to let us see them. I asked for the kids to go to family and they started asking if the kids knew them, how old they were if they were married, etc, then told me that they haven't even called but I know they did.
My mother-in-law wants to sue them, but I told her I wouldn't even know where to start with that. The worker has told me she will get my kids no matter what, anyway they split them up again.
They try to tell me no money is involved, yeah right, I'm one of the bought children I know better than that.
They want six months, I know if I give it to them I've definitly lost for sure. It all stemmed with the eight-year-old throwing tantrums at school which only seems to happen after the worker on an almost daily basis harassess them at school.
She, the worker, followed me home from school on Friday, we just got in the door not even 5 min before she got here, so there were coats on the floor and she didn't like that and there was water and mud from the kids boots that I was cleaning up as she came in the door. Doesn't seem to get this is natural for this time of year.
I will submit pics to the courts as they say my kids are always dirty, I'm one of those that loves lots of pictures so I take them at random. Guess its a good thing I do that as the kids are not dirty in one of them neither is my house.
The police looked at the worker kind of funny when I asked her why someone across the street was allowed to say she was going to shoot her four-year-old and continually belittles him and screams at him. No answer from her, but I know why, its because that girls kids at four and five don't even have the language skills of a two-year-old so they don't want to adopt them as people here only want good kids not from drug addicted families.
Source: Sarnia's Smoking Gun

Family Under Attack

February 27, 2007

Here is an item found on the internet that will probably be gone soon, when CAS bullies the parents. Past indiscretions, real or imagined, cannot be forgiven by CAS.

expand

collapse

Name: Kimberley
Occupation: small business owner
Age: 31
Location: Ontario
Interests: I enjoy cooking knitting quilting cross-stitch baking going for walks going to church riding on the four wheeler horses dogs and spending time with family.

February 23
Hello world!!
Greetings to everyone,
This is the first time I have ever posted on here. So please bare with me. I'm not quite sure what to say. So I will give you some info on my myself and my husband.
John and I have been married since September 2006. Things are going really great he is a wonderful man. We have a little girl. She was born in June 2006. She isn't home right now; she was taken by the Children's Aid Society at birth.
My husband and I have been working very hard to get her home for the last eight months. You see to make the long story short; they(CAS) believe that they have just cause to have her. I made some really bad choices when I was younger and I lost two girls to them four years ago after fighting for two and half years. I had to give them up because I had no other options. So that is just part of the reason why my new little angel is not home. The other reason is about as far off course as it could be. They(CAS) claim to have charges against my husband on an assault from 1993. The reason I say the charges are outrageous and do not have any substance is that when the supposed assault happened he wasn't even in the country. My husband had left home in 1992 and lived in the states for one year then moved to Alberta where he stayed for 9 years. He returned in 2001. Nothing was ever said about charges against him that whole time period. Now that we have a daughter together they(CAS) seem to think they can take her because apparently in their eyes people don't grow up and change.
I am rather upset that they can do this to families. My husband and I are devoted christians and are no longer struggling with our past. God gave us our daughter to raise her ourselves not for the CAS to take.
Well I think that is enough for now. Talk to you all soon.
Kimberley

Source: Microsoft blog

Please Don't Feed the Children

February 26, 2007

Child protectors in England have the perfect cure for an overweight boy — take away his mother! In 2000 child protectors in New Mexico seized three-year-old Anamarie Martinez-Regino from her parents for obesity, but gave her back a few months later after a public outcry. The current case appears to be an unmarried mother, so the outcome is unpredictable.

Is it possible the bean-counters have been working overtime on this? Putting obese children on half-rations, while collecting full foster care rates from the treasury, could ratchet up their profits reimbursement.

expand

collapse

Last Updated: Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 04:06 GMT
Fourteen stone child 'risks care'

Connor prefers to eat processed foods

An eight-year-old boy who weighs over 14 stone (89kg) may be taken into care by a local authority.
Connor McCreaddie, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, has lost a stone and a half in two months, but still prefers processed food to fruit and vegetables.
His mother, Nicola McKeown, has been called to a child protection conference with the local authority on Tuesday.
Family support may be offered, but the last resort would be for North Tyneside officials to place Connor into care.
Connor's pre-Christmas weight of 15 stones and eight pounds (98.8kg) is four times the weight of a healthy child of his age.
He has lost weight after beginning an intensive exercise regime and introducing some healthy food into his diet.
The eight-year-old does have a bike and a trampoline which he uses, but he has to stop after around 10 minutes because he becomes out of breath and can vomit.
He has difficulty dressing and washing himself, misses school regularly because of poor health and is a target for bullies.
Confident
Ms McKeown, 35, told the BBC: "Connor had a mouthful of apple once and he didn't like it.
"He refuses to eat fruit, vegetables and salads - he has processed foods.
"When Connor won't eat anything else, I've got to give him the foods he likes.
"I can't starve him.
"But I'm confident I can get his weight down with a bit of help."
Ms McKeown denied she is neglecting her son, and said he would be "skinny" if she had been.
She said she had seen doctors, but no-one had actually stepped in to offer her help.
She said that taking Connor into care would be "disastrous".
His story was due to be featured in ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald, which followed Connor and his mother for a month.
Child's interests 'paramount'
Dr Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said that removing a child from their family could be justified.
"The long-term impacts of this child's gross obesity are frightening.
"He has great risk of diabetes and coronary illness.
"His life expectancy is severely prejudiced. So action is required if his health is to be safeguarded."
A spokeswoman for North Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Primary Care Trust, said: "We share the concerns over the child's health and well-being.
"We have been working with the family over a prolonged period of time and will continue to do so.
"The child's interests are paramount."
Source: BBC

CPS Comes out Swinging

February 24, 2007

We have previously noted that child protectors harass nudists, vegetarians, smokers and prostitutes. Here is another group that must look over their shoulder for big sister.

expand

collapse

'Wife Swap' appearance sparks child abuse calls for Iowa family
By Christopher Rocchio, 02/22/2007
An appearance on ABC's Wife Swap reality series almost found an Iowa couple in hot water for child abuse.
Barb and Mike Haigwood -- a couple who raise organic food with their two teenage children on a farm near Massena, IA -- sparked Wife Swap viewers to contact the Iowa Department of Human Services after an episode featuring the family aired on Monday, February 19, The Des Moines Register reported Wednesday.
During the Wife Swap broadcast, the Haigwood children -- 13-year-old Aleesha and 16-year-old Lee -- said they don't go to school and Lee's home schooling includes counting the number of eggs the family's chickens have produced. Barb, the family's 37-year-old mother, also explained that she "believes in eating every two to three hours" -- a belief that causes her to wake the children for late-night drinkings of a beverage containing kefir, a yogurt-like product.
Prior to their Wife Swap appearance, Barb had told The Register that family's decision to eat "nothing but raw food, including eggs and meat" was part of their way of dealing with health problems related to Aleesha's attention deficit disorder.
However The Register reported Iowa state officials do not consider "an unorthodox diet and messy housekeeping" to be child abuse, and added the parents have filed the proper paperwork to home-school their two children. Iowa Department of Human Services spokesman Roger Munns told The Register his department "logged a number of calls" to its child-abuse hotline after the episode aired, and also received "at least 10 messages emailed to its website" as well as a fax.
"DHS only investigates child abuse and neglect cases when there is a credible report that, if proven true, would amount to abuse. None of these reports rise to that threshold," Munns told The Register. "People who eat unusual food and feed it to their children are not abusive, nor are people whose houses are not tidy."
Steve Pelzer, superintendent of the Cumberland and Massena school district, said that -- as the law requires --the Haigwoods have filed paperwork "proving competent private schooling." Pelzer added a licensed teacher from the West Des Moines area "monitors the children's progress."
Bard told The Register on Tuesday that the family could not comment unless reporters "went through ABC's public relations department." A spokesman for ABC could not be reached on Tuesday, according to The Register.
Source: Reality TV World

Bail for ?????

February 24, 2007

A woman without a name accused of killing a child without a name has been granted bail for reasons that cannot be published. Earlier this month a blue-ribbon panel was established to do an investigation that will keep the case out of the public eye for two years. The extraordinary cloak of secrecy over this case lends credence to otherwise unfounded rumors that the accused is well-connected politically. We had previous reports on January 28, January 31, February 5 and February 13.

One of the functions of convicting a foster parent for the death of a ward is to divert attention away from the failure of the responsible agency. But who can accept an unnamed person as a scapegoat? This may become an interesting case.

expand

collapse

Foster mother charged with murder granted bail
Last Updated: Friday, February 23, 2007 | 4:05 PM MT CBC News
An Edmonton woman charged with second-degree murder in the death of her three-year-old foster child has been granted bail.
After hearing arguments Friday, a Court of Queen's Bench judge ruled that the 32-year-old woman has to post a $10,000 cash bond and is forbidden from having any unsupervised contact with children, including her own two biological children.
Outside court, the foster mother's lawyer, Brian Beresh, said the woman was elated to be granted bail.
"This is just the classic case where you would never expect, given her history, that she would ever be in jail. This is just unbelievable — she has been shattered by this experience."
Beresh accused authorities of making a "rush to judgment" when she was charged.
"We were very disappointed that people did not view this objectively, collect information objectively. From my review of what I have seen so far there appears to be certain individuals or agencies, which appear to be protecting their own conduct."
The three-year-old boy died in an Edmonton hospital on Jan. 27 of head injuries after being rushed from his foster home.
Charges against his foster mother include second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm, and child abandonment or failure to provide the necessities of life.
She can't be named under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act.
The judge has issued a publication ban on what was said in court Friday.
Source: CBC

Protect Kids from Imagination

February 23, 2007

The Onion lampoons overprotection of children, suggesting imagination is hazardous. There is a sad record of today's spoof becoming tomorrow's reality.

expand

collapse

Child-Safety Experts Call For Restrictions On Childhood Imagination
February 20, 2007 | Issue 43•08
WASHINGTON, DC—The Department of Health and Human Services issued a series of guidelines Monday designed to help parents curtail their children's boundless imaginations, which child-safety advocates say have the potential to rival motor vehicle accidents and congenital diseases as a leading cause of disability and death among youths ages 3 to 14.

Jill Tyn, 4, perilously close to danger.

"Defuse the ticking time-bomb known as your child's imagination before it explodes and destroys her completely," said child-safety expert Kenneth McMillan, who advised the HHS in composing the guidelines. "New data shows a disturbing correlation between serious accidents and the ability of children to envision a world full of exciting possibility."
The guidelines, titled "Boundless Imagination, Boundless Hazards: Ways To Keep Your Kids Safe From A World Of Wonder," are posted on the HHS website, and will also be available in brochure form in pediatricians' offices across the country.
According to McMillan, children can suffer broken bones, head trauma, and even fatal injuries from unsupervised exposure to childlike awe. "If your children are allowed to unlock their imaginations, anything from a backyard swing set to a child's own bedroom can be transformed into a dangerous undersea castle or dragon's lair," McMillan said. "But by encouraging your kids to think linearly and literally, and constantly reminding them they can never be anything but human children with no extraordinary characteristics, you can better ensure that they will lead prolonged lives."
Although the exact number of child fatalities connected to an active imagination is unknown, experts say the danger is very real. According to a 2006 estimate, children who regularly engage in imagination are 10 times more likely to suffer injuries such as skinned knees from mythical quests, or bruises and serious falls from the peak of Bookcase Mountain.
One of the HHS recommendations emphasizes increased communication between parents and children about the truths behind outlandish fantasies. "Speak with your children about the absolute impossibility of time travel, magical powers, and animals and toys that talk when adults are not around," reads one excerpt. "If this fails to quell their imaginations, encourage them to stare at household objects and think clearly and objectively about their actual, physical characteristics."
The HHS also discourages aimless playtime activities that lack a rigid, repetitive structure: "Opt instead for safe activities like untying knots, sticking and unsticking two pieces of Velcro, drawing straight lines of successively longer lengths, and quietly humming a single note for two to three hours."
But even these relatively safe activities can become imaginative, experts warn, without proper precautions. "Do not let children know that, for example, sailors and pirates untie knots," McMillan said.
Although no cure has yet been developed for childhood imagination, preventative measures can deter children from potentially hazardous bouts of make-believe.
"Many of the suggestions are really quite simple, like breaking down cardboard boxes or sewing cushions to couches so they cannot be converted into forts or playhouses," McMillan said. "Blank pieces of paper, which can inspire non-reality-based drawings, should be discarded unless they are used in one of our recommended diagonal folding and unfolding activities. And all loose sticks left lying in the yard should be carefully labeled 'Not a Sword.'"
Unfortunately, removing everything from a child's field of view that could stimulate his active young mind is extremely time-consuming, and infeasible as a long-term solution, McMillan acknowledges. "To truly protect your children, you must go to great lengths to completely eliminate their curiosity, crush their spirit of amazement, and eradicate their childlike glee. Watch for the danger signs: faraway expressions, giggle fits, and a general air of carefree contentment."
Added McMillan: "Remember, if you see a single sparkle of excitement in their eyes, you haven't done enough."
Source: the Onion

Addendum: Here it is in real life from the publication Archives of Diseases in Childhood March 2007, a publication of BMJ (British Medical Journal). Mamas, don't let your boys grow up to be superheroes.

expand

collapse

Superhero-related injuries in paediatrics: a case series
Patrick Davies1, Julia Surridge2, Laura Hole3 and Lisa Munro-Davies3
ABSTRACT
Five cases of serious injuries to children wearing superhero costumes, involving extreme risk-taking behaviour, are presented here. Although children have always displayed behaviour seemingly unwise to the adult eye, the advent of superhero role models can give unrealistic expectations to the child, which may lead to serious injury.
The children we saw have all had to contemplate on their way to hospital that they do not in fact possess superpowers. The inbuilt injury protection which some costumes possess is also discussed.
Source: BMJ (British Medical Journal)

$765,590 for baby-stealers
$0 for mom and dad

February 23, 2007

In another announcement that shows the politicians just don't get it, MPP David Orazietti and Premier Dalton McGuinty announce even more money for agencies usurping the functions of mom and dad.

expand

collapse

SooToday.com
Dalton & Dave shake their moneymakers
By David Helwig, SooToday.com, Thursday, February 22, 2007

NEWS RELEASE, DAVID ORAZIETTI, MPP
*************************
Orazietti announces $765,590 in new funding for children and youth in Sault Ste. Marie
McGuinty government investment creates jobs and supports the local economy
Sault Ste. Marie – The McGuinty government is investing $765,950 in Sault Ste. Marie to help eight not-for-profit organizations better serve children, youth and families while strengthening the local economy, David Orazietti, MPP announced today.
"With this investment, our government is providing further support for children and youth in Sault Ste. Marie," said Orazietti. "These additional funds to expand or upgrade facilities that serve our community's young people will also help create jobs and boost local economic development."
Local organizations benefiting from this latest government investment include:

Children’s Rehabilitation Centre Algoma, $484,950

Ontario Early Years Centre, $150,000

Algoma Family Services, $39,000

Children’s Aid Society of Algoma, $44,780

Child Care Algoma, $29,860

John Howard Society, $7,000

Northern Youth Services, $7,000

Operation Springboard, $3,000

Funding for these projects comes from an investment of more than $37 million by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to help targeted service providers across the province improve or expand more than 900 buildings.
Projects range from general repairs to improve energy efficiency and better meet safety requirements to major construction and renovations to existing buildings.
"These investments will not only help to better serve some of our most vulnerable children, youth and their families, but they will contribute to economic growth and opportunities in these communities," said Minister of Children and Youth Services Mary Anne Chambers.
The ministry's contribution is a key part of the government’s recently announced $190 million economic stimulus package aimed at creating the equivalent of 3,000 jobs across the province on top of the 270,000 net new jobs created since 2003.
"While the economy remains fundamentally strong, it is important to remember that slower growth has a real impact on people and communities," said Finance Minister Greg Sorbara. "Investing in these areas that assist families and communities now means a more prosperous and competitive future for Ontario."
*************************
Source: SooToday.com

Professional Dissent to Forced Drugging

February 21, 2007

A group of academics with credentials in social work is opposing an adherence initiative of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

Adherence is a technical term with the medical definition:

The extent to which the patient continues the agreed-upon mode of treatment or intervention as prescribed

In social work, adherence means forcing patients to take their medicine. At the field level, social workers tell parents to administer psychotropic drugs to their children, or lose the children to foster care.

