Monday, January 03, 2011

Harvard Psychologist Gives Canada’s Family Courts a Failing Grade: Foster Care News

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The Council announced  the formation of a permanent, citizen based, five-year review committee, and invites the public to join. The “Ride for Accountability of Children’s Aid Societies” (RACAS)  is an awareness bicycle ride from Ottawa to Windsor led by John Dunn of the Foster Care Council of Canada. Updates on this event will be posted on Peacock Poverty

From:
John Dunn
Executive Director
Foster Care Council of Canada
12-1160 Meadowlands Drive East
Ottawa, ON, K2E 6J2
1-613-220-1039
johndunn@afterfostercare.ca

http://www.afterfostercare.ca

Speakers:
John Dunn, Executive Director, Former Foster Child
Michele Farrugia (pronounced Mick-ay-lay farroogia), Director, Volunteer, Former Foster Child
Chris Carter, a community member / Fighting for Families

Media attended: Peacock Poverty, Cheryl Smith, Former Foster Child/Ward

RE: MANDATORY 5-YEAR REVIEW OF ONTARIO’S CHILD PROTECTION LEGISLATION

Media Advisory / Press Release
For Immediate Release
January 29, 2010

NOTE: This media advisory is followed by the press release:

TORONTO (Queens Park Media Studio) – The Foster Care Council of Canada, an organization made up of former foster children and their supporters will be announcing their submission and recommendations to the Minister of Children and Youth Services in relation to the mandatory five-year review of the Child and Family Services Act which governs Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario.

The Council will also make two announcements regarding the formation of a permanent, citizen based, five-year review committee, and their “Ride for Accountability of Children’s Aid Societies” (RACAS) which is an awareness bicycle ride from Ottawa to Windsor.

Date: Friday, January 29, 2010

Time: 1 p.m.

Location: Queens Park (Legislative Assembly of Ontario) in the media studio
University and Wellesley Aves., Toronto, Ontario
For Immediate Release

Queens Park, Toronto, January 29, 2010 1PM: The Foster Care Council of Canada, an organization made up of former foster children and their supporters will hold a press conference at the media studio of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to announce their submission and recommendations to the Minister of Children and Youth Services in connection with the mandatory five-year review of the Child and Family Services Act.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Council made two announcements regarding the formation of a permanent, citizen based, five-year review committee, and their “Ride for Accountability of Children’s Aid Societies” (RACAS) which is an awareness bicycle ride from Ottawa to Windsor.

Speakers will included former foster child John Dunn, the founder and volunteer executive director of the Foster Care Council of Canada,  board member Michele Farrugia , and Chris Carter, community member/ Fighting for Families

Background

In May, 1999, legislation was introduced by Janet Ecker — the Minister responsible for child protection services at the time — which makes it mandatory for the Minister to conduct a review of the Child and Family Services Act every five years for the purpose of ensuring the legislation is always — as Ecker said — responding sensitively and effectively to changing needs.

The first review of the Act was completed early in 2005, during which time submissions were made to the Minister by community organizations and private individuals. The submissions were reviewed and a report was made available to the public as required. The Ministry then consulted the submissions while drafting a Bill which proposed to make changes to the Child and Family Services Act in 2006, known as Bill 210.

John Dunn, the volunteer executive director of the Foster Care Council of Canada and a former foster child who spent sixteen years of his childhood under the authority of the Catholic Children’s Aid Society in Toronto said “after the first review of the Act in 2005, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, at the request of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS), attempted to weaken the complaint procedures available to foster children by proposing to remove existing external oversight mechanisms such as the ability for children to escalate their complaints to the Society’s more independent board of directors, to have the board’s decision reviewed by a Ministry appointed Director, and to make it impossible for vulnerable children to have an advocate representing them to initiate a complaint on their behalf, which children have the right to do under paragraph 103(1)(b)(ii) of the Act”.

