You can hear former MPP Frank Klees say in a video linked below the very reason the social worker act was introduced and became law in 1998 was to regulate the "children's aid societies.."
FORMER ONTARIO MPP FRANK KLEES EXPLAINS "A DISTINCTION WITHOUT A DIFFERENCE."
I'M NOT A SOCIAL WORKER, I'M A CHILD PROTECTION WORKER!
https://youtu.be/SA1YyWO0RTQ?list=PLsYhw09i3If44rMBDuZQ0ztayzSQU35Fy
Two decades later...
Without the deterrents professional regulation provides what prevents child protection social workers from being or becoming a danger to children and their families?
The union representing child protection social workers is firmly opposed to oversight from a professional college and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, which regulates and funds child protection, is so far staying out of it.
The report Towards Regulation notes that the “clearest path forward” would be for the provincial government to -again- legislate the necessity of professional regulation, which would be an appallingly heavy-handed move according to OACAS/Cupe.
http://joincupe2190.ca/files/2015/10/Professional-regulation-at-childrens-aid-societies.pdf
The Special Investigations Unit is the civilian oversight agency responsible for investigating circumstances involving police (but not unregulated CAS workers with law enforcement powers even the police don't have) that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault of a civilian in Ontario, Canada.
https://www.siu.on.ca/en/index.php
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MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO ACCESS A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHILD WELFARE EXPERT?
See: Robert D. Hare, C.M. (born 1934 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is a researcher in the field of criminal psychology. He developed the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-Revised), used to assess cases of psychopathy. Hare advises the FBI's Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC) and consults for various British and North American prison services.
He describes psychopaths as 'social predators', while pointing out that most don't commit murder. One philosophical review described it as having a high moral tone yet tending towards sensationalism and graphic anecdotes, and as providing a useful summary of the assessment of psychopathy but ultimately avoiding the difficult questions regarding internal contradictions in the concept or how it should be classified.
Hare received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology at University of Western Ontario (1963). He is professor emeritus of the University of British Columbia where his studies center on psychopathology and psychophysiology. He was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada on December 30, 2010.
Hare wrote a popular science bestseller published in 1993 entitled Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us (reissued 1999).
http://www.psychology-criminalbehavior-law.com/2015/01/hare-psychopath/
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2020: TORONTO -- Ontario's child welfare system will be redesigned to focus on prevention and early intervention, the provincial government said Wednesday.
"Child welfare should not be the system that is feared," Dunlop said in a news conference. "No one should be scared to lose their children for speaking to a children's aid society."
Associate Minister of Children and Women's Issues Jill Dunlop said the new strategy will also work to address the over-representation of Black and Indigenous families in the children's aid system.
She said children and youth in care experience worse outcomes than those in a family setting, including lower graduation rates, a higher risk of homelessness and more involvement with the justice system.
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NOT ALL SOCIAL WORKERS ARE CREATED EQUAL.
2009: Ontario CAS caseworkers come armed with vaster powers than any police officer investigating crime and shrouded in secrecy. It is an immense authority easily abused, without vigilant restraint.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/diploma-mills-marketplace-fake-degrees-1.4279513
Whether we wanted it or not, knew it or not, over time, the work of child-welfare organizations has become “parenting by the state and the imposition of their value system on other people,” says Marty McKay, a clinical psychologist who has worked on abuse cases in the U.S and Canada. Provincial agencies have the power to intervene when children are considered “at risk” of abuse or neglect — even if none has actually occurred.
http://www.nationalpost.com/children+society+workers+should+reined+critics/1690967/story.html
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2016: A psychologist explains the top factor con artists and child poaching funding predators use to choose their victims.
The chosen: Con artists choose you very carefully. They are only interested in those people who can be turned around to believe in them without question, who can be manipulated to believe in their illusions. They don't merely seek out the greedy or the weak or the stupid. Not at all. They seek out the needy. They sniff and snuffle around until they find someone who has an unfulfilled desire that even you yourself may be unaware of until the carrot is dangled in front of your face.
Con artists will stalk anyone whose weaknesses or strengths can be used to advantage. Scan through the character traits below, and you will see the con artist's menu. As far as he is concerned any character trait can be exploited and manipulated once your needs have been established. No one is immune.
