14. Don't Vote NDP!

• If you are new to this site please scroll to the bottom of this page to read 1.INTRODUCTION and then work upward
• If you have accessed a single posting click on "home" at the bottom of the page first
• Visit our sister LINKS What's Wrong with Nova Scotia's Children and Family Service Act: Comments & Recommendations http://revealingtruthinnovascotia2.blogspot.com/ , Former Reviews: They can do it Again! - We want a General Inquiry! http://revealingtruthinnovascotia3.blogspot.com/ and Totally Deceived: The Journey out of Denial http://totallydeceived.blogspot.com/

2006 NS Election!
The NDP Cronies and Wimps are NOT for the Family

If you have been following this blog, without a doubt you will be able to see that we have serious reservations about the reigning Conservative Party - BUT lest we forget - And so we can educate you- During this very important provincial election period, we must share with the citizens of Nova Scotia our very serious reservations about the NDP party.

This posting will clarify our concerns with the NDP party who claim to be the Party of the people - And now, they, along with the Conservatives proclaim, for this election, that they are for families! Well, don’t be fooled by the proclamations of any of these political parties.

In this posting, Linda Youngson, B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed. unfolds her experiences with this “party of the people”. She is one advocate, amongst many, who has attempted for years to expose the many serious concerns connected with Children’s Aid Societies/Family and Children Services Agencies/Department of Community Services. As an advocate, she and Marilyn Dey, successfully took the Minister of Community Services to court to force him to appoint an Advisory Committee to review the Children and Family Services Act 1990, as mandated by Section 88 of that act. This is her disappointing experience with the NDP party of Nova Scotia:

Linda Youngson here. I was once a loyal NDP supporter. Since I came of age to vote, I always voted NDP. I thought this political party cared about the “little guy - the average Joe or Mary”. But, I have now awoken from my naiveté.

But I do not rejoice in my awakening. In fact, I feel, my world is a little grayer and a little sadder for it. I did not vote for the NDP in the last Federal election and I expect, at this point, that I will not even vote in the upcoming Nova Scotia provincial election. I have lost hope in finding a Kennedy in Nova Scotia, a politician who really cares about social justice issues and is driven to expose the truth and fight for concrete meaningful change to make this province a safe place to live for our families and child.

The politicians are all lethargic and are content to keep the status quo. Everyday we read in the papers stories of corruption within our provincial government. But it is important that people understand that this corruption is not limited to the party in power. There is a deadly systemic corruption that crosses all party lines that is succeeding because of the lethargy of the people of this province, encouraged by an inept media that prints government statements as fact without taking the time and effort to research the validity of their statements and without giving fair and equal time to grassroots advocates who not only have another story to tell, but have well researched documents to back up their statements. We have a lazy press - It is just easier and faster to print whatever the governments spews out.

However, I believe we can make a difference if we educate ourselves, and rise up, en masse and force enough public pressure on the politicians to do the right thing, for I know now, in the absence of a Nova Scotian Kennedy, our politicians will not do the right thing on their own. But I still have the hope that , with education, determination, and direction, we can, together, cultivate the power needed to force the politicians to do the what is right and just and good for our families and our children!

This blog site is a tool advocacy people did not have before - Let’s use it to the fullest - Spread the word and get this address out. Let’s read and educate ourselves. Wake up you people from your sleep of lethargy and shed those scales of naiveté from your eyes!

We are enabling our government to take children from any family on the basis that they MIGHT sometime in the future abuse or neglect their children. And meanwhile, the government, through the Nunn Committee has confessed that they are not able to help the children they have taken. We must, for the sake of our children and our grandchildren, stop this insidious monster we have allowed such unbridled power.

And now My story of NDP awakening:

Immediately after the 2003 election, a number of us met with Marilyn More, the NDP Critic of Community Services.

Initially Ms More appeared accommodating, meeting with us several times, patiently hearing our stories, and expressing shock and surprise with what we had to say. Eventually she directed us to Jean Faye the community legal worker for Dalhousie Legal Aid. As it turned out, Jean Faye is, in fact, a social worker who teaches at the Dalhousie School of Social Work, the very instituion that is responsible for rolling out the many social workers employed for Nova Scotia’s Children’s Aid Societies/Family and Children Services Agencies/Department of Community Services (CAS/FCS/ DCS). It is important to note that many of the social workers working for these organizations and departments are hired on intimidating short term contracts. This way, the workers are easily controlled and forced to “tow the line” or risk NOT having their contracts renewed.

We were wet behind the ears then, and were easily flattered by the attention that Jean Faye and her side kick Susanne Litke, a Dalhousie Legal Aid lawyer, showered on us when they offered us a meeting room in their building on Gottingen Street. While overseeing our meetings, both these women stated that they would not be members of our group- that all decisions, including membership were our own - that they were only there to “help” us.

At our meetings these woman sat at the conference table taking notes of the proceedings offering to assist us with contacts and information. And they thought we didn’t see the serious bolt of concern that flashed between them when we asked them to assist us sourcing funding for our advocacy group .

“But we saw you! That very day we discussed amongst ourselves what was apparent - And the alarm bells began to accumulate.” Ding!

Originally, Jean Faye verbally rattled off a number of sources that we would be able to get serious funding from. With paper and pen, we attempted to catch the information that flew in swift torrents from her lips - We looked at each other, and the torrents of words spilled so swiftly, we all gave up trying to capture the flow.

“But, you had no intention of letting us capture this information. When we asked to have this information on paper, you promised to give it - but this we never got. And then, at a following meeting, when we asked you to reiterate more slowly so we could write the information down, suddenly, the funding sources that had originally been in the thousands of dollars, became 1, 2, and 300 dollars. You took us for fools - Do you think we did not notice this?” Ding - ding!

Marilyn More, NDP MLA, Community Services Critic attended some of these meetings with both her and Jean promising to access information for us - We never got a stitch of information from either one of these people. But they were gathering information on us - getting to know what we knew and what we did not know. Ding - ding- ding!
Meanwhile, Jean Faye encouraged divide and conquer techniques against us - Mind you, some of us took longer to recognize what she was about - After all, when you are new at this advocacy work, it is hard to believe that people who claim to be helping you are actually working against you.

“But when one of our major players temporarily burned out, the eager look of a predator seeing a weakness in its prey was so apparent that you gave yourself away, Jean . Your hunger to devour us made you less cautious. You forgot to be subtle - and in your eagerness, you tripped yourself up, and exposed yourself for what you were - a destroyer - not a helper” Ding - ding - ding - ding!

She took us for fools- But, in the end, we all saw through Jean Faye and Ms Litke and we left them standing in the dust! (I believe this blog site will speak further on Dalhousie and Nova Scotia Legal Aid in future postings)

Now back to Marilyn More and the NDP:

We continued to go to Marilyn More - after all she was the Community Services Critic. So kind, so sympathetic ------ so deceiving!

We kept asking her to source information for us. At one point she claimed to have raised our concern about the lack of a Minister’s Advisory Committee as mandated by Section 88 of the Children and Family Services Act 1990 in the legislature. As “proof ” of this claim, she gave us one untitled page of a government hansard (a verbatim record of government meetings and legislative debates). At the time, we did think this strange, wondering why we had not been given a copy of the entire hansard. But we were not familiar with hansards so it was some time before we sourced the complete hansard and discovered that the issue had NOT been raised in the legislature as Marilyn More had informed us - it had only been raised at a committee meeting .

