IS EMERGENCY REMOVAL OF CHILDREN STANDARD PRACTICE?

reunion party photo

Over a six-year period, this Blog focused upon two cases in which so-called 'emergency removal' of children occurred. That is what propelled me to speak to the grievance, which I became aware was far more frequent than I wanted to believe or that is known by the public. These two consisted of first, a family of four children in which the surprise removal, or removal without notification occurred several times, and second, the case of a girl taken from her school. In the first case, the removal and custody battle lasted four years. In the latter case the girl spent three years in foster care, originating from an incident when she, an autistic child, wandered from her back yard and was missing for three hours.

from www.lukesarmy.com

In the first case, the initial concern was that the infant had been physically abused, shaken. Was seizure without notification necessary in either of these cases? Has it become standard practice? These children were eventually returned to parents. Yet here is a gripping observation. In both the instances, the children were found not to have been maltreated, neglected, abused. That is merely symptomatic of a system that uses emergency removal as the tool with which to deal with appropriate concerns that must be investigated.

JUNE 2011 - MY FIRST ARTICLE ABOUT AYN

This is archived piece that I wrote shortly after Ayn Van Dyk was removed from her father in June 2011. There were 1000 hits to this post back then. She is still in foster care. This should be over by now. She should be home. But read and learn how this began. All of the info in this post dates back to the date of publication. A court appearance is scheduled now for February 2014.

Derek Hoare has three children and all three lived with him until ……… Well, wait until you hear this.

Photo by John Van Putten shows Derek with Ayn 

Did your child ever go missing for a few minutes, for an hour or so? And were you desperate to find the child. Did you contact the police? And when you found the child weren’t you ecstatic and so grateful? So was Derek. But his joy didn’t last long.

IS MCFD'S CONDUCT OF THE AYN VAN DYK CASE TANTAMOUNT TO 'CHILD ABUSE'?

THE QUESTION APPLIES TO
WRONGFUL REMOVAL TOO

This is with respect to the case of Ayn Van Dyk, the 11 year old autistic girl who has been separated from her mom and dad by the MCFD for over two years in foster care, a case about which I have made numerous blog comments during that time.

A QUESTION WAS PUT TO ME TODAY: "Considering all that MCFD has done, and considering that all of us here - from a very wide variety of backgrounds, etc. - find the treatment of Ayn appalling, do either of you consider what has been done to Ayn "child abuse"? I know I do."

MORE FROM FERRIS ON JUSTICE WALKER'S STUNNING VERDICT

You will need to refer back several blog posts to catch the significance of the court case that has captured Ray Ferris's attention. The judge ruled against a father who he said had abused his children, and roundly faulted MCFD for believing him and getting it so wrong, and awarded the children to the mother. Now she is suing MCFD. Listen to Ferris below ... By the way, he is a colleague advocate for change to MCFD and for justice to the improperly treated.

THE WAY I SEE AYN VAN DYK'S CASE

We are all waiting for her return, none more apprehensively than Amie Van Dyk and her ex husband Derek Hoare. They are the parents of Ayn Van Dyk, the twelve-year old autistic child who innocently meandered from her family back yard in 2011. Ayn was ten years old at that time. Even Ayn with imperfect cognitive capability would have reasoned to stay in her own back yard had she known that the consequence would be her removal from her family for over two years.

Amie and Derek have been informed some months ago that they can expect Ayn to be returned to them some time during the month of September 2013.

Ayn was ten years old when she scaled a fence that surrounded the back yard. She was not affecting a prison break. She was not violating a community standard. She was not disrupting anyone’s peace, although she did cost the taxpayer some money because of the urgently placed 911 call from her father summoning the help of RCMP who sent a helicopter into the Abbotsford skies to locate his child. Even Derek with his anxious parental response would have reasoned to summon friends instead of RCMP had he known that the outcome would be the agony of separation from his daughter for most of these past two years.

AYN'S APPREHENSION WAS UNREASONABLE - WILL THE MINISTER LISTEN?