Character traits: Pride, Ego, Anxiety, Ignorance, Ageing, Youth, Dreams, Security, Insecurity, Fear, Greed, Loneliness, Popularity, Assumed knowledge, Success, Failure, Illness, Self-Confidence, Desperation, Vulnerability, Ambition, Laziness, Wisdom, Hateful, Loving, any trait will do.
Scam victims: Yuppies, Volunteers, Attorneys, Wannabes, Stars, Do-gooders, Malcontents, Authority Figures, Politicians, Law Enforcement Officers, Single Moms, Students, Officials, Bankers, Sports Figures, Professors, Psychologists, Scientists, Psychologists, Blue Collar Workers, Unemployed, Doctors, Nurses, Physically Challenged, Elders, Children, Corporate Executives, Insurance Agents, Accountants, Real Estate Agents, ... You name it!
Right from the start: From the very moment a con artist targets you, his entire arsenal of psychological manipulation is brought into play. You are moved from a position of control to one of no control over anything at all. The con artist moves into the position of supreme power, regardless of how powerful you may be in real life.
How can this be? Because you are the only character in the play who hasn't a clue as to what is really happening. No one has given you a script to follow. The only choice given you is to react to what the other players are saying and doing.
Reality is gone, you just doesn't know it - your real world has been completely and effectively replaced with that of the con artist and his cronies. Smoke and mirrors.
You know the game is over when he starts using fear tactics to keep you off balance: how scammers stay out of jail
http://www.fraudaid.com/backstage/why_scammers_dont_go_to_jail.htm
"There's one thing in particular that makes anyone, intelligent or not, a good victim," she told Business Insider. "And that isn't a personality trait. It's not a demographic trait. It's a situational kind of thing: Where are you at this point in your life? People who are going through life transitions become more emotionally vulnerable and con artists can spot that."
These can be negative: The victim can be experiencing the sadness of a divorce, getting fired, or the death of a loved one. These can be positive: The victim can be experiencing the joy of a new marriage, a job promotion, or the birth of a child. What's common among all these is that they are periods of upheaval.
Con artists, as predators, love to pounce on these opportunities of emotional vulnerability.
During these periods, "we become a little bit uncomfortable because humans don't really like uncertainty and ambiguity," Konnikova said. "We like things to kind of be meaningful. Everyone really wants black and white answers. It's really hard to deal with when everything is kind of shifting around you."
"Con artists can spot that and they can take advantage of it because what they sell is meaning and certainty. They're going to tell you the story that makes sense, that actually makes you say, 'Ok, now I have something that makes sense in this particular moment in my life.'"
https://www.businessinsider.com/psychologist-explains-how-con-artists-choose-victims-2016-3
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2019: Executive director Elaina Groves does say it's important for the public to know that child protection social workers investigate differently than police.
Decisions are made on a "balance of probabilities" which often means there's not enough evidence for criminal charges. Groves says some may think that sounds "subjective" but she says rulings on abuse are based on the "impressions" of the child protection social worker.
Balance of Probabilities Definition: Burden of proof in civil trials.
The common distinction is made with the burden of truth in a criminal trial, which is beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil trial, one party's case need only be more probable than the other.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/home-daycare-lawsuit-cas-police-investigation-1.4537023
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/cas-daycare-operator-dowling-sudbury-child-abuse-1.4826325
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2019: Psychotherapist Philip Chard talks about holier-than-thou types, who judge themselves by their intentions by others by their actions.
https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/out-of-my-mind/the-many-ways-of-being-holier-than-thou/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170711220512.htm
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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
In psychology, a first impression is the event when one person first encounters another person and forms a mental image of that person. ... The first impressions individuals give to others could greatly influence how they are treated and viewed in many contexts of everyday life.
In one study, scientists found that first impressions are generally influenced most by nonverbal communication and body language. ... However, scientists acknowledge that it's hard to scientifically measure or assess first impressions, because the factors that go into social desirability are highly subjective.
