I've been posting case examples from the Representative for Children and Youth report Fragile Lives, Fragmented Systems.
Here's number four; the first three are in posts below.
You can read and judge if the system is working to protect children.
Case Example 
The mother of this infant was involved with MCFD child protection social workers during her  pregnancy. She had two toddlers. The family lived on reserve in a home that had extensive  mould. The pregnancy was assessed as high risk, and the mother was confined to bed rest.  A service agency was contracted to provide assistance to the family to address housing-  related issues. One of the stated goals of the service provider was for the family to find  adequate housing. During the final weeks of her high-risk pregnancy and in the first few  weeks following the infant’s birth, it appears that the infant’s mother was expected to  locate adequate living conditions. In the months following the infant’s birth, it appears that  the only help the mother received from the service provider was housing lists and contact  phone numbers for low-income housing agencies.  The infant was brought to the hospital three times between the ages of one month and  five months for coughing, vomiting, fever and breathing difficulties. At approximately  six weeks old, the infant was diagnosed with respiratory syncytial virus. At that same  time a sibling was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with pneumonia. In the hospital the  infant’s mother advised the treating physician of her concerns with regards to the mould  in the family’s residence. 
A few weeks after the infant was born, an MCFD social worker wrote a letter to B.C. Housing  and a low-income housing provider requesting that the family be given priority on a waitlist  for housing because all of the children were frequently ill with respiratory illnesses thought  to be related to the mould in the house. A year later the family was still waitlisted for  housing and had to move off reserve into a motel with the young children when the infant  was one year old. 
One day while the mother was at work, the children were being cared for by their father.  The infant was placed to sleep on an adult bed in the room, propped up with a pillow and  covered with a blanket. The infant began to vomit and defecate. The infant’s breathing  became noisy and irregular, and the infant became unresponsive. Emergency health services  were called and took the infant to the hospital, where the infant was pronounced dead.
A lot of families have assorted problems but if kids are involved, its up to that ministry to sort out if conditions exist that puts the child at risk. and if at risk, they have the authority to remove the child. The procedure is pretty simple to understand. If the person doing the removal is in error, there must be a system that can reverse the decision. This government doesn't seem to care about those kids.
ReplyDeleteDoes it bother anyone else that the animal slaughter in Whistler is garnering more outrage than the deaths of children in care?
ReplyDeleteIs it particularly galling just to me that the career politicos running for leadership will talk about the dead dogs, but not the dead kids?