In June 2011, MCFD’s decision to apprehend Ayn was the result of under-investigation. I believe it was over-reaction rather than over-investigation. Sending out the child protection team was standard procedure following an RCMP involvement in a child-search. However, when social workers arrive unannounced with document in hand, requesting a parent’s signature to a voluntary surrender of a child, without engaging in a sincere discussion of the challenges of parenting an autistic child, and in this specific case, the reasonable explanation for the child’s wandering from home, and possibly as well, asking how the Ministry could actually facilitate Derek’s job of caring for three children, two of whom are autistic, then the MCFD action was flagrantly unreasonable, illogical, unfounded, groundless, senseless and irrational.

CRITICISM OF CHILD PROTECTION CAN BE BALANCED

There are cases like Ayn’s where, even the MCFD’s own files cannot possibly justify withholding the child from parents. The seizure and custody of the child is so inherently mistaken and illegal in the moral sense if not judicial, that it can be called iniquitous. And I want to blow the lid off when this happens.

EASTER SUNDAY & AYN IS STILL NOT HOME

WHEN AYN WAS TAKEN AWAY

By Derek Hoare

On June 12, 2011 at 1:00 PM the Abbotsford Police were called by family members of a missing 9-year-old girl. The girl, Ayn Van Dyk is autistic and is non-communicative was last seen playing outside of the family residence in the 1800 block of Mt. Lehman Road at 12:30 pm. Ayn was reported as being 4 foot 5 inches tall, weighing 80 pounds and with short blond hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt with grey shorts and white shoes. Search and rescue teams consisting of police patrol, canine and air units were activated. She was found in three hours at a neighbour’s back yard. She was returned to her home, safe and sound. Four days later the family’s nightmare began. Derek, Ayn’s father, tells his side of the story below. He shared this on that day. This piece was written in summer of 2011. She remains in Ministry custody and living in a foster home today Easter Sunday 2013.

“My name is Derek I am a single father of three wonderful young children, aged 9, 10 and 11; my youngest two have both been diagnosed with severe autism. Though a constant and challenging struggle, I have done my best to protect and nurture them, as I love them so much and have dedicated my life to their achievement of happiness.

 

My youngest child is a bright and beautiful little spitfire named Ayn. She has and is blossoming so well here at home and has come so far to overcome her obvious disability, she does however continue to struggle and outburst when in other environments, particularly at school. Ayn is naive and unaware of the dangers that exist in the world at large, so when on Sunday she escaped the backyard we were very worried for her safety.

With each passing moment the likelihood that something terrible had happened increased, as Ayn should stand out from other children easily and should have been quickly spotted. Fortunately Ayn was discovered two doors down playing in a neighbours backyard, the neighbour had taken an afternoon nap which provided Ayn with the ability to play undisturbed.

The challenges I have faced in caring for my daughter have been encompassing and life altering, these challenges are very dynamic and new challenges arise as fast as the old one depart. Now with her discovery of the neighbours nearby trampoline and pool, she will undoubtedly seek to return there, vigilance will be required to face this new found challenge, but it is one which I must now face just as I have with each prior challenge and as I would have to with our future challenges as well.

As it stands today I may never get that opportunity. This morning two workers from CPS arrived at my home to request that I “voluntarily” give Ayn over to them (she was at school at the time); if I refused they would simply coercively remove her. There should be no illusions here when someone approaches you and says, “give me your child or I’m taking her,” you should not pretend that any such choice would be done “voluntarily”.

They do not argue that she was abused. They do not argue that she was un-nurtured. They simply say that as a single father I have an overwhelming amount of responsibility and workload, and that Ayn’s naivety renders her a danger to herself, and due to me having so much to deal with they should remove her in effect to lighten my workload.

