CANADA • Female, 4 (2009) /Convicted: Foster Parent (aunt) ~ Edmonton AB

Foster mom pleads guilty to manslaughter
October 17, 2011

An Edmonton foster mom pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday for causing the death of a four-year-old girl – one of her brother’s six children that she was taking care of.

However, a psychological report that details the now-26-year-old woman’s drug abuse problems, mental health issues and lack of parenting skills, raises serious questions as to why Alberta Children and Youth Services placed the six “crack babies” in her custody.

The killer, who cannot be named under a provincial law forbidding the identification of people in care, admitted she caused the Jan. 13, 2009, death of her niece by inflicting blunt cranial trauma that led to a severe brain injury.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the woman was granted custody of her brother’s six children, ranging in age from three months to six years, in August 2008 as a result of the brother being unable to care for them.

Throughout the fall and early winter of 2009, the woman and her boyfriend lived with the children in a rented west-end home that was paid for by the province.

One of the children had a visit with his dad over Christmas and when he returned to the home, he told his siblings that their parents were getting back together and they would all be soon reunited as a family.

This had a disruptive effect on the children and the victim began misbehaving and refusing to heed her aunt.

On Jan. 13, 2009, emergency personnel went to the home after a 911 call from the woman’s boyfriend and found the victim, wearing only a diaper, dead on her bedroom floor.

An autopsy determined the nearly five-year-old girl had extensive bruising covering most of her body, two fractured ribs and bleeding on the brain.

According to the agreed facts, the woman caused the deadly injuries by “intentionally applying tremendous blunt force” to the child between Jan. 9 and Jan. 10.

Then, despite the victim experiencing severe brain injury symptoms – including lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea and ultimately a coma – the woman did not call an ambulance or seek any medical attention for the child.

If the girl had received prompt medical attention, it is medically possible that her life could have been saved.

Between the time of the blunt force trauma being inflicted and the night before the 911 call, the woman tried to treat her niece by giving her cough syrup, using a t-shirt to scoop vomit from her mouth and putting on a diaper.

Crown prosecutor Mark Huyser-Wierenga told court he is seeking a sentence of 12 years in prison, less approximately four-and-a-half years worth of pre-trial custody.

Huyser-Wierenga said it is “aggravating” the woman left her badly injured niece “languishing” for several days without seeking help, calling it “very serious neglect.”

Defence lawyer Lisa Trach said she will be asking for a sentence of time served, followed by probation.

The woman was charged with second-degree murder, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life, but was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser and included offence of manslaughter.

Meanwhile, a mental health assessment prepared by psychologist Leslie Block makes one wonder how the six children were ever placed in the custody of their aunt.

According to the report, the woman had a dysfunctional upbringing, including physical, mental and emotional abuse by her mother, and she began abusing drugs at 13.

As well, she is diagnosed as suffering from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality problems as a result of her childhood abandonment and exposure to domestic violence, crime and substance abuse.

Block noted the woman agreed to take care of her brother’s six “crack babies” at the urging of Children’s Services and said a motivating factor could have been the fact she received funding and housing.

“She came in as a young parent, having no experience as a parent, taking on these troubled children with a distorted sense of competency,” said Block in the report.

“She had been promised supports and assistance with these children, but this seemed to be lacking,” said Block, adding there was “minimal actual contact” from social workers and no “respite or assistance” with the children.

“Taking on such an onerous undertaking seems unrealistic and impractical, given her relative inexperience in parenting, her young age, unresolved personal problems, unstable spousal circumstances and substance abuse problems. The six children had special needs and would be taxing to even qualified foster parents,” said Block.

The sentencing hearing is slated for three weeks.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2011/10/17/foster-mom-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter

Woman guilty of niece’s death was abused as child: psychologist
October 20, 2011

A woman who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the 2009 death of her four-year-old niece was determined to prevent the child and her five siblings from being “lost into the system,” when she took them into her care, says a psychologist who prepared a mental health assessment of her.

