THEY WILL BE HAPPY AGAIN - IT STARTS TODAY / 605

Josiah is six months old and he has been living with Zabeth and Paul for the past month.

His siblings, Kent, Baden and Bethany have been visiting the family home off and on for a few days and nights at a time as part of the reintegration programme agreed upon by the Baynes and the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

BUT, TODAY IS THE DAY!!! YES TODAY. 
BY NOON TODAY, THURSDAY AUG 25, 2011, the eldest three children will be received into the Bayne home and care. The Bayne Family will have their chance for a restart.

Zabeth and Paul were so excited last evening when we chatted. They wondered whether they would be able to sleep, and perhaps they haven't slept much but their pensive rest will have been filled with happy thoughts. The children too have been counting down the days. This is right and good.

It was close to four years ago when a quake rocked their world culminating in newborn Bethany being retained by the Ministry and the two older but still little boys being apprehended as well. It's old news now and I won't retell it this time. The Bayne path became rockier before it ever was evened out to this point.

Bethany cozy on the couch

This past Father's Day

Soon this happy little Josiah who was born early in 2011 will be joined by three other smiling children looking forward to their familiar places and possessions at 'home.' Soon the two boys will don their new school uniforms and be ready for first day at class in the school where they are now enrolled. Normalcy may come easier to the children than to Paul and Zabeth whose lives were child-empty for so long. I am sure that the children may ask about their foster mom and family. The Baynes will need to work through that. I am sure the daily demands of four children plus a business work schedule will require degrees of patience and stamina from Paul and Zabeth that are taxing. I expect that the accumulated tolerance and fortitude acquired through these past four years has equipped them fairly well. And they themselves are made of the right stuff.

Zabeth and Josiah

I believe that they will be a very happy and contented family.

On Saturday, family and friends in great numbers will join them in a grand party celebrating the occasion of this reunion and taking time to thank God whom the Baynes ultimately credit with this result.   

Week's End Status Report / 504

A call from Case Worker Matthew Walker this week informed Zabeth and Paul that not only will the Saturday six hour visits with the children be in the Bayne home, as ordered by the court in 2010, but also the Baynes now have been given the option of having Wednesday three hour visits in their home as well rather than in the community. Furthermore, yesterday, Mr. Walker told the Baynes that if and when they opt for their Wednesday visits to be held in their home, then Josiah may be included rather than having his access visit at a different time that day as it has been. There is more good news.

REPORT OF THE HEARING RE: JOSIAH CUSTODY

Acknowledgement: Four individuals supplied me with accounts of Friday's court proceeding. Thank you.

Surrey Provincial Court Building Entrance

Preface: This was a hearing specific to Josiah Bayne, who is now several weeks old and who was removed from his parents' custody on the day of his birth February 10, 2011. His three siblings are the subject of a case that was decided on March 2, 2011 with an outcome that they remain in foster care for six months. The case files for all three Bayne children have been transferred from the Hope Team to the Guildford (Surrey) Team and Matthew Walker is now the primary caseworker with the Bayne family. On this day the court was to hear and make a ruling on MCFD's application for an Interim Custody Order for Josiah. Loren Humeny (Hope Office) has been the primary case worker for the past 3.5 years and he was present to give testimony. Paul Bayne whose failure to testify during the 2010 court case was noted by Judge Crabtree, did testify today, as did Zabeth. Doug Christie was present to represent the Bayne family.

TOMORROW IS COURT DAY AGAIN / Part 448 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

The court order hearing sought by the Ministry to take custody of then 14 day old Josiah, is scheduled for Thursday, February 24^th at 9:30 am at the Surrey Provincial Court. BUT THEY HAVE ALREADY REMOVED THE BABY FROM HOSPITAL AND PLACED HIM WITH FOSTER PARENTS. YESTERDAY WAS PAINFUL FOR THE BAYNES IN MEETING WITH PEDIATRICIAN ETC.

Daddy Paul and Josiah

The author of the supporting affidavit for the custody of Josiah is the same social worker, Loren Humeny, who has been charged with responsibility for this case for the past three and one half years. He was delegated by the Director last year to write the affidavit that reasoned for the continued care order for Josiah's three older siblings. We have an unconfirmed hint that this week Judge Crabtree who oversaw the trial will be hearing this one too. He has heard before, everything that is contained within the newest affidavit. He doesn't have to hear it again. However, if the forecasted snow doesn't stop Doug Christie, the presiding judge can expect to hear from Doug, who will unquestionably make it clear that there is no new evidence. Certainly none that pertains to Josiah.

