click for help

collapse

On this page press one of the expand buttons to see the full text of an article. Later press collapse to revert to the original form. The button below expands all articles.

show all

More recent news

Several crimes have been in the news in which a woman attacks a pregnant woman, tearing the fetus from the womb and claiming it as her own baby. Mary Janiga reports on a case in which children's aid is performing the same act, though possibly under more sanitary conditions. We follow that with an email from Rob Ferguson, describing a similar case, quite possibly the same one.

expand

collapse

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

family update and children's aid society

A mother and father of an unborn child, came to us in good faith on May 27, 2008 to ask us to assist them with baby clothes, toys, and extras needed to help bring a baby home and into this world. We have offered advice and support and watched their pregnancy with concern for the mother and her unborn child. The Children’s Aid Society of Brantford had its concerns and wanted the family to prove that they had what was needed and equipped for the baby. We provided to the best of our ability the comforts needed for the baby to come home.

The parents were wary of the Brantford CAS and they were concerned over the apprehension of their baby. June 28th was their due date. This day came and went. Concerns of health of the mother and baby and the concerns of the Children’s Aid Society weighed heavily on the father’s mind. They decided to wait for a natural child birth without evasive inductions and clinical analysis. They met with the Children’s Aid Society in their home and mental health forms and other relevant materials signed earlier in the week. Unfortunately they did not get copies of these forms. Contractions started for the mother at 1 hour apart and this continued for 24 hours on June [misprint for July] 8th, 2008.

At approximately 2:40pm on July 9, 2008 the Brantford Police Services apprehended the mother and her unborn child under the guise and warrant of the Brantford Children’s Aid Society. The baby will be delivered by induction, at a Brantford area hospital. This is all the information that I have to inform you all about, but I will keep you all up dated as to what will happen with this family and their unborn child.

Posted by maryjaniga at 3:28 PM

Source: Mary Janiga blog for July 9, 2008

---

a sad and proud day sort of

Date sent: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:37:09 -0400

This morning I awoke at about 10 am by the pounding or hard knocking at my front door. I went to the door and answered it and to my surprise the Brant CAS represented by two workers. The workers tried to intimidate me into information and tried to imply that my wife and I were hiding something. Just because we wanted a natural birth does not mean we neglect anything. The workers left and a few hours later I spoke to our covering doctor for delivery of the baby. The doctor and I made an agreement that we could do a natural birth but the doctor wanted to run some final test so drop by on the 10th anytime at her office and she would complete them. About 25 minutes later another loud knock at my front door. I went to the overlooking window to see what was going on. A Brantford police officer looked up at me and demanded I come and speak to him. I then went to the door as I opened it the officer came into my home to "apprehend" my wife under some mental health act. The CAS staff member was there and I asked what the reasonable grounds were or at least what this was all about. The CAS staff member then stated that Brant CAS was acting on a report that my wife and I were planning to kill our unborn son. I said what. The CAS and police said we were refusing medical service for the baby. Keeping in mind that I just spoke to the doctor on the case less then a half and hour ago. I asked for a written statement from the cas of the complaint, they of course didn't not bring it. I refused to allow CAS in my home and instructed the officers if he did I would consider him trespassing. The officer then went upstairs to where my sleeping pregnant wife was and woke her up by yelling at her. I told the officer he could be a bit nicer about this situation. The officers then escorted me and my wife out of our home in front of 20 neighbors. Placing my cryng and afraid wife in one police car while the other officer offered to give me a ride to hospital. Upon arrival at hospital I made it clear that I wanted paper work on this which I never received. After a few hours in the labor room under police guard I asked the officer again what his grounds were. He said to clear my wife mental and physically. Within minutes mental health workers cleared my wife of any illness. The officer said now it comes down to the doctor. I replied that this is Canada and the government should not be allowed to walk into ones home kidnapped the parents and the force a birth. The doctor on call then confirmed that infact I had made arrangements with the doctor to deliver our son. The attending doctor spoke to a hospital social worker and the advised us that it would be in the best interests of our son if born today since we were there anyways. My wife and I agreed and so our son’s birth was set. The primary officer as stood in the labor room made comment after I asked a few questions the he would arrest me for interfering with an investigation. The questions I asked he were since my wife was cleared mentally and never had a problem who made this complaint? Then I asked what his grounds were again. Then I asked if he had ever donated to CAS? The hospital the discharged the officers from the scene as the primary officer left he asked where's rob and the approached me and said it will be difficult to leave the hospital with all the hundreds of court watchers outside. This was considered by everyone in the room including nurses as intimidation. I made no comment. After several hours of labour our son was brought into this world at 145 am at 7 pounds 10 ounces. Remember CAS this is our son and we choose to raise him, love him, provide for him and he is not for sale. I know cas will include this in statement so Ill conclude by saying I have disclosed all information to you all protection concerns simply do not exists so me my son and my wife do not need your help and ask our courts and government for relief from this agency. Please allow us to just be a family in peace.

Source: email from Rob Ferguson

One way of starting your family free from social workers is to give birth at home. The doctors are fighting back and are moving to treat home birth as child abuse.

expand

collapse

Big Medicine's blowback on home births

Why do U.S. doctors strong-arm women into our standard maternity care system?

By Jennifer Block, July 9, 2008

You'd think the healthcare establishment would have bigger fish to fry than Ricki Lake. (The 47 million uninsured, maybe?) But Lake's recent documentary, "The Business of Being Born," which includes footage of her own delivery of her second child at home, was on the agenda at the American Medical Assn.'s annual meeting in mid-June. Lake was personally name-checked in a "Resolution on Home Deliveries" introduced by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: "Whereas, there has been much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries, with recent 'Today Show' headings such as 'Ricki Lake takes on baby birthing industry.' " The AMA ultimately passed the resolution without the Lake citation, but not before the Hollywood media got wind of it and, overnight, home birth was thrust into the mainstream light.

It's about time.

Last year I flew to Britain to be with a good friend for the birth of her first child. She's American but married into Britain's National Health Service, lucky duck. The differences in the prenatal care she got there were striking. First and foremost, she never saw a doctor. As a healthy woman with a normal pregnancy, she saw midwives. And one of their first questions to her was, "So, would you like to give birth in the hospital maternity ward or at home?"

Planning a home birth with a midwife may sound old-fashioned -- maybe you think it sounds crazy -- but a solid body of research shows that for healthy women who seek a normal, nonsurgical birth, there are several benefits. At home, a woman can get one-on-one care and monitoring from a midwife trained to support the normal labor process. The mother-to-be is free to move about, eat and drink, sit in a birth tub -- Britain's national health guidelines call water the safest, most effective form of pain relief. A woman will be helped to give birth in positions that are effective and protective: sitting, squatting, on hands and knees, even standing.

The physiological birth process is automatic: hormones fire, the cervix gradually opens, the uterus contracts, the baby descends, muscles engage. An optimal birth, one in which mother and child emerge as healthy as can be, is one that begins spontaneously, progresses on its own and concludes with the least amount of intervention necessary.

But hospital maternity care in the U.S. is typically not supportive of this process. More than half of women are induced into labor, or it is sped up with artificial hormones; the vast majority of women labor and push in the desultory flat-on-the-back or leaning-back position; and (perhaps not surprisingly) nearly one-third of women end up giving birth through major surgery, the caesarean section.

This has led to an epidemic of pre-term births in the United States. A 2006 survey showed that the majority of babies are now born before the spontaneous onset of labor, which leaves them more prone to breathing and feeding difficulties. Caesareans are also contributing to a rising maternal death rate, announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year.

Which is why some women, such as those in the film Lake produced, choose to give birth somewhere other than a hospital. Their choice is backed by sound science. Studies of "low-risk" women in North America planning out-of-hospital births with midwives have found that 95% give birth vaginally with hardly any medical intervention. The largest and most rigorous study to date, published in the British Medical Journal, found that in North America, babies were born at home just as safely as in the hospital.

Organized medicine can't believe this. Dismissing the research evidence, the AMA resolution states that "the safest setting for labor, delivery and the immediate postpartum period is in the hospital" or an accredited birth center. In its own statement earlier this year, the American College of Ob/Gyns went even further, implying that women who choose home birth are selfish and irresponsible: "choosing to deliver a baby at home ... is to place the process of giving birth over the goal of having a healthy baby."

Compare that to this information in Britain's NHS-issued handout my friend was given at her first prenatal appointment: "There is no evidence to support the common assertion that home birth is a less safe option for women experiencing uncomplicated pregnancies." In a joint statement last year, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Royal College of Midwives said, "There is no reason why home birth should not be offered to women at low risk of complications, and it may confer considerable benefits for them and their families."

The AMA's statement calls for legislation that could be used against women who choose home birth, possibly resulting in criminal child-abuse or neglect charges. The group says this is about safety, but with no credible research to back up its claim, this argument falls flat. Women are simply caught in a turf war over the maternity market, and it would appear that the physicians' groups are perfectly willing to trample the modern medical ethic of patient autonomy -- grounded in our legal rights to self-determination, to liberty and to privacy -- in their grab for control.

If these groups were truly making maternal and child health a priority, they'd be reforming standard maternity care, not strong-arming women into it.

Jennifer Block is the author of "Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care."

