Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Tonight! IT'S ON TONIGHT ON ROADKILL RADIO


Among the three topics in tonight's show, is 'Kidnapping' that is, Terry and Kari are talking about social workers plans to remove Baby Sabina.


WHERE: Listen live – http://www.roadkillradio.co
  Kidnapping, Insanity & War
Social Workers plot to Snatch Baby!  
Gender Identity Insanity!  
The Great HST War!
 
Join Terry O’Neill & Kari Simpson! 7:30 – 8:15 pm: Tonight in-studio will be the baby that social workers were plotting to snatch! Instead, Baby Sabina still remains safe in her mother’s womb, but for how long? Regrettably another Ministry of Destruction special feature, the nightmare continues! The parents tell their story for the first time publicly tonight!


They will be taking your calls and emails!
CALL IN: On-air telephone: (604) 525-4167
WHERE: Listen live – http://www.roadkillradio.com
EMAIL THE SHOW LIVE: Roadkillradio@live.ca

HOW SIMILAR CAN IT BE? ONLY AT FIRST GLANCE / 540

The city of York, Nebraska is located 54 miles from Lincoln, and Gresham is half way between, a bit north and east. The Koziseks live in Gresham.

Ryan Kozisek
On April 19th 2011, the York News source of York Nebraska published a story about a young father, Ryan Kozisek (29) of nearby Gresham, Neb., who was compelled to enter a plea with regard to his infant daughter’s death. She died on January 24, 2011. He pleaded not guilty to felony child abuse. This is again a shaken baby allegation, and in Ryan’s case, he is facing two charges. The first is called a Class 1B felony, consisting of child abuse that has resulted in death. The second charge is called a Class 2 felony which is child abuse that results in serious bodily injury. The latter charge relates to an accusation that two weeks prior to his daughter’s death he abused her causing a skull fracture. Further, Children’s Hospital physicians recorded the discovery of ‘older injuries.’

Monday, May 30, 2011

FOR YOUR INFORMATION / 539

The new Ministry lawyer is Dean Tate. Finn Jensen is no longer active in the Bayne case.

Robert Hamilton
Robert Hamilton is a lawyer now working with the Baynes and in cooperation with Doug Christie who championed their cause until now. Each has agreed to specialty roles. Mr. Hamilton is very familiar with family law and child protection cases. Mr. Hamilton is the legal counsel who successfully represented the Rahman family in an equally contentious case. He is an Associate at the firm Lindsay Kenney LLP.  Mr. Dean Tate lost an appeal on the Rahman shaken baby case (2009 BCSC 1073 / E083988 Vancouver). Mr. Robert Hamilton was the Rahman counsel at that time.

Friday, May 27, 2011

10% WAS ENOUGH & 90% MUST CONVINCE MS. MCNEIL / 538


( This is a mid-day edit because of clarified information)

We have known that June 2 is the concluding day of the court appointed three month temporary care order for the three oldest Bayne children. We naively thought that a court appearance immediately following June 2 might entertain the possibility of a return of these children. MCFD has numerous options to retain the children if it so chooses. Why do I speak so sardonically? Because so many parents have already related their stories. All of them helpless before the system. And then there is the Bayne Case itself.

Yesterday at a court appearance, the Ministry applied for an extension and received it. It also merged the newborn Josiah Bayne case with the case for the other three children so that all four sibling names appear on the same documentation now. Lawyer Robert Hamilton is now working for the Baynes and he managed to arrange a Case Conference in July that will be presided over by a judge who listens to both sides and acts as a mediator but does so with authority. Now we look forward to that. Meanwhile the Baynes continue to work at the programs in which they are engaged as a means by which to demonstrate their sincerity and capacity to parent safely and effectively.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

THE SECRET SHAME - A BIT MORE / 537

Tim Korol, "The Secret Shame" - CBC photo
Yesterday I wrote about Tim Korol’s written report called “The Secret Shame.” That was a month of May story. Korol, back in December 2010 went public with his criticisms of the Social Services of Saskatchewan for which he served as an assistant deputy minister. He had 16 years experience as a Saskatoon policeman and 10 years experience with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission before being hired to provide advice to the province’s child welfare system with regard to family interventions and placement of children in foster homes.