Read my words. NO NEW EVIDENCE. Josiah will be 14 days old tomorrow. He was only seven days old last Thursday when the affidavit was scheduled to be ruled upon by another judge. It should be assumed that it was penned some hours/days before that. During that first week of the child's life there would have been little opportunity for contact between parents and child and whatever contact there was, occurred within the careful view of attendant hospital staff. There is no evidence that concerns Josiah that Mr. Humeny can present in support of this order. If in fact Judge Crabtree is presiding tomorrow, it will be most interesting to hear what he does with this order application. Will he grant the custody order based upon that affidavit information? If he does, should the MCFD assume that he will similarly rule in its favour concerning the other three children on Monday? Will he himself decide that the ruling concerning Josiah will be rolled into his ruling concerning the three children, since the supporting evidence is identical? Numerous spin-off questions come to mind, too many to cite here.

Zabeth and her new baby

On Mr. McNeill's behalf, Loren must rely upon the same supportive material used for the CCO case for the three siblings. Yes, that's correct. The 'stuff' upon which the judge is expected to rule on Thursday with respect to Josiah is the same 'stuff' upon which Judge Thomas Crabtree will rule no later than Monday, the 28^th, four days later with respect to the other three children. That's the substance of the MCFD allegation that Paul and/or Zabeth are a risk to their children. It is no surprise that the judge last week in adjourning the hearing for a week when MCFD lawyer Finn Jensen and social worker Loren Humeny did not make an appearance, said that the Josiah hearing should be heard by Judge Crabtree. And now we understand Judge Crabtree will be present. Well we hope that may be the case. Certainly no other judge would presume to rule on the same material upon which the Chief Justice of B.C. will rule days later (28th). Judge Crabtree has been deliberating for the past six months. In any case, what mysterious strategy it is to press forward with the order application for Josiah when the Chief Justice may make a landmark decision that explodes the CCO application and Shaken Baby Syndrome and MCFD practice concerning 'the Bayne Three' which will render irrelevant the affidavit concerning Josiah. The wisest course for MCFD would have been to posture for another adjournment tomorrow but instead they took the child and here we are. Perhaps Judge Crabtree will see through the legal devices and will make the Baynes and the children wait even longer for a ruling, but I doubt that. He is very sensitive to the hardship created for the Baynes by this tedious process.

Do you want to know what was going on at the hospital nursery these past few days? Do you wish to know what the hospital staff were witnessing? Josiah was doing very well. He fed well and he had regained weight to his birth weight. He responded to Zabeth's and Paul's voices, and to the sound of his daddy’s voice when he sang softly to him. Staff noticed that Zabeth and Paul were the only parents who remained all day to hold and to feed their baby boy. They saw Paul leave in order to attend to his evening work contracts. They saw two parents who enjoy every moment with their child, the way he smells, the way his tiny whimper sounds. They saw parents whose hearts rejoiced when Josiah looked up at them. And this loving care took place while the threat of his removal hung like a pall upon them. Then yesterday, someone was authorized to try fitting him into a car seat, to be ready for eventual transportation and at 2 PM Kim Tran, Surrey social worker, removed him from the hospital. This was done even though Josiah's tiny 4 pound form had to be stuffed round with filler material for him to be restrained within the car seat straps. Did you know that his ability to endure the car seat travel mode was tested, for  up to an hour and his responses monitored. Did you know that the hospital pediatrician who met with the Baynes and approved Josiah's readiness to be moved, is a colleague of Dr. Margaret Colbourne who diagnosed SBS in 2007. Don't know what if anything that indicates. It's just that the lower mainland is a virtual citadel of SBS proponents.