Source: Los Angeles Times

Two members of Fathers-4-Justice staged another event on the roof of Labor deputy leader Harriet Harman. The BBC item is below. The Guardian (UK) posted a video of the action, and we have our local copy (flv).

expand

collapse

Page last updated at 23:45 GMT, Wednesday, 9 July 2008 00:45 UK

Men held after Harman roof demo

The men scaled the roof before Harriet Harman left home in the morning

Two fathers' rights campaigners have been arrested after holding a 14-hour roof-top protest at Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman's home.

Police said both protesters, dressed as superheroes, had come down voluntarily.

The men had earlier named themselves as Nigel Ace, 40, of Bristol, and Tony Ashby, 42, from Leicester.

It is the second time in just over a month that Fathers 4 Justice members have protested at Ms Harman's home in Herne Hill, south London.

Before their arrest, the men had said they had enough food for a week and vowed to stay until their concerns about equality for fathers were taken seriously by ministers.

After coming down from the roof shortly after 2000 BST on Wednesday, both were arrested on suspicion of harassment and taken into custody, Scotland Yard said.

'Survival trained'

Scotland Yard said police had been called to the home of the minister for women and equality at about 0620 BST.

Ms Harman ignored the protesters when she left home at 0745 BST.

Mr Ace, dressed as Spiderman, who said he was a sales manager, said the protest followed Ms Harman's recent promises over equality in the workforce.

He told the media: "What about dads? We haven't got equality. The government is ignoring us and has a feminist agenda.

"We want Harriet Harman to come back here and engage in a debate with us and if not then Gordon Brown should come.

"I am trained in survival, so I don't care how long we are up here."

'Vile stunts'

Mr Ashby, dressed as Batman, who said he worked as a painter and decorator, said he had not seen his children for seven years.

"We have been up here since 6am and we are in for the long haul," he said.

"We don't want to cause trouble, we just want to get our message across."

The men displayed a banner saying: "Stop the war on dads."

In parliament, Ms Harman condemned the pressure group, agreeing with Labour MP Anne Moffat that their "vile" stunts did their case "absolutely no good".

During the protest last month, she moved out of her house after Jolly Stanesby and Mark Harris, both from south Devon, scaled her roof dressed as superheroes.

They unfurled a banner with the words: "A father is for life, not just conception."

They were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and causing a public nuisance, and were bailed by police until 16 July pending further inquiries.

Source: BBC

After Northumberland CAS overspent its budget by $1.4 million, Executive Director Greg Dulmage has resigned. This is not the kind of culture where the captain goes down with the ship.

expand

collapse

Dulmage joins exodus of CAS management

Posted By BY VALERIE MACDONALD, July 8, 2008

Departure of senior management from the local Children's Aid Society will leave a new team dealing with its ongoing deficit of more than $1-million.

At its most recent board meeting, the Children's Aid Society (CAS) of Northumberland received word from its longtime executive director, Greg Dulmage, that he would be retiring at the end of the year, past chair Dick Malowney said.

Mr. Dulmage has been at the local CAS for over 25 years.

"He'll be a tough person to replace," Mr. Malowney said. "He contributed to the society and the community at large."

The second in command at the CAS head office located on Burnham Street in Cobourg, Linda Goldie, retired about a month ago. She was director of service, and was also a long-time employee there. Her position was filled internally by supervisor Tammy Callaghan, Mr. Malowney said.

Hugh Parker, the full-time legal counsel for the agency, left within the past year and has been replaced, Mr. Malowney added.

Even Mr. Malowney himself, who spent at least a decade on the board, stepped down to pass on the position of chair as of last May. He will remain on the board for at least another three-year term, he said. He is heading up the search committee to replace the executive director.

Mr. Dulmage was on vacation and unable to comment on his decision to retire, but when asked if frustration over the ongoing lack of provincial funding was part of the reason, Mr. Malowney said he did not believe that to be the case.

The local CAS has a deficit of about $1.4-million and has requested a change in the funding formula to recognize the realities it faces in meeting its mandate to care for children while still having to pay for "outside resources" to do so, Mr. Malowney said. A Section 14 review was completed about three weeks ago at the agency. A government team undertook both program and financial audits "at our request," Mr. Malowney said.

While the local CAS is awaiting a written report, provincial officials have indicated that "things are going along just fine."

He anticipates the formal report will indicate the CAS here in Northumberland County is handling its mandate, programs and resources appropriately, but that more funding is needed specifically targeting the growing need for paid outside resources for children in care in facilities, not foster homes.

The CAS has a legal mandate to care for children and that includes the need for outside paid resources which is the reason for the deficit, Mr. Malowney summed up.

Source: Northumberland Today

The London Times has started a series on family law, led off by Camilla Cavendish. Two of the first articles are already in our archive, and we will add others as they come. The Times also has a Family Justice page and a page for how to find help and advice online. We are still waiting for the Globe and Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.

The Ottawa Rally will take place from 10 am Wednesday July 9 through 4 pm Thursday July 10 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Our post of a month ago has more details. This is your last reminder to help reform child protection and family law in Canada.

Marina Powless grew up in foster care in Canada's Northwest Territories. Now as an adult she has applied for copies of the records of her childhood. It has been seven years, but she is still waiting.

Child protectors hold these records until they are needed. When they pick up a child from a parent himself a former foster child, they retrieve the parent's childhood records and get the damaging parts before a judge within three days. So we are skeptical of the claim that the seven-year delay is for technical reasons.

expand

collapse

Seven-year wait

Katie May, Northern News Services, Published Monday, June 30, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Marina Powless doesn't remember much from her childhood.

She spent a lot of it bouncing between more than six different foster homes from the time she was in elementary school until age 16, when she was no longer eligible to be a ward of the system.

Now 26, and with three children of her own, the Yellowknife resident wants access to records kept about her while she was in foster care. She first requested the records seven years ago and she still hasn't received anything in writing.

"I want to know where I've been," she said. "I don't remember how many foster homes I've lived in in this town.I was moved around like a puppy."

Powless filled out her first access-to-information request to the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority (YHSSA) when she was 19, asking for any information relating to her while she was in care. She received no response.

On April 26, 2005, she tried again, submitting another written request for a copy of the records. Another three years went by before she received a phone call last May from a YHSSA employee informing her they'd received the request.

According to section 8 of the NWT Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, "the head of a public body shall respond to an applicant not later than 30 days after a request is received," unless the request requires a time extension or is unanswerable. But even in those cases, the law says the applicant must be informed "without delay."

The executive director of the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT said Powless is not the only former foster child waiting for personal records.

"I know that access to records is a big issue," said Christine Bressette. "It's a national issue. It's important for closure - you need to understand what's happened to you."

When the records do come back to the applicant, Bressette said, they are often largely blacked out and contain inaccurate or traumatic details for which the applicant may later require counseling, such as a child being put into foster care for the wrong reasons.

"I think the government's really scared that there might be legal repercussions," she said. "I'm on board with all these kids and I agree they should have access to records."

The Foster Family Coalition of the NWT is trying to set up a territorial youth-in-care network that would focus on child welfare and voice foster children's concerns, similar to organizations already in place in several provinces and on the national level.

Bressette, who has been in the field of social work for 30 years, said she's never heard of a request taking seven years to complete.

The president of the Canadian Foster Family Association, Sheila Durnford, said waiting that long for personal foster care records is unacceptable.

"That wouldn't be considered acceptable in our association's eyes at all," Durnford said. "For anybody, it's not really acceptable, but especially for that foster child. They need to know their history."

Dean Soenen, the director of Child and Family Services for GNWT, said access-to-information requests within the department usually take from two to four weeks, depending on the request.

"We like to do it as quick as possible," he said. He added that the department only recently hired a records co-ordinator after the position had been vacant for about six months, and he said that might be a reason for the delay in Powless' case.

Powless said Soenen told her on June 25 that her request was the department's first priority as soon as they get their broken microfiche machine fixed.

At this point, Powless said she's not interested in excuses. She just wants some answers about her past.

"I don't have the money to get a lawyer to pursue this," she said.

"My whole life, I've never been in one place long enough to have a home," she explained, her voice breaking with emotion. "I just want closure."

Source: Canada Court Watch forum
we confirmed the first parpagraphs are from the closed site www.nnsl.com

A lawsuit between Children's Rights Inc and Michigan DHS has been settled. According to the settlement, DHS will reduce the caseload per social worker from current levels sometimes over 30 to 12 or 15, depending on the type of case. This reduction in caseload will be achieved by hiring up to 700 more workers, obliging the legislature to appropriate more money to pay their salaries.

The last thing children need for their protection is more caseworkers. We repeat our contention that lawsuits by Children's Rights Inc are a form of collusion with social services to gain more money and power.

expand

collapse

Mich. settles suit, agrees to reform foster care

7/3/2008, 6:24 p.m. ET, By DAVID EGGERT, The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan will hire hundreds of workers to help more than 6,000 abused and neglected children who have languished in foster care find permanent homes after settling a class-action lawsuit filed by an advocacy group.

Thursday's sweeping agreement, announced days before a federal trial was to begin in Detroit, also requires that foster care and adoption workers have no more than 15 cases and child protective services workers no more than 12. Many now handle 30-plus cases, causing concerns they can't keep children safe or ensure their placement in permanent homes.

