Zabeth and Paul Bayne – Part 58 – The Bayne Campaign for Justice

THE SHAKEN BABY DIAGNOSIS IS BECOMING TIRED

The Bayne Baby is now in the custody of a provincial ministry because the initial diagnosis of her medical condition upon which the ministry rested its decision was Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). That was two years ago. That diagnosis was one doctor’s opinion. The Bayne’s lawyer has a dozen medical experts whose opinions dispute SBS as a credible diagnosis for Bethany’s presenting injuries in October 2007. And having held this child for two years, the SBS finding is looking tired.

Quite apart from this child’s injury and that questionable diagnosis is the matter of her two brothers both of whom are also in the custody of the provincial ministry. The ministry’s own lawyer, based on medical examination results and history advised the ministry several months ago that there was no evidence of emotional or physical abuse to these children and therefore no acceptable reason to hold the boys. He further told the Fraser Regional MCFD that the children should be returned to their parents. That return did not happen. Last week in Chilliwack Court, the lawyer once more was compelled to acknowledge this same opinion before Judge Crabtree.

Now, reasonable people would conclude that the only other justifiable reason for withholding the return of the boys is because the parents are convincingly the worst possible parents and that returning them poses to them great risk. If anyone will spend time with the Baynes themselves rather than reading MCFD file opinion papers, you would know that these are highly reputable people of good character and values. And this outstanding case takes on an increasingly bad odor.

Well then back to the female child and the initial SBS diagnosis. The international community of child abuse experts is polarized over the validity of an SBS diagnosis. Typically, when medical professionals or pathologists find a combination of brain swelling, retinal bleeding and tissue damage to brain lings, the SBS is the automatic or default diagnosis. This has been the widely accepted opinion since the 1970’s. Shaken Baby Syndrome or SBS has sent many people to prison in the UK and in North America. Numerous people have written to me to tell me about false accusations of SBS. The explanation for that pivots around the controversy attached to SBS. Over recent years however, researchers have maintained that these same symptoms can be attributed to accident. Understandably, this growing skepticism about SBS is strengthened by Britain’s enormous 2003 Goldsmith review of 297 baby death convictions. The Goudge inquiry in Ontario also underscores skepticism about SBS.

Dr. Barr, professor of pediatrics at UBC is also an advisor to the National Centre on Shaken Baby Syndrome that is based in Utah. Quoted in a Globe and Mail article he insists that a similar review in British Columbia is unnecessary and would be a waste of money. He asserts that when accompanied by proper detective work SBS is a solid diagnosis.

Well readers, good investigative work of shaken infants should yield solid conclusions but that proper detective work may be missing when everything is revealed at the January 13th Court Date. The Baynes have stated from the start that this injury was accidental. One child falling on another. MCFD investigation may have uncovered something entirely different from shaken baby and that is Glutaric Aciduria. MCFD has not disclosed this. Someone divulged this without MCFD’s knowledge. That diagnostic possibility is important because some individuals with Glutaric Aciduria have developed bleeding in the brain or eyes that could be mistaken for the effects of child abuse. Aside from Glutaric Aciduria there are other medical explanations consistent with her premature birth that explain her presenting condition at the hospital back in September 2007.

The Baynes have been treated like villains far too long. Give their children back to them and stop this charade of protection.

Reader, please hit this link and sign this petition

Paul and Zabeth Bayne - Part 6 - The Alarming Case of B.C. Government's Miscarriage of Justice

Here is a sample letter with content that you can make your own if you share the convictions. Address it to the official of your choice among those I cited in Posting Part 4 on October 18th 2009.

Dear

I am writing to ask you to examine and to intervene in the case of two parents, Paul and Zabeth Bayne. Sometimes with the best of intentions, mistakes of judgment can be made. Paul and Zabeth Bayne brought their infant daughter to a local hospital in 2007 as a precaution when according to them one of their young sons fell on their two month old infant daughter. Medical professionals reported to the Ministry of Children and Family Development the possibility that the baby might have been shaken. On the basis of this hypothesis, action was begun that resulted in all three children being removed from their home on October 22, 2007. Numerous events have transpired since then but today, all three children remain in foster care in spite of the Baynes’ daily efforts through phone calls, letters, and public protests to obtain an audience with someone who will reasonably hear them and deliver justice. I am urging you to do what you can to correct this wrong.

Paul and Zabeth Bayne have insisted upon their innocence from the start. Their two year old girl has been removed from the Bayne home since she was two months old. Shaken Baby Syndrome as a presenting cause is a questionable diagnosis. The Ministry itself has on file the opinion report by one of its own medical advisors suggesting that the girl suffers from a rare metabolic condition known as Glutaric Aciduria which resembles shaken baby syndrome. Fundamentally, no actual evidence exists to justify this continued separation of these children from their loving parents. Certainly there is no justifiable reason for placing their two sons in foster care all of this time. Hundreds of people will attest to the incontestably fine character of both Paul and Zabeth. To think that one of our Ministries can sustain this injustice with a view to putting these three children up for adoption is a reprehensible and frightening prospect for the rest of our community.

