BETHANY IS A HIGHLAND DANCER

You will remember that this GPS blog posted daily stories about Bethany Bayne who at seven weeks of age was removed from her parents, Zabeth and Paul, following a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome in September 2007. Her removal was accompanied by the apprehensions of both boys as well. For four years, the Baynes sought to prove their innocence and to recover their family. Finally in August 2011 the family was reunited but not until a lengthy court case and a long wait for the judge's decision and several more months of parents jumping through hoops.

RE-READING DEREK'S JUNE 16 2011 APPEAL FOR HELP

When you read today’s blog, you will find it incomprehensible that Ayn has been away from her family for nineteen months. Today I dip back into history to bring out the

MISSING GIRL ALERT: On June 12, 2011 at 1:00 PM the Abbotsford Police were called by family members of a missing 9-year-old girl. The girl, Ayn Van Dyk is autistic and is non-communicative was last seen playing outside of the family residence in the 1800 block of Mt. Lehman Road at 12:30 pm. Ayn was reported as being 4 foot 5 inches tall, weighing 80 pounds and with short blond hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt with grey shorts and white shoes. Search and rescue teams consisting of police patrol, canine and air units were activated.

DOUG CHRISTIE, LAWYER, GOOD MAN IS DYING

THE FINANCIAL POST for Monday, February 25, 2013 ran the article entitled, ‘It’s the end of everything’: Defender of hatemongers, free speech fighting terminal liver cancer,” written by Joseph Brean | Feb 24, 2013 11:30 PM ET

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/24/douglas-christie/

I will not copy Mr. Brean’s piece or portions of it since I do not have his permission. Please read the article. Mr. Brean has recently conducted a personal phone interview with Doug Christie who is dying of cancer, a terminal liver cancer. Mr. Brean is commendably fair-minded in his description of Doug Christie and he has given a worthy report of this lawyer’s exceptional concentration during his career. Mr. Christie has valued free speech so much that even those who utter what most citizens deem to be despicable, he feels deserve a defense that will affirm justice was done. He has defended some of Canada’s notorious so-called hate-mongers.

What I hurried to say in a couple of forums today, was that while the news media keys in one those cases that have hit the news periodically, Mr. Christie has also demonstrated a sympathy for others who needed his help but perhaps could not afford him. I am thinking specifically of the one case with which I am most familiar. Paul and Zabeth Bayne had their three children removed in 2007 when a medical diagnosis concluded that the youngest child was a victim of shaken baby syndrome. In defending themselves, Paul and Zabeth lost their home, her grand piano and their jobs, while attempting to pay for legal fees. They had to give up day-time employment to be free to see their children and to attend to tasks related to office hours of social workers. They took night employment. For four years they battled the Ministry of Children. Zabeth, an accomplished pianist, teamed with other musicians for fund-raising events to finance their defense. Mr. Christie came to their assistance in the last two years of their struggle. It is their own belief and that of others of us who witnessed Mr. Christie in court, that his service was a predominant reason the Ministry could not prove its case against the Baynes and also why their children were subsequently returned to them.

It is with great sadness that we have heard that Doug Christie is gravely ill. He is a fine gentleman, a Catholic and a fine follower of God.

A Wikipedia entry provides you with numerous links to information about Mr. Christie’s work.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Christie_(lawyer)

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

None but Ayn Van Dyk’s parents, know the precise answer to the questions I will now raise, except. You will feel that you can guestimate an answer as I have. We, however, are limited by the extent of our knowledge of the care we believe Ayn received when in Derek’s care, and our lack of knowledge of the foster care she has received since her removal in June 2011.

Well, just think of that. From June 2011 until today February 23, 2013, Ayn has been absent from her family home where she shared life with her dad and two brothers and had access to and visits with her mother Amie. One would have to be convinced that the government’s plan/strategy when removing Ayn, has resulted in significant improvement of Ayn’s life, health, and wellbeing,  in order to justify her removal this sustained period of foster care.