Only after meeting with Marilyn More on several occasions did she inform us of the Standing Committee of Community Services , “Oh I don’t know why I never thought of this before. You could request to make a presentation before this committee.“ - No other information.

Imagine our shock when we found out that Ms More not only was a member of this committee (she did not tell us this) - she was , and still is, the Chair! Ding - ding - ding -ding -ding !

Eventually we awakened to the fact that Marilyn More was a DUD - and probably a dangerous dud at that, and we stopped communicating with her, naively thinking we might get assistance elsewhere in the NDP party.

The next NDP MLA we approached was Howard Epstein, NDP MLA and lawyer. We went to his office with our information and documentation. In addition, we directed a number of people, including young people who had been being apprehended, to his office to share their stories and their documents with him as well . He told us he was interested and concerned . He told us the NDP had caucus meetings to discuss the issues we had brought forward. He told us he had been appointed by the NDP party to gather information about concerns with CAS/FCS/ DCS in the metro area and that other MLAs had been appointed to gather information on this subject in different areas of Nova Scotia.

In addition, he encouraged us to bring forth a legal case against the Minister of Community Services for not putting together an Advisory Committee on an annual basis since 1996. He told us, as other lawyers had already told us, that this case was a sure win and in winning this case “This will give you credibility. Then people will have to listen to you”

As an advocacy group, it is important to have both publicity and credibility. (It is important to note that, by this time, we had already approached a number of lawyers, BUT, though they all told us it was a sure win, none of them were willing to take the case)

At out first meeting, Mr. Epstein perused a number of documents that he stated he would be interested in reading and it was agreed that they would be faxed to his office BUT as soon as we started to do so, his secretary complained to us stating that this was too much of an expense and an inconvenience! It should also be noted that Epstein repeatedly told us NOT to bother other NDP MLAs with copies of the same materials - that he would gather all the material for the NDP party. Because no concrete assistance ever came from our relationship with Mr. Epstein, or anyone else in the NDP party, we have to ask, was this an attempt to contain us? Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding!

“Mr Epstein, we sent you a vulnerable youth, who had been scarred by the system. We entrusted this youth to you so that you would be able to hear, first hand, the experiences of youth in care. You gave this person cards to distribute to other youth so they would come to you. - But, this youth fled in tears from your office - dumping your cards in the nearest garbage receptacle." Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding - ding!

We also went to Graham Steele, NDP MLA, and lawyer. He claimed to have concern for our issues. YET every time we wanted to discuss the specific issues, he immediately shut us down. He was willing to represent us against the Minister of Community Services, David Morse, for not putting together an annual Advisory Committee to review the Children and Family Services Act 1990, and its implementation, as mandated by Section 88 of the Act BUT he did not want to discuss - IN ANY WAY, our specific issues and concerns with the government. We made out first filing on this case in June of 2005. Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding - ding - ding!

By this time, we began to understand the extent of the corruption in the system, and we were concerned that, in the end, this committee would turn out to be the sham, and indeed it was. But, despite this, we saw this action as an opportunity for media coverage to educate the people of Nova Scotia and raise public awareness of our issues.

But when our action of taking the Minister to courts hit the press, the only person who got the media coverage was Graham Steele - the very person who would not even let us talk to him about the specific issues! The media placed him as the person who had discovered the legal failure of the government to follow its own law - that he was the one that was raising this issue - And that he, as a private citizen, not an NDP MLA was bringing this action to the court! None of this was true! The accolades were all his and we did not exist - we, who had done the research and read this law and found this issue, we who had been pushing to have this brought before the courts for months - got no media recognition whatsoever.

Graham Steele was basking in the positive media coverage and he wanted it to remain that way. When we asked why our names were never in the media coverage, he pleaded innocence- that he had put our names forward and that he had no power over what was included in media coverage.

But, I ask, if he had no power over our names appearing in the press, then I find it quite interesting that after I put the verbal screws to Mr. Steele that suddenly our names were appearing in the media. Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding - ding - ding - ding!

In talking to Mr. Steele, I quoting what Howard Epstein had stated to us “This will give you credibility. Then people will have to listen to you” clarifying that because we all, unfortunately, expected the actual committee when it was appointed to be a sham (and it was), the only thing we had truly expected to gain from this action was publicity and credibility - But how, I stated, were we to get this if no one knew about us?

Bluntly, I told Mr. Steele that - because of the corruption of the system, this was, indeed, the only thing we ALL really expected to get out of this action - he had known this from the beginning. He had gotten more than his fair share of coverage and I made it very clear that we expected to get the recognition that we needed from this action as well.

Only then, did Mr. Steele mentioned us by name in radio coverage and only then was our advocacy work recognized in the press - BUT this was very late in the game - only after Mr. Steele had already stolen all the thunder and recognition for this action.

Meanwhile, since Mr. Steele had no desire to hear our concerns, he directed us back to Marilyn More, the NDP Community Services Critic. Reluctantly we did attempt to get back to her. Starting in August of 2005 we began asking for meetings -with no success.

When we finally gave up trying to get a meeting with Marilyn More, we suddenly got a message from her office that she was attempting to arrange a meeting including other NDP MLAs. Maureen MacDonald, an NDP MLA we had been trying to meet with was invited to this meeting.

However, we were soon to learn that Maureen MacDonald wanted no part of this meeting. She demanded specifics of why we should be allowed to meet with her. Being the NDP mental health critic, we explained we wanted to speak to her about the serious concerns regarding assessments families are forced into before or after their children are apprehended . We explained we had some assessments reviewed by well known respected PHD psychologists and that they have been appalled by the lack of professional standards and ethics in these assessments. We went on to explain that when complaints were filed with the Nova Scotia Board of Examiners in Psychology ( NSBEP) the complaints were dismissed without a hearing with no right of appeal. And when we went to the ombudsman's office about this, they would do nothing!

Evidence, documents, the names of all parties, including the PHD psychologists, and the fact that they had already spoken publicly in court and at public meetings had already been given to the Maureen MacDonald and the NDP party.

But, from the e-mail we got back from Maureen Macdonald, it would seem, she did not even read the material we sent. In this e-mail Ms MacDonald told us her critic areas included "mental health, health reform, and health promotion" . She went on to state "If your group had some concrete examples of cases where there has been gross systemic abuse of due process and you have taken these to the government, but have been unable to get an investigation, then I could see a role for the Official Opposition". In addition she stated "I’m not really clear what it is you want done, but it would appear that you are looking for some sort of public inquiry or investigation into the child welfare system, and perhaps a review of the handling of complaints against psychologists by their professional association" and yet, give my head a shake, she stated "the concerns you raise do not fall within my critic responsibilities"! !

Shake …Shake . . Shake . . .H-m-m-m? MENTAL HEALTH - HEALTH REFORM - “PSYCHOLOGISTS” - "CONCRETE EXAMPLES" - "SYSTEMIC ABUSE OF DUE PROCESS" - "UNABLE TO GET AN INVESTIGATION" - ASSESSMENTS - “REVIEW OF THE HANDLING OF COMPLAINTS AGAINST PSYCHOLOGISTS“. H-m-m-m-m? It's all there!

