More recent news

The Television Program A&E Investigative Reports has a website soliciting suggestions for future investigations. In a thread called Children's Aid Society Corruption two interesting posts by a person identified only as CASwhistleblower suggest that there is widespread dissatisfaction within Children's Aid. Dufferin VOCA welcomes information from whistleblowers and can assure confidentiality where required.

CASwhistleblower
11:16PM PDT Jul 25, 2004 (15)
Re: Children's Aid Society Corruption

The problems that you point out are valid ones, to a point. The problems with the image of social workers being deemed child snatchers is a long standing one. I would have to agree that less than 25% of children that have been literally stolen from their families ever deal with a professional social worker. And that is the problem itself, the term "professional" implies objectivity, integrity, and adherence to a strict code of ethics.

The majority of child protective workers that I have been personally acquainted with do hold BSW, MSW, DSW, degrees as well as a few PhD's. However, they tend to act in completely unprofessional manners when wielding virtually unlimited power to destroy families, traumatize children, and add to societal problems by the very actions they take in these cases.

Most behave as undisciplined teenagers wielding a gun without any knowledge of the devastation it can cause. Education alone is not a guarantee of professionalism, especially since that education is based in socialist and Marxist theory exposing the "evils of family and religious influence and oppression". More untoward that this however, is the tendency to act solely to advance personal careers, collect bonus money, perpetuate the industry and ever escalate societal woes to effect job security with out regard to the damage to children and their families.

There are two members of my own family who happen to work in the "social work" field, one with 30 years experience and as MSW degree. Both refuse to work in "child protection" because of the corruption of the industry and the destruction of lives resulting from that industry.

Once the whistleblower legislation is fully implemented and tested there are 38 of us from various CAS offices in Ontario who are prepared to blow the whistle. We have been gathering evidence that has already been discretely leaked and will continue to be leaked in an attempt to stop the abuse by our colleagues, our supervisors, our directors and the politicians who get the payoffs for their success in giving the CAS the power it has now.

CASwhistleblower
2:31PM PST Dec 08, 2004 (27)
Re: Children's Aid Society Corruption

A&E When will you hear the cries of these poor victims. If anything why do you not use the journalism powers to help these poor children?

The corruption of CAS extends much farther then many people realize. It goes as far as the Police who sit on the board of directors, government to ensure there is lobby efforts that ensure future power, doctors who get big payoffs, lawyers who get offered good jobs or even threatened to lose their own children if they do not back off.

WILL YOU PLEASE INVISTIGATE THIS!!!

CAS is already in the import and export business of children for sale and to ensure there will be future supply of this industry they are now invading privacy and plan on screening all new parents and existing parents with young children. The only exceptions will be their own people.

HELP THESE PEOPLE PLEASE!!!!

We have people who will crack this wide open if only you take this investigation on. There are many of us who work for CAS and go home in tears and in fear but feel helpless because of the power this agency has.

One of our own people was threatened that if she did not produce a false report on an innocent mother she would lose her own children.

Another has been told to "Doctor the numbers" so their agency gets greater funding every year. She fears if she does not comply she will lose her own children.

STOP IGNORING THESE CRIES. IF YOU WANT HARD EVIDANCE YOU WILL BE GIVEN ALL YOU DESIRE IF ONLY YOU PLEASE INVESTIGATE THIS ATROCITY TO CANADIAN FAMILIES!!!

THIS IS IS THE GREATEST CORRUPTION SCAM IN CANADIAN HISTORY IF IT IS BROKEN OPEN. IT IS A DROP IN THE BUCKET COMPARED TO THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL INVOLVING NATIVE INDIANS BECAUSE IT HAS BECOME INTERNATIONAL NOW!!!

The following article from today's Windsor Star contains some interesting comments by Sandra Pupatello. Some additional material following the article helps to interpret her words.

CAS intake numbers dropping significantly

Fewer kids coming into care: Director

By Craig Pearson
Star Staff Reporter

The rate of apprehensions at the Windsor-Essex Children's Aid Society -- which had taken children into care at more than double the provincial average, according to a provincial review released in July -- has plunged 25 per cent in the last five months, says the agency's director.

"At this point we're slowing down in the number of kids coming into care." said local CAS executive director Bill Bevan.

"We don't know if it's a trend yet but kids are coming into care at a slower rate than in any of the last few years. In the last five months, we have had a 25 per cent drop ... so it is significant.

The Windsor CAS nevertheless has a record 820 children in care, though Bevan is encouraged about the apprehension slowdown, even if he can't pinpoint the cause.

"It's too early to tell why it's dropping," Bevan said. "We have less business coming through the front door".

Bevan also noted that the CAS recently restructured allowing workers a bit more time with individual cases, possibly giving them more opportunity to keep families together.

It's also possible that the local CAS is finally gaining ground on child abuse.

"We have been so involved with so many families over the last few years, you've got to think at some point we're going to have a slow down," Bevan said. "So at this point, we're statistically down".

Windsor MPP and Minister of Community and Social Services Sandra Pupatello, who has publicly questioned the high local rates of apprehension, cheered the 25 per cent reduction.

"It's very good news," said Pupatello, who feels complaints to her office have also diminished. "I'm just really pleased to hear the statistics are dropping".

Different theory

Pupatello, however, has a different theory on the decrease. She believes the child-welfare agency is reacting to public pressure, in particular from politicians and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services which conducted a review of the Windsor CAS, based on a number of complaints.

"I'm certain of it," Pupatello said. "Any time there is scrutiny -- and there's no question our local CAS has been under intense scrutiny -- things change. The provincial review turned out to be a very valid and useful exercise because it makes everyone certain when it's something this serious".

The ministry review found 80 per cent of referrals to the Windsor CAS resulted in an investigation, more than 1.5 times higher than the provincial average of 53 per cent, and more than 24 per cent of referrals resulted in a transfer to ongoing services, 2.2 times higher than the provincial average of 11 per cent.

Pupatello also thinks more provincial funding for children's mental health services in Windsor, the first increase in 12 years, has eased family strain.

Dr. Dolores Sicheri, a Windsor oncologist and co-founder of Citizens for Social Morality, a protest group formed this year to call for decreased power at children's aid societies, is cautiously optimistic.

"It's a step in the right direction," said Sicheri, who vowed to continue lobbying for changes to the law since she believes some children are apprehended needlessly. "But I would still have to see if the apprehensions are justified. I still want to know that there's integrity restored to this organization".

Sidebar

Group protests for judicial review of CAS

About a dozen people picketed outside Windsor MPP Sandra Pupatello's office Wednesday calling for changes to the Children's Aid legislation.

Organizers of the group Citizens for Social Morality, which has organized a series of protests outside Pupatello's office this year, have recently increased their lobbying efforts to have the power of Children's Aid Societies curtailed.

Instead of just asking for a Ministry of Children and Youth Services review of the five-year-old legislation, which is underway, protesters want the Attorney General of Ontario to conduct a judicial review.

"What's happening to families in this province is criminal," said Dr Dolores Sicheri, a Windsor oncologist, who believes Children's Aid Societies across Ontario now have far too much power to apprehend children. "These families are being worked over. For CAS, it's all about getting more children into care so you can get more money and have bigger buildings and bigger salaries. CAS can do whatever they want with your children if they don't like you".

Local CAS executive director Bill Bevan, who said only children in need are taken into care, welcomes a review and said the attorney general will be involved to a certain degree anyway if legislation is changed.

The scrutiny that Sandra Pupatello referred to in the article is a reference to an examination by Minister of Children and Youth Services Marie Bountrogianni. Refer to the July 3 article in the Windsor Star inserted chronologically in this news, where we link as well to copies of the internal audits of Windsor-Essex CAS. Windsor-Essex is the specific children's aid society discussed in the provincial parliament in this extract from the Hansard of October 27 2004. Mrs Bountrogianni also concedes that funding formulas cause children to be taken away.

Mr Parsons: First of all, I want to commend the children's aid societies for their work. In 18 years of fostering, our family has never fostered a child who didn't belong in care. I think their standards are excellent. But I watch with concern the media reports of ever-increasing deficits across the province and I wonder what your plans are to deal with CAS deficits.

Hon Mrs Bountrogianni: As I've said publicly, this is a growing budget without the outcomes to show us and to show the taxpayer that indeed this huge increase in costs is actually resulting in better outcomes for children. We have a few hints at perhaps better outcomes for children in that the majority of cases do not lead to taking the child away. They actually lead to mediation and counselling with families so that the child is not taken away.

Again, this is on the public record. We have reviewed a specific children's aid society -- I don't think it's important which one it is -- and we did have some concerns with that particular children's aid society. We made recommendations to streamline the efforts of that particular society, and they're acting on those recommendations. We keep monitoring that.

If that society is representative of all of the societies, or of most of the societies, then we do have a problem in how we are running our children's aid societies. This is not a secret; the children's aid societies themselves have talked to me about this and have said that the funding formula is conducive to increased deficits because it's funded on the number of children you take away. Therefore, you know that if you want to hire more staff or do different things, you've got to take away more kids. It's not as blatant as that; no one has actually admitted or said, "We're taking kids away to increase our budgets," but they have said that the funding formula is not conducive to other results. We are definitely looking at that. That's why we have a child welfare secretariat. Again, Bruce from the Children's Aid Society of Toronto is seconded to give me recommendations. My understanding is that I will receive his report at the end of December, and the intent is to present the report in the new year to the people of Ontario and to act on it immediately.