Last October the NASW sent an email to members asking them to join the initiative (MS Word format). The dissenting letter is below. In the restrained tones of academics it exposes the junk science behind the pushing of psychotropic drugs.

expand

collapse

Open Letter to NASW Regarding "Adherence Initiative for Schizophrenia" Sponsored by Janssen, L.P:
Elvira Craig de Silva, DSW, ACSW
President, National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
Elizabeth Clark, PhD, ACSW
Executive Director, NASW, and President, NASW Foundation
On October 6, 2006, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) sent to its Specialty Practice Sections on mental health and private practice an emailed “Invitation to Join The National Adherence Initiative for Schizophrenia.” An article in the November issue of NASW News also announces and describes the initiative (1).
The brief text in the email asked social workers to consider enrolling “in a nationwide data collection effort.” It stated: “Partial adherence is a significant problem in the treatment of schizophrenia … and can affect up to 75% of patients.” It invited participants to “identify up to 10 clients with schizophrenia that you feel are at risk for partial adherence.”
The last line of the text informed that this initiative “is sponsored by Janssen, L.P. in partnership with NASW.” The pharmaceutical company Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, markets Risperdal (risperidone), an antipsychotic drug that grossed $2.3 billion in US sales in 2005 (2). Social workers who enrolled received a packet from Janssen, with the “study instrument,” that spoke of nothing but the importance of drug treatment adherence for schizophrenia.
The undersigned social workers and social work educators and researchers are, for several reasons, concerned about the NASW’s active participation in this pharmaceutical company marketing initiative.
First, now is a time of unprecedented awareness of the pharmaceutical industry’s stake in framing how distress and mental disorders are seen and how they are treated (3). This industry has used every means at its disposal—including one-to-one enticement of professionals (4), sponsorship and delivery of continuing “education” (5), sponsorship of advocacy groups, ghost-writing of “scientific” articles and dissemination of unsupported “medication algorithms” (6), direct-to-consumer advertising, intense legislative lobbying (7), as well as suppression of research findings, illegal marketing of psychotropic drugs for off-label purposes (8), and cash payments to state officials to include atypical antipsychotics on Medicaid formularies (9)—to remain the dominant player in health and mental health. Regardless of evidence of drugs’ efficacy or safety, the industry’s unrivaled ability to spread money to influence thinking, practice, and policymaking means that the mental health system serves the industry, rather than the opposite.
Second, as non-industry funded studies increasingly identify the limitations of its products and exaggerated claims made about them, the industry greatly diversifies marketing efforts to dilute any impact of bad news on drug sales. Countless seemingly “independent” professional and advocacy activities are today carefully orchestrated and funded by marketing firms to reach specific prescription goals (8). The stark truth is that no mental health profession and no professional activity is safe from drug industry influence. Moreover, mere awareness of the issue cannot guard against being used as part of the industry’s marketing efforts. As authors from psychology have recently recommended, mental health professions need to build a “firewall” between marketing and science. (10) Authors from medicine similarly call for “a strict sequestration of commercial and scientific activities, and a fundamental internal reevaluation of the interactions between individual physicians, professional organizations, and the industry” (8). Did the NASW consider such warnings, now so numerous in the literature as to defy counting?
Third, it seems to us that the NASW did not sufficiently scrutinize an “adherence initiative” in 2006. Treatment compliance is an old issue in schizophrenia care. Everyone in this field knows that antipsychotic drugs’ unpleasant effects make them extremely undesirable to patients. The Janssen initiative closely follows the government-sponsored CATIE studies’ findings that three quarters of patients on atypical antipsychotics such as Janssen’s Risperdal—falsely touted for a decade as vast improvements over older drugs—stop taking their prescribed medication because of “inefficacy, intolerable adverse effects, or other reasons” (11).
The study instrument mailed to social workers consists of eight “yes/no” questions, each describing a “deficit” in patients that would put them “at risk” of “partial adherence.” In our view, no information not already well known from dozens of previous studies on adherence to neuroleptic treatment, including the $45 million CATIE studies on nearly 1,500 patients, is likely to come from this Janssen-NASW study. The adherence initiative repeats that “partial adherence” is a significant problem in the treatment of schizophrenia—but the more significant problem lies rather with the drugs’ now well established ineffectiveness and adverse effects.
Fourth, and more to the point, Janssen’s exclusive patent to market oral risperidone will expire in 2007, and the company stands to lose significant revenue as cheaper generic versions come to market. Janssen is therefore now emphasizing the long-acting injectable version of risperidone, which it markets as Risperdal Consta—on which it still holds patent for several more years (and which sells for more than the oral version). The history of antipsychotic drug use shows that one notion, and one notion only, has ever justified using long acting injectable antipsychotics: adherence (compliance). In this light must Janssen’s “adherence initiative” be more fully appreciated.
Finally, even as social work researchers lead the questioning of a failed paradigm constraining explanation and intervention in the lives of persons who experience psychosis (12), we are mystified that the NASW allies itself with Big Pharma, rather than lead the unbiased search for veritable innovations in care. Improvement rates in schizophrenia, after more than 50 years of drug treatment, are worse now than they were 80 years ago (13). Given that mental disorders and psychosis are strongly correlated with environmental factors such as low socioeconomic status (14) and childhood trauma (15), the NASW should formally endorse the preventive research of social workers that attempts to protect youth from harmful experiences or to foster healthy lifestyles and psychological resilience. Rather than lend even more credence to pharmaceuticals, the NASW should spearhead an initiative to publicize available psychosocial treatments that teach coping skills, interpersonal skills, and independent living skills that allow clients to function with minimal reliance on costly and potentially harmful drugs.
The undersigned consider this “adherence initiative” a campaign directly promoting the drug treatment of schizophrenia and indirectly promoting Janssen’s image and products. The “adherence” sought is that of social workers and other professionals to a treatment model guided by drugs—Janssen’s drugs. That this initiative seeks to enroll social workers in a seeming research effort for the benefit of patient care simply cannot be taken as its primary purpose. More than anything, the initiative expresses to outside observers that yet another professional organization could not remain independent of the pharmaceutical industry’s influence.
It is our understanding that Janssen initiated the contact with the NASW, remunerated the consultant from the NASW, and made a donation to the NASW Foundation in return for this collaboration. (No mention of this donation appears in the NASW News article.) The other organizations partnering with Janssen in this initiative include the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the (American) Psychiatric Nurses Association, and Schizophrenics Anonymous, all of which benefit from drug company largesse.
We request, first, that the NASW publicly backtrack on this initiative; second, that for the sake of transparency the NASW discloses the amount that Janssen donated to the NASW Foundation; and third, that the NASW inform its membership and the broader constituencies it aims to serve precisely how it intends to protect itself from other pharmaceutical industry initiatives certain to follow this most unfortunate precedent.
Signed:

David Cohen, PhD
Professor, Florida International University

Stephen E. Wong, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Florida International University

Tomi Gomory, PhD
Associate Professor, Florida State University

Jeffrey Lacasse, PhD Candidate
Visiting Lecturer, Florida State University

Dennis Saleeby, PhD
Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas

Stuart A. Kirk, DSW
Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

John Bola, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Southern California

Eileen Gambrill, PhD
Professor, University of California, Berkeley

Linda Vinton, PhD
Professor, Florida State University

Scott Ryan, PhD
Associate Professor, Florida State University

Kia J. Bentley, PhD
Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University

C. Aaron McNeece, PhD
Dean & Professor, Florida State University

Wendy Crook, PhD
Associate Professor, Florida State University

Mark A. Mattaini, DSW
Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Nicholas Mazza, PhD
Professor, Florida State University

Blace Nalavany, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, East Carolina University

Devon Brooks, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Associate Professor, University of Southern California

D. Lynn Jackson, Ph.D.
Director of Field Instruction, University of North Texas

Donni P. Whitsett, Ph.D.,
University of Southern California

REFERENCES
1. Pace, P. R. (2006, November). NASW joins adherence initiative. NASW News, p. 10.
2. IMS Health. (2006). Commonly requested therapeutic class and product update (February 2006). Retrieved November 21, 2006 from: imshealth
3. Moynihan, R., & Cassels, A. (2005). Selling sickness: how the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies are turning us all into patients. New York: Nation Books.
4. Elliott, C. (2006, April). The drug pushers. The Atlantic Monthly, pp. 82-93.
5. Elliott, C. (2004, Sept-Oct.). Pharma goes to the laundry: Public relations and the business of medical education. Hastings Center Report, pp. 18-23.
6. Healy, D. (2006). Manufacturing consensus. Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry, 30, 135-156.
7. Angell, M. B. (2004). The truth about drug companies: How they deceive us and what to do about it. New York: Random House.
8. Steinman, M. A., Bero, L. A., Chren, M.-M., & Landefeld, S. C. (2006). The promotion of gabapentin: An analysis of internal industry documents. Annals of Internal Medicine, 145, 284-293.
9. Moynihan, R. (2004). Drug company targets US state health officials. British Medical Journal, 328, 306.
10. Antonuccio, D. O., & Danton, W. G. (2003). Psychology in the prescription era: Building a firewall between marketing and science. American Psychologist, 58, 1028-1033.
11. Lieberman, J. A., et al. (2005). Effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs in patients with chronic schizophrenia. The New England Journal of Medicine, 335, 1209-1223.
12. Bola, J. R., et al. (2006). Predicting medication-free treatment response in acute psychosis: cross-validation from the Finnish Need-Adapted Project. Journal of Nervous & Mental Diseases, 194, 732-739.
13. Hegarty, J., Baldessarini, R.J., Tohen, M., Waternaux, C., & Oepen, G. (1994). One hundred years of schizophrenia: A meta-analysis of the outcome literature. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151(11), 1409-1416.
14. Hudson, C. G. (2005). Socioeconomic status and mental illness: Tests of the social causation and selection hypothesis. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75, 3-18.
15. Read, J., van Os, J., Morrison, A. P., Ross, C. A. (2005). Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia: A literature review with theoretical and clinical implications. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 112, 330-350.
Source: manufacturedconsensus.net

Killers Seek More Victims

February 15, 2007

Child protectors in Virginia let a boy die after taking him for "protection". So how do they make good to the family? By taking their other children!

expand

collapse

Boy, taken from parents accused of neglect, dies waiting for liver
By JON FRANK, The Virginian-Pilot, February 15, 2007, Last updated: 7:37 PM
VIRGINIA BEACH - A 10-month-old boy who was taken from his parents in December based on allegations of medical neglect, died Friday while awaiting a liver transplant.
The child, Sunari Dowdell, died at Georgetown University Medical Center of liver disease.
At a hearing Wednesday in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, lawyers for the child's parents, Tyara Byers and Darvin Dowdell, argued against efforts by city officials to get an emergency protective order for the couple's other three children.
Judge Randall M. Blow did not immediately issue a rul ing. He will hear additional arguments Friday.
Blow also will hold a hearing Feb. 28 on the allegations of medical neglect against the parents.
In a Dec. 21 affidavit, Virginia Beach social workers alleged that leaving the baby with his parents presented "an imminent danger to the child's life or health."
The affidavit cited at least five instances in which the child missed medical appointments. It also said the boy tested positive for marijuana at birth.
The affidavit said a liver specialist thought the child "was suffering from medical neglect and that it would be in the child's best interest to be placed in another environment where his medical needs can be met."
According to the affidavit, the child's doctor was concerned that the boy would be taken off the list for a possible liver transplant because of the missed appointments. The doctor also worried that the parents were not capable of caring for the child after a transplant.
Sunari Dowdell was removed from the couple's home in the 600 block of Red Horse Lane on Dec. 20.
Christopher Hedrick, one of two attorneys representing the parents, said Wednesday that the parents feel they made every effort within their ability to provide treatment for their son.
"The parents are deeply saddened by the loss of Sunari, and that he passed away while in the care of Social Services, when it was Social Services that, in fact, removed the child for treatment," he said.
Hedrick said the parents were upset by how the child was "forcibly removed" from their home, and they would await a court ruling on the allegations of medical neglect.
City officials could not comment on the case because it is confidential, said Mark D. Stiles, a lawyer with the city attorney's office.
# Reach Jon Frank at (757) 222-5122 or jon.frank@pilotonline.com.
Source: Virginian-Pilot

CAS/Police Fabricate Evidence

February 15, 2007

Canada Court Watch reports on a case in which police and CAS created a videotape for evidence. When they found it did not contain what they wanted, they later created a second nearly identical recording. Somehow the family found out about the substitution and acquired copies of both recordings.

expand

collapse

Parent alleges collusion and cover-up by police and CAS workers to obstruct justice by attempting to fabricate false information for the courts
(February 15, 2007) A parent came forth to Court Watch with evidence which would support the parents claims that police officers in Ontario colluded with CAS workers in what would appear to be an attempt to fabricate false information in a child abuse investigation.
According to the parent, he has videotapes of interviews conducted jointly by police and CAS which were highly flawed and in the opinion of a leading expert on the subject, one of the worst cases of evidence tampering by law enforcement officials and those involved in the protection of children.
Two almost identical videos of the same child using the same questions by the same officials in the same room but a few days apart support claims that there was collusion amongst the professionals involved to conduct a second identical interview while covering up the fact that two interviews were conducted.
According to the parents of the child, unless one looked at the two videotapes very carefully, it would be difficult to detect that the interview tapes were not copies of each other. After viewing the tape carefully clear differences could be seen.
According to this parent, the police and CAS workers were colluding to provide misleading evidence to the court in order to frame the parents for child abuse. According to the parent, "CAS workers did not get what they wanted during the first interview, so they did a second interview asking the child the same questions again........They (The CAS workers) were very careful when they set up the interview. Everyone on the second tape was in the same position and in the same room. The second interview was almost identical, but they screwed up and made some mistakes which are apparent upon close inspection of the videotapes."
CAS workers and police originally denied the existence of the second video tape which CAS workers had attempted to conceal. Copies of CAS worker notes secretly obtained from CAS files reveal that the interview which CAS workers attempted to cover-up, was in fact conducted a second time by workers.
According to the parents, one police officer swore an affidavit as to the number of videotapes, yet the parents obtained copies of tapes which clearly contradicted what was said in the police affidavit. The videotaped interviews of the children including the videotapes that the CAS tried to hide will be presented to a jury during an upcoming civil lawsuit against the CAS and the workers who were responsible for this attempt at obstruction of justice. A full Court Watch Report will follow up on this story.
This story of incompetence and evidence tampering by CAS workers reinforces the importance of recording every conversation with CAS workers and police during a child abuse investigation. Parents in Ontario must protect themselves by also ensuring that they exercise their rights to audiotape their court proceedings as permitted under section 136 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act. Parents in other provinces should push for legislation which will give them the right to record court hearings as is allowed under Ontario law.
Source: Canada Court Watch

Girl's Health Imperiled

February 14, 2007

The girl Jessica, subject of our story on her mother Christine Long, was in custody of children's aid for two years. The girl has medical problems that need attention, as indicated by the picture below taken early in 2005. It would be helpful for her physician to examine the records of diagnosis and treatment for the years she was in the care of children's aid. The children's aid society refuses to release the records to the mother, and even the child's physician cannot see them.

Jessica

Addendum Here are two letters from the mother, one to children's aid, the other to MPP Andrea Horwath. As you read the letters, try to figure out whether the children's aid society has more concern for the welfare of children, or money.

expand

collapse

February 15th, 2007
Ms. Jacalyn Walters
Acting Senior Counsel
The Children's Aid Society of Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario L8N 4B9
Dear Ms. Walters,
Re: My File
Thank you for your letter regarding the process involved obtaining a copy of my file concerning my daughter Jessica Morison and myself.
Before making the decision to incur the cost of obtaining a copy of the file, I would like to be advised of important information I need in order to decide. Please answer the following 9 questions:

The disclosure clerk's estimated dollar amount (the 50% upfront.)

What is the estimated amount of time it will take for the preparation of the material?

To whom I direct payment.

The address to direct payment.

The payment methods: Credit Card, Money Order, Cheque, Cash

Since I must pay you the remainder 50% before obtaining the file please advise me of the following

Am I allowed a copy of the entire file and/or

What will the file consist of? or

What the file will not consist of?

The amount of time, in days, will it take before I can obtain the file?

Please direct me to the policies that support these procedures.

Do I have access to your policies or must I request them? If I do have access to your policies where and how may I locate them?

I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Christine Long
copies:
Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D. Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario
Maggie DiDomizio mdidomizio@ombudsman.on.ca
kpenfold@ombudsman.on.ca
gscala@ombudsman.on.ca
ahorwath-qp@ndp.on.ca
john.tory@pc.ola.org
gsmitherman.mpp@liberal.ola.org
CCU@moh.gov.on.ca

Source: email from Christine Long

From: Christine L
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 2:22 AM
To: Horwath - CO, Andrea
Subject: Hamilton CAS

Hi Andrea:
Just a update on what is going on with Hamilton CAS and myself. I have requested Jessica;s medical files as I have concerns on what this picture is that I have attached and going over notes that were given to me it says it could be 3 possibilities ..

that it started out as step throat and was not caught in time and turned into Scarlet Fever

that it was a allergic reaction to amoxcillian

a vial infection.

Now in saying that the first 2 are concerning as if she did have a reaction that bad then she cannot go near that drug again or nay in that family of drugs And if she had Scarlet Fever then we need to as she should be checked for any heart damage as this does o cure sometimes.
At first CAS just stalled me and then I wrote them back and CC it to IPC and the ombudsman and a few government officials, now they have handed this off to the lawyers and wrote stating that if I wanted the info then I would have to pay $65/hr plus 0.30/per copy for any information I request. As for the investigation on the pictures I sent them it has gone to intake to the person in charge of foster placement and Dominic as of last week. So I will let you know if I receive anything from them I have sent them back a letter asking a few questions in regards to their request for payment so we will see were that goes and how they respond.
Thank you for continuing to fight for families that get railroad by the CAS.
Sincerely
Christine Long
Source: email from Christine Long

Alberta Cover-up

February 13, 2007

Alberta has formed a committee to study the case of an Edmonton toddler who died without a name on January 27. One of the committee members is Peter Dudding, executive director of the Child Welfare League of Canada - a trade association for the child protection industries of Canada. Other members are also employed in child protection. The composition of the board suggests that it is preordained to sweep the case under the rug for two years, then recommend more money and power for child protectors.

expand

collapse

Minister names foster care review board
Last Updated: Monday, February 12, 2007 | 5:24 PM MT
CBC News
A seven-member committee will review the death of an Edmonton toddler whose foster mother has been charged with second-degree murder, Children's Services Minister Janis Tarchuk announced Monday.
The review, to be lead by Mark Hattori, acting assistant deputy minister of children's services, will not only look into the details of the case, but also examine ways to improve the foster care system to prevent similar tragedies.
"We're going to go as far as we possibly can in terms of looking at the assessment process, the matching process, the ongoing monitoring and the service and supports provided to foster parents and the kids in foster homes," said Hattori.
The review is complex and will take between six months and two years to complete, he said.
Tarchuk has said she will release results to the public as long as they don't contravene any privacy rules.
Also on the review board are:

Dr. Lionel Dibden, medical director of the Child and Adolescent Protection Centre at the Stollery Children's Hospital.