It is not argued that Ayn was not thriving here. It was not argued that Ayn was failing to improve at home, but that her behaviour was self-endangering. My little girl is autistic, I am aware that she does not understand the dangers that lurk, I love her and I protect her. When Ayn has a tantrum at school it is me they either call on to calm her or to whom they send her home. When she is injured it is to me whom she turns because she “needs a bandage”. The greatest successes this little girl has had were nurtured in the home. She loves it here. She loves her brothers and she loves her Dad, please help me get my little girl back.
 I would be forever in your debt,
 Derek.”

MOMMIE'S LATEST REPORT ON HER VISITS WITH AYN

Amie Van Dyk, Ayn's mom sees her regularly now and her recent March 24th update is an encouraging one. Ayn is the ten year old girl who was taken from her father's care in June 2011 and still remains the custody and care of the Ministry of Children in B.C. She is a girl with autism. YOU WILL WANT TO HEAR WHAT HER MOM SAYS SO PLEASE READ ON.

IT STINKS - TWO CHRISTMASES AWAY FROM HER BROTHERS

Bureaucratic Red Tape or Ministry Protocol are the only reasons that the Ministry of Children and Family Development’s regional office in charge of Ayn Van Dyk’s case can present for not insuring that she was at her family home for Christmas this year rather than in the foster home where she has received care for almost all of the nineteen months she has been removed from her biological father’s custodial care. Neither of these reasons is justifiable from anything but a clinical position but certainly not from a compassionate and humanitarian position.

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)

Autism – A Succinct Description

Autism is a complex developmental disability that causes problems with social interaction and communication.  Symptoms usually start before age three and can cause delays or problems in many different skills that develop from infancy to adulthood.

Autism – A Spectrum Disorder

Different people with autism can have very different symptoms.  Health care providers think of autism as a “spectrum” disorder, a group of disorders with similar features.  One person may have mild symptoms, while another may have serious symptoms.  But they both have an autism spectrum disorder. The autism spectrum disorder includes (1) the autistic disorder known as autism, (2) Asperger Syndrome, and (3) Pervasive Developmental Disorder or atypical autism. Sometimes health

Providers are using the broader term, pervasive developmental disorder, to describe autism. In that case this category (PDD) includes the autism spectrum disorders as well as something called Childhood Disintegrative Disorder and Rett syndrome. In most material autism spectrum disorder and “autism” mean the same thing.

TV SHOW CALLED 'TOUCH' - A Touch of Autism

I am fascinated by the story line of a new TV show this year. The story concerns an ex-journalist and single father Martin Bohm, a widower, and his mute son named Jacob. The father is played by Kiefer Sutherland in a role that is significantly different from his role in ‘24’. His son, played by David Mazouz, is an 11–year-old challenged child yet gifted. The story is not explicit about the possibility that Jacob is autistic, but some viewers with sympathy for autism want to believe this. Jacob sees the world in numbers, and seems to have a special ability to predict future events and make sure that people who are destined to meet, do so. His obsession with numbers - 318 in particular - turns out to be the way he communicates with others, mainly his father. Though he has received no formal training in complex mathematics, he has discovered the Fibonacci sequence on his own simply through observation and his unique perception of the world around him. The autism spectrum indicators are his aversion to being touched, little exhibition of emotion and he does not speak.

What makes this show so intriguing is the fact that Jacob’s gift permits him to see things that no one else see because he sees the patterns that connect everything in life and his way of communicating is through numbers. Martin must decipher the meaning of the numbers and find the people whose lives they affect. In each episode, there are always several standalone yet interconnected storylines to which Jacob’s gift and Martin’s timely intersections with these people bring about resolutions of long standing issues and often healing of one kind or another.

What makes the autism premise of Jacob’s condition more plausible is the fact that the show’s creator, Tim Kring, has experiences of his own son who has autism. For this reason there is some assurance that as the episodes continue, he will insure that the fictional aspects are based upon scientific fact. It would appear that Jacob represents a side of the spectrum on which the misdiagnosed individuals may have the ability for more advanced forms of communication than we understand.

