Foster dad gets 10 years for child-sex abuse

A Winnipeg man who sexually abused three foster children over the course of nearly a decade has condemned his victims to a "lifetime of trauma and pain," a judge said Tuesday.

"There are no adjectives to properly describe the court's repugnance, repudiation and rejection of your vile and depraved acts," provincial court Judge Ray Wyant told the 49-year-old man, before sentencing him to 10 years in prison.

More >> Foster dad gets 10 years for child-sex abuse

850 Teddy Bear Vigil July 21 2019

A Teddy Bear Vigil was held at the Edmonton Alberta Legislative Building Steps. Each bear represented a fallen child due to the negligence of the Child and Family Services.  We are making changes and our children of tomorrow will be still here thanks to Keri and Velvet taking lead in starting a new cycle of methods that work for all families and would not tear apart, but provide all the supports necessary to achieve the level of parenting all want to see.  Taking children away from their homes in most of these cases as you will see will upset most of us and want to go home and give our babies hugs and kisses and remind them how important they are to us and our futures.  Love your family, Please click on the link to the Petition. Thank you for all who took part today and those who couldn't make it sent their prayers! Almost 7,000 Signatures! Let's make it to 10,000!

Thank you!  http://chng.it/9MxQKhRXtd

Baby H is in her fifth foster home and family services has stopped communicating with family says grandfather

Baby H, the B.C. infant who was seized from hospital after medical staff reported her mother was neglecting her 90 minutes after having a C-section is back in a stranger’s care after her aunt asked for a break.

The child, who is now five weeks old, hasn’t lived with her parents in that time and has been bounced from foster home to foster home to an aunt and now to another non-Indigenous foster home, says the grandfather.

More >> Baby H is in her fifth foster home and family services has stopped communicating with family says grandfather

'Operating in the dark': How much detail courts get in child protection cases depends on where you live

Little is revealed at the outset of Manitoba child protection cases about why kids are taken into care, a recent CBC investigation into child protection court found — but lawyers in two other provinces say that's not the case where they practise.

But they also said that they're up against many of the same challenges those working on CFS cases in Manitoba face: court delays, heavy caseloads and a system that isn't designed to deal with the complicated nature of families.

More >> 'Operating in the dark': How much detail courts get in child protection cases depends on where you live

Quebec aims to slash youth protection wait lists by hiring 400 social workers

The Quebec government is going to invest $47 million in the province's youth protection services (DPJ) — money that will be used to hire 400 new social workers and reduce wait lists for evaluation.

There are about 3,000 children waiting to be evaluated right now, said Lionel Carmant, the minister in charge of youth protection in Quebec. Some are waiting as long as two months to have their cases examined.

More >> Quebec aims to slash youth protection wait lists by hiring 400 social workers

EDITORIAL: Sad legacy continues of taking Indigenous children from their parents

New mothers anywhere in this country can likely relate to the feelings of apprehension and anxiety that come along with the joy and elation of child birth.

So, on top of that, imagine this scenario. Rather than nurses coming to take the newborn to the hospital’s nursery for a checkup, it’s a social worker who has come to take the baby into foster care for reasons largely unknown to the parents.

More >> EDITORIAL: Sad legacy continues of taking Indigenous children from their parents

• B.C. paying foster parents instead of supporting struggling families, experts say

Indigenous newborn ‘Baby H’ returned to parents on brink of court hearing

Parents of a two-week-old baby who was apprehended shortly after her birth were preparing Wednesday evening to argue their case in court the next day when they were informed social workers were coming to their home to return the infant.

The paternal grandfather said social workers showed up at the couple’s apartment and told them if they could get one of their mothers to come stay with them, they could have the baby for the night.

More >> Indigenous newborn ‘Baby H’ returned to parents on brink of court hearing

‘No one listened’: How reports of sexual abuse in an Ontario foster home were allegedly dismissed for years

ntario’s Prince Edward County is an isolated place. Geographically speaking, the county is surrounded by water except for an isthmus at Carrying Place, Ont. The county is a spot for Torontonians to take a day trip, looking for wine or a sandy beach.

But for the most part, what happens in Prince Edward County tends to stay isolated among its 25,000 residents.

More >> ‘No one listened’: How reports of sexual abuse in an Ontario foster home were allegedly dismissed for years

Four dead babies in care with one common theme: Dilico Anishinabek Family Care

Breanne LeClair will never forget the day she got a call saying her son had turned blue and was not breathing.

As she rushed to a Thunder Bay hospital LeClair called her case worker at Dilico Anishinabek Family Care.