State supervisors will oversee no more than five caseworkers under the settlement, which will be submitted for approval to U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds.

To make caseloads more manageable, the Michigan Department of Human Services may add up to 700 staff dedicated to children's services over five years, spokesman Edward Woods III said.

Michigan's progress in complying with the agreement will be overseen by a monitor reporting to the judge.

Children's Rights, a New York-based advocacy group, in 2006 sued the state on behalf of 19,000 children in state custody.

Sara Bartosz, an attorney with Children's Rights, called the agreement a milestone "to correct the injustices that abused and neglected children in Michigan's custody have lived with for too long."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm said her administration will embrace the reforms, which she said will continue child welfare improvements made in recent years.

The changes required under the settlement will cost about $200 million over four years, or 6 percent more than what the state had planned to spend on children's services over that period. Previous settlement talks stopped when DHS said it had no money to enact reforms, yet both sides wanted to avoid a trial.

An expert witness for Children's Rights reviewed the deaths of five foster children and concluded that children are far too likely to be no safer in foster care than they were with their abusive or neglectful parents.

John Goad, former director of child protective services in Illinois, found serious shortcomings in how DHS is structured and managed. Even if those problems and others didn't exist, Goad said, not having "nearly enough" caseworkers by itself is rendering the department incapable of protecting children.

The agreement sets deadlines by which caseloads have to be reduced. Ninety-five percent of foster caseworkers must have no more than 15 cases by October 2011.

Other provisions require DHS to:

• Create a Children's Services Administration dedicated exclusively to child welfare functions, headed by someone at the rank of deputy director or higher.
• Hire 40 specialists to license about 7,000 relatives of foster children. Without licenses, relatives who provide foster care aren't eligible for some financial support and aren't subject to safety assessments.
• Immediately identify all children in need of a permanent home, prioritizing those awaiting adoption more than a year.
• Do a better job recruiting foster and adoptive families.
• Hire a medical director to oversee policies including children's use of psychotropic medications. There have been problems with children not getting medical, dental and psychological exams.
• Increase training of supervisors and caseworkers.

An independent, court-ordered study has shown a foster system riddled with failures.

Children's Rights Executive Director Marcia Robinson Lowry said the reforms will take time to implement but are achievable. Through lawsuits, the group has prompted consent degrees or court orders affecting child welfare in several states such as New Jersey and Mississippi.

To improve the system, the state hired hundreds of more foster care workers this budget year and boosted rates paid to private agencies that care for abused, neglected or delinquent children.

---

David Eggert can be reached at deggert(at)ap.org

---

Read the settlement: childrensrights.org (pdf)

Source: Michigan Live

Child protectors may soon have one less harmful drug to force into children, following legal developments in the Ontario lawsuit against Eli Lilly & Co over Zyprexa.

expand

collapse

Lilly Loses Appeal to Limit Damages in Canadian Suit (Update2)

By Joe Schneider

July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Eli Lilly & Co. lost an appeal to limit potential damages in a lawsuit filed by Canadian patients who claimed they developed diabetes after using its Zyprexa schizophrenia drug.

An Ontario appeal court today affirmed a lower court's decision that plaintiffs in a class-action, or group, suit may try to recover money the Indianapolis-based company made from sales rather than get damages. The plaintiffs sought C$900 million in damages in their initial claim.

Lilly, the world's biggest maker of psychiatric medicines, is accused of failing to warn the Zyprexa schizophrenia treatment may cause diabetes. Opting to go after a company's sales is unprecedented in court, said Toronto class-action lawyer Paul Bates, who isn't involved in the Zyprexa suit.

That has ``the power to make defendants liable for truly enormous amounts of money,'' Judge Sidney Lederman wrote last July 10 in granting Lilly permission to appeal. ``The ramifications of exposure to this type of liability will extend beyond the parties to affect not just the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, but also the securities market.''

24 Million Patients

Zyprexa has been prescribed to almost 24 million patients in 84 countries since being approved in 1996 and Lilly is confident the drug is safe, Laurel Swartz, a Lilly spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement.

``We're disappointed in today's decision of the Ontario Divisional Court to not correct certain aspects of the initial certification decision,'' she said. She didn't say whether the company planned to appeal to the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the province's highest court.

Lilly agreed to pay Alaska $15 million to settle a similar suit in March, before that case went to a jury.

Today's decision from a three-member panel shows the U.S. and Canadian cases ``are developing somewhat along different paths,'' Michael Eizenga, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said today in a telephone interview. ``You don't very often have drug cases certified any longer down there,'' referring to certification of cases as class action.

Lilly fell 1 cent to $46.09 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

$4.76 Billion in Sales

Zyprexa is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canadian regulators to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Last year, sales of the drug rose 9 percent to $4.76 billion, about a quarter of Lilly's revenue.

Studies linking Zyprexa and similar medications, including Astrazeneca Plc's Seroquel and Risperdal, made by a Johnson & Johnson unit, to weight gain and diabetes prompted the Federal Drug Administration to require warnings to doctors in 2003 and 2004.

Lilly has paid about $1.2 billion to settle 31,000 claims brought by U.S. patients who said they weren't adequately warned that the medicine can cause diabetes, weight gain and pancreas inflammation. About 1,200 similar lawsuits remain in the U.S., spokeswoman Tarra Ryker said earlier this year.

The case is Andrea Heward vs. Eli Lilly & Co., 181/07, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Divisional Court (Toronto).

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in Toronto at jschneider5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 2, 2008 18:12 EDT

Source: Bloomberg

A video posted to YouTube yesterday shows the Barrie Gestapo deporting a child... Sorry. It shows Barrie child protectors rescuing a girl, Natalie.

This scene is repeated many times daily in Ontario though few are caught on video tape. Below we include the blurb accompanying the YouTube posting, and an abridged comment from Canada Court Watch, who had direct contact with the family. They point out that incidents such as this are educating a generation to disrespect law enforcement, with severe implications for Canada's future.

You can view the video Child dragged away by police on command of CAS on YouTube, or since this one will probably disappear quickly, our local copy (flv, 6 megabytes) or high quality copy (flv, 16 megabytes).

expand

collapse

Added: July 02, 2008

My 12 year old cousin was taken by CAS. She was being raised by her grandparents. Last year her grandfather was killed in a car crash. She was having emotional problems. She lied one day and said her grandmother hit her. The CAS had the police take her with no investigation done at all. She later admitted she lied and the CAS didn't care. Today she ran from them and came to my house. The CAS worker came to take her back with some cops. 2 cops dragged her away kicking and screaming. The whole time the CAS worker just stood there with a smirk on her face. By the time the 12 year old was shoved in the back of the cop car, there were 6 other cop cars on my street. All for a 12 YEAR OLD GIRL! who only wanted to go home to her family. The woman in the black pants and jacket, pink shirt is a Simcoe County CAS worker. First name is Nicole

---

Reign of terror in Barrie, Ontario as police terrorize girl and her family as part of police goon squad assistance to Children's Aid to "serve and protect" children and members of the public.

(July 3, 2008) A video posted on Youtube shows graphically how our tax dollars are being spent by police and child protection workers in the Barrie, Ontario region, to supposedly "protect" children from harm by forcing children to return to the care of the Children's Aid Society. If anyone wonders why a growing number of children and families in the community are beginning to hate the police and the CAS, this video shows graphic reasons why.

Source: Canada Court Watch news entry for July 3, 2008

CAS worker Nicole wearing black

Addendum: In eleven days on YouTube the video has attracted 2689 views, 113 text comments and four video responses. Below is a message posted to facebook giving more details on the family, copied with permission of the author.

expand

collapse

Melody Blackier (Barrie, ON) replied to Nikki's post on Jul 11, 2008 at 9:30 PM

She is my cousin, and she is 12. She was taken because she lied about her grandma hitting her. She lost her grandfather, who with her grandmother raised her from the time she was 6 months old. Last year her grandfather died after a transport truck hit his car. Its been a tough year for everyone and she was having emotional problems. So one day she was nor getting her own way and she told someone her grandma hit her. So she was taken and her grandmother was charged. no investigation was done at all. The CAS worker, Lorrie Pepin took the word of a sad little girl and ruined everyone's life. The next day the worker and the police asked the grandmother and other granddaughter, 13 years old to come on for an "interview". That is when the grandmother was informed that she was charged with assault and the other granddaughter was told she would never see grandma again. So she tried to get away from the police, and screamed out for her grandmother. It was at that moment that 4 Barrie OPP officer jumped her and took her down to the ground like a common criminal. After 5 minutes of forcefully holding her down and hurting her they let her go home with her grandma.

The day that video was shot was the first time the two sisters had seen each other in months. The younger one said she wanted to go home so they ran from the worker and went to their aunt and uncles house. They had a nice visit until the police and the worker showed up. Thats when the video kicks in. Since that day the girl has been completely cut off from her family. The older sister was informed that the only place she could see her sister now is in the CAS office. But as you can imagine the 13 year old who was assaulted by 4 officers because the CAS demanded it is too afraid to go.

Source: Facebook

Addendum: As of July 21 the video was removed by the owner, on threat from CAS. It got almost 4000 views on YouTube. Our local copy (flv, 6 megabytes) is the only remaining source.

