B.C. child protection system slammed for lack of accountability, leadership, funding - British Columbia - CBC News

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Walker's SCATHING INDICTMENT - Part 5 of 6 - Trial Two

This is my synopsized prose version of Justice Walker's 140-page judgement presented in several segments that reveal the substance of Walker's overview of evidence that demanded his verdict against the Ministry of Children's Child Protection. No stated opinion or fact appears here that does not also appear in the Justice Walker's ruling (legal document). It is public information

In Trial Two the plaintiffs sought damages based on the tort of misfeasance, alleging intentional and reckless misconduct by the Director and her agents acting in breach of the standard of care as well as fiduciary duty, being motivated by bad faith and malice. The same claim for costs was made at first trial but put over to the second trial. More specifically in Trail Two plaintiffs claimed that the Director and her agents failed to protect the children from B.G.; failed to investigate reports of sexual and physical abuse; wrongfully apprehended the children from their mother; unreasonably held the unjustifiable belief that J.P. was unfit to parent; ignored Court orders; abandoned statutory obligations. The result has been ongoing emotional harm to the children from abuse by B.G. and from being withheld from their mother for two and one-half years. Further, while in the care of the Director the youngest child, P.G. was sexually abused because of the unsupervised access.  

In Justice Walker's Second Trial judgement, for ease of reference, he referred to the Director and her agents as the “Director”. The Director and the Ministry cannot be sued. Therefore, the defendant was the Province of British Columbia since the Province is responsible for the Director and the Ministry. The Province denied any basis for a finding of misfeasance, asserting that the Director fulfilled all common law and statutory duties to the children. B.G. denied all claims against him.  Judge Walker in his ruling certainly disagreed. He determined that the infant plaintiffs established the liability of the Province for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty owed to them. The plaintiffs, including J.P., also proved the misfeasance claim. Judge Walker determined that the Director and certain Ministry social workers acted well outside of their statutory mandate and the duty to protect children and that the nature of their libelous handling of the case varied depending on the individual. It ranged from intentional misconduct, bad faith, reckless disregard for their obligation to protect children, breach of the applicable standard of care to unreasonably supporting the custodial interests of the children’s father even if it meant he sexually abused them.

SHOULD YOU AGREE TO MEDIATION?

Your child may have been removed from you by the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) in British Columbia. You may sincerely believe that the removal was unjustified. You may feel that you have valid reasons to contest the actions of the Ministry. You are entitled to your day in court so to speak. It is not unusual for MCFD to seek to establish a Mediation agreement with you that disposes with court proceedings.

It is important that you think carefully before agreeing to this.

You can inform the Ministry of the following:

1. It is my right to have legal representation and advice in all dealings with the director.
2.I do no wish to commit to any sort of hearing until I have a chance to seek counsel.
3. I have been advised that mediation places a gag order on me. This means I will be unable to consult with some of my advisers and places me at great disadvantage.
4.The mediation cannot be arranged without my consent and I have been advised that attendance is not compulsory.
5. I have been advised that once a person enters mediation it can postpone protection hearings and this has sometimes caused very long delays.
6.When the director filed a complaint with me under the CF&CSA he clearly placed himself in an adversarial position and this is again apparent in the presentation report. He has great power over me under the Act and this would make any negotiations in good faith to be difficult.

I am informing you that I will not attend or participate in the mediation program.

MOMMY’S HOUSE

MOMMY’S HOUSE

From the moment she wakes,

she’s preoccupied. Eagerly,

she readies herself to go.

Today is the day and tonight is the night,

she’ll be sleeping at Mommy’s house.

Pajamas, tooth brush, a child’s cosmetics,

fresh undies and a change of clothes,

She remembers well and she packs her own bag.

Today is the day and tonight is the night,

she’ll be sleeping at Mommy’s house.

She cannot contain her excitement.

Her eyes wide, bright, and her breakfast down,

She waits, bag beside her, then her ride arrives

because this is the day and tonight is the night,

she’ll be sleeping at Mommy’s house.

Captive princess, she’s chauffeured,

Arriving to be encircled in a mother’s love.

Quickly into her pajamas she changes,

Her own insurance that tonight is the night,

she’ll be sleeping at Mommy’s house.

A day filled with activities,

Fun things for a girl and her mom,

Baking cookies, watching videos, reading a story,

Normal things in an abnormal time,

And tonight she’s sleeping at Mommy’s house.

