HOW DEREK FEELS ABOUT AYN'S PROMISED RETURN

Derek told us this week that his daughter Ayn, an autistic child of ten, will at last be permitted to come home to him.

Just yesterday, he wrote this to all his supporters. “Thank you for all the warm thoughts everyone, it is definitely a relief to be drawing so close to an end of this entire ordeal. Upon hearing this news I too was overcome with emotion and cannot even begin to describe how it felt to hear those words. Elation to say the least. Let me address some of the individual comments so as to avoid any speculation.”



She was removed as you may already know, when in June 2011, she wandered from her fenced back yard and became lost in her own neighbourhood. She was located by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) after a three hour search. The RCMP search was launched by her own father’s concerned call when he himself could not find her immediately. She was located her several houses away,

RCMP of course returned her to a relieved Derek for a happy reunion. However, the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) was involved almost from the start to insure that she was being not neglected but rather properly parented, supervised, protected.

What MCFD protocol was in place for a case like this? Were there extenuating factors that MCFD had to consider about which we have no knowledge? Was a due diligence investigatory procedure conducted with Derek and his ex-wife Aime, and with Derek’s two other children, one of whom is also autistic? Was a reasonable effort made to assess Derek’s parenting effectiveness and trustworthiness? Or was a hasty judgment call responsible for a charade of child protection? Within four days of the incident, when Derek would not sign to MCFD a voluntary surrender of his custodial right, MCFD took her from her school. Derek only learned about this apprehension after the fact. We have been over these roads so often. Why does government service of this type seem to divorce its practice from courtesy, kindness and consideration? Is there an automatic assumption that every child for which intervention is exercised, has malevolent parents?

It has taken over eighteen months for the MCFD to present a document that states that Ayn is not in need of protective care.  (MORE TO COME LATER TODAY)