Peter Dudding, executive director of the Child Welfare League of Canada.

Linda Hughes, executive director of McMan Youth, Family and Community Services Association in Calgary.

Debbie LaRiviere-Willier, associate director of the child welfare department with the Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council.

John Mould, Alberta's Child and Youth Advocate.

Lillian Parenteau, chief executive officer, Métis Settlements Child and Family Services Authority.

A three-year-old boy died in an Edmonton hospital on Jan. 27 of head injuries after being rushed from his foster home.
Charges against his foster mother, 32, include second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm and child abandonment or failure to provide the necessities of life.
She has yet to go to trial.
Source: CBC

Baby-stealers Scammed

February 13, 2007

A pregnant woman scammed adoptive parents by holding her baby out to four different adoptive couples, getting each to contribute to her living expenses. The law is treating her as a criminal.

Before getting too outraged at her behavior, it is good to remember the aphorism "you can't cheat an honest man". All of the couples had baby-stealing as their objective. Glenn Sacks points out that nowhere in the article is there mention of the father, who deserved primary rights to the baby after the mother relinquished custody. A curious sidebar is that the high levels of confidentiality customary in the adoption business facilitate this kind of scam.

expand

collapse

Detroit News Online
February 13, 2007
One baby, 4 adoptive couples
Wyandotte woman charged with felony; police say she used pregnancy to scam money from 3 families.
Iveory Perkins and Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News

Collins

WYANDOTTE -- A 33-year-old woman is accused of using her then-unborn baby to scam money from three unsuspecting couples eager to adopt her child, authorities say.
Heather Roshelle Collins of Wyandotte allegedly made arrangements with four adoption agencies to receive money for her living expenses in exchange for giving up her child to one of their clients.
The problem was that there was only one child and four couples who planned on adopting the baby.
Collins was charged Monday with two counts of obtaining money in excess of $1,000 under false pretenses. She faces up to five years in prison on the felony charges.
"Using an unborn baby to defraud parents is despicable," said Attorney General Mike Cox in a statement. "My office will bring the full weight of the law to bear in this case."
Authorities claim money was the primary motive for Collins' actions. The prospective adoptive couples allegedly paid Collins' rent, car payments, cell phone bills and other living expenses.
Cox said Collins was sending her bills to all the couples and often being paid twice for the same expense. Authorities haven't disclosed how much money the couples paid out.
One of the prospective adoptive moms, Christina, 37, who lives in Metro Detroit but did not want her last name or city identified, said she and her husband were duped by Collins' "lies upon lies."
She said Collins' strategy appeared to be to string them along from August to October when, "in reality, she had the baby five days after we met up."
"She strung us along," said Christina. "She played us."
The couple paid Collins $3,000, plus $3,000 to the adoption agency, Christina said. They met Collins through a Dearborn-based adoption agency.
"We were paying her rent for a couple of months as well as a large utility bill."
In December, they adopted an infant. "It still doesn't take the sting out of being victimized," she said. "I just don't want (Collins) to walk away unpunished and have a good laugh on us."
Privacy laws that protect adopted children and their families prevent adoption agencies from sharing information with one another, said Matt Frendeway, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office.
"We found no evidence that the agencies were involved in any fraud," Frendeway said. "Adoption agencies don't have the ability to communicate back and forth."
Collins ultimately gave up her child to another couple, but allegedly continued to accept money from the other three couples.
Michigan State Police officers arrested Collins at her home Monday. She was arraigned in 27th District Court before Judge Randy Kalmbach. Her bond was set at $20,000, and a preliminary exam is set for Feb. 22.
"This case of fraud is particularly devastating because it victimized families who desired nothing more than to welcome a child into their home," said Michigan State Police Director Peter Munoz.
Anna Layne has never met Collins, but has received a lot of knocks on her door recently from people seeking her.
Layne lives in the home that Collins rented out two years ago.
"I have people coming to my house looking for her, the police have been here for her and three guys knocked on my door recently asking for her," Layne said. "I don't know where she is."
You can reach Iveory Perkins at (734)462-2672 or iveory.perkins@detnews.com.
Source: Detroit News

Nazi Schooling Law Enforced

February 13, 2007

Ordinarily we resist comparing child protectors to Nazis, but in this story it is unavoidable. Germany is enforcing a law enacted by Nazi Germany intended to prevent education of children with ideas in conflict with National Socialism. The child in this story is a high functioning girl who developed her talent for music, but has now been snatched from her family and placed in an unknown facility.

expand

collapse

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Homeschool student disappears from psych ward
Authorities don't let parents, lawyer know her new location
Posted: February 13, 2007, 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily.com
The case involving a 15-year-old homeschool student in Germany who suddenly was snatched from her home by a SWAT team of police officers and sent to a psychiatric ward for her "school phobia" suddenly has taken a turn for the worse.
Officials who work in support of homeschoolers in Germany, even though it is illegal there, notified WND that Melissa Busekros, in a "new escalation," was moved from the psychiatric hospital where she had been held for more than a week "to an unknown place."
"Neither the parents nor their attorney are informed where Melissa is arrested now," said an urgent statement from Netzwerk-Bildungsfreifeit," the German homeschool advocacy organization.
"The situation is [horrifying] for the girl and the parents," said the statement, which was written in German and then translated into English.
The German organization said the situation confirms its worst fears: That "Germany blatantly spurns parental and human rights and cannot be regarded any longer as a free country. It is running more and more to tyranny and dictatorship."
WND reported more than a week ago that German authorities had assembled a team of about 20 police officers and other officials to take the teen from in front of her shocked family.
She was taken on a judge's order to a psychiatric ward after a diagnosis of "school phobia," according to reports from German homeschool supporters. She had fallen behind in Latin and math studies, and was being tutored at home in the subjects. However, when school officials found out, they expelled her, then took the family to court when they began homeschooling.
The court order executed by police officers said, "The relevant Youth Welfare Office is hereby instructed and authorized to bring the child, if necessary by force, to a hearing and may obtain police support for this purpose."
Her father, Hubert Busekros, told the homeschool group the state was out of line with its "zealous drive to enforce compulsory schooling."
She initially was hospitalized in the Child Psychiatry Unit of a clinic in Nuremburg, but then moved without notice, officials with Netzwerk-Bildungsfreifeit said.
Last week, the Home School Legal Defense Association launched a campaign to have its supporters, mostly in the United States, contact the German embassy about the case.
Then officials with the International Human Rights Group said they had assembled a list of German officials to contact on behalf of the teen.
Information about the case can be found in English at Netzwerk-Bildungsfreifeit, officials said.
"The State's action clearly goes beyond what is justifiable. They took unreasonable measures for which they had no basis. They intimidated the family with a 'SWAT' team of 15 police officers to take captive a 15-year old unsuspecting girl early in the morning, taking her to a state psychiatrist," according to the IHRG.
"The psychiatrist, after hours of interrogation, wrote a report which claimed that Melissa had delayed educational development of one year and school phobia. The judge, basing her decision on this report, gave the custody of the child over to the state and placed the child in a psychiatric ward. This was all done in a sped-up action taking only four days. The family is devastated and has immediately appealed the judge's decision," the IHRG said.
"This is nothing else than deprivation of liberty and child abduction," the German homeschool group said.
Officials there said historically the German phobia about homeschooling began with Adolph Hitler, whose design was to control the minds of children as they grew, leaving them with only his worldview.
"The 'Jugendamt' (youth welfare office) has its origin in the German Nazi state," the German group said. "German Wikipedia writes about the Jugendamt: 'In 1939 the Jugendamt [was] adopted ... as a part of government in the NS-state control of child-education. The Jugendamt controlled and observed families and children politically from their birth."
A spokesman for the group told WND, "Today the Jugendamt … is free to take the children away from their parents when in their opinion the child's welfare is jeopardized. A false accusation of neighbors is sometimes sufficient to capture the children from their parents."
(remainder of article omitted)
Bob Unruh is a news editor for WorldNetDaily.com.
Source: World Net Daily

Caution! CAS Worker Ahead!

Pregnant Girls Escape Brainwashing

February 12, 2007

Three pregnant teenagers escaped from the New Hope Maternity Home in Utah after binding the home operator Jana Moody to another woman and stealing her credit card and vehicle. Since then one of the girls has turned herself in to police in California, the other two are still on the run. The story below gives the basic facts.

The press is mystified why the girls would do such a thing, but the blogosphere tells it like it is. The girls were the target of psychological warfare to induce them to give up their babies for adoption. They were far away from their homes and not allowed to communicate with family or friends. Blogger FauxClaud writes:

Being held against your will at a maternity home is not much fun. Separated from friends and family at a vulnerable time in ones life, being forced to go there by such friends and family with the knowledge that the future only holds the forced separation from one’s baby can be like a death sentence. No one will help you. No one cares about what you want.
Well intended parents of young women are wrongly informed on how adoption is a great solution for their families often not understanding that they are creating a vast wound that their daughters will carry for life.

expand

collapse

Summit Daily News
Pregnant trio of runaway Utah girls may be in California
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, January 24, 2007
AMERICAN FORK, Utah — Police on Tuesday located the van they say was used by three pregnant teenagers to flee an American Fork maternity home after they allegedly assaulted the director with a frying pan.
The van was found abandoned in Los Angeles County, American Fork Sgt. Shauna Greening told Salt Lake City's KUTV television.
The van was not occupied, nor did officers find any clues that would lead them to the three girls. Greening said police believe the girls may be getting help from friends to stay on the run.
Police thought the trio may have headed to California after speaking with Carlos Rivera, whose 16-year-old girlfriend is in the group. Rivera, of Chicago, told police California was the destination mentioned by his girlfriend during a phone call last week.
"I haven't talked to her for four days," Rivera said Monday.
The other girls, both 15, are from California and Texas. Police said they struck Jana Moody with a pan, then tied her and another pregnant girl and dashed in the woman's van Jan. 16.
They immediately used Moody's credit card to get gas, but there is no other evidence of spending, Police Chief Lance Call said.
"If they've gotten rid of that van, and they are keeping their heads down ... it's possible they could be gone for a while," he said.
The girls likely will face charges in Utah County, Call said.
New Hope Maternity Home, 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, is a place for struggling teens to learn about prenatal care, adoption and parenting skills. They are sent by their families to get them away from drugs or bad relationships.
The 16-year-old's mother, Gina Castro of Chicago, is anxious for news.
"I'm scared to death for her life. My daughter's in more trouble now than she was before," Castro said.
Source: Colorado Summit Daily News

Homolka Gives Birth

February 10, 2007

Canadians can be proud of their newest mother, Karla Homolka. Since she has no history of child abuse, the baby was not seized by social workers in the delivery room.

expand

collapse

Toronto Sun, February 9, 2007
... And baby makes 3
Now new mom Karla set to wed in Caribbean
By ALAN CAIRNS, SUN MEDIA
Karla Homolka is nursing a newborn baby, Sun Media has confirmed.
Using the name Leanne Teale, Homolka gave birth to a 7-pound baby boy Saturday at St. Mary's Hospital in Montreal.
Homolka and the baby's father took the newborn child to their bungalow on Montreal's South Shore Monday.
The couple plan to jet off to the sunny Caribbean, where they will get married in the Antilles islands, sources told the Journal de Montreal, but first they have to secure a passport for the baby.
It is not known if the couple is going to the West Indies only for marriage, or whether they plan to leave Canada forever.
According to an anonymous letter sent to the Journal de Montreal, Homolka was first admitted to St. Mary's Hospital with contractions last Tuesday.
But the contractions proved to be false labour and Homolka was released after a few hours.
She returned again Friday morning and gave birth the next day.
"The baby had the umbilical cord rolled up around the neck, which complicated things a little," a source said.
St. Mary's Hospital officials said yesterday they will probe claims that hospital staff recognized Homolka and initially refused to give her treatment.
The confirmation of Homolka's baby comes despite denials by Homolka's sister and her lawyer, Sylvie Bordelais. Sources say Homolka was introduced to the baby's father by Bordelais.
"I do not know anything" other than what she read in yesterday's Toronto Sun, Bordelais said.
As reported in the Sun yesterday, rumours surrounding Homolka's motherhood were running rampant since the weekend.
Homolka, 36, spent 12 years in prison for her part in her ex-husband Paul Bernardo's sex murders of teens Leslie Mahaffy, 14, and Kristen French, 15, and the fatal drug rape of her own sister, Tammy, 15.
Homolka pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and accepted the prison term in exchange for her testimony against Bernardo at his first-degree murder trial.
She claims to have been a battered woman and that Bernardo was the mastermind behind the rapes and deaths.
Homolka went into hiding after her release from prison July 5, 2005.
Reporters found the Homolka bungalow occupied in a visit this week.
Nobody answered the door, although occupants peeked out from behind the curtains.
Quebec children's aid said despite Homolka's past, the new mother will not automatically be scrutinized.
Homolka has said that she dreamed of meeting a new husband and having a baby ever since she was first imprisoned in 1993.
Source: Toronto Sun

Kiddie Porn for Social Workers

February 7, 2007

Winnipeg social workers have been watching kiddie porn. When caught with their pants down, they were prevented from talking about it because of — what else? — confidentiality!

expand

collapse

Winnipeg Free Press, Thursday, February 8th, 2007
Child porn a training aid?
Police probe social worker complaint
By Mia Rabson
WINNIPEG police are investigating allegations that graphic child pornography was shown to social workers as part of a child-abuse training seminar in Winnipeg. The Integrated Child Exploitation Unit received a complaint Tuesday that photos or a video depicting a young child being sexually assaulted was included in training materials.
The training was for social workers assigned to a new centralized child-abuse unit created with the four provincial child welfare authorities -- southern and northern First Nations, Métis and the general authority.
A police spokesman said Wednesday the investigation was continuing.
The training was offered to social workers as part of the new All Nations Coordinated Response Network. It was organized by the Southern First Nations Child and Family Services Authority.
Southern CFS head Elsie Flette did not respond to a request for an interview Wednesday.
The seminar was held at the Viscount Gort Hotel. People attending the seminar who were approached at the hotel Wednesday refused to comment, saying they had signed a confidentiality agreement.
But one source told the paper some of the social workers at the workshop were so upset about the images they walked out of the seminar on Tuesday.
The consultant, whose presentation included the images, is a former police officer from Regina, with specialized training in crime scene investigation, sex crimes and child-abuse investigation.
Contacted by the Free Press this week, he refused to comment on the content of the materials and said nobody else should discuss it either because of the confidentiality clause in place for those who attended the seminar.
Roz Prober, president of the anti-child abuse advocacy group Beyond Borders, was shocked to hear the allegations.
"That's impossible," she said.
She said many police officers who worked for years in child-abuse units have moved into consulting and shouldn't take images from their police pedophile investigations to make money in their consulting business.
"They have to be exceptionally careful to make sure they are not crossing the line," said Prober.
Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh said he, too, is disturbed about the situation.
"I jumped out of my skin when I heard about this today," said Mackintosh. He learned about the matter from his staff, who had been contacted by the Free Press for comment.
He said he had not seen the offending images but said he was told there was graphic content involving a young child, that the child's face was obscured to prevent identification, and that the child and family had given permission for the material to be used for training purposes. And while police would not confirm this yesterday, Mackintosh also said he's been advised police do not believe the images are child pornography as defined by federal criminal statutes.
Mackintosh said he still has serious reservations about using the images.
"I find it profoundly disturbing that actual child victims are used in training materials," said Mackintosh.
He said he has directed his department to begin preparing provincial standards about what should and shouldn't be included in training courses about child sexual abuse.
"It's important we develop a protocol to guard against this in the future," said Mackintosh.
He said he will urge the federal government to do the same.
Prober said determining what legally constitutes child pornography is not easy, and social workers aren't in the business of making that determination.
They are there to protect kids and report possible abuse to police, who are trained to investigate and determine whether something is illegal. There is no reason for social workers to be shown graphic sex-abuse images, said Prober.
"If you're talking about illegal, sexual-abuse imagery, nobody has any right to see it except law-enforcement officers and people in the justice system such as lawyers defending clients charged with (child pornography)," said Prober.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Source: Winnipeg Free Press

Political Power Grab

February 4, 2007

Professor Stephen Baskerville shows how politicians claiming to help children enhance the power of the state at the expense of families.

expand

collapse

Human Events
Hillary and the Politics of Children
by Stephen Baskerville, Posted 01/24/2007 ET
Hillary Clinton chose to kick off her presidential campaign by invoking images of -- what else? -- children. Her healthcare policy would target "millions of children whose families today cannot afford care." Not the families of the children. Hillary prefers to work directly with the children themselves rather than their parents.

In this photograph, not part of Dr Baskerville's article, Hillary Clinton looks into the eyes of a child, bypassing the parent.