Oh, by the way, Judge Crabtree knows the outrageous action that took place on Thursday February 10^th. I surmise that Mr. Humeny stated in the new affidavit that the child was removed under the authority of the CFCSA because the Director had valid reason to believe the child needed protection.  That would be standard. And if as I suspect Mr. Humeny marked the box with an X that indicates that there was no less disruptive protective measure available, that could be regarded as not wholly true? The less disruptive measure was in his face on the 10th. As soon as he knew that due to Josiah's prematurity the baby had to stay in hospital for two weeks, that of itself was the less disruptive measure for protecting the child, don't you think? That is, unless Paul and Zabeth are psychopaths. Therefore when Mr. Humeny drafted the affidavit he did know that this less disruptive option of simply waiting for two weeks was available. We must conclude that the Director and the social worker were determined to hurry to seize the child, even though the latter could say, "I am only following orders." So, considering the larger MCFD entity rather than the Fraser Valley Region, it really was in MCFD's best interest to hold back on Josiah's custody order and forego tomorrow's hearing and simply wait for D-day on Monday, but again, here we are. Oh sure, because of that cute tactical manoeuvre, that is, two weeks have now passed because the MCFD team was a no-show in court, so of course, there is no less disruptive protection measure. 

As I have earlier pointed out, it won't matter whether Finn Jensen himself or a substitute counsel is present for the MCFD on Thursday, since the MCFD counsel will have to point out to Judge Crabtree or another judge,  everything that was earlier heard by Judge Crabtree over several weeks that spread over all of 2010. It is all the same. There is nothing new. I can't imagine how Judge Crabtree or another his/her honour will process this but even if the ruling concerning Josiah tomorrow is to grant MCFD the order, it may be obliterated within hours by the Crabtree decision when he rules on Monday.

IF YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN / Part 444 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

To Anonymous February 17, 2011 11:59 AM who inferred some failed responsibility by Zabeth because of Josiah's small size and weight …. and implied awareness of nutritional neglect for at least the two oldest boys when the Baynes did have custody three years ago, I suggest that you have made a presumptive judgement that the boys' appearance to you back then is synonymous with deficiency of care. As to Josiah, it should interest you to know that Zabeth had an enfarcted placenta and a two vessel umbilical cord. Apparently the two vessel cord is common and associated with small babies and the placenta was associated with high blood pressure which she started to have mid pregnancy.

Umbilical cord abnormalities can be detected ultrasonographically and may be associated with fetal anomalies, chromosome abnormalities, and potential complications during pregnancy. The normal umbilical cord contains 2 arteries and 1 vein. The umbilical vein carries oxygenated blood from the placenta to the left portal vein in the fetal liver. The 2 umbilical arteries are continuous with the internal iliac arteries and carry deoxygenated blood from the fetus to the placenta. The most common abnormality of the umbilical cord is a single umbilical artery (SUA), which occurs in 0.5% to 2.5% of pregnancies. This finding is sometimes referred to as a 2-vessel cord. The loss of 1 umbilical artery likely occurs secondary to thrombotic atrophy of a previously normal artery. Less likely, the loss may result from primary agenesis of the artery. It is the left umbilical artery that is more commonly absent. The clinical significance of an SUA is not completely understood, and there are many different reports regarding outcomes of fetuses with this finding.

The term infarct usually signifies an area of dead tissue. Extensive placental infarcts are sometimes present in stillbirths and in instances of premature separation of the placenta from its implantation site in the wall of the uterus.

Notwithstanding, the Social Worker marched into the hospital uninformed, not asking necessary questions, and expected to seize the newborn several hours old and place him in the care of a foster parent. This is the circus atmosphere in which the MCFD Fraser Valley group have operated throughout a three year ordeal with this family. And they have done so by relying upon uniformed and bogus reports such as the implications you have made.

Zabeth was in a wheelchair some of the time to avoid premature delivery when she needed to get around, but she took care of herself, she ate well, and she was under the care of an OB every two weeks and often more frequently than that. She was extremely conscientious about caring for herself and her baby.

Anonymous, here is what you wrote. I include it here so others may know why I answered this way.

“Why was this baby born near his due date so small? This mother knows she is at risk of premature labor which luckily in Josiah's case didnt happen. Wouldn't this mother be doing all she could do to give birth to a healthy baby boy? Vitamins, supplements, healthy food etc. 3 lbs and 2 weeks early? Why? Why when in the care of their parents were these children so unhealthy? Regardless of whats going on, these are facts. Why have all 4 children presented early on as being underweight and why when they entered care did they start to gain weight and become healthier? ( I know you have an argument for that but poor record keeping on both sides is likely to blame) There is so much more to this than innocent parents claiming they did no wrong. Premature or not, 3 years ago those were some very unhealthy looking little people! That's poor parenting. If you love your children, whether you are naive or new to parenting there is soooo much info out there, ignorance is not an excuse! If they cant provide a healthy life for their kids then they shouldn’t have them! Healthy eating is not too much to ask and it isn’t excusable.”