Written by Ron Unruh, March 2013

© Copyright BY RON UNRUH, marking an occasion when Ayn Van Dyk, an autistic child was allowed to stay overnight at her mother's house, for the first time in three years. At age eleven Ayn wandered from her family back yard and when found, the Ministry of Children seized the child to investigate parental capacity, taking an excessively long time to resolve this case. She is now permanently at home with mom.

WHY TEACH AND WORK IN BC?

I am altering my focus from child protection to education, specifically, the teachers' and the BC government. I may speak about this for a while.

Why Teach and work in BC?

This is the lead of a web page entitled ‘Make a Future’ which is recruitment initiative by the BC Public School Employers’ Association and 60 BC public boards of education, the First Nations Education Steering Committee, and the Ministry of Education. It’s a job board that presents a glamorous description of BC’s beauty, lifestyle and location and compels the reader with, “If you and your family are looking to move, now is the time. Need a little more convincing? Here are a few other reasons to live here:

• BC has some of the lowest income tax rates in the country both for individuals and families
• BC’s healthcare system has some of the best statistics in Canada, including the longest life expectancy of any Canadian province
• The province has a world-class public education system; in fact other countries are looking to BC as a model
• As the world economy shifts to the Asia Pacific region, BC will be (and has always been) the gateway to the Pacific

There has never been a better time to live and work here. Come and see for yourself!”

The last statement should be questioned and the first question should be asked once again and both of them tested with the present negotiation impasse in mind. Has there ever been a better time to live and teach in BC? Why live and teach in BC?

There must surely have been a better time to be a teacher in BC than at the present moment. One would be hard-pressed to expound convincing reasons to teach in BC right now. The most emotional justification from 550,000 public school teachers in this province might be comments such as “This is my home;” and “I love teaching;” and “teaching is honourable.”

JUSTICE IS A GARMENT

Justice is a garment prepared for residents of this planet. It is woven from billions of threads, knit together into a strong and integrated fabric. Love is the thread and it has produced a fabric of integrity.

Injustice occurs when countless numbers of these threads are pulled from the garment. The wearer of the garment is then uncovered and vulnerable.

A BOURNE LESSON ABOUT CHILD PROTECTION

That's Ayn, 14 months in custody & away from family

Christine and I and our two great friends watched the Bourne Legacy last night. I loved it and I am eager for yet another sequel. The action riveted my attention and the volume was certainly cranked enough to compensate for my hearing deficit. I am fascinated by the story-line of the Bourne series - a government agency gone rogue. I pay attention to the movie script. One line struck me flat in the face as an explanation for the criminal activity of a government funded, well-resourced, unaccountable, secretive agency. “What we do is morally indefensible and absolutely necessary.” It struck me instantly that this must be the same injudicious rationale used by Child Protection agencies to justify their actions against parents like Derek Hoare and Aime Van Dyk and with children such as Ayn.

In Ayn's case, it is the Ministry of Children and Family Development in British Columbia that is responsible for this indefensible and entirely unnecessary heart-ache.

OUR FIRST HYDRO BILL IN OUR NEW CARRIAGE HOME

If I make one claim now, you will know where this piece is going. “We hardly had any lights on and we didn’t use any electric heat, and yes we take a shower each day.”

That’s right. You’ve got it. We have lived in our new condo/townhouse/ carriage home complex for 60 days and yesterday we received our first hydro bill. We immediately took issue with the exorbitant total amount. A punch line is coming but before I deliver it, get this.

Smart Meters they’re called. BC Hydro in British Columbia, is implementing Itron smart meters to all customers by the end of 2012. They enable hourly remote 2-way communication between the meter and the central information gathering hub. BC Hydro promoted to consumers that smart metering offers potential benefits including an end to estimated billing, a major source of our collective complaints. When Christine called BC Hydro she was met with a congenial response and then this predictable default but now superfluous answer. “It is only an estimate.” Really?

LOSS OF TRUST & NEED TO RESTORE IT / 506

You might say that trust is like a piece of paper. Once it is crumpled, it can't be perfect again. You can flatten the paper and try to make it as straight as possible but it will never be perfect again.

The child protection segment of the Ministry of Children and Family Development in British Columbia has lost the trust of many readers and respondents on this blog site and around this province.

I acknowledge that my experience is limited to the scores of stories that I have heard since I began writing this blog. In so many personal instances, MCFD has failed to protect children, and failed to preserve families, and failed to be honourable, failed to show compassion, failed to be large-hearted.