"We are talking about health care for children in need, which is about as safe an issue as there is," said Ken Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College.
Safe for a candidate perhaps, but safe for the children and our nation it is not. In casting her questionable health care ideas as a measure “for the children,” Hillary is returning us to the darkest days of her husband’s administration, when a broad range of intrusive government measures were cynically couched as concern for children.
This is more than just another politician kissing babies. It represents one of the most destructive (and successful) strategies of the feminist Left in recent years: the exploitation of children as political weapons.
Hillary is not alone. "Democrats across the board are putting children at the center of their imagery and message," according to the Washington Post. "Earlier this month, Rep. Nancy Pelosi made a vivid impression by assuming the House speakership surrounded by a squadron of young grandchildren. Sen. Barbara Boxer recently questioned whether Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, not having family of her own, could understand the stakes in Iraq." And, of course, a Democratic California assemblywoman wants to criminalize spanking.
The trend may be traced to Hillary’s mentor, Marian Wright Edelman, who admitted she founded the Children’s Defense Fund in the early 1970s upon realizing that the country was weary of the broader New Left agenda: “I got the idea that children might be a very effective way to broaden the base for change.” Edelman’s achievement was “to put children squarely in the front of almost every domestic policy debate,” according to the late Barbara Olson. In her book on the former First Lady, Olson writes, “For Hillary, children are the levers by which one forces social change.”
Largely through Hillary, this motif dominated Bill Clinton’s presidency. “Children,” wrote liberal columnist Richard Cohen, “have been an obsession for this administration.” His point is borne out by the words of its officials. “Government has got to ensure that parents are old enough, wise enough, and able to care for their children,” Attorney General Janet Reno insisted. Then-Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala was especially zealous for government child-rearing, envisioning a future kindergartener who “will play gender-neutral games in government day care and think of herself as part of the world, not just her town or the United States.”
One does not have to be a Clinton-basher to see this eerily close to Aldous Huxley’s prophecy of a totalitarian dystopia. Praising Hillary's book, "It Takes a Village," for its message that "each of us -- society as a whole -- bears responsibility for all children, even other people's children," professors Stewart Friedman and Jeffrey Greenhaus insist that we "must be prepared to make the most of the brave new world lying in the future."
"Success in the brave new world." they add, "requires skills found more among women than men."
This is far from harmless, either for public policy or for children themselves. Political scientist Jean Bethke Elshtain writes that “The replacements for parents and families would not be a happy, consensual world of children coequal with adults but one in which children became clients of institutionally powerful social bureaucrats and engineers of all sorts for whom they would serve as so much grist for the mill of extra-familial schemes and ambitions.”
This is precisely what is suggested in Hillary’s aphorism: “There is no such thing as other people’s children.” Hillary rejects the notion that “families are private, nonpolitical units whose interests subsume those of children” and believes instead in “the status of children as political beings.”
Feminist-influenced legal practitioners now openly advocate that traditional parental authority be replaced by bureaucrats: “For those who would like to have the State use its power and resources to improve the lives of children, parental rights constitute the greatest legal obstacle to government intervention to protect children from harmful parenting practices and to state efforts to assume greater authority over the care and education of children.”
These words are published in the California Law Review, a mainstream journal that asks “why parents should have any child-rearing rights at all.”
“Parental child-rearing rights are illegitimate,” declared attorney James Dwyer. “No one should possess a right to control the life of another person no matter what reasons, religious or otherwise, he might have for wanting to do so.”
A popular joke holds that within the family mom makes the minor decisions, such as how to raise the children, while dad concerns himself with important questions, like how to achieve world peace. This joke is now grimly writ large in public policy. Conservatives who allow their attention to be monopolized by foreign policy and government finance and leave family policy to liberals from the “Mommy Party” will discover only once it is too late the power of “the hand that rocks the cradle.”
Dr. Baskerville is a political scientist and president of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children.
Source: Human Events

For the Children, Glenn McCoy

Mother Strikes Back at CAS

February 3, 2007

A Sarnia mother has been sentenced to house arrest for hitting a caseworker removing her baby. Judge Hornblower said it was the woman's action that put the children's welfare at risk. We suggest that Judge Hornblower visit the zoo and take a cub from a mother bear.

The mother is fortunate to live in Canada. In the US Gene Velasquez and Bryan Russell were killed for defending their family from social workers.

expand

collapse

The Sarnia Observer
Local mother gets house arrest
NEIL BOWEN
Saturday, February 03, 2007 - 09:00
Local News - Hitting a Children's Aid Society worker who was taking custody of her infant has resulted in 45 days of house arrest for a local woman.
Justice Mark Hornblower called it a difficult case Thursday because the single mother's action needed to be "strongly denounced." But jail time would upset a family situation that has settled down since the November, 2005 incident.
The woman, 36, told the court on Jan. 24 that she was shocked by the way she reacted. She was preparing to bring the child home from hospital when she was informed the child was going into foster care. "She snapped," defence lawyer Terry Brandon said during the Jan. 24 appearance.
Workers deserve to know their services are valued and society regards "real incarceration" as the best way to get that message across, Hornblower said.
The perception isn't the same about house arrest, although the courts regard it as incarceration, he added.
Prosecutors were seeking 21 days in jail for the woman to deter others from reacting in an abusive way to Children's Aid Society workers.
Hornblower said even an intermittent jail sentence, in which the time is served on weekends, would be harmful to her children. Their lives would be disrupted by being placed in the temporary custody of the Children's Aid Society.
But it was the woman's action that put the children's welfare at risk, he said.
House arrest means the woman must be home except for medical appointments for herself and her children, or for job interviews. She is also allowed away from home with her children between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
The intention is not to put the children under house arrest because they didn't do anything wrong, Hornblower said.
She was also placed on probation for 12 months.
The Observer is not identifying the woman to protect her children.
Source: Sarnia Observer

More on Dead Boy in Edmonton

January 31, 2007

A boy died in foster care in Edmonton on January 27. As long as the names of the dead boy, his family, and the accused foster mom are kept confidential, it is impossible to learn anything but the social services side of the story. Two articles today give a little more.

We have heard the complaint many times from parents that they got the court papers only minutes before a hearing, making it impossible to even read them before court time. Here is a similar story from a lawyer.

expand

collapse

Lawyer angry not told of court date (7:22 p.m.)
Says media knew more about the case than she did
Mike Sadava, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Tuesday, January 30, 2007
The lawyer temporarily representing a foster mother charged with murder is angry she wasn’t notified her client had a court appearance on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old woman, wearing a navy blue sweatshirt and leg irons, was remanded in custody until Feb. 5 after a brief appearance in provincial court.
Shannon Prithipaul, who began representing the woman on Friday, said she only found about the court appearance because her husband heard about it on the radio.
“It is really frustrating that it seems the media knows more about this case than her counsel,” Prithipaul said after the court appearance.
The accused, whose name is subject to a publication ban, has been charged with second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm, failure to provide the necessities of life and child abandonment.
An autopsy shows a three-year-old boy in her care died of head injuries.
Prithipaul said she met with her client numerous times over the weekend and gave her card to detectives.
“As far as the court date goes, I can’t speak to that because the responsibility belongs with police,” said Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear.
“Police lay the charge and they bring the person down to the bail hearing when the court date is set.”
City police spokesman Jeff Wuite said the Crown has that responsibility.
“Our conduit into the legal system is the Crown, so we give our information to them and they’re responsible for distributing it around,” Wuite said.
Prithipaul said she will pass the case to another lawyer with more experience in murder cases.
msadava@thejournal
Source: Edmonton Journal

The boy's father issued a statement supplied to the Edmonton Sun by Edmonton law firm Engel Brubaker.

expand

collapse

“Regarding the impact of the untimely passing of my son. The Child and Family Services Authority system failed to provide a safe, secure, nurturing and loving environment.
“This system failed to protect my son.
“Unfortunately my son was abused and subjected to corporal punishment, which in my view are forms of torture. My son was subjected to forms of excruciating pain and neglect, until his passing.
“I am unable to comprehend how any individual could inflict theses types of injuries on my child.
“On Saturday, January 27, 2007, I held my son’s battered, starved, beaten, broken body as he suffered, until he took his last breath of life.
“My pain and suffering can not be put into words. For there are no words to truly describe what I have seen and how this tragedy has impacted me and my family.
“This horrid tragedy is incomprehensible, for the Child and Family Services Authority are to protect our children. And they failed the most precious Gift the Creator gave me, my son and his life.
“In these, the saddest days of my life, I hear many people speaking about the ways the system failed my son. People say there wasn’t enough money to ensure there were Native foster homes to care for our children. There wasn’t enough money to ensure there were social workers visiting foster homes often enough. From my point of view however, the one thing most lacking was a lack of trust. I believe there wasn’t enough trust in First Nations people to determine what is best for our own children.
“In this, you can trust. We promise that we love our children. We promise that we want our children to thrive and prosper. We promise that we want our children to change the world, so that it will be a better place for all people to live in. My son’s short life will help to fulfill that third promise, if we learn from the mistakes that have been made. If we learn from our mistakes, his death will have meaning.
“There needs to be trust, that as a community, First Nations people have the best interests of their children in mind. Because First Nations people better understand the circumstances of their people.
“There needs to be a real commitment to trusting and supporting First Nations people in finding ways to provide our own children with safe homes when their parents can not provide them. If this isn’t in or part of our current system, it should be. For our people have survived for thousands and thousands of years, effectively solving problems. This is one we can solve if entrusted to do so.
“It is we, his family who are left to grieve the death of my son. We do so knowing our wishes were not always respected, in regards to decisions that affected his life. We are left picking up the pieces without having a significant impact into the matters that affected his life and caused his loss of life. If his SACRIFICE is to have meaning there needs to be change.
“I provide this statement so you will have an understanding. And I request that all media related individuals leave all my family members alone. For this horrid tragedy has affected us to the core of our being. And we ask that out of respect and understanding, you would allow us to grieve in private.”
Source: Edmonton Sun

Infant Brain Hemorrhages are Normal

January 30, 2007

Science has rejected a popular reason for taking babies from their parents. For years, two symptoms were treated as sure indicators of shaken baby syndrome: retinal hemorrhage and subdural hematoma. Now science has found that a quarter of babies undergoing a normal birth experience a small amount of brain hemorrhaging. Don't expect child protectors to give back the babies taken on false accusations.

expand

collapse

Los Angeles Times
Some babies' brains bleed after vaginal births
Researchers say small hemorrhages occur in a quarter of infants but cause no damage.
By Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writer
January 30, 2007
A quarter of babies born vaginally suffer small hemorrhages in their brains, perhaps from compression of the head during delivery, according to researchers who performed the first high resolution magnetic resonance imaging studies on healthy newborns.
The bleeding heals quickly, the team reported Monday in the online version of the journal Radiology, and most likely does not produce any long-term effects.
"After all, women have been delivering vaginally for millions of years," said Dr. Honor M. Wolfe of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, one of the report's authors.
No bleeding was observed during Caesarean deliveries, but the authors cautioned that this should not be taken as an argument to support C-sections.
"At this point, neither parents nor providers should change their plans for delivery," Wolfe said.
An earlier British study had found similar bleeding in 10% of newborns,but those studies were conducted somewhat longer after birth using a less-sensitive imager.
"The sharpness of the images is the main reason we are seeing more than other studies have found," said Dr. J. Keith Smith, a UNC radiologist who was part of the team.
The Carolina researchers studied 88 newborns an average of three weeks after birth. Seventeen of the 65 who underwent vaginal delivery were found to have suffered small hemorrhages in the brain, compared to none of the 23 who had C-sections.
"Neither the size of the baby or the baby's head, the length of the labor, nor the use of vacuum or forceps to assist the delivery caused the bleeds," said Dr. John H. Gilmore of UNC, the lead author.
"It's just the process of being born," he said. The skull has not yet become solid and the bone plates overlap with each other. Passage through the birth canal compresses the plates, tearing small blood vessels, he said. Most of the bleeds occurred in the lower, rear part of the brain.
But, Gilmore added, "there was no evidence clinically to indicate that anything had happened to the babies' brains."
The team will examine the babies again at ages 1 and 2 to look for any possible long-term effects.
Smith noted that radiologists increasingly use MRI to examine newborns, and are likely to observe similar hemorrhages.
"The reassuring thing is that this is a normal finding, and not an indication of pathology," Smith said.
*
thomas.maugh@latimes.com
Source: Los Angeles Times

Baby Murdered by Child Protectors

January 28, 2007

Child protectors in Edmonton have another baby protected to death. They are keeping the name of the dead baby and the offending foster parent secret for now, following the foster death script. Since they will surely resort to making the foster mom the scapegoat, they will soon have to publish her name.

expand

collapse

Police file charges against foster mother of dead child
Edmonton Journal
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Police have filed new charges of second-degree murder and assault causing bodily harm against an Edmonton foster mother, after a three-year-old boy in her care died from his head injuries.
The child died around 11: 20 p.m. Saturday when he was taken off life support. His father told the Journal the toddler had suffered severe brain damage.
The new charges laid on Sunday are in addition to charges of aggravated assault, failure to provide the necessities of life and child abandonment that were filed against the foster mother on Saturday. The woman, who is 32 years old, cannot be named to protect the identity of the child.
The Journal has learned she is a part-time employee at Grant MacEwan College. The college has relieved her of her duties.
The woman has been remanded into custody until Feb. 5.
The boy was taken to hospital early Friday morning after paramedics were called to a two-storey brick house in Edmonton’s west end. Police were called in to investigate after paramedics reported the child’s injuries were suspicious.
Neighbours said the home is owned by a single mother, who lived there with two of her own children and two foster children, including the toddler who died.
Three children were removed from the home Friday and placed in protective care.
The toddler who died was placed in provincial government care on Dec. 6, the father said. It is unclear when he was sent to live at the west-end home.
The father said his son had lost a lot of weight since he last saw him. The boy also had bruises on his body, as well as burns on his hands and nose, he said.
He said police told him the toddler was made to sleep in the garage at night.
Source: Edmonton Journal

Drug Pusher Panel

January 25, 2007

Ontario has recognized that there is a problem with the way psychotropic drugs are administered to children, especially children in custody of children's aid societies. Its response is to establish a panel of experts to develop standards. Look at the credentials of the panel members. They are all within the industry that produces and prescribes drugs. Not one is a representative of parents or children victimized by the drugs. The pushers are making the rules.

expand

collapse

Ontario Government Launches Expert Panel On Psychotropic Drugs
Advisory Body To Set Standards Of Care For Giving Certain Medications To Children And Youth In Residential Settings
QUEEN'S PARK, ON, Jan. 24 /CNW/ - The Ontario government has established an expert panel to develop standards of care for the administration of psychotropic drugs to children and youth in residential settings, including group and foster care homes across the province, Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers announced today.
"Our government is committed to the health, safety and well-being of children and youth receiving residential services," said Chambers. "We also understand that frontline workers involved in the daily administration of psychotropic drugs require support and guidance. That is why the expert panel will make recommendations on training for frontline staff to help them provide informed care and to monitor the impacts of medications."
The 13-member expert panel comprises leading health and social services professionals who have expertise in psychotropic drugs and residential services. In addition to developing standards, the panel will provide recommendations on training frontline staff to help them provide informed care and monitor the impact of psychotropic medications."
Psychotropic drugs, also called psychoactive drugs, are medications capable of affecting the mind, emotions and behavior. Legal psychotropic drugs include antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers and tranquilizers and are considered vital to the practice of psychiatry in the treatment of mood and behavior disorders.
Glenn Thompson, appointed chair of the expert panel, is a former deputy minister who has served in six provincial ministries. Following his retirement from the Ontario Public Service in 1991, Thompson joined the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Ontario Division, and was executive director for nine years. He is currently the interim chief executive officer of the CMHA's national organization.
"The panel will review current clinical practice and consult with key clinical experts, professional and regulatory bodies, and service providers before we make our recommendations," said Thompson. "Our work will help to promote the safety and well-being of more young people in residential settings from youth justice to child and youth mental health to developmental services and child protection, including children's aid societies."
The other panel members are:

Kalyna Butler, a retired former psychiatry pharmacist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, at the Clark Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto. She has published a book called The Clinical Handbook of Psychotropic Drugs for Children and Adolescents.

Dr. Clive Chamberlain, a senior psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He works with children, adolescents and their parents and is an authority on youth violence and societal attitudes towards youth.

Dr. Simon Davidson, chief of psychiatry and chief of staff at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), an associate professor with the University of Ottawa and an associate member of CHEO. Dr. Davidson is also a past president of the Canadian Academy of Child Psychiatry.

Sylvia Hyland, vice-president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada, an independent, national non-profit agency committed to the advancement of medication safety in all healthcare settings.

Lucia Lee, executive director of the Murray McKinnon Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing community-based supports to at risk youth and youth in conflict with the law. She also volunteers with other community organizations.

Dr. Marty McKay, a clinical psychologist who has practiced in Toronto since 1976. Dr. McKay has been a consultant to public sector and governmental agencies including children's aid societies, the Ministry of Community and Social Services and facilities for people with medical and psychological disabilities.

Laurine Martyn, residential director of the Hincks-Dellcrest Centre, Gail Appel Institute, established in 1986 to respond to the challenge of improved mental health care for children.

Dr. Ajit Ninan, a psychiatrist at the Child and Family Resource Institute and an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Ninan recently completed his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of Rochester.

Dr. Wendy Roberts, director of the Child Development Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children and a professor of paediatrics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Roberts's current research focuses on autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Dr. Diane Sacks, president of the Canadian Paediatric Society of Canada and a guest lecturer on teen parenting issues. Dr. Sacks worked as a paediatrician specializing in adolescent medicine for more than 30 years.

Dr. Margaret Steele, chair of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario. Her research interests are psychopharmacology and psychiatric education.

Anne-Marie Watson is currently the director of service at the Children's Aid Society of Haldimand and Norfolk where she is responsible for child welfare services, operations, planning, residential licensing and children's residential services.