After the Ministry introduced the first version of Bill 210 during its first reading, the Foster Care Council of Canada and other community groups such as Canada Court Watch (canadacourtwatch.com), Dufferin Voices of Children Alliance (fixcas.com), Fighting4Families (fighting4families.webs.com), and Rally4Accountability (rally4accountability.webs.com) rallied support from citizens in Ontario who were partially successful in getting MPP’s to prevent the Ministry from further weakening the complaints procedure as they had first proposed. However, despite the pressure, Ministry still managed to push through legislation which prevents children in care from having representatives file complaints on their behalf, even when they fear retaliation for doing so as was reported in a previous report from the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate titled “Voices from Within”.

The Foster Care Council of Canada will also invite the public to join a 5-year review committee to prepare for the next review of the Act in 2015 .   http://www.afterfostercare.ca

A copy of the 2010 Five-Year Review-Recommendations to the Minister of Child and Youth Services submitted by the Foster Care Council of Canada is available at  http://afterfostercare.ca/pdf/pressreleaseQP_2010long.pdf

In part it reads:

“In 1999 legislation was introduced by Janet Ecker– the Minister responsible for child protections services at the time–which makes it mandatory to conduct a review of the Child and Family Services Act (Act) every five years as a means of ensuring the legislation is always responding sensitively and effectively to changing needs of children and youth they serve and of the community.

The first mandatory review of the Act took place in 2005 after the newly formed Ministry of Children and Youth Services posted an announcement on their website seeking input from the public regarding possible change to the Act.

Several organizations, professionals and individuals made submissions to the Ministry with recommendations for change and a report was subsequently published summarizing the submissions made.

These submissions in conjunction with consultations the Ministry engaged in with various child welfare service stakeholders guided the Ministry in drafting what was then titled Bill 210, an act to amend the Child and Family Services Act.

In December of 2009 the Ministry posted an announcement on their website regarding the second review of the Act and again seeking submissions from the public with a deadline of January 31, 2009.

The deadline gave citizens just over 30 days to review a statute which has more than 200 sections and to formulate recommendations for changes to a very complicated piece of legislation. This short amount of time does not give citizens nearly enough time to organize, review, understand, and make recommendations for change which can improve the experiences and outcomes of/by those who are affected.

In response to the Ministry’s invitation, the Foster Care Council of Canada (a grassroots organization 10 yrs old founded by and for people in/from “care”)*, drafted a list of recommendations. http://afterfostercare.ca/pdf/pressreleaseQP_2010long.pdf

In an effort to accomodate citizens need for time to conduct a proper review in the future, we have created a permanent Five-Year CFSA Review Committee and invite the public to join. johndunn@afterfostercare.ca    &    http://wwwafterfostercare.ca

It is our hope as an organization made up of foster children and their supporters that the Ministry will take our recommendations into consideration while drafting legislation which will have a serious impact on the lives of children and youth affected by child welfare services.

*editors note

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As a former foster child and executive director of the Foster Care Council of Canada, an organization which strives for increased transparency and accountability in child-welfare, I am concerned about the Ministry of Children and Youth Services’ 3 person commission which is made up of an adoptive father who stands to benefit from increased funding to CAS’s through ongoing adoption supports and a reported “expert in child welfare” who being so, most likely has close ties to CAS staff, Ene Underwood, a former member of the board of Toronto’s Children’s Aid Society, and Wendy Thomson, an adoptive parent and public service reform adviser.

Will the Commission seek public input to learn where the CAS’s are wasting money.

Will they respond to repeated submissions made to the Ministry about wasted funds on unnecessary litigation against citizens for speaking out about them, for opening cases to get ministry funds in six-month terms based on false and misleading information submitted in affidavits to the courts by workers, and over 2 Million dollars a year in ministry allocated child protection funds going to support the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (a provincially registered lobby group with salaries at over 3 Million a year)?

I advise everyone to contact the Ministry to ask how to contact the Commission, or to at least make submissions to the committee through MPP’s and child welfare opposition critics, Andrea Horwath (NDP) and Sylvia Jones (PC) since she might be the only way to contact the commission.