What he experienced was resistance to his recommended and required changes because he was deemed an outsider. 

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

TIM KOROL & SASK'S 'Arrogant' Child Welfare System / 536

CBC Photo: Tim Korol, Dep Min for 12 mo
On May 4, 2011 columnist Angela Hall’s story was printed in online and hard copy news sources all over the country. She wrote about Tim Korol, a former social services worker in the province of Saskatchewan. Granted he worked there for only one year but that was all that he could stomach. Korol is a former policeman who in the course of police duty saw a good many human unpleasantries yet he has said about his experience with social services in Sask., “I have been emotionally scarred by what’s going on in social services.

He has recently released a 40-page report entitled, 'The Secret Shame.' He held a press conference and then he submitted his report to the provincial government. In that report Korol relates his concerns about the child welfare system in Canada. The title is apt. Good choice. Blogs such as this one have a limited readership. The secret shame of child welfare, specifically the stories that spin from child apprehensions and the unfortunate cases within the fostering program, are unknown to the general public because they are undisclosed.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A DEFICIT OF LEADERSHIP / 535

There is a severe lack of faith in the leadership of so many institutions within our society. The deficit of leaders has affected child welfare and child protection.

Perhaps our social work education is preparing well motivated people to be effective managers. That takes a program only so far but not far enough. I believe that the critical need which exists within the Ministry of Children and Family Development is ‘leadership.’ I am distinguishing ‘leadership’ from ‘management.’ We have regions and teams that are being managed and some of them perhaps managed effectively. Make no mistake that some of the sad and broken family stories stem from parents whose own lives are so messed up that they have failed to function well as parents. Yet there are numerous other family stories that spin out from teams of social workers who have not been led well, by example or principle. That should be our concern. We have a leadership development crisis.

Monday, May 23, 2011

A WORD UNSAID / 534

“Sorry” as in “I am sorry”. I cannot categorically say that it is so, but I am acquiring the conviction that you and I never hear from a social worker or a child protection team member or from anyone within the MCFD of B.C. an apologetic “I am sorry,” as in, “we erred.” “We were mistaken.” Is it unprofessional for a social worker to be heard to say something like that?

You might say, “Well Ron, your statement is already categorical enough.” Perhaps so. Yet, for me, the system is out of order. There are so many signs of disorder and the unapologetic interface with parents in those instances where gaffes have clearly occurred is a conspicuous sign.

Friday, May 20, 2011

THE BALANCE OF PROBABILITY / 533

Let me clear up a legal factor that seems to be cloudy to some readers who in their frustration with child protection agencies in Canada, spout “I thought we were innocent until proven to be guilty.”  That axiom continues to be true in criminal proceedings. Child protection proceedings however, are not criminal in nature. Rather they are civil proceedings and that means that the standard of proof is a balance of probability. You may still dislike that.

That balance of probability proviso when harnessed to child protection’s remarkable degree of legal authority over children disturbs and even angers many parents beset by CP case workers. In every Canadian jurisdiction there is now comprehensive child protection legislation. If that were not enough, the common law has given courts inherent jurisdiction over children who are in danger, and this jurisdiction is called parens patriae. The summary truth is that in Canada the natural parental custody and even court ordered guardianship is superceded by child protection or child welfare orders.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

THE NEED FOR REFORM / 532

Child protection in the English speaking world has failed so frequently because it is fundamentally flawed at so many levels. It appears to have become a system preoccupied with forensics rather than determined and successful at helping families. A case might be made that the outcomes of the cases that are handled by CP are steadily worse. It is critical that Child Welfare, policy designers, CP service deliverers, MPs and others with influence, power and a stake in the discussion, honestly examine the data or conduct new research about CP in B.C. Reasons to do this abound in the number of families that are now fragmented, and numbers of children who do not come out of the system better for the experience.

Child Protection officers insist that in keeping with the legislation that empowers them to remove a child from his or her parents, such apprehension is used as a last resort. Many of you question that. You argue that the taking of a child in too many cases while emotional and difficult is clinically processed on the basis of superficial evidence and badly done investigation.