A PUBLIC EXHIBIT / Part 420 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

I have already written a post today  CONCENTRATE ON IMPROVING THE OUTCOMES /

and the first respondent motivated me to write further. This is the result.

I watched an ABC 20/20 documentary on the Peace Corps, one of the most touted international service agencies. Started by President John F. Kennedy, its very name embodies the best ideals of service: to help people. It has established a virtually untarnished reputation for what will soon be 50 years. But how has that untarnished image been maintained and is it truthful? A newly appointed director is crisscrossing the USA in celebration of this anniversary. He and every other official of the Peace Corp denied requests to speak about the incidents that 20/20 investigated. If the reputation is untarnished, at what expense or at whose expense was the damage controlled? The documentary began around the account of an horrific murder of a wonderful young woman, Kate Puzey two years ago in the African country of Benin. The village people among whom she worked loved her. She found herself with a teaching colleague whom she knew was sexually assaulting some of his young students. She could not ignore this. She wrote an articulate, sensitive email letter to Peace Corp headquarters explaining this situation and asking for confidentiality because she was concerned for her safety. The teaching colleague was fired, but his brother worked in that country's Peace Corps office and passed Kate's letter on. One night as she slept, her throat was slit. The Peace Corp in these two years has not told her parents any details of her death. Her belongings were not returned by a Peace Corp representative with sincere regret for Kate's death but rather were dropped off in a cardboard box on her parents' driveway by a delivery person. What 20/20 managed to uncover were many, many Peace Corps workers who had experienced sexual assaults and other criminal acts and yet the Peace Corp had ignored their pleas and never provided victims' advocate assistance but counselled these victim's to be silent. The Peace Corp has never apologized to any of these people for failing them. That was a murder. In addition, more than 900 Peace Corps volunteers have been sexually assaulted during the last decade. Several of them spoke on camera. The Peace Corps cannot now ignore that, or can it? It gets $400,000,000 federal funding monies annually.

Is that what we are going to have to do here in British Columbia? That is, are we going to have to invite brave people to step forward out of anonymity into a high publicity event to describe for the publicand the media all that they have experienced at the hands of social workers within the Ministry of Children and Family Development. There is no admission by MCFD of improper casework, discourtesy, unnecessarily hurtful casework. But countless parents and children have been damaged for many years now. Many have written their stories on blog sites and many have anonymously revealed small bits of their stories on this blog site. Child Protection which should safeguard vulnerable children has become an international disgrace and we here in B.C. continue to ignore the failings of our own interpretation of this social service. That must not be permitted to continue without emphatic apology and comprehensive correction. MCFD itself must recognize this or all that they do that is good will continue to be overlooked because of glaring errors in judgement at the front lines and in the offices that monitor them.

20/20 Video preview:
20/20 Story preview: 

 This Blog has been advocating the return of three children to their biological parents, Paul and Zabeth Bayne, for which a ruling is expected from Judge Crabtree within the next five days. Stay posted.

POLITICIANS AND CHILDREN/ Part 390 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

I am usually hopeful. Today, not so much.

The contentious spirit, the vast expenditure of monies evidenced in our British Columbia political climate as individuals vie for control of political parties and ultimately for the governing mandate of the province is a waste of resources of all kinds. This is however a diminutive display in a small arena which typifies what humanity is doing on a much larger scale around the world. Wikileaks are merely a temporary embarrassment for nations treating one another with suspicion and disrespect in the midst of a veneer of good relations. Elsewhere North Korea simply ignores the politics and aggressively blows up South Korean property. And all of this, for what?

Back to British Columbia. Progress is inhibited because there is so much wheel-spinning as individuals and parties protect themselves. Working together is a concept that eludes our kind. We can theorize but the personalities who are driven to acquire power are hot-wired to fight for factional interests. That's because they get to the power station by accommodations to special interests which thereafter must be placated. The greater interest and greater good of the whole, the province, the people, the seniors, the children, the disabled, the students, the teachers, the medical professionals, the tradespeople, are given perfunctory attention. The resources of this province should be viewed as belonging to all of us. Somehow the government has philosophically divorced itself from us but refused to accept this. From an historical anecdote, our government is the kind that gives the province's teachers grief and delay at the bargaining table and then follows it up by an outlandish in our faces raise for MLAs.