It’s really doesn't take rocket science to figure out that our concerns did, indeed, fall into her critic area and we had already given her everything she wanted! Does she take us for fools? - It is also important to note that we had met her some months earlier at a mental health conference and there she had promised, to us, a meeting. Needless to say, we learned both her logic and her word are warped ! Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding!

Back to the meeting that Marilyn More was supposedly to be setting up in good faith - Well, to make a long story short - we got a misdirected e-mail. Don’t you just love those misdirected e-mails? And from this e-mail it was very apparent that this meeting was not being put together in good faith. Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding!

"But Marilyn More, you did not stop there. Behind our backs you called a single member of our group to meet with you - divide and conquer again? And you told this person to tell me to stop criticizing you. Well Ms More if you wanted to speak to me, you should have spoken to ME . You are a politician - you should expect criticisms! Instead of wimping-out, GET A BACKBONE, and, with an open mind, in good faith, meet your critics straight on!" Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding!

"Marilyn More, you have not divided us - you have educated us. Every action - or non action - you take is a learning experience for us. And, oh, by the way - we read on your glossy election flyer, you used to work for the Atlantic Child Guidance Centre - Now let me see . . . this organization morphed into the IWK Assessment Services - the very organization we have been complaining about, to you, for years ! I guess, like the Standing Committee on Community Services, of which you were and still are the chair, you just forgot to tell us?”

One last thing, about Marilyn More - after speaking with Ms More, about making a presentation to this standing committee,we did make application to present to this committee.

“We read the hansards, Ms More- you did us dirty- again! You were fully aware that this was an application for a presentation by a group, as did the person responsible for scheduling the presentations. Yet, when our application was discussed by the committee members - suddenly and newly enhanced by the former premier, John Hamm and the former minister of Community Services, Peter Christie, these illustrious members challenged our application, wrongly stating this was an application by a individual person - and you did nothing to clarify the circumstances of our application." Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding!

Now to Daryl Dexter. We were originally granted an appointment with Daryl Dexter in Jan of 2006. This was verified by both the NDP caucus secretary as well as his constituency office. Butthen, the day before out meeting, Pamela Whelan called to cancel demanding that we explain again our reasons for wanting to speak to Mr Dexter. When I phoned Ms Whelen, she never picked up. I left messages in response to her inquiries, and she, in turn, left messages, to the point of harassment, not acknowledging or responding to any of the information I had given her. Endeavoring to have conversation, I searched out her e-mail, but she stubbornly refused to communicate with me. I sensed she was getting some kind of thrill attempting to frustrate me, so I left the job of trying to communicate with her to another advocate - but she was exhausted as well. Ding - ding - ding - ding- ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - ding - dong - ding!

Finally we gave up and decided the NDP were a lost cause after all. Then, like earlier, with Marilyn More, out of the blue, just before the election was called, we got a communication from Dexter’s office stating we now had an appointment.

Well, as I said before you have not fooled us - You have educated us. Now, we are more focused then we were before.

Enough said for now But a synopsis of our court action against the Minister’s will be posted soon enough and it will not bode well for the NDP as a whole or for individual MLAs when it is posted .

I ask all the MLAs , orange, blue, red, or green - Snap out of it and do what is right - NOW! Do what you know is right now - because the blackness of what has become of Children’s Aid/ Family and Children’s Services/ Dept of Community Services is being exposed both here in Nova Scotia, across Canada, and across the United States,

We will not be still- We will not be quiet! The bells have rung in our ears long enough and the sound of them has woken us up and our eyes are open. And we will keep ringing these bells until the eyes of every citizen in Nova Scotia is forced open! The people will wake up, they will know the truth - and they will rise against you to do the right thing or they will rightly turf you out as they should!

13. Postings from other Provinces

• If you are new to this site select 1.INTRODUCTION and then work upward
• If you have accessed a single posting click on "home" at the bottom of the page first
  
  

  Postings from other Provinces

Ontario:

The Kingston Children's Aid Society http://www.fixcas.com/oppose/kingston/intern.htm

What is shocking about this recent discovery of the financial abuses going on in Ontario is that NOT ONE PEEP was in our local paper! Why? Government control of our papers? They didn't want us to get any ideas?

We need an audit here in Nova Scotia as well!

Editorial: Shocking failures in children's aid
Dec. 6, 2006. 01:00 AM
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1165359014346Toronto The Toronto Star

When young children are abused or neglected, Ontario's children's aid societies are supposed to act quickly to protect them. In far too many instances in this province, though, that is not the case.

In a damning report released yesterday, Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter has for the first time shone a spotlight on the children's aid societies. What he found was disturbing evidence that vulnerable children are being left in harm's way because of lackadaisical care, abysmal recordkeeping, weak oversight and questionable spending on cars and holidays.

McCarter's report is groundbreaking because it is the first time that a provincial auditor general has investigated this vital children's service.

To his credit, Premier Dalton McGuinty has responded quickly to the report, which documents unacceptable lengthy delays in assessing children who are at risk and putting plans in place to keep them safe.

In an audit of four children's aid societies in Toronto, York, Peel and Thunder Bay, McCarter found that in one-third of cases where a child should have been assessed by a caseworker within seven days, such visits were on average 21 days late. In one case, nearly six months late.

Just as troubling, in 90 per cent of cases where children required protection, the societies could not prove children were getting the proper care because there were no plans in place by deadlines mandated by the province. In some cases, plans were almost a year late.

Clearly, such shameful findings leave no doubt the societies have fallen down on the job of protecting children for whom they are responsible.

An earlier leak of the report highlighted scandalous spending by society staff, including expenditures on luxury cars, questionable trips and health-club memberships. But such extravagance at taxpayers' expense is only symptomatic of a larger, more important problem, which is that the societies are failing the very children they are supposed to protect.

In light of these findings, McGuinty announced the province will create a new accountability office to ensure societies live up to their responsibilities under the law to protect and care for children at risk. The office will have enforcement powers, as well as the authority to take corrective action when societies fail to do their job.

These changes should prompt the independent boards of directors that oversee the province's 53 children's aid societies to regain control of the organizations under their charge. And in light of the auditor's findings, administrators who have shirked their duties should be sacked.

McCarter also suggested this was one case where too little money was not the reason that problems arose. As he points out, "total society expenditures ... more than doubled between 1998/99 and 2004/05 fiscal years ... while key service volumes, including the number of families served increased by only about 40 per cent over the same period."

Too often, sensational reports from auditors general generate big headlines, only to be forgotten or shelved in a matter of weeks. That's why McGuinty's immediate response is most encouraging. At the same time, Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers has rightly directed both her ministry and all children's aid societies in the province to implement all of McCarter's recommendations.

But the moves to clean up the children's aid societies should not end there. McGuinty should ask McCarter to conduct another audit of children's aid societies next year to see if corrective measures are being taken.

Such steps are warranted because this isn't just about taxpayers' money. It's about protecting our most vulnerable children from harm.