Only the Beginning / Part 443 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

Only the Beginning

First breath and Josiah soon is in the arms of his mother. It is a beginning. It signals a new beginning perhaps for Paul and Zabeth. That was one week ago. Three children they have already and all are registered by name as Bayne Children, yet they have not lived with their mom and dad for three years. This new child and his new life however is the herald of a new start for the Bayne family. No, no, that's not the way it works. Not according to the child protection recipe followed by MCFD in British Columbia. If MCFD regards Paul and Zabeth as a risk to their three children, even though every visit several hours each week only confirms that these children love their parents and want to be with them, then it must be assumed that Paul and Zabeth cannot be trusted to care responsibly for Josiah. Consequently, within hours of his emergence, Josiah may no longer look to his mother for warmth and caress and nourishment and rest, for he has been subsumed among the properties of a social service agency that engenders more apprehension than consolation during the past decades. The confessions of so many of you attest that the Baynes are not an isolated case.

Yet possibly, Josiah's birth and capture is only the beginning and will serve in the near future to give rise to a new beginning. The public cannot for much longer be expected to accept such invasive action against children and their parents regardless of the strength of MCFD's legal authorization and mandate.

A LETTER TO A FRIEND FROM A DISTRESSED MOM / Part 441 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

On Mary Ellen Kragh's Facebook page, a letter from Zabeth Bayne has been printed following the apprehension of her several hour old newborn son, Josiah. She wrote it on February 17th.

Hi There,

Just a little update from yesterday. We arrived at the nursery at 6:00 which was the earliest we could as we had visitation from our other three little ones from 10:00 to 5:00. It appears that SW arranged during a time he knew we would be out for the new foster parent to spend a couple of hours bonding with our son. We read this in the nurses notes. "Foster parent here from 11:00 to 1:00. This was arranged two days after birth - prior to any court order being approved for removal - prior to any decision being forwarded by Judge Crabtree supporting any evidence of risk.

Also in the nurses notes. SOCIAL WORKER (SW) gave me permission to breast feed for now, but no EBM (expressed breast milk).

My baby is small and needs this. He is not tolerating the formula that they have been giving him while my milk comes in. It is curdling and not digesting.

SW did this with Bethany. I was starting to breast feed her and pumping daily. I froze my milk for weeks and begged him to give it to her and he always refused. I think they may feel I might contaminate it in some way to harm my baby.

They never even arranged to have the milk tested. Yet they acknowledge we have no drug or alcohol abuse.

Also we were not given the live birth registration from the hospital that every parent gets. The Ministry must have denied us this. Are they planning on registering our baby's birth? They don't even know his full legal name. I don't understand if this is even legal.

Our hearts have been so heavy yesterday. I could not even look at our baby in my arms without crying. I came home and expressed more milk for him with tears knowing they will probably dump it. I have been scared to bond, but know that our baby needs us to continue fighting for him and his needs.

Thanks for all you have done. We would feel lost without you.

Court Hearing Postponed / Part 440 / For Love and For Justice / Zabeth and Paul Bayne

In a follow-up comment on my same blog post of a couple of days ago, confidant, advisor and advocate to the Baynes, Ray Ferris provided an update to the scheduled court hearing regarding Josiah. Please don't misunderstand but catch Ray's sardonic turns of phrase.

Ray Ferris said... "OOPS! OOPS! OOPS! TRIPLE OOPS!

HERE IS THE VERY LATEST ON THE BAYNE CASE'

"When the MCFD rushed in to snatch the Bayne baby on Feb 10th, they locked themselves into having to go to court and file presentation papers within one week. The case was set down for hearing this morning in the Surrey court. Conspicuous by his absence was the worker who swore the affidavit. This means that he could not be questioned on it.When the Baynes got to court they found that the director had already arranged to have the matter adjourned to Feb 24. The judge refused to let the Baynes speak, so once more the system is stacked against them. The judge did say that she recommended the case should be heard by Judge Crabtree, so someone is listening to me. Now I will tell you what is really happening here. The answer is simple DAMAGE CONTROL.