Mr Parsons: I think you said, but just to confirm, that you're in fact, then, looking at a different funding formula?

Hon Mrs Bountrogianni: Absolutely.

The Vice-Chair: There's still about six minutes.

Hon Mrs Bountrogianni: Could I just add something to that, then, if there is time?

The Vice-Chair: Certainly. You have six minutes.

Hon Mrs Bountrogianni: Again, this isn't a black-and-white one, where you can just say we're going to cap everything and we're going to -- it's about the lives of children and protection of children. So again, we don't want to do anything impulsive that may lead to tragedy. I think it's worth the time we're taking to review this and to do it properly. Yes, the taxpayers have rights, but we don't want to do anything to increase child protection disasters.

John Dunn
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.com
Check out our Christmas Newsletter
pdf link

Note by Dufferin VOCA: The website at http://www.systemvsbizzi.com works only in Internet Explorer.

Addendum:
OTTAWA - Former Foster Child Released on Bail
Monday Dec. 20th, 2004
J.M. was released after spending one week in prison after the Children's Aid Society sent police after him for writing "suicidal" letters to them after they apprehended his child and sent him/her to Vancouver with no access.

Drugging kids to turn them into compliant zombies in the classroom has been widespread in both the United States and Canada. New legislation in the USA has just given families some protection against compulsion to use psychotropic medications. So far, there is no such legislation in Canada, and none is under consideration. The following press release gives details.

PRESS RELEASE:

December 3, 2004
Contact: Marla Filidei
humanrights@cchr.org
1-800-869-2247

President Bush Signs Landmark Legislation Prohibiting Forced Psychiatric Drugging of Schoolchildren

Celebrities, Parents, Legislators and Civil Rights Groups Win Victory for Children's Rights with Passage of the "Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment"

December 3rd, 2004 - Los Angeles--Celebrities Lisa Marie Presley, Kelly Preston, Kirstie Alley, Jenna Elfman and Juliette Lewis joined the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog established by the Church of Scientology, in applauding Congress for passing precedent-setting legislation that bans school personnel forcing parents to drug their children for classroom or behavioral problems. In order to receive federal funds under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), the "Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment," was signed into law by President Bush today and requires schools to implement policies that prohibit schoolchildren being forced onto psychiatric drugs as a requisite for their education.

Hundreds of parents across America have been pressured to put their school-aged children onto cocaine-like stimulants or antidepressants for which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just ordered a "black box label" warning of the drugs' high risk of causing suicide among children and adolescents. Ms. Kelly Preston, who met with members of Congress in June last year to enlist support of the amendment, said, "Every mother has an inherent right to protect her child from harm. However, many mothers have been denied that right because psychiatrists have inundated unwitting teachers with the false opinion that educational and behavioral problems are symptoms of 'mental disorders' that require mind-altering drugs. This law gives hope for a new era in education, one where teachers are free to work with parents to find academic solutions instead of unworkable and harmful psychiatric treatments that benefit no one but the psychiatric industry."

Many groups supported the amendment, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Foundation of Women Legislators (NFWL), Parents for a Label and Drug Free Education, as well as numerous state and federal legislators.

Bruce Wiseman, the U.S. President of CCHR says, "Psychiatrists did not want to let go of their stronghold of American schools and launched massive counter efforts to kill this legislation. However, people are waking up to the fact that psychiatric 'mental disorders' have absolutely no scientific/medical validity and that psychiatrists falsely portray them as a disease or physical condition to convince teachers and parents that these are medical issues, which is a complete fraud. Psychiatric 'disorders' are simply checklists of behaviors--symptoms presumed to be related--and voted by members of the American Psychiatric Association to be included in their insurance billing bible, the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This has been used to justify the administration of dangerous drugs to more than 8 million children. Parents and teachers were never informed about documented side effects of many of these drugs, including suicide, violence, mania and psychosis."

CCHR says the next step in educational reform is to remove psychiatric and psychological testing and screening from schools which are the feeder lines to psychiatrists who have made turning schools into mental health clinics a business. Millions of students are now dependent upon psychiatric drugs or are taking them illegally. CCHR, joined by scores of parents and civil rights groups, say the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health's recommendations for mandatory mental health screening in school is a frightening representation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, in which Huxley describes a controlled "utopian" civilization achieved with the "technique of suggestion--through infant conditioning and, later, with the aid of drugs." While the "Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment" will help prevent some of psychiatry's propensity to drug all normal childhood behavior, many charge that the spurious sounding "Freedom Commission on Mental Health" and its recommendations will open another door to dangerous conditioning leading to massive increases in psychotropic drugging of a new generation.

Dr. Julian Whitaker, director of California's Whitaker Wellness Center warns that the motive behind mandatory mental health screening of children is obvious: "That means drugging them!" For psychiatry, this means, "52 million potential customers." He offers this advice to parents: "First of all, refuse to sign those consent forms when they come home from your child's school--if they can't test them, they can't drug them."

CCHR will monitor the implementation of this law so that any parent who may still experience coercion to drug their child can contact CCHR to report this and for assistance.

For more information on psychiatric screening of schoolchildren, read CCHR's new publication "Harming Youth: Psychiatry Destroys Young Minds,".

A number of requests have recently been sent to the government of Ontario requesting a review of the Child and Family Services Act. The Act provides for two different kinds of review in articles 67 and 224. Each of the following three letters were sent to both Marie Bountrogianni, Minister of Children and Youth Services, and Michael J Bryant, Attorney General.

Nov 13, 2004

Hon. Marie Bountrogianni
Minister of Children and Youth Services
14th Floor, 56 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S3

Dear Madame:

Thank you for your response to my request for the funding formula for children with special needs.

I am trying to understand the process wherein "children in care" are identified as in need of protection. I need a copy of your risk assessment tool.

I would like to know who is responsible for the case identification and coding?

Please forward me a photocopy of the Ministry regulations regarding Risk Assessment Tool and identification process. I want to understand the workings of your Ministry.

I have read what you have had to say before the estimates committee. I have read all the hansards. I would encourage you to do as you say, reform the whole process. The community and taxpayers demand it, but I see that you will be impeded by the "industry".

Through out the estimates committee meetings, repeatedly you ask Bruce to come up and elaborate on what you have to say. He never does. He leaves you on the hook.

Is this only one "renegade" CAS or does it mirror the rest of the province? I think that you already knew the answer to this question but you were afraid to admit it publicly.

In Windsor, piles of children are still being taken. They are using 22-year-old girls just out of school to go into hospitals to take these children. These young girls are paying the price of their conscience.

They will be forever scarred by what they have done. I know one such girl.

She herself is still a child. She is being asked to do something criminal that will change her the rest of her life. Whose duty is it to protect her? Your Ministry oversees her position. Is it your responsibility? I see that CAS as continuing to play dirty legal tricks on these families. I do not see it letting up in this community. The philosophy of Mr. Bevan continues to drive the dissent both within the organization and in this community. Need I remind you that these families and employees are also your constituents?

I can only express my disappointment that your auditors still do not have a grip on the problems here.

I view this process of child abduction as a criminal conspiracy. I have concluded that conspiracy goes to the highest level of government. The people I represent are seeking a criminal investigation. These crimes are not justified in the name of government or child welfare. They will not go unpunished.

The following is a parent whose children were apprehended from her ex-husband. She was not involved in the original incident. Following her divorce, she had remarried and has established a new life. She has applied for custody. The CAS wants to keep the children in foster homes. Because of age, they are not adoptable. She sent me this recent email. She has the 3 children on the weekend. As part of the dirty tricks she talks about, they have tried to decrease her weekends to every other weekend, i.e. to disconnect her children from her.

"I figured it was time for them to start their dirty play and go as low as they possibly could. After listening to my kids for 8 months and seeing what they have been going through, it has only worsened and become more severe...any efforts in the past to bring this to the attention of the CAS has ended in the foster parents being perfect and I being nothing more than a trouble maker as they noted.... the CAS has done nothing to ensure the placement homes are safe and my children are indeed being harmed physically and emotionally and I have no choice but to do what I must to make everyone involved held accountable for the damage that has already been done to my children. I have no intentions of giving up and will see this through to the end and those responsible punished accordingly."

There needs to be a public inquiry into the circumstances of Mr. Malone's actions. Mr. Bevan is telling his employees "to say only nice things about Mr. Malone". Mr. Malone's action sent a powerful statement about the unrest both within and without of the organization. The organization will crumble from within, not just from without. Mr. Bevan and the organization are ruined in this community. The large charitable donations will no longer flow.

The following statement was sent to the paper by a lawyer relative of a 20-year veteran worker, who was fired because she refused to identify a case, which she knew was "not high risk" as "high risk." On the instructions of her supervisor, she had set up the original situation. She was then told by the supervisor to rate the file "high risk." When she balked on the follow through, she was fired. Is this what happens to employees who try to honorably do their jobs?