For further information: Chris Carson, Minister's Office, (416) 212-7118; Anne Machowski-Smith, Ministry of Children and Youth Services, (416) 325-2256
Source: Press release by Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services

Drug Pusher cartoon

Addendum: A reader points out that three panel members, Dr. Simon Davidson, Sylvia Hyland and Dr. Marty McKay are not advocates of Ritalin for children. We also note that in Michelle Cheung's CBC report on boy "J", Dr Wendy Roberts helped to wean the boy from his drugs.

Inquest for Matthew Reid

January 25, 2007

There will be an inquest into the death of Matthew Reid. In the past, all inquests into deaths in CAS cases have recommended more money and power for children's aid societies.

expand

collapse

Inquest Announced In The Death Of Welland Child
ST. CATHARINES, ON, Jan. 24 /CNW/ - Dr. David Eden, Regional Supervising Coroner for Niagara, today announced that an inquest will be held in the December 15, 2005, death of a 3-year-old child in Welland.
The child was found dead in a bedroom of the foster home in which he resided. A 15-year-old has admitted to purposely suffocating the child.
The inquest jury will determine the facts surrounding the child's death and will examine the role of child protective services in this case. The inquest jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths in similar circumstances.
The date, location, presiding coroner and counsel to the coroner have not yet been determined.

For further information: Contact: Dr. David Eden, Regional Supervising Coroner for Niagara, Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, (905) 682-9209
Source: press release from Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services

Addendum: The Globe and Mail interviewed Ontario's Deputy Chief Coroner Jim Cairns. He said Ontario has about 80 deaths a year of children with open CAS files. That includes deaths in foster care and in-home deaths of children under watch.

expand

collapse

January 25, 2007
CAS role in boy's death to be probed
Coroner says public airing needed in case where teen smothered another foster child
HAYLEY MICK
A coroner's inquest into the death of a toddler in foster care last December will probe serious concerns about the actions of children's aid societies, one of Ontario's top coroners says.
"There's a need to air this publicly," deputy chief coroner Jim Cairns said in an interview yesterday.
A girl, now 15, pleaded guilty on Monday to suffocating the three-year-old boy on Dec. 15, 2005. The incident occurred less than a day after she was removed from a youth-detention facility and delivered to the foster home in Welland, Ont.
The inquest announced yesterday will focus mainly on "the placement of the 14-year-old in that home and the suitability of that," Dr. Cairns said.
His office is doing the first-ever statistical analysis looking at links between the approximately 80 children who die with open CAS files every year. The aim of that analysis, the results of which will be released in June, is to make recommendations that will prevent deaths in similar circumstances.
The inquest, which is expected to begin before summer, was welcomed yesterday by the slain toddler's 24-year-old mother, who has said she blames case workers for putting her son in harm's way. "I think it needed to be done," she said from her home in Tillsonburg, Ont.
The teenage girl is a ward of Family and Children's Services Niagara, and officials issued a statement saying they were happy to have the opportunity to provide transparency for the public.
"If there is anything that can be found, anything that can be learned that would help prevent a future tragedy of this nature -- we want to know," executive director Bill Charron said in the statement.
Dr. Cairns says the inquest will also focus on communication gaps between two children's aid societies. The boy had been a ward of Children's Aid Society of Haldimand and Norfolk since he was 10 months old; the teen had been a ward of Family and Children's Services Niagara since infancy.
Her lawyer said she suffered from fetal-alcohol effects and had been removed from an adoptive home for assaulting her younger sister.
She will undergo an assessment before being sentenced for second-degree murder in April. The Crown is asking for an adult sentence.
More than 30,000 children get support from a children's aid society every year, whether in short or long term, according to the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies, the umbrella organization for the province's 53 provincially funded agencies.
Most of the 80 child deaths are not preventable -- for example, resulting from accidents or illness, Dr. Cairns said. But he said the report -- funded with a $100,000 provincial grant and conducted by the pediatric death review committee made up of 14 experts, lawyers, police officers and doctors -- should highlight trends and problems if they exist.
"We are going to do this report and take away a lot of the secrecy that's involved," said Dr. Cairns, the committee chair. "We think we can show the public a more in-depth look at what happens to children when they're looked after by CAS."
Source: Globe and Mail

Marin Powerless Over CAS

January 24, 2007

In today's Globe and Mail Ontario Ombudsman André Marin pleads again for authority to report on problems within children's aid societies. Instead of leaving it all to the coroner, he could correct problems before there was a dead body.

expand

collapse

POSTED ON 24/01/07
Watchdog pleads for children's aid oversight
Ombudsman cites CAS 'horror' stories that his office is powerless to remedy
HAYLEY MICK
Tragedies such as the teen who pleaded guilty this week to murdering a toddler in a foster home prove it is time Ontario's provincially funded children's aid societies were held accountable, Ontario's ombudsman says.
"There's not a day that goes by without us hearing another CAS horror story," André Marin said in an interview yesterday.
"The complaints are piling high on my desk and my hands are tied by dated legislation. I simply can't help these people."
Since April of last year, his office has received 496 complaints about children's aid services, ranging from child safety concerns to claims of sexual abuse by children's aid staff and claims that agencies retaliated against people who "dare challenge them," he said.
Yet his office is powerless to investigate because the province's 53 children's welfare agencies -- which collectively consume about $1.5-billion in provincial funding each year -- are treated as private institutions, outside the provincial watchdog's authority.
On Monday, a 15-year-old girl pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the suffocation death of a three-year-old boy in a foster home in Welland, Ont.
The teen's case worker had placed her in the home on Dec. 14, 2005, after bailing her out of a youth detention facility. Less than 24 hours later, the toddler was dead.
An inquest into the death is expected to be announced later this week by the Office of the Ontario Coroner, which for the past year has been investigating the case and what role child welfare agencies may have played in the death.
Relatives of the slain toddler have accused Family and Children's Services Niagara of failing to protect the boy by placing the teen in the home.
She previously had been removed from her adoptive family for assaults on her younger sister.
Bill Charron, the agency's executive director, said earlier this week that case workers knew about the accused teen's troubled past, but put her in the foster home because it was the best place for her.
Mr. Marin says the Office of the Ontario Coroner does a good job of investigating such deaths, but "we should be able to be pro-active and deal with the complaints before we have a dead body."
Mr. Marin says he has lobbied Premier Dalton McGuinty and Child and Youth Minister Mary Anne Chambers to push for independent oversight of the agencies -- with little success.
"It saddens me to this day that the government has been swayed by the self-serving arguments made by the CAS," he said.
Ms. Chambers said the province has recently introduced several new regulations that make children's aid societies more accountable, including heavier security checks for foster families and a system that helps people register complaints.
The minister was in Niagara Falls yesterday, where she announced new funding for grandparents and relatives who take custody of children in the foster care system.
The grandparents of the slain toddler in Welland had been in the final stages of becoming his legal guardians when he was killed.
Source: Globe and Mail

Community Participation Denied

January 24, 2007

The press release below by John Dunn lays out his continuing frustration in getting membership in his local children's aid society. He is not the only person to be denied in this way. Ontario's children's aid societies now apparently have a policy of denying memberships through long-term foot-dragging. Mr Dunn has been advised to seek legal counsel in pursuit of his membership.

As originally conceived, children's aid societies were grassroots organizations controlled by the communities they served. The new policy prevents community participation in children's aid governance through membership. Imagine what federal or provincial elections would be like if you had to win a lawsuit to vote.

expand

collapse

For Immediate Release: January 24, 2007
By: John Dunn
(613) 228-2178
johndunn@afterfostercare.ca
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
For over one year, former foster child, and child welfare reform advocate John Dunn -- known on the internet as AfterFostercare -- has had his request for a membership with the Ottawa Children's Aid Society (Society) rejected with what in his opinion is an invalid explanation.
The President of the Society's Board of Directors, Brian McKee, signed a letter to Dunn stating that "The Board recognizes that you have acted in a manner that is inconsistent with, and contrary to, the interests of the Children's Aid Society" and that in the Board's opinion, Dunn does "not have a genuine interest in the objectives of the Society.
On several occasions, Dunn requested an opportunity to meet with the Board to learn what it was he had done and how he could improve his chances of getting accepted into the membership of the Society in the future but was instructed by Pierre Viger, Director of Professional Services at the Society to talk to Ottawa Lawyer, Robert C. Morrow, of Burke-Robertson Barristers & Solicitors, LL.P. of Ottawa.
Dunn met with Mr. Morrow and learned that the Society is not prepared to discuss the matter any further and was advised to seek legal counsel.
Dunn's next move is to request a list of the membership in order that he may communicate with the members of the Society on matters related to the corporation. (CAS)
Dunn says "few people in Ontario are aware of their right under the Corporations Act to communicate with members of the various Children's Aid Societies regarding the election of Board members and any other matters as long as they are connected with the Society".
A Children's Aid Society in Ontario is under the authority of the Corporations Act, which is why Dunn is in the process of filing a request for a list of members of the Society and their mailing addresses so he can communicate with them for purposes connected with the Society.
Any person, member of a corporation or not, has the right to obtain a list of the members of a CAS and their mailing addresses as long as they comply with the simple requirements listed in subsections 307(1) and (2) of the Corporations Act which ensure that you pay a 'reasonable fee' upon filing with the Society a sworn affidavit as laid out in subsection (2) of the Act. (your City Councillor can swear an affidavit)
If a Society does not comply with a properly executed request for a list of the members of the Society, subsection 307(5) of the Act makes it an offence punishable by $1,000.00 fine to which any person can "swear an information" in front of a Justice of the Peace charging the Society with an offence under section 307(5) of the Corporations Act which clearly states that;
"Every corporation or transfer agent that fails to furnish a list in accordance with subsection (1) when so required is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $1,000, and every director or officer of such corporation or transfer agent who authorized, permitted or acquiesced in such offence is also guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a like fine."
This means that the "Society" AND the individual directors or officers or transfer agents will also be convicted of an offence if found guilty.
If one is so inclined, upon having their properly executed request for a list of the members of a Society under subsection 307(1) of the Corporations Act refused, they could initiate a civil suit using two previous precedent cases namely:

Lawrence v. Toronto Humane Society, 2006 CanLII 20224 (ON C.A.), Docket No: C43983 and;

Rodgers v. Calvert, 2004 CanLII 22082 (ON S.C.) Docket: 03-BN-6556

to assist their legal counsel in taking on the matter.
Dunn will be filing his official 307(1) request with the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa in the near future and will, upon request, keep you updated as to it's progress and if it will have to proceed to the Provincial Offences Court.
Dunn is available for interviews at the number provided above:

(Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER C.38)
307.
(1) Any person, upon payment of a reasonable charge therefor and upon filing with the corporation or its agent the affidavit referred to in subsection (2), may require a corporation, other than a private company, or its transfer agent to furnish within ten days from the filing of such affidavit a list setting out the names alphabetically arranged of all persons who are shareholders or members of the corporation, the number of shares owned by each such person and the address of each such person as shown on the books of the corporation made up to a date not more than ten days prior to the date of filing the affidavit.
Affidavit
(2) The affidavit referred to in subsection (1) shall be made by the applicant and shall be in the following form in English or French:
Form of Affidavit

Province of Ontario In the matter of
County of (Insert name of corporation)

I, ......................... of the .................. of ..................... in the .................................. of ....................................... make oath and say (or affirm):
(Where the applicant is a corporation, indicate office and authority of deponent.)

I hereby apply for a list of the shareholders (or members) of the above-named corporation.

I require the list of shareholders (or members) only for purposes connected with the above-named corporation.

The list of shareholders (or members) and the information contained therein will be used only for purposes connected with the above-named corporation.

Sworn, etc.
-- 30 --
Source: email from John Dunn

Anna Mae He Ordered Home

January 24, 2007

Tennessee has finally reversed a case of legal baby-stealing. Jack and Casey He gave their daughter for temporary care, in accordance with Chinese custom, while they were unable to care for her themselves. When they tried to get her back, the foster family refused and obtained lawful custody though the courts. Today's story does not show the level of court hostility to the He family up to now. They raised a legal defense fund through donations from supporters. When a judge terminated their rights, he ruled that the defense fund belonged to the girl, not the parents, and confiscated it. This case had become an embarrassment to the United States, since the Chinese Embassy took an interest in the case. For the full story, refer to the He website.

expand

collapse

Court orders Anna Mae He returned to parents

Photo By Mike Maple / The Commercial Appeal
Jack and Casey He talk to reporters Tuesday after learning that the Tennessee Supreme Court cleared the way for them to be reunited with their daughter Anna Mae He.

Photo By Karen Pulfer Focht/The Commercial Appeal
Louise Baker comforts her daughter Hope, who broke down in tears during a press conference at their lawyers office on Tuesday.

By Richard Locker and Lawrence Buser
January 23, 2007
NASHVILLE -- The Tennessee Supreme Court today ordered Anna Mae He returned to her birth parents, Chinese nationals Shaoquiang ‘Jack’ He and Qin Luo ‘Casey’ He.
"Justice has been served," Jack He said this morning.
The transfer of custody from Jerry and Louise Baker to the Hes will not occur immediately, and there was no immediate word about whether the Bakers will file an appeal to federal court.
The state high court ordered the case back to Shelby County Chancery Court "to be expeditiously transferred to the Juvenile Court of Shelby County for the entry of an order that implements a plan to reunited (Anna Mae) with her natural parents."
Anna Mae, who turns 8 on Sunday, has been raised by the Bakers, of Cordova, since she was 3 weeks old.
The Hes contended they placed Anna Mae with the Bakers temporarily while they were facing financial and legal hardships.
They have been trying to regain custody for years, but a Shelby County judge terminated their parental rights and awarded custody of their daughter to the Bakers in 2004, a decision upheld by the state Court of Appeals last year.
After the oral arguments before the state Supreme Court last October, Jerry Baker told reporters that he and his wife will pursue the case "as far as necessary" to retain custody and said "there would be a lot of stress" if Anna Mae were removed from their home.
"She has been with us almost eight years. We're the only family she knows," Jerry Baker said.
The state Supreme Court ruled 5-0 that the "undisputed evidence shows there was animosity between the parties and that the (birth) parents were actively pursuing custody of (Anna Mae) through legal proceedings" during the four-month period just before the Bakers filed a petition for termination of parental rights.
Therefore, the high court said, the trial court erred in finding a "willfill failure to visit" Anna Mae by the Hes -- which would have been grounds to terminate their rights.
The court also concluded that the parents’ consent to transfer custody and guardianship of Anna Mae He to the Bakers "was not made with knowledge of the consequences of the transfer."
"Only a showing of substantial harm that threatens the child's welfare may deprive the parents of the care and custody of (Anna Mae)," Chief Justice William M. Barker wrote in the 20-page opinion.
Justices Janice Holder, Cornelia Clark, Gary Wade and special justice Adolpho Birch concurred.
"Evidence that (Anna Mae) will be harmed from a change in custody because she has lived and bonded with the Bakers during the pendency of the lititation does not constitute the substantial harm required to prevent the parents from regaining custody," the opinion said.
Source: Memphis Commercial Appeal

Illusory Reform

January 24, 2007

The Ontario government announced a reform to the child protection system. Formerly, relatives caring for a child received no pay for foster care. Now, grandparents or other relatives caring for a child can receive the same foster care payments as a stranger. Following an excerpt from the press release, we give our comments.

expand

collapse

McGuinty Government Supporting Grandparents Who Care For Vulnerable Grandchildren
Extended Family, Community Members May Be Eligible For Support
NIAGARA FALLS, ON, Jan. 23 /CNW/ - Grandparents, extended family members and community members who care for children in need of protection may now be eligible for financial support and services as part of new reforms to Ontario's child well-being and protection system, Minister of Children and Youth Services Mary Anne Chambers announced today.
"Children who are unable to grow up with their parents due to protection concerns should have the opportunity, wherever possible, to grow up with members of their extended families," said Chambers. "Protection of Ontario's children is our number one priority. These new supports and services will encourage and enable grandparents and extended family or community members to provide the stability and security where children are not able to stay with their parents because of safety concerns."
Under the new policy, grandparents and extended family or community members who are looking after a child in the care of a children's aid society (CAS), and who are approved as foster parents, will receive the foster care rate of approximately $900 per month from their local CAS. This includes members of aboriginal communities who are looking after a child under customary care arrangements.
"Some grandparents have told us that they want a system that makes it easier for them to adopt their grandchildren or become their legal guardians or foster parents," said Niagara Falls MPP, Kim Craitor. "As a result of today's announcement, more grandparents and extended family members will be able to provide vulnerable children with caring, secure homes."
Grandparents and extended family or community members caring for Crown wards who obtain legal custody, or who decide to adopt those children, may also be eligible for funding and support services, up to the foster care rate.
The changes also mean that grandparents and extended family or community members looking after children who are in need of protection, but have not been admitted to the formal care of a CAS, could be eligible for emergency financial aid for a variety of needs.
"For a long time, many grandparents and kinship family members have wanted to care for their vulnerable grandchildren and kinship children, however have been unable to do so because they could not get the funding or services they needed," said Betty Cornelius, president of CANGRANDS, a national support group for grandparents and Kinship family members raising kin-children. "We are delighted that the government has listened to those who advocate for kinship children who need care, and the grandparents and extended family or community members who are willing to give them safe, loving, permanent homes to grow up in."
"Grand-Parenting Again Canada has made it a goal for the past 5 years to receive financial support for children living with alternate kin equal to that of foster parents," said Sandra Schoenfeldt, president of Grand-Parenting Again Canada. "Our hope is more children will be able to stay with their family members now that our provincial government is making this commitment."
"We have advocated for over six years for recognition for grandparents raising grandchildren. We see more and more grandparents, many of whom are widows, on fixed incomes taking care of their grandchildren and in desperate need of financial assistance," said Sheila Volchert, spokesperson for Second Chance for Kids. "Today's announcement will finally give grandparents and their grandchildren a more secure future."
These measures are part of the reforms the McGuinty government has made to strengthen Ontario's child well-being and protection system. In February 2006, the government also introduced a kinship regulation to require background checks on all adults in the home where children in need of protection will be living.
Source: press release from Ministry of Children and Youth Services
the linked file has the full text

Commentary: Child protectors prefer foster care to in-home care, so much so that the latter is nearly extinct in Ontario. At budget time that allows them to present the legislature with a dilemma — give us our funding, or see foster children go without food and shelter. The legislature always pays. Not so with in-home care. That gives the legislators the option of reducing funding, and letting the families pay more of their children's upkeep.