Social cognition literature conceptualizes impressions via a number of constructs. The most studied form of impression in social cognition is traits; people tend to form split-second impressions with regard to others’ presumably stable characteristics, such as trustworthiness and competence. They do this from others’ facial appearances (e.g., Willis & Todorov, 2006) and simple behaviors — for example, having observed a person taking an elevator up one flight, people may infer that she is lazy (Uleman, Blader, & Todorov, 2005). The goals, values, and beliefs of others also have been shown to influence first impressions (Moskowitz & Olcaysoy Okten, 2016).
https://www.healthline.com/health/first-impressions#factors
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/studying-first-impressions-what-to-consider
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Here are some facts and figures I think point to significant problems for the child welfare sector and for underprivileged families in particular:
• There are over 5,000 child protection workers in Ontario (5160)
• The College regulates about 17,000 social workers and social service workers
• In Ontario, only 7% of College-registered social workers are employed by a CAS
• Only 4% of members of the Ontario Association of Social Workers work for a CAS
• Between 30% and 50% of Ontario’s child welfare workers do NOT hold a BSW
• Only 63% of direct service staff in CASs have a BSW or MSW (in 2012, it was 57%)
• Only 78% of direct service supervisors have a BSW or MSW (in 2012, it was 75.5%)
• The 2013 OACAS Human Resources survey estimates that 70% of relevant CAS job classifications would qualify for registration with the College (so about 1500 CAS currently employed workers would be unable to register with the College)
• From 2002 to 2014, 41 child welfare employees who did not hold a BSW or MSW submitted equivalency applications to register as social workers; only 16 were successful and 25 were refused.
http://cupe2190.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SSWCC_CAS-letters-re-college-regulation_Nov.-2016.pdf
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/diploma-mills-marketplace-fake-degrees-1.4279513
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What’s the difference between psychologist, psychological associate, registered psychotherapist, social worker, psychiatrist, therapist, counsellor and an unregistered child protection social worker?
Some child protection social workers have qualifications or minimal qualifications in social work but refuse to register or be accountable to anyone other than the ministry that holds the purse strings..
Should unregistered child protection workers with social worker qualifications have the same privilege registered social workers have?
Social Workers are registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. They have a Bachelor degree in Social Work. Social Workers provide assessment and psychotherapy to clients. They have knowledge of diagnostic criteria, and evidence-based treatments for mental health conditions.
Social Workers often play an integral role in assessment and diagnosis under supervision of Psychologists and/or Psychiatrists. Often, Social Workers have a special interest in how individuals are impacted upon by society and factors such as discrimination.
http://www.hamiltonpsych.ca/faq.html
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Could you spot a paedophile? Here are the warning signs
While paedophiles can work anywhere, they do find ways to be around children as often as possible.
It may not be their principal profession, such as a teacher or priest, but a voluntary or weekend position as a sports coach, camp counsellor, child protection social workers, school bus driver, daycare worker, Boy Scout leader, church or secular youth worker can provide the contact with children they need.
Some well-known paedophiles have placed themselves as teachers or leaders of artistic bodies such as dance schools, where they have surrounded themselves with adoring and aspiring performers.
Andrew Manners was a convicted paedophile who had committed offences against minors in Queensland in 1998. He was on parole and prohibited from working with children when he surfaced in 2002.
Manners turned up as a fill-in teacher at his mother's Scottish dance school, where he was spotted by an observant parole officer.
Former performing arts schoolteacher, Peter Gerard Boys, was also a band leader of the musical troupe the Marching Koalas in the NSW Hunter Valley region when, aged in his 40s, he began having a sexual relationship with four of his students.
He was convicted and sentenced to eight child sex offences against girls aged 10-16 years, and on his release from prison is believed to have subsequently married one of the girls who had come of age during his incarceration.
Watch out for teacher adoration beyond the bounds of a normal crush, accompanied by "secret" phone calls and special individual attention.
http://www.project-chance.org/how-to-identify-a-pedophile.html
https://themamabeareffect.org/red-flags-of-child-predators/
https://www.doctoroz.com/article/pedophile-red-flags-look-out
https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-a-Pedophile
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/what-is-grooming-how-to-spot-a-paedophile-before-its-too-late-20170228-gumyd4.html
The sole characteristic all child molesters share is having thoughts about being sexual with children, and acting on those thoughts. These individuals actively seek access to children and the opportunity to be alone with them.
Also, contrary to "Stranger Danger" warnings, child molesters are rarely strangers; at least 90% of sexually abused children are abused by someone the child and/or family knows, someone in the child's immediate or extended family, or someone close to the family.
https://www.actioncanadashr.org/un-experts-gravely-concerned-with-sex-ed-in-ontario
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2011: Soft-porn writing teacher resigns from watchdog.
