ANONYMOUS MOTHER WRITES - HER GIRLS HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM HER

This happens frequently, that a parent or caregiver writes a comment on one of my posts that is years old. They have responded to a topic that has popped up in their online search. The likelihood is usually remote that the writer will know where to return to see whether I or someone else has responded to them.

Yesterday, Anonymous wrote on a 2010 post. Here is the communication.
 AnonymousSeptember 12, 2017 at 4:08 AM

my 2 girls were apprehended based on the falsifying of drug test results by my social worker or someone else who is obviously paid by mcfd to do so. funny how I was not using and yet, every single result came back positive for fentanyl and norfentanyl...
I am hoping and praying for the truth to come out at trial in October...has anyone else had the same experience? I am literally dying more every day that my girls are not with me. and the truth is they were stolen from me for NO REASON. which makes this even harder. I am a good mother and everyone, even the sw says I am. so then I ask, why are you doing this to us when you KNOW I would NEVER abuse or neglect my girls? while you are wasting resources and foster care placement on my girls there are other kids out there in ACTUAL need who are suffering. go save them and leave us be. please! 

Reply

Replies

1. 
   RonSeptember 12, 2017 at 11:40 AM

   Well Anonymous Sept 12, 2017 --- I hope you have returned to read. Since you wrote your comment on a blog piece done in 2010, I think you may not find this again, so what I am going to do, is to put your comment on a post for today, Sept 13, 2017 to see if someone responds.

If you are reading this Anonymous letter and you would like to provide her/the writer with some counsel or share your own story, please do.

The original post to which she was responding was entitled,

IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE US / Part 372 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

and it began this way. "Child Protection workers and administrators would like us all to understand what an almost impossible task they have. Well, impossible in the sense of making all citizens happy with the results of their work. They will tell us that a perfect balance is unachievable between not protecting children from abusive parents and not making unfounded accusations against innocent parents. Stated differently and more positively, it is difficult both to protect children and to correctly assess risk by parents. To which I and others will quickly declare, “Then become more proficient at the latter in a hurry.”

I was writing then, in the middle of the horrific 4 year MCFD custody of the 4 children that belonged to Zabeth and Paul Bayne. They were finally returned in August 2011. Rejoice.

ALEX WAS 15 YRS OLD & WEIGHED 37 LBS WHEN HE DIED

ALEX RADITA

News agencies have covered the case of Alex Radita, a teen whose death has led to a murder charge. Alex was 15 years of age and weighed 37 lbs when he died. His parents, Emil, and Rodica are charged with first-degree murder. Their faith life factors into the neglect. It's an awful story. 

You can read about it at the following sites but be warned, this story contains content some readers may find disturbing. Discretion is strongly advised.

CBC Calgary

Calgary Herald News

Global News Radita Trial

In view of the case history, Ray Ferris, my friend, an occasional commentator here, veteran MCFD employee, advisor to and advocate for parents has written this letter to the Editor of the Times Colonist.

EMIL & RODICA

"Mr. and Mrs. Radita are not the only ones who should be in the dock over the death of their son. From early court records, it was obvious that the mother was incapable of rational thought.  She insisted her son was not ill and all they needed to do was to pray. She tried to encourage the boy to resist the doctors when they gave him insulin shots. Because they only spoke Rumanian to each other she was difficult to supervise. She repeatedly tried to sabotage his treatment. In the face of such invincible ignorance the only thing that could guarantee the boy’s survival was permanent removal from the parents. The social workers should have known that but they tap danced around the evidence and there were repeated dangerous episodes until the inevitable happened.

37 LBS @ 15TH B-DAY PARTY, TRIES TO SMILE

    This is typical of how the child protection workers fail in their mandate. When they encounter a case with compelling evidence, they cannot make up their minds until it is too late. The next day they are removing children and keeping them in care for years based only on hearsay, presumption, and unreliable so-called expert witnesses. I would also put the director in the dock, because it is the directors who authorize all the bad decisions."

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.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN by Ray Ferris

A children’s minister once told me that 30% of cases are over-investigated and 30% under-investigated. Looks like he was unintentionally saying that his staff got it wrong 60% of the time. To anyone who has had dealings with that ministry, this will come as no surprise. This blog has been primarily concerned with the cases of over-investigation. Those cases where a family has been persistently pursued and harassed when there was no good reason to do so. I want to write about cases on the other side of the coin. Those cases where the social workers turned a blind eye to neglect and abuse and left children to live in misery for years.

PEOPLE, POLITICS AND CHILD WELFARE IN B.C.

From the UBC Press, University of British Columbia comes this book now five years of age but topically relevant.

People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia

By Leslie Thomas Foster   Brian Wharf

The publisher’s paragraph states:

“People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia traces the evolution of policies and programs intended to protect children in BC from neglect and abuse. Analyzing this evolution reveals that child protection policy and practice has reflected the priorities of politicians and public servants in power. With few exceptions, efforts to establish effective programs have focused on structural arrangements, staffing responsibilities, and rules to regulate the practice of child welfare workers.

Contributors to this book conclude that these attempts have been unsuccessful thus far because they have failed to address the impact of poverty on clients. The need to respect the cultural traditions and values of First Nations clients has also been ignored. Effective services require recognizing and remedying poverty’s impact, establishing community control over services, and developing a radically different approach to the day-to-day practice of child welfare workers.
People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia provides a crucial assessment of the state of child welfare in the province. Practitioners, scholars, and students in social work, child and youth care, education, and other human-service professions will find this book particularly important.”

People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia Leslie Thomas Foster   Brian Wharf  
$85.00 Hardcover
Release Date: 5/11/2007
ISBN: 9780774813723    
ORDER ONLINE

$30.95 Paperback
Release Date: 1/1/2008
ISBN: 9780774813730    
ORDER ONLINE

304 Pages