Families struggle to get access to one year old in gov't care

One grandmother has supervised visits with her granddaughter; the other grandmother does not.

One grandmother is fighting for custody of her granddaughter; the other grandmother does not have that option.

“My heart is heavy,” said Amanda Smith (last name changed to protect the identity of the child). “I cry every night.”

Last September, Smith’s granddaughter, Emily (name changed), was taken into care by the province after suffering injuries which Smith’s teenaged son and father of the child admitted to having caused. Since that time, despite having taken an RCMP-requested polygraph (as did both of Emily’s maternal grandparents) indicating she had no knowledge of any abuse occurring, and agreeing to supervised visits, Smith has not been allowed any contact with her grandchild.

Emily’s maternal grandmother and mother have both been allowed supervised visits. Emily turned one while in care.

“Access to children when in care … a lot of it is based on the unique circumstances of what’s going on with that child, what’s going on with the family,” said Roxanne Dube Coelho, spokesperson with Alberta Human Services, which includes Children’s Services. Coelho could not comment specifically on Smith’s granddaughter’s case. “Caseworkers put forward a recommendation based on the assessment of a family situation as to potential options for visits. It’s usually the judge that directs the specific details around visitation for a child.”

Smith says the judge left visitation to the discretion of the Grande Prairie director.

Smith is First Nations and she and her son are presently applying for membership with the Boyer River band. Rita Jones (last name changed), the child’s maternal grandmother, is Caucasian. Both grand-mothers live in Grande Prairie where Emily is in care with a non-Aboriginal foster family.

Is it an issue of race that allows one woman to see her grandchild while the other can’t?

“I don’t know,” said Jones. “I wish I could say yes or no but I honestly don’t know.”

Smith has a history with Human Services that Jones does not share.

In March 2006, Smith’s four children, including the baby’s father, were taken into care. Smith, struggling as a single mother, made a comment to a respite worker, who sounded the alarm. The comment was misinterpreted, says Smith, and her children apprehended.  It took an appeal by Smith to a judge and five weeks later her children were returned.  In those five weeks, she was only allowed one visit. And by then the damage had been done.

“When your children get taken away from you and they get returned to you, it really changes you as a parent, it changes you as a person. Your children are not the same. There’s a lot of destruction that the child and family ministry did,” said Smith.

This is not the first time Emily has been apprehended by Human Services. Shortly after the baby’s birth in March 2012, she was taken into care because of injuries that both grandmothers say were caused at the time of the birth. Emily was not breathing and CPR had to be performed, leaving the baby with bruises and broken ribs. She was released two months later back into the custody of her parents after a judge ruled the injuries were due to her birthing, says Smith.

This time, though, there is no denying Emily was physically abused, says Smith. The abuse was reported when Emily’s parents took her to the hospital. Smith agrees that Emily should have been apprehended but she does not support the child being away from her family for so long.

“My son is going through the criminal system. He’s the one going to be sentenced. Why are all of us being punished for a crime he did?” said Smith.

None of Smith’s family, including the baby’s great great grandmother, have been allowed access to Emily. Smith’s request for photographs of the baby’s milestones has been denied. Smith has been allowed to pay for professional portrait sittings of her granddaughter although it is the foster parents who take Emily for the appointments.

Recently Smith was asked by Human Services to undergo psychological and psychiatric testing before she would be granted access to her granddaughter.

While Jones and her daughter have been allowed to visit Emily, it hasn’t been smooth sailing and grandparent visits have only been allowed “when we make a stink about it,” said Jones.

Jones says the first set of case workers were difficult to deal with and were recently replaced.  Brenda (name changed), Emily’s mother, has court-ordered supervised visits of one hour every two weeks but sometimes those visits were cancelled by the case workers. The new set of case workers, however, has finally begun the mediation process with Brenda, who has her first appointment in early April. Brenda had applied for mediation five months ago. The hope, says Jones, is to work toward reconciling mother and baby. Brenda is 18 and finishing Grade 12.

But Jones says they are not letting everything rest on mediation.
Human Services has filed a permanent guardianship order for Emily, set to go before the court in February 2014.

Jones’ oldest daughter applied for kinship care with Human Services five months ago, something that Jones says should have been granted by now.  It could be granted by mid-April. While that would allow Emily to be raised by a member of the Jones’ family, kinship care would also allow Human Services to remove Emily. So Jones and her husband have hired a lawyer and have applied for private guardianship. A court date is set for May 7, 2013.

“We’re doing everything we can to try and get this little girl back to her family,” said Jones.

Coehlo says “wherever possible” Human Services works to reunite children with families.

If the Joneses are successful, Rita says she has no qualms about granting Smith supervised visits with Emily.

“It’s wrong for (Amanda) not to be able to see her granddaughter,” said Jones. “She’s a good person.”

Smith says she cannot apply for guardianship because of her history with the system.

She says she has heard from many people, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, who have been denied access to a child in care.
“I’ve been doing extensive research,” she said, reading reports and watching documentaries on residential school survivors.

That research indicates that nearly 70 per cent of children in care are Aboriginal. A recent report by Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate put that figure at 68 per cent although only nine per cent of the province’s children are Aboriginal.

Smith says the child welfare system has taken over where residential schools left off. Whether the product of residential school or the product of foster homes, many survivors are alcohol or drug abusers, unable to trust or care for their children. Smith’s mother was a residential school survivor and abandoned Amanda when she was two years old.

“(Human Services) denies children the unity of family ties. Taking children away from their families, is not helping, it’s destroying,” she said. “It’s like they’re holding my granddaughter for ransom.”