Please visit http://www.racas.wetpaint.com to learn about the Ride for Accountability in Child Welfare

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
613-220-1039

http://www.afterfostercare.ca

Foster Care News Blog

http://www.fostercarenews.blogspot.com

Also read about the Ride for Accountability in 2010

http://www.racas.wetpaint.com

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The Child and Family Services Act which governs or controls how child protection services are to be dealt with only contains a few offence provisions in it that allow citizens to press what are called “Provincial Offence Charges” (not Criminal Code offences) against someone who has committed the offence shown. (usually sexual or physical abuse of a child)

However, there is nothing in the Act which forces the Children’s Aid Societies and foster homes to obey all parts of their governing legislation (the Child and Family Services Act)

Therefore, I propose that before March 2010 (when the Ministry of Children and Youth Services in Ontario is supposed to review the Child and Family Services Act) that every citizen who is interested in protecting children in foster care from abusive or neglectful behaviour by Children’s Aid Societies, their staff, and foster and group homes, that they write a letter to the Minister of Children and Youth Services asking that a new offence provision be added to the Child and Family Services Act which could be used by citizens to hold officials accountable by allowing them to press provincial offences charges against those wrongdoers, where doing so would have to be approved by a Justice of the Peace with appropriate supporting evidence, meaning it would not be abused as some might worry.

If you write such a letter to the Minister of Children and Youth Services and you want your letters to be made available to the media and to the public (individuals letters to the Ministry are not available to people via FIPPA requests) you have to include a copy of your letter to me at johndunn@afterfostercare.ca so that we can collect them and publish them on our website.

Your letter could be similar to this.

Minister of Children and Youth Services
Ministry of Children and Youth Services
M-1B114, Macdonald Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto ON M7A 1N3
Canada

Hon. Laurel Broten

Many of Ontario’s laws have offence provisions contained within in them. As you are aware, offence provisions are basically paragraphs or sections of an Act which tell a person or corporation if it is an offence for them to do something or not to do something when they are required to do so and these provisions allow citizens or officials to enforce those provisions by bringing evidence of such offences to a Justice of the Peace under section 23 of the Provincial Offences Act

The Ontario Child and Family Services Act has a provision which protects child welfare staff from liability when something goes wrong, unless you can prove they did the wrongdoing in “bad faith” which is an exceptionally high bar to meet as doing so would require getting evidence which might only have been discussed within the walls of the agency or in their records or e-mails which are not accessible by clients or public. That provision is shown below for your convenience.

CFSA
Protection from personal liability
15. (6) No action shall be instituted against an officer or employee of a society for an act done in good faith in the execution or intended execution of the person’s duty or for an alleged neglect or default in the execution in good faith of the person’s duty. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 15 (6).

The reason for this protection provision being put in place was due to a policy decision to encourage people to work in the child welfare field without fear of getting sued repeatedly by the many clients they deal with, however, it has also encouraged a culture of invincibility among Children’s Aid Societies and their staff and directors which has often led to illegal conduct, not following provisions of the Acts they are subject to, and other forms of wrong doing.

Suggested Child and Family Services Act Amendment
Therefore, I would like to suggest to you during the 2010 mandatory review of the Child and Family Services Act by your Ministry that offence provisions be added to the Act to ensure that everyone complies with all parts of the Act in both the public interest, and in the best interests of children and youth in care.

A sample taken from section 58 of the Vital Statistics Act (regarding adoption records) of an appropriate provision to be added to the Child and Family Services Act is provided below which would ensure child welfare officials obey the statute which governs them.

General offence
58. Every person guilty of any act or omission in contravention of this Act or the regulations for which no penalty is otherwise provided is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $50,000 for an individual or $250,000 for a corporation.

CC: Andrea Horwath – NDP Child Welfare Critic
Sylvia Jones – PC Child Welfare Critic
Irwin Elman – Chief Provincial Child and Youth Advocate
Andre Marin – Onario Ombudsman
Various Media Outlets

Yours truly

John Dunn

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Come on out to show your support for the need for external accountability of Children’s Aid Societies

This year, Andrea Horwath, the leader of Ontario’s NDP party, and the NDP Child Welfare Opposition Critic will be speaking out at 10:00am Sharp, don’t be late.