"One question needs to be asked. What could the management of the Windsor Essex County CAS have done to Jim Malone that may have caused him to feel so hopeless, so devastated and so angry? The tragedy that occurred at the CAS on Tuesday October 26, 2004 begs for a full-scale government inquiry. It appears that funding and unreasonable management has reared its ugly head again, and Mr. Bevan has become skilled at the art of "spin". The wooden boards from the crash have tarnished not only the "façade" of Mr. Bevan shiny new riverfront building, but also the façade of his management style. The truth is 'heads equal dollars' to Mr. Bevan. Which may be why Windsor has the highest rate of apprehension in the Province? The more families scored as "families in need of care" the more money CAS gets. The paradox is unimaginable. In order to really help some who are truly in need, they abuse many others, by unnecessary intervention. Instead of cutting funds to the group home, why didn't Mr. Bevan just drag in a few more unwilling teens to boost the funding to the group home? Nobody would dispute the need for CAS to protect the interests of our most vulnerable in society, but that power must always be reasonable with appropriate checks and balances. It can never be misused. I dare Sandra Pupatello to walk in the shoes of one social worker at the CAS for two weeks Then, interview all 3,000 parents who have signed the petition circulated by "Citizens for Social Morality" and finally, speak to as many former workers of the CAS as you can (excluding of course, those who have been charged criminally). Sadly, both literally and figuratively, the writing really IS on the wall".

I would appreciate your prompt and helpful assistance in this matter. The people I represent will no longer remain silent. These issues will not go away. They have to be dealt with. You must rescue not only the families embroiled but also the employees who are made complicit to this abuse of the legal process.

This will not reflect well on Ontario or Canada as a whole. Along with the residential schools, it will be long remembered as a most shameful part of our history.

Sincerely,

Dolores A. Sicheri, MD FRCPC

Personal Attention MPP Parsons and all members of the Standing Committee on Estimates c/o MPP Cam Jackson who will receive a copy of this e-mail by fax today, November 24, 2004.

You are fortunate indeed to have been able to access all the facts where you can categorically state at the November 16th Standing Committee on Estimates:

"I would add to that, we never had a child in care who didn't belong in care. What happened to them was truly in their best interests. I'm not criticizing the fact that they went to school and never returned home. In every case, that was in their best interests."

Most foster parents only receive information through the CAS and there is no doubt that is a biased perspective. Ask Mr. Jackson and Paul Legall of the Hamilton Spectator about the Halton CAS case where the foster parents thought it was in the best interests of a Halton child to be in care and the police believed it was in their best interests to have a swat team in family court in Burlington and Milton on three occasions. Once we became involved and obtained the CAS files, the SWAT team disappeared and the child was returned home but not before she told the court about a sexual assault involving the CAS worker which to date as I understood it from the child and her parents was never addressed.

Our files contain the facts surrounding many interventions that were not only unnecessary and contrary to the CFSA but also victimized the children. The one above from Halton that made the National Section of the Globe and Mail for example. Minister Bountrogianni is aware of these files and our desire to share them with her but to date has not set a date for such a review. If you read "Speaking Out" the report put out by the Child and Family Advocacy Office you will have some limited understanding of what I am talking about.

"But they then enter a world where, essentially, there are two options available for them: They may return home or they become a crown ward. They become a crown ward with access or without access. If it's without access, they then become available for adoption.......

Some areas encourage kinship, and I know societies do, but sometimes with the kinship there aren't the financial resources there. For a family taking on three or four other children, it's a major financial challenge; they may not be able to. For the family that's prepared to do it, they're looking for financial assistance and they're looking for a long-term commitment of financial assistance, not a year-by-year commitment but some sense that this is going to be available till the children turn 16 or 18. I think it's an option that saves the government money, but even more importantly, it provides stability in those children's lives."

We have had calls from many, many grandparents from all over Ontario who are refused access to their grandchildren right from the beginning. One set of Halton grandparents were very wealthy respected community business people. The only access they could get to their grandchildren who had been apprehended from the mother's care without the knowledge of the father who was the son of the wealthy respected community business people, were supervised visits at the local CAS! Lack of kinship placements in our experience has nothing to do with funding and more to do with the CAS breaking the family bonds as quickly and firmly as they can. In our experience over the last decade of auditing numerous apprehensions by numerous societies the plan which is immediately implemented is to remove the child from their community, their school, their friends and their family. Several of the children interviewed thought they had been placed in care by their parents when nothing was further from the truth. They had no idea their parents were fighting tooth and nail to get them back and many wanted them placed with family or reputable community members until the issues could be addressed.

Two of the cases we reviewed were children apprehended from families covered by the Toronto CAS when Bruce Rivers was the CEO, he will remember me well. One was a Muslim family the other a Christian family. In both cases I was called in to assist the families, and particularly the children, by respected members of the community who had heard of the work we do advocating for the best interests of children. Mr. Rivers was fully updated on the atrocities these children suffered. Both sets of children were returned when they got a fair hearing in the courts but not without a great deal of damage.

At the invitation of a judge we joined the supervised visitation that took place with one family at the Toronto CAS and were horrified at what we saw happening. One of the children was screaming at us when he had to leave his parents, "call the police I have been kidnapped." He complained about sexual assault by one of the workers, which I understand to date has never been resolved. Shortly afterwards he was accused of sexually molesting his little brother and moved to a group home separating him out even more from his family. Being under 12 he did not become one of the many crossover kids you talked about at a previous standing committee. One of my associates was physically assaulted by a worker when the worker tried to grab her purse believing she had a tape recorder in there. A report to the police resulted in absolutely no accountability. If advocates get assaulted during supervised visits what happens to the children when no-one is around.

After we became involved two very respected lawyers represented the families in these two cases and can confirm the accuracy of the above as it pertains to the children. In the case of the Muslim family who were new immigrants to Canada and spoke very little English the first lawyer to represent them after being paid $600 cash advised the court that the parents were voluntarily placing their children in the care of the CAS which was an outright lie. This only came to light after I was able to show the parents how they could access the court documents. The Muslim children never got an opportunity to tell the court what they were experiencing in a foster home where they were exposed to all kinds of no-nos for Muslim children including the foster parent's boyfriend running around in his underwear (this came directly from the oldest daughter who visited our home to personally thank us for our involvement in their release back to their family). When I asked about the information that was put on the record by the four children's lawyers representing her and her siblings she categorically denied any of it was true.

MPP Cam Jackson is my MPP and is well aware of our child advocacy. I should say that any of the organizations associated with our advocacy do not accept donations and do not charge for any of the services we provide, not even expenses. We do what we do out of a belief that we are expected to use any gifts we have been given to serve the needs of others. That to us is "loving your neighbour as yourself."

I would be very pleased to submit a report to the Standing Committee of Estimates to document why we, and many, many others in the Ontario community believe it is necessary for a Section 67 (1) Review under the Child and Family Services Act take place. Minister Bountrogianni can confirm she received a letter dated November 13, 2004 from another respected member of the Ontario community which stated among other things: "The people I represent are seeking a criminal investigation. These crimes are not justified in the name of government or child welfare." The Minister with the support of the Attorney General has the opportunity to broaden the scope of the Section 67 (1) review to identify any criminal contraventions of the CFSA and to ensure accountability. The process does not need to be onerous, simply a judge reviewing submissions from those concerned about the best interests of children as it relates to the administration of our child welfare and youth justice legislation and policies.

We have fruitlessly lobbied every Minister of Community and Social Services since Tsbouchi's days to have such a review and so we continue to get phone calls that break our hearts because we know we are not superhumans and cannot give of our energy to every individual case regardless of how heartbreaking the story is.

The Brantford Expositor recently reported on a presentation I made to the United Family Front organization at the invitation of the organization who are presently dealing with some very sad cases indeed.

Please don't brush aside what I am saying, as a foster parent of such long standing you obviously care about the best interests of children. It can surely only be beneficial to the work you do in this area to hear all sides of the issues, and have a judge review the issues, especially when the children themselves are speaking out and contacting us for help.

Sincerely,

Anne Marsden

Co-founder Advocacy for Kids in Care

Audit Manager

The Auditors

The Canadian Family Watchdog

Tel. 905-639-5684

E-mail: watching@cogeco.ca

December 6, 2004

Marie Bountrogianni
Minister of Children and Youth Services
56 Wellesley Street West, 14th Floor
Toronto Ontario M5S 2S3

Honorable Minister:

The Child and Family Services Act (section 224) provides for a periodic review of its operation. It is soon due for such a review.

The Province of Ontario generously supports children in foster care. Figures published by the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies report the amount of money paid in a year for foster care throughout Ontario, and the number of child-days of foster care provided, revealing that the province pays $71 per child day. In interviews with foster parents, they report receiving $27 per day. The difference of $44 per day is the funding that supports the agency. For a baby or toddler in foster care to age of majority, this adds up to over a quarter million dollars.

Ontario has 52 Children's Aid Societies, with the mission under the Child and Family Services Act to protect the children of Ontario. Some of them use their powers genuinely for the protection of children in their areas, some do not; instead they succumb to the temptation to take children for maximum funding. Analysis of complaints suggests that the worst agencies (alphabetically) are Brantford, Dufferin, Durham, Halton, Hamilton, Owen Sound-Grey, St Thomas-Elgin, and Windsor-Essex.

The Child and Family Services Act grants Children's Aid Societies great powers to intervene in the lives of families for the protection of children. When a society decides to abuse its powers, the consequences are devastating for affected families. Children's Aid Societies selectively target families, not for their abusive conduct, but for weakness. Single mothers are the weakest families, and the easiest source of children to fill the numbers of foster children. When they intervene in an intact family, they quickly seek a pretext to get the parents separated or divorced, easing the problem of wresting the children from parental control.