So here’s what I want you to do. I will paste here paragraphs of the Ministry of Children and Family, and I will let you respond with your assessment. The following is found on this website page, http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/alternativestofostercare/index.htm

Alternatives to Foster Care

The ministry’s first priority is to keep families together, where possible. We also recognize that sometimes it’s necessary for a child to live outside the family home when their parents are temporarily unable to care for them. When that happens, there are a number of options and choices to be made. Was it possible for the Ministry to keep Ayn with her family in June 2011?

There may be circumstances where a child’s or youth’s needs are best met through foster care, and foster families play an important role in providing homes for vulnerable children. However, foster care is a temporary placement, usually with people who are strangers to the child.  Have Ayn’s needs been better met met through foster care than they could be in Derek’ home?

As an alternative to foster care, children may, in some circumstances, live with a relative or another significant person with whom the child is comfortable and connected. Current research recognizes the benefits for children and youth to be cared for by relatives and others with an established relationship with the child when they are not able to remain in their parents’ care. Extended family care helps maintain family ties and enhances children’s opportunities to stay connected to their own families and communities. Was this option ever presented to Derek and Amie?

There are a number of options available for relatives or others to care for children and youth, including:

•  The Extended Family Program.

•  Placement with a Person Other than the Parent – If a child is removed from a family home because of safety concerns, a judge may make an order for the child to live in the custody of someone other than the child’s parents. If you care for a child under this type of order, you may be able to receive financial assistance. Did safety concerns drive the Ministry response in June 2011?  Did the Ministry do due diligence in studying Derek’s home and care ability?

AUTISM AND COMMUNICATING WITH COLORS

SETH CHWAST: COMMUNICATING WITH COLORS

Seth is one of the thousands of children, young adults and adults who live with autism that affects everything they are and do, but who have found art(s) to be their window or avenue to expression and creativity and joy.

As an artist myself, I cannot tell you how moved I am by the creativity resident in autistic children and adults and this is a sample. His name is Seth. I salute you, you special parents of autistic children who daily encourage your children to be all they can be.



For years Seth barely communicated to his mother, who is an unusually dedicated mom, yet she never gave up trying to find a therapy that would allow her son to have a life that gave him release and joy. when he was 20 years of age, she found that he connected to art. Suddenly life changed for them both.

Tomorrow I will tell you more about art and autism, and will share a website that may light your own fire for a local school of art for the autistic.

AYN VISITS 'MOM' AMIE AT HOME

Amie is Ayn Van Dyk's mother.

In recent weeks, the Ministry of children arranged for Ayn to have at home visits with Amie.

Amie has been thrilled with the outcome.

After one and one half years, it was unknown how Ayn would respond to this. She has been in foster care all that time with the exception of some weeks in hospital at the beginning of this sordid saga.

PART 3 OF 3, DEREK IS A RESPONSIBLE DAD

Ayn’s parents were given notice some weeks ago that Ayn would be reintroduced to her family and the speculation was that it would be within three months. That was very exciting for them and for the army of arm-chair advocates like myself. Many Facebook allies have boarded this campaign of sympathy, fueled by angst over what is perceived as injustice. That has been enough to keep several thousand online contacts reading and writing messages of all kinds. Amie and Derek don’t communicate much to us online any more. Derek certainly was vocal when Ayn was first apprehended. Over time, he became less forthcoming, and we were given to understand at times this was because of business of day-to-day tasks, and needed time to prepare his written appeals. Others wondered whether he had been compelled to silence with threats by MCFD but there was no substantiation of that. We don’t really need to know.