Our government is the consumer society. It devours money. It passes legislation and creates programs for the self-serving purpose of generating more usable dollars to consume on projects that do not matter and do not help the whole. Yet when the budget and the funds are challenging, the really important ministries and services that help us are slashed or eliminated. Isn't that right? Haven't you read about this before?

Yes, well, sorry about all that, but it is illustrative of my frustration with the upper echelon of the Ministry of Children which should and could work together with the Representative of Children and Youth, rather than moving instinctively into a defensive posture. An objective appraisal of MCFD by the Rep should be seen as helpful and on the other hand the Representative could be making constructive suggestions over the months rather than presenting a landmine report once every couple of years. We really know how to do things incorrectly. And the Governing Liberal Cabinet refuses to put money where it would do the most good. So, I need another dark roast coffee right now to fortify me to think about our provincial leaders who cannot be trusted with the best interests of children when they spend most of their time marketing themselves, roasting their opponents or planting IEDs for one another. It would be so refreshing to hear a politician speak about ministry to children, parents and families from a position of sincere commitment.

WORLDWIDE CONCERN/ Part 381 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

If you were in any doubt about the clamouring international interest there is in the concerns about families and children and parental rights and freedoms involved with child welfare and child protection and removal and deaths while in care, Google any of the above but let me also tell you who it is who is reading this GPS blog. Even recently, people log on from Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany; Reading, United Kingdom; Lincoln, New Hampshire, United States; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Huntsville, Missouri, United States; Oaxaca, Mexico; Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Edison, New Jersey, United States; Forest Hills, New York, United States; Twickenham, Richmond Upon Thames, United Kingdom; Algiers, Alger, Algeria; Bonaventure, Quebec, Canada; Indonesia; Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada; Strasbourg, Alsace, France; Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; Sidney, British Columbia; Puerto La Cruz, Vargas, Venezuela; and of course in cities and towns across Canada and throughout British Columbia. Over 143,000 hits have registered and this is not a busy blog. It is however, an intelligible, rational approach and it acquires readers who want to be informed and who appreciate an opportunity to respond with a supportive, informative or corrective viewpoint.

People want to understand how a ministry intended at the start for such selfless and humane purposes can become so wrong-headed no matter where in the world it is practiced.

There is no question in my mind that those who are commissioned and employed to protect a district's children when parents or guardians are failing, are faced with distressing situations that can make them sick and angry. I would respond similarly. There are parents and step parents and grandparents and live-in partners who are prisoners of addictions or behavioural issues that lead them to be negligent custodians of children. And there are parents and others who are cruel and malicious by nature and intent. All of these people forfeit temporarily or forever any right to have children in their care. It is the way it should be. Do you think I have stated this too strongly? These children need a chance to live and to be all for which they have potential. Yet, terrible things happen to children in care too. What must virtuous social workers think and do in such situations? If a child protection agency will remove children for their safety, their alternate living condition must be close to a guaranteed perfect life situation. Such guarantees are not universally pursued - not in every district or region. I am convinced of that when foster parents can actually refuse to be registered yet be given children. Protection agencies informed of a risk situation but which do not act in time to save a child or, having acted to protect a child when a risk was suspected, they refuse to return the child even when no evidence of risk exists and when other evidence points to a return being in the child's best interest.

There is only one word that befits the realities – INCOMPETENCE. It is a universal child protection malaise.

Public Trust, Power and Corruption / Part 380 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

Public Trust, Power and Corruption

A fundamental theme of democracy is the concept of the public trust which asserts that within the public there lies the true power and future of a society and therefore the trust that the public invests in its officials must be respected.

A young person was speaking with me about the seeds of cynicism that have germinated and developed into full grown pessimism. At first one surmises this is cynicism about government but closer inspection reveals it is cynicism about persons, people, humanity. So few people come to power without becoming tainted or even derailed. The reality was captured in a phrase. “Power corrupts: absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

There is more to this adage which derives from a quotation by Lord Acton, who was actually John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, in fact Baron Acton (1834–1902). As an historian and moralist he summed his thought in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887 with these words: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." What chance had public trust if that revelation becomes our starting point? Another ancient, William Pitt, the Elder, The Earl of Chatham and British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778 is recorded as having made an equally profound and disturbing statement in a speech to the UK House of Lords in 1770. "Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it."

If the Liberal caucus is comprised of many who have already compromised their respect and the opposition NDP has nothing better to show, where are we to look for leadership and guileless aid when we want something as simple as mercy or compassion?