McGuinty to rein in spending
New office to control cash after report shows taxpayers funded SUVs, trips
Dec. 6, 2006. 01:00 AM
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1165359015162
ROBERT BENZIE, ROB FERGUSON, AND KERRY GILLESPIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU

The province has slapped strict controls on Ontario's free-spending children's aid societies in the wake of a scathing report yesterday from the auditor general.

Responding quickly to criticism in Auditor General Jim McCarter's annual review, Premier Dalton McGuinty said a new accountability office would oversee the $1.24 billion distributed to provincial agencies that look after vulnerable children.

"We have not been getting good value for our dollars in terms of the money we've been sending to the children's aid society," McGuinty told reporters. "That ... $1 billion is there to support services for children. It's not to ensure that people who are employed through the children's aid society enjoy a comfortable ride to and from the workplace."

Along with the excesses revealed at the Toronto Children's Aid Society — including a $59,000 luxury SUV for an executive, $150 for car detailing, and questionable Caribbean trips — McCarter's exposé found the province is so lax in its monitoring that there is no way to know if children are actually getting the services they need.

Beyond flaws in the child welfare system, McCarter uncovered massive problems in the health-care system and spending abuses at Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation.
On the medical side, he warned that some children getting CT scans have been exposed to adult doses of radiation, a possible cancer risk.

McCarter dubbed the government's much-touted listings of wait times for key treatments "misleading." His advice to patients? Take the advertised wait times "with a grain of salt."
He also pointed out huge potential for OHIP fraud, with 300,000 more health cards in circulation than there are citizens — which could be costing taxpayers as much as $150 million a year. Health Minister George Smitherman said the excess cards problem has been fixed, although this was not detailed in the report.

In the auditor general's first-ever examination of the broader public service, including hospitals, school boards, and other outside agencies like children's aid societies, his 413-page report found a litany of wasteful use of taxpayers' money — much of it on company credit cards.
With the notable exception of school boards and community colleges, McCarter told a packed Queen's Park news conference that every outside agency his auditors examined had more problems than he's used to finding within government.

"It was worse than we would typically find."

McCarter, whose office was probing the leak of part of his report to CBC Radio last week, emphasized he did not want to name names in his report or blame individuals or their agencies because there are "systemic issues" that must be addressed.

For example, the auditor general discovered the province is so lax in its monitoring that there is no way to know if children are actually getting the services they need.

In most cases, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services has approved daily funding rates for children varying from $26 for the cheapest foster home to $739 for the most expensive specialized group home with little or no supporting documents about why a child should be in one placement over another.

The ministry doesn't regularly monitor facilities so officials don't know if the negotiated services, such as counselling for troubled children, are actually being provided.

McCarter found that children in danger are not being seen quickly enough by children's aid societies — in one-third of the cases he reviewed, children were seen an average of three weeks late — and, once they are in care, rules to protect them aren't being followed.

Any serious injury, assault or physical abuse of children in care must be reported to the ministry within 24 hours, but in almost half of the files McCarter reviewed, he found, on average, these reports were filed 10 working days late.

"The ministry must be more diligent in overseeing the work of the societies if it is to be assured that children in need are being adequately protected," he said.

McCarter conducted an in-depth value-for-money review on the agencies in Toronto, York, Peel and Thunder Bay, but warned similar problems are likely in many of the province's 53 children's aid societies, which deal with almost 300,000 children in total.

He found executives driving high-end SUVs worth up to $59,000, costly car-detailing charges, a gym membership worth $2,000 plus an additional $2,600 a year for a personal trainer for a top CAS executive.

As well, the auditor general disclosed instances like a CAS caseworker of "questionable competency" being paid 800 hours in overtime — or $21,000 — just to get caught up on paperwork.

With the money earmarked for children's aid societies having doubled over the past five years despite a caseload increase of 40 per cent, McCarter said it was clear taxpayers were not getting good value for money.

Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers said aside from the new accountability office to monitor children's aid societies, assess their performance, impose public-service standards on expenses, the government plans to make the province's Child Advocate an independent officer of the Legislature.

"With the will of this Legislature, the Child Advocate will never again be muzzled by the government of the day, but will be a truly independent advocate giving our most vulnerable children and youth the strong voice that they deserve," said Chambers, adding the party is over for children's aid societies, which were not previously subject to scrutiny.

"In an era when there were no rules, they weren't breaking any rules," she said of those involved, none of whom the government plans to have fired.

The Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies' executive director Jeanette Lewis said the 53 agencies would be "acting swiftly" upon McCarter's findings.
At the provincially owned Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation, also open to McCarter's microscope for the first time, he found problems at both the electricity system's transmitter and generator.

Hydro One's use of "blanket purchase orders" for the procurement of goods and services could allow expenditures to balloon under the radar of accountants. One two-year $120,000 contract was revised 39 times and rose to $6.7 million.

A top Hydro One executive's secretary also charged more than $50,000 to her credit card for goods and services — much of which was for her boss, who approved the purchases.
At OPG, $6.5 million in purchases on corporate credit cards were approved without receipts.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan met with the chairs of both Hydro One and OPG late yesterday to discuss the findings.

Meanwhile, McCarter — recently asked to review all government ads and approve them before their release — said his office would be especially vigilant to "the heightened risk" of partisan messages in the run-up to next October's election.

McGuinty said he was taking seriously McCarter's diagnosis of what ails his government.
"Maybe it's a little bit like a visit to the doctor — sometimes you don't want to know," he said.
But Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory wasn't buying the government's excuses.
"What we have here is an all-you-can-eat McGuinty Liberal spending buffet," he said.

CAS failing at-risk kids: Auditor
Children's Aid assessments for vulnerable not timely in 73% of cases
Dec. 6, 2006. 07:33 AM
MOIRA WELSH
STAFF REPORTER
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1165359015179&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
A risk-assessment system that was supposed to save children's lives is not being used properly by the children's aid societies that claimed it would protect them from abuse.

In a report laden with allegations of children's aid society executives overspending on cars, business trips and dinners, Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter also slammed the agencies for not properly conducting risk-assessment checks.

As a result, children under 16 who are living in homes where they are being neglected or abused, or are living with families with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, are not being seen within the proper time frame.

In 73 per cent of cases, comprehensive risk assessments were not completed on time — every 180 days. At one society, the last full assessment was done almost two years prior to the auditor's visit.

In one-third of the files reviewed, children were not seen within the required 12 hours or seven days — the time limits for children deemed at greatest risk of abuse. Caseworker visits were an average of three weeks late, with one being 165 days late.
The requirement to visit a child in care every 90 days was not met in 60 per cent of the cases reviewed.

McCarter looked at children's aid societies in Toronto, York, Peel and Thunder Bay. He said he did not want to name names in his report because the problems are "systemic." This is the first time that the agencies have been scrutinized.

McCarter recommended the province put strict controls on the 53 children's aid societies, noting that monitoring of the agencies is so lax there is no way to know if children are actually getting the services they need.

In response, the provincial government yesterday moved to impose strict controls on spending by the CAS, including a new accountability office to monitor performance.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said the auditor's report showed that "we have not been getting good value for our dollars in terms of the money we've been sending the Children's Aid Society."
A new risk-assessment system was introduced in 1998, giving children's aid societies a standardized means of collecting information to assess the risk to children and a basis to select services available under the child welfare system.

