Ministry of No Information
Monday, Apr. 6, 2009 | 04:04 PM PT
Stories involving potentially abused or neglected children in foster care are among the toughest to tackle.
Paul and Zabeth's quest to get their three children back - a little girl aged 19 months and two boys aged 3 and 4 - is no exception.
First of all - of course - it is an emotionally-charged topic for all concerned. But, what really makes these stories among the most difficult is the absolute lack of information available from the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). This ministry is never supposed to tell us anything about specific cases - period.
Don't get me wrong - I understand why confidentiality is crucial when it comes to kids - and I am not advocating any breach of that. However, that leaves reporters unable to get or tell the whole story. Sadly, that often means the stories go untold.
In this case, our reporting was complicated further - because the MCFD did give us information - but with the the tacit understanding that we would not report it.
The Baynes had given us copies of internal government emails - which showed the boy's foster mom had written to a ministry social worker, to say that, according to medical reports the foster mom was given, the baby had been diagnosed with a disease - Glutaric Aciduria - often mistaken for Shaken Baby Syndrome.
This was important - and, we felt, worth reporting - because that same baby was removed after the parents were suspected of shaking her.
So, we called a MCFD representative - who, over the course of several hours - told us the following:
1) That foster mothers and social workers are not doctors - therefore the ministry would not be responding.
2) That the baby girl had the disease since birth - and - contrary to what the mother told us - Zabeth Bayne had known about the diagnosis all along - and was only using the foster mom's email to get publicity to try to get her kids back. In addition, he told us, one of the older boys has the same disease.
3) That he was mistaken - that the baby does not have the disease, and, if she did, the mother would have been told.
What are we to do in these situations? Drop the story?? Perhaps that is exactly what he was hoping for.
We were in a lose-lose situation. If we left out all of what he told us - we would have shortchanged our viewers. By reporting it, we would burn a source in the ministry. We did report it - as part of our TV presentation. Sure enough, the MCFD source called me afterward to tell me he "can't trust me anymore".
Fair enough. All I can say is - if these cases got to court more quickly, at least a judge could hear all the evidence and rule on it in a timely fashion.
Otherwise, parents like the Baynes are left with no other place to air their case but the media.
In this case, it's been eighteen months - and a judge still hasn't heard the evidence from both sides. The case likely won't get to court for several more months, either - because of delays in the case and court backlogs.
Ironically, the main reason is the number of expert witnesses the parents have on their side. More witnesses take more court time - making it that much harder to get a trial date anytime soon.
Even when the case does go to court, we can't report what happens there - because of automatic publication bans on hearings involving child welfare. So - if there were errors made by the ministry - and the judge hears about it - the public won't. On the other hand, if the ministry presents damning evidence against the parents that we haven't seen yet - that can't be reported either.
I don't have any brilliant ideas to solve this problem - but it's sure frustrating to deal with a government ministry that is essentially unaccountable and without transparency - in the (laudable) name of protecting children.
Comments: (4)
Posted December 3, 2009 10:37 AM
R. B. Barnier (Southern_Ontario) wrote:It happens all over Canada for sure! "Torture" to the parents and to the children involved. I am sure that there are permanent psychological affects due to the actions of an unaccountable, government funded agency who spend money to have false testimony given "Perjury" to pay for entire foster Families to to to Disney Land, Cedar Point and now for the child who's made a Crown Ward, for a year membership to a fitness club, braces and who has been denied orthopaedic shoes to try and correct the child's walk "Pigeon-Toe"
Kudos's to CBC News, Kathy Tomlinson & Go Public, John Dunn from AfterFosterCare, Andrew Skinner from Fighting4families and all others who are trying to bring light to this terrible, unaccountable, Government funded agency. People, we must stop this from happening to our children and demand transparency & accountability!
Posted October 11, 2009 10:19 PM
C Davis (Nanaimo) wrote:I met the Baynes family yesterday, I was moved to tears by their story.
There was another family in Nanaimo in the late eighties who had their children taken when their youngest went for a six week check up. The child had an injury to her head.The parents were charged with abuse.
It was later found out that the injury was caused by the delivery doctor's use of forceps. He fled to the United States. The family lost their children for a very long period of time. I wonder if anyone knows about that case.
I too lost my children to the ministry when my husband was in an accident in 1979. I was nine months pregnant and my husband died of his injuries. It took weeks for them to give my children back.They said I couldnt look after them because I was grieving and pregnant. I fought and I won. i wish I could help the Baynes in some way!
Posted May 12, 2009 08:40 PM
Rothwell (Vancouver_BC) wrote:Child Protective Services operates the same all over the world. Secrecy - which is maintained under the guise of protecting the privacy of children - is crucial to the functioning of child protection agencies.
If the public really knew what was going on - how children and families are being brutally devastated by the very agencies that are supposedly protecting them - there would be mass outrage.
Child protection worldwide is a trillion dollar industry, employing everyone from social workers to expert witnesses such as the infamous Dr. Charles Smith, to lucrative adoption agencies. There is too much money at stake, and far too much corruption, for the truth to be told without a cost to someone.
Reporters who tell the truth, even parents who tell the truth, will at some point in time very likely face some kind of retribution.
Most people have no idea how great a service Kathy Tomlinson is performing as a journalist by reporting on the MCFD. Most people have no idea that she, and those like her, are the only defense against the tryanny of secrecy that enables Child Protection to continue its devastation of children and families. Most people have no idea that they are only an anonymous phone call away from losing their children - all it takes is one accusation of child abuse. If your child just happens to have a bruise from playing in the yard, or some kind of medical disorder that mimics abuse, you will probably lose your children to the all-powerful Ministry of Children and Family Development.
In years to come, when the truth does become known to the majority, Kathy Tomlinson will be honoured as one who embodied the highest ideals of journalism. We can only hope - for the sake of the children and families suffering as the Baynes are - that time is soon.
Posted April 27, 2009 12:11 AM
CARMEN BRUNSCH (abbotsford_bc_canada) wrote:my children were apprehended from me in 2003 , and i fought for them tooth and nail , my children were also abused in care , the ministry should of been held accountable for but the judge did not see it that , way , i wish you guys would of done a story on my fight when it was happening it may of actually helped me .
thanks