The reform of child protection must become a priority for our B.C. government.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

An Archive of Child Removal Cases / 531

This entire post today is courtesy of the PAPA website. There are fifteen cases cited here. Many of these are illustrations of some aspect of the disagreeable outcomes of child protection when it lacks the accountability that we expect and should demand or at least the transparency that explains the perception of interference. In a couple of instances I question the inclusion of a case in such a list as this because the mitigating circumstances may not serve the PAPA purpose. At least those instances would not serve my purpose. Some of these cases are outside British Columbia but each title is an archived link to its details. PAPA has done us an information service, but could have done more research with a few cases. There is available information elsewhere with regard to those few. By publishing this citation I am providing the resource, so that readers can form their own opinions about these cases and do the research.  

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

YES, CRITICS CALL FOR CHANGES / 530

Sympathizers with the Baynes dominate the readership of this blog site. I accept that. Other readers, occasional and curious take a peek. Some with vested interest in the Ministry of Children browse as well. Be assured that the parents and advocates of child protection reform who comment here are not a small troublesome faction of uninformed complainers.

Critics exist across Canada and in enlightened countries around the world. Critics are calling for greater accountability for the child protection segment of child welfare. That is what must be understood and processed by responsible parties.

Please hear me say that I believe child protection agencies do serve a vital function to safeguard children. Note that I am saying just as emphatically that child protection departments overstep their mandate.

Monday, May 16, 2011

ATTORNEY GENERAL AND CP MEDIATION / 529

Hon. Barry Penner, Att Gen
The government website page for the Ministry of the Attorney General contains this very imported page entitled Child Protection Mediation Program. In the post below I am quoting that page in its entirety and without comment from me. This is the mediation option of which the Attorney General’s Office wants you to be aware.What I want to know after you have read this, is, whether you are a social worker or a parent, has this worked for you?

Ministry of Attorney General

Child Protection Mediation Program

Sometimes parents or other people who are responsible for the care of a child disagree with child welfare workers in the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) or delegated Aboriginal child and family service agency (DAA) about a child’s safety and well-being. Child protection mediation is a collaborative way to reach agreement on the best plan for a child’s safety with the help of a specially trained, impartial person called a mediator.
Mediators do not take sides, nor do they make decisions or recommendations. Instead, they encourage people to focus on common interests and work towards a mutually acceptable solution that is focused on the child’s needs.
Mediation is a process which brings together the parents, child welfare workers and others in a respectful way to talk about everyone’s interests and seek to understand each other through sharing feelings, ideas, concerns and potential solutions for the child.
The Ministry of Attorney General (MAG) and the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) established the Child Protection Mediation Program in October 1997. MAG and MCFD administer the program. MAG’s Child Protection Mediation Program (CPMP) contracts for mediation services with specially qualified private sector mediators.

Friday, May 13, 2011

THE HEAVY HUMAN BURDEN OF THIS STAGE IN THE BAYNE SAGA / 528

Diagonal Confusion - K. Madison Moore
On visitation days at the Bayne home, the supervisor brings the children by van. Upon arrival the children run to up the steps to the front door calling “mommy, mommy.” At the end of the hours of family visitation, they are still asking the ordeal long question, “Do we have to go?” Then they put on their coats and move out the door and into the van for their fosterhome trip. Are these children confused? Possibly. Probably.

Understandably. The boys have been in foster care for more than half of their young lives. Do they consider the foster home to be ‘home?’ They must certainly see their female foster caregiver as a mother figure. Are they able to distinguish the difference between foster mom and bio mom? Do they have the same attachment to each of these mother figures? Asking the question is guaranteed to hurt the bio mom. This is not a contest by the way. One woman administers care as a custodial employee and is expected simultaneously to provide affection yet maintain objective detachment. That’s a tall expectation. The other woman cares from an innate, natal connection with possessive love which she has been forced to contain in order to present a civil self-image. That too is a great expectation, decidedly more difficult than the other, because the children for whom she longs, can be with her only hours per week.