Here is the whole report by Canada Court Watch of an investigation into Ontario children's aid by the RCMP.

RCMP National Investigation unit reports that CAS have acted inappropriately and have wrongly taken children!

(July 3, 2008) Documents recently released were reviewed by Court Watch reporters today which clearly indicate that the RCMP at the highest level, did conduct an investigation involving the CAS in Ontario and did conclude from their investigation that the CAS had acted inappropriately and had wrongfully taken away children from their parents. In addition to this, information has been uncovered which would indicate that police at a local level where this family lives kept this report a secret until the documents were eventually uncovered. Thanks to the honestly of some good officers at the RCMP, the CAS perpetrators of this crime may be brought to justice. A number of good lawyers and police officers are now refusing to support a family court system which even they see is out of control and unaccountable. It's only a matter of time till many of these CAS workers who engage in criminal activities are going to find themselves and their agencies facing big lawsuits as the truth begins to surface of their wrongdoings.

Source: Canada Court Watch news entry for July 3, 2008

When family court sends your child to a psychologist, the shrink may have to make his diagnosis by getting into the little girl's pants, or even the little boy's pants. Philadelphia doctor Jerry Lazaroff has been caught fondling girls and at least one boy sent to him for evaluation.

expand

collapse

Posted on Tue, Jul. 1, 2008

Moms tell of kids & accused fondler

Hearing on how children will testify

By STEPHANIE FARR, Philadelphia Daily News, farrs@phillynews.com 215-854-4225

A mother who suspected that her daughters were fondled during a court-ordered counseling session testified yesterday that her divorce lawyer told her not to report her fears about the counselor, Jerry Lazaroff, then-director of Delaware County Court's family-intervention program.

"He said, 'Don't make any allegations about Jerry Lazaroff because he's very highly respected by the court,' " said the woman, whose name is being withheld by the Daily News to protect her child's identity.

That same lawyer called her about a month later on the day that news outlets reported that Lazaroff had been accused of fondling another child, she said, but this time he told her to contact the police.

Yesterday, three mothers spoke at a hearing to determine how their children - who were patients and alleged victims of Lazaroff's - will testify against him in court.

Lazaroff, who also served as a clinical psychologist for the county's juvenile court, has been suspended without pay from his county positions. He faces numerous charges of indecent assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children.

Chester County Judge Charles Smith is overseeing the case because of the potential for conflict of interest due to Lazaroff's work with Delaware County.

Lazaroff was arrested in May following allegations that he indecently assaulted a 10-year-old girl during a session.

That girl's mother said yesterday that her child often would emerge from Lazaroff's office looking "disheveled," but would brush it off by saying that she and the doctor were "playing."

It wasn't until the child's final session, when she emerged with tape in her hair and looking like "a deer in headlights" that she told her mother that Lazaroff had "touched me inappropriately." The mother said that she called police immediately from outside Lazaroff's office.

The second mother to testify, the one whose fears were originally rebuffed by her attorney, said that she was ordered by the court to send her child to Lazaroff as part of a custody evaluation, she said.

Only one session occurred where her daughters, ages 5 and 7, were left alone with Lazaroff, she said.

The mother said that after the session, her daughters told her that "Dr. Jerry" hit them on their bottoms and was flicking the younger child's butt and tickling her all over.

"I think they were confused [by his actions] because they saw doctor in front of his name," the mother said.

The mother of the fourth alleged victim, a 7-year-old boy, said that her son still breaks down sobbing when they drive by Lazaroff's Upper Providence office.

She said that she was present with her son during most sessions, and noted that Lazaroff did a lot of touching and tickling "all over" her son's body.

"I was told this was play therapy," she said.

In February, her son had his first one-on-one session with Lazaroff, after which he told his mother he never wanted to be alone with "Dr. Jerry" again.

"I didn't think in my wildest dreams that it was what it was," she said. "I trusted him 100 percent that he was a doctor and he was doing what was right"

When news of the first allegation broke, the mother took her son to a pediatrician, where she testified that the boy said: " 'Dr. Jerry gives bad touches.' "

The boy said that Lazaroff would tickle his penis so hard it hurt and that when they played marbles and Lazaroff won, he grabbed the child's penis and said: "I win. You lose. Score!"

Smith ruled that the girl who first came forward will testify in court, since her mother said that she has been open and vocal with many people about the experience.

The boy will testify either via closed-circuit television or his testimony will be taken from statements already given to police, Smith said, citing the child's sensitivity to the situation as described by his mother.

Smith said that he will rule at a later time on how the two sisters' testimony will be taken at trial. *

Source: Philadelphia Daily News

Oklahoma DHS is on a losing streak. In the past week, newspapers have reported two deaths in foster care, nineteen-month-old Raymond Palmer who was run over by a car on Saturday in Ardmore and two-year-old SkyDawn Word who drowned in a swimming pool in Chickasha on Sunday. Now a Tulsa TV station has produced a report on the experience of three mothers with families ruined by DHS. You can see the video at KOTV Tulsa, or our local copy (flv).

A couple in Ft Wayne Indiana noticed a maroon car driving slowly along the edge of the road with it's flashers on. As they got closer, they realized two men in the car were trying to talk to two young girls walking near the road. The couple offered the girls a ride home, to escape the men, and the girls gladly accepted. Police issued a warning to area parents to be on the look out for a suspicious maroon vehicle. Police thought the men inside the vehicle may have been trying to pick up young children.

In this case, the police were right. It turns out the men in the car were child protectors, stalking for prey. In Ontario we have also heard of professional child protectors remaining in a stationary vehicle for hours observing one family, trying to find a pretext for taking the children.

expand

collapse

Police: Suspicious vehicle was Child Protective Services

Updated: July 1, 2008 03:39 PM

Incident took place near the intersection of Rothman and Maplecrest Fort Wayne Police Officer Michael Joyner

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) The investigation into a report of a suspicious vehicle with two men inside has taken a 180 degree turn. Initially police thought the men might have been trying to pick up two young girls. Now they say the occupants were who they said they were, employees of Child Protective Services.

On Monday, Fort Wayne Police issued a warning to area parents to be on the look out for a suspicious maroon vehicle based on information they got from a couple. Police thought the men inside the vehicle may have been trying to pick up young children.

Police issued the warning after the couple, who thought they were being good Samaritans, told them of an incident they were involved with Friday night.

It happened near the intersection of Rothman and Maplecrest, on Fort Wayne's north side.

The couple told police they noticed a maroon car driving slowly along the edge of the road with it's flashers on. As they got closer, they realized two men in the car were trying to talk to two young girls walking near the road. The couple offered the girls a ride home, to escape the men, and the girls gladly accepted.

"The girls indicated they were very uncomfortable with the two men," explained Fort Wayne Police Officer Michael Joyner. "They did not know them, and the citizen took them home to a nearby subdivision."

The couple told police, the two men in the maroon vehicle followed them to the girls' home. That is when the driver, a white man in his early to mid-30s with dark brown curly hair, got out of the car and approached the couple's vehicle. He told them he was with Child Protective Services. He angrily told them he was trying to get the girls home safely. The man showed the couple an i.d. card with "CPS" written on it. The card had no picture, and the man never identified himself by name. The couple left the girls' home, and the maroon car left behind them, without ever making contact with the girls' parents.

On Monday, police said they didn't believe for a second, that the man was with Child Protective Services. They say the department does not work that way. But now they say the men were indeed with CPS, and the car wasn't maroon but was green..

One of the reasons police were so alarmed initially is that the incident came less than a week after two similar incidents in Garrett and Waterloo. In both of those cases, police say it was a white man in his mid to late 30s, driving a pretty junky maroon car that tried to pick up some local kids.

Source: WANE Ft Wayne Indiana

David LeClair, custodial father of nine-year-old Britney, was killed in his Aylmer Quebec home by three police gunshots. According to witnesses, he was not threatening police, his offense was merely non-compliance. In other news reports, his sister-in-law Vicky Hunter took photographs of Mr LeClair after he was shot, but still alive. Police have confiscated her pictures. The police intervention was the outcome of a failed four-month-long romance.

It appears that Mr LeClair, and his orphaned daugher, were victims of the feminist zeitgeist that tags all fathers as abusers of women and children.

expand

collapse

June 30, 2008

Ex blamed for police visit

Family claims man shot dead by cop had been harassed for months

By AEDAN HELMER, SUN MEDIA

David LeClair, 32, was shot dead on Saturday by a police officer who was reportedly responding to abuse allegations from his ex-girlfriend. LeClair's family says the woman had been harassing him for months with phone calls and unexpected visits.

Family members of a Gatineau man who was fatally shot by a police officer Saturday claimed his ex-girlfriend had been harassing him for months until he asked police to intervene.

David LeClair dated the woman on and off for about four months, and the couple were engaged at Christmas.

But the relationship went sour, the engagement called off, and things spiralled downhill from there.

LeClair's mother Dorothy said her son had called police on his ex-girlfriend.

"It's a love affair that went bad, but it didn't have to go this far," she said, alleging that her son's former fiancee had been harassing him with phone calls and unexpected visits.

Repeated attempts by the Sun to contact LeClair's ex-girlfriend by phone yesterday were not successful.