Derek is a responsible dad. He looks after his two sons well enough. One of them is autistic. I have observed the high comfort level that this boy has with his father. All have adjusted to their lives together. I am confidant that’s the way it was when Ayn lived there as well. The Ministry did not seize his two sons. That’s because there was no hint of neglect or abuse or ineffectiveness in parenting. Ayn’s school certainly found her to be a challenge. If the MCFD receives the suggestion that perhaps a parent cannot handle the responsibilities of parenting a child, it will investigate. This investigation did not approach due diligence. Ayn was removed by MCFD from her school without her custodial parent being present. This is likely a case that MCFD would like to redo, but then again, why? MCFD employees and supervisors have a virtual no-accountability clause underwritten to all their cases. Nevertheless, this is bad example of casework, not that social workers have been unkind or foster care was negligent. No, this is rather, an illustration of administrative, bureaucratic officialdom and its protocol impeding common sense. An eighteen-month detention of an innocent child with a disorder for which neither she nor her dad can be responsible is despicable. If an attempt to justify this action, includes seeking without parental approval to determine by experimentation whether there are chemicals that can control and or assist the child’s behaviour, that is heavy-handed big brother-ish conduct. However, MCFD has the authority here, and watchdog Ms. Turpel-Lafond will not step into this situation. The best Derek can do is be patient. Be as co-operative as it is possible to be.

Part 2 of 3, MOM AND DAUGHTER AT HOME VISITS

Aime has visited Ayn during this lengthy absence. Derek has not, and with carefully considered statements he has explained his relationship with his daughter, her implicit trust of him, her expectation that if he shows up she will expect he is taking her home and be negatively impacted if he walks away. That may certainly have been true for the first months following her removal. One wonders what emotional distance may have developed for Ayn as she has lived with foster parents who by all reports have done a commendable job with the child.

Last week Amie enjoyed her second day-time visit with her daughter Ayn in Amie’s house. All visits prior to these last two have been in a facility arranged by Ministry of Children. Amie was very pleased with both visits and Ayn seemed to appreciate this freedom and intimacy as well. This is an important step for a small girl who has been away from her family home for eighteen months. It’s like a re-entry of sorts. Amie tells us about the visits in the paragraphs below.

Part 1 of 3, A BRIEF EMOTIONAL FLASHBACK

AYN, today, 18 mo older than when she left

Amie Van Dyk is mom to Ayn, the ten-year-old girl who has been in foster care since June 2011. Amie and her ex-husband Derek Hoare, have agreed that he should be the primary caregiver for their three children, who include two sons, older than Ayn. Derek has had custody and care of the trio since the parents’ marriage dissolved, at least that’s all the marital details any of us casual readers need to know. What is of importance to us if we care to understand the dynamic of this situation is that two of three children are autistic. One of them is Ayn. As it pertains to visitation with the children and other arrangements concerning them, Aime and Derek have a sensible relationship and understanding.

It was during the summer of 2011 that Ayn was playing in the back yard of the home in which Derek and the three siblings lived, that Ayn wandered off. Ayn is a lovely girl, playful, affectionate, and in some regards challenging. Derek who learned how to communicate tranquilly with her, always met the challenges capably. But a healthy father-daughter relationship does not eliminate a child’s curiosity, and on a June afternoon, Ayn decided to explore the neighbourhood.  When Derek noticed that she had scaled the high fence and left the fairly secure yard, he searched and couldn’t find her. Anxious about this, he called for police assistance, and three hours later Ayn was located in a neighbour’s yard just a couple of homes away. The reunion was joyful but also short-lived. Within a couple of days, MCFD showed up as two social workers with a voluntary surrender of custody form that Derek could sign, or they would simply remove the child without his permission. MCFD conducted that seizure at Ayn’s school one day.

Initial observation of the girl’s treatment following that removal, was then, and is now questionable to many, appalling to others. For some weeks the child carried a photo of her daddy, wanting him, missing him, wondering where he was and when he would come for her. And in the early weeks she was given medications, anti-psychotic drugs, a host of them was Derek’s informed allegation. Professionals may handle the aggressive episodes of an autistic girl that way. A loving parent predisposed to non-doping but rather communicative interventions, did not. That’s a brief history of the basic information. A volume of emotions goes along with the history.

DID CHRISTY CLARK READ MY LETTER? PROBABLY NOT!

This is the letter I sent to Christy Clark's office over one year ago. Numerous other advocates did the same. Ayn Van Dyk is still in foster care under direction of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. There is a possibility of her being returned to her daddy this year. It's an awful punishment for an autistic girl for wandering from her back yard, and a terrible penalty to impose on a dad for not seeing her leave. She was found 3 hours later.