The 26-year-old woman, whose sentencing hearing began this week in Court of Queen’s Bench, had no children of her own and a Grade 9 education when she began to care for her brother’s six children in August 2008. The four-year-old girl was killed in January 2009 when the woman was 24.

Despite her own troubled background and unstable home life, the aunt expressed “desire to be legal guardian of children” and stated “she will do what is necessary to ensure children have a good home and feel loved,” psychologist Leslie Block wrote in his assessment.

The woman told the psychologist she grew up neglected, and was emotionally and physically abused by her mother and various father figures.

“She said she learned to suppress feelings and not cry even when getting beaten with hangars (sic), cords, and sticks,” said the psychological assessment, which was entered into evidence at the sentencing hearing.

By 13, she was taking codeine for headaches. That was followed by Gravol mixed with Tylenol, then marijuana, all supplied by her mother, the woman told Block. Her abuse of prescription drugs continued until she was arrested, she said.

“She lacked meaningful parental attachments, had minimal monitoring or guidance, with absence of affection or nurturance. She was often punished in an erratic manner, for frivolous reasons,” Block wrote.

Yet the woman decided to foster her six nieces and nephews — aged three months to seven years when they were apprehended — “with the blessing” of the government agency in charge, the report said. She described the children as “crack babies” who all had special needs.

Block said the assault on the four-year-old girl appeared to have been the “culmination” of many factors. The woman has said she was intoxicated at the time.

“Mental state at the time of incident was compromised by the drug usage and the overwhelming stress she had been facing. In my opinion, she lacked the capacity to form intent,” Block wrote.

The woman now suffers from depression. Her “greatest risk in the future” is self-harm.

Rachel Notley, the NDP critic of children’s services, has called the placement of six high-needs children in the woman’s care without adequate supports “profoundly irresponsible.”

“Taking someone who had all these challenges and then giving them six children who are themselves in crisis, and then walking away is profoundly irresponsible.”

If the decision was made to keep the six siblings together, “genuine” daily supports should have been given to the family, such as a behavioural consultant who could have taught the aunt how to control and help children with emotional and development issues, she said.

The children were placed in the aunt’s care through the province’s kinship care program, where children in need of care are placed with extended families. A review of the program was done after the girl’s death.

Notley claims the provincial government lowered its standards for kinship placements so that background checks weren’t done to the same degree as for traditional foster homes. There is no cap on the number of children kinship families can take.

Human Services Minister Dave Hancock said the recommendations from the review have been implemented. Those recommendations include items such as working toward faster criminal risk assessments, modifying orientation training for kinship care providers and creating support plans unique to the circumstances.

“It’s an important part of the system,” he said of the kinship care program, noting that keeping a child with family and in a familiar situation can be a good placement for a child.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/edmonton/Woman+guilty+niece+death+abused+child+psychologist/5583613/story.html

Government set up aunt for failure, defence lawyer argues at manslaughter sentencing

A woman who killed the four-year-old niece in her care was never an appropriate choice as a caregiver for six troubled children and was abandoned by the Alberta government, a psychologist testified Thursday.

Leslie Block, who completed a mental assessment of the woman after her arrest, said Alberta Child and Youth Services should have known the 24-year-old couldn't cope with her brother's children.

"If I was to assess her for parental suitability, there was way too many red flags right off the top," Block told the sentencing hearing. He pointed to her age and her addictions and that she had no children of her own. "Six children, for me, even with my wife, would've been too much. I wouldn't know where to begin. No one parent should have to be dealing with six special-needs kids unarmed."

Block said the woman was given no government support, with the exception of money for rent and food.

"None," he said when asked about other means of support.

He pointed out that the woman had to take six kids on the bus if one had a doctor's appointment, because the government didn't provide taxi fare. She was never trained on how to deal with troubled children and would leave unreturned phone messages with social workers, Block said.

Perhaps worst of all, Block testified, is that the woman was never afforded time to herself, to leave the stressful home without guilt.

"This all causes intense stress that is overwhelming, that is debilitating," he said. "She is in an altered state leading up to the incident. In the aftermath, she is in a state of denial."

Block said the woman has a mental "blackout" of the details of the assault, but told him she threw the girl and the child's head struck a bed rail.

