Latest news with #childwelfare
CBC
11 hours ago
- Health
- CBC
Class action on birth alerts gets green light against Ontario, but faces hurdles
A class-action lawsuit that hopes to help pregnant mothers who were red-flagged and had their newborns taken away by child welfare agencies has been certified to proceed against the Ontario government — but it's only a partial win for the plaintiffs. Part of the lawsuit — to hold 49 children's aid societies (CAS) across the province accountable for those "birth alerts" — failed to get the green light from an Ontario Superior Court judge. It's taken three years for the proposed class action to reach this certification ruling — a step necessary before a group lawsuit can proceed to trial. Now, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs says appealing the court's decision could delay justice for parents a bit longer. Birth alerts are notifications that child welfare agencies issued to hospitals about pregnant people they deemed "high-risk." In turn, health-care providers were required to alert welfare authorities when the subject came to seek medical care or deliver their baby. The alerts led to newborns being taken from their parents for days, months or even years. Critics have called them unconstitutional and illegal. The Ontario government issued a directive in 2020 to end the practice, following several other provinces and territories, saying the alerts disproportionately affected Indigenous and racialized mothers. I'm not fighting this alone. - Neecha Dupuis, Ottawa mom Co-plaintiff G.G., whose identity is protected under a publication ban, said she's seeking "due justice" for Indigenous women like her who've been traumatized by birth alerts. She learned in 2016 that Native Child and Family Services Toronto issued a birth alert while she was pregnant with her third child, and said she felt pressured to undergo invasive testing and mental health assessment. Workers later amended the birth alert after finding no grounds to apprehend her newborn, her claim states. "I want there to be justice and accountability," G.G. told CBC News. "Indigenous mothers and families have the severe impacts of birth alerts that continue to this day." Neecha Dupuis, who was the subject of a birth alert at an Ottawa hospital, sat in the virtual courtroom in April as the certification hearing took place. "It widened my view as to how far and how deep CAS has harmed all these people," said Dupuis, who's Anishinaabe. "It's so emotional, it really is, because … I'm not fighting this alone." Appeal to follow 'strong' ruling: lawyer This week, co-counsel for the plaintiffs Tina Yang said her team is planning to appeal the judge's decision to not certify the action against the children's aid societies. "It's a strong ruling with regard to Ontario ... [but] obviously, disappointment with regard to the denial of certification against the children's aid societies," said Yang, with Goldblatt Partners LLP, in reaction to the decision. Yang said the class action in Ontario is the first among similar claims in B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba to reach certification. "It's such an important cause to be litigated," said Yang. "It's not just compensation. It's about recognition of what happened, vindication of those rights ... and that hopefully ... there's a commitment to making sure that something like this never happens again." The Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services forwarded CBC's request to the attorney general, which said in an email it would be inappropriate to comment within the appeal period. The lawyers representing the 49 children's aids societies also declined, citing the same reason. The appeal period ends Friday. Should there be appeals from any parties, the matter will then go through the Ontario Court of Appeal before the class action could move forward, explained Yang. CASs did not act 'in unison': motion "Birth alerts were illegal and discriminatory," the statement of claim states, especially as they targeted unborn children. The plaintiffs' lawyers had pointed out that child protection agencies "have no jurisdiction to act in protection of, or, by extension, to require warnings in respect of, the unborn," according to the certification motion, citing a 1997 Supreme Court decision. The claim alleges the provincial government was negligent and breached sections of the Charter of Right and Freedoms, and argues "for years the Ministry failed to end what was within its knowledge a wrongful and harmful practice." However the judge found the claims against the 49 children's aid societies — conspiracy, negligence, intrusion, misfeasance in public office and breach of the same charter rights — failed to pass the test for class actions in the province. "The relationship between the 49 CAS Defendants is non-hierarchical. They are separate, distinct, and equivalent entities," the judge wrote. For instance, the owner of a Toyota with bad transmission can't sue Honda, even if Honda's transmissions are just as bad, the motion explains. "Since the CAS Defendants are independent actors, they cannot be liable in unison regardless of whether Birth Alerts were wrongful or rightful." Yang wants to stress that the denial "was not a rejection of the validity" of most of the plaintiffs' claims, "but rather a reflection of the technical class-action rules." "We still believe strongly in this case," she said. Yang added her team is exploring options suggested by the judge, such as bringing a class-action against individual children's aid societies, though that would mean finding dozens of additional plaintiffs. G.G. said she's proud the legal team is pursuing the appeal. "This class-action lawsuit places responsibilities on each and every one of the children's aid societies of the unconstitutional and racist behaviour of opening files on Indigenous pregnant persons," she said. "And that's wrong, and that's not what truth and reconciliation looks like." Ottawa mom hopeful Since sharing her story with CBC in 2022, Dupuis obtained hospital records through a freedom of information request that show child protection workers sent alerts to The Ottawa Hospital where she gave birth to her son in July 2011. "This [social worker] received three voicemail messages over the weekend concerning CAS alerts on this patient," read the hospital worker's notes from that July, which were shared with CBC. That's why Dupuis says she supports the appeal against the children's aid societies, no matter how long it takes. "They need to be held accountable for what they did to my family," she said. "If we made it halfway, that's better than no way."
