CHRISTIE'S FINAL SUBMISSION installment 4of10 Options for the Judge / 492

The case is Paul and Zabeth Bayne in opposition to the application by the Director of Family and Child Services with respect to the ongoing care of the Baynes' three children. This is the fourth installment in a brief series of quotations from Doug Christie's final SUBMISSION IN RESPONSE to Finn Jensen's closing summation. It was presented November 4, 2010 to the Court (Judge Crabtree) on behalf of Paul and Zabeth Bayne. This is a public document. No ban was placed on court presented material. The judge considered this submission in coming to his final conclusion presented on March 2, 2011.

On Friday I quoted Christie's Submissions and Analysis points 5-7.  Today it is... points 8-10 discussing possible options for the judge's ruling.

I KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS/ Part 350 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

I know foster parents personally. Over a period of many years I have watched these foster parents that I know do a praiseworthy job of raising someone else's children. I know adoptive parents whose families have been comprised of children born to someone else yet who were integrated with such love that it was seamless. I applaud excellent foster parents and superior adoptive parents. They transform unfortunate life events into redemptive rescues and recoveries.

This blogsite is not designed to castigate or demean foster or adoptive parents and families.

I know competent social workers who dedicate themselves to effective responsible work. Knowing them has caused me to conclude that the dominant motivation for people who embark upon a career in social work is the unmistakable desire to help people with social needs. They desire and they receive training to provide a variety of resources to people with social difficulties within the target population in which they work. They have access to and they may collaborate with other social care organizations and government institutions as mediators and consultants.

We are all proud of our province

This blogsite is not designed to rebuke or humiliate social workers whether at the front line or in a supervisory role.

Listen, I could do this all day. I know as friends, doctors and lawyers and people in law enforcement and I am certain that almost everyone who enters these professions do so with laudable intentions. This blog is not designed to reprimand or offend any who spend their lives in these fields.

However, it may sometimes appear that this blog is merely a vehicle for disseminating vitriol to scar people employed in positions to which I have alluded above, because child protection activities at the heart of these daily written communications have bred such wrath and anguish, not in me personally, but in those for whom and about whom I write. Further, my thoughts provide opportunity for the wounded to respond and they do, often with words directed like a scatter gun at everyone in the fields related to their damaged lives. Everyone who is suspected of being responsible for disrupting and interfering and even ruining a family becomes a target for a verbal blast.

You see, I also know personally, people whose children should never have been held from their parents for as long a period as has been the case. I know parents who have not received from social workers a respect and compassion we would associate with their professions. I know parents who have been handled with disinterest, discourtesy and cruelty by healthcare and legal and law enforcement persons.

So you will have to excuse what appears to be an occasional outburst or an overstep of civility because YOU HAVE NOT BEEN LISTENING. Ms. Polak, Ms. Du Toit, Ms. Turpel-Lafond, Mr. Campbell, Mr. de Jong, Mr. McNeill, Mr. Fitzimmons, Mr. Jensen, Mr. Gulbot, Mr. Humeny, there are parents and children who are not being heard. Attention must be paid to a countless number of parents who are powerless to recover their families because an entire ministry and legal system is charged with a mandate that can be deemed counter productive to the objectives of these disenfranchised parents. In so many of these cases, the best interests of the children is being misunderstood and misinterpreted. I am begging you to begin to listen to their heart cries. This province needs to become proactive, a trail blazer in reform of child protection policy and practice. I know that you can do this.

Zabeth and Paul Bayne – Part 57 – The Bayne Campaign for Justice

Fraser Regional Office Emails

The problem with private email these days is that there is no guarantee that it will remain private. As soon as personal notes become electronic a large measure of control is relinquished. Email can be discovered and made public. Some times that is unpleasant. The disclosure in this post illustrates the suspicions and the adversarial posture of a section of the Ministry of Children and Family Development toward Paul and Zabeth Bayne as they have sought for over two years to recover three children and have refused to acknowledge a crime of abuse to their baby. It underscores to me how a Ministry loses focus and instead of improving the dialogue that will bring a family together once again, withdraws and entrenches for the contest.

Here is March 2008 correspondence between Ministry of Children officials that I found on the website of Voices of Children Alliance (VOCA). I don’t know anything about VOCA. I wasn't looking for it. It was simply there. I googled something related to the Bayne name. Anyone can do it. The officials in this mail exchange are John Fitzimmons (Community Services Manager); Bruce McNeill (Director, Integrated Practice, Fraser Regional Office; Berhe Gulbot (Team Leader for Hope/Agassiz - CF & CS Office); Loren Humeny (Social Worker, Hope and Area). The subject of their brief interaction is an expressed concern about heightened publicity around the Bayne case attributed to the many Bayne supporters/protestors who were making regular and public demand for the return of the children. The emails appear to reveal that the aforementioned people construed the genuine moral support of these friends as mere publicity in preparation for a lawsuit by the Baynes against the MCFD.

On March 26, 2008 at 2:05 PM Loren Humeny wrote to Berhe Gulbot on the subject ‘Bayne File.’

“Hello John, I am writing this e-mail to bring you up to date of this case as it seems to be going in the direction of a possible law suite against the Ministry.”

On March 27, 2008 at 10:54 AM, Berhe Gulbot wrote to John Fitzsimmons and copied to Loren Humeny about the Bayne File.

“I would like to update you regarding the Bayne case. I asked Loren to write email regarding this case. Loren's email has more details for your reading. The purpose of this update is to inform you of the continued high profile nature of this case, the potential for parents complaining to higher management or Victoria, unconfirmed reports that parents are thinking of suing the Ministry and that they are asking people to support them by attending at the Chilliwack court in the next court hearing and may be invite media.
I strongly suggest that you review the file and respond to me if you have any suggestions that we need to take action.”

And on March 27, 2008 at 11:33 AM John Fitzsimmons wrote to Bruce McNeill and copied to Berhe Gulbot and Loren Humeny on the subject: Bayne file possible future media involvement.

“I'm forwarding this to you Bruce so you are aware of this file in case there is future media attention. Berhe and Loren have spoken with me about this file on a number of occasions and the case planning has been through. “
Unfortunately, this family has been challenging to work with, there has been little in the way of an explanation for the baby's injuries, and a lot of medical evidence which indicates Shaken Baby Syndrome.
There is little that I can suggest to Loren and Berhe that they might do which they are not already doing. If you would like to discuss this further or would like some detailed information in case of any possible media involvement please let me know....thanks”
John Fitzsimmons
Community Services Manager
Mission, Fraser Cascades
#201- 7364 Home Street
Mission, B.C. V2V 3Y7
PH: (604) 820-4300
Cell:(604) 217-4194
FAX: (604) 820-4311
John.Fitzsimmons@gov.bc.ca

I plead for the MCFD regional office and personnel to return to discussion with Paul and Zabeth for the purposes of putting this family back together again. That must still be seen as the most commendable future for these children.

Hit this link and sign the petition to return the children to mommy and daddy.