Deputy Coroner Jim Cairns, who a decade ago led the charge against a series of child deaths and abuse in Ontario, said he was shocked to learn that risk-assessment tools were cited by the auditor for misuse.

"I am concerned particularly after all the work we've done," Cairns said. "I am concerned about the delay in doing risk assessments on children. I would have thought that, after everything that has gone on over the last years, that this would have improved."

The auditor cites specific cases in which agencies failed to comply with the requirements of the intake/investigation process, including:
A child was not seen until his aunt and school principal called 12 days after the seven-day requirement period had passed and informed the society the child had been beaten by his mother.
Another child, whose case was rated above the threshold for intervention, was never seen because the caseworker was unable to reach the family during several attempts over five months. When contact was finally made, the mother said everything was fine and the case was closed.
One visit was never made because when the worker called 19 days after the referral, the family had moved away. (The society in the child's new city of residence was notified.)

The auditor's report made several recommendations around the use of the checklists, including the need for societies to conduct their assessments, and provide families with services during the required time frames.

"This is a resource issue, and these are documentation gaps rather than service gaps in our view," the societies said in response to the report.

Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies executive director Jeanette Lewis said the agencies would be "acting swiftly" on McCarter's findings.

The auditor's report found that funding to the Ontario societies has doubled but caseloads have gone up by 40 per cent.

"I had always heard `Oh, we're underfunded,' so I was quite surprised with the auditor's comments that their funding is disproportionate to their increase. You can't use funding as your argument for not being able to do things," Cairns said.

Cairns, who heads the Ontario pediatric death review committee, led a series of inquests in the late 1990s into deaths of children who were being watched by society social workers, often in the homes of abusive or neglectful parents.

During the same period, the Toronto Star published an investigation into child abuse in Ontario and societies repeatedly said that children would be saved from neglect, abuse and even death if they had detailed risk-assessment tools.

SASKATCHEWAN:

News release from Saskatchewan Party Caucus April 12, 2000

Department of Social Services - Do you Know Where Your Children Are?

Saskatchewan Party MLA Don Toth today said the NDP government is failing foster children in Saskatchewan.

Responding to the release of Children and Youth in Care Review: Listen to Their Voices, http://www.saskcao.ca/adult/media/Report2000/Report.pdf , Toth expressed dismay at the level of mismanagement within the Department of Social Services as described in the report.

“[These] statistics are alarming,” Toth said, “When you hear that in 74% of the case files, the standards for worker contact with foster children were not met or unknown, you have to wonder what the Department is doing.”


“This report indicates that in a lot of cases there is no record keeping done, the kids aren’t kept track of, and foster families aren’t receiving support.”


“Who is minding this Department?” Toth asked. “Obviously not the Minister.”

“The report also demonstrates there have NOT been many changes made by the Department since the death of Karen Quill and that is a huge concern.”

Toth said the report highlights many deep and disturbing problems facing the child protection system in the province.

“The caseload is incredible and there are questions raised within this report as to why so many children are ending up in the system,” Toth said.

Toth called on the Minister of Social Services to immediately act on the recommendations outlined in the review.

“This is a very comprehensive and through look at the system and the Minister needs to act immediately to clean up his department,” Toth said. “Foster children, families, communities and social workers should not have to wait one more day for a sign of positive action from the Minister.


QUEBEC:


Maverick Ruffo resigns from bench

KAZI STASTNA; KEVIN DOUGHERTY of The Gazette Quebec Bureau contributed to this report, The Montreal Gazette
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=f970ee9c-00e6-4019-b032-0b2a0c684815&k=74532&p=2

Published: Friday, May 19, 2006

Almost 20 years after she took her first shot from the bench at what she sees as Quebec's grossly inadequate child welfare system, Judge Andree Ruffo's prolonged and very public battle with the province's youth protection services ended yesterday where it began: in the courts.

After Canada's top court decided not to hear her appeal of a Quebec Court of Appeal ruling recommending she be removed from the bench, she will lead her crusade for children's rights from outside the justice system.

Rather than wait to be dismissed from Youth Court by Quebec's justice minister, the only one with authority to remove a judge, Ruffo, 63, resigned yesterday morning.

"It's finished for me in the sense that I am no longer a judge," she said. "But what I want to make sure everybody understands is that I am going to continue - with more energy and certainly more freedom."

Ruffo has long been known for her strident public criticisms, uncompromising judgments and unorthodox courtroom manner.

The Supreme Court decision reflects a reluctance to challenge child protection authorities, Ruffo said. "They obviously want to protect the institution. There is nothing I can do about that," she said.

Even if the high court had agreed to hear her case and ruled in her favour, she would not have returned to the bench, Ruffo said from her home yesterday.

"I don't believe that at Youth Court judges can any longer be independent and render judgments according to children's rights and interests," she said. "I think the department of youth protection is so powerful, it has come to almost dictate the judgments."

Ruffo, who worked in youth courts in St. Jerome and Longueuil, has spent more than
$1 million in taxpayers' funds fighting the sanctions brought against her over the years.
These include a forced transfer from her jurisdiction and more than 100 complaints from youth protection workers and judges lodged with the Quebec Judicial Council, which reprimanded Ruffo 12 times.

Only seven charges of breach of judicial ethics made it before the five-judge panel, which in 2005 found Ruffo's laudable commitment to child advocacy did not justify her behaviour in court.

That panel criticized Ruffo for overstepping her bounds by aggressively pursuing certain youth centres and employees, publicly commenting on cases, accepting paid speaking engagements, appearing in a Via Rail commercial, and calling into question her impartiality by meeting and not disclosing a personal relationship with a witness.

In one high-profile incident in 1988, Ruffo ordered two teenagers for whom there was no place in foster care to be brought to the office of the health and social services minister.

Ruffo said yesterday she did not regret any of her tactics. She said many of the alleged incidents of improper behaviour were misportrayed by youth protection workers angry over her exposure of their mistakes.

The majority of Youth Court judges have got used to blindly following the recommendations of the youth protection department and making judgments based on what resources exist in the system rather than children's well-being, Ruffo said.

The Association des centres jeunesse du Quebec, which represents the province's youth protection services, refused to comment yesterday.

Ruffo remained adamant that the vocal defence of children in and outside the courtroom was part of her professional duty.

"Judges are not to be silent - for me, that's very clear."

It's not about judges being mute, she added. "It's about speaking about the rights of the children who are in front of them. When you're silent, you're always on the side of the power."

Her approach might have polarized her colleagues and made her an enemy of youth protection officials, but Ruffo said she's confident the public and parents - and the lawyers, psychologists, social workers and others working with children - are on her side.

The former judge said she is convinced her 20 years on the bench have raised public awareness and indignation about the failings of the child protection system that will soon force much-needed institutional reform.

Ruffo said she is not sure what form her activism will take now, but she will continue working with Magicians Without Borders, a Vermont-based organization that performs magic shows for kids in troubled parts of the world, and work on her ninth book. She has also given the nod to a Quebec production company that wants to make a film about her career.

One thing she will not do is enter politics - even though she has been solicited to run for office at various levels of government, she said. She noted she's been urged to campaign for office by her critics, who see it as a vocation more suited to her activism.