The former head of the discipline committee of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) is facing professional misconduct charges for his role in co-authoring a sexually explicit novel for teens.
Jacques Tremblay resigned his position as chair of the OCT’s disciplinary committee, a position that involves overseeing sexual assault cases, in 2011 after his part in writing a soft porn novel titled “The Sexteens and the Fake Goddess” was exposed in a Toronto Star investigation.
The book “is a lurid tale of striptease, breast fondling, bum grabbing, orgasms, drugs and blackmail,” reported the Star’s Kevin Donovan in the exposé.
The cover of the book depicts the backs of a boy and a girl naked from the waist up looking at a silhouette of the CN Tower.
The other authors of the book are identified as Tremblay’s wife, Marie-Ange Gagnon, and Frederic Tremblay.
Following Jacques Tremblay’s resignation the OCT launched an investigation into the situation, although the teachers’ watchdog had earlier maintained that Tremblay’s writing did “not have an impact on his ability to act in the public interest.”
Tremblay himself had argued that his book was “entirely separate” from his work at the College and service to the public, saying the book was meant to “empower teenagers, to encourage them to be strong and resist or avoid peer pressure.”
However, in an article on his website Tremblay says the purpose of his novel is to help teens “find their inner voice” which will affect their “future sex life” because “having higher self-esteem below the belt leads to better sex.”
He also warns teens that having negative attitudes about sex could have a “direct impact on orgasm.”
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Ontario’s top teacher watchdog has quit.
Jacques Tremblay, who the Star reported was a writer of soft porn replete with questionable administrator-teacher-student conduct, resigned Tuesday. He was the chairperson for five years of the Ontario College of Teachers’ disciplinary panel, which sits in judgment on hundreds of teachers accused of misconduct.
In the novel, main character Leila Montana is introduced as a “young teen” just starting high school. She is also joining a group called the Sexteens’ Select Society.
As she awaits initiation into this mysterious alliance, the book describes her appearance as follows: “Her half-open shirt divulges the roundness of her gorgeous bosom. Leila’s particularly short skirt exposes her barely fleshy buttocks.”
There are several other detailed references throughout the book about the bodies of Leila and other girls.
Taking an oath to the mysterious society, Leila promises to “develop my teenage life at my own rhythm inspired by the aphrodisiac cult, which is based on the power of love and the emancipation of my sexuality.”
On the day after the initiation, “Leila wakes up and feels a new energy swelling within her. . . . Despite her efforts, however, Leila can’t remember what really happened. She is peaceful and undisturbed by this lapse of memory. Meanwhile, Leila feels a very light, but quite pleasant, tingling on her upper right buttock.”
(Nothing at all creepy about this is there and everything about this little scenario is perfectly normal, right?)
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/10/05/top_teacher_watchdog_who_wrote_porn_resigns.html
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Date rape drugs facts: It’s Not Just Roofies Anymore.
Date rape drugs are drugs used to assist in a sexual assault, which is any type of sexual activity a person does not agree to.
These drugs can affect you very quickly and cause victims to become weak, confused, and even pass out. You may not remember what happened while you were drugged.
The most common date rape drugs -- also called "club drugs" -- are flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), also called roofies; gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), also called liquid ecstasy; and ketamine, also called Special K.
These drugs may come as pills, liquids, or powders.
Alcohol may also be considered a date rape drug because it affects judgment and behavior and can be used to help commit sexual assault.
The club drug "ecstasy" (MDMA) has also been used to commit sexual assault.
Protect yourself by not accepting drinks from others, not sharing drinks, watching your drink, and by avoiding creepy societies and having a non-drinking friend with you to make sure nothing happens.
If you suspect you have been exposed to a date rape drug or have been sexually assaulted, call 911 and get to an emergency room immediately.
Date rape drugs can also cause seizures and even death.
Adverse Effects of Club Drugs
Uncertainties about the sources, chemicals, and possible contaminants used to manufacture many club drugs make it extremely difficult to determine toxicity and associated medical consequences. Nonetheless, we do know that:
Coma and seizures can occur following use of GHB.
Combined use with other drugs such as alcohol can result in nausea and breathing difficulties. GHB and two of its precursors, gamma butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4 butanediol (BD), have been involved in poisonings, overdoses, date rapes, and deaths.
