I SAW THE TEARS OF THE OPPRESSED

Ecclesiastes 4:1 says, "I saw the tears of the oppressed -  and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors - and they have no comforter.”

Paul and Zabeth Bayne are friends of mine, Christians, at home with their three children, two small boys and a 7-week old daughter and that was when their odyssey of horror began. It was the autumn of 2007. Two small boys chasing one another in the house and the toddler fell on the infant girl who lay on a blanket on the living room floor as mom and dad did supper tasks. In the following hours the baby lost her appetite and slept a lot so the parents took her to the hospital. After a couple of days of examination, the clinical default diagnosis for her triad of symptoms was 'shaken baby.' The term itself has intimations. Authorities did not believe the parents story of a mishap. Reports between medical personnel, and police, and child protection agency workers resulted in all three children being removed from them even though there were no criminal charges against the parents. "I saw the tears of the oppressed." The Baynes' efforts to recover their family cost them the mom's grand piano (she a concert pianist), and cost them their home. They began working night shifts to be available for all the daytime visits and court appearances. One year, two years, three years passed. The Baynes had an army of supporters and advocates. A former child protection social worker critical of some Ministry mistakes advised the Baynes' lawyer Doug Christie, who donated his time and admirably argued their case. Nevertheless, during the fourth year, a fourth child was born to them and within hours that child was also removed from them. "I saw the tears of the oppressed." They waited and prayed and worked for four years before they heard a judge's order to return the four children to them (August 2011). That was an astounding and unforgettable day. Today they are a happy family living far from the trauma of those years. And the children are thriving and growing taller and older and smarter and loving. 

I wrote this today, because I remember. For those years, Zabeth and I were in almost daily contact as I wrote blogs in our concerted campaign to make the public aware.  News networks and newspapers and finally CBC the Fifth Estate picked up their ongoing story.

FOR PARENTS: Info & Suggestions - EVIDENCE, MEDIATION, ACCOUNTABILITY & INTERNAL REVIEWS - part

INFORMATION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR PARENTS WHO ARE INVOLVED WITH CHILD PROTECTION AUTHORITIES IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Written by Ray Ferris

Part Four of Four
EVIDENCE, MEDIATION, ACCOUNTABILITY & INTERNAL REVIEWS
Part 4of4

Evidence. 

Evidence:Dilate Peoples by Ezekiel Antoniewicz

The only really valid evidence is factual. Expert opinion is allowed on validation of expertise, but even expert opinion must state the facts on which it is based. You will note under sections 66 and 68 that the hearing may be as informal as the judge may allow, so it is not necessary to be as slavish to process as in criminal court. Section 68 allows a certain amount of hearsay evidence that the court considers reliable. The writers of the act did not intend this section to make the act into a free for all, with no regard for the rules of evidence, but that is what happens. Social workers generally get little training in the rules of evidence. They cannot distinguish between fact, opinion, hearsay and rumour.

DOES THE GOVERNMENT REALLY WANT OUR INPUT?

DOES THE GOVERNMENT REALLY WANT OUR INPUT?

 by Ray Ferris

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

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

“Some time ago submissions were invited to the provincial standing interparty committee on the representative for children and youth. It is this committee which selected Ms. Turpel-Lafond and with whom she dialogues and to whom she reports. I made a fairly long submission and copied the minister, and deputy minister. In it I used the Bayne case to illustrate some of the serious flaws in the protection services and to suggest some remedies. I emphasized that I was not advocating for the Bayne case, but simply using the Baynes to illustrate some of the problems. Even before submissions had been invited, I had sent a similar letter to the minister and the deputy minister. I eventually got a reply.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN 30 YEARS TO FRACTURE CHILD WELFARE

WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN 30 YEARS TO FRACTURE CHILD WELFARE
Written by my respected friend, Ray Ferris, author of the book “The Art of Child Protection.”

What on earth has happened over the last thirty years to transform the child welfare system from being imperfect but manageable and reasonably fair, to being totally broken and incapable of guarding the best interests of children.

Unless we find ways of fixing the system, there is no use in knowing the law and how it is supposed to work. What we need to do is to define what is broken and why and then to persuade the responsible people to fix it.

There are a number of components causing the breakdown and they cannot be fixed by throwing money at them. In fact throwing more money at them might well make it worse.

