'DIAGNOSIS MURDER' ON FIFTH ESTATE FRI JAN 13

FIFTH ESTATE is an award winning CBC television program known for its quality investigative journalism. This coming week, on Friday January 13th at 9 PM Pacific Time, it will air a show to which many of us have looked forward. The show is entitled tile ‘DIAGNOSIS MURDER’ and it is a documentary on the questionable science of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Paul and Zabeth Bayne will be involved in this expose. You will recall that this couple lost custody of their three children with an event that began in September 2007. For two years this blog chronicled their story – the medical diagnosis of their youngest child’s injuries as SBS and the subsequent establishment of a Ministry of Children’s case that one or both of the parents were responsible for those injuries. That unchanging conviction directed the Ministry’s actions for the next four years. RCMP had dropped charges due to insufficient evidence. That did not stop MCFD. We can understand the need to be cautious, even suspicious, and therefore exercise due diligence to ascertain whether these parents are a risk or not, and further whether they deserve and can manage three children if they are returned to them.

Will this be a good documentary? Will it affect any benefits for the Baynes, or for other parents who have been suspected of shaking a child? I have great expectations for this approaching show. My confidence comes from the record of archived Fifth Estate shows and most recently the success of this past week’s show entitled ESCAPE FROM JUSTICE.

THE WAY IT WORKS

Natural parents have full rights over their child unless mitigated by an agreement or court order to the contrary. These rights, known as parental rights are also referred to as custody or guardianship.

Occasionally a parent is unable to cope with parental responsibility and voluntarily turns a child over to the government. By law, in all jurisdictions of Canada there are child protection services, sometimes called child welfare services.  The term 'apprehension' is applied to the government intervention by which a child is removed from the natural parent(s) care, and this is affected by the extraction of all or most of the parental rights from the natural parents, through a quick confirmation by the Court. On this blog we tend to highlight the cases in which the government has taken initiative for a child protection order by which parental rights are set aside temporarily. I cannot underscore boldly enough my objection to the too frequent occurrence of temporary care that ignores court orders and time parameters.

British Columbia's legislation is entitled Child, Family and Community Service Act. In Ontario, the related legislation is the Child and Family Services Act, and, in Alberta, the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act. The BC CFCSA is unique in that it personifies the role of the government in child protection cases by a reference to the Director who is a senior public servant in one of the five provincial regions who interestingly seldom becomes involved in individual cases and never appears in court. So in fact, 'Director' means the child protection office or social worker responsible for the file.

THE GROWING PUBLIC REACTION TO CHILD PROTECTION DONE BADLY

As of Tuesday evening at 11:00 pm, there have been 424 comments to Kathy Tomlinson's Go Public documentary on Paul and Zabeth Bayne's four year battle to recover their family, four children (438 by 6AM Wed). Those comments convey the growing distrust of the Ministry of Children and Family Development, and a public demand for changes and reform to our child protection in B.C.  Tomlinson's news story was aired several times on Tuesday, Jan 3, 2012 and printed online under the title,

B.C. children spent years in limbo after shaken baby accusation

Court proceedings dragged on for 4 years

By Kathy Tomlinson CBC News

Posted: Jan 3, 2012 3:59 AM PT  / Last Updated: Jan 3, 2012 7:09 AM PT

I was pleased with Kathy's effective journalism yesterday aired at regular news hours including 6PM and 11PM. She encapsulated the Baynes' story for first time viewers of their ordeal. It was a staggering reminder to me of what my friends endured for 4 long years. Viewers will have found it incredible. Even Minister Mary McNeil expresses on air the need to speed up the process for what I and others believe to be a broken child protection system. The eldest three were removed in 2007 and their youngest baby was seized hours after his birth. Well not precisely. Social Workers arrived to remove him but his prematurity required that he stay for almost two weeks before he was taken from the hospital. He was so small he didn't fit into a car seat without stuffing it with blankets. Then there was a battle over whether this baby would be allowed to drink Zabeth's milk. At times it became an expose on the primitive quality of training of Ministry personnel. Despite Judge Crabtree's March 2011 decision that the Baynes' daughter had not been shaken by one or both parents in 2007, these parents had to endure many more months of MCFD protocol before the children were all returned in August. Even then, a three month probationary period was imposed during which time MCFD could inspect how the family was getting on. Finally, the file has been closed. At least that is the word received, but is anyone ready to believe anything that the Fraser Region of the MCFD says?

THE FIFTH ESTATE AND AN SBS DOCUMENTARY IN SEPTEMBER / 596

Gillian Findlay, Bob McKeown, Hana Gartner, Linden MacIntyre

The Fifth Estate has a lengthy record of confronting ethical issues and doing it well. It is a form of journalism and the stories that are tackled have a high risk factor. That is, the people whose stories are told have faced and may still face profound consequences. They voluntarily provide information because they cannot evade the compelling conviction that the stories are too important to remain silent. These are brave people and fortunately Fifth Estate producers and directors are determined to treat these subjects with care.

This September, CBC’s Fifth Estate will air a documentary concerning Shaken Baby Syndrome. To that end, a crew were in attendance at last weekend’s Conference on Evidence Based Medicine and Social Investigation. The venue was advantageous for the producers because Dr. Chris Van Ee and numerous other experts were presenters and were willing to be interviewed.

ALTRUISTIC WORK BY RAY FERRIS AND DOUG CHRISTIE / 595

Doug Christie

Ray Ferris

At last weekend’s conference entitled, EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE AND SOCIAL INVESTIGATION, two of the speakers during the Saturday morning schedule, were Ray Ferris and Doug Christie. These have become friends of mine, casual, men whom I respect. Both of these men as many of you now know, have been instrumental in assisting the Baynes particularly through the course of the multi-months court hearing in 2010. Ray’s knowledge of the Child, Family and Community Services Act, and the operations of the Ministry of Children and Family Development child protection process was immensely helpful to the Baynes as well as to Mr. Christie. Mr. Christie’s courtroom experience, his logic and perceptivity as well as communication skill was crucial to the case outcome.

The Evidence Based Medicine Conference and SBS / 591

The Evidence Based Medicine and Social Investigation Conference 2011, convened August 4, 5 and 6. There were approximately sixty registrants. Many others should have enjoyed the opportunity to dialogue with the guest presenters. There were helpful break and mealtime exchanges between experts and appreciative attendees. Perhaps this will be the first of many such conferences.

I attended the Friday morning sessions of the Conference. I arrived early enough to grab breakfast at a table where Mark Freeman, Patrick Barnes and Harold Buttram were seated and after a quick introduction I listened to their case stories. Mark Freeman spoke to the Conference on Thursday. Law is his second career.