The Cry for Help that Went Unheard

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The Cry for Help that Went Unheard
http://www.youthnewsletter.net/pdf/the_system.pdf

Quick get on to this site and download a copy before this address disappears! Use zoom tool on top left to read details in the collages. And use copy option and e-mail option at the top as well.

The Halifax Children’s Aid Society sponsors a newsletter created by youth who have been apprehended and are in the system. This newsletter is now called The Voice of Youth in Care, but when you understand the history of this newsletter you will realize that the name of this publication could not be farther from the truth. Indeed, under the direction of Andrew Safer, the Halifax Children’s Aid Society have muzzled the voices of the children and have molded this newsletter into what they want to present to the public. View all the newsletters on http://www.youthnewsletter.net/newsletter.html and see for yourself the evolution of change from voice with passion to muzzled and stale.

The first publication of this newsletter was introduced to the public in 2001 under the name Listen! The System : It Doesn’t Work For Us. http://www.youthnewsletter.net/pdf/the_system.pdf This was the true voice of the youth. It was a blatant cry for help and shame on the politicians and the numerous other people who received and read that first publication and did nothing to respond to this cry. This publication was an expose that the youth hoped people would hear and respond to, but instead, it was ignored.

Note! In this web version, the title has been edited - They removed " It Doesn’t Work For Us". I have original paper copies. There are a few other edits I have detected as well. However, most is original.

The text in this newsletter is bad enough. But the artwork and graphics, especially the collages say even more about being in the Halifax Children’s Aid System:

• The lack of privacy in the system is represented by a bare backed youth shackled to a wall with whip marks on his back (pg1)
• A little boy wearing a grown man’s jacket, hanging down to his ankles depicts children being forced to grow up way before their time (pg1)
• A giant sized tennis shoe labeled “STAFF” about to stomp down on 3 youth, identified by initials -one being the artist (pg3)
• A photo of paper used for group brainstorming session titled Let’s Talk about being Mistreated in Care including the listing: setting up 4 failure, where is home?, how long will it last, attachments, close minded, discrimination, and manipulative (pg4)
• A little tug boat named CARE towing a huge boat, called SS Youth to a deserted island . The caption on the internet was changed - the original read : “The tugboat (Care) is towing youth to the island where they will be left on their own“. (pg10)
• A caption for one of the collages states “It is sort of a preview/advertisement for the expose of CAS” Included in this collage: Our story - A Wake- Up Call - For Future Generations - Untying our tongues - Look no further! - Help stop a different kind of child abuse - It’s not what you expect - I’m ready are you? - There’s nothing to be afraid of - Opening your heart - Mind Game - Terror and Tolerance (pg10)
• Another collage includes these captions : Secrets out about CARE - You’ll see a revolution - You found your voice now get it heard -Wake up - too good to be true - SHAME - Want to say we’re real. We have lives. We’re human beings (pg10)
• Another collage includes clarifications for why some of the words were included: “The Darker side” represents the way staff treat us behind the scenes. “False Advertising” is there because people say Care is so great when it’s really not. When you are in Care you are unnoticed. That’s why I have “Waiting to be Discovered?” “The Great Deception” is there because most things people think about Care are not true. (pg11)

On page 9, one youth interviews another:
What do you NOT like about the Newsletter?
That only 1,000 copies are being made.
How many would you like made?
A couple million.
Who would you send the paper to?
People all over the world.
What message would you send to the world?
That staff aren't as sweet as they seem.
It may be 5 years late, but let us help these youth get the meassage out - The system has NOT changed - if anything, it has gotten worse. Let us not turn away from this cry for help a second time!