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wdtony:
http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/canada/ ... nts--page0

Troubled N.S. boy to be sent to grandparents

THE CANADIAN PRESS
Published: August 30, 2010 6:39 p.m.
Last modified: August 30, 2010 6:43 p.m.
 

 HALIFAX - The grandparents of a deeply troubled boy say they are thrilled the Nova Scotia government has decided to release him into their care after fighting for more than a year to get him sent home from a treatment facility in Ontario.

"When (he) hugged me, he didn't want to let go," the woman said in an interview after a court hearing in Nova Scotia.

"I felt bad for that child. What he went through, he didn't deserve that."

The 15-year-old boy's grandparents say the department has confirmed he will be returning home by Sept. 28.

The boy has been under the care of the Community Services Department since November 2008. Under provincial legislation, neither the boy or the grandparents can be identified.

The woman said she wasn't allowed to talk to the boy on Monday because provincial officials entrusted with caring for him believe she has interfered with his treatment for a series of conduct disorders.

"They're making me out to be the culprit," she said, noting that she and the boy's grandfather had cared for him since he was a toddler. "I've just worked to get him out of that situation. ... Anyone who has a child they love would have done the same thing."

A spokesman for the Nova Scotia government said the Community Services Department couldn't comment on any details in the case.

In July, the grandparents alleged the boy had been beaten by staff at the Ontario facility.They accused two male staff members of throwing him to the floor, punching him in the ribs and kneeing him in the throat, leaving him badly scratched and bruised.

An advocacy group known as Restoring Dignity took on the family's cause and pushed for a police investigation.

A spokesman for the facility declined to comment on the case, citing privacy concerns.

On Monday, the Ontario Provincial Police confirmed it had wrapped up its probe and no charges would be laid.

The boy's grandmother says she was shocked by the Nova Scotia government's sudden decision to send her grandson home.

"God answered our prayers," she said. "I'm overwhelmed."

The province has long insisted that the boy couldn't stay in Nova Scotia because the province doesn't have the resources to help him.A residential facility that can provide long-term, intensive treatment is still under construction in the Truro area.

The youth's story attracted national attention last year when Nova Scotia Supreme Court endorsed a plan to have him sent to a facility in Utah. That plan fell through, but the boy was eventually sent to the facility in Ontario.

The boy's grandfather said he and his wife are willing to work with the Community Services Department.

"We want a definite plan," he said. "Something that's going to work for him, including education and recreation. If we don't work with them, it's not going to work."

He said he met Monday with the boy, who was transferred from Ontario to a facility in Nova Scotia last week.

Roch Longueepee, founder of Restoring Dignity, a non-profit group that seeks justice for victims of institutional child abuse, said a specialized family based treatment program could have been set up for the boy in Nova Scotia.

"The province is still in love with the idea of institutions," he said. "They are failing our children."

wdtony:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9017704.html

Troubled teen goes back to grandparents' care

By The Canadian Press
Mon, Aug 30 (2010) - 6:18 PM

The grandparents of a boy with cognitive challenges say the Nova Scotia government has decided to release him into their care more than a year after he was sent to a treatment facility in Ontario.

Officials in Nova Scotia have declined to comment on the case, but they had said they didn't have the resources to care for the 15-year-old boy.

The grandparents have been fighting to have the boy returned to Nova Scotia alleging he had been abused by staff at the Ontario facility.

Earlier in the day, the Ontario Provincial Police confirmed they wouldn't be laying any charges after investigating the allegations.

Last week, the boy was transferred to a treatment facility in his home province, and the grandparents say the Department of Community Services has confirmed the boy will be returning home by Sept. 28.

His grandparents say they've agreed to work with the department to draft a plan of care for the boy, who has been in the care of the Nova Scotia government since November 2008.

Under provincial legislation, there is a publication ban on the boy's identity.

wdtony:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/st ... z0yCG0WQyT


No charges in N.S. boy's abuse claim: police

Last Updated: Monday, August 30, 2010 | 1:52 PM AT
CBC News

Ontario Provincial Police say they won't lay charges after an investigation into allegations that a Nova Scotia teenage boy was abused at a treatment facility.

Sgt. Kristine Rae confirmed Monday that an investigation was held but there were no grounds to lay charges.

The 15-year-old was being treated for behavioural disorders at the Bayfield treatment centre in Consecon, just south of Trenton in eastern Ontario last year. The boy's grand-parents said the teen told them he had been abused during his stay at Bayfield.

He was recently discharged and sent to a treatment facility in Nova Scotia.

The boy is in the permanent care of the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services. He suffers from mental disorders and has been in conflict with the law.

Last year, he was sent to the Bayfield facility because Nova Scotia doesn't have the kind of treatment program he needs.

He suffers from various cognitive challenges, but his grandmother and the family's lawyer say there has never been a conclusive diagnosis.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/st ... z0yCjS9Zmq

wdtony:
http://stephenkimber.com/2010/08/inquir ... t-end-well

Inquiry needed into children’s stories that don’t end well

by Stephen Kimber on August 30, 2010  

I’ve been writing about child protection issues since 2004 when I got interested in the story of a Halifax couple embroiled in a highly publicized, 67-hour, shots-fired standoff with police. The issue: Children’s Aid had seized their five-month old daughter, not because of anything the couple had done to the child—in fact, evidence indicated they were loving, capable parents—but because they’d each been accused of abducting children during acrimonious custody battles in previous relationships.

Their story didn’t end well. The parents ended up in jail. Their daughter disappeared into the often self-serving anonymity of the province’s foster care system.

Then there was the story of the 16-year-old girl whose mental health issues were never addressed in foster or group homes. She ended up in court. The frustrated judge ordered the then-minister of community services—the girl’s legal guardian—to explain the mess. The minister never testified. Instead, the case was shuffled to the sidelines.

I caught up with the girl—now 18—last year. She told me she didn’t get any more help after her court case; instead, as soon as she turned 18, she was spit out into the adult welfare system. Good riddens.

Through her, I met a young man who’d been shipped off at the age of 12—against his parents’ wishes—to an Ontario residential treatment centre called Bayfield where he spent five years. Bayfield, he says, didn’t help. Instead, they prescribed drugs: he was on 13 medications at one point. Like the girl, Bayfield and child welfare washed its hands of him as soon as it could. The last I heard, he was living on the streets.

Which brings us to the current case: the 15-year-old Cole Harbour boy who was also sent to Bayfield. He didn’t do well either. Bayfield has now dumped him, but not before squeezing his grandparents/guardians out of his life—leaving the province, which claims it doesn’t have the facilities to treat him, to decide what to do next with him.

Whatever it does with the boy, the province should do something else; call a public inquiry into how we deal with troubled children and families. Something is clearly wrong.

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