Speakers will also include Archbishop Dorian Baxter (Canada Court Watch), Sheila White (Office MPP Andrea Horwath), John Dunn (Foster Care Council of Canada), and Andrew Skinner (Fighting 4 Families) and will then turn into an open mic for people to have their voices heard as well.

Please contact your local media to let them know about the Monday, October 05, 2009 Rally.

You can see videos from last years event and other information, including copies of Bill 93 (Ombudsman Oversight) which everyone is encouraged to download, print and get signed and delivered to Queen’s Park to the Rally. Petitions can be given to the organizers when you arrive. Just ask around.

Read more at http://www.rally4accountability.webs.com

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John Dunn

I have always wondered by Children’s Aid Societies generally do not let former foster children obtain copies of their foster care records from the time they were in foster care. Are the Societies aware of something in them that they are trying to hide from?

In the case of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto v. W.-H.(K.), 2007 ONCJ 169 (CanLII) Justice Ellen B. Murray, deemed, on consent, that Margaret Osmond is an expert in the issues of attachment, childhood trauma, and permanency planning for children in care. As stated in Murray’s written decision on this case, “I qualified her as an expert in this area, as well as in the issues of attachment and childhood trauma. Ms. Osmond has long and impressive experience working for Children’s Aid Societies in the provision of services for children, in the training of workers, in researching and developing programs that promote quality permanency planning for children and in writing about these issues.”

Murray’s decision went on to say ”

Since a court-qualified expert in attachment and childhood trauma with a long and impressive experience working with Children’s Aid Societies has written about these issues and the effects of multiple placements on foster children, would it be too far fetched to think that Child Weflare professionals (Children’s Aid Societies):

a) already know that all former foster children who moved a lot during their time in foster care will experience increased risks for criminal behaviour and have problems maintaining employment

b) already know that all former foster children who moved a lot during their time in foster care will be unable to form satisfactory intimate relationships resulting in severe impairment in parenting skills due to their inability to consider their child’s needs separate from their own needs

c) already know that all former foster children who moved a lot during their time in foster care will not be able to form emotional attachment to their own children

d) already know that all former foster children who moved a lot during their time in foster care will abuse or neglect their own children

And, since Children’s Aid Societies are responsible for taking children from their families for various reasons and moving them ten and twenty times in foster care, wouldn’t you think the Societies should be responsible for providing post-foster care counselling services to these formerly fostered adults in order to help relieve the known harms they have caused instead of waiting until these former wards become parents themselves and taking their children from them?

The question then remains… why don’t Children’s Aid Societes let former foster children obtain copies of all of their files once they leave foster care? Are they trying to protect themselves from successful court actions because the files in their highly secure archives contain evidence of abuse and neglect in foster care?

Or, is it because, as the Societies have said and would like us to believe, that former foster children seeing the files might be emotionally harmful to them, might result in physical harm to “third parties”, and that former foster children would not understand the content of the files?

One Society staff member was fired almost instantly when he or she (wishes to remain anonymous) revealed to another staff member that he or she had requested and got access to a former foster child’s records so that he or she could assist this former ward in making a connection with his or her own history in foster care. This person then even had to hire a lawyer to fight for severance pay!

Does this sound too far fetched? Recall what childhood trauma expert and Children’s Aid Society staffer, Margaret Osmond has written about the damage caused to children who have experienced many changes of primary caretakers (foster children) only this time, imagine these effects being listed as damages being claimed in court affidavits which could be used against a Society by former foster children who have ended up homeless, suffering from cronic unemployment, drug or alcohol addictions, having their children taken by a Children’s Aid Society due to the effects of foster care on their own parenting skills and abilities, and their inability to form healthy loving relationships with a partner.

It might look a little bit like this

Affidavit of Former Foster Child X
Damages Suffered From Time in Foster Care:

1. Multiple placements and abuse in foster care caused me to gradually run out of energy to invest in any future relationships and to lose my capacity to form satisfying, emotional relationships

2. Increased risk of anti-social behaviour, criminal activity, and problems maintaining employment

3. Inability to form satisfactory intimate relationships, a severe impairment in parenting skills, an inability to form an emotional attachment to my own children

These are only a few of the many effects life in foster care can have on foster children, which also include low self-esteem, depression, mental health issues, and the list goes on.