CTV News
a day ago
- CTV News
Quebec sees a 5% increase in youth protection reports
Lesley Hill, the new national director of youth protection, DPJ, speaks at a news conference, Thursday, October 31, 2024 at the legislature in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press) Around 141,600 reports were made to Quebec's Youth Protection (DPJ) in 2024-2025, representing a five per cent increase compared to last year, according to statistics from the DPJ's annual report presented on Thursday. The reports concern 105,675 children in Quebec. 'That's a lot of children we're concerned about,' said Montérégie DPJ director Marie-Josée Audette. 'The number of reports continues to rise. (...) Nevertheless, the retention rate is decreasing. There are 35,264 children for whom the report has been retained. This represents less than a third of all reports received.' It should be noted that nearly 40 per cent of children taken into care by the DPJ remained in their family environment. At a news conference in Quebec City, Lesley Hill, who became the new provincial director of youth protection (DPJ) last fall, acknowledged that youth protection issues are systemic. She said she began her tour of Quebec's regions, which allowed her to make observations in the field. 'Unfortunately, terrible things are happening to children. I was also able to see the magnitude of the challenges and systemic issues we face,' she said. Hill was not surprised by this, as she is a former commissioner of the Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection, which was formed in the wake of the Granby girl tragedy. 'We had already documented these systemic issues, but when you're in the field, you realize how complex it all is,' the director said. More than 10,000 teenagers in care Hill indicated in the report that a major transformation was needed to move toward more humane approaches in DPJ services. 'Many parents have told me how powerless they feel in a system that seems cold and austere to them. Many young people have told me about the importance of humanizing the system,' she said. 'Unfortunately, we are seeing that many children and families are being reported without having received any prior services, sometimes in extremely critical situations. And I always ask myself, if we had been able to provide them with better support, would we be in this situation?' For 2024-2025, there were also 10,095 adolescents who received services under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (LLJPA), representing a 7.4 per cent increase over last year. 'It's a small number, but this small number requires our full attention so that it doesn't become a very large number. Several mechanisms, support systems and approaches have been put in place to ensure that we take the necessary steps to keep this number very small,' said Audette. She spoke of 'very serious situations' that occurred this year and attracted the attention of youth protection directors, including affiliations with organized crime and car theft. 'The LLJPA clearly demonstrates that early intervention upstream prevents delinquency. The biggest predictors of delinquency are expulsion from school, isolation and neglect. The financial precariousness of families, the shortage of adequate housing, the psychological state of parents and children — these are all factors that need to be addressed. The DPJ cannot respond to all needs on its own,' argued Chaudière-Appalaches DPJ director Caroline Brown. Difficult budgetary context The fragile economic context means that the government faces difficult choices in managing its budget. In recent months, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has imposed cuts of several million dollars on the health and social services network, as well as on school service centres and the education sector. 'As the DPJ, it is clearly a concern when we talk about cuts affecting children and young people. As we have said, the impact is significant, particularly in schools, in terms of decisions to homeschool, suspend or expel students. But I think what we are also trying to see with the ministries and with Santé Québec is how to implement important measures that should not be overlooked for the children of Quebec,' said Gaspésie--Îles-de-la-Madeleine DPJ director Michelle Frenette. The Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS) has denounced the fact that working conditions remain a cause for concern in several regions, highlighting that there are 'hundreds of vacant positions, significant administrative overload and a severe lack of resources.' 