Employees within the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development are not elected officers yet to them has been invested a responsibility that in some circumstances has not unlimited power but immense power which when employed can shroud its actions under a legislatively sewn cover of confidentiality and privacy. That without question has generated a pattern of conduct and job performance that has not been in the best interests of children and families for countless thousands of British Columbians. Public trust has been lost for all of these in their elected officials and others employed within governmental ministries. I mentioned to that young person with whom I spoke that he had articulated his eroded trust issues much sooner than I have. I have waited until my senior years to realize how awful things are. Now, I am almost overcome by the avalanche of disappointments. The few untainted MCFD employees whom I earlier mentioned must be as much or more discomfited by what they see around them each day.

Will the true champions please stand up? Will the honourable call for accountability? Will the untarnished stand out as attractive leaders?

PAINT IT IN DARK SHADES / Part 376 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

Social workers with the Ministry of Children are programmed with authority to enter your premises without warrant when they suspect abuse or neglect. This corresponds with our democratic script for the mandated agencies that superintend our lives with law enforcement and social welfare. Within that fabric is child welfare and protection. When actual abuse or neglect occurs in a home, parents may be compelled to submit to court ordered supervision by MCFD. While this will be temporary and could be ongoing, the MCFD may seek to permanently remove children from parental care as they have done with the Baynes and the Continuing Care Order application upon which Judge Crabtree is presently deliberating. First they have removed the Bayne children to long-term care yet with regular contact with parents, but MCFD (Fraser Valley Region) hopes that the Judge will award permanent custody to MCFD with the intent of having these children adopted.

Lily Marneffee, 'Yellow Splash'

people's perception of MCFD

In this specific case, the wretched nature of this design and all of the decisions and actions to achieve the goal, paint child protection in British Columbia with dark shades of silence, concealment, fear, antagonism, chaos and bereavement. It's all about perception. The finished landscape of MCFD may not be accurately portrayed in greys and blacks because there may be actual promising bursts of cheerful orange and hopeful greens but I can't see them at the moment. Nor, I suspect, will an entire BC population see anything but black when the media dip their brushes into the red pot of frustration and anger and come up painting the clear blue of truth as this chapter concludes. May the Baynes' children be returned to them, and may that same good future be the experience of the countless other moms and dads whose children would be far better off in their family home than in a foster home but are caught in a bureaucratic trap.

REMOVE THE SECRECY / Part 324/ For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/

Don't rule on a family by rolling dice

Given the many voices of complaint through the years it is foolish and irresponsible to assume that there have been no miscarriages of justice within the family court system of British Columbia and the Ministry of Children and Family Development.  Professionals must make horrifically tricky judgments. And they are not always right. Even good and well intentioned people make mistakes. Miscarriages of justice must be addressed honestly if these systems are not to lose further public confidence. It is almost unbearable to observe the confusion and powerlessness of parents who are dumped into an arena of case workers, foster parents, supervisors, summonses, counsellors, reports and a turnover of costly lawyers who assist minimally before hurrying to the next case. Who will give attention to these miscarriages and when will it happen? A few of you were calling yesterday for a mass rally, a march to at least gain the attention of the media, the public and hopefully MLA's and Ministry of Children leadership. 

When reviewing the official and independent inquiries into the MCFD over many years and many journal studies and news stories, child protection looks like a social services disaster. Few of us have any idea what it must be like for parents in cases of alleged abuse, to be viewed by professionals as being guilty until you can prove your innocence; to be under such close scrutiny that you are virtually in the world of big brother. I ask you again to look at Robert Harrison's update yesterday on this blog.

B.C. added five new judges recently to assist the backlog of cases in provincial courts. Each week our courts endeavor to produce judgments consistent with strands of frayed information and imperfect relationships. Information has typically been concealed. Parents whose children have been taken away are fearful to speak about their cases lest they reduce their possibility of regaining custody. Even parents who have their children returned are reluctant to identify their comments publicly. Furthermore, media coverage of cases is forbidden. There has been an almost complete censorship of the world of “child protection” and that is why Judge Crabtree's ruling at the start of the Bayne hearing was significant. While the MCFD counsel applied for a news ban, that was denied. So why is not the media on top of this one. It's not bad enough news. It doesn't sell regularly. Whether the eventual ruling goes against either the Baynes or the Ministry will certainly be newsworthy - briefly. Such hearings as the one in which Paul and Zabeth Bayne have been involved are usually in camera, and these family court hearings generally have a lower standard of proof than criminal courts because they cannot send people to jail. But they can take children away and as parents will tell us, the loss of a child is a kind of life sentence. As to a lower standard of proof, try probability as a justification for the destruction of a family. What kind of society is it that will permit a government ministry and a judicial system to operate on the basis of probability rather than evidence? "We cannot prove that they did it, but they probably did." "We cannot prove they are a risk, but they probably are."