When a lone police officer arrived at LeClair's home at 16 Conroy St. in Aylmer in mid-morning Saturday, family say it was in response to abuse allegations from his ex.

TREATED AS 'A JOKE'

"David thought it was a joke," said Dorothy.

"Everybody thought it was a joke. David thought the officer was joking, he didn't know it was his death," said LeClair's sister, Diane.

According to witnesses, the officer followed LeClair inside his home, beat him with a club and pepper sprayed his eyes, threatening to shoot LeClair's brother Robert and 73-year-old mother Dorothy if they intervened.

"He came in like a madman out of hell ... very aggressive," said Dorothy.

Once outside, the officer ordered LeClair to lie face down on the pavement.

When he didn't comply, he was shot twice through the stomach and once in the arm from close range.

His 10-year-old nephew Alex was seated in the passenger seat of a pickup truck metres away from the shooting.

"He was so scared, he put his hands up as if the cop was going to shoot him too. He's traumatized," said Diane.

The police investigation has been turned over to the provincial Surete du Quebec, who remained tight-lipped about case details.

SHOCK COUNSELLING

"The investigation is ongoing, and any information will be turned over to the Crown," said Sgt. Marc Butz, who added the unidentified officer who shot LeClair is being counselled for shock.

"I know he was in shock," said witness and neighbour Robert Pombert.

"After he shot Dave he just stood there. He didn't try to help him, he didn't try to revive him. Nothing. I asked him four times if he called the ambulance, but the first cars to arrive were all cops. We had to wait ten minutes for the ambulance, but it sure felt like longer."

LeClair was well-known to Aylmer cops, having faced a number of charges in the past.

In February 2007, he pleaded guilty and was handed an 11-month sentence for fraud. Separate fraud and assault charges from 2006 were stayed, and he was also due to appear in court this summer on theft and fraud charges.

"A lot of Aylmer cops knew him as a joker guy," said Robert LeClair, who ran a roofing business with his brother. "But they also know if he gets pissed off, he gets pissed off."

"I can't understand why that officer would go in (to the house) alone without a warrant in the first place," said LeClair's brother-in-law Pete Lachapelle.

"If David was running after the cop with an axe or a knife, then maybe, but he was unarmed. One shot, that's too much, but three -- that's gun crazy."

David, 32, the "baby" of a family of nine children, leaves behind his only daughter Britney, 9.

"We're all here for Britney," said her mom Cindy Brisson, who lost custody of her daughter to LeClair several years ago. "She knows that her dad's not coming back."

Source: Ottawa Sun

A German family, faced with persecution under a Nazi law forbidding homeschooling, fled to Austria. When German authorities reached across the border to continue harassing them, they fled to Canada. We wish them well, but their prospects may not be much better here.

expand

collapse

Government chases homeschool family

Mom, dad now seek help from human rights tribunal

Posted: June 30, 2008, 10:15 pm Eastern, WorldNetDaily

Members of a German homeschooling family who fled to Austria, where the activity remains legal, have moved again – this time to Canada – to escape continuing government actions that now are the subject of a protest lodged at the European Court of Human Rights.

The case of Andreas and Katharina Plett is being addressed by Joel Thornton, chief of the International Human Rights Group, who alleges Germany is violating articles 8, 9, 10, 14, and 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights with its persecution of homeschooling families.

The Paderborn family is among several in Germany who have challenged the nation's Nazi-era ban on parents teaching their children at home. Thornton told WND that in the Pletts' case, one of the government maneuvers gave the Youth Welfare Office the authority to determine where the Pletts' two youngest children live .

According to a Brussels Journal report at the time, a plain-clothes policewoman rang the Pletts' doorbell early one day, and when Katharina Plett opened the door, a team of officers who had concealed themselves forced their way in.

Katharina was able to notify her husband by telephone since he and the children were not at home, and instead of returning, they traveled directly to Austria and set up a residence.

However, German authorities continue to try to impose their requirements on the family, since it still owns property in Germany, and the Pletts now are challenging not only the authority to decide where the children will live but the other decisions in their case as well.

"About a month ago the family fled to Canada to be together without fear of government officials taking their children," Thornton told WND.

"Though the court has been unwilling to uphold international law in regards to parents' rights in educational matters, it is our hope that the court will look at the number of families continuing to have problems and decide to take the initiative to enforce the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights that are currently being violated by the German courts," Thornton said.

The previous decision came in the now-infamous Konrad case in which the same court concluded Germany's ban on homeschooling – in place since the Nazis reigned – does not violate the convention's religious rights provision. The court ruled it was important for the nation to avoid parallel societies created by religious groups.

The new case raises that issue but several others as well.

The complaint, filed Friday, says, "The Plett family has suffered the deprivation of their rights guaranteed under Article 8 of the Convention in that respect for their private and family life has been violated without demonstrated necessity for national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, the prevention of disorder or crime, the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."

It also alleges violations of Article 9, contending their "religious convictions" have been violated, and Article 10 violations involving "freedom of expression, particularly the freedom to impart information and ideas without interference by public authorities."

Further, the court action alleges Germany is discriminating against the family based on their religious convictions and is violating Protocol 1, Article 2, which states that "in the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the state shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religions and philosophical convictions."

The appeals says, "The Plett family is asking this court to overturn the decision of all the German courts and declare that the state took improper custody of their children while exercising their rights. ... The Plett family asks this court to clarify that the rights guaranteed under Articles 8, 9, 10 and 14 are not subject to governmental intervention without clear and convincing evidence that homeschooling their children would rise to the level of violating the interferences regulated by the Convention. That is not the case here."

The action also seeks a cancellation of all fines imposed by Germany and the recovery of all costs.

Thornton told WND the children continue to live with the family only because the state Youth Welfare Office never has exercised its authority to determine where they are required to live. Such situations are not unusual in Germany. However, they create major complications for families doing any traveling.

The Pletts have their roots in Germany but had been living in Russia before returning. They decided to homeschool after the parents "perceived a negative influence of the public school onto their children."

In 2005, German authorities ordered decisions about the children's residence given to the Youth Welfare Office without a hearing. The result was the family's sudden move to Austria. Their further move came after Germany continued to try to exercise control of the family even while living in Austria.

In 2006, the Strasbourg, France-based court ruled in the Konrad case. In that dispute, Fritz and Marianna Konrad, who argued Germany's compulsory school attendance endangered their children's religious upbringing and promoted teaching inconsistent with the family's Christian faith, were told they did not have a case.

The court said the Konrads belong to a "Christian community which is strongly attached to the Bible" and rejected public schooling because of the explicit sexual indoctrination programs the courses included.

The German court already had ruled that the parental "wish" to have their children grow up in a home without such influences "could not take priority over compulsory school attendance." The decision also said the parents do not have an "exclusive" right to lead their children's education.

"The parents' right to education did not go as far as to deprive their children of that experience," the decision said. "Not only the acquisition of knowledge, but also the integration into and first experience with society are important goals in primary school education. The German courts found that those objectives cannot be equally met by home education even if it allowed children to acquire the same standard of knowledge as provided for by primary school education."

A website for the Practical Homeschool Magazine noted one of the first acts by Hitler when he moved into power was to create the governmental Ministry of Education and give it control of all schools, and school-related issues.

In 1937, the dictator said, "The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."

WND has reported multiple times on Germany's attack on homeschoolers, including earlier this summer when a judge handed down three-month prison sentences for two homeschooling parents.

The sentences for Juergen and Rosemarie Dudek came in Germany's equivalent of a district court in the state of Hesse, according to a staff attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association. The group, the premier homeschooling advocacy organization in the world, has been monitoring and helping in the Dudeks' case since before a federal prosecutor announced his intention more than a year ago to see the parents behind bars.

Wolfgang Drautz, consul general for the Federal Republic of Germany, has commented on the issue on a blog, noting the government "has a legitimate interest in countering the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion."

As WND reported, Drautz said schools teach socialization, and that is important, as evident in the government's response when a German family in another case wrote objecting to police officers picking their child up at home and delivering him to a public school.

"The minister of education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling," said a government letter in response. "... You complain about the forced school escort of primary school children by the responsible local police officers. ... In order to avoid this in future, the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement."

Source: WorldNetDaily

Now your family can dress like the FLDS! The mothers of FLDS are selling their unique style of clothing online. They started the business when their children were in state custody, as a means of allowing foster parents to buy authentic clothing for the FLDS children. Now that the children have returned, the same clothes, hand made by FLDS women, are available to the general public. So far only children's apparel is available, adult lines will be added if enough demand develops. Participating in this new fashion craze is a way of expressing your opinion of Texas child protectors. Folks on the other side can dress their kids up for Halloween.

From the website FLDSdress.com:

This site is dedicated to provide children with clothing that meets the FLDS standards for modesty and neatness. Our commitment is to offer quality, handmade, modest, affordable clothing. Each piece is made with joy and care.

When Mervyn Breaton was a child he was a ward of the children's aid society. In 1936 he had his first criminal conviction, inaugurating a life of crime. Now at the age of 87 he has still not learned to stay out of trouble with the law.

expand

collapse

Career crook, 87, vows to go straight

Mervyn Breaton has spent more of his life in jail than on the outside

By JANE SIMS

This time, octogenarian Mervyn Breaton says, he really, really means it.