You can watch the first ten episodes at this FOX website

PAINFUL BULLETS OF FACT

Aime (mommy) and Ayn

On the day that Ayn was born in 2001 and Derek saw her for the first time, his heart was hers.

On June 16, 2011 Derek Hoare experienced the unthinkable shock of learning that his nine year old daughter Ayn had been removed from her school by the Ministry of Children and Family Services (MCFD).

He is not accused of harming her. In fact his life has been dedicated to nurturing and understanding her. Ayn is autistic.

Derek was informed that the action to remove his daughter from his care was designed to ease his load of responsibility but in fact it created an intolerable burden.

SHE IS JUST A LITTLE DISABLED GIRL, WHO WANTS TO LIVE LIFE

THE STORY OF AYN VAN DYK

As told by her father Derek Hoare

Part Eleven of Fifteen

SHE IS JUST A LITTLE DISABLED GIRL, 

WHO WANTS TO LIVE LIFE

October 27-28, 2011

All fifteen parts are Derek's own words written in 2011. He has been silent a long while now. This month of April marks the tenth month that Ayn has been in government custody. 
October 27

"Wow what a busy day; tons of details to sort out, Wyatt is ill, Lori Pynn just blew me away, and I just got back from grabbing Lou from the bus stop.... ahhh parenting :) Funny y'know because we immerse ourselves in our kids' lives and face one challenge after the next, each with their own set of tribulations and rewards. To have others look in on your life and take no time to understand where you have come from and where you are going on that journey that we call Family, and then based on those ignorant assumptions impose upon you what they perceive is "best" is an absolutely outlandish sense of justice. It is both scary and dismaying to think that I wasn't the first to go through this and will not be the last. It seems so critical that people wake up to this reality of a system so misguided it has rendered itself to be the very aggressor it was meant to protect us from."

THIS WAS COURT DAY

THE STORY OF AYN VAN DYK

As told by her father Derek Hoare

Part Ten of Fifteen

THIS WAS COURT DAY

October 18-19, 2011

Oct 18

Arg!!! having a hard time getting myself to remember to sit down and write these on time... I'm bad. I will set an alarm in my phone to remind me; 11:30 pm.

So this was court day, much anticipated though I was working off the assumption that it was pointless... an accurate assumption it turns out. I kept Lyric home today with the faint hope that there could be a move to return. But my understanding was that if I refused to consent to their request to a 90 day temporary custody that a case conference would be ordered to see if the two sides could come together avoiding a distant and lengthy trial.

I arrived and saw no-one there I knew... Amie hadn't arrived yet, my lawyer was nowhere in sight, nor Amie's... nobody. After entering the courthouse two group members arrived and we headed into the courtroom. I saw Amie's lawyer and MCFD's lawyer as well as the SW... Still no sign of my lawyer. The hearing lasted about 10 seconds.... I did get to speak my first "word" ever in court... "Ya", when asked if it was me who was present. Surreal first word and over many months in!

MAKING OUR WAY - AUTISM

If you can give yourself 60 minutes to watch a rare video about Autism from the PBS network, then you will find that this exercise is educational while at the same time highly motivating. It is entitled, Making Our Way - Autism.'

Daily life for a child with autism is a challenge for the child and the family.

How much greater is the challenge, when a provincial Ministry of Children and Family Development has deemed that enough reason exists within a gathering of family facts, to remove this child from her parents. In the minds of social workers perhaps the family challenge is exacerbated due to the fact that the father is parenting solo. Divorced from his wife, and yet with a cooperative and trusting relationship between the two adults, father is nevertheless the primary caregiver and custodian of the child. Of course I am speaking of a specific family and a specific child, father and mother. I speak of Ayn Van Dyk, a ten year old girl with autism, her father Derek Hoare, and her mother Amie Van Dyk. Ayn has retained her mother's maiden name for reasons personal to and agreed upon by both parents. Now factor in that Derek is parenting three children in total of which two are autistic, one of them being Ayn. Then consider that while Derek is recognized by the Ministry as a highly intelligent man and is affirmed as an affectionate father to his children, he is also regarded as someone who blames the school for Ayn's behaviour and claims that she is well behaved at home. He is also portrayed by the Ministry as being unconcerned or argumentative of the Ministry recommendations and who is slow to seek medical attention for his children. All of that might be contested with a fuller fact citation. Now add a recitation of incidents in which Ayn tantrumed, has taken her clothes off, has acted aggressively, self injuriously or in one instance injured another child, and add an occasional appearance at school with unkempt clothing.