Once a family is targeted, CAS actions defy any rational purpose, aside from the pursuit of appropriated funds. Social workers enter homes under the pretense of assistance and dupe naive families into signing documents while misrepresenting their seriousness. Once a family can be induced to sign a Voluntary Service Agreement, the process of family destruction is under way. They make claims in court that are a mixture of truth, distortions and outright lies. They place such onerous burdens on families as to create a dilemma of losing their employment by compliance, or losing their children for non-compliance. Parents are humiliated by seeing their children only under surveillance by social workers, then when they do visit, the notes made by those same social workers become evidence against them. Examinations of a home are not to determine whether there is abuse, only to find circumstances that can be construed, or misconstrued, against the family. Workers search the catbox so they can report feces in the home. They report home renovations as safety hazards. They make up things never even observed; one family knew they were falsely accused when they were reported as having a toilet so dirty the worker found in hard to tell it was white -- their toilet was green. Locks and barriers in the home installed to protect toddlers from danger are reported as abusive, while other homes are cited for absence of the same barriers. Even positive proof of innocence is irrelevant -- CAS intervened in a family because a medical X-ray disclosed a broken bone, but when later medical evidence showed the bone to be unharmed, the intervention continued. CAS took a baby from a single teenaged mother and placed it with the teenager's mother. Grandmothers have helped their daughters in this way for a long time. But then CAS issued an order preventing the teenager from seeing her mother, and child, instead restricting her to a short supervised visit once a week. This action is senseless as a form of child protection, but purposeful in breaking family bonds in pursuit of provincial funds.

The social services system acts to separate parents against the will of both partners. The separation may start with a domestic disturbance call, with the father subject to bail conditions keeping him from his family. In other cases, women's shelter workers have cajoled a mother into filing criminal charges against her husband. Or CAS workers may take the children, then suggest to one parent that separation or divorce could improve their chances of getting the children back. Once any kind of separation document is in place, CAS is relentless. When parents meet, CAS will find out from the children and hold it against their parents. One father reported that an observer parked his car outside his home for several hours a night hoping to find him meeting his wife. There was even a fantastic claim in justification of child removal -- the social worker found that the parents had engaged in sexual relations.

CAS also intervenes in the lives of children of parents already divorced. They capriciously override custody arrangements ordered by a judge in divorce. When a social worker tells a parent to keep a child in contravention of a judge's order, the police respect the word of the social worker in preference to the order of the judge.

Not all CAS workers aim to destroy families, and there are plenty of decent workers in child protection. They are just not the ones doing the front-line work in the rogue CAS's. They are in peripheral areas, where they have no responsibility for seizing children, only caring for those already taken from their parents. In taking complaints from hundreds of families in Dufferin, not one has complained that their pre-teen child was harmed while in CAS care (though teenagers are another matter). So in at least some areas, they do conscientious work. For the job of removing children from good parents, CAS has no option but to hire staff lacking the empathy characteristic of the helping professions. The turnover in this job is enormous. Workers are quickly disillusioned, and quit after finding out their true mission. One CAS insider reported resignations at a rate that required replacing the entire staff every 18 months.

CAS uses its powers also to suppress dissent. They routinely claim confidentiality, even in cases where the family itself wants public disclosure, preventing families from publishing the circumstances of their own case. They threaten families with jail for mentioning their case in public. When a Dufferin family appeared at the courthouse with a CAS opponent, CAS changed their legal plea within a day to ask for the family death-penalty, crown-wardship. The habits of CAS in retaliating against families require in a letter such as this the omission of facts that would identify specific families, such as names, dates and places.

And what can families affected by CAS do to defend themselves? Resort to the law is ineffective for single mothers, since they lack the resources to hire the legal, therapeutic and investigative professionals required to mount an effective defense, and legal aid is ordinarily useless. Parents with means are faced with a legal system that is more interested in raising money than mounting a vigorous defense. The hearings occur in private, usually without any record made of the proceedings. Only those parents willing to pay over fifty thousand dollars have any chance of getting to a trial where witnesses can be cross-examined. In instances in which families have mortgaged their homes and retirement to fight a legal battle, CAS simply litigates until the family funds are exhausted, leaving them defenseless. Many families have counter-sued CAS for various kinds of wrongful actions. In all such suits, CAS moves immediately for a protective order keeping the proceedings secret. This ends any possibility that the suit could correct CAS policy -- from that point, the only issue is whether the parents will get some of the taxpayers' money. The CAS wrongdoing leading to the suit will remain confidential. Some community opponents have attempted to reform their local CAS by signing up members. When faced with this kind of opposition, CAS has not permitted free elections for their boards, nor have they changed policies in response to opposition. Instead, they have altered their bylaws to make opposition impossible.

What happens to children seized by Children's Aid? The preferred result is long term foster care, or a long-term arrangement in which the family is under continued control of the caseworkers. In the smaller number of cases that end in adoption, there are a remarkable number in which the adoptive parents are functionaries of the child-protection system itself -- former social workers, policemen, lawyers representing Children's Aid.

Children's Aid desperately needs the review provided in the act. For the review to be effective, it must go beyond merely interviewing executive directors and social workers. The person conducting the review needs to be empowered to examine the records of individual cases, and compare the statements in the record with the actual facts of the case. Another productive avenue is discussion with opponents who have already tried to reform Children's Aid or protect families from destruction.

Should you decide on genuine reform, here are some suggestions, with the most important first.

• Open the process.

  The process should be open to public scrutiny at all stages. An open-records rule for Children's Aid Societies might become ineffective through foot-dragging, but applied to the courts it could work.

  Most courts dealing with criminal and civil matters are now open to public scrutiny, and family courts should be as well. Then anyone could walk in off the street and sit in the courtroom while a family court matter was heard, and even more importantly, he could examine the document file where most of the legal action takes place, thus viewing the same record presented to the judge. For children as well as adults, public trial is an ordeal, but secret trial is worse.

  Such a reform could provide a remedy for families falsely accused, through reference to the court record exonerating them. Rogue Children's Aid Societies would come to public attention quickly, and scholars could sample the files to measure the level of effectiveness of child protection.

• Limitation or elimination of immunity for caseworkers

  Currently, child-protection workers are immune from all legal actions, placing them beyond the reach of the law even for blatant wrongdoing. In private meetings between caseworkers and parents, they regularly bully parents with their power. One caseworker told a father: "Fathers have no rights"; another was only slightly exaggerating when she boasted: "We have as much power as God".

• Never suggest divorce

  One activity that needs to be stopped is forcing a divorce on a couple against the will of both, a shotgun divorce. In tiny Dufferin county, a dozen instances have been reported, a rate that if true for the province, suggests thousands of such cases.

• Do not seize children until after hearing both sides

  The law now in most places requires judicial authorization before child removal, but excepts children in immediate danger. In practice, children are always picked up first on pretense of emergency, and court hearings are after-the-fact. Owing to caseworker immunity, they cannot suffer from any misrepresention.

  The law could be changed to eliminate the exception, delaying child abduction until a judge has signed a warrant on probable cause. This may have limited effectiveness, since Societies with millions of dollars in revenue may get friendly judges to rubber-stamp their requests. A more meaningful reform is to require an adverse hearing in which the parents can present evidence in opposition before the issuance of an apprehension order. This would at least protect innocent families with means to hire competent counsel.

• Trial by jury before crown-wardship

  Juries, not judges, should have the final word on removing parents from a child's life and turning them into crown wards. This protection exists now for liberty and money, things normal parents value less than their children.

• All persons exercising police power should be in uniform

  The law grants child protectors (and animal protectors) the powers of police, and immunities even superior to the police. Yet they appear in civilian clothes, misleading clients. The law could suspend the powers and immunities of child protectors when not in uniform. This would at least warn parents of the seriousness of contact with Children's Aid.

• Require that the child be in the courtroom during proceedings about him.

  This procedure is followed now in criminal matters, though not in the more consequential custody cases. It would prevent consideration of the case of any child currently out of the jurisdiction of the court, even when the court had jurisdiction in the past. And as long as the child is old enough to understand, he could witness the proceedings in his own case.

• Fully investigate all child deaths, including those in care

  Deaths sometimes occur of children under the protection of Children's Aid Societies, but their names, and even numbers, are usually concealed from the public. The publicity that is now claimed to hurt the emotional development of the child cannot harm him after death, and these cases should be fully opened to public scrutiny. The public has a strong interest in preventing child deaths, superior to any privacy concerns.

• Refusing psychotropics is not neglect

  Failure to follow a doctor's orders is now treated as neglect, so when a medical professional prescribes psychotropic drugs for a child, parents cannot refuse to administer them. In a few American states, parents now are granted authority to refuse such drugs, without that being treated as a reason for child protection intervention. Ontario should give parents the same authority.

• Open adoption

  Persons who are adopted should by right be able to see the record in their own case. What purpose is served by preventing an adult from finding the names of his birth parents?

• People should be able to see their own records at all levels

  The records open to an adult should also include the records made of his life while in foster care. Now the disclosure of records is discretionary with CAS, allowing them to conceal wrongdoing by social workers and foster parents.

• Outlaw anonymous reports, and fully disclose reports to family

  Anonymous reports of child abuse should be disregarded. Right now, an anonymous report is an easy way to sic CAS on a personal enemy. And parents kept in the dark may suspect the wrong accuser. In June 2003 the press reported an unnamed mother lost her children to Toronto Children's Aid. She (falsely) suspected a neighbor, Madeline Monast, attacking her with a machete and cutting off both hands. Had the identity of the accuser been disclosed to the mother, the neighbor might have kept her hands.