"I'm getting too old for this stuff," the 87-year old career criminal said yesterday from the prisoner's box in a London court after pleading guilty to drug charges and breaching house arrest.

"I've heard that before," said Justice Ross Webster, who sentenced Breaton in December on similar charges and freed him yesterday after fining him for his latest offences.

After 24 days at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre -- it was "hard on my arthritic condition" -- Breaton said he's putting a life of crime behind him.

"I think I'm just worn out," he said.

That's not a surprise. The tall, thin Breaton has spent more of his life inside a jail than outside -- including 19 years at the infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay.

His first criminal conviction was in 1936. His record includes car thefts, weapons and drug convictions, vehicular manslaughter and escaping custody -- including a daring over-the-wall escape from Collins Bay penitentiary in Kingston.

"The next day I was in Toronto robbing banks," he said.

Robbing banks across the continent was his forte -- and landed him in Alcatraz, where he served 19 years of a 45-year sentence and looked after Robert Stroud, the so-called Birdman of Alcatraz.

His latest brushes with the law have been for selling his own pain medication from his Coldstream Road home.

The OPP searched the house in May and found Breaton had nearly 200 OxyContin tablets of various strength and another 200 Percocets.

There were debt lists in the freezer and Breaton's wallet. He had $2,160 in his pants pocket.

Police also found a small amount of marijuana.

All was found while Breaton was supposed to be keeping his nose clean and abiding by terms of an 18-month conditional sentence for drug trafficking dealt him by Webster.

Breaton spent his 24 days, including his 87th birthday, in jail playing bridge and reading.

Webster agreed the drug matter could be handled with a hefty fine -- $5,000. Breaton was given time served for breaching his house arrest and the conditional sentence was reinstated.

Once released, Breaton sat with his younger, law-abiding brother -- who's 85 -- and waited to sign his paperwork.

Outside the courtroom, Breaton said with a recalcitrant smile and twinkling blue eyes he was dealing his own pills because "I like eating steak, so I sold them."

From his childhood, Breaton said he's only known jails and crime. As a child in the Chatham area, he was placed with child services after his parents were sent to jail.

"They threw me into Children's Aid and from then on it was one jail to another," he said.

If there were any attempts to straighten out his life, Breaton doesn't remember.

"I don't think so. I didn't try too hard if I did," he said.

His plan yesterday was to go home "and make love to my pets" -- a German Shepherd called J.C. (short for Jesus Christ) and Bear, a white lab.

"I think Father Time's caught up with me. Hopefully it's the last trip out there," he said of the local jail.

Source: London (Ontario) Free Press

Robert Ferguson, who has already lost a son to CAS, and ran as a candidate for the provincial parliament in 2007, was led to believe by CAS that his newest child would not be apprehended. At the hospital he found out otherwise. The message below was posted to a public forum. Earlier coverage was on May 8, 2007 (lost son and social workers party), and later items dealing with election August 8, 2007, September 29, 2007 and October 11, 2007.

expand

collapse

robert ferguson

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 12:20 am

I thank child assist services for all they have done. On Saturday June 28th my son will be brought into this world. I hope and pray he gets to come home with me. CAS said if we had everything they would have no interests but today at the hopsital we found that there has been an alert iussed. They may try and steal my son for profit once again.

Source: Canada Court Watch forum entry for June 28, 2008

Denver Post columnist Susan Greene reports on a boy, Josh Raykin, torn from his family without cause. The parents fled the USSR to live in freedom.

expand

collapse

A county's fumbling, a family's nightmare

By Susan Greene, Denver Post Columnist

Article Last Updated:06/26/2008 12:47:01 AM MDT

Josh Raykin had never spent even a night away from his parents.

That is, until Arapahoe County snatched the 8-year-old from his home after an abuse allegation that social workers dragged their feet investigating.

The ordeal began while Josh was playing outside one day before dinner in April. A neighbor knocked on the door to tell his dad that police had come to take Josh away.

The strawberry-blond kid with pale blue eyes was born in 1999 after Michael and Melanie Raykin tried for 15 years to conceive. Michael, a courier, and Melanie, a hairstylist, work extra hours to send Josh to Denver's Montclair Academy and give their boy advantages they never had as kids in the former U.S.S.R.

"He means everything to us," Michael says.

But on the sidewalk late that day in April, deputies wouldn't let him go near the son whom the county suspected Raykin of molesting in ways too intimate to be described in these pages. Deputies said the allegations came from Michael's young nieces — girls the couple hadn't seen since they went into foster care months earlier because of abuse allegations in their immediate family. The girls also had pointed the finger at their grandfather, but charges were dropped.

"They blew my mind. I didn't know what to say," says Michael, whose most serious brushes with the law had come with a few speeding tickets.

Mother, father and son were forced to sit on their curb as neighbors watched and whispered, and deputies waited for a case worker to arrive. Josh, complaining he was hungry and cold, started hyperventilating.

Once the social worker came two hours later, he wouldn't release the boy to his aunt nearby, nor tell the Raykins where he was taking Josh. Instead, he told Melanie to pack a bag for the boy she had never once left once with a sitter.

Josh screamed, "Leave them alone. They're the best parents in the world," as the case worker prodded him into his car.

He spent a week with an Aurora foster family that required the Jewish kid to pray to Jehovah at each meal. They took away the Pokemon toothbrush and stuffed toys that his mom had packed for him. They shut off his shower after five minutes. And most days, he says, they made him wash toilets with a washcloth.

For one sleepless week, the Raykins made phone calls, met with lawyers and sat in Josh's room "taking turns breaking down." Human Services refused to allow them even one phone call to tell their only child they loved him, were fighting for him and would come for him soon.

Melanie says social workers kept pushing her to say her husband molested their son, insinuating that such an admission would set Josh free. They suggested that Josh having once kissed his cousins on the lips — as is the norm in his parents' culture — was a sign that he had been molested. As social workers saw it, Michael's habit of buying his son toys and taking him to the movies was "grooming" to cover up sexual abuse.

Though counties normally interview kids before yanking them from their homes, it took Arapahoe County a week after removing Josh for that interview to take place.

"And now, because of that interview, he knows about things that I don't want him to know at 8 years old," says Michael, crying.

Michael passed a lie-detector test. His innocence claim was buoyed by a sheriff's investigator who rallied to his side until a judge released Josh, finding "there is not reason to believe any inappropriate sexual activity" took place.

Human Services cited confidentiality laws when asked about its fumbling of the case.

"We only remove the child from the home when we believe or know to be true that staying in the home is not in the best interest of the child," said county spokeswoman Nichole Parmelly.

Two months later, Josh has nightmares and trouble falling asleep.

"We live, we work, we're quiet, we pay taxes. We came from such a hard world to be free in a country where, just like this," says his mom, snapping her fingers, "they can grab your kid away from you right off your street."

Susan Greene writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-1989 or greene@denverpost.com.

Source: Denver Post

Carey Cockerell, the commissioner of the Texas department responsible for the seizure of hundreds of children from the FLDS ranch in Eldorado Texas, has sidestepped responsibility for answering questions before the legislature by resigning his post. The news reports the unbelievable statement: "There is no connection between his retirement and Eldorado".

expand

collapse

State overseer of child protection agency retiring

Carey Cockerell, commissioner over department that seized hundreds of children from Eldorado ranch, to leave Aug. 31.

By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF, Saturday, June 28, 2008

The commissioner who oversaw the controversial removal of more than 400 children from an Eldorado ranch owned by a polygamous sect will retire Aug. 31, he announced Friday.

Carey Cockerell, 61, of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, told his staff in a memo that he has been considering retirement since late last year.

Harry Cabluck/ASSOCIATED PRESS Carey Cockerell

"I am about to become a grandfather for the first time and I am ready to spend some quality time with my family after a career that has spanned four decades," wrote Cockerell, whose agency oversees Child Protective Services.

By leaving this summer, Cockerell will avoid facing state lawmakers during the legislative session that begins in January.

Lawmakers will have "all eyes on Child Protective Services" because of Eldorado, said state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, a member of a Texas House committee that monitors CPS.

Department spokesman Patrick Crimmins said, "There is no connection between his retirement and Eldorado."

Cockerell, a former director of juvenile services for Tarrant County, took the helm at the department in 2005. That was just months after state reports found that CPS failed to provide needed services for children living in potentially dangerous situations and that Adult Protective Services caseworkers were not adequately trained.

"At a time when there were reports of cases being closed too quickly and children and the elderly being left in dangerous conditions, Carey helped our state refocus protective services to its vital mission — protecting Texas' most vulnerable," Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement.

Cockerell oversaw major changes at CPS, including a $248 million effort that lawmakers ordered in 2005 to add caseworkers and improve training and technology.

"Carey took on one of the most difficult jobs in state government and achieved significant improvements in just a few short years," Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins said.

Lately, the agency has been in the national spotlight for something that Cockerell's 467-word memo didn't mention: seizing the children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in April and placing them in foster care around the state.

In a rebuke to CPS, which said its investigators discovered a pattern of teenage sexual abuse, the Texas Supreme Court ordered the state to return the children to their parents.

