Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
National

B.C. staff who failed to check on two abused foster children lose jobs: ministry

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Jun, 2023 04:41 PM
  • B.C. staff who failed to check on two abused foster children lose jobs: ministry

Staff members at the British Columbia Children's Ministry who failed to check on two Indigenous children who were systematically abused by their foster parents have lost their jobs, the government says. 

A judge sentenced the foster parents this month to 10 years each in prison for the death of the 11-year-old boy and the serious injuries to his eight-year-old sister, saying it was incomprehensible how someone could inflict such pain, suffering and violence on an innocent child. 

While the Ministry of Children and Family Development did not provide the names or the number of people involved, it said in a statement "the staff who were directly involved in this case are no longer employed by the ministry."

Children's Minister Mitzi Dean was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

The statement said the ministry conducted a review of its involvement with the children and implemented changes to existing practices that include regular, in-person, private meetings with children in care, and reviews to ensure care providers are properly assessed.

The statement said ministry staff did not follow its policy that children in care should be seen regularly by a social worker.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, policy required that children and youth in care and or those who were the subject of a child protection response were seen in person," said the statement. "Under ministry policies, children who are in care are to be seen regularly by a social worker. In this specific instance, ministry policy was not followed by the staff involved in this case."

The statement also said the ministry's review of the case included that the office involved have timely completion and review with staff of child protection incidents.

The ministry review also said cultural plans must be done for Indigenous children in care and staff must ensure children get access to appropriate medical care and support services. 

"The changes outlined above have been fully implemented at the office that was involved in this incident," said the statement.

B.C. Indigenous groups have called for the resignation of Children's Minister Mitzi Dean and the overhaul of the province's foster care system, with one leader saying the horrific abuse suffered by the two children left him "nauseous."

Provincial court Judge Peter La Prairie in Chilliwack, B.C., sentenced the foster parents after they pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and manslaughter of the boy, and aggravated assault of his younger sister.

Content warning: material that some may find disturbing follows.

La Prairie said in his ruling that the children were tortured, starved and forced to eat their own feces, vomit and dog food. They were forced to undertake excessive exercise routines for hours, often with their eyes taped shut, while in diapers or naked.

They were also slapped, punched, kicked and whipped, with much of the abuse captured by video cameras inside the home.

The boy died in February 2021 after suffering a traumatic brain injury during a beating by the woman, documents say. His sister was later examined and found to have multiple abrasions and bruises all over her body and injuries to her wrists and ankles from zip ties.

The B.C. Green Party also called for Dean to resign Thursday.

"I stand with the First Nations Leadership Council and echo their call for minister Dean to step down or be fired, and for Premier David Eby to empower a new minister to begin the transformation in the British Columbia child welfare system immediately,” Green MLA Adam Olsen who is a member of Tsartlip First Nation, said in a statement. 

The Opposition BC United also called for Dean to quit.

"Offering condolences and assuring it won't happen again is simply not good enough," said BC United childcare critic Karin Kirkpatrick on social media. "Minister Mitzi Dean must resign."

Eby said earlier the child protection system "failed these kids," and the ministry is conducting a review of the case under Dean's leadership.  

Jennifer Charlesworth, B.C.'s representative for children and youth, said this week her office is conducting an investigation, calling the case "one of the most egregious situations" she had ever seen in the 46 years she has spent helping children.

 

MORE National ARTICLES

7 infrastructure projects coming to BC

7 infrastructure projects coming to BC
A joint investment of more than 5.5-million-dollars will support work in Williams Lake, Prince George, Prince Rupert and Merritt. The projects involve improvements to the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex in Williams Lake as well as ventilation in four schools and a social housing complex in the northern region.

7 infrastructure projects coming to BC

Multiple boats stolen in Kelowna

Multiple boats stolen in Kelowna
Police are looking for witnesses after multiple boats were stolen from a locked campground in Kelowna. R-C-M-P say 14 boats were stolen between June 20th and 27th from McCurdy Place from within plain view of traffic on Highway 97.  

Multiple boats stolen in Kelowna

Searchers look for B.C. teen missing in provincial park since Tuesday

Searchers look for B.C. teen missing in provincial park since Tuesday
RCMP say 16-year-old Esther Wang from Langley, B.C., was part of a group of four people who were hiking in Golden Ears Provincial Park on Tuesday.  The group left a lookout point at about 2:45 p.m. to head back to their campground and about 15 minutes later they noticed that Wang was missing.

Searchers look for B.C. teen missing in provincial park since Tuesday

Sketch of an unidentified man released:VPD

Sketch of an unidentified man released:VPD
Vancouver Police have released a composite sketch of an unidentified man who died after being found in medical distress this spring. They say the man was found on the grounds of the Britannia Community Centre on March 24th and died later in hospital.  

Sketch of an unidentified man released:VPD

Student charged in University of Waterloo stabbing that injured three

Student charged in University of Waterloo stabbing that injured three
The violence that took place on the campus about 100 kilometres west of Toronto a day earlier left three people injured and many others expressing shock at what happened.  The stabbings sent a 38-year-old professor and two students – a 20-year-old woman and 19-year-old man – to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Student charged in University of Waterloo stabbing that injured three

Canada, allies head to international court over Iran's downing of Flight PS752

Canada, allies head to international court over Iran's downing of Flight PS752
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down the Ukrainian Airlines flight just minutes after takeoff on Jan. 8, 2020, killing all 176 people on board.  The passengers included 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents, along with others with ties to Canada.

Canada, allies head to international court over Iran's downing of Flight PS752

PrevNext