• Eliminate mandated reporting

  Because of mandated reports by child care professionals (doctors, teachers, day-care operators), parents are fearful of taking an injured child to a professional. Every child care professional knows of cases in which persons have been prosecuted for non-reporting, inducing them to over-report, causing extra work for CAS, and more fears for parents. Without prosecution of non-reporting, doctors could still report abuse, but the elimination of frivolous reports would allow parents to make use of a doctor's services without fear.

• Eliminate vagueness in definition of child abuse and neglect

  Both child abuse and neglect are vaguely defined in the law. In other areas where there is vagueness in a statute, examination of past decisions eventually builds up a body of common law as clarification. But where the courts operate in secret, no parent can know, until it is too late, what actions would avoid a charge of child abuse or neglect. The law should define child abuse and neglect with sufficient precision that parents can know their responsibilities.

• Notify parents when children are removed

  Several parents have reported not learning of an apprehension until their children failed to return from school, when they began frantic inquiries. Parents deserve to be notified immediately when their children are taken into custody.

• Require child protectors to tell parents their rights at start of case

  The United States Congress enacted a provision requiring social workers to notify a parent of certain rights at the onset of a case. That might be a good idea in Ontario as well, though no parental rights are now enumerated in the Child and Family Services Act.

• Video tape all contact between families and CPS

  This would eliminate much of the private bullying by CAS workers. It would also eliminate another abuse, coaching children. In Orangeville, a three-year-old girl was coached, off camera, then induced to say on camera that her mother hit her with a frying pan. The mother later found that the girl did not know what a frying pan was.

• Require child's guardian or lawyer to actually meet the child

  Children are now appointed lawyers through the Office of the Children's Lawyer. The most common complaint about these lawyers is failure to interview their own clients. Parents recognize this when the lawyer makes arguments at variance with the child's true condition. An actual meeting with the client should be a requirement for representation of a child.

• Provide meaningful accounting of the distribution of public funds

  Currently, the published accounts do not answer the most basic questions about CAS operation: How much is spent on foster care? How much on group homes? How many child-days of care are provided? How many child-protection cases were opened? There are lots of numbers printed in the financial statements, but they do not answer the real questions.

• Allow other family (grandparents) to get kids when parents are unfit

  The law formally favors this now, but it is rarely done.

• Do not separate parents from children when placing with family members

  When the child of a teenaged single mother gets placed with his grandmother, the mother should continue to see the baby.

I hope this letter is of some assistance to you in reviewing the workings of the Child and Family Services Act. Should you wish anything further from me, you are welcome to call or write.

Yours truly,

Robert T McQuaid
RR 5
Orangeville Ontario L9W 2Z2

phone: 519-942-0565
email: rtmq@stn.net

Addendum: The following is a community reaction to the letter writing campaign. Since most CAS opposition has to be discreet, identifying paragraphs have been omitted.

Writing to Marie Bountrogianni or other government ministers may not be very productive. Unless this issue comes to broad public attention and a significant number of residents become concerned, these individuals will do nothing.

As chief psychologist to the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board (one of the more dysfunctional school boards in Ontario), Marie Bountrogianni has a long CAS association. Until this year, the Hamilton school board employed sixteen social workers to interview students behind parents' backs and inform CAS of anything they considered suspicious. Marie Bountrogianni was a key part of that system. Today, she makes gushing speeches at conferences sponsored by the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies and similar "child welfare" organizations, while deferring information regarding CAS corruption to ministry officials - without reviewing it and without responding.

If the government wished to do anything about CAS corruption, they would have done so long ago. The system is entrenched because a long list of vested interests - people that are corrupt (and often psychotic) - profit from it. The only way to fight the system is to attack its jugular. I remember reading comments made by a spokesperson for one of the local groups, suggesting they were not "against" CAS but merely wanted to change some of the organization's practices. If anyone in your group feels that way, they do not comprehend how evil this organization is. The entire child welfare system is rotten and has to be scrapped.

The local school boards are in bed with CAS. Teachers are professionally obligated to report the merest suspicion of abuse to the agency, no matter how ill-founded. At the same time, parental abuse of children is nothing compared to physical, emotional and sexual abuse inflicted by teachers and ignored by CAS. Of course, both these entities are paid from the same provincial pot. You probably know that when the province's elementary school testing program was initiated, over seventy students were reported to CAS, solely on the basis a creative writing exercise on the test. A delegation of parents committed to educating school boards about the damage CAS agencies is inflicting on their students would be wonderful.

As for specific problems with CAS, here are a few things the agency can't deny. We have clear evidence CAS:

• Fabricated two malicious court actions and knowingly attempted to jail us for no reason
• Exposed two children to extreme risk while attempting to conceal their negligence
• Knowingly attempted to exert unwarranted control over our lives
• Fabricated material evidence to conceal CAS wrongdoing
• Lied repeatedly and enlisted a third party to lie in affidavits sworn before the court
• Removed or withheld key documents from the court's official record
• Knowingly engaged in dirty tricks intended to diminish our ability to defend ourselves
• Attempted to cover up serious professional misconduct of several employees
• Refused to discipline these employees, contrary to the agency's code of ethics

I could go on, but you get the point. Another thing you might wish to address is CAS' corrupt complaints procedure, which forces families to seek satisfaction from the individuals that are abusing them.

Another key point to pick up on is the financial waste of these agencies - a billion dollars in direct costs without factoring budgets for courts and police services or the financial toil on families.

Addendum: Marie Bountrogianni responded, after almost two months. Bruce Rivers is also the Executive Director of the Children's Aid Society of Toronto.

Ministry of Children and Youth Services Minister's Office 56 Wellesley Street West 14th Floor Toronto ON M5S 2S3 Tel: (416) 212-7432

Ministère des Services à l'enfance et à la jeunesse Bureau de la ministre 56, rue Wellesley Ouest 14e étage Toronto (Ontario) M5S 2S3 Tél 416-212-7432

Addendum: Sandra Pupatello further responded, after almost three and a half months.

Ministry of Community and Sicial Services Minister's Office Hepburn Block Queen's Park Toronto ON M7A 1E9 Tel.: (416) 325-5225

Ministère des Services sociaux et communautaires Bureau du ministre Édifice Hepburn Queen's Park Toronto (Ontario) M7A 1E9 Tél.: 416-325-5225

In Tuesday's American Elections, eleven states, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Mississippi, Ohio, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah, voted on referendums outlawing same-sex marriage, and all eleven measures were approved by large majorities. Voters in Louisiana and Missouri voted out same-sex marriage earlier this year, and a referendum in Massachusetts was scuttled by the state legislature two years ago, but will likely be on next year's ballot in some form. Same-sex marriage remains legal in Ontario, where there is no provision for a referendum.

Paula Werme, a New Hampshire lawyer who has made a career of opposing DCF, the local child protection agency, was defeated as a candidate for the state legislature. In a race in which top three vote-getters got elected, she finished fifth with 3775 votes, while the third-place finisher got 4103 votes.

In Charlotte North Carolina, Jack Stratton, a father of ten home-schooled children lost to child-protectors, ran for the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. In a race in which the top three were elected, he finished a distant seventh with, by nearly complete early returns, 13,321 votes. The third place finisher had 144,409 votes.

In Massachusetts, a referendum asked whether voters want their state representative "to vote for legislation to create a strong presumption in child custody cases in favor of joint physical and legal custody, so that the court will order that children have equal access to both parents as much as possible, except where there is clear and convincing evidence that one parent is unfit, or that joint custody is not possible due to the fault of one of the parents". Legal maneuvering before the election eliminated the phrase "shared parenting" from the ballot question. Still, the vote was 557,615 yes to 90,708 no.

Jim Malone, the driver of the truck in the suicide bombing of Windsor Children's Aid, died today in Toronto. Following are two community reactions.

JIM MALONE DIES: DEMAND PUBLIC INQUIRY
By: The Foster Care Council of Canada

Jim Malone, 49 year-old former employee of the Windsor Ontario Children's Aid Society has died from injuries sustained during a dramatic and fatal demonstration against the Children's Aid Society. On Tuesday October 26th 2004 at approximately 7:30am, Malone drove his truck into the front wall of the Children's Aid Society building in an attempt to seriously damage the building, and take his own life in the process.

Malone, reportedly a kind man was well liked by neighbours and youth he worked with, one of which was quoted in media reports as saying Malone was like a father-figure and a friend to him.

John Dunn, Executive Director of The Foster Care Council of Canada says "It is my belief that Jim was driven to perform this sensational act as a result of actions or inactions by members of the Windsor Children's Aid Society staff, Board of Directors, or by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services as a way for him to get a very important message to the public. A message which can only be fully discovered through an independant public inquiry into the death of Jim Malone and its cause."

Dunn has some questions that he would like answered in this case which are:

   a.. Were children being hurt by the C.A.S.' or the Ministry of Children & Youth Services' actions, inactions, or policies which made Jim feel he was powerless to effectively address these concerns in any other way?

   b.. Did the recent change to a "per-diem" or 'per-child' funding model from the C.A.S. to the group home Jim worked in have anything to do with this incident or with Jim's recent resignation?

   c.. How could this funding model be harmful to children in the group home? (Ex: Did it cause a shortfall in positive spending in the home which made the youth feel cared about and enjoy a better quality of life?)

We invite the family members and friends of Jim Malone who have some background on this story and want the truth to get out to please contact us when you are ready. We understand the suffering you must be going through at this time, and we are in solidarity with you.

Victims of Child Welfare Memorial Day

Jim Malone will be remembered, along with several other former youth in care and family members who have died as a result of being involved with child welfare next year in our third Annual Victims of Child Welfare Memorial Day on October 06th 2004.