"Under the guise of protecting children, (CPS has) done a great injury to these children," said Rod Parker, a spokesman for the sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Through Crimmins, Cockerell has declined several interview requests from the American-Statesman, including one Friday.

His only public comments on Eldorado came at a state Senate hearing during which senators were not allowed to ask questions.

Cockerell "may simply be worn out from being in the hot seat all the time," Naishtat said.

cmaclaggan@statesman.com; 445-3548

Source: Austin American-Statesman

The Toronto Star reports on a teenaged girl who ran away from the care of the children's aid society to become a prostitute. She must have found her new life to be an improvement. The politically correct Star does not tell the story that way, instead blaming a man for her problems, barely mentioning children's aid.

expand

collapse

Toronto Star

Man gets 5 years for selling teens for sex

Man convicted of human trafficking tells court he regrets forcing girls, 14 and 15, into prostitution

Jun 25, 2008 04:30 AM, Bob Mitchell, Staff Reporter

A former Toronto man, who made more than $400,000 selling two teenage girls for sex, has received a five-year prison sentence.

Imani Nakpangi, 25, told a Brampton court that he regretted what he did to the two young girls, who were just 15 and 14 when he used them as prostitutes for a 26-month period.

"I'll be leaving jail a convicted criminal; shameful indeed," he said. "There is no way to turn back the clock."

The harm he caused was captured by a victim impact statement of the eldest girl, now 18, read into the Brampton court by Justice Hugh Atwood before he passed sentence.

"I feel unworthy, dirty, tainted, like nothing," she said in her statement. "I feel I am only good for one thing – sex."

Nakpangi was given 13 months credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to 47 months.

Justice Atwood called Nakpangi's actions "egregious to the extreme."

He was convicted May 13 after pleading guilty to two counts of human trafficking in connection with forcing the girls, one from Mississauga and one from Brampton, into prostitution.

He admitted he knew the two girls, whom he sold as prostitutes, were just 15 and 14 although he advertised them to clients as being older.

Both girls were reported missing, the older one by her family and the other by the Children's Aid Society, court heard.

Prosecutor John Raftery had sought a seven-year sentence while defence lawyer Deepak Paradkar had asked for three years.

"This was a calculated business," Raftery told the court. He said Nakpangi used the money the girls earned to live a "lavish, materially wealthy lifestyle." He drove a BMW and owned a large home in Niagara Falls.

Court earlier heard how the older girl estimated she had earned $360,000 for Nakpangi. The younger girl estimated she had earned him about $65,000.

Sex was offered at $200 for 30 minutes and $300 for a full hour, court heard.

Court heard how Nakpangi used threats and intimidation to keep the girls under control.

One of the girls, who wanted to leave, was told she had to pay a $100,000 exit fee but first needed to earn another $50,000, court heard.

She eventually went to police after being robbed at gunpoint by a client.

Nakpangi was arrested Dec. 6, 2007 following a police sting in which an undercover officer posed as a client seeking sex from the younger girl.

Court heard that between 2005 and 2007, Nakpangi drove the girls to several Mississauga hotels to meet men and perform sexual acts for cash.

Police also found revealing photos of the girls when a search warrant was executed at his residence in Niagara Falls.

Source: Toronto Star

CAS ward

What is the most likely outcome for children graduating from foster care:

a) a high school diploma

b) jail time

In British Columbia, the correct answer is b.

expand

collapse

For kids in B.C. care, jail a more likely future than graduation

Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun, Friday, June 27, 2008

Children in government care are more likely to be charged with a crime than they are to finish high school, says troubling new research by B.C.'s representative for children and youth.

Preliminary findings from a study by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond indicate that 44 per cent of adolescents receiving services from the Ministry of Children and Family Development end up facing criminal charges.

And 36 per cent of kids in care are going to jail, despite the trend of fewer youth being incarcerated each year in B.C.

"What I'm finding is, of the people who are still in [the youth justice system], they are largely these children who experienced abuse and maltreatment, and came into government care," Turpel-Lafond said in an interview Thursday.

Another troubling finding was that foster children were more likely to end up behind bars than finish high school, which just 24 per cent of them did.

"I think that's the most staggering finding because it is not exactly the outcome we want for them," said Turpel-Lafond.

The adolescents in her study -- aged 12 to 17 -- also got into criminal trouble at younger ages and stayed mired in the justice system longer than kids who live with their families and have a better support system at home.

"The average age they would first be charged is closer to 14. Someone not in care, it would be around 15," said Turpel-Lafond, a former Saskatchewan provincial court judge who became B.C.'s first representative for children and youth last year.

"And I'm seeing kids in care over-represented in terms of the population that's going on into the adult [prison] system."

She argued B.C.'s child protection system, which has been criticized by other scathing reports in recent years, is failing adolescents by not offering them more stable environments to keep them in school and out of the corrections system.

"We need to do a better job to get them supported and not be using that criminal justice system as sort of a default foster-care system," Tupel-Lafond said.

Her study tracked the progress of more than 50,000 children: those who were born in B.C. in 1986 who were still in school here in 1997 (when they were 11 years old).

The evidence suggests foster children got into criminal trouble more frequently due to both the maltreatment they experienced before going into care and also because they were not properly treated while receiving government services. "The system of support we have for adolescents needs to be reconsidered," she said.

Turpel-Lafond's study shows that more than 70 per cent of the children in care ensnared in the justice system have special needs, such as learning disabilities, mental health issues, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

She will provide recommendations in the fall when her report is complete, but said Thursday there are some measures that can be taken to reverse this troubling trend.

They include initiatives to avoid children going into care in the first place, such as more accessible medical support for vulnerable pregnant women, good quality daycares, stable housing for needy families, and better job opportunities for parents.

For adolescents already in care, she recommends:

• More stable placements, so children are not moved between multiple foster homes. (The vast majority of kids in care who did not go to jail were adopted.)
• Putting teens in placements that fit the specific needs of adolescents.
• Reconsider the the current system which is providing 583 B.C. teens with cash so they can live on their own. "Are they doing well? Evidence to me is they are not," Turpel-Lafond said.

lculbert@png.canwest.com

FOSTER CHILDREN FACE UPHILL BATTLE

Preliminary findings of a new study by the representative for children and youth found that more adolescents (aged 12 to 17) in government care were involved in the justice system than teens living with their own families:

POPULATION / TOTAL / RECOMMENDED FOR CHARGES / INVOLVEMENT WITH CORRECTIONS *

Children in Care 1683 693 41.2% 598 35.5%

Kids Not in Care 48868 2557 5.2% 1614 3.3%

* Corrections involves remand, lockup, bail supervision, probation and sentencing to secure or open custody

Source: The office of the Representative for Children and Youth

Source: The Vancouver Sun

We have lost track of the number of Ontario CAS executive directors crying about their funding cuts. Here is one from Algoma.

expand

collapse

Sault Star

CAS Algoma has funding woes: Baraniuk

Executive director to speak at annual general meeting tonight

Posted By BY MARC CAPANCIONI, SPECIAL TO THE STAR, Updated June 26, 2008

The Children's Aid Society of Algoma is at a severe disadvantage in terms of money, according to the organization's executive director.

"Provincial funding doesn't work in the North," said Jim Baraniuk.

"The policy is set for one size fits all, but in the North, you may not have the resources (that southern Ontario does)."

At present, CAS Algoma receives provincial funds based on how much the organization got in 2003- 2004, plus a cost of living increase, he said.

But since then, there has been some economic downturn -- for example, in the forestry sector -- yet no changes have been made to the provincial government's funding formula.

When the economy is tanking, substance abuse and other social problems increase, and the CAS requires more funds, said Baraniuk.

"Whenever you look at the North, there's a problem with funding.

"In the North, you obviously have different needs," he added.

Baraniuk will speak about these issues, and others, at the society's annual general meeting tonight at the Art Gallery of Algoma.

Members of the public are welcome.

Anne Machowski-Smith, media spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services said, "The funding formula is based in part on service volumes, and is designed to respond to changing needs of the local community.

"Our funding provides flexibility to CASs so they can use it for staffing and for helping children in a manner that meets the unique needs of each CAS," she said.

Machowski-Smith said that funding to CAS Algoma has increased by around $6.5 million -- 48 per cent -- since 2003-2004.

However, Baraniuk says there have been "huge" increases to his society's expenditures and ongoing services -- which went up 43.2 per cent -- since then.

The formula doesn't include additional costs for new services that are required by the government. "It's not a perfect system," he said.

The lack of a short-term assessment stabilization unit in Sault Ste. Marie is also a problem, said Baraniuk. Instead, children have to stay in the pediatrics unit of the Sault Area Hospital.

This a bad for children, their families and for the hospital, he said, adding that, unlike the Sault, both Sudbury and Thunder Bay have proper facilities.

While there are challenges, Baraniuk will also address the successes of CAS Algoma as well.

"It's (also) a time to identify what we've accomplished over the last year," he said.

Over the past three years, the number of tutors working with students at CAS Algoma has increased from 12 to 33.

The number of youth scholarships -- made available by donations and fundraisers -- has also risen, from 12 to 20.

There are more things to be happy about, said Baraniuk.

The society has expanded its relationships with other agencies and developed new foster programs, services and protocols.