This may explain why the government considered it necessary to remove Ayn but it does not excuse that she has been kept from Derek and her home and her brothers for over seven months. Prescribed time lines have not mattered to the Ministry which repeatedly transgresses such regulations with apparent immunity and perhaps the approval of the Minister of MCFD.

Watch Making Our Way: Autism on PBS. See more from Making Our Way: Autism.

Ron's Twitter

OKAY, SO LOGIC DOESN’T TELL US MCFD HAS TO GO

Yesterday, an anonymously delivered comment challenged my logic and the subsequent conclusions. My title was LOGIC TELLS US MCFD HAS TO GO. I used Aristotelian premises to make unconditional statements and uncompromising deductions. The writer convincingly disputed the soundness of my comparisons and compelled me to review my thought processes.

The writer observed, “I think it is a dangerous comparison saying that child protection is either effective of ineffective. Most things are not black and white like your comparisons (cat is either white or not white, or it is either raining or not raining). One could make the same comparison that open heart surgery is either 100% effective or not 100% effective and since it is not 100% effective it should no longer be a treatment option. If we take this line of thought we could essentially make a claim to discontinue all health care treatments. I think that if something is 80% effective it is something we continue to do. To state that 100% effective is the only way we keep a program is a very odd statement. We could use that rationale to rid the need for school. As School is not 100% effective for everyone.”

That was well written and effectively argued.

I realized that I had overstated what I still believe to be true. I recognized that my piece was a virtual discard of the baby with the bathwater. I customarily seek not to do that when I write. I may have written from a weary disposition and with foggy attention to my subject.

So, forget the logic analogy. It accomplishes little and confuses the issues. What I prefer to say is that performance reviews, ministry assessments, published opinions, reports by the Representative of Children and Youth, observation of the increase of court cases and the backup of cases in the judicial system, and the personal testimonies of hundreds of grieving parents convince me that the Child, Family and Community Services Act needs to be reworked in order to better insure that the necessary role of a Ministry for Children will protect children while safeguarding families and respecting parental rights. Then I believe there will be a higher probability that apparent injustice does not occur among innocents and that corrective and restorative efforts among families succeed.

THE EDUCATION OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN

 by Ray Ferris

author of the book “The Art of Child Protection.”

You can purchase it from him by writing to rtferris@telus.net

Ray Ferris receiving the Justice Award

As I have stated before, there is no shortage of experts who can define autism, bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity and on and on. There is no shortage of experts who can tell us confidently just what we should be doing with all these children and others and how much more of it we should be doing. There is just one little snag. There is a great shortage of results. If we look at the long haul, most autistic children are unable to manage independently as adults. We can spend all kinds of money on them and we can demand all sorts of things from the government, but for the most part we are describing process. Certainly all the people who work with autism and other difficult conditions are dedicated and sincere and they will usually see small gains here and there, because they must believe in what they are doing. However, most of these children will not be functioning normally by any stretch of the imagination even after years of effort.