Permitting journalists into family courts even with some restricted reporting direction could keep both sides more honest. It might provide the innocent party a chance to cry for help and be heard. As it is, the media must be silent. What should occur is that the media can speak to what happened a decade ago but also to what is happening today, Thursday at Chilliwack Court when Ministry lawyer Finn Jensen completes his summation aimed at persuading the judge not to return the three Bayne children to their parents, ever.

THIS STORY IS NEWSWORTHY / Part 301 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/

The coverage by CBC of the Bayne Campaign for Justice already aired a couple of segments well over one year ago. You can be assured that when Judge Crabtree rules on this case within the next couple of months, it will be national news once again. Whichever way the ruling falls, it will be newsworthy. If, as I personally hope and as many observers believe, the ruling will restore the three small children to their biological parents, it is possible that their story will prompt not only journalistic investigation but also official investigation into Ministry of Children practice. It is now closing on three years that Paul and Zabeth Bayne's three children have been in the care of the B.C. Ministry of Children. No one alleges that Children's Hospital, medical professionals, MCFD and RCMP responded incorrectly when they were initially presented with concern that a child had been harmed by a parent or parents. There was cause for suspicion. RCMP dropped the case. MCFD has never changed its mind. For that matter neither has the doctor upon whose diagnosis the MCFD has rested its affidavit for Continuing Care of all three children.

The Ministry could have changed its mind however when numerous other medical experts disputed the original diagnosis and offered explanation for the child's injuries which are consistent with accident rather than inflicted injury, and consistent with existing conditions inherent with prematurity of birth. These opinions were not acquired by MCFD as a means of testing the accuracy of the original diagnosis. These were obtained by the Baynes who sought explanation themselves for the gravity of the injuries sustained by their child not through shaking by one of them but possibly by the accidental fall of a sibling on the child whose condition might already have been weakened by premature birth. Long ago the Baynes submitted these experts' reports to MCFD. The Ministry could have changed its mind by assessing risk based upon an unbiased but accurate appraisal of character, of history of parental performance, of attestations by hundreds of people who communicated with the Ministry on behalf of the Baynes. The Ministry could have changed its mind but instead regarded every effort by the Baynes to establish their innocence and to recover their children as further evidence of their guilt and liability.

Here are links to previous and now dated CBC stories.
1. Story: Most recently at start of hearing in January Surrey Couple Challenge Shaken Baby Allegation
2. VIDEO: Kathy Tomlinson reports: Ministry disregarded advice to return seized children (Runs 2:36)
3. Kathy Tomlinson in a 3 min 27 sec video piece entitled “Surrey parents fight for return of 3 seized children.”
4. Printed Copy - “Surrey parents fight for return of 3 seized children.” Last Updated: Thursday, March 5, 2009 | 9:40 PM PT
5. VIDEO: Surrey parents talk about their seized children (Runs 7:15)
6. April 2 2009 article - Birth parents plead for medical treatment for baby girl in foster care
7. April 3 2009 Ministry disregarded legal advice to return seized children

CODE OF PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE / Part 300 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/

I offer what you read here today, not as an assessment of what is, but what might be. It is offered with the conviction that social work is beneficial within our society and that good social workers want to accomplish altruistic goals for fellow citizens. Do you think that our Ministry of Children and Family Development and particularly the social workers employed within the child protection arm of the Ministry could use a Code of Professional Excellence and of Service Excellence like this?

CODE OF PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE
Recognizing the importance that BC citizens place on MCFD, our Code of Professional Excellence sets clear principles to guide our practice and to inspire professional excellence among the entire MCFD team. We want to exceed citizen expectations.

