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.

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.