These children have suffered the loss of the full-time nurture and care of their birth parents long enough. Paul and Zabeth have endured the agony and the stigma long enough, all without any formal hearing. This must be corrected immediately.

I am urging you to become involved in reversing an injustice and restoring this family by returning the children to the custody of their birth parents, Paul and Zabeth Bayne.


Sincerely Yours,

Paul and Zabeth Bayne – Part Four – The Alarming Case of B.C. Government's Miscarriage of Justice

I am urging you to write a letter or two. I believe that a posted letter gains the greatest attention and there is an immediate hard copy record to file. Email works and conveys a message as well, but it may be best to follow it with the posted mail.

I am asking you to correspond with the following responsible government officials. Lesly Du Toit and Mary Polak have been conscientiously working to revise and refine the MCFD. Premier Campbell pays attention to the voice messaging and e-messages of these civic servants.

1) Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Children and Family Development

LESLEY DU TOIT
PO BOX 9721 STN PROV GOVT
VICTORIA BC V8W 9S2

E-mail: MCF.DeputyMinistersOffice@gov.bc.ca

2) Minister of Children and Family Development and Minister Responsible for Child Care.

HONOURABLE MARY POLAK
PO BOX 9057 STN PROV GOVT
VICTORIA BC V8W 9E2

mary.polak.mla@leg.bc.ca




3) Vancouver Constituency Office ( you can direct it to Gordon Campbell)


3615 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V6R 1P2
Phone: 604-660-3202
Fax: 604-660-5488

Email: Gordon.Campbell.MLA@leg.bc.ca

If you care to convey these same sentiments to the media you will find a sympathetic response from the following journalists who have sought to tell this story.

Kathy Tomlinson with CBC Go Public - Kathy.Tomlinson@cbc.ca
Kathy.Tomlinson@cbc.ca

Robert Freeman, Reporter for the Chilliwack Progress - rfreeman@theprogress.com

Perhaps it assists you if I suggest some points your letters might contain:

1) The MCFD appears to be in violation of the Child, Family and Community Services Act which stipulates that no child under five years of age is to be kept in care for over twelve months and Bethany has been held since Oct 22, 2007 and the boys since June 12, 2008 but before that as well.
2) The MCFD has not presented publicly or to the parents evidence that justifies removing the boys from the Bayne home and placing the boys in foster care and in fact MCFD has followed its own legal counsel’s June 2008 written recommendation for the return of the boys.
3) The MCFD appears to be continuing to pursue the allegation of shaken baby syndrome which is a highly questionable diagnosis in the medical community.
4) Further, the Baynes are convinced that MCFD communication to them is evidence that it seeking to remove the children permanently and this is very distressing to them.
5) The MCFD insists that the Baynes have offered no alternate explanation for their daughter’s injury when in fact they have made it clear that they have a minimum of ten well regarded medical experts willing to testify that Shaken Baby Syndrome is a misdiagnosis of Bethany’s condition.
6) The MCFD received a medical opinion that Bethany was suffering from a rare metabolic condition known as Glutaric Aciduria which resembles shaken baby syndrome but MCFD has so far failed to reveal this or acknowledge the possibility.
7) The parents, Paul and Zabeth Bayne, have expressed to authorities their concerns about neglect and even abuse of the children while in the care of MCFD and have received no encouraging response.

Review my previous posts for further information.

Paul and Zabeth Bayne – Part Two of the Alarming Case of BC Government’s Miscarriage of Justice.

I'm afraid you will need another full cup as you read. Take it black.

Paul and Zabeth’s three children are Kent, born October 18, 2004 (soon to have his fifth birthday); Baden, born June 12, 2005 and Bethany, born August 3, 2007.

Bethany and her brothers were taken from the Baynes home by the BC Government Ministry on October 22, 2007. Bethany was two months old at that time and she has not been home since then. She has never been returned to her mother and father.

This child was seized when the concerned parents took their struggling newborn daughter to the hospital following what they believed might have been an accident in which one of the small boys may have fallen on the infant’s head. She was not well and they did not know why. On the one hand medical professionals are to be commended for doing their job and flagging what might have potentially been parental abuse. But careful analysis and courtesies and common sense and wisdom were surrendered to the easy and horrible suspicion that one of these parents had shaken this baby causing the head injury. The children were taken from the parents in order to protect the children. That was then. In the weeks and months that followed, the Ministry of Children and Family Development(MCFD)was inundated with letters speaking to the parents’ character, integrity and reliability. There was nothing to suggest their guilt other than an unexplained head trauma. Time passed and the situation got worse, so much worse.