Rohypnol may be lethal when mixed with alcohol and/or other CNS depressants.
Ketamine, in high doses, can cause impaired motor function, high blood pressure, and potentially fatal respiratory problems.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/10/05/top_teacher_watchdog_who_wrote_porn_resigns.html
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/2221198-soft-porn-writing-teacher-resigns-from-watchdog/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/29/us/pedophiles-online-sex-abuse.html
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/psychopathology-and-personality-traits-pedophiles
https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-pedophile-and-common-characteristics-973203
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/pessimism-about-pedophilia
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/149214NCJRS.pdf
https://childluresprevention.com/resources/molester-profile/
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HOW TO SPOT A VICTIM OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE?
Children do not have the knowledge, experience, or words to express what they have experienced or suffered, because sexuality is an unknown world to them. So they will express their suffering and unhappiness using their body.
If in doubt, consult a professional.
Here are some signs that should alert you:
– bruising, pain and sores on the genitals, thighs or elsewhere on the body;
– genital and mouth irritation, recurrent urinary tract infections;
– significant weight gain/loss;
– with older children: eating disorders, self-mutilation and bodily marks, use of drugs and alcohol.
2019-2020 OMBUDSMAN'S FIRST ANNUAL REPORT: DEATH AND SERIOUS BODILY HARM..
Children’s aid societies and licensed residential service providers are legally required to inform the Ombudsman’s Office within 48 hours of any death or serious bodily harm of any child who has sought or received services from a children’s aid society within the past 12 months. Because they must be filed within 2 days of the incident, these reports may involve preliminary information and not findings of investigations by the police, child protection authorities or the coroner.
From May 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, we received 1,663 reports about 1,433 incidents (some reports were duplicates, from multiple agencies reporting the same incident). These reports related to 122 deaths and 1,473 cases of serious bodily harm (defined as any situation where a young person requires treatment beyond basic first aid, including for physical, sexual or emotional harm). The Ombudsman will report in more detail on our analysis of these statistics in future reports.
TOP CASE TOPICS
1,458 Children’s aid societies
240 Youth justice centres
139 Residential licensees
26 Secure treatment
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These are some behavioral changes that can alert you:
– they isolate themselves, no longer talking about their day, no longer saying what they did, no longer interested in what they previously enjoyed ;
– they are afraid, they refuse to go anywhere alone;
– their grades are deteriorating;
– they refuse hugs, physical proximity;
– they do not want to undress in front of an adult when they wash, go for a medical examination or visit the pool/beach;
– they are anxious, nervous, often cry or get angry, regress, begin to act and speak like a baby, suck their thumb, wet their bed when they were dry before;
– they lose their appetite, suffer from insomnia, are afraid to fall asleep because of recurring nightmares;
– they show an abnormal sexual interest: they address sexual subjects they should not know at their age, mimic sexual behavior, masturbate or mimic sex noises in public, make explicit drawings, increase seductive behavior;
– they are aggressive with those around them.
What are the consequences of sexual abuse on a child?
https://pedo.help/what-are-the-consequences-of-sexual-abuse-on-a-child/
How to raise children’s awareness of the risk of sexual abuse?
https://pedo.help/how-to-raise-childrens-awareness-of-the-risk-of-sexual-abuse/
Can a child feel desire and sexual pleasure?
https://pedo.help/can-a-child-feel-desire-and-sexual-pleasure/
What is sexual abuse?
https://pedo.help/what-is-sexual-abuse/
What if your child or teenager sexually assaulted another child?
https://pedo.help/what-if-your-child-or-teenager-sexually-assaulted-another-child/
What to do if a child has been abused?
https://pedo.help/what-to-do-if-a-child-has-been-abused/
https://pedo.help/how-to-spot-a-victim-of-child-sexual-abuse/
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How do child molesters gain access to their victims?
Just like Ontario's child protection social workers, sexual predators seek to determine if the child has a stable home life, or if the family is facing challenges like divorce, foster care, poverty, illness, drugs, homelessness, etc.
Children lacking stability at home are at higher risk for for abuse or neglect, as there is usually easy access to the child and opportunities for the workers to apprehend more funding.
Child molesters like Ontario's unregistered corporate CAS workers will target kids who are loners, or who look troubled or neglected. Youngsters who smoke, vape or use drugs and alcohol are seen as risk-seekers lacking adequate supervision, and therefore easy targets.