"It's another way (to effect change), but it's not my place. It's not home," she said.

In Quebec City, Justice Minister Yvon Marcoux declined to comment on Ruffo's decision.
But Mario Dumont, leader of Action democratique du Quebec, said he learned of her resignation "with great sadness."

Dumont said he spoke to Ruffo by telephone yesterday, calling her a symbol in the battle to correct the flaws in Quebec's youth protection system. "I think kids lost an important ally," he added.

He suggested someone had amassed a file on her because of her outspoken views.

kstastna@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006

Home schooling dispute leads to foster care

WILLIAM MARSDEN, The Gazette (Montreal)
Published: Saturday, May 13, 2006

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=a2b583c8-acc0-41fa-9edc-112bae7fce9e&k=37676&p=1

Their bunk beds are empty, their toys idle, their books shelved, and their musical instruments - two violins, an electric piano and an antique accordion - tucked away in their cases.

Signs of a past life that their parents keep undisturbed, waiting for the nightmare to end; waiting for their two boys to return and for life to get back to normal.

On Feb. 15, a judge in youth protection court ordered their two boys, age 9 and 10, into foster care. The reason given was that the parents were negligent of their children's health and schooling.

But as subsequent events have proved, the reason the boys were taken away was not that the parents weren't loving and caring. If anything, it's because they cared too much. They refused to allow the government to impede their children's progress.

At the end of the day, the unyielding parents collided with a rigid bureaucracy and their relatively peaceful life collapsed around them.

Youth protection laws forbid public disclosure of the children's identities. So their names, as well as those of the parents, cannot be made public.

Furthermore, social workers, lawyers and doctors are forbidden to disclose details of their files. For this reason, The Gazette had to rely on interviews with the family and people who know the family, and on supporting medical and school documents.

Tragic stories occasionally surface about youth protection workers failing to protect children from abusive parents or relatives.

This story is different. This is a story of how a system designed to protect children resulted in two pre-teen boys being taken away from parents who had sacrificed their own careers to assure their children's well-being.

It's also about home schooling and children who need special care and what control parents have over education and health care.

"If they can take our children away, they can take anybody's children away," the boys' mother said.

"This whole thing began (in 2004) simply because we asked the school to supply us with textbooks."

- - -
Actually, it began much earlier than that.

It began when the youngest boy, who we will call Timothy, was 3 and diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Timothy's pancreas had shut down and could no longer produce insulin. Insulin helps the body distribute glucose (sugar) for use as energy. When the pancreas breaks down, sugar stays in the blood where it can damage other organs. Untreated, diabetes is a killer.

Type 1 diabetes is the most severe and, for Timothy, it means that for the rest of his life he will have to inject himself with daily doses of insulin as well as take extreme care in regulating his diet, exercise regime and mental health.

As his parents would soon learn through their research, tight control and careful monitoring are vital.

"It's huge, huge," said Zaheer Molu, spokesperson for the Canadian Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. "Tight control is extremely important in assuring that the child doesn't develop complications in their 20s.

"If you don't manage it properly, you are looking at loss of eyesight, loss of limbs, kidney disease, amputation and all these complications that can start at a very early age. At the prime of your life, you can start experiencing some very, very bad things."

Timothy's parents were determined not to let that happen to their son. But their first experience with the disease taught them that if they wanted to ensure Timothy's long-term well-being, they would have to do it themselves.

"We found out he was diabetic when we went to wake him up one morning and he wouldn't wake up," his father said. "We rushed him to the hospital. He was in a coma for three days."

The reason he fell into a diabetic coma was that Timothy's doctor had misdiagnosed him, his parents said.

Excessive urination is a main symptom of diabetes. Timothy was peeing all the time.
"At 3 he was still wetting his bed every night," his mother said. "He'd be on the street and just pee his pants."

The family doctor said he was just taking longer than other children for potty training. She suggested he not drink water before he went to bed.

That was the worst advice the doctor could have given. Without water to flush out his system, the sugar built up in his body and he went into a diabetic shock.

"He almost died," his mother said.

To the parents, the lesson was clear: Don't trust doctors.

Both parents are academics who were preparing for careers as university professors. They are both strong-minded - some might say headstrong - people. Social and community activism are part of their fabric.

His mother wrote her master's thesis on sexual harassment in the university. In 1991, she won a governor-general's medal for academic excellence. She was active in university and community politics and at one point tried to run as an independent candidate in a provincial election. She also has a degree in music.

His father, who had published a philosophical reflection on John Lennon's song Imagine, was writing his master's thesis in philosophy.

But when diabetes struck Timothy, they put their careers on hold.

"I'm a republican and a conservative," the mother said. "I believe in self-determination and the sovereignty of the person. I think it makes the word 'responsibility' truly meaningful."

When institutions don't live up to their responsibilities, she and her husband don't hesitate to point that out.

Around the time Timothy was diagnosed with diabetes, his parents had a third child, who we'll call Susan. She was born with nasal stenosis, a narrowing of the nasal passage that can cause severe breathing problems in newborns. The child was sent home with an oxygen tank and the parents were forced to give her 24-hour-a-day care.

As they took on the added task of caring for Timothy, they eventually found themselves also taking on an education system that they felt was not fulfilling its mandate. Neither parent could have had any idea of the storm to come.

- - -
"You have a disease that really almost needs to be monitored by your friends and family at all times," Molu said. "Everyone really needs to have a good idea of what to do if you have some kind of low blood sugar emergency. It's almost like a community disease."

Timothy's parents set out to make sure their child was on the best regimen possible. Together with Timothy's doctor, they developed one over time that has kept him in good heath and out of hospital.

"He has never fainted or had a hypoglycemia (low blood level) or a hyperglycemia (high blood level) event," his father said.

They wanted to instill in him the discipline he would need for the rest of his life to manage his illness and recognize danger signals. But they also recognized that he was too young to be completely responsible for himself.

"I put one of those little alarm clocks in his pocket that would ring and tell him it was time to eat," his mother said. "When he's involved in something, it completely consumes him. I would watch him when the alarm was ringing and he was involved in art and he would just not pay any attention to it. That's how children are."

By 2002, he was old enough to go to school. But his parents worried that no school was equipped to watch over him carefully enough to ensure his regimen was followed.

"We went to see the principal of the school and told him what was required in terms of diabetes care," the mother said. "He told us that this was beyond their abilities and suggested home schooling."

Timothy's doctor also felt that home schooling was the safest route and wrote out a prescription to that effect.

"We decided that if Timothy was going to be home schooled we should home school his brother too," who had completed kindergarten at the time, the father said. "We made the decision to treat them equally."

The parents signed the appropriate registration forms with the Lester B. Pearson School Board and got the necessary approvals for their curriculum.

For the next two years they created a program that met the Education Department's requirements. Plus they taught the boys music, art and French.

Molu said most juvenile diabetics go to a regular school, but home schooling is becoming increasingly common.

"Teachers are very, very reluctant to (agree to give medical care to diabetics) and some of them refuse flat out to provide that kind of care because it goes against the school policies, and then there are insurance issues.

"So that is where the parents really have a struggle. Some mothers have actually had to quit their jobs, go on welfare and all sorts of things just so they can be close to their child if any kind of emergency happens. ...