TAKING AYN WAS WRONG / 606

A Family shot during this past year

Josiah at 7 mo laughing

The Baynes are still rejoicing. All four children have been returned into the arms of Zabeth and Paul. Tomorrow I will celebrate this joyful event with them at a large party. Tomorrow I will close out this GPS campaign for the Baynes with my final posting. 

Today I am commenting on Ayn and her daddy Derek Hoare.

A young Ayn with Daddy

Derek Hoare expresses himself. Have you already noticed? He has a Facebook Page called ‘Help Bring little Autistic girl back to her daddy.’ Thousands of people are members and many of them write comments each day. His lead observations or his responses to others comprise the reading material. It is a busy page. I was going to say that MCFD would like parents like Derek to roll over and be quiet, but almost certainly MCFD don’t care about Derek. But MCFD should care. He has already appeared on more television and radio interviews and online and hard copy news articles than any previous parent whose child has been taken for questionable reasons. And it has only been 45 days or so since Ayn was removed from his care.

This is what he said yesterday, "Just got off the phone with MCFD, Ayn is sobbing to see me, she has been carrying around my picture, and is crying about wanting to see me. So saddening."

THEY WILL BE HAPPY AGAIN - IT STARTS TODAY / 605

Josiah is six months old and he has been living with Zabeth and Paul for the past month.

His siblings, Kent, Baden and Bethany have been visiting the family home off and on for a few days and nights at a time as part of the reintegration programme agreed upon by the Baynes and the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

BUT, TODAY IS THE DAY!!! YES TODAY. 
BY NOON TODAY, THURSDAY AUG 25, 2011, the eldest three children will be received into the Bayne home and care. The Bayne Family will have their chance for a restart.

Zabeth and Paul were so excited last evening when we chatted. They wondered whether they would be able to sleep, and perhaps they haven't slept much but their pensive rest will have been filled with happy thoughts. The children too have been counting down the days. This is right and good.

It was close to four years ago when a quake rocked their world culminating in newborn Bethany being retained by the Ministry and the two older but still little boys being apprehended as well. It's old news now and I won't retell it this time. The Bayne path became rockier before it ever was evened out to this point.

Bethany cozy on the couch

This past Father's Day

Soon this happy little Josiah who was born early in 2011 will be joined by three other smiling children looking forward to their familiar places and possessions at 'home.' Soon the two boys will don their new school uniforms and be ready for first day at class in the school where they are now enrolled. Normalcy may come easier to the children than to Paul and Zabeth whose lives were child-empty for so long. I am sure that the children may ask about their foster mom and family. The Baynes will need to work through that. I am sure the daily demands of four children plus a business work schedule will require degrees of patience and stamina from Paul and Zabeth that are taxing. I expect that the accumulated tolerance and fortitude acquired through these past four years has equipped them fairly well. And they themselves are made of the right stuff.

Zabeth and Josiah

I believe that they will be a very happy and contented family.

On Saturday, family and friends in great numbers will join them in a grand party celebrating the occasion of this reunion and taking time to thank God whom the Baynes ultimately credit with this result.   

TODAY JOSIAH IS BEING GIVEN BACK TO ZABETH AND PAUL / 587

Josiah in the Month of June

Recently Josiah had an overnight with Paul and Zabeth. The following afternoon I saw him sleeping against his mommy in a soft front baby carrier. He has grown. He has received good foster care for the past five months since he was born and since he was removed from his mom. Today he begins overnighting at Paul's and Zabeth's place forever - it's his place too. 

Since early July Paul and Zabeth have known that their children would be returned to them. In a cordial meeting attended by their lawyer Robert Hamilton, MCFD legal counsel Dean Tate and case worker Matthew Walker as well as new director Sheila Zeiner, they were informed of this news. Since the social worker requested that the Baynes should not make these details known prior to July 23, the date upon which the parents would be allowed to inform their children that they are scheduled to come home, I complied with that request.

I WILL BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT / 584

We have celebrated the news that Paul and Zabeth will have their children returned to them in August, beginning with the Aug. 2nd homecoming of Josiah, the five month old boy who was removed from Zabeth four hours after he was born in February of this year. Then on August 25th the arrival of Kent, Baden and Bethany will represent the restoration of family life. That is what the case worker has promised Paul and Zabeth. He gave permission to the Baynes to inform their own children about this event and that was done last week. That was when we could cooperatively go public with this news. However, .................. forget the however, first of all ................

