‘Social services knew for years’
Child-protection workers dropped the ball, says a defence lawyer representing an abusive mother, arguing they didn’t do enough to intervene with troubled family
Warning: This story includes graphic descriptions of child abuse and cruelty.
A lawyer representing a woman who severely abused her seven-year-old daughter last year says she essentially had an accomplice - the government branch tasked with protecting kids.
A 34-year-old Fredericton woman will be sentenced in late June for six crimes, all alleging abuse of her children.
There’s a court-ordered publication ban protecting the identities of the children, so the Fredericton Independent isn’t naming their parents either.
Furthermore, at the woman’s sentencing hearing last week, court heard the children are in the care of the Department of Social Development.
The provincial Family Services Act also bars the public identification of children taken into protective care.
Ahead of sentencing, the defendant pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, unlawful confinement and failure to provide medical care, stemming from actions last year involving her then-seven-year-old daughter.
The mother also admitted to assaults on two of her other children.
During that sentencing hearing, court heard the woman severely abused and neglected the seven-year-old over the course of two years.
Among the horrors inflicted on the child were being burned by hot metal rods, having her head stomped, being denied bathroom privileges, being confined to her room, sleeping in a soiled, tattered bed, being struck, being underfed and being forced to eat her own vomit when she couldn’t stomach the little food she was given.
As the Fredericton Independent reported last week, court heard that when the girl was taken to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital on July 21, her right ear was so severely injured and infected that it was bloated like a water balloon and required emergency reconstructive surgery.
The woman’s six children were all removed from her and her husband’s care at that time, and she was remanded into custody.
During submissions on sentencing last week, prosecutor Gwynne Hearn proposed an 8½-year prison term, while defence lawyer T.J. Burke argued 6½ years was more appropriate.
Both the Crown and defence noted whatever sentence is imposed should be reduced to account for the time the woman has served on remand since her arrest.
“This is a case where a mother has abused her child quite harshly,” Burke said last week.
Among the mitigating factors he cited were her client’s guilty pleas, undiagnosed mental illness, lack of education and isolation in her home.
Burke suggested some of the responsibility for what happened to the seven-year-old and the other children lies elsewhere: with child-protection workers with the Department of Social Development.
“Social services knew for years… that those children were subject to abuse, and nothing happened,” Burke said.
“Social services had the opportunity to step in, but they didn’t.”
The defence lawyer said he doesn’t condone what his client did, but the fact is that if social workers had been more proactive and attentive to what was going on with this family, the more serious instances of abuse wouldn’t have happened.
Burke noted the probation officer who prepared his client’s pre-sentence report spells out clearly just how many times Social Development staff had the chance to prevent what was happening.
Timeline of abuse
That pre-sentence report indicates the family had repeated contacts with social workers with the Department of Social Development since they moved to the capital in 2016.
The reported instances of concern initially revolved around allegations of neglect and lack of supervision for the children, progressing to instances of physical abuse.
Many of the concerns of neglect and abuse were substantiated, according to the report prepared by probation services, but it shows interventions by the Department of Social Development’s child-protection services branch were limited despite ongoing issues.
The pre-sentence report detailed the following parental lapses and offences over the course of several years, as well as how social workers handled them:
- “Children were outside unsupervised into late hours of the night” on Aug. 18, 2016, which was substantiated.
- “Concerns reported regarding neglect and lack of supervision [June 6, 2018]. Claim substantiated.”
- On May 8, 2019, “The children had reported that their parents were physically abusing them. Claim closed as discontinued and a social worker was assigned.”
- “Concerns reported regarding physical and emotional abuse [May 27, 2019]. Three children had disclosed that their father hits them and disclosed being witness to domestic intimate partner violence between their mother and father. Claim substantiated.”
It should be noted the father hasn’t been charged with assaults on either his children or his spouse.
- The report notes that Social Development staff opened a child-protection file regarding the family June 12, 2019.
- Due to the previous report of physical abuse, the father was placed on an undertaking not to be in the family home. It was discovered he violated that order by being present in the home Sept. 6, 2019.
- The child-protection file was closed Sept. 28, 2019.