John Dunn
Executive Director
613-786-1487
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.com

October 29, 2004

Marty Beneteau, Editor
The Windsor Star
167 Ferry Street
Windsor Ontario N9A 4M5

letters@thestar.canwest.com

Subject: Attack on Children's Aid

In reference to the article published October 27, 2004: CAS rocked by man on suicide mission, by Kelly Patrick and Craig Pearson.

For publication

Dear Editor:

You have reported on the attack on the Children's Aid Society by Jim Malone. This same Children's Aid Society has been in the news several times before this year, for the discovery of pornography inside the agency, and for street demonstrations against the policy of seizing children from their parents. Have you considered that there may be some serious faults with this agency?

Children's Aid (CAS) operates behind a wall of secrecy. Court records are sealed. A provision in the Child and Family Services Act bars publication of the name of any child involved in a child protection case, effectively banning families from telling their side in any CAS action. One of the few ways to penetrate secrecy is to speak to affected families. I have done so with over two hundred families, and have some insight into their actual operation. Their most common case is seizing the children of single mothers. Typically, the mother has no assets, she cannot get help from the baby's father, she cannot get financial assistance from her own family. While she has enough resources to house and feed herself and her baby, she is unable to hire the investigators and lawyers required to fight the Children's Aid juggernaut. Another common case is what I call the shotgun divorce. Starting either with a child abuse investigation or a domestic disturbance report, CAS, on threat of child removal, coerces one parent to initiate a divorce that neither wants. Once the divorce is a fait accompli, the remaining single parent is at the mercy of the social workers. Yet another kind of case is that where the parents are already divorced. Acting outside the existing custody agreement between the parents, CAS takes children without warning or explanation from one parent and gives them to the other.

The force behind all of this is the quest for money. Children taken from their parents go to foster homes, contractors who get paid to care for children. All of the foster parents I have spoken to report receiving $800 per month for their efforts. An examination of the figures published by the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies shows that the amount paid to Children's Aid Societies is $71 per child day, $44 per day more than they give to the foster parents. That markup comes to over a quarter million dollars for an infant or toddler kept in their care until age of majority.

Foster parents enter the system for the most noble motives, but soon find they are subject to abuse as bad as natural parents. I spoke to a foster parent whose name I will not mention, but can supply privately. For biological reasons, he and his wife could not have children of their own, so they became fosters. He had a girl in his care, and at age fourteen Children's Aid suggested that he adopt her. He agreed. The foster payments stopped as soon as he made application to adopt. Since the adoption never occurred, the result was four years of free foster care. I am not in a position to audit the finances of CAS, but it's a reasonable guess that they continued to collect their $71 a day from the Province of Ontario.

Little is yet known of what drove Jim Malone beyond the bounds of rationality. From what you have published, he appears to be a foster parent who was faced with the dilemma of a reduction in income or loss of children with whom he had fallen in love. What you have published about Mr Malone comes from the mouth of a person you describe as a "14-year-old male, who can't be named because he's a CAS ward". You say:

He [Bevan] also cautioned that the 14-year-old is a teen who "needs a lot of guidance and has had a lot of trouble in his lifetime."

You ought to do this boy the favor of publishing his name, otherwise under pretext of guidance, he could face a grim future in the worst care the foster system has to offer as repayment for his criticism of Children's Aid.

And have you considered how Children's Aid managers, such as Bill Bevan, get their jobs? They are responsible to a board of directors elected by the membership, and any adult in the community can become a member of his local CAS and participate in their election. A few years ago, several CAS opponents, including me, organized membership drives in an effort to elect directors with more family-friendly policies. In response, Children's Aid Societies across Ontario altered their bylaws. Now any member can vote for directors, but choice is limited to candidates nominated by the incumbents. These elections are as representative as those in the Soviet Union under Stalin.

Even to the most casual observer, the discovery of pornography in the organization shows that Children's Aid is not run by the likes of Mother Teresa. This agency deserves some genuine investigative reporting.

Robert T McQuaid
RR 5
Orangeville Ontario L9W 2Z2

phone: 519-942-0565
email: rtmq@stn.net
web: members.freespeech.org/herod

The following article from the Windsor Star gives more on the suicide attack on the Children's Aid Society building in Windsor.

CAS rocked by man on suicide mission
Group home operator angry about cuts: Teen.
$1.5 million in damage

Kelly Patrick and Craig Pearson
Windsor Star

October 27, 2004

A suicidal ex-Children's Aid Society worker who slammed his fiery pickup truck into the agency's headquarters Tuesday wanted to hurt the agency for "dicking around" with money and staff levels at the group residence he used to run, says a teen at the home.

"The story isn't what he did, it's what CAS does every day," said the 14-year-old male, who can't be named because he's a CAS ward. "They dick everyone, every way they can, to save money. Well, they wound up losing $1.5 million -- not to mention me almost losing a friend."

The teen and other sources said the truck's driver was 49-year-old Jim Malone, an ex-contract employee who in September left his job running a CAS group home at 1641 Lincoln Rd.

Around 7:30 am Tuesday, Malone lit a pair of 20-pound propane tanks inside the cab of his blue Ford pickup and sped toward the north facade of the sparkling Riverside Drive East building, said police.

AEROSOL CANS IN TRUCK'S BED

Malone also filled the truck's bed with aerosol spray cans and two five-gallon gas cans. The ensuing blaze caused more than $1.5 million damage.

"Oh, this was intentional," said Windsor Police Staff Sgt Gerry Corriveau after surveying the wreckage. "He was trying to blow up the building".

Nobody was hurt other than Malone, who suffered second-degree burns to 20 per cent of his body and is listed in stable condition at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital. Malone also stabbed himself at some point during the ordeal, police said. "He's got what appears to be a self-inflicted stab wound to the side," said Staff Sgt Stefan Kowal, the head of the Windsor police arson unit.

Kowal and fire investigator Shawn Boutette said Malone exited the truck after it struck the building. Malone fell to the ground and rolled across the lawn to a flower bed at the building's northeast corner where rescue workers found him. His prosthetic leg was found in the cab of the truck.

Staff Sgt Ed McNorton said police haven't decided what, if any, criminal charges will be laid against Malone.

Corriveau said only six of the CAS's 325 employees were inside when the pickup crashed through the building's blue glass walls. None was hurt. Corriveau and local CAS executive director Bill Bevan said it appeared Malone hadn't intended to kill or injure any of his former colleagues.

The building's doors open at 9 am and most employees don't arrive until 8:30 am, said Bevan, who refused to identify the driver. "This person knew that (the building would be empty)".

"This person was a well-respected employee," added Bevan.

He said he did not know what prompted the attack. "We don't have any early guesses around that. Let's hope the individual survives, and they can tell their story and we can find out why they would ever think to do this".

The Lincoln Road group home Malone previously ran is the only one of its kind in Windsor, said Bevan. Malone ran the residence from the time the CAS began leasing it three years ago and it houses a fluctuating number of teens. The 14-year-old resident, who has lived at the home for "seven or eight months" said three children live there now.

As he smoked a cigarette across the street Tuesday night, the teen described Malone as a "father figure" and "one of the nicest guys I've known". He said Malone was angry about recent CAS cuts to the group home. "When he first signed the contract there was so much money and a set number of (staff) hours, but they kept lowering it and lowering it," the teen said.

Bevan confirmed the CAS had recently revamped the program's funding to a per-child formula. When asked if those changes resulted in the home receiving less cash overall, Bevan said: "I would say that there's some truth to that. He could have received less money depending on how it worked, but he also could have done quite well with what the program provided".

The teen said Malone talked about taking his complaints to the media, but felt no one would listen. However, he said Malone gave no hint of plans to slam a truck into the CAS building. "I knew he wanted to hurt the CAS and get the idea out that they dick people around, but something like this? No".

Bevan said Malone didn't lodge a single complaint before or after his resignation. He also cautioned that the 14-year-old is a teen who "needs a lot of guidance and has had a lot of trouble in his lifetime".

As for CAS headquarters, Boutette said employees could be back in by early next week.

"Most of the damage was caused by the sprinkler system discharging, so we have a lot of interior damage: carpets, desks, people's property, files, computers," Boutette said.

The first floor sustained smoke and water damage, while the upper floors were damaged mostly by smoke. A prominent streak of black stained the exterior wall of blue glass on Riverside Drive, while several windows were busted out.

"The flames were roaring up the front of the building," said Bob Wilson, a maintenance worker who was inside when the crash occurred. "We had a wall of flame. There were flames four storeys high. And there's lots of water damage inside. Computers were soaking wet".

Ontario social services minister Sandra Pupatello, a Windsor MPP, said ministry counsellors were dispatched Tuesday morning to help CAS employees cope.

"It was quite a traumatic event," said Pupatello.

- - -

TEMPORARY OFFICES

Intake services for the CAS will be temporarily located on the first floor of the Cleary Centre. Some CAS workers will be headquartered in Club Alouette. The public can still call the main CAS switchboard at 252-1171.

The Windsor Children's Aid Society has been attacked by a suicide bomber. The following article is from ClickOnDetroit. The original includes more pictures and a video clip.

Police: Crash Intended To Blow Up Children's Center
Windsor Officials Await Driver's Psychological Exam

POSTED: 8:26 AM EDT October 26, 2004
UPDATED: 1:42 PM EDT October 26, 2004

WINDSOR, Ontario -- A pickup truck that crashed into a Windsor, Ontario, children's center and burst into flames Tuesday morning was intended to blow up the building, according to police.