You see it goes something like this. When director Bruce McNeill spent months and years trying to decide whether to follow his lawyer's advice to return the Bayne kids, he painted himself into a corner. If he backed out after all that time he would look bad. No matter because the Baynes had no more money for lawyers and would be defenceless. Then that darned Doug Christie ruined all the plans and people were saying unkind things on the Ron Unruh blog. People are so heartless you know. Then that wretched Bayne woman makes life even more complicated by getting pregnant again in the middle of the trial. Not only that it was a planned pregnancy! How could she do that to him? In defence of Mrs.Bayne, she feels that she has a lot of mother love to give and she always wanted another child. Nobody could believe that the trial would go past September and she would be delivered long after it was over.

Anyway, this left poor Bruce McNeill with a terrible dilemma.How could he possibly rant on for three years that the Baynes were totally unfit parents and then ignore this new child. He must show stern resolve and remove it at birth. If he did not, he would look weak and nobody would respect him. However, he is of course a man of profound compassion and he sought a way out for himself and the baby. If the parents would would work diligently and sincerely with his staff and allow them to help her with her pregnancy, then they might be able to agree on a parenting plan which would avoid apprehension and also demonstrate his benevolence. This might have worked fine if that dreadful man Ray Ferris had not interfered and Ron Unruh had not backed him up. He actually told Mrs. Bayne to have no contact with him (the Director) or his staff because it would put too much stress on her during her pregnancy. What a terrible thing to say and that wounded him deeply. What choice did that leave the poor fellow but to apprehend at birth?

So he summoned his trusty obedient servant Mr. Darth Humeny and said "Go to that hospital, grab the Bayne baby and do not come home without him." So Humeny jumped onto his black stallion, and galloped off to the Royal Columbian Hospital. He stormed into the nursery, spurs jingling and loudly announced that he was apprehending the Bayne child and that from now on he was Josiah's daddy."
February 17, 2011 4:14 PM

"He paused only to drop by Zabeth's room and tell her what he had done.He asked her to understand that he was only obeying orders. Oddly enough, Zabeth was not in the mood for a chat.

He next went back to the nursing station and asked how soon he could come in with a foster mother to pick up the baby. It was only then that he found out that Josiah would take at least a couple of weeks to gain the necessary weight. OOPS! DARN. If only he had thought to ask on the way in. He could have phoned the boss for instructions, but now he had announced that Josiah was in care and he could not back out. The best that he and the boss could come up with was to try to see how they could restrict access to the Baynes in the special care nursery. Obviously the best thing for Josiah was mother's milk and the medical staff favoured breast feeding. Because he was so small Baby Bayne had to drink expressed milk for a few days. Bingo!

They put a ban on expressed milk. These dangerous parents would probably poison the bottle.

They seemed to be back in control, but all hell broke loose. Facebook news travels fast. Soon the Rep for children and youth was being swamped with letters. Members of the legislature were getting an earful and so was the minister and the deputy minister. I was writing to everyone pointing out that there had been no less disruptive plan explored as requred by law. The child would be perfectly safe until Judge Crabtree ruled at the end of the month and the parents had unrestricted access to their baby and he was bonding with his mum.

Humeny that he could salvage the situation, by simply withdrawing his complaint and making up the sort of feeble excuse that they do so well.

So this morning's court was an exercise in damage control. Everybody was saying to the director that he should get out of this before he did any more damage. Of course Bruce could not risk losing face by withdrawing the complaint, so he dashed off to his trusty lawyer, pleading for rescue. The lawyer did what all lawyers do when they are in a jam. You ask for an adjournment. So they got an adjournment with no change in the status quo. No interim custody order of any sort. Legal limbo. Judge Crabtree has given himself until the end of February to announce his ruling. There are only two more working days left after the scheduled court date, so it is virtually certain that the ruling will be out by then and all will be resolved. If the ruling is against the ministry there will be a media storm and this last piece of stupidity will be buried in the waves.

If only McNeill had listened to me in mid December when I urged him to be cautious and not to move before Judge Crabtree's ruling. If only Leslie Dutoit had followed my request to her to urge prudence on her director. As the due date drew nearer, I urged them again to be prudent. This reckless action gained them nothing and only added more difficulties for the Bayne parents When the Baynes are so distressed, all their supporters are also distressed."

February 17, 2011 4:19 PM