On the 14th of December Derek Hoare headed for the location where his daughter was being held. It was her birthday and he had not seen her since June 16, 2011 when she was removed from him by the Ministry of Children and Family Development. He was here to deliver a large bouquet of balloons with her name on them. He didn't see her that day although he desperately wanted to see her, but he had made the decision that he could not break her heart by turning around and leaving her there. She doesn't understand you see. He has always been her saviour, her champion, her ever present help. Now she has been taken from him and if he didn't rescue her now, how would she perceive that? Would she be overwhelmed? Quite possibly. She is autistic. MCFD knew that. Quite possibly MCFD social workers don't understand autism. Furthermore, just as they did not understand the Baynes' determination and strength of character they will have misjudged Derek Hoare.
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| Derek texted, "Off I go" |
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| "Waiting for the supervisor to come down and meet me" |
Well a month has passed since then. That's right. Christmas was celebrated without her in Derek's home with his other two children. That was very hard for Derek. The Ministry chose not to give her back. You see, she is after all, merely a case file. Social workers cannot allow themselves to become so emotionally involved. Is that the theory? There is process and protocol and the girl and the family must wait for that. Of course, all of this could be dispensed with in an instant if a social worker wanted to do what was actually right in this case. This girl should not still be in the care of the ministry.
On this occasion Derek took joy in leaving these balloons for Ayn so she would know that he loves her.
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| "no subtle way to drop off 3 dozen balloons... especially when the pot lights keep popping them!" Derek wrote |
Near the end of January Derek will have a Case Conference with social workers that will hopefully provide a plan to return Ayn to him. He waits for that. We all wait with him.
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