Of course there are a few notable exceptions like Ms. Temple Grandin, who is a genius with animals, but they are few and far between. What do we really hope to accomplish with children like Ayn in a regular school setting. It takes two full time teaching assistants to manage her behaviour. Not only is she not getting an education, but she is probably a distraction for other children. Albert Einstein pointed out that it is irrational to do the same thing over and over again and expect the results to be different. He could have said stupid. He was thinking in the scientific context, but the same is true for society at large. Just as the biggest countries in the world cannot borrow their way out of debt, but they keep trying. The children’s ministry cannot solve non-administrative problems with administrative devices, but that is all they ever do. Freudian psychology claimed that people’s maladjustment could be fixed by the process of psycho-analysis. If it did not seem to be working, then there should be more of it. More sessions over more years. Never would they admit that the theory could be flawed. It was flawed of course, but two generations wasted their money on it before it was abandoned by the insurance companies.

With all the money that is spent on autistic programs, can the authorities define specific goals and targets that they hope to reach? If they can, I would like to hear about them, because all I see everywhere is couched in generalities. In school we expect children to learn to read and write, to do arithmetic and to learn about the world of science and humanity. Children who cannot learn to read and write cannot participate in many important ways. Do such children really belong in a normal classroom situation? If all we can hope to do is to contain and manage behaviour, should we be doing this at the expense of other children. Many types of children, such as those with Down syndrome, can be trained and they can learn to manage their own behaviour. But many autistic children cannot. What are we hoping to do with them? Can anyone enlighten me?

Later this week, I hope to write about the function of the protection system with special needs children. When is it appropriate for the state to take over parenting for them and when it is not? Ray Ferris

Ray Ferris is an occasional GPS post writer. Retired now, Ray speaks from 31 years in child welfare and protection as a social worker, district supervisor and family court coordinator. He cannot tolerate injustice imposed upon families by ineffectual case work.

Ron's Twitter

CAN WE REALLY RELY ON A DIAGNOSIS OF AUTISM?

 by Ray Ferris

author of the book “The Art of Child Protection.”

You can purchase it from him by writing to rtferris@telus.net

Ray Ferris receiving Justice Award

"A few days ago the local newspaper reported that in the USA, between 2001 and 2011, the incidence of diagnosed autism increased by 20% and during the same period, the diagnosis of bipolar disorder rose by 40%. During the same week it was reported in the British paper “The Guardian” that there had been an alarming increase in the administering of psychotropic medications to young children. There was no doubt that anti-psychotic medicine was being given quite inappropriately in many cases.

THROUGH MY EYES

Scott James X Factor contestant

THROUGH MY EYES
score: Fiona Johnson lyrics: Valerie Foley
singer: Scott James

To See the World through my eyes
It changes shape and it changes size.
It’s not quite the world you see.
If you could find a way
To look around inside my mind
Maybe you would understand me.

I’m not blind but I can almost see.
I’m not deaf but things sound strange to me.
I’m not trapped but it’s hard to feel free.
Imagine what it’s like to be me.
Imagine what it’s like to be me.

It’s hard for my to try
to think things through, or talk like you.
Everything can be a blur sometimes,
But if you walk along beside me,
Hold my hand and guide me
Together any mountain we can climb.

Cause I’m not blind but I can almost see.
I’m not deaf but things sound strange to me.
I’m not trapped but it’s hard to feel free.
Imagine what it’s like to be me.
Imagine what it’s like to be me.

Dreamin bout my future
And it’s brighter than you know
I’ll get there on a different road
When I am ready to go

I don’t need pity. I don’t need tears.
I just need someone to help me understand my fears.
Tell me you believe in me.
Let me know that I’m okay
Help me feel safe and warm
And I will find my way.

Cause I’m not blind but I can almost see.
I’m not deaf but things sound strange to me.
I’m not trapped but it’s hard to feel free.
Imagine what it’s like to be me.
Imagine what it’s like to be me.

Scott James is Autistic (Aspergers)and after reaching the final 50 of X-Factor UK, he recorded this Autism single. It was released on April 2nd 2011, coincident with Autism Awareness Day. All funds from its sale are donated to Autism Awareness UK. Have you ever wondered what it is like to have Autism? If you wish to have a brief musical treat as well as peak into an autistic spirit, please listen. I posted this story on January 23rd as well with a fuller explanation of Aspergers.