"All parents need to have the assurance that their child is going to live through the day."

After spending their savings and maxing out their credit, Timothy's parents joined the ranks of those with diabetic children who go on welfare.

"We did not start out wanting to home school our children," the father said. "But when the school and the doctor suggested that it might be the best way for the first few years, we agreed.

"It was our intention to make sure that Timothy was on the right regimen and to teach him the necessary disciplines in regulating his diet, exercise and insulin. Then we began to realize that home schooling was better than sending them to a school. We could teach the curriculum in a couple of hours that was supposed to take a week at the school."

In 1979, only 2,000 children in Canada were home schooled. By 2000, this figure had grown to more than 80,000. In Quebec, schools did not used to receive money for these students; that changed this year, however, with the government paying $750 per home-schooled child to finance year-end evaluations.

For the next two years, the parents taught the boys at home. At the end of the first school year, the school tested the older boy, who we'll call Jeffrey, to ensure he was keeping up with the provincial curriculum. (It didn't test Timothy because he was in kindergarten.)

The results were excellent. Margaret Mitchell, who was in charge of home schooling at the Pearson board but now is retired, noted in her report that Jeffrey "displayed fluency and was very articulate in his reading with an excellent vocabulary." She said "he was performing above grade level."

He also performed well in mathematics; and his French conversation was "confident ... and demonstrated good expression" while his French reading "showed excellent accuracy."

Clearly the parents were doing a good job. They renewed the boy's home schooling registration and on June 16, 2003, received confirmation from Mitchell that the school had received the "required documents for Home Schooling with the Lester B. Pearson School Board."

The trouble started at the end of the second year.

"When we hadn't heard from the school board about testing the boys, I called up to make an appointment," the father said.

Much to the parents' surprise, they received a letter from the school stating that "your file is incomplete, consequently your child(ren) (sic) will not be assessed."

The parents phoned up and demanded the children be assessed. They also put their demand in writing.

But the board refused.

And that's when the battle started.

The school claimed the parents had not filed a proper curriculum. To make sure there would be no future problems, the parents wrote out a lengthy curriculum and asked the school to lend them textbooks, which they would return at the end of the year. They also asked for a tutor to be made available to evaluate the boys' progress at regular intervals.

The school board refused both requests, claiming it had no obligation to supply books. Finally, the parents went and got free books from the Kateri School in Kahnawake. But the school board refused to accept the curriculum based on these texts.

"We didn't see why we had to pay (for textbooks) and we didn't have any money anyway," the father said.

The parents filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission, claiming the school was discriminating against home schoolers. The complaint is still being investigated.

When the parents persisted in their demands, the school in turn demanded that they send the boys to school.

"We told them fine, we'll send the boys to school but they have to guarantee that they can look after (Timothy)," the mother said. "They refused that and even asked us to sign a waiver saying they were not responsible if anything happened to him. That was unacceptable."

So the parents refused to send the boys to school, and the board refused to test them.

The argument between the family and the school board went on for almost a year. Then the school board called in youth protection authorities.

- - -
Every spring, English school boards dump a pile of truancy files onto the Batshaw Youth and Family Centre, the English youth protection agency, according to assistant director Susan Adams.

"We do end up with a lot of reports around this time of year because schools are basically cleaning their desks," she said.

Recently, Adams said, Batshaw complained to the school boards that they were basically dumping their attendance problems onto Batshaw's lap and that many of these files were not cases of parental neglect.

"We have tried to get the school boards to assume more responsibility for what really is a truancy issue," she said.

Pearson school board lawyer France Goyette, who is responsible for the truancy files, denies dumping files on Batshaw. She said the board is obliged by law to hand them over throughout the year as they become a problem.

Did the Timothy and Jeffrey file end up in this year-end house cleaning? Goyette would say only that the file was a "very complex situation." What's clear is that, in March 2005, a child-care worker showed up at their house.

It wasn't an urgent case. The worker gave it a "Code 3," which means there was no urgency and no need to take the children out of the home.

"Youth protection told us they would decide if the children should go to school," the mother said. "I thought, 'Great, they can ensure that (Timothy) will have the health care he needs.' "

But it didn't turn out that way.

Between March and June 2005, a social worker from Batshaw tried to straighten things out between the school and the parents. The parents, who were also hoping to get back into the workforce, agreed to register their children at the local school. But when the school could not guarantee that Timothy would get proper care, they refused to follow through.

Letters between the school and the parents indicate that the school was doing its best to try to assuage the parents' fears. The school committed itself to "provide necessary medication to the said student." However, the school wanted the parents to sign a waiver absolving the staff of "any action or inaction ... associated with the administering of medication to the said student."

The parents refused to sign because it gave them no guarantees that the school's reassurances were real.

After three months, when there was no resolution to what was essentially an alleged truancy issue, Batshaw transferred the file to the French youth protection branch, the Direction de la Protection de la Jeunesse, claiming this was at the parents' request.

"We never requested this," the father said. "We're English."

Adams would not comment on this specific case, but she said Batshaw never transfers files to the French sector without the parents' request. And even then, it would not transfer a file unless the parents and children are bilingual. Timothy's parents have only a working knowledge of French.

In any case, the parents soon found themselves in the hands of a francophone youth protection worker.

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006

12. Assessments/ Psychologists/Dr Tana Dineen & Dr Margaret Hagen

• If you are new to this site please scroll to the bottom of this page to read 1.INTRODUCTION and then work upward
• If you have accessed a single posting click on "home" at the bottom of the page first )
  

  
  Assessments/psychologists/Dr Tana Dineen and Dr Margaret Hagen

  
  I do not expect to finish writing all I have to say today so please check for updates and editing for this specific posting. There is just so much that the people of Nova Scotia need to know and it is hard to know what to write next.

  
  We ask those who have been victimized by the system to come forward.
  You are not alone.
  We do not care how long ago you were abused - this abuse by our government has been generational.
  If you are going through the courts right now, get hold of us immediately!
  We want to hear from you.Contact us at truth4_@hotmail.com

  
  And don’t forget to get this blog address out to as many people as possible!

  
  There are major problems with the assessments that are being done for Children’s Aid/Family and Children Services/Community Services (CA/FCS/CS) and others in the family court system . I direct you to information posted by 2 PHD psychologists who have both written books against the psychologists who have infiltrated into the family court system with their lucrative contracts :

  
  1. Dr. Tana Dineen - CanadianManufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry is Doing to Peoplehttp://tanadineen.com/
  http://tanadineen.com/COLUMNIST/Writings/FamilyLaw.html
  http://tanadineen.com/MEDIA/ReportMagazineReview.html

  
  We also recommend 2 links she has on her site:Lifting the Veil http://www.liftingtheveil.org/ and
  Ottawa Citizen's Dave Brown's five-part series: Taking a critical look at Canada's family court system http://tanadineen.com/TOPICS/ChildProtection-Dave%20Brown.htm
  
  2. Dr Margaret Hagen -Professor Boston University - American
  Whores of the Court: The Fraud of Psychiatric Testimony and the Rape of American Justicehttp://www.familyrightsassociation.com/books/whores/of_the_court.htm
  http://www.villagelife.org/news/archives/11-4-97_psychsnoexperts.html
  
  ( I will elaborate on these doctors in a future editing of this posting - just get on their sites and look around - what you see there will astound you)
  
  These assessments are usually done by psychologists - In the Halifax Metro area, one particularly lethal organization that does these assessments is the IWK Assessment Services. Under oath, a social worker working for this establishment, testified most of their work comes from CA/FCS/CS. A PHD psychologist informed us that this alone was unethical - to have most of your income from one client makes it impossible for such an organization to be impartial and unbiased.

