Your Stories
Below are brief snippets of stories, examples of how the the Child Protection System is failing us. More importantly, they show how the system is failing the children. Some stories show heavy handed almost Draconian tactics, while others display a complete lack of action. Read on, this is the tip of the iceberg, and you and your children may be passengers on the Titanic.
Top Stories
- Home Alone
Child in care for 6 months under false pretenses
Here is the story of a young lady with no extended family. Her situation is one of being alone except for her son. She was diagnosed with a disease and had to go to hospital for surgery. She trusted the CCAS and with nowhere else to turn, called them to take care of her son for the 21 days she needed to recuperate from surgery. They did this and the first time everything when well. However, when she needed to go for a second round of surgery and again asked CCAS to take care of her son the outcome was very different. She is illiterate and was asked to sign some papers from the CCAS. These papers turned out to be an authorisation to put the child into care for six months. It was not made clear to her that her son was going to be kept for six months, or she would not have signed the papers. They are now keeping her son for six months, under the auspices that she is taking medication for her health problem. She is an excellent mother and was using the CCAS to help her take care of her son. She has never broken any laws and has no addictions of any kind. This woman wants to go public but her lawyer told her not to get involved.
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Failure to Act
Unheeded warnings end in death of child
I was working in Niagara Falls, Ontario when a co-worker told me about this foster home that her neighbour called CCAS several times about to report that the couple was neglecting the children. No investigation was ever done, in spite of all the warning signs. They failed to act and by ignoring the obvious, failed to protect the children under their care. A month after I had heard the complaints about this foster home a little 3 year old boy ended up in a body bag.
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Family First, Not this Time.
Foster care chosen over grandmother.
In yet another case, the CCAS apprehended a 9 year old grandchild before making any inquiries as to availability of alternate care for the boy. The grandmother is a professional caregiver of children and has had over 2,000 children in her care over the past 20 years. She phoned the CCAS IMMEDIATELY requesting she be allowed to take care of her grandson. She was told to get a lawyer and take it to court. He ended up in foster care for a week. This action completely unnecessary and caused anxiety and costs that could easily have been avoided.