Foster payments for grandparents are subject to the same vulnerability. The legislature could cut the funding. We predict yesterday's reform will be short-lived, either because a legislative action will cut funding to grandparents, or because children's aid societies will forestall such a cut by placing only small numbers of children with grandparents.

Scapegoat Convicted

January 23, 2007

Just over a year ago Niagara Children's Aid placed Matthew Reid in the same foster home with a disturbed developmentally-handicapped teenaged girl. The girl killed him. We earlier reported the case on December 18, December 19 and December 26, 2005. Today the girl was convicted of second-degree murder. This should divert public attention from the failure of children's aid to protect the boy from harm.

Curiously, the Globe and Mail version of the story omits naming the dead boy, claiming that there is some legal impediment, though the name was published years ago, and their url includes the word MATTHEW23.

expand

collapse

Girl, 15, pleads guilty to killing toddler in Ontario foster home
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 | 10:40 AM ET
The Canadian Press
A 15-year-old girl pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Monday, admitting she suffocated a three-year-old toddler with his own pillow.
The girl killed Matthew Reid the day after she arrived at a foster home in Welland, Ont.
She smeared him with her blood and placed two notes under his head as he lay on the floor.
"I know what his last words were before he died," the girl wrote on a piece of paper. "Moma."
Then she signed her name.
"We haven't gotten any answers from anybody," the boy's mother, Tania, Reid said Monday outside court.
Reid said she wants to know if the girl, then 14, was a known risk for violence when she was placed in the same home as Matthew.
The girl, whose identity is protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, wept in the prisoner's box as facts of the case were read into court.
The Ontario Court of Justice heard she lived in various foster homes beginning at an early age and was eventually adopted, along with her biological brother and sister.
She was later removed from the adoptive home and placed in foster care in Niagara Falls, Ont., because she assaulted her younger sister.
In December 2005, the girl met a man in front of the Niagara Falls library who befriended her and started a sexual relationship.
She began visiting him in his motel room.
On Dec. 9, the teenager took her foster family's van to meet the man at the motel. As a result, she was arrested and charged with theft over $5,000.
After a bail hearing on Dec. 14, she was released from jail and placed into the care of the new foster home in Welland.
She arrived at 11 a.m. and was given a bedroom on the second floor of the house, across the hall from Matthew.
Foster mom discovers body
Assistant Crown attorney Patricia Vadacchino said Matthew was put to bed at 7:30 that night. When the foster mother checked in on the girl at 9 p.m., she noticed she was asleep with the lights off.
Vadacchino said at some point overnight, the girl lifted Matthew from his bed and placed him on the floor. She took the pillow from his bed and put it over his face. Matthew struggled as he was being suffocated, but the girl held the pillow until he stopped moving.
The girl then went back to her bedroom and stayed there until the foster mother discovered Matthew's body at 8:15 a.m., Vadacchino said.
Vadacchino quoted from notes found under Matthew's head.
"I'm the one that killed Matthew. I suffocated him. Let the cops do what they want with me," one note said. "I don't care what they do with me. Let them throw me in jail."
The Crown is seeking an adult sentence for the girl, but must first hold a suitability hearing. She will be sent to an institution in Sudbury for about six weeks to be assessed, a move agreed to by her lawyer, John Lefurgey.
The girl will return to court March 19 to confirm a sentencing date, tentatively set for April 17.
Source: CBC

Jail for Teenagers

January 16, 2007

When children removed from their parents become teenagers, some are a threat to the peace and have to be restrained by force. Elected representatives take perverse pride in the facilities necessary to lock them up. Here is a press release from MPP David Orazietti announcing the construction of a youth jail in Sault Sainte Marie.

expand

collapse

For Immediate Release
January 15, 2007
ORAZIETTI ANNOUNCES START OF NEW YOUTH JUSTICE CENTRE CONSTRUCTION
Province Awards Construction Contract to Local Firm Creating 130 Construction Related Jobs and 30 Permanent Jobs
SAULT STE. MARIE – Sault MPP David Orazietti announced today that George Stone and Sons Ltd. has been awarded the contract by the province to build the new secure custody facility for youth on Second Line.
“Building a modern facility to serve the needs of the Sault and area at a cost of nearly $8 million, which will create 30 new jobs means more great news for our local economy,” said Orazietti. “With this investment, our government will help ensure that young people in our community receive the treatment, rehabilitation and programs they need closer to home, so that they can become productive members of society.”
The previous government closed Sault Ste. Marie’s youth justice centre and chose instead to transport the area’s youth to Sudbury at a cost of over $500,000 per year. The McGuinty government is reversing an irresponsible decision by building a state-of-the-art facility to serve the needs of Sault Ste. Marie and area.
“Local youth in conflict with the law will be closer to their families, which will assist our ministry in providing meaningful rehabilitation,” said Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers. “Our government recognizes the importance of providing rehabilitation as close to home as possible and helping these young people reintegrate into their home communities as productive citizens.”
Highlights of the new Youth Justice Centre include:

20,000 square foot facility

30 new full-time provincial government jobs

130 construction-related jobs

16 bed phase 1 and 2 closed-custody facility

Accommodating male and female youth aged 12 to 17

Valued at $7.8 million

“Our ministry is proud to play a role in the development of a modern, significant and necessary facility in Northern Ontario,” said Public Infrastructure Renewal Minister David Caplan. “This project is part of ReNew Ontario, the government’s five-year $30-billion plus infrastructure investment plan.”
The contractor will begin to mobilize machinery onsite later this month, with construction to begin in February. The facility, to be operated by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, is expected to be completed by spring 2008.
-30-
Source: David Orazietti

Feedback: Bizzi suggests spending $8 million on a jail for politicians.

Kentucky Investigates Child Protectors

January 13, 2007

Kentucky has reported on the performance of its own child protectors.

The report is the outgrowth of a scandal in Kentucky last year that we reported on January 9 and May 13. The principal part is seventy articles in the section SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS. We give a few of them below in abridged form. Most of the abuses summarized below have been reported to Dufferin VOCA in Ontario cases. The Kentucky report is the kind of report that might come about in Ontario should the Obudsman get authority to investigate.

expand

collapse

1. During the investigation, biological parents were contacted and investigators verified that home visits, documented in case files, did not occur.
2. Both current and former workers report documentation was omitted or added to case files to intentionally mislead the court.
11. The regional emphasis was placed on adoption, instead of family reunification.
14. Policy and legal requirements are not explained to clients and foster/adoptive parents. This results in confusion and suspicion for both parties.
16. The decision to remove a child from their parents’ home is often completed under subjective standards, especially when the allegations involve neglect or dependency issues.
18. There are cases in which, prior to and during the TPR hearing, workers have failed to advise the court and the Guardian Ad Litem that there are relatives available or appropriate for placement of the affected children.
19. Some Lincoln Trail Region DCBS employees displayed a prevalent attitude of omnipotence in interactions with clients and community partners.
21. Workers respond aggressively to any perceived challenge to their actions. For example, biological and foster parents complained children were removed from their home because they “talked back” to the workers.
27. Case plans are intended to outline the goals biological parents must achieve to have their children returned to their home. Requirements were routinely included on case plans that were expensive, relative to the client’s financial situation; required unnecessary travel; and were not relative to the family’s issues, as identified by the worker.
32. According to DCBS staff, foster children have been removed from foster homes, without proper justification. Foster parents perceive this is due to personality conflicts between the parents and DCBS staff, retaliation, or DCBS staff having a negative attitude toward the foster parents.
36. The Guardian Ad Litems are often not held accountable for meeting professional standards. Many do not meet with the child prior to court, do not actively participate in the court proceeding and do not prepare for the case, so they are unaware of the issues involved, or they are absent from court, leaving the client without representation or recourse.
41. Workers are overworked and are unable to complete documentation during normal work hours. Not all workers are permitted to work overtime, so they work weekends and “off the clock”. One worker came to the office while she was in labor and worked for three hours, after her water broke, to complete casework because a regional supervisor told her she could not take maternity leave until her cases were up to date. Cases were not reassigned or covered when an employee was on extended leave.
44. There is a significant lack of quality in documentation. For example, while reviewing case files, investigators noticed many entries were similar to the previous entries and appeared to have been cut and pasted into the record.
47. Hardin County staff has reported that other social service workers have boasted about making it difficult for clients to work with DCBS staff. Social service workers have laughed at parents as they advised them they were removing their children and during the removal process. Social service workers have called clients indecent names in the hallway and offices of the Hardin County DCBS office. One social service worker struck and cursed a biological parent during a visit with his child. The worker then entered a detailed service recording in the client’s file documenting the parent’s aggressive behavior, but failing to document her own use of an obscenity toward the client or that she struck him in the chest with her hand.
54. Biological parents complained they are held to a higher standard than some foster homes. For example, once children are placed in a foster home, some biological parents have experienced difficulty in assuring abuse and neglect allegations are investigated in the foster home.
57. Domestic violence victims have been advised by social service workers to leave their abusive spouses and go to a domestic violence shelter. Once they are living at a shelter, some victims have been told the shelter is not appropriate for children and their children will be removed if the parent does not find an alternative residence.
58. Children in foster care, who are parents, are not permitted to take their children with them when they leave, even though they do not have substantiated abuse/neglect allegations. The Cabinet maintains custody of the infant, as a dependent child, until the parent can complete a case plan and prove they are capable of caring for their child. This is a higher standard than other parents are required to meet, since there is no obligation for biological parents to prove they can adequately provide for their child before leaving the hospital after a child is born.
69. Parental visitations were changed or cancelled without proper notice to the parents or foster parents.
Source: Kentucky Office of Inspector General
local copy
both MS-Word format

Feedback: The following reader response has been edited to prevent the writer from being identified, and possibly get in even more trouble from child protectors.

expand

collapse

January 14, 2007
All I could say while reading the point form of the investigation was: Oh my gosh! that happened to me, yes they did that to me too and on and on it went. The worker in court laughed on the stand at me when my lawyer brought up to him things he had said to me. At one point the judge told him (the worker) that he had heard enough untruths from him when being questioned on the stand. After that stuff was done (this wasn't a trial just the court stuff deciding whether there was enough evidence to go to trial) they put an offer on the table to avoid a trial and offered me two specific children back and they keep [number concealed]. I was told that or get none back. They knew he lied, I know it. It sickens me because I took the offer to get the two back because the lawyer told me legal aid wouldn't pay for a trial in the case and I'd be without a lawyer and that the judge was retiring and couldn't hear the case so it would have to start over again. Another year and a half?
A lot of that stuff I read on the posting just floored me on how much was the same as in my case, except for the fact that the worker who took my children did so because I threatened to report him for sexual assault, told me if I told he'd make sure I never saw my kids again and that no one would believe me. I refused anymore of his advances the day he took my kids. That evening he returned with the police and another worker and took my kids saying we were beating them, that he just knew we were.
Source: email from reader

Career for Unqualified Parents

January 11, 2007

In the forms child protectors use to justify separating children from parents, a parent's own abuse experienced during childhood, such as a long stay in foster care, is a point against the parent. For example, on page 40 of the document Risk Assessment Model for Child Protection in Ontario (pdf) the rating for the parent (caregiver) is:

Risk Assessment Scale Anchor Descriptions
Caregiver Influence
CG1. Abuse/Neglect of Caregiver

4. Severe abuse/neglect as a child.
Severe abuse/neglect as a child resulted in serious emotional disturbance and/or physical scars/disability.
3. Recurrent but not severe abuse/neglect as a child.
Recurrent abuse/neglect as a child; may have resulted in emotional or physical impairment.
2. Episodes of abuse/neglect as a child.
Recounts being abused or neglected as a child, but not severely or recurrently; with no apparent impairment
1. Perceived abuse/neglect as a child with no specific incidents.
Does not recount being abused or neglected. Expresses dissatisfaction with the care or treatment s/he received when young.
0. No perceived abuse/neglect as a child.
Recounts being loved and well cared for with no incidents of abuse or neglect.
9. Insufficient information to make a rating.

According to Ontario standards, Verna Cowley, the subject of the article below, would make a suspect parent, likely to lose her children to foster care. But she is in training to become a social worker, and may someday earn a living taking children away from other parents or supervising the development of foster children.

expand

collapse

Winnipeg Free Press
Former foster child got tough life lesson
Thu Jan 11 2007
FROM the time she was 10 years old, Verna Cowley bounced around the foster care system in The Pas.
By the time she turned 18, she had already been in six foster homes.
She seldom went to school. She felt like nobody cared.
And when she turned 18, she was turned out on the street and left to her own devices.
"I had no support whatsoever when I left care," Cowley said. "I had nothing. I didn't have an education. I knew what I was headed for."
She said she had to go on social assistance, and moved back in with her mother and helped take care of her mother's young kids.
Cowley says the only thing that got her through was a social worker who has become like an older sister to her, and helped her navigate her way into adulthood.
"She's one of the social workers who go out on a limb for her kids," said Cowley. "There should be more like her."
Cowley is now studying at the University of Manitoba to be a social worker herself, but wishes there was more emphasis on her education when she was growing up.
"I wish they would have pushed me to go to school," she said.
When she told her social workers she was skipping school, they shrugged it off and said maybe she should get a job instead.
"That was the kind of attitude I got," said Cowley.
-- Mia Rabson
Source: Winnipeg Free Press

CAS Drives Mothers to Suicide

January 8, 2007

Canada Court Watch today discovered two mothers driven to suicide by children's aid. Their reports below follow the usual practice of withholding the names of the parties. Keeping the names secret allows children's aid to escape public accountability for its own wrongdoing. While Canada Court Watch cannot risk legal action, we hope other elements of the press can publish names in these cases.

expand

collapse

Mother's diary shows abuse by courts and CAS prior to her taking her life!
(January 9, 2007) In follow up to a story of a young mother who killed herself, Court Watch has now had the opportunity to review the original copy of the young mother's diary and to speak to family members. Disturbing references abound in the diary about how the young mother felt tortured and abused by Ontario's CAS system prior to her death. Even when she knew she was sick from an intentional overdose of medication, she refused to go to the hospital to obtain help out of fear of what CAS would do to her if they found out. It appears that some parents are so afraid of CAS that they will refuse medical treatment even under the threat of dying, just so that CAS will not use this information to subject the parents to even more CAS abuse.
Court Watch will be conducting an investigative review into the circumstances surrounding this young mother's case to determine as to how the involvement of the CAS contributed to the tragic death of this young mother. It has already been learned that a number of unlicensed workers with CAS were involved in the case.

ANOTHER mother takes her own life because of Ontario's family courts and CAS!
(January 9, 2007) Court Watch has received yet another call today from a family who have disclosed that their daughter took her own life very recently as a result of relentless abuse by an Ontario CAS agency. The family have said that even the children blame CAS workers as the children themselves have seen their parents and their families relentlessly persecuted by the CAS in Ontario. Court Watch has written previous articles about the CAS agencies involved and has taken complaints directly from children regarding abuse by the CAS. Court Watch will be looking into the circumstances of this case as well.
In less than 24 hours, Court Watch has been contacted by families of two mothers who have taken their lives out of a sense of sheer frustration of being persecuted by CAS. CAS policies and procedures are literally driving loving mothers to their deaths, destroying families and robbing children of their mothers.
Source: Canada Court Watch

CAS Accused of Framing Parents

January 8, 2007

Here is a new view on an old child protection case. Maliek Willie died in September 1997. According to investigator Daniel Deilgat, the boy died from a previous injury incurred falling down a fire escape. Children's Aid had been involved with the family and protected itself by blaming the family. Below is a recent blog entry from Mr Deilgat, followed by a Hamilton Spectator article from three years ago. The Spectator relies on statements by Dr Dirk Huyer, former head of the SCAN clinic at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Dr Huyer's attitude toward parents resembles that of Dr Charles Smith, also formerly of Sick Kids. Dr Huyer never looks for exculpatory evidence. We have a statement under oath from him asserting that when he gets a case, child abuse has already been established.

expand

collapse

Saturday, December 09, 2006
Toronto Ontario
Maliek Willie; where was the Children’s Aid when he needed them
Sometime ago I was asked by a friend, to talk with the mother of a child who had just died from what seemed to be previous injuries he incurred when he fell down a fire escape. The Hamilton police were then initiating an investigation and, the mother and her boyfriend were automatic suspects.

Daniel Deilgat became an investigator by necessity. Throughout his life he was confronted with circumstances that most of us will never encounter. From rapists to Drug cartels to financial crimes, Daniel always played people to their disadvantages. Daniel is not the nice neighbor next door, and he isn't anybody's best friend but, he is undeniably the best investigator there is this side of the sun. He will give you the truth in such a way that you'll never believe him. He will also catch you with what you didn't believe was true. He will never give you a chance, he will fight for what is right, whether you like it or not. He is the only man I can trust. Thanks Hank. - I think...