The Ford Ranger pickup truck hit the Windsor-Essex Children's Aid Society building in the 1600 block of Riverside Drive, just before 8 a.m. The driver -- whose name was not released -- is a former employee who was recently fired from the center, Local 4 reported.

Propane tanks inside the truck reportedly fueled the fire.

"At the time it drove into the building, it was on fire. It's my understanding that it's basically an attempt to blow up the building and an attempted arson," said Windsor police Staff Sgt. Gerry Corriveau.

The pickup truck drove across the lawn of the six-story building and crashed through the glass window, according to the station's report. The burned-out vehicle was left about halfway into the building.

The driver -- a man in his 40s -- was taken to Windsor's Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in serious condition. Police said the man will undergo a psychological examination before charges are determined.

Several employees who were inside the building were not injured. No children were inside at the time of the crash, Local 4 reported.

Bill Bevan, a representative of the center, said the employee knew the building is open day and night, but does not believe the man intended to harm any children who are often in the building during the day.

"When you're a business that cares about kids, and you have this start your day, it's a real shock to the whole staff," said Bevan.

Bevan said crisis counselors will be available for employees when the center reopens Wednesday.

The Children's Aid Society is similar to Child Welfare in America, except it receives funding by the Canadian government, but operates as a private company, Local 4 reported.

Addendum: This note comes from the website of radio station CKLW in Windsor:

Neighbours of a Windsor man are speaking out after he drove a flaming truck into the Children's Aid Society building.

49-year-old Jim Malone crashed into the front of the building, with two 20-pound propane tanks and two 5-gallon gas cans in the truck.

Malone had been running a group home in the South Walkerville area for the C-A-S.

Neighbour Laura Lebute says the job must have pushed him to the brink.

Sources tell AM 800 News, Malone had recently lost an agreement to run a group home and was very upset.

Executive Director Bill Bevan says the man resigned a few months ago.

Malone is in "critical condition" with 2nd degree burns over 20 per cent of his body and has an apparent self-inflicted stab wound.

Damage to the C-A-S building is pegged at more than 1.5-million dollars.

The August 9, 2004 edition of the New Yorker magazine contains an article The Bad Mother dealing with the overused diagnosis of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, MSBP. It features a detailed account of an Ontario family, the de Sousas, and their encounter with Ottawa Children's Aid. Only the intervention of several lawyers for the family averted a child seizure that could have killed the medically fragile Katerina in the manner of Jonathan Reid, mentioned also in the article, or Trevor Nolan.

Peel Regional police want to arrest a mother for taking care of her daughter, and want to arrest the daughter to return her to custody, which they euphemistically call care. The press release from Peel Regional Police follows the girl's picture.

Peel Regional Police - Police seek mother wanted in daughter's abduction

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Aug. 3 /CNW/ - Peel Regional Police are seeking the public's assistance in locating a 12-year-old female, who investigators believe was taken by her mother from a day camp three weeks ago.

Renata SHAW, 12 years, of Mississauga, was last seen on Tuesday, July 13th, 2004, at 9:30 a.m., getting into a white taxi cab after leaving a school on Freshwater Drive, Mississauga. She was in the company of her biological mother. The school was being operated as a day camp at that time.

Renata's mother, Catherine SHAW-MARSHALL, 40 years, of no fixed address, has contravened a custody order. On July 31st, 2004, a warrant was issued for SHAW-MARSHALL's arrest for Abduction in Contravention of a Court Order. She is described as female white, 5'4" tall, 140 lbs, with shoulder length blond hair and green eyes.

Investigators are concerned for the mother's ability to care for the 12-year-old and urge her to surrender to police and return the child.

Investigators have also obtained a Warrant of Apprehension for 12-year-old Renata SHAW, to ensure her safe return to care givers. Renata is described as female white, 5'0" tall, 120 lbs, with shoulder length, reddish-blond hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a grey tank-top, yellow jacket, yellow shorts and was carrying a black backpack.

To view a photo of Catherine SHAW-MARSHALL please visit: http://files.newswire.ca/53/renataSHAW.jpg

Anyone with information is asked to contact 11 Division Criminal Investigation Bureau at (905) 453-2121, ext. 1133 or Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS / 8477.

For further information: Cst. Craig Platt, Media Relations, (905) 453-2121 ext. 4027; Archived images on this organization are available through CNW E-Pix at http://www.newswire.ca. Images are free to members of The Canadian Press.

The Toronto Star has published a two-part series on Douglas Donald Moore, the pedophile who worked as an assistant to a Peel Region foster family.

In the legal aftermath of the Halifax standoff Larry Finck has been found competent to stand trial. Here is a report from CTV on the bail hearing of Carline VandenElsen, Finck's wife.

Bail hearing offers details of Halifax standoff

CTV.ca News Staff

Updated: Wed. Jul. 7 2004 11:09 PM ET

A bail hearing has offered an unexpected glimpse into a three-day armed standoff in Halifax. Mona Finck, the woman who died during the May ordeal, wanted a doctor and a priest, but police wouldn't let either in the house.

Wednesday's hearing was for Carline VandenElsen, 41, who is seeking bail on three charges stemming from the incident: obstructing police, forcible confinement and breaching a court order.

Her partner, Larry Finck, who is Mona's son, is facing the same charges, as well as six weapon-related charges.

ATV's Rick Grant reports there were times during the bail hearing when police and VandenElsen offered similar stories.

VandenElsen said she and the family were awakened around 1 to 1:30 am on May 19 by loud banging on the front door of their home. Police were coming in with a battering ram. Children's Aid workers had called police to help enforce a court order to apprehend a baby.

VandenElsen confirmed that the door was being barricaded from the inside, and that a shotgun blast was fired through a window over the door and pellets lodged in a house across the street.

VandenElsen said there was a single shot fired to let police know she was not giving up her baby.

Tapes of phone conversations were played in court. In one tape, VandenElsen said they wanted to leave the country and not return, but seek political asylum.

Const. Tom Martin testified that there were concerns over the health of Mona Finck who died during the standoff.

He said one doctor was brought to the scene and volunteered to go in, but a police commander refused to allow a civilian inside the house under the circumstances.

The ailing woman refused an offer to come outside the house to meet the doctor. She asked for a priest but he wasn't allowed in either

VandenElsen's lawyer questioned Martin about another taped conversation in which the policeman pleaded with her not to walk outside the house, asking if there was any thought to shooting.

VandenElsen broke down when she was asked if she would leave the country if granted bail. She said: "My baby is still here ... I can't leave without my baby."

Crown attorney Len MacKay opposes the woman's release, claiming she is a flight risk and poses a danger to the public.

The judge is expected to make a decision on bail this week.

Windsor Star

July 3, 2004

CAS scrutinized

Minister wants concerns addressed

By Dave Battagello
Star Staff Reporter

The Windsor-Essex Children's Aid Society must address 18 recommendations made in a provincial review of its files or it can expect further scrutiny, says a spokesman for Minister of Children and Youth Services Marie Bountrogianni.

The review prepared for the minister showed the local children's aid society conducted more investigations, resulting in ongoing service at more than double the rate of the rest of the province.

"The next step is to monitor the recommendations made in the report", Andrew Weir, spokesman for Bountrogianni, said Friday. "The minister will monitor the society closely to see if they look to address the issues.

"If the recommendations are implemented, we will just continue to monitor them, the same as we do with all the children's aid societies".

The local CAS will continue to welcome any type of government review, executive director Bill Bevan said earlier this week.

"Absolutely", he said. "If you have a number of complaints and concerns by parents and ministry concerns, by all means, the government has every right to review files, talk to staff and see what we are doing.

MPPs initiated review

"We don't mind talking about this. We are doing a pretty darn good job, but we aren't perfect".

The ministry report was initiated after MPPs Sandra Pupatello (L -- Windsor West) and Dwight Duncan (L -- Windsor Tecumseh) raised concerns about the increase in calls they were receiving about the CAS's practice of taking children into its care.

The complaints often revolved around how quickly children were being apprehended and alternatives available to CAS that were not being considered.

After seeing the report's data, Pupatello said a more in-depth review of the children's aid operations may be warranted.

Weir said the ministry's regional office has been asked to work with the local children's society as it addresses the issues in the report.

"The ministry has identified ways for them to improve", Weir said. "The ministry sets high standards and for the most part children's aid societies in the province meet those expectations. We expect (Windsor's children's aid) to bring their performance up to that level. They certainly have been a willing participant in the process.

"In some areas it is clear the agency is performing well, but in other areas there are real ways they can improve. We expect them to take the necessary steps to make those improvements".

Pupatello cited a number of the findings of the report, prepared for Children and Youth Services Minister Marie Bountrogianni, as troubling.

• 80 percent of referrals to CAS resulted in an investigation, more than 1.5 times higher than the provincial average of 53 per cent.
• More than 24 per cent of referrals resulted in a transfer to ongoing service, 2.2 times higher than the provincial average of 11 per cent.
• Only 5.3 per cent of the society's foster care days were listed as "regular" compared to the provincial average of 47.6 per cent, while the local CAS instead listed 68.4 per cent of its foster care days as "specialized", well above the provincial average of 35 per cent, resulting in an increased level of funding given to the local CAS of $337,018.
• Of 111 service complaints filed since April 2003, only four reached the executive director under a CAS review process and zero went before the board.