APOLOGY

Blogger was fixing some problems and consequently created a blackout for both me as administrator and any commenters to the blog site from Thursday morning until today.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

CHILD PROTECTION MEDIATION / 527

Child protection cases, custody battles, and family law disputes are overcrowded with fury and anguish. In most cases when children are removed from parents, it is a crisis situation. In the earliest stages of the disagreement between PC workers and parents, the stress of the emergency is not lost on the children, from toddlers on up. Court processes seldom lessen the desperation. However, if mediation was practiced and if judges understood that this was an available alternative, court ordeals could be transformed. That's what proponents of mediation claim.

“BEST INTERESTS” - THE WAY IT WORKS AND COULD WORK

I confess that I still struggle to understand the concept. That is, I have struggled to comprehend the way CP personnel interpret the concept of the “Best Interests of the Child.” And I do give it an honest attempt.

Our child protection laws authorize child protection (CP) workers to investigate allegations of abuse or neglect. They can apprehend children from their families and they are enabled to place the seized children with foster families. The authority of CP workers is supported by our Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the criminal justice system and the court system. CP workers are immensely powerful.

The processes never fail to leave affected parents irate, estranged and often in despair.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

WHAT IS IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD? / 525

The ‘interests of a child’, the very best interests of children should naturally be the concern of each one of us. Parents in particular are expected to care for their children according to this standard. In societies like ours, the collective, the people, citizens, have elected representatives to institutionalize this standard of care for children. When parents or other caregivers appear not to be acting in the best interests of a child, then government authorized social workers intervene.

Curiously, ‘the best interests of the child’ has become a virtual dogma within our courts and child protection systems, yet there is no standard definition of ‘best interests of the child.’ Notwithstanding, this phrase customarily refers to the court’s consideration of the kinds of orders, actions and services that will best serve a child, as well as taking into consideration the person(s) best suited to care for the child. The child’s fundamental safety and welfare is the principal concern.

Monday, May 9, 2011

THIS PAST WEEKEND / 524

Paul and Zabeth were able to visit Josiah post surgery on Friday. He developed a hernia and this was corrected. Foster mom was with the baby before and immediately after the procedure. This protocol was a requirement of the hospital. The Baynes arrived at 12:00 PM and were permitted to remain with their son until 3:15 PM. Then they were informed it was time to leave.

Their time with Josiah was a delight for them because he was wide awake. They could feed their son some sugar water and hold him and comfort him. They used the opportunity to pray for him. You must appreciate that this is important to the Baynes.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY ZABETH

Mommy and Bethany this year
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY ZABETH

It’s a bit early but that’s OK. I do trust that Saturday is a joyous day with three of your children, Kent, Baden and Bethany. I know that you miss holding little Josiah, recuperating from his recent surgery. You will see him soon again.

Newborn Josiah and Mommy
For the moment I want to focus on some reasons why we who know you salute you. In time your children will learn the strength of your character as well. They will thrive under its protection and will learn from its example.

What they will come to see more clearly such things as your love of learning, your creativity, your bravery and vitality, your kindness and love, your social responsibility and mercy, your appreciation of beauty and excellence, your gratitude and certainly your spirituality. They will naturally appreciate your music artistry which you have taken so long to perfect into piano performance brilliance.

Friday, May 6, 2011

NOTHING TODAY

There is so much pain in our communities, and so many people to be encouraged in the midst of their anxieties, and so much to say by way of correction and solution. Yet sometimes a writer can simply not get it out, and today is one of those days. Please have a good weekend.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

HOUSE FIRE NEAR HOPE / 522

Steve Lus CBC photo
I extend my sympathies to the family and the Silver Creek community in which 18 month old Dillon Walker died in a house fire that ripped through the family home in the early morning hours Thursday. Dillon's brother was with relatives at the time and is safe. Neighbour Diana Warren said the children's parents returned home from a late night walk to find their home engulfed in flames. Police haven't said if the child's parents are facing any charges.
"Our investigation is clearly focused on the cause of the fire and the cause of death of the child," said Hollingsworth. "The results of the completed scene examination will determine the next course of our investigation."

