General Interest > Open Free for All

Canadian Teen saved from Utah facilities

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Oscar:
Cole Harbour teen denied entry to U.S. to be treated in Ontario, by Heather Amos, CronicleHerald.ca, July 10 2009

He was saved from entering either Provo Canyon School or Cinnamon Hills Youth Crisis Center

Instead of having his life spoiled he can not get local treatment in Canada. Lucky boy. Visa rules save lives.

Ursus:
This "Community Services Department" in Nova Scotia seems to send more than a few kids to Utah. Must be an in-house organizational bias. They also seem quite eager to do so, regardless of what the family's wishes might be, at least in this particular case...

Here is an earlier article about this same case, which goes into some more background and detail:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

The ChronicleHerald.ca METRO
Family: Utah too far to send troubled teen for treatment
By PATRICIA BROOKS ARENBURG Staff Reporter
Mon. Jun 1, 2009

The family of a troubled Cole Harbour boy is going to court today to keep authorities from sending him to a youth facility in Utah.

"He’s gonna come back, we’re all (going to be) distant, we’re all (going to be) strangers here," his grandmother said. "We know we love each other. He knows we’re mom and dad, . . . but it ain’t gonna be the same. There’s a distance there."

The 14-year-old boy, raised by his maternal grandparents since he was four, is at a short-term treatment centre in the temporary care of the Community Services Department. If the family isn’t successful, he will be sent to Cinnamon Hills Youth Crisis Center for an undetermined time.

The boy, who cannot be named, is a habitual runaway who has done crack cocaine and had sex with women several years older, his grandmother said. He was in the province’s care for eight months and spent most of that time "locked up" in Nova Scotia Youth Facility in Waterville, the grandmother said. He had racked up 27 charges and even crashed a stolen car during that time, she said.

The family has been told that the boy may have attention deficit disorder and fetal alcohol syndrome, along with a host of other possible problems. It’s not that the family doesn’t want him to get help, the grandmother said. But with local programs available as well as some closer than Utah, such as in Maine, the family wonders why he needs to go so far away. "We have children right here in our own province that’s getting that help. . . . Why is this child so different?" the grandmother asked.

Vicki Wood, the Community Services Department’s director of child welfare, said there are about 1,700 children in the department’s care. Less than two per cent of those children need out-of-province treatment and care. The province said it costs almost the same to send young people to Cinnamon Hills as it does to keep them here, over $111,000 a year. Nova Scotia has sent 20 children in the last four years to Cinnamon Hills, five hours south of Salt Lake City.

Although there are programs to deal with youngsters facing emotional and behavioural problems here in Nova Scotia, some have greater challenges due to developmental delays, neurological problems and fetal alcohol syndrome — "combination issues that make your treatment particularly difficult," Ms. Wood said.

The distance isn’t the only concern for the family. The grandmother said she was contacted by people in Utah who told her about alleged abuses at the facility. A woman who worked at Cinnamon Hills was arrested on sex-related charges against a teenage girl there.

Community Services officials contacted the facility and found that the woman had no contact with any of the Nova Scotia teenagers there. They also determined the facility followed proper procedures after the allegations arose.

The family is scheduled to appear in Halifax family court today where a judge will determine whether the courts have the authority to restrict the department from sending the boy to Utah.

( pbrooks@herald.ca)


© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited

Anonymous:

--- Quote ---This time, the boy was denied access to the United States for treatment at any facility.
--- End quote ---

Translation: "No bitch, this kid needs serious mental help, not torture"


--- Quote ---The grandmother said she was contacted by people in Utah who told her about alleged abuses at the facility.
--- End quote ---

Infiltration WIN :rocker:

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "Ursus" ---This "Community Services Department" in Nova Scotia seems to send more than a few kids to Utah. Must be an in-house organizational bias. They also seem quite eager to do so, regardless of what the family's wishes might be, at least in this particular case...
--- End quote ---
I did some more research and, apparently there is something more than a bit dodgey about how the Provincial Government of Nova Scotia and the Department of Community Services do their binnis (DCS is somewhat analogous to the United States' DDS or CPS agencies). I don't have enough functioning brain cells to completely figure it out this morning... Perhaps someone more in the know on this issue might care to comment?

At any rate, it appears that the notoriously corrupt Nova Scotia's DCS is rather... aggressive ...about taking some kids from their parents despite unsubstantiated or disputed allegations. Moreover, many parents are pressured into "volunteering" up their kids if the kid needs help and the parent cannot afford it. Nova Scotia's DCS then rams the consequent relinquishing of parental rights through their court system with little pretense for "due process." It would also appear that the appalling constellation of relevant legal professionals have rampant conflicts of interest with both sides of the fracas. Guess which side pulls more clout?

If the kid in question happens to be "difficult," then they are often sent to... Cinnamon Hills Youth Care Facility in St. George, Utah. Bizarre that it should be so specific. Perhaps not so bizarre. Nova Scotia must have a similar arrangement with this facility like California does...

The way it works is thus: kid gets in trouble, or suffers some trauma and starts acting out, and consequently comes to the attention of the local social services agency (DCS). If the parents cannot afford appropriate treatment, then they are pressured to relinquish their parental rights so that the kid's needs can be covered by governmental funding. If you're poor, or even just middle class and have sucky health insurance, you can't have it both ways. You have to give up your kid in order to get him/her the help they need.

I keep seeing variations of this phrase: "The woman said she volunteered to give up custody of her son in April so he could receive the help he needs." Note that word "volunteer," that is what this is euphemistically called.

Ursus:
Another thread with more information on Cinnamon Hills Youth Crisis Center:

Cinnamon Hills
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=22434[/list]

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