"I've talked with others from around the province and there is something unusual going on in Windsor", Pupatello said. "There are not the same numbers going on across the province. Clearly they are higher in a number of areas in Windsor than the numbers across the province. I want to know why.

"Clearly it's been identified we've got issues here, that it's not just the regulations. The next step is more important than this report. This was not an operational review. The minister has told me she will look at the next step".

The ministry report was initiated after Pupatello and fellow MPP Dwight Duncan (L -- Windsor Tecumseh) raised concerns about the increase in complaints they were receiving from parents about the CAS's practice of taking children into care. The report also listed issues with the CAS's new building, noting it was $724,709 over the ministry approved budget, with a $834,368 shortfall in fundraising efforts for the project.

The report's recommendation calls for the CAS to somehow make up the project difference of $1,559,077. That is likely to occur through the organization selling off some of its properties.

Bevan and CAS board president Norm King, at a Wednesday news conference, focused on the report's lease condemning aspects -- among them that 95 per cent of CAS paperwork as being in compliance on the 163 files reviewed in the report.

"I think we learned what we expected from the reports", Bevan said. "That we are a pretty well run organization, but no organization is perfect. We do need to spend more time on how we write about situations going into them and how we write about the situations we are in. We know there are issues in training staff, how we are writing reports. We do have a younger staff".

Bevan said the local CAS would welcome further provincial scrutiny.

Note by Dufferin VOCA. Here are the reports referred to in the article. You will need Adobe Acrobat to read them:

Full report
Bevan's version

In the federal election of June 28, CAS opponent Michael Menear was defeated in London West, while CAS champion David Tilson was elected to represent Dufferin-Caledon.

Three of the Dufferin-Peel candidates for federal parliament in the June 28 election appeared at an all-candidates meeting this evening at Monora Park. Rita Landry of the New Democrats had to attend her father in the hospital, Ursula Ellis of the Christian Heritage Party did not appear.

Two questions related to family law.

Before a child reaches age of majority, about half of Canadian fathers are restricted from access to their own children. The main reason in the federal Divorce Act. Do you favor changes to the Divorce Act so that more fathers can see their own children?

Murray Calder (Liberal) answered: Yes. Then he elaborated that the same problem existed for grandparents, and some consideration should be given to them as well.

Ted Alexander (Green) expressed unfamiliarity with the issue, but was sympathetic to fathers.

David Tilson (Conservative) said that these matters should be decided in the best interest of the child. He said it was correct to handle these matters by hearing all sides of the issue in the courts. He said grandparents should have no say in the matter, because children have enough problems being torn between mother and father, they did not need more people contending for custody.

The next question was:

Do you favor same-sex marriage?

Mr Tilson opposed same sex marriage.

Mr Alexander supported same sex marriage.

Mr Calder said he was in favor of traditional marriage. He continued stating that it was possible to make changes in the wording of some laws to allow for civil unions of same sex couples, without it being a marriage.

A later questioner suggested that Mr Calder could have saved some problems for the voters by crossing the aisle.

The Dufferin CAS annual meeting at Monora Park was uneventful.

The meeting began with 45 minutes of music, close to the loud, culturally offensive music deemed torture by Amnesty International. The meeting chairman, Tom Murray, called the meeting to order and dealt with just four items of business, approving the minutes of the last annual meeting, approving the auditor's report, appointing the auditor for the coming year, electing four new directors, followed by adjournment.

The four new directors are Allan Bennington, Sandra Card, Michael Craig and Jackie Wilcox.

The meeting was followed by a speech by Dr Dirk Huyer. Among his credentials is a period working at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, including the SCAN clinic. The theme of his somewhat disorganized talk was the case of Farah Khan. Dr Huyer served as an expert witness at the trial of the parents convicted of her murder. In the concluding part of his talk he dealt with child protection generally. His statements showed that the shaken baby syndrome, now beginning to be scientifically discredited, remains alive and well as a diagnostic criterion in Ontario. Dr Huyer also mentioned that child abuse statistics cannot be collected from families or children, but are always gathered from professionals. So when viewed critically, they are nothing more than opinion surveys of social workers.

Following Dr Huyer, Tom Murray lamented the lenient treatment by a judge of a mother who had broken her child's bone. He expressed the hope that a new generation of judges would soon be on the bench showing more sympathy to child protectors. He showed no understanding that Children's Aid has lost the confidence of judges by its excessive intervention in families where no abuse has occurred.

We repeat here a request from Gary C Dumbrill. He is looking for parents who have received services from Children's Aid.

Starting in September - I was planning to meet with groups of parents who have received CAS services to develop a "CAS service users guide." This guide would be written by parents for parents.

There are a few ways of getting involved:

1/ If you are a parents and know other parents who have received CAS services, you could form a group and I would come to meet with you.

2/ If you are a CAS worker or supervisor, you could give the parents you are working with the opportunity to take part.

I am really hoping this guide will help parents work WITH the CAS in ways that help children and families. If you are interested, e-mail me and I will give you the full details of the project. This will be set up as a formal University based research project, so there will be an "informed consent" form to sign that sets out the principles (and limits) of confidentiality and measures to protect participants etc. Some enumeration for parents taking part is also possible.

I am really only interested in doing this in Ontario and I will travel anywhere in Ontario to meet with groups, and I can travel more than once so I can meet with each group a few times. Although the project will be based in Ontario, if parents/agencies outside Ontario already have groups working on these issues, I would be willing to travel to meet those groups too - that is if these groups have ideas that would benefit parents in Ontario.

Gary
gary.dumbrill@utoronto.ca

Prime Minister Paul Martin, no longer a shoo-in to win the federal election on June 28, 2004, is promising a national child-care program, modeled on Quebec. The report cited here suggests that day-care will be subsidized so that parents will pay $7 per day, instead of the market rate near $30 per day. There is no word on whether day-care operators will resort to the temptation to collect the subsidy by enrolling children under duress. Here is the report from the Globe and Mail.

Martin lays it on the line with platform launch

By DARREN YOURK
Globe and Mail Update

UPDATED AT 9:27 AM EDT Thursday, Jun 3, 2004

Liberal Leader Paul Martin tried to push the focus of an attack-filled election campaign back toward policy Thursday, unveiling a left-leaning platform that focuses on social program spending.

Speaking in his hometown of Windsor, Ont., Mr. Martin laid out a "forward looking and very responsible" platform that has a price tag of about $40-billion over five years. About $12-billion of the plan is for contingencies, leaving about $26-billion to $28-billion for promises. The largest item will be the $9-billion-plus for health care announced last week.

"This is a country of great opportunity, and our plan is about providing all Canadians with the means to share in those opportunities," Mr. Martin said in prepared comments. "As a people, we know what we can do and we know how to do it - we just want to get on with it. This platform represents what we will deliver as we work to achieve our goals."

The 60-page platform, entitled Moving Canada Forward, includes a five-year, $5-billion major child-care plan -- called the Foundations Program -- which will hold up Quebec's $7-a-day daycare scheme as a model for the rest of the country.

(paragraphs unrelated to child care omitted)

In Windsor Ontario CAS has organized a group called the Islamic Social Welfare Association (ISWA), to recruit followers of Islam into the child protection system. They have represented themselves as protectors of orphans, and possibly supplied funding to the organization. Pakistanis have been asked to set up a group home for boys and one for girls

Citizens for Social Morality, CFSM, attended a dinner at a mosque where CAS spoke to veiled women about apprehension, even though most did not understand English. At question time CAS ignored questions from CFSM members.

Later CFSM met with the directors of ISWA. A psychologist and three social workers attended, with three veiled women, one clearly a CAS worker under the veil. The principal of the Arab school proudly stated that he worked for CAS.

In Windsor, where CAS scouts the hospital emergency room for prospects, CFSM has gathered thousands of signatures. Several batches of petitions posted for signature have simply disappeared when not watched. The hospital employing Dr Dolores Sicheri has asked her not to circulate petitions.

The Halifax siege of a couple defending their five-month-old baby ended with the death of the baby's 80-year-old grandmother, a possible result of the stress of the siege. Depending on your viewpoint, you can blame the parents or the police for her fate. Here is the article from the Halifax Herald, including pictures. The story suggests that the parents are normal people, who never got into trouble aside from that imposed on them by the family law system. It is unlikely that the baby girl will ever again have parental care.

The original link, now dead, was: http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/05/22/f237.raw.html

Saturday, May 22, 2004
The Halifax Herald Limited

Tragic conclusion
Baby's grandmother dead as couple ends custody standoff

By JOHN GILLIS and DAN ARSENAULT

The longest police standoff in Halifax history ended Friday evening when Lawrence Finck and his wife Carline VandenElsen walked out the front door of their home at 6161 Shirley St. with their baby and the body of Mr. Finck's mother.

Ms. VandenElsen carried her five-month-old daughter, Mona-Clare, strapped to her chest in a baby knapsack. The baby was the subject of a child apprehension order from the Children's Aid Society that sparked the 67-hour standoff.

Mr. Finck, 50, and Ms. VandenElsen, 41, carried the body of his mother, Mona Finck, on a makeshift stretcher covered with a plaid blanket.

"Medical personnel at the scene pronounced the elderly woman, who was believed to be in her 80s, dead at the scene," Chief Frank Beazley of Halifax Regional Police said - without naming the woman - at a 10 p.m. news conference.

"We'll have to wait for an autopsy but it appears that she had been dead for some time. It would appear it would be more than a couple of hours, I would suggest."

Chief Beazley said police did not know she was dead until the standoff ended.

"My officers are very upset