Any police officer that I know would tell you the same thing. When a young child dies, most of the time the parents had an implied role in the welfare of the child to begin with and therefore, the parents will be under extraordinary scrutiny.
In the case of Maliek Willie, scrutiny persisted until the hat seemed to fit the crime.
One overwhelming factor was that the CAS was in fact also on the hot seat in this case because they had become involved with the family well before the death of the child and that didn’t look good for the organization. At that time, the Children’s Aid Society was immersed in several cases whereas children had died and the Maliek Willie case could have easily been the drop in the proverbial bucket that would have seriously shadowed the agencies across the province.
One journalist in the case at the onset was Gloria Galloway. When she first talked to me, she confided that she too had issues with the CAS, that she didn’t trust them either. She wanted an interview.
I did give her a statement on behalf of the family and I shared portions of a report I had commissioned on the health predicament of the child.
I met with the two Hamilton Police investigators involved in the case and, it quickly became obvious that their case was circumstantial at best. They refused to consider the legitimacy of the testimony offered by CAS agents, two women that clearly had a vested interest in transferring the doubt over to the parents.
Concurrently, the Hamilton police force were so infatuated by other unrelated circumstances that involved Carlos Clark that, they weren’t about to help him in anyway, the investigation was drowned in impartiality. The investigation of Carlos Clark quickly became prejudicial and, to a great extent, a witch-hunt. The CAS seized on the opportunity to stack the allegations against the parents, unable to state facts without embellishments.
Myself, I walked away from the issues because of other commitments and the belief that the parents would somehow make it through the ordeal once their lawyers would grasp the evidence. Now I am not sure that justice was served nor that the Children’s Aid officers conducted themselves legally. Nor have I received any calls from the attorneys for the defense.
Oddly enough, the police seemed to have forgotten about the interview conducted at my house in Brantford between Mr. McNiven, if I remember his name correctly, and myself.
That Maliek Willie died is a tragedy. That the truth was swept under the carpet is a threat to all children under the responsibility of the agency.
This wasn’t about punishment or solving the death of a child; it was about manipulating and re-directing the burden of responsibility, about misleading the courts and leading the administration of justice into disrepute.
Daniel Deilgat
posted by Dan Deilgat @ Saturday, December 09, 2006
Source: Daniel M. Deilgat's blog

BABY MALIEK SUFFERED PAIN WELL BEFORE HIS MURDER
Hamilton Spectator, April 30, 2004
A doctor who specializes in child abuse cases says a 14-month-old Hamilton boy who was murdered in September 1997 suffered immensely before he was finally beaten into unconsciousness.
Dr. Dirk Huyer, an Ontario coroner and former director of the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (Scan) unit at Toronto's Hospital For Sick Children, said his review of medical and autopsy records relating to Maliek Willie indicated the child sustained numerous inflicted blows to his face, head and body in the last eight days of his life.
Huyer said the extreme force of some blows and random distribution of the injuries ruled out the possibility of a series of mishaps.
The toddler, who was in a partial body cast with a healing leg fracture at the time, would have been virtually immobile and therefore unlikely to have accidentally caused any of the injuries himself.
"Overall, it's my belief the child was in distress with pain over a significant portion of the last days of his life."
There was no sign of trouble in his first year of his life, but at 13 1/2 months Maliek suffered his first unusual injury. His mother, Carmelita Willie, asked their family doctor in Brantford to examine a large area of swelling on the back of her son's head.
The doctor ordered X-rays and was satisfied he did not have a skull fracture.
Willie, 30, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. She is accused of being a party to the homicide for which her former boyfriend, Carlos Clarke, was convicted last year.
On Sept. 8, Willie returned to the Brantford doctor with Maliek, who was screaming in pain with a displaced fracture of the femur, meaning his thigh bone was snapped in two pieces.
The mom said the boy had fallen on some stairs three days earlier.
Maliek spent 12 days in Brantford General Hospital where he was put in traction and in what's called a hip spica cast, from his chest to his foot.
Dr. Chitra Rao, who conducted an autopsy on the baby 10 days later, said Maliek suffered severe head trauma and would have been comatose for at least 12 to 18 hours before death. Her microscopic examination revealed areas of fresh hemorrhaging that had occurred within hours of death, while other injuries had been inflicted three to 10 days earlier.
The baby's skull was fractured in three places. Huyer said one of them was a Y-shaped, complex fracture that is more often seen in children who have fallen from great heights or have been in an automobile accident.
Assistant Crown attorney Tony Leitch drew the coroner's attention to the child's left cheek, which had a large scab-covered gash superimposed over an area of deep bruising and pebble-like cuts and gouges.
Leitch asked if the injury could have been caused by a sibling, then two years and nine months old, hitting his little brother with a toy truck.
Huyer said it was "very unlikely" that a child that young could generate the force required to inflict this injury.
The doctor said it was more likely the injury to the face, and others to the baby's hands, were caused by his body striking a hard, rough surface.
"Could the injury have been caused by a brick wall?" asked Leitch.
"Very definitely," replied Huyer.
bbrown@thespec.com
905-526-3494
Source: recovered from Darla McKinstry, who faithfully copies articles from the press

Tayler Incorrectly Treated

January 6, 2007

Today the Brantford Expositor reports on the girl Tayler Diamond, subject to involuntary treatment, now said by the doctor to be the wrong medicine.

expand

collapse

Girl's chemo treatment goes awry: mom; Naturopaths support Diamond's legal fight against court order
Susan Gamble
Saturday, January 06, 2007 - 01:00
Local News - The mother of the nine-year-old Brantford girl ordered into chemotherapy treatment in October says the last three months have been traumatizing and negative.
Lisa Diamond said this week that, while daughter Tayler has been tolerating the treatment fairly well, she just learned that doctors have been incorrectly administering Tayler's drugs.
"They said they've been giving her the right drugs but in the wrong order. They want to correct that and increase the dosages. Both will make her sicker."
Tayler has been going to chemotherapy three times a week since October. The child was ordered into treatment by the Brantford Children's Aid Society after Diamond told doctors at McMaster Hospital that she preferred to pursue a natural medicine approach.
Tayler was diagnosed with ALL leukemia more than a year ago. Aggressive chemotherapy had to be stopped when the child went into septic shock after a lumbar puncture and almost died.
After a year of remission, Diamond decided the treatment was too harmful for her daughter after she researched natural foods and supplements that could keep her healthy. She has Tayler on a diet high in organic fruits and vegetables with some vitamins and supplements.
"Nothing high dose," Diamond said. "The most she gets is four grams of vitamin C a day and the worst you can get from that is diarrhea." The doctors called the CAS and reported Diamond's decision and the CAS issued a chemotherapy treatment order.
Now Diamond has also approached the CAS to ask about her rights to protect her child and whether, should an error in Tayler's protocol be confirmed, the CAS will take responsibility for ordering the therapy.
McMaster's pediatric cancer specialist, Dr. Ronald Barr, said it's extremely unusual for a family to decline treatment for a child.
Adults sometimes make that call. And families sometimes refuse chemotherapy and radiation if a child's prognosis is grim. The hospital then works to ensure the patient is kept comfortable.
"I can't remember the last time a family declined the therapy offered. Usually if they're provided the evidence, almost all families say it's a no-brainer."
Sometimes families want to include a dietary intervention. Barr said the doctors are open to that as long as there's no evidence it will do any harm.
But Diamond said she is regularly harassed about her natural approach by the doctors who rotate into Tayler's case.
"The doctors have been literally screaming and hollering at me. Each has to express their view on the natural approach and it leaves Tayler in tears."
"There have been constant contradictions, like they'll say they can't combine two drugs and then they do. I want to put my trust in them but it's hard to because of the contradictions and the fact they've gone halfway through this treatment and haven't done it right."
Barr said he couldn't discuss whether the hospital had made a mistake in Tayler's therapy or whether doctors have yelled at Diamond unless he had written permission to discuss Tayler's case.
Diamond signed that permission and it was faxed to the hospital on Thursday. On Friday, a media spokesperson said the medical team decided to meet with Diamond next week to try and sort out the problems.
Late Friday, Diamond said she hadn't been informed of any such meeting.
Meanwhile, a local nutritional consultant said she's ready to help raise funds for Diamond to mount a legal defence against the order that has put Tayler into chemotherapy.
Sharon Edwards said Friday there are many people in the alternative medicine business who want to ensure people have the freedom to choose their own - and their child's - treatments.
"I would never tell somebody not to do chemo, but you should have options. We want to fight for the freedom of choice for parents."
Edwards contacted Diamond after seeing her story in The Expositor. She said there are massage therapists, chiropractors and others involved in naturopathic medicine who would like to see more openness when it comes to choosing - or adding - natural medicine to the traditional medical approaches to cancer.
Those interested in contributing to a legal fund can contact Edwards at D'vine Living, 519-750-0440.
Source: Brantford Expositor

Addendum: (January 8, 2007) The mother in this case, Lisa Diamond, has been invited to a meeting at the hospital to discuss her case. The others invited are: two oncologists, a social worker, a children's mental health specialist and an adult mental health specialist. It only takes one mentalist to suggest a disorder to the social worker, and Tayler will be separated from her mom, ridding the hospital of an annoyance.

Baby-stealers Dupe Teen Mom

January 6, 2007

Baby-stealers in Ohio get a signature from a girl too young to purchase an appliance or sign an apartment lease, but considered competent to give up a baby for adoption. In this case, the adoption agency feels powerful enough to defy a court order.

expand

collapse

Posted on Sun, Dec. 31, 2006
Teen mother has change of heart
Canton girl makes life-changing decision to give up daughter for adoption. Now, her family is fighting to get the baby back.
By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer

Stephanie Bennett gave Evelyn, above, up for adoption in September.

CANTON - It's hidden beneath a brace on 17-year-old Stephanie Bennett's hand.
Written in purple magic marker is the name of her daughter: Evelyn JoAnn.
Today, that marker serves as a reminder of a quest. Tomorrow, though, it may be a permanent tattoo -- a memorial for a love lost, given up by her own volition.
Bennett signed over permanent custody of her then-4-month-old daughter in September to A Child's Waiting, a private adoption agency in Copley Township in Summit County.
She did so without her parents' permission or knowledge, which is legal in Ohio. But now she and her parents, Ranza and Judy Bennett, are fighting to get Evelyn back in a case that raises legal and ethical questions about the adoption process.
Their story includes accusations that a guidance counselor at GlenOak High School arranged a meeting on school grounds between the teenager and the adoption agency, and that the adoption agency urged her to run away from home so it would be easier to sign papers away from her parents.
Ranza and Judy Bennett have obtained temporary custody of Evelyn, but A Child's Waiting has disregarded the court order and, according to the Bennetts, urged the adoptive family to keep the child hidden and not disclose their location.
``We just want our grandbaby home,'' Judy Bennett said at their two-story town house on Rem Circle Northeast. ``This has been nothing but a total nightmare.''
A Child's Waiting and Plain School Superintendent Charles Smith declined to comment about the case. The guidance counselor, Thomas Saltsman, whose signature appears on some of the adoption papers, did not return a call seeking comment.
Choosing adoption
Evelyn JoAnn Bennett was born April 17. At the time, Stephanie was a junior at GlenOak.
She didn't think she could care for the girl. She wanted Evelyn to have a better life and the father wasn't around to help.
So she approached Saltsman on Sept. 7 and told him that she wanted to give the = [100.0]baby up for adoption. She also told him she didn't want her parents to know.
He pulled out a brochure from A Child's Waiting and arranged a meeting the next day at his office, Stephanie says. She signed paperwork on Sept. 8 that started the process. Saltsman signed as a witness.
She picked out which family she wanted Evelyn to live with. She said she was given no names and doesn't remember anything about the family she chose or why she picked it.
Ranza and Judy Bennett -- he's a truck driver and she's a homemaker -- say they had no idea what was taking place at the school.
A couple of days after signing the paperwork, Saltsman and Stephanie called A Child's Waiting, according to an affidavit that Stephanie filed with Summit County Probate Court this month to contest the adoption process.
Jennifer Bessemer-Marando, a counselor at the agency, advised her to run away, Stephanie said, telling her it was legal because she was the mother of the child and that she couldn't sign the final paperwork at her parents' house.
At 3 a.m. Sept. 12, Stephanie and Evelyn ran away.
She notified the adoption agency she was staying with friends in Carroll County. She didn't tell her parents. They had been having some trouble in their relationship -- nothing serious, both say, just regular teen-vs.-parent tension.
The same day, A Child's Waiting arrived at the house in Carrollton for Stephanie to sign the final paperwork. It states that the adoptive family, the agency or an attorney would pay $15,000 in adoption expenses.
``I was doubting myself,'' Stephanie said about what she was thinking while signing the paperwork. ``But I thought I was still making the right choice.''
At 7 p.m., Evelyn was handed over to the adoption agency. Stephanie had no birth certificate. No Social Security card. No identification to prove that the baby was hers.
Those records were at her parents' home in Canton.
Girls go missing
When Ranza and Judy Bennett awoke Sept. 12, they were terrified. Their daughter and granddaughter were missing.
They called Canton police. It was recorded as a missing-person case.
The Bennetts put together handmade fliers, with photos of their daughter and granddaughter. They also reported Evelyn to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Evelyn's photo is still on the group's Web site: www.missingkids.com.
On Oct. 2, Ranza and Judy Bennett filed paperwork with Stark County Family Court seeking custody of Evelyn -- even though they say they didn't know where she or their daughter was. They felt the child was as much theirs as their daughter's. Evelyn lived at their home. They took care of her financially, and physically when their daughter was at school. The court granted them temporary custody.
Meanwhile, Canton police learned that Stephanie had contacted A Child's Waiting and informed the Bennetts.
Judy Bennett contacted Copley police on Oct. 3 to make a complaint against A Child's Waiting. A police report says an unnamed individual at the adoption agency said that ``they did speak to 17 year old but they cannot do business with her while she is a minor.''
Stark County Family Court called A Child's Waiting and spoke with Crissy Bessemer-Kolarik, one of the counselors. She ``acknowledged that while she knew the whereabouts of the child, no information would be given, nor would this court's order be complied with by her or her agency,'' according to court paperwork.
A Child's Waiting still hasn't complied with the order. Instead, the adoption agency appeared in court without the child and objected to Family Court's involvement, saying the judge has no jurisdiction in the case because the adoption process took place in Summit County Probate Court.
Judge David Stucki has yet to rule on the issue.
``How are they not breaking the law?'' Judy Bennett asked, referring to the agency's noncompliance with the court order. ``Are they saying this agency is above the law?''
Agency comments
Bessemer-Kolarik would not comment specifically on the case when contacted by the Beacon Journal, citing confidentiality, but she was willing to talk in general about adoptions.
Ohio law allows a mother of any age to give up her child without interference from grandparents, she said. Most agencies working with minors also work with an attorney who can represent the interests of the minor, she said.
An attorney was present with Stephanie but she claims she didn't realize the attorney was there to represent her.
Agencies also provide counseling to mothers, Bessemer-Kolarik said.
``Our heart goes out to any family that experiences a difficult situation,'' she said.
The Bennetts' story is unusual, said Denise St. Clair, associate director of the National Center for Adoption Law & Policy at Capital University Law School in Columbus.
``The majority of adoptions go forward without incident,'' she said. ``I know it happens, but it's not the majority. Most go off without incident.''
Teen regrets decision
Stephanie is back with her parents.
She said she regrets her decision to give up Evelyn. Sitting on a couch in the living room, her legs tucked underneath her and wearing a sweatshirt with the word ``Feisty'' and an image of Tinkerbell on it, she responded to questions with one-word answers or in short phrases or sentences.
Why does she regret it?
``I have a whole new outlook,'' she responded.
Why do you have a new outlook?
``People,'' she said.
What does that mean?
Friends and others have told her she made a mistake, she said.
She's unemotional, almost robotic in answering questions -- until she's asked to describe Evelyn. Then the white skin on her face reddens. Her eyes well up and tears spill onto her cheeks.
``I miss just having her, period,'' she said. ``I miss her smells. I miss her cries. I miss her coos.''
Stephanie contends that the adoption agency didn't counsel her.
She met with the agency only twice, she said -- once to sign the initial paperwork and the second time to hand over the child.
Ohio law doesn't require grandparents' consent or even notification for a minor.
``The consent statutes in most states are pretty much silent on any requirements other than the consent of the birth parents,'' said St. Clair, the Center for Adoption Law & Policy's associate director.
Ranza and Judy Bennett don't understand that.
``I can't see how a minor child can sign their baby away,'' Ranza Bennett said. ``They can't even vote. They can't buy cigarettes. They can't even join the Army at that age. How can they have say over another human being when they have no say over themselves?''
It may be legal, the Bennetts admit. But is it morally right, they ask, to keep the information from the grandparents?
Judy Bennett also questions what happened in Carroll County. How could the adoption agency accept the child without a birth certificate? Without an ID?
``Who's to say this baby wasn't just taken off the street?'' she asked.
The Bennetts are upset with the school district for not notifying them. They are upset with the adoption agency for keeping any news about the adoption from them. And they are upset with the unknown family that has Evelyn.
Baby's location unknown
The Bennetts don't know where Evelyn is living. Or with whom.
They believe the people are from Wayne County.
A Child's Waiting won't give up the location. The Bennetts' attorney, Don Caplea, asked Family Court last week to force the adoption agency to disclose the location. Caplea declined to comment.
The Bennetts say they will continue to fight for Evelyn.
``She was supposed to be home for Thanksgiving,'' Judy Bennett said.
If they never see her again, the entire family -- the Bennetts have two other daughters -- plans to get tattoos with Evelyn's name to replace the purple marker.
They hope it doesn't come to that.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Source: Akron Beacon-Journal
referred by Erika Klein

Addendum: This case was the subject of The Adoption Show for April 15, 2007. Also see the family website.