Of course, not all former foster children suffer this way, but what about those who have? Where are they today? What kind of a life are they living? What supports are they being given that specifically deal with their issues?

As most people know, Children’s Aid Societies are government approved, licensed and funded non-profit corporations. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services refuses to provide proper monitoring of Societies, Societies refuse to talk to the media when children die or are harmed while under their care, Societies interfere with people’s applications for corporate memberships with them, they settle out of court with gag orders when sued for damages keeping it out of the public record, they provide no post-foster care services to former fostered adults whom the Societies are obviously aware have suffered immesurably as children from their practices, and to top if all off, Societies unabashedly hide their records in highly secure archives, which may be an obstruction of justice by preventing former wards from learning the source of their damages in attempts to heal as adults.

Have you asked your Society for your records? Have they refused to give you copies of them only allowing you to access certain files on site?

If they don’t allow you to obtain copies of all of your records, one way to do so is by filing a Statement of Claim with the court regarding your abuse while in care and as part of the court procedure, they then are required to provide full disclosure. If you are a low income citizen you can file a “Low Income Fee Waiver” at the court so you are not required to pay the filing fees at the court. You can always talk to a lawyer about this or just go ahead and try yourself.

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada

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http://www.archive.org/download/subwayride/subwayride_64kb.m3u

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by John Dunn
My Sons

I see their face in every crowd
Each time it brings me pain
Oh how I miss the boys I’ve lost
I need them back again

I so recall their dancing eyes
Their sweet and gentle smiles
Oh, please my sons, will you return
And stay a little while?

‘Tis only once, in our brief span
We hold someone so dear
I’d relinquish all eternity
If I could have them near.

by: Mickey McLeod (Mary McLeod)
July 22nd 1944 – October 06th 1998 (suicide)

In mom’s suicide note she appoligised to my brother and I for not being able to protect us from the years of abuse we received in foster care. She said that she could no longer handle the guilt, and that we were old enough to carry on now without her.

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by John Dunn

The Foster Care Council of Canada’s Executive Director, John Dunn has registered with the Federal House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to make a presentation to their committee in Ottawa sometime during the weeks of September 14, October 26, and November 2, 2009. (date yet to be determined)

Dunn will address the issue of Federal Social Transfer Payments being sent to the provinces without any conditions or monitoring being imposed on their use and effectiveness in child protection services.

The issue of conditions being imposed on the use of federal Social Transfer Payments was raised in Chapter 1 of the 2008 Federal Auditor General’s Report. The “Main Points” section of the report states the following;

“Our study examined the three main mechanisms used by the federal government to transfer funds to the provinces and territories. We also looked at the nature and extent of conditions attached to these transfers.”

“The nature and extent of conditions attached to federal transfers to the provinces and territories varies significantly. While some transfers have specific conditions that recipients must meet, others are unconditional and there is no requirement for a province or territory to report to the federal government on the use of the transferred funds. It is not always clear to parliamentarians which transfers have conditions attached and what the nature and extent of those conditions are.”

“Some transfers involve conditions that, for example, obligate recipients to provide the federal government with information on how they spent the transferred funds and to what effect. The federal government must demonstrate that it is monitoring provincial and territorial compliance with these conditions and that it is taking action in cases of non-compliance. Where transfers have limited or no conditions, the provinces and territories have the flexibility to spend the funds according to their own priorities, with no legal obligation to account to the federal government for the spending.”

How you can make a presentation to the Committee

To learn how and when you can make a presentation to the committee (just tell them what you know and how they should impose conditions on the transfer payments for accountability purposes) visit the following link

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3940900&Language;=E&Mode;=1&Parl;=40&Ses;=2

View the Report

You can view the report here to learn more about the issue of conditions being placed on federal Social Transfer Payments in preparation for your presentation to the Committee by visiting the following link http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_200812_01_e_31825.html#hd3aRead the entire post at http://fostercarenews.blogspot.com/2009/07/foster-care-council-to-present-to.html

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