Howard

This page is about a young boy, Howard, taken from his father and placed with his vindictive mother with the help of Children's Aid. It contains pdf files with the family's story, and some voice clips of Howard himself, including his dramatic account of a hand test for circumcision. Canada Court Watch assembled this material from 2003 to 2005. The boy has disappeared, and his current whereabouts is unknown. Edited text from Canada Court Watch follows.

A 12-year-old boy is being detained at a Scarborough, Ontario group home under the instructions of the Toronto Jewish Family & Child Services (JF&CS). This boy has never been in trouble with the law and his only crime is wanting to live with his father. Under the orders of the JF&CS, the boy is not allowed to communicate with his father or with any trusted outsider. Offers to speak with the boy while being monitored by group home workers have been refused by the JF&CS.

Social Services Minister, Brenda Elliot, has been advised of this situation but appears to have done nothing to help to the child. Brenda Elliot's Jewish faith may be a factor in her indifference.

The child's contact with his father and all other trusted friends was cut off after the boy disclosed that workers with the JF&CS and the group home coerced him to lie about his father. The boy reported being sexually assaulted by a social worker with the JF&CS who wanted to find out whether he was circumcised. The boy is not Jewish and has reported on videotape that he does not want to be Jewish but is being forced to by his abusive Jewish mother. He has been told he will be involutarily circimcised to comply with Jewish tradition.

Prior to these files being recorded, the CAS had been actively trying to take the boy from his non-Jewish father (who had custody of the boy at the time) and to place him in the hands of his Jewish mother who had a history of violence and abuse (witnessed by third parties). The clips here have been selected to be short enough to be emailed and also to hide the name of the boy.

Documents
Silvana A letter asking for help, and giving facts of the case.
Lawyer (pdf) This is a letter from Howard to the child advocate. Howard had reported to the advocate that a lawyer Adam McIvor (of the law firm McIvor and McIvor in Toronto) had coerced him to go back to his mother. When the child advocate called the Office of the Children's Lawyer to help, the Children's Lawyer, Dena Moyal, said that the boy had no choice in the selection of his lawyer, that no other persons can be present at meetings with the child and that the Office of the Children's Lawyer will not tape record any interviews with their client children.
Camp (pdf) While Howard was staying at a Jewish children's camp in Haliburton, Ontario, he wrote this is letter asking for the advocate's help. When Howard's father drove for 4 hours to Haliburton on parent's visitation day, he was turned away at the front gate on orders from JF&CS. Mother was allowed to visit.
Father (pdf) A cover letter by Rev Dorian Baxter followed by a letter from Howard's father and a letter from one of his children.
Christmas A Christmas letter to Howard from Canada Court Watch dated December 23, 2005.
advocate An advocate places evidence into Howard's court record, dated January 30, 2006.
The remaining items are mp3 audio files
Suffer Howard refuses to report abuse by his mother to the police to avoid jeopardizing his visits with his dad.
Threats Social workers threaten Howard with a worse foster home.
Yells Mom yells and gets hysterical.
Slap Mom slaps Howard after visit with dad.
Lies Case manager Tashia suborns lies.
Scared Howard is scared by his mom, by the group home and by CAS social worker Jeff Mintz.
Lawyer Howard fears to report abuse to his lawyer, lest his visits with his dad be reduced.
Opinion In a phone call with his dad Howard expresses his opinion of the Scarborough group home, but is silenced by a the group home supervisor.
Penis A social worker tests Howard for circumcision by hand. Recorded August 15, 2003.

The last recording may be the reason for Howard's disappearance. The interviewer reported the matter to the police and the police responded by investigating the interviewer. Once a child has evidence of criminal activity by child protectors, they must hide the child to protect themselves from that evidence. For more on this, refer to Paula Werme -- near the middle of her page she has a box titled Special situation.