KNOWLEDGE: We are always learning about children, youth and families as well as our practices and service opportunities and always teaching one another. We manage what we know in order to share it across the regions.
HIGHEST STANDARDS: We observe the highest standards of integrity, competence and professionalism. We want to be the best and do our best and we take pride in our purpose and work.
INNOVATION: We continually examine and improve our operations and services and discover better problem solving options as well as use education and technology to improve our efficiency.
COLLABORATION: We are a team of teams working together in British Columbia to make the best possible use of our collective resources for the benefit of all our case clients.
CONTRIBUTION: We want our children, youth and families in our cities, towns, villages, communities and among our First Nations communities to be better because we have been involved to assist them.

CODE OF SERVICE EXCELLENCE
The companion code to the Code of Professional Excellence is our Code of Service Excellence.

RESPONSIVENESS: We demonstrate our availability by a prompt service response to calls from institutions and private citizens and seek to accomplish our work in a timely manner in keeping with our mandate.
UNDERSTANDING: We develop solutions to achieve the best interests of children, youth and families by our understanding of their life situations, sensitivity to their needs and desires and by direct personal attention by our professionals who have the appropriate experience and compassion.
VALUE: We manage our work efficiently, delivering sensitive yet pragmatic solutions to achieve best case results that serve the best interests of families as well as children.
THINKING AHEAD: We anticipate the needs of our case clients by briefing them about their rights, about courses of action, about mediation and legal options and all things related to their life situations.

CLARITY: We listen to our case clients and maintain open and active communication to ensure clear understanding of the issues, responsibilities and tasks at hand and in the future.

TURPEL-LAFOND: ESTEEMED BURR UNDER THE SADDLE / Part 298 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne/

She is a bit of a burr under the saddle of the MCFD. It doesn't need to be that way. MCFD could regard her as an advantage. Her work has potential to make MCFD better.

In November 2006, Dr. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond was appointed British Columbia's first Representative for Children and Youth. It is a five-year term and her responsibilities include; advocating for children and youth, protecting their rights and improving the system for their protection and support, particularly those who are most vulnerable. She serves all British Columbians under the age of 19, with an emphasis on young people in government care – such as those in foster homes, group homes or youth custody. These children and youth face greater challenges than those in the general population, especially related to health and education, incarceration and dependence on income assistance.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, S.J.D. (born 1963 in Norway House, Manitoba) the youngest of four girls born to a Cree father and Scottish mother on a reserve in northern Manitoba. She is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. She grew up in poverty, endured harsh physical mistreatment, and was surrounded by domestic violence and alcoholism in her home—a mirror of the upbringing experienced by many of the children she now encounters.

She is a Canadian lawyer and advocate for children's rights, and a judge on leave of the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan. At age 35 Turpel-Lafond was the first Treaty Indian to be named to the bench in Saskatchewan. She was the Administrative Judge for Saskatoon, involved in the administration of the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan in relation to access to justice, judicial independence projects, technology and public outreach. She has also worked as a criminal law judge in youth and adult courts, which led her to work at developing partnerships to better serve the needs of young people in the justice system, particularly sexually exploited children and youth, and children and youth with disabilities, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

As a practicing lawyer, she appeared before all levels of Courts in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Turpel-Lafond has worked on land claims with the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington, D.C., and served as a key legal and constitutional adviser to aboriginal leaders. She has been touted for a seat on the Supreme Court of Canada.

By age 16, she was already at Carleton University, Ottawa, gravitating from math and science to politics, philosophy and eventually the law. Turpel-Lafond holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University, a law degree from Osgoode Hall, a master’s degree in international law from the University of Cambridge and a doctorate of law from Harvard Law School. She also holds a certificate in the international and comparative law of human rights from the University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France.
Time magazine has twice bestowed honours upon Turpel-Lafond, naming her one of the '100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow' in 1994, and in 1999 as one of the 'Top 20 Canadian Leaders for the 21st Century'.
Prior to her judicial appointment, Turpel-Lafond was a lawyer in Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan and a tenured professor of law at Dalhousie University Faculty of Law. She taught law at the University of Toronto, the University of Notre Dame and other universities, and held the position of Aboriginal Scholar at the University of Saskatchewan. She has been a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria law schools.

As the Representative, she doesn’t work for the government. Rather, the Representative for Children and Youth is an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and does not report through a provincial ministry. Their work is based on the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, and upholds the following values:
– Children have a right to be protected and kept safe
– Families are the best environment for raising a child
– Parents and extended family have the primary responsibility for a child
– Decisions made about a child should include their own views and input

Bio Information from her website
and from Wikipedia