'Our members are exhausted and have been waiting too long for concrete action to lighten their workload and improve their working conditions,' said APTS president Robert Comeau in a news release. This has repercussions on the support offered to young people, particularly in cases of domestic violence or transition to adulthood. However, Comeau is hopeful that Hill's recent appointment will improve the situation. He hopes that her mandate will lead to more transparent and constructive communication between the field and decision-makers. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 19, 2025. The Canadian Press's health content is funded through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for editorial choices.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Judge hails special care progress as ‘no beds' list drops to zero
It was like 'winning the All-Ireland' to know every child in crisis who needed a secure care bed had one, a High Court judge has said. For the 'first time' in more than six months there was no 'no beds' list, said Mr Justice John Jordan on Thursday as he opened his court. Mr Justice Jordan hears cases of children who, for their own safety or that of others, need to be detained by order in secure care, also known as special care. His weekly sitting reviews updates on children in special care and Tusla applications for special care orders in respect of children about whom it has serious concerns. READ MORE Though 26 special care beds exist in three units, just 16 are operational due to staff shortages, leading to children in respect of whom orders have been made being left without beds. Their cases are included on the 'no beds' list. 'For the first time in a long time, six months-plus, absent from the list is the 'no beds' section,' said the judge. It meant 'all the special care order are now effective – not before time'. 'I want to credit those who have achieved [what some weeks ago it seemed] might be impossible. I am not quite sure how it has been achieved but I am hoping this situation will be maintained ... It something I have been hoping for, for a long period. It's right up there with winning the All-Ireland.' He did 'not want to see a 'no bed' section on the list again. I want to see the situation which is now existing maintained.' He hoped he was 'not tempting fate', he said. [ Hundreds of children waiting more than a year to access mental health services Opens in new window ] A girl who entered special care 'as a very damaged young person' and who left recently was doing 'very, very well', the court heard. She is now in aftercare, and Tusla was working 'extremely hard' to ensure a horse with whom she had a strong therapeutic relationship could move with her. The judge said Tusla 'deserves credit' and agreed the horse must be accessible to the girl. 'In this list equine therapy has frequently proved more beneficial than the other interventions or therapies provided to children. 'This is one very clear illustration of the benefits of involvement in horses for children – because of the success of involvement between [the girl and the horse] it is important that this situation continue.' In the case of a 17-year-old boy who will have to leave special care on reaching 18, Tusla remains unable to identify an onward placement. The boy has set fires in his unit and remains 'anxious' about what will happen when he reaches his majority, the court heard. Of 15 potential private aftercare providers identified, none was 'in a position to offer a place', said counsel for Tusla. There was a lack of clarity as to whether he had a borderline or mild intellectual disability. The latter will entitle him to adult HSE disability services. Counsel for his grandmother said she was 'very concerned as to what the future holds'. 'She is ... anxious that he receives the benefit of every service and input that can be given to him ... She wants the throw the kitchen sink at this to give [him] every opportunity and chance at life as he turns 18,' the court heard. Listing the case for July 10th, Mr Justice Jordan said he wanted 'to know more about the mild vs borderline discussion and the consequences of either in terms of services available'.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
KRQE Investigates: Can CYFD finally end kids sleeping in offices?
