THURSDAY-COURTROOM REPORT - Installment #8/ Part 457 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

Josiah, hours old and being bathed

Mr. Humeny is the social worker out of Hope, B.C. who has been associated with the Bayne case from its inception in 2007. Loren Humeny once again identified himself as the delegate of the director under section 92 of the Child, Family and Community Services Act, responsible for the written report (affidavit) which was submitted to the court as grounds for the apprehension of two week old Josiah Bayne. He cited as well the names of Kim Tran (MCFD social worker), Andrea Johnston, and Beth Preston (hospital social worker) and then Paul and Zabeth Bayne. Kim Tran is the Surrey social worker charged with the responsibility of removing Josiah from the hospital and placing him in the same foster home where his three siblings presently reside.

For his report Mr. Humeny did not present one reference that was immediately or directly applicable to the baby's relationship with his parents Paul and Zabeth during the two weeks of this baby's life. That is this affidavit contained nothing of substance that was new. Rather, risk was inferred, implied as inherent to the family situation in which the Baynes find themselves. It was this to which counsel Doug Christie took issue Thursday in a packed court room before Judge Kimberly Arthur-Leung. The entire two pages of the composition segment of the report referenced exclusively the details of the Ministry's active care dispute with the Baynes relative to their daughter's injuries in 2007 which the Baynes cited as accidental and a doctor assessed as shaken baby. It was on the basis of that unsubstantiated diagnosis that the two boys as well as the daughter were removed from the parents in 2007. The divide between Ministry and Paul and Zabeth has been widening throughout the 3.5 years that MCFD has retained the children and the parents have maintained their innocence of any wrongdoing.

Mr. Humeny's report then mentioned that during the course of the 2010 trial year, Zabeth became pregnant with their fourth child and the parents did not inform the Ministry. He cited as a negligence the fact that the Baynes did not report the pregnancy to MCFD. I fail to find a statute or regulation that requires this. Further, Mr. Humeny mentioned that the Baynes have refused to participate in a parental capacity assessment, yet to anyone's knowledge we have not in B.C. yet come to the place where one is required to pass a test to become a parent. He also wrote that before the pregnancy they refused to take advantage of support services offered by the Ministry, when in fact, no specific services which MCFD might have deemed to be beneficial to the Baynes was ever stipulated or offered. Mr. Humeny then stated that after the pregnancy, the Baynes refused to meet Ministry to collaborate about a plan for the safety and protection of the baby. He didn't point out that these entreaties were made during the closing weeks of her pregnancy when as in the previous three pregnancies, she was vulnerable to premature birth. He did not say that the continued overtures and threats of MCFD seizure of the child presented unnecessary stress upon Zabeth and that her advisors counselled her not to participate in such meetings that might induce that prematurity.

Paul holding his new son

He then wrote that the MCFD placed an alert on the province wide protection system with regard to the director's concerns and that he, Loren Humeny should be notified if a newborn was delivered by Zabeth Bayne. Royal Columbia Hospital confirmed that Josiah was born at 6:46 am on February 10th, 2011. Several hours later, Mr. Humeny, Kim Tran and Ms Preston disclosed to the Baynes that the baby would be removed as soon he was discharged from hospital.