More on the story at a number of online news sources:
CTV News
CBC News
Vancouver Sun
Global TV

BULLETIN: JOSIAH HAVING SURGERY / 521

In mid April Paul and Zabeth were informed that Josiah had possibly developed a hernia. It is uncommon in a small baby and correctable. Surgery was mentioned as a possibility then. Today at 9:20 AM Josiah undergoes a surgical procedure. He is a little over three months old. The hospital request was for the principal caregiver to be with him before and after surgery, so Paul and Zabeth were given permission to visit with him yesterday from 12 Noon to 2 pm. Understandably as he is recuperating, they will not be able to visit with him Fri or Sat this week, but possibly Monday. This is an exceptionally difficult time for the Baynes but they ask people to pray for Josiah’s surgery and rapid recuperation.

RICHARD BRANT ACQUITTED AT LAST - ANOTHER SBS CASE / 520


We will hear the end of this sorry saga one day but not quite yet. Former Ontario pathologist Dr. Charles Smith is in the news again because yet another person whose life and reputation he messed by his incompetency has received deserved justice and vindication. A number of people were wrongly convicted and imprisoned because of the errors in his work. Six people whom he helped to convict have already been cleared of any offense since the investigations into his work began. There are six more cases in which Smith was involved that have yet to be revisited by the courts.

Richard Brant is 38 years old now. He is a truck driver. Richard Brant’s entire story cannot be told here but suffice it to say, Charles Smith’s report in 1993 was enough to place Brant under suspicion of manslaughter for which he would have received a lengthy prison term. Yes I did say “would have received,” but he didn’t receive the long prison term because he was informed that if he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault he would receive less time. That’s what he did. Pleaded guilty! (Pleaded is the legal verb form)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

DR. CONRAD BOWDEN, CREDENTIALS, EXPERIENCE / 519

Dr. Bowden, Van Psych-Ed Services Site 
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) is the sponsoring organization that publishes the series of papers under the title Practice Made Perfect, and in that series is one piece written by Dr. Conrad Bowden who is the MCFD engaged psychologist who is conducting a parental capacity assessment of Paul and Zabeth Bayne.
Prepared for a 2009 Child Protection Conference, Dr. Bowden's article is entitled, “Parenting Capacity Assessments: A PsychologistsPerspective.”

We know that Dr. Bowden’s service in the Bayne case is paid by the MCFD. That can make parents like the Baynes understandably nervous. Yet Bowden has written a provocative paragraph. Understanding that this paper is intended for diverse child protection personnel, Dr. Bowden’s remarks express a level of objectivity that is encouraging. “While in most cases the PCA is initiated and paid for by MCFD, the psychologist’s job is to consider the whole circumstances of the parent’s situation including their relationship with MCFD. MCFD social workers and others make operating assumptions about their clients that may be erroneous. The psychologist’s job is to increase understanding of the client so as to make it more likely that a constructive working relationship can be formed between social worker and client leading to a return of the child or children.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

PARENTAL CAPACITY ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS / 518

If you were participating in a parental capacity assessment, would you know what to expect? Have you already been through one of these?

There are several components to an assessment but certainly the elemental interview will subject you to a series of questions which can either appear conventional and non-threatening or if you are nervous to entrust your future to the psychologist who administers the test, they will be unsettling and worrisome.

Interestingly, the psychologist engaged by Child Protection does not necessarily develop the questions unilaterally but often a case worker or a team of child protection case workers suggests the questions for which they would want to have answers. The parents are customarily presented with these questions in advance of the meeting with the psychologist. If you have had a CPA done, do these questions reflect your experience?

Monday, May 2, 2011

JOSIAH RESTING BETWEEN DESTINATIONS / 517

Josiah tucked in the padding of his carseat
Cute little boy. Cuter each day. He should be in his parents' arms.

He was legally removed from the custody and care of his mom and dad on the day of his birth.

His three siblings were already in foster care as prescribed by the Ministry of Children during the past three years, pending the outcome of a judge's decision.

That decision came almost one month later after Josiah's birth when the Ministry's application for a Continuing Care Order was judiciously dismissed but the three children were retained in temporary care for three more months. That order is completed on June 2nd.