Single parents are often targeted, as they are more likely to need help with parenting duties and vulnerable to offers to babysit and/or drive kids to school, practices, lessons and other activities.
DOES IT SEEM ODD TO YOU THE CAS AND CHILD PREDATORS HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON, THEY HAVE THE SAME MODUS OPERANDI, SEEKING THE SAME INFORMATIONS ABOUT THEIR VICTIMS, BUT IN THE CASE OF THE CAS THEY NEED YOU TO GIVE THEM AN EXCUSE FIRST..."
While some sexual abuse is purely opportunistic, most children are groomed and lured into situations where they are vulnerable to abuse. Common grooming strategies include:
Befriending parents, particularly single parents, to gain access to their children.
Offering babysitting services to busy parents or guardians.
Taking jobs and participating in community events that involve children.
Becoming a guardian or foster parent.
Attending sporting events for children.
Offering to coach children's sports.
Volunteering in youth organizations.
Offering to chaperone overnight trips.
Loitering in places children frequent - playgrounds, parks, malls, game arcades, sports fields, etc.
Befriending youngsters on social media (TikTok, Ask.fm, YouTube, Kik, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.) and online gaming platforms.
Best practice for implementing and sustaining sexual violence prevention in child-serving organizations (schools, clubs, faith-based organizations, sports) include:
Have organizational Policies & Procedures in place to help protect children, employees and the institution.
Train all teachers, staff and volunteers on recognizing grooming and reporting abuse by other teachers or other professionals who work closely with children.
Educate parents/guardians/community-at-large.
Implement developmentally-appropriate classroom-based awareness and prevention education and activities for students.
https://childluresprevention.com/resources/molester-profile/
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Victim says a “sex cult” was run out of an Ontario foster home for years and Children’s Aid Society knew.
An Ontario county Children’s Aid Society failed to detect or act on the systemic abuses of countless vulnerable children in several foster care homes over a span of 8 years.
Global provides a quote from one of the victims demonstrating that neighbours wondered how Joe and Janet Holmes were able to receive and care for children. The same victim had her contact information distributed by her abusers to people in the town, who then sent her sexually inappropriate messages and contributed to her abuse.
While both Joe and his wife Janet were sentenced to jail time in 2011 for their various, horrific abuses of children, they were far from the only ones. Global reports the last foster family to be convicted with the abuse of children in their care in the Prince Edward county system was in 2015.
Bill Sweet, the executive director of the Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society, was charged in 2018 with 10 counts of neglect, and 10 counts of failing to provide the necessities of life. His preliminary trial begins in July 2019, and his lawyer asserts that he will defend himself against the charges.
https://thepostmillennial.com/a-sex-cult-was-run-out-of-an-ontario-foster-home
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2016: Report shines light on poverty’s role on kids in CAS system.
The effect of provincial policies on struggling families was especially apparent in the late 1990s, when the Conservative government slashed welfare payments and social service funding. At the same time, it introduced in child protection the notion of maltreatment by “omission,” including not having enough food in the home. The number of children taken into care spiked
Goodman credited the report with revealing “the elephant in the room.” Children’s aid societies have long witnessed the grinding effect of poverty on families but have rarely spoken out about it or pressured policy makers as legal aid hasn't paid lawyers to defend their clients rights in the family courts. (see Motherisk Report)
“We’re able to tell a story of maltreatment, but we have not done a very good job in telling a story about poverty,” Goodman said, referring to Ontario’s 47 privately run children’s aid societies. (and the CAS only gets funding when they find something to be concerned about.
Goodman suggested silence suited the provincial government , in particular the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, which regulates child protection and funds societies with $1.5 billion annually more than it did CAS funding goals.
“The ministry has been pretty clear with us that advocacy is not part of our mandate,” Goodman said. “It’s not like they’re asking for the (poverty) data. They’re not.”
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2020: A shocking report details how Ontario’s most vulnerable youths are shuttled from child protection to the justice system.
Ontario’s most vulnerable youths are being “retraumatized” by child protection and justice systems that set them up to fail and leave them languishing for months in pretrial detention, according to researchers who tracked kids in the care of foster parents and group homes.
The research team — co-led by Judge Brian Scully of the Ontario Court of Justice and Ryerson professor Judy Finlay — followed youths in care who were also involved with the justice system, including 28 youths in Toronto.