More >> Four dead babies in care with one common theme: Dilico Anishinabek Family Care

‘You’re constantly drowning’ in cases and paperwork, says B.C. social worker

Social workers entrusted with protecting kids in B.C. are often on the front lines of some of society’s stickiest, most deeply entrenched problems: poverty, addiction and, for many Indigenous families whose children remain grossly overrepresented in the child-welfare system, intergenerational trauma wrought by decades of racist, colonial policies.

But a recent investigation by the collaborative journalism project Spotlight: Child Welfare found that many of these social workers are failing to meet basic requirements for kids' care in B.C.

More >> ‘You’re constantly drowning’ in cases and paperwork, says B.C. social worker

Children’s Aid reacts after former executive director charged with negligence

Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society, which absorbed Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society, reacts to charges of negligence against former executive director Bill Sweet.

More >> Children’s Aid reacts after former executive director charged with negligence

Teen ‘sexual cult’ in Ontario foster home known to Children’s Aid Society, victim says

The 15-year-old girl was seeking refuge when she came to Janet and Joe Holm’s house in the mid-2000s. The couple lived in a big white farmhouse on a sprawling property just minutes outside Bloomfield, Ont., a village in Prince Edward County dotted with well-manicured homes from the 1800s.

More >> Teen ‘sexual cult’ in Ontario foster home known to Children’s Aid Society, victim says

• Children’s Aid Society in Canada turned a blind eye to sexual abuse: report

B.C. paying foster parents instead of supporting struggling families, experts say

When it comes to child welfare, social work experts and parents in B.C. say we’re investing in the wrong end of the system — pouring money into foster care instead of offering adequate support to vulnerable families, many of whom are Indigenous.

“We’re willing to give strangers just about anything to look after kids,” says Jeannine Carriere, a social work professor at the University of Victoria, who is Métis. “But we have this blockage when it comes to supporting families.”

More >> B.C. paying foster parents instead of supporting struggling families, experts say

Canada’s indigenous seek to break vicious cycle tearing families apart

The stain represents the violence of forcefully being taken away from his family to a boarding school intended to assimilate indigenous peoples. But it also represents the bonds to his grandfather, who brought him home and taught him the language, customs, and culture of his Halalt First Nation on Vancouver Island.

More >> Canada’s indigenous seek to break vicious cycle tearing families apart

Man pleads guilty to causing death of 10-month-old foster child

A young man admitted in court Monday that he caused the death of a 10-month-old foster child in his care in 2017, after breaking the baby's arm, hitting him, dropping him and causing a head injury.

Waylen Wood, 24, pleaded guilty in the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Monday to criminal negligence causing death.

More >> Man pleads guilty to causing death of 10-month-old foster child

Keith Gerein: Progress on child intervention system must not die with NDP government

Though final numbers have yet to be published, Alberta likely set a new high last year for deaths among children, teens and young adults who were receiving services from the child intervention system.

An average of three deaths per month in 2018-19 — whether from suicide, homicide, accident or causes yet to be determined — shows the system remains rife with disorder that will require considerably more diligence to rectify.

More >> Keith Gerein: Progress on child intervention system must not die with NDP government

Couple spends $200,000 fighting CFS to get sick baby back

Imagine having a sick five-month-old and teams of medical staff working for months trying to figure out why he vomits when he eats and struggles to gain weight.

But then one lone doctor meets you and instantly decides it’s your fault, and calls child and family services (CFS) to apprehend your baby.

That’s the reality a Winnipeg couple faced in 2013.

More >> Couple spends $200,000 fighting CFS to get sick baby back

Foster mother charged in Garden Hill child sexual assault case

Supt. Michael Koppang of the Manitoba RCMP said two men are in custody and a woman who was a foster parent on the First Nation faces several charges in connection with child sexual assault and is no longer a foster parent.


More >> Foster mother charged in Garden Hill child sexual assault case

Foster child placed in home of registered sex offender in Thunder Bay: court documents

A foster child under the protection of an Indigenous child welfare agency was placed in the home of a registered sex offender with “pedophilic tendencies” according to court documents in Thunder Bay.

APTN News is unaware of the child’s age, gender or how long the child was placed in the sex offender’s home.


More >> Foster child placed in home of registered sex offender in Thunder Bay: court documents

Shocking conditions at now shuttered Thunder Bay foster homes detailed in child advocate’s final report

Three Thunder Bay foster homes — closed by the province in 2017 after the death of a First Nations youth — had feces- and blood-stained floors, no working stove or food in the fridge, and were staffed by workers ill-equipped to handle the complex needs of youth in their care.

The shocking conditions are included in an investigative report by the office of Ontario’s Advocate for Children and Youth, which closed Tuesday as part of the Ford government’s “restoring trust, transparency and accountability” law. The office’s investigative role moves to the provincial ombudsman’s office May 1.

More >> Shocking conditions at now shuttered Thunder Bay foster homes detailed in child advocate’s final report