Support Mother

January 4, 2007

The bail hearing for Allison Quets, accused of kidnapping her own children, will be held this morning. John Dunn asks for supporters to come to the courtroom in Ottawa.

expand

collapse

From: "John Dunn" <afterfostercare@hotmail.com>
To: (email groups)
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 23:18:17 -0500
Subject: Ottawa - Court - Thursday

Please if you can show up at the Ottawa Court House to support a mother who had her children adopted from her at birth and ran to Canada. She had her children adopted out while suffering post-partum depression.
You can be at the court house and see the case of "R vs Quets" I think. Quets is the key name on the schedule sheet.
161 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario
10:00am (my guess as to the time of the Bail hearing) This case has high media coverage and Sean McKibbon of the Ottawa Sun is going to be there I am almost sure of it and maybe other media.
The story can be viewed in video format below:
www.wral.com/news/local/story/1119193/
Source: email from John Dunn

Addendum: There is an online petition in support of Allison Quets.

Addendum: Jessie McVicar (Bizzi) was in the courtroom. Here are slightly edited versions of two of his reports:

expand

collapse

Well again I am reminded of how much I hate reporters. I got to the courthouse about 15 minutes early. For what ever reason the reporters sat all around me.
Poor Allison. My heart goes out to her. She looked so sad. It's odd I never felt pity for myself when I sat in that box. But seeing a mother who was doing what she thought was best for her children sitting in that box disgusted me. On top of it there was a reporter sitting on the left hand side of Sean (Sun reporter) who couldn't stop talking about how he quit drinking and smoking. And how it was getting bad and how he had to pound back cups of coffee.
I guess that could explain why we never get the right story from reporters. None of them were aware I was not a reporter.
Anyway Allison Quets' lawyer ate through the crown like me and a nicely fresh cooked apple pie. (Boy I sure had the wrong lawyer). Safe to say she is free and my faith in humanity a little restored. Why?
A police officer or ex, I am not sure, opted for bail etc. I had a hard time hearing because of the reporters talking about their drinking problems and other B.S. (Hey press, kinda hard to listen and talk at the same time isn't it?)
Allison Quets had a shit load of support. And it showed. I am not a reporter so if you want more info it will be on the news. Their were tons of media.

Today out of 20 years in the system I finally got to see real law in action and a nice caring police officer (or ex) I almost choked on my gum. No court date I ever had was like that. That was real law in action. If parents and children had that kind of support and lawyers in their corner I suppose I would be able to say that more often.
It really saddens me that I can't. I want nothing more to be a proud Canadian. Hard to be proud when the only reason your not dead while in care was that I ate garbage while sleeping outside hiding from care..
There was a media ban on the actual hearing. But good thing I am not media huh? Got the audio though if B.S should arise. Rest assured, I know what to do with it. But the media ban was not for a bad reason, even I understood the need for it. When it went into recess you should have heard the reporters on their cell phones and to each other, talking about getting a lawyer because of the media ban.
When in fact just specific details were banned like the people helping Allison Quets and standing in her corner.
Today I guess I understand why I don't like reporters naturally. Could not put my finger on it, until today.
Source: Sarnia's Smoking Gun discussion board

Addendum: Here is the story from one of the (unsigned) reporters lambasted by Bizzi:

expand

collapse

Judge grants bail to U.S. mom accused of kidnapping twins
Canadian Press
Thursday, January 04, 2007
OTTAWA (CP) - An American woman accused of kidnapping her 17-month-old twins from their adoptive parents has been released on bail.
Allison Quets was released to the custody of two Canadian couples Thursday after almost $18,000 in bonds and cash were posted by Quets and the couples. Quets will be staying with Mark Thompson, a retired police officer, and his wife Mary until Monday when she must report to Ottawa police and then return to the United States.
A publication ban has been placed on the Thompsons' address until Monday.
The other couple who vouched for Quets is Mark and Mary Jo Formosa, the owners of a bed and breakfast in Kingston where Quets stayed with her twins over Christmas.
In arguing that Quets be released on bail, her lawyer told Judge Charles Hackland that his client presents a "low-flight risk."
Jeff Schroeder said it has always been his client's intent to return to the United States to face charges there and to further pursue custody of her children.
"She's going to continue that fight. There is still an appeal in effect and that is what she intends to do Monday morning - voluntarily waive extradition and go back there and get her children back."
Schroeder said Quets was "very emotional" upon hearing she was released on bail.
"She's still a little numb, I think from what has occurred over the last number of days, but also as a result of the immense show of support the Canadian people have shown her."
An FBI warrant was issued for Quet's arrest after she failed to return the twins to their adoptive parents in North Carolina on Christmas Eve.
Quets says she was in the midst of a post-partum illness when she gave the newborns up for adoption.
Source: canada.com

Addendum: Allison Quets will remain in jail until trial.

expand

collapse

January 26, 2007
Mother accused of kidnapping twins to remain in jail
RALEIGH, N.C. A woman charged with international parental kidnapping for fleeing the country with 17-month-old twins will remain in jail until her trial. A federal judge in Raleigh ruled today that there is too much risk that Allison Quets would flee again if let out.
Quets is the twins' birth mother. Authorities have said she had the twins during an authorized visit the weekend before Christmas but didn't return them to their adoptive parents, Denise and Kevin Needham of Apex.
Instead, authorities say, Quets took the twins to Canada.
She was arrested there on charges of international parental kidnapping.
Source: WHNS Raleigh

Court Allows Two Mothers
Comedians Strike Back

January 2, 2007

Following the report of an Ontario court legalizing two mothers and a father for one boy, critics have struck back with the most suitable tool — ridicule.

expand

collapse

January 2, 2007
Having two moms now legal in Ontario
Canadian Press
TORONTO — An Ontario boy can legally have two mothers and a father, the province's highest court ruled Tuesday.
The same-sex partner of the child's biological mother went to court seeking to also be declared a mother of the boy.
After hearing arguments in 2003, Superior Court Justice David Aston dismissed the application saying he didn't have the jurisdiction to rule in the case.
Court was told the child has three parents: his biological father and mother (identified in court documents as B.B. and C.C., respectively) and C.C.'s partner, the appellant A.A.
A.A. and C.C. have been in a stable same-sex union since 1990. In 1999, they decided to start a family with the assistance of their friend B.B.
The two women would be the primary caregivers of the child, but they believed it would be in the child's best interests that B.B. remain involved in the child's life.
The boy refers to A.A. and C.C. as his mothers.
Justice Aston indicated that had he thought he had jurisdiction, he would have made ruled that A.A. was also the boy's mother.
“The child is a bright, healthy, happy individual who is obviously thriving in a loving family that meets his every need,” the decision reads.
“The applicant has been a daily and consistent presence in his life. She is fully committed to a parental role. She has the support of the two biological parents who themselves recognize her equal status with them.”
A.A. and C.C. did not apply for an adoption order because, if they did so, B.B. would lose his status under the Child and Family Services Act.
“Perhaps one of the greatest fears faced by lesbian mothers is the death of the birth mother,” the appeal court heard. “Without a declaration of parentage or some other order, the surviving partner would be unable to make decisions for their minor child, such as critical decisions about health care.”
The Children's Law Reform Act does not reflect current society, the appeal court judges ruled.
“There is no doubt that the Legislature did not foresee for the possibility of declarations of parentage for two women, but that is a product of the social conditions and medical knowledge at the time,” they wrote. “The Legislature did not turn its mind to that possibility, so that over 30 years later the gap in the legislation has been revealed.”
As a result, the statute does not provide for the best interests of the child in this case, the judges said.
“The Act does not deal with, nor contemplate, the disadvantages that a child born into a relationship of two mothers, two fathers or as in this case two mothers and one father might suffer.”
The Attorney General for Ontario did not chose to intervene to support the legislation, the ruling noted.
Source: Globe and Mail
Here are some published comments from the same website:

Scot Loucks from Pickering, Canada writes: Did I read that right? Did common sense actually prevail in a Family court in Ontario? Next thing you know, the Leafs may win the cup.... Check your basements people, I believe Hell has frozen over.

May Spencer from Sudbury, Canada writes: How many more of these ridiculous court rulings do we have to endure? Is this another ruling by a judge with a conflict of interest?

Paul Kruger from Vernon, Canada writes: So, in our society, it's conceivable that a child born from a surrogate mother to a woman unable to have children, is given up for adoption, then adopted by 2 lesbians, and is subsequently declared to have 4 mothers ... and 1 father? What happens if the 2 Lesbians divorce and remarry 2 other women and each of them apply for parental rights? Possibly 6 mothers? But perhaps 1 of them may remarry a man (that sure would be old-fashioned) and then it may be 5 mothers and 2 fathers. Now, it's REALLY important for a child to be loved and cared for ... no question about that, but please allow us old-timers the right to shake our heads in amazement at the rapid rate of change underlying Canada's social experimentation - in rewriting what constitutes a family. "The times ... they sure are a changing!" It's time to go and give those 2 rare old relics (dear old mom and dad) a big hug!

Big Chief Walksonwater from Caledonia Ontario from writes: Oh, boy! Don't get me started. This world is getting weirder and weirder.

Bob Rollheiser from Canada writes: It's starting to look like the old saying about it taking a whole village to raise a child is coming true.

Stews 49 from Canada writes: It just keeps going round and round. Man this country is losing it fast! What would make it the top story is if one of the parents(?) has dual citizenship.

Mr Fijne from Canada writes: Why not three, four or five? Let's be inclusive!

J Luft from Calgary, Canada writes: More judicial stupidity.

kimberli hart from Canada writes: Disregarding the 'politically correct' issue of same sex relationships, aren't 'mother' and 'father' terms used to describe the female and male who produced a child? If there are concerns about both ladies wanting legal authority over the child, then make one a guardian. I fail to understand why political correctness should get in the way of basic biological facts. Does anyone else feel compelled to stop the insanity that is PC? Everytime I contradict PC I get labelled 'racist', 'sexist', 'homophobic' etc...

Raymond Baden from Calgary, Canada writes: Three, presumably, loving parents? That's one very lucky kid right there. :)

John L. Murlowe from City of East Vancouver Island, Canada writes: It used to be so confusing with just a mother and a father. Many thanks to the courts for making children's lives so much simpler these days.

Mike W from Canada writes: And you wonder why children have psychological problems!

Gardiner Westbound from Canada writes: Is there a reservoir of lunatic social engineers somewhere from which the government selects judges?

Dark Angel from The West, Canada writes: I suppose this means that the two moms will be able to nail one father for child support!

And here is a comment by Karol Karolak not on the web:

From appellate court's decision and reasons: "The Act does not deal with, nor contemplate, the disadvantages that a child born into a relationship of two mothers, two fathers or as in this case two mothers and one father might suffer." I have yet to read of two men producing a child, as I am sure that such news would be the medical curiosity of the century. From now on, however, I can sleep well knowing that in Ontario forward looking judges have already anticipated such a possibility and made legal provisions for it. One thing bugs me however, what happens when we get sperm donor (provisionally call him a father), egg donor (provisionally call her a mother) and a pig delegated to the task of pregnancy and childbirth? Such a scenario is much closer to medical reality then two men producing a baby. My question relates to the legal status of the pig. Giving birth to a human baby qualifies the pig as a mother, opening a Pandora's box of who gets child benefits, who becomes legal guardians and so on. I do not want to be facetious here as it is perfectly possible to use for this exercise frozen sperm and egg from long dead donors. If that were the case we would have a living pig giving birth to a human child and in case of lack of living human relatives of sperm and egg donors, the pig is the closest biological relative of the child. In a case like this does the pig gets the custody of the child?

Jailed for Motherhood

January 2, 2007

As this is written, Myriam Bédard is sitting in a jail cell in Maryland, awaiting the formalities of extradition to Canada, which she is not opposing.

Her crime is caring for her twelve-year-old daughter, an act that for a normal parent is not criminal. It was (presumably) made criminal for her by order of a family court judge. The daughter was according to early reports placed with her father, but now the press says she is with Myriam's mother.

The judge's order criminalizing her motherhood has not been published, and from the looks of the news reports on this case, none of the reporters have seen it.

It is hard to avoid noticing as well that Mme Bédard was a witness in a case that led to the fall of the Canadian government. Former prime minister Paul Martin is in retirement, along with his cabinet ministers. Retirement did not apply however to judges appointed by that government, including possibly the judge in the Bédard case.

Is this a case of the judicial system striking out at Myriam Bédard the way it more commonly strikes capriciously at fathers?

Canadians deserve answers in this case. When was the order issued to Myriam Bédard that induced her to flee Canada? What is in the order? Was it in response to her embarrassing testimony in the Gomery case?

Below are two news articles on the case, a week apart.

expand

collapse

Olympian Myriam Bedard faces extradiction hearing in child custody case
Beth Gorham
Canadian Press
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
WASHINGTON (CP) - Canadian Olympic champion Myriam Bedard faces an extradition hearing Tuesday after spending Christmas weekend in a Maryland jail on charges of abducting her daughter.
It's the latest twist in an emotional family saga that began this fall and ended with Bedard's arrest late Friday by U.S. marshals after her ex-husband complained she violated a custody agreement by taking 12-year-old Maude away from Quebec City.
Bedard, a national figure after winning double gold in the biathlon at the 1994 Winter Olympics, officially became an international fugitive when Canadian authorities issued an arrest warrant on Dec. 8.
The athlete and her current husband, Nima Mazhari, made no secret of the fact they were going to the United States with Maude in October.
The girl's biological father, Jean Paquet, soon complained to authorities that Bedard was breaking their custody agreement.
Father and daughter were reunited in Maryland late Saturday after Maude spent the day in the care of U.S. social services. Paquet was expected to drive her back home on Sunday for the holiday.
Spokeswoman Catherine Gagnaire of the Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa wouldn't provide details on Monday.
"They are together," Gagnaire said. "That's all I can tell you."
American authorities caught up with Bedard at about 10 p.m. Friday at an upscale hotel just off the busy highway linking Washington and Baltimore.
She will appear in a Baltimore court possibly by video-link from the stark Howard County detention centre in Jessup, Md., about 50 kilometres north of Washington.
U.S. marshals say the RCMP first contacted them for help finding Bedard on Dec. 15. Once it was determined she was in the United States, they obtained a provisional arrest warrant.
Mazhari, interviewed by the Quebec network TVA in the parking lot of the hotel where Bedard was arrested, said they had been living in several different hotels in recent weeks.
He said he and Bedard turned themselves in to the FBI in Washington after they discovered Dec. 14 that she was being sought by police, but the bureau did nothing.
"They said 'We'll study it,' " Mazhari said.
Asked if the couple had authorization to leave Canada with Maude, Mazhari said: "I know that he (Paquet) was aware. In any case, it took us two or three months to prepare all this."
He said Maude was treated well on ther trip.
Source: canada.com website
Bedard hopes for Wednesday jail release
Aaron Derfel, CanWest News Service
Tuesday, January 02, 2007

CREDIT: Canadian Press/Tom Hanson
Former Olympic athlete Myriam Bedard.

MONTREAL - Myriam Bedard's lawyers are hoping to persuade a U.S. judge to release the Olympic champion from a Maryland jail as early as Wednesday to return to Quebec to face child-abduction charges.
Bedard's detention took yet another bizarre turn Monday amid claims that her 12-year-old daughter Maude is eating little and refusing to take showers in an ''act of solidarity'' with her mother.
Kevin McCants, Bedard's lawyer, said the judge should take this new information into account.
''Myriam is fine physically and mentally but very concerned about her daughter not eating,'' McCants said in a telephone interview. ''Obviously, she's very concerned about them being separated for this long.''
Bedard had been travelling in the U.S. with her daughter and boyfriend, Nima Mazhari, since Oct. 3. Bedard was arrested on Dec. 22 by U.S. authorities after Jean Paquet, Maude's father, filed a complaint with Quebec City police accusing her of abducting the child.
That same day, Maude was sent back to Quebec.
McCants had decided against filing an emergency court motion Monday seeking Bedard's return to Canada.
''I didn't want to belabour the issue,'' he said. ''We will be back in front of the judge (Wednesday) at three o'clock.''
Bedard, a two-time gold medal winner at the 1994 winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, has been having a tough time in jail. McCants said Bedard was almost attacked by another prisoner over the use of a bed, but that she is now staying in another cell.
Ideally, McCants wants Bedard to be released on her own recognizance as soon as possible, or to be escorted by U.S. marshals to the Quebec border, where she would then be transferred to the Quebec provincial police.
At one point, Bedard risked staying in jail until Jan. 10 as U.S. Justice Department officials, the Canadian Justice Department and various police forces negotiated details over her transfer to Quebec.
Mazhari, who has been staying in a hotel during Bedard's detention, strongly defended her actions Monday.
''You have to always be proud of Myriam,'' he said.
''She never did anything wrong, and whatever she did was correct, and it's honorable whatever she did. You have to blame all those who created so much trouble in her life. It's already two years we are living in a shit and our life is torture every day.''
Mazhari claimed that Bedard is the victim of a conspiracy for having spoken out during the sponsorship scandal of the former federal Liberal government.
He noted that Bedard's daughter is no longer staying with her father, but her paternal grandmother. This, he added, suggests that Paquet is not genuinely interested in being with his daughter.
Paquet could not be reached for comment.
aderfel@thegazette.canwest.com
Source: Montreal Gazette

Addendum: Myriam Bédard was released from jail in Quebec on January 5, after posting half of $2000 bond. Fourteen days in jail for such petty bail is extraordinary.