Paul and Zabeth had themselves never heard of Glutaric Aciduria yet in internal documents of the Ministry (MCFD)to which they were alerted, they learned that their daughter, who had been examined by doctors assigned by MCFD, may be suffering from Glutaric Aciduria, which interestingly is a condition often mistaken for shaken baby syndrome, or child abuse. Note that this was a Ministry report on file yet unprioritized in order to prefer the unsubstantiated conclusion that the baby had been shaken. Glutaric aciduria is a genetic disorder with varied symptoms, sometimes including bleeding and swelling of the brain. Doctors told CBC News investigators that the disorder has been mistaken for child abuse in other cases, and children suffering from it can die. This of course, while serving to speak to their innocence, also caused these parents grave concern because if the child were in their own care they would have wasted no time in having her assessed and treated.

Global television became interested in this news story and in their continuing agony, the Baynes agreed to an interview. That interview was recorded on the 15th of May 2008 but it was not shown until May 19th and 20th 2008. That timing it turned out was perilous for Paul and Zabeth and their small children. With the explanation that there was no evidence of abuse or neglect to the boys by the parents and their return to the parents posed no risk to the children, the Ministry (MCFD) indicated on May 16, 2008 that Bethany’s two brothers would be returned to the parents. That was the short-lived good news. On May 16th the Baynes signed an agreement with numerous stipulations in preparation for the boys’ return. One aspect of this mediation agreement was that the boys could only live with Paul and Zabeth within the supervised living arrangement in Zabeth's parents' lower mainland home rather than in Baynes' own new home in Hope, BC. A spark of hope ignited and a measure of happiness returned to this troubled family. But still they were without their daughter. She remained in foster care. Then on May 21st, one day after the Global television show that aired on May 19th and 20th 2008, the Ministry, expressing indignation over the telecast claiming it represented a breach of the signed agreement, announced that the boys would be removed again. Remember, that the Baynes in desperation had agreed to the interview and recorded it at a date prior to their knowledge that the boys would be returned by the ministry. There clearly had been no contravention of the agreement.

This is unspeakably horrible.

That seizure of these two small children, terrified by the arrival of two police officers, the Director for the Ministry of Children and Family and a social worker took place on June 12, 2008 which was Baden’s third birthday. In the midst of the happy birthday celebrations the invaders callously confiscated two boys from their loving family amid screams and tears. And of course, everyone is only doing his or her job - following orders you might say.

Watch the CBC news clip
CBC public news photo above
Look at Zabeth’s Blog site.

Paul and Zabeth Bayne – Part One - An Alarming Case of BC Government’s Miscarriage of Justice.

Sit down with your coffee cup. This won’t be a pleasant read. An occasional sip of something hot may be needed.

On June 3 2001, I officiated the wedding ceremony of Paul and Zabeth Bayne. Among the words in my concluding prayer was this excerpt. “Now Lord God, would you allocate to them according to Your will, those assignments which will bless them and augment their characters as they walk together. Give them only enough tears to keep them tender, enough wounds to remind them they are human, enough failure to keep their hands tightly clenched in Yours, and enough success to convince them that they are walking by faith with You.”

They could never have anticipated that six years later in 2007 a nightmare of such ferocity would begin that would challenge their sanity not to mention their faith. But the two of them have remained sane and deeply committed to God. The government of British Columbia has taken their children and is not giving them back. Sane yes, but the Baynes are deeply wounded and the agony is not over. As I tell you their story over the next several days, I urge you to engage the question, “What would I do if I were in their shoes?” I believe that they are doing all that they can and they should not have to be doing this at all. Their children should not be enduring this separation from their parents any longer. This should be concluded now.

Because our paths in life diverged several years ago I was not aware of this dilemma until reading about it on Facebook one day recently. Now I have educated myself about it and I believe that something that is terribly wrong needs to be made right.

I urge you as a reader not to dismiss the case prematurely. None other than noted lawyer Doug Christie has involved himself in their cause to have their children returned to them. I am trusting that I can convince you with some information so that you will make the contribution of a letter to the proper authorities. I will direct you.

Here are the essential details of this troublesome case. Zabeth and Paul have three children, two sons ages five (on Oct 18) and four and a two year old daughter. These children were apprehended on October 22, 2007 because the couple was suspected of shaking the small girl causing her a head injury. This was an understandable precaution taken by the Ministry at the time. The Baynes had stated that one of their sons had fallen on the baby but they were not believed. Shaken Baby Syndrome has now become a suspect diagnosis because of wrongful accusations that result from this rush to judgment without a more aggressive medical investigation.

Here are some YouTube posted videos.
This one will break your heart. A CBC reporter interviews and investigates.
This one is disturbing as it discloses the childrens’ experiences while in government childcare.

Look at Zabeth’s Blog site.

I will give you increasingly more information in the next few postings. Then, I will be urging you to write a letter requesting the return of the children to Paul and Zabeth, and I will give you specifics to whom you should direct these communications.