During the project’s two-year period, the Toronto youths spent an average of 138 days in detention awaiting trial, due to systemic barriers that make obtaining bail difficult and reoffending easy. Nine of the 28 youths spent one to six months in pretrial detention; eight spent more than six months.
The longest pretrial detention suffered by one youth was 455 days served in two stints, including one of 401 consecutive days. The youth was already in detention for an unknown amount of time before researchers began their tracking.
Project researcher Jessica Salerno followed the youth, whom she referred to with the pronoun “they.” She co-ordinated conferences with key players involved in the case and witnessed a system that broke the youth’s spirit.
“Towards the end, they were really sad,” Salerno says in an interview. “They just didn’t care anymore … They didn’t care about life and they didn’t care what happened to them.”
Researchers found the challenge was especially acute for Indigenous or Black youths sent to group homes far from their communities, where their culture isn’t reflected. Another researcher on the team identified the long-detained youth as a Black male.
Sixteen of the 28 Toronto youths (57 per cent) were Black. That’s higher than the overrepresentation seen in Children’s Aid Society of Toronto data. Black youth represent just 13.6 per cent of city residents under 18.
The Black youths spent longer in pretrial detention than any other racial or ethnic group tracked — 200 days, on average. White youths spent an average of 75 days; Indigenous youth spent about 40 days. The project also found that Black youth incurred more severe charges, on average, than other groups.
“Many of the Black youth the project engaged with experienced the classic ‘child-welfare-to-prison pipeline,’ ” says a report issued by the research team, which partly blames the longer detention on “institutional anti-Black racism and colonialism within the child welfare and youth justice systems.”
Researchers call the children and teens they followed “cross-over youth,” because they start in the child protection system and end up in the youth justice one.
They witnessed what numerous reports have criticized for creating that pipeline: group home staff untrained to deal with traumatized youth; youths charged for acting out their trauma; children’s aid societies refusing to act as sureties; lawyers insensitive to the struggles youths face in the child protection system; and unreasonable bail conditions that inevitably get broken, thereby triggering further charges.
“Once they’re in the justice system, they go deeper and deeper into it,” says Finlay, a professor at Ryerson’s School of Child and Youth Care. She was Ontario’s child advocate from 1991 to 2007, an office Premier Doug Ford’s government abolished.
In a statement to the Star, Jill Dunlop, associate minister of children and women’s issues, said the government is deep into a process of reviewing and “modernizing” child welfare. The work includes “looking holistically at the different systems children and youth may interact with, including the intersection between child welfare and youth justice systems.” The goal is to divert them from criminal behaviour through education and prevention programs, she added.
“Any time a child in care is remanded to custody, we see it as a failure,” Dunlop said, adding that reforms by the previous Liberal government resulted in a 78 per cent reduction in youths admitted to custody and detention, to an average of 150 a year. She did not say how many of those are cross-over youth.
The researchers set up pilot projects at four sites — Toronto, Belleville, Thunder Bay and Brantford — funded by the federal and Ontario governments, and the Laidlaw Foundation.
Along with tracking youths, researchers held case management conferences with key groups, including police, Crown attorneys, judges, children’s aid workers and group home staff. The goal was to have everyone change the practices that funnel youths in care deep into the justice system.
Most of the data in the team’s 208-page report, “Cross-Over Youth Project: Navigating Quicksand,” comes from 48 youths — 12 to 17 years old — tracked in the Toronto and Belleville pilot projects. Most of them — 64 per cent — had ended up in care not because they needed protection, but because they didn’t get along with their parents. That highlights the need for early intervention to resolve conflicts and keep families intact, the report notes.
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2016: Report shines light on poverty’s role on kids in CAS system.
The effect of provincial policies on struggling families was especially apparent in the late 1990s, when the Conservative government slashed welfare payments and social service funding while at the same time, it introduced in child protection the notion of maltreatment by “omission,” including not having enough food in the home and this after giving the society what amounted to an unlimited funding scheme. The number of children taken into care spiked as did their funding.
“The ministry has been pretty clear with us that advocacy is not part of our mandate,” Goodman said speaking for the society. “It’s not like they’re asking for the (poverty) data. They’re not.” Goodman then when on to suggest the silence suited the government more than the silence suited the society's funding goals.
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