For example, CAS Algoma has established an alternative dispute resolution process called family group decision-making.

"Everyone gets together and they try to reach an agreement (instead of) bringing the children through the court system," said Baraniuk.

Source: Sault Star

A mother is seeking her daughter, posting her request on the girl's eighteenth birthday.

expand

collapse

Date Posted:	26-Jun-2008
Surname(s):	LESAGE : PIGEON
Query Text:	Birth mother searching for daughter born June 26, 1990 at Ottawa General Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario. Surname at birth was Lesage, given name was Genevieve Raven Cecile. Birth mother was Lorraine (Lori) Lesage and birth father's name was Joseph Pigeon. Baptized August 10, 1990 by Father Morrison at Saint Joseph's Church in Ottawa. Placed into foster care through Children's Aid Society of Ottawa in November 1990. Made crown ward in September 1991. E-mail: LorrBirch@yahoo.com

Source: CousinConnect

Do you want to help a neighbor's child? Hug your own child? Better get a license.

expand

collapse

Civitas

Media information: embargo 00.01am Thursday 26 June

One in four will need to take the anti-paedophile test

The dramatic escalation of child protection measures has succeeded in poisoning the relationship between the generations and creating an atmosphere of suspicion that actually increases the risks to children, according to a new study from the independent think-tank Civitas.

In Licensed to Hug Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, argues that children need to have contact with a range of adult members of the community for their education and socialisation, but 'this form of collaboration, which has traditionally underpinned intergenerational relationships, is now threatened by a regime that insists that adult/child encounters must be mediated through a security check' (p.xii).

The scope of child protection has become immense. Since its formation in 2002 the Criminal Records Bureau has issued 15 million disclosures, but the whole operation has now been ratcheted up several notches by the passage of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. This has led to the creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority which, when it is rolled out in October 2009, will require CRB checks of 11.3 million people - over one quarter of the adult population of England.

Whereas adults would once routinely have rebuked children who were misbehaving, or helped children in distress, they now think twice about the consequences of interacting with other people's children. One of the contributors to Licensed to Hug describes the culture of fear that pervades what should be ordinary relationships:

'My daughter is allowed to play out in the street with kids from the neighbourhood. She said she was going to Semih's house and I said OK. Ten minutes later Semih's mom knocked at my door and said, 'I must introduce myself as we haven't met.' I thought she was going to tell me her name, have a chat, but she said she was CRB checked and her husband was CRB checked and then went away. I still don't know her name!'

As Frank Furedi comments: 'When parents feel in need of official reassurance that other parents have passed the paedophile test before they even start on the pleasantries, this indicates that something has gone badly wrong in our communities.' (p.xi)

In an atmosphere of mistrust, in which adults suspect other adults and children are taught to suspect anyone other than their parents, there is a feeling that it is best not to become involved. At the inquest of a two-year-old girl who had wandered into a pond and drowned, a man who had driven past and saw her obviously lost said that he did not go to help 'because I thought someone would see me and think I was trying to abduct her' (p.48). This terrible story has acquired the status of an urban legend, because so many people wonder what they would have done in similar circumstances. In an almost equally distressing story, one of the respondents to a survey carried out for this book explained the problems her partner experiences when he takes their two-year-old son swimming:

'… the mothers in the cafe he was waiting in were giving him filthy looks (apparently when he walked in it was like a scene from a Western when the room goes silent and tumbleweed blows across the foreground). This happens whenever he goes out with our son on his own, especially if he takes him into a joint changing/feeding room. Now, there is nothing strange looking about him, he's a perfectly normal guy, so I was just wondering if any other dads out there have the same experience? He's considering stapling his police check to his forehead every time he goes out!' (p.53)

As Furedi says: 'We should question whether there is anything healthy … in a response where communities look at children's own fathers with suspicion, but would balk at helping a lost child find their way home' (p.54).

The effect on the voluntary sector

Anyone working for a voluntary organisation who comes into contact with children in any way has to take the paedophile test.

'From Girl Guiders to football coaches, from Christmas-time Santas to parents helping out in schools, volunteers-once regarded as pillars of the community -have been transformed in the regulatory and public imagination into potential child abusers, barred from any contact with children until the database gives them the green light.' (p.x)

The effect of this treatment is to put some people off volunteering altogether. The Volunteer Survey 2007 found that 13 per cent of men would not volunteer because they were worried people would think they were child abusers (p.16) and 28 per cent of those who responded to an online survey carried out for Licensed to Hug said they knew someone who had been put off volunteering by the CRB process (p.18). The Children's Commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley Green, has said that nearly 50,000 girls are waiting to join the Guides because of a shortage of adult volunteers, partly caused by the red tape of the CRB process.

Perhaps the worst thing about all this is that the vetting procedure does not provide anything like a cast-iron guarantee that children will be safe with a particular adult. All it tells us is that the person has not been convicted of an offence in the past. What happens after the vetting procedure is unpredictable, so the process 'works as a form of impression management. It provides a ritual of security rather than effective protection.' (p.viii). It would be much better if adults could use their discretion and professional judgement - skills that are now becoming redundant:

'The formalisation of intergenerational contact contributes to the deskilling of adulthood. If adults are not expected to respond to problems in accordance with their experience and intuition they will have little incentive to develop the kind of skills required to manage children and young people.' (p.ix)

Halt the juggernaut

Instead of creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, Licensed to Hug suggests that we need to 'halt the juggernaut of regulation' (p.55) and, instead, behave as if the majority of adults have no predatory attitudes towards children but, on the contrary, can be relied on to help them. If we could encourage greater openness and more frequent contact between the generations, we would all benefit.

'The adult qualities of spontaneous compassion and commitment are, we argue, far more effective safeguarding methods than pieces of paper that promote the messages "Keep Out" and "Watch Your Back".' (p.40)

Notes to editors:

1. Civitas is an independent social policy think-tank. It receives no state funding either directly or indirectly and has no links to any political party.
2. Licensed to Hug: How child protection policies are poisoning the relationship between the generations and damaging the voluntary sector by Frank Furedi and Jennie Bristow is published by Civitas, 77 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 2EZ, tel. 020 7799 6677, www.civitas.org.uk, price £6.00 inc. pp.

For more information e-mail CIVITAS on: info@civitas.org.uk

Source: press release by Civitas

When Steve Whissell saw a runaway car heading for his children, he pushed them to safety at the cost of his own life. Social workers, who give each other congratulatory awards for their own actions, have no awards for parents who provide a level of care beyond anything possible from social services.

expand

collapse

National Post, Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Man sacrifices self to save his children

Father Of Five; Twins, 3, in path of runaway car

Alan Hustak, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Father-of-five Steve Whissell sacrificed his own life to shove two of his children out of the path of a runaway car.

Mr. Whissell was in Huberdeau, a Laurentian community about 120 km northwest of Montreal, with his family for a holiday parade when the accident happened.

The family were sitting on some grass getting ready for the parade to start when a car parked at the top of a nearby hill inexplicably moved and began to roll towards those seated on the lawn.

It picked up speed as it careened down the 35-metre hill and headed straight for Mr. Whissell's family.

Mr. Whissell leapt in front of the car and managed to push his three-year-old twins, Noah and Nathan, out of harm's way. But the car rolled over him then struck his wife, Johanne Coursolle, who was holding their two-year-old daughter in her arms.

Mr. Whissell's oldest set of twins, Alexandre and Jennifer, from a previous relationship, were not harmed.

"There was a general panic," said Leslie Morrisson, who witnessed the accident. "Someone screamed, 'Get out of the way,' Then everything happened so fast. The next thing, Johanne was yelling, 'Lift the car up, lift the car up, my man is underneath."

Mr. Whissell, who lived with his in-laws in Boileau, Que., and his wife were taken to hospital in Ste. Agathe, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. He would have turned 34 tomorrow.

Ms. Coursolle is still in hospital, where she is expected to remain for two or three more days before she is released.

Mr. Whissell, who grew up in Mont-Laurier, had worked with delinquent children but had to give up his job when his youngest daughter, Lily Rose, was born two years ago and was hospitalized at St. Justine's in Montreal.

"His children and his wife were his life," his father in-law, Andre Coursolle, said yesterday.

"I have a big house, and they were living with us while his daughter was sick so he could go to Montreal to be with her. Now that she is okay, he had hoped to become a mechanic and go back to work.

"He was devoted, a solid, good guy. It is all so senseless.

We're devastated. The kids are still trying to understand why their dad is not coming home."

The Surete du Quebec is investigating the incident. Police say the car, with an automatic transmission, was legally parked in the municipal parking lot, which is at the crest of a hill used as a toboggan run in winter.

"For some unknown reason, it started to move and hit the couple," said SQ Sergeant Joyce Kemp.

Funeral arrangements will not be made until after Ms. Coursolle leaves hospital.

"Johanne wants to see Steve for one last time before we bury him," said Andre Coursolle "She wants to be well enough to be be at the funeral with the children for a final farewell."

Source: National Post

The first Putman award has been given to Robin Berger, a public health nurse and breastfeeding advocate. She accepted the award from the local children's aid society. CAS throughout Ontario has in the past ripped babies from mother's breast for their "protection".

expand