THE COSTS OF THE BAYNE CASE / 583

The following article is written by Ray Ferris, retired social worker and author of 'The Art of Child Protection' and decided critic of the way the Ministry of Children and Family Development handled the case of Paul and Zabeth Bayne and their children for the past four years. Here he tells us what the estimated costs have been.

How can one even begin to measure the costs of the Bayne case? Do we count the number of hot, salty tears shed by the anguished parents, or those shed by the terrified children when they were dragged from that birthday party? Do we count how many aching heartbeats there were over the years? Do we count the emotional damage to the children caused by spending vital years in constant turmoil and uncertainty? Can we put a price on the horror felt by the many of the supporters at each fresh cruelty and indignity? Doug Christie was one person who paid a high price. It was not just the time he gave, when he could have been doing paid work, because that to him is a minor matter. No, it was the emotional toll it took when he could see the injustice unfolding and the suffering of the family. He was getting to the point where he couldn’t take it any more. All these costs will resonate with the readers of the Ron Unruh blog, but I doubt whether they will cause the least little bit of bother to the likes of director McNeill, his sidekick, John Fitzsimmons, or Loren Humeny, the social worker who tried to ban breast milk for a newborn infant. Was Judge Thomas Crabtree even able to get his head out of process and precedent for long enough to take a serious look at the human cost? He turned a blind eye to the guidelines of the act and anything else that did not fit into his concept of cold blooded justice.

DRUGS CAN'T STOP THE TEARS / 576

Daddy Paul and Bethany

The Baynes are working with the Surrey office of MCFD and we are believing that the outcome will be positive with an imminent return of their four children to their care, their home, and their lives of love. Only excellent parents such as they are could possibly endure what they have for what is now, almost four years of deprivation – dispossession of their own offspring. Even while they wait and work, they are sympathetic to other parents who are similarly struggling with the heartache of a child removed by the Ministry of Children. No one wants to mistrust a Ministry that in theory is protective of children. Yet when a steady stream of complainants against MCFD actions are parents who are by all reports sound-minded, stable, committed and lovingly responsible, observers with common sense must deduce that there is something seriously flawed in the practice of protecting children. In British Columbia the fault line lies in connection with the Child, Family and Community Services Act, with the way that it is written, with the ways by which it is interpreted and certainly through the manner in which it is applied by directors, team leaders and social workers who service cases.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY / 572

Wendy Gailey Atkins web photo

Then occasionally people like Paul and Zabeth Bayne and Derek Hoare come along to wrest our attention. Something has happened to their families that has interrupted their family routine and happiness. Oh but much worse than that, this occurrence has introduced a horror and an unrelenting panic against which they are virtually powerless.  

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE – PART 2or5 / 564

Ray Ferris is my guest writer for the next five GPS posts. He retired after a career that included significant years with the MCFD and he has written a book entitled 'The Art of Child Protection.' In five parts here is the substance of a letter already sent to specific officers of the government and offered publicly now using the Bayne Case to expose flaws and to propose remedies in the child protection system.

Yesterdays' post was Part One and entitled "The Bayne Case is an Example of Flaws." It provides the facts of the case and a summary.

NUMEROUS OTHER CASES, ANALYSIS AND REMEDIATION – PART 2

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE – PART 1of5 / 563

Ray Ferris is my guest writer for the next five GPS posts. He retired after a career that included significant years with the MCFD. In five parts this will be the substance of a letter already sent to specific officers of the government and offered publicly now using the Bayne Case to expose flaws and remedies in the child protection system. Here is part one of his letter.



THE BAYNE CASE AS A GRAPHIC EXAMPLE OF FLAWS – PART 1
My purpose in writing to you is to draw your attention to the facts in a particular case and in some related cases in order to illustrate a number of serious problems in the child protection system. Some of these problems are systemic and others are not. Where the problem is systemic, I offer some suggested remedies that can be tried. I think that there are possible remedies for the non-systemic problems, but they are deep-seated and difficult to correct. It can be noted that non-systemic problems cannot by remedied by making administrative or systemic changes. This is one of the reasons why the past systemic changes recommended by people like Gove and Hughes have not worked and have in many respects simply created new problems.