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – For years, kids in our state's foster care system have been sleeping in office buildings. And for years, everyone has agreed that it is unacceptable. It causes more chaos in the child's life and requires employees to work 24-hour shifts. So, how do kids end up in an office? What needs to change to prevent this practice from happening anymore? The Children, Youth & Families Department's Secretary sat down with KRQE Investigative Reporter Ann Pierret to share that the state may finally have a solution. Inside their Los Alamos home, Tiffany and James Warren bounced a newborn baby girl on the couch while tending to their energetic two-year-old son. They are two of more than two dozen children the Warrens have fostered throughout the last two years. 'I just feel like it's what we're supposed to do,' Tiffany shared. 'And even whenever we talked about closing our house, we end up getting a call, and we're like, okay, here we go again. Like, we can't close our house. They need us.' The couple ended up adopting the young boy after caring for him since he was in the NICU. He joined their two older biological kids, a son and daughter, who doctors initially told them they would never be able to have. 'The more that we give, I feel like the more that we're given,' Tiffany said. 'So, I feel like it's our calling.'The couple began fulfilling that calling after moving to New Mexico a few years ago. 'It was always on our brains. It was always in our hearts… and we decided we're in a really good place,' Tiffany explained. That's when the Warrens reached out to CYFD, beginning the process of becoming licensed foster parents. 'It was just interviews and checking our house, getting our house ready, baby-proofing the house, making sure everything is safe,' James shared. 'Making sure that we're safe and that we're okay to take kids in. And then, eventually we finally got blessed. And the day of, or day after, we got our first.' Tiffany chimed in, 'It was like the day of.' Proof of the dire need for foster parents in the state — both in the long and short term. 'And there's been some that have gone through things you can't imagine. And so they've, you know, come with their own stories. And it's been hard,' Tiffany shared. But, she added, they are just kids. Kids who sometimes just need placement for a week or a weekend. Tiffany said they have received that call when a child has no other place to sleep but a CYFD office building. 'We'll figure something out because they're people. I wouldn't want to sleep on the floor in an office, especially after my whole world's been turned upside down,' she said. CYFD did want us to point out that kids aren't sleeping on the floor. They have beds for them in the offices. Regardless, the state agency admits it's still not okay. Even more so because, it turns out, the kids who end up living in offices are often dealing with behavioral or mental health issues on top of the trauma that led them into the foster care system. 'They just, they need more attention,' CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados explained. For some of these kids, she said, CYFD has requested placement in a TFC, or Therapeutic Foster Care, but 'They'll look at all the families they have to see if they have a match. Um, and, you know, I can say over the last year, we had sent out 60 packets, and I think 50 of them were rejected.' Rejected, Casados said, because a TFC only takes kids in need of intensive therapeutic or medical treatment. And while these kids need some extra care, it doesn't rise to that level, leaving them with nowhere to stay except an office. So far in 2025, CYFD offices in sixteen counties have housed kids. KRQE Investigates obtained photos of what some of those makeshift living spaces look like at county offices across the state. Data provided by the state agency showed the number of office stays has doubled each year beginning in 2022. Many of those numbers reflect the same child staying more than once. 2022: 131 office stays 2023: 235 office stays 2024: 510 office stays The data also revealed that kids are staying in offices longer, from an average 4-day stay in 2022 to an average 11-day stay in 2024. 'There may always be some sort of a need. But whatever we can do to minimize that, I think, is really needed,' Casados said. She became the cabinet secretary in 2023, three and a half years after the state entered into the Kevin S. Settlement agreement. That agreement legally required an end to office stays. Now, in 2025, Casados told KRQE Investigates she believes CYFD has the solution.'It's something that, you know, we've been working on for a while. It's not just all of a sudden we need to end this,' she explained. Modeled after a similar program in Oklahoma, CYFD created Foster Care +. 'The enhanced foster care will be like it's a child who really doesn't need those intensive therapeutic treatments, but needs more than just a regular foster care. So, you know, maybe more therapy, maybe more one-on-one time with the family, maybe not other kids in their environment, right? Maybe they have special needs at school that can't be met,' Casados shared. Right now, the state agency is only recruiting veteran foster parents to participate, asking them to take in just one kid at a time. The secretary explained, 'So it's not like we're increasing the number of homes, but we're taking some of those families who have had more experience in dealing with kids with higher levels of need, and then really kind of doing wraparound services around them.' Wraparound services include more check-ins from CYFD staff, additional months-long training on both de-escalation and how to handle specific behaviors, plus: 'The actual support afterwards, right?' Casados said. 