- New concerns arose May 11, 2020, when the children reported yelling and physical altercation between their parents. “Emotional abuse claim was substantiated. Physical abuse claim was unsubstantiated.”
- On Oct. 25, 2020, a new allegation of physical abuse arose. “Child’s eye was swollen shut and there was bruising and swelling of the cheek.” The kids reported their mother would hit them, and that claim was substantiated.
- As a result of that incident, the children were taken into foster care Oct. 29, 2020, until April 9, 2021, at which time the children were returned to the custody of their parents, the pre-sentence report notes.
- More abuse is reported Feb. 25, 2022: “Child had bruising on arm. All were interviewed and denied that parents were using any physical discipline. Claim unsubstantiated.”
- On March 17, 2022, it was alleged one of the children had been neglected because a cut on the hand had become infected. “Once the parents were made aware of the situation, they took the child to the hospital for treatment. Claim unsubstantiated.”
- A new report of neglect was substantiated June 16, 2022, the report notes. “Child smelled of urine, bruising was located on child’s back and social worker noticed a strong smell of urine in the home.” No mention was made of any intervention or action by child-protection services.
- The next time the family came to the attention of authorities was when police responded to the southside home July 21, discovered the squalour in which the seven-year-old was living and took the girl to hospital for her severe injuries. That gave rise to the criminal charges, the pre-sentence report states, as well as the establishment of a new child-protection file at Social Development.
As the pre-sentence report timeline notes, Burke’s allegation that the child-protection branch did nothing to intervene isn’t entirely accurate, given that the children were taken into foster care between October 2020 and April 2021, but his point was that social workers didn’t do enough given the awareness of the problems in the home.
No followup in month before arrest
Hearn told court last week that the seven-year-old girl told police her mother started mistreating her when she was five years old.
When she was seen in hospital July 21, the prosecutor said, the child tried to hide the abuse at first, lying about what happened to her ear.
“She initially stated, ‘I fell,’” Hearn said, adding the girl eventually admitted, “It was my mom … My mommy hit me.”
The prosecutor said the police investigation also led to interviews with Social Development staff.
Among those questioned, she said, was child-protection worker Sarah Hayward, who told police she’d visited the seven-year-old at her school June 24 - the final day of school last summer. She reported she’d examined the child and found no marks of any concern at that time.
However, court heard last week the abuse had been ongoing and that the girl had been covered in bruises, burn marks and other injuries when medical personnel saw her a month later.
“Ms. Hayward had not been to visit the family since the last day of school,” Hearn said.
She said it was child-protection social worker Penny Barwise who went to the hospital July 21 to inform the parents the children were being taken into care by the department, and that neither parent was being permitted contact with them.
That’s been the case since that time.
Department mum on case
When contacted Tuesday to give her a chance to comment, Hayward referred inquiries to department communications staff.
The Fredericton Independent also requested an interview with Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard this week to discuss the criticisms levied against the department and its child-protection staff and the apparent failures in this family’s case.
The department declined the interview request Wednesday or to discuss the case in any way despite the publication bans in place protecting the identities of the family members.
“The Department of Social Development, and the minister, have strict obligations to abide by confidentiality legislation,” department communications officer Rebecca Howland wrote in an email.
“Therefore, we cannot speak to the specifics of any case, including those before the court.”
Provincial court Judge Natalie LeBlanc reserved her decision on sentence in the mother’s case to June 28. The offender was remanded again until that time, but it’s clear she’ll be spending more time behind bars. All that’s left to be determined is how much.
The children’s father is also facing charges related to the abuse. The 52-year-old man - who’s free in the community subject to the conditions of a release order - is also charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life (medical care) to his daughter and thereby causing her bodily harm July 21, and breaching the condition of a police undertaking between July 30 and 31 to have no contact with his six children.
He denied those charges last year, and he’s scheduled to stand trial in the fall.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
If they knew about what was happening then those ppl need a new job and how many other cases are going on now !!!
The abuser also knew what she/he was doing was wrong! Even animals know better! The province is probably paying for her lawyer. Evil, sadistic....