  It is rare that these assessments are being done to help or assist the children or families - Instead, they are used to gather information to use against families to justify apprehending children. But what is astounding is that test have been deliberately misused and client data and answers to interview questions have been deliberately twisted to present a very different person. We are aware of people who requested strenuously , for their own protection, that these interviews be taped but were denied - this is a right that a PHD psychologist informed us should be there for the protection of not only the person being interviewed but for the protection of the interviewer as well - Guess the system is so corrupt, they don’t have to worry about that side of the coin!
  

  
  

  
  

  
  In one case, a family member filed court orders to have all original handwritten notes which were made over many days of assessment interviews with a number of different people. This person explained that she could reasonably understand a misunderstandings here and there but when everything, 100%, that this person had said in response to specific questions, had been turned around in meaning, then she could only come to the conclusion that she had been deliberately misrepresented. In addition, others who had contributed information were seriously concerned that they had been misrepresented as well and had attempted, on their own, to no avail, to get copies of their interview notes.

  
  These documents were ordered to be before the court in 10 working days. This was the proof that was needed to prove that this person and the other contributors to the assessment had been totally misrepresented. For months, this assessment team, in writing, made all kinds of excuses for the delay in bringing forth these documents - including the copier breaking down ! Imagine that - not being able to get documents photocopied - I assure you IWK has more than one photocopier!

  
  As time ticked away, this assessment team even had the gall to fraudulently produce elaborate handwritten notes claiming them to be the documents requested!

  However, when the person requesting these documents was able to describe in detail the forms used to make these notes, also explaining in detail that when the lines on the forms were filled, the interviewer would write in the margins, and even flip over the paper and write on the back, this assessment team, finally relented - BUT NOT by presenting the documents requested.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  Instead, they wrote a signed letter explaining that these files had been shredded!

  
  They had picked the lesser of 2 evils - They decided to shred the evidence and risk taking any lumps for that instead of being found out for deliberately tampering with data!

  I now add to this story 2 letters that were submitted to Commission Nunn to the Nunn Committee by the two brave ladies, Linda Youngson and Marilyn Dey, who dared to take the Minister of Community Services to court to force him to establish the Advisory Committee that was suppose to be established on an annual basis , but , in fact, had not been established since 1996. - They won the court case - BUT - Soon enough, we will be posting a explanation about the events surrounding this event and explain to the people of Nova Scotia, the sham and the farce that the government has made of this committee.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  Dear Commissioner Nunn:

  
  Again in today's paper I have read information about testimony before this commission that I find astonishing. It is stated that troubled youth are unable to be assessed because there is no means to do these assessments and no way to put these assessments in place.

  
  This is not acceptable or reliable information. IWK has its own assessment team located in a government building on Young Street across from the Superstore. It is run by Ruth Carter, Lowell Blood , Dr. Ahmed and several others who are there full time and have been part of the Assessment Team for years. Before moving to Young Street it was located on Tower Road with the same people in charge. All of us who have had our children snatched by child protection have been subjected to the tactics of The Assessment Team which resulted in assessments the likes of which were never seen before and were so bizarre that, in some cases, the individuals could not recognize themselves as being the persons who had been assessed. The information in the reports had been turned completely around so that the meaning was completely opposite to what was said by the parent!

  
  Unbelievable as this is, we have the documents to confirm this.

  
  Furthermore, as parents, we were forced to go to these assessments. If we objected or refused, the assessments were court ordered . These assessments cost thousands of dollars and involved numerous collateral contacts who gave input that was invariably used as evidence against the parent in the court proceedings to justify the snatching of the children. Incidentally, there was never any follow-up for the parents, although we were all diagnosed as" mentally ill" to the point of being unable to take care of our children. Our children were also assessed and given diagnoses designed to classify them as "special needs" simply because this meant that they could generate more money from the system.

  
  While accompanying Carline VandenElsen to meet the CEO of IWK (Ann MacGuire) we were told that, up until that point, she was unaware of the Assessment Team. This makes me wonder if this is again some "secret body" designed strictly for the operation of the benefit of child protection.

  
  It has come out in various court documents that the business of this team is 100% related to child protection matters. I believe it is important for the Commission to be made aware of this and several of us can be available to produce documentary evidence.

  
  Yours truly,

  
  Marilyn Dey

  
  I would appreciate acknowledgment of this e-mail.

  
  Mr Commissioner Nunn:

  
  I would like to add that 2 women had these assessments which were done on parents, grandparents and children reviewed by 2 different well known and respected PHD psychologists, one in Nova Scotia, Dr Carol Pye, and another outside of Nova Scotia, Dr Marlies Suderman, who was then Director of Violence Prevention Services in Research at the London, Ontario Court Clinic. Both psychologists were shocked and appalled at the incorrectly and unethically done assessments - Neither found anything good about the assessment or the way they were conducted and both spoke strongly against these assessments in court.

  
  But it seems such testimony does not matter. The family court justices seem intent on giving the Children's Aid/Children and Family Services/Community Services Department just exactly what they want.

  
  When these 2 women made complaint to the N.S. Board of Examiners in Psychology (NSBEP), they were denied answer to basic questions concerning the process, who was on the investigation team, etc. This sham went on for exactly 1 year when they were finally told that their complaint was denied.

  
  They then, appealed the decision and were given answer in writing that they had no right of appeal and that they were not to ask any more questions because the NSBEP would not give answer to any!

  
  When these women went to the Ombudsman's office , they were told that the Ombudsman's Office did not have jurisdiction over this concern.

  
  Bringing the matter of having no right of appeal, to various MLAs has brought no action whatsoever. This a weakness in the act - it allows psychologist to appeal but does not allow people who bring complaint the same right. And this IS the jusisdiction of the MLAs!

  
  All communications, documents, etc, concerning these cases have been faithfully saved and are available for inspection.

  
  In addition, Dr Pye made a very candid public presentation June 11, 2004 where she spoke of the serious concerns with assessments conducted for CAS/CS/DCS here in Nova Scotia. I attach a copy of the schedule for these meetings (2 formats). People who attended that meeting are ready, willing and able to speak of the content of information given that day.

  Commissioner Nunn - I have been researching concerns connected with CAS/CS/DCS for many years now and, I, as a citizen of Nova Scotia, am embarrassed by what I have learned. What I have learned, I thought only existed in Third Word Countries - I did not expect to find such goings-on here in Canada!
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  I also ask for confirmation of receipt of this e-mail. Thank you

  
  Linda D Youngson, B.A., B.Ed, M.Ed.

  
  
  
  Commission Nunn - we the families of Nova Scotia beg you to do the right thing by our children and families! One of the 2 women mentioned in the letter below who made complaint to the NS Board of examiners in Psychology was the person who had her evidence conveniently shredded by the assessment service.