'Who do I call at 9:30 on a Friday night when my child is really acting out and I have no idea what to do?' The state reported five families are currently participating, which has resulted in two kids placed. The secretary shared that CYFD is focused on getting Bernalillo County and Chaves County foster families involved in the program right now because that's where the highest number of kids in state custody reside. If kids outside of these counties need a Foster Care + home, Casados said they plan to relocate them. 'I think at this point right now, yes, that would be the thought is to get them into a community where they can get the services that they need,' she added. Casados hopes the impact will be felt by office staff, too. Email records obtained by KRQE Investigates reveal repeated requests for overtime, a 24-hour shift, to keep an eye on kids living in offices. When no one steps up, overtime becomes mandatory. When asked how much longer that can continue, Casados replied, 'Well, not much. I mean, it's incredibly hard… If they're not doing mandatory overtime, then they're probably on call in case there's a situation that they have to go out to address, you know, in a community. And so it puts a huge burden on those workers. Our turnover rate is high. Our recruitment is difficult. And the burnout for them is unbelievable.' That's a problem, Casados admits, among foster families, too. 'I mean they really are appreciated. I just don't think that they're feeling it. And we do have a high turnover of foster families as well. So as hard as they're working to recruit new families, and then we're losing families, that's been a really difficult thing,' she said. The Warrens said their home will remain open for as long as they feel called to help. 'You do make a difference, even if in that short amount of time that you have them,' Tiffany said. 'It's not always easy, but even at the end, like doing all that, doing all that, and dealing with all this stuff that we've had to deal with, we would do it again and we would choose all these kids again because they all need love and we have so much to give. Why not?' If you're interested in becoming a foster parent, CYFD said the state agency is always looking for more people to open their homes. With veteran foster families joining the new Foster Care + program and only taking in one child, CYFD knows fewer homes will be available to kids in the state's care. Resource: Click here for details on how to become a foster parent In 2024, CYFD opened two multi-service homes in Bernalillo County as part of its ongoing effort to end the practice of kids sleeping in offices. Casados called the homes a 'bridge' until more families sign up for Foster Care +. However, one of the facilities is now the center of a criminal investigation. New Mexico's Attorney General opened the investigation after 16-year-old Jaydun Garcia ended his life at one of the homes earlier this year. The secretary did not respond directly to the investigation but has said she hopes to grow Foster Care + to the point that these group homes are no longer needed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Wall Street Journal
‘Daughters of the Bamboo Grove' Review: Twins Torn Apart
'You're not allowed to keep this child,' a Family Planning official informed Xiuhua. Another man held her wailing 21-month-old niece, Fangfang, the toddler reaching out for the only mother she had ever known. The group of men had caught Xiuhua off-guard moments earlier when they burst into the house and restrained her while they grabbed Fangfang. A group of neighbors heard the commotion and came running, attempting to assist Xiuhua as she pursued the departing officials, but they couldn't keep up with the car driving away from the village. On that steamy early spring day in 2002, Fangfang disappeared into China's indomitable child-welfare system. Xiuhua had understood the risk of taking in her niece: Fangfang and her twin sister, Shuangjie, had been born in violation of China's family-planning policy, often called the one-child policy. Their parents, Zanhua and Youdong, were farmers who already had two daughters and couldn't afford the fine that another child—let alone two—would incur. Zanhua had given birth to the twins in secret, then placed Fangfang with her brother and his wife to raise as their own. Shuangjie moved with her parents to Chongqing, where they worked as migrant laborers to save money for the exorbitant fines they anticipated. One day, if they earned enough, Zanhua and Youdong hoped to pay the fines, register the girls' births and reunite their family. But before that day arrived, the local Family Planning office had discovered the ruse and seized Fangfang. Family Planning cadres were not, officially, supposed to take children from their homes as punishment for policy violations. By the early 2000s, however, a thriving overseas adoption industry had become a byproduct of China's planned-birth regime, which the government had created in the late 1970s to help slow population growth while the country focused on economic development. A longstanding preference for sons over daughters led hundreds of thousands of families to abandon female children rather than risk fines or even violence at the hands of powerful Family Planning officials. Orphanages grew crowded, so in 1991 the government passed a new law permitting foreign adoption and watched the program take off. Barbara Demick movingly traces this history of overseas Chinese adoptions and their ripple effects on both sides of the Pacific in 'Daughters of the Bamboo Grove.' Other authors have written about the one-child policy, or the experience of adopting a Chinese daughter; Ms. Demick's skill shines through in her synthesis of the two stories.