The psychologist testified that it is highly unusual to place six troubled kids in one home. The limit is usually three, he said.

The woman's lawyer, Lisa Trach, also said the government should share the blame. Her client, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this week.

The woman, now 26, came from a troubled background herself, and the government "set her up for this type of failure," Trach said.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice John Rooke warned court he will not let the sentencing hearing stray far from the facts dealing with the four-year-old's death.

"I'm not here conducting an inquiry of the welfare system," Rooke told court.

The six children were identified in the spring of 2008 as at risk because their parents were homeless and unable to care of them, Block said in his assessment report, filed with the courts.

The children were apprehended through the courts on July 4 that year and in August, placed with the aunt by Metis Settlements Child and Family Services. That month, the biological father signed over guardianship to his sister, Block's report said.

On Jan. 13, 2009, the aunt's common-law husband called 911. Paramedics found the little girl dead on her bedroom floor, clad only in a diaper.

The girl had bruises on her head, legs, arms, face and neck. Two of her ribs were fractured and she had serious head injuries. The woman has admitted to assaulting the girl.

The child died from her head injuries after receiving no medical attention for three or four days. Both the Crown and defence agreed it is "medically possible" the child would have survived with earlier medical attention.

The biological father and grandmother have launched a $750,000 lawsuit against the aunt, her common-law husband and the government.

The statement of claim asserts that the girl's biological father asked for financial assistance from Alberta Child Welfare and instead had his six kids placed with his sister, an unfit parent.

"The placement of the six young children with the couple was completely inappropriate," the claim reads.

The suit claims the government did not conduct an adequate investigation into whether the biological father could care for his children, or whether his sister and her common-law husband were capable of sheltering them. The government also failed to train or supervise the aunt, the family alleges.

The suit states the aunt assaulted the girl to keep her from crying.

The surviving five children are now living with their paternal grandmother. Under provincial legislation, no family members can be named.

Statements of claim contain allegations not proven in court.

Crown prosecutor Mark Huyser-Wierenga told court he is seeking a 12-year sentence, while Trach has recommended a lengthy period of probation.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Alta+child+services+aunt+failure+manslaughter+sentencing+hears/5582348/story.html

Kids well cared for by aunt, brother testified
October 24, 2011

Six siblings seemed to have better care with their aunt than their biological parents after being moved by the government, a family member told court Monday.

The man was testifying at a sentencing hearing for his “baby sister,” who took in the siblings after they were apprehended from his brother in the spring of 2008.

The six children lived with the aunt until January 2009, when she fatally assaulted her four-year-old niece. She has since pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

“Personally, I thought she was one of the best mothers, at the time,” the 30-year-old brother said. “They had new beds. They had food in the fridge all the time, they had snacks all the time.”

Though the kids were troublesome and abused each other, the uncle said they at first appeared to have a better life with their aunt than they’d had with their biological parents, who did illegal drugs in front of their six kids, he said.

“I’m not proud to say that I did drugs with my brother and sister-in-law, in front of those kids,” he testified.

The man said he never saw any drug use at his sister’s house once the kids were moved into kinship care with her.

He also told the hearing that he never saw any sign of Alberta Youth and Children’s Services at the home, or heard any phone calls, despite being at the home four to five times a week and often spending the night.

Defence lawyer Lisa Trach has argued that the government placed the six kids with her client and “set her up to fail,” with little followup support.

None of the family members can be named because the children cannot be publicly identified.

The children were apprehended through the courts on July 4, 2008, and placed with the aunt in August by Métis Settlements Child and Family Services. That month, the biological father signed over guardianship to his sister.

On Jan. 13, 2009, the aunt’s common-law husband called 911. Paramedics found the four-year-old girl dead on her bedroom floor, clad only in a diaper.

The girl had bruises on her head, legs, arms, face and neck. Two of her ribs were fractured and she had serious head injuries. The woman has admitted to assaulting the girl.

The child died from her head injuries after receiving no medical attention for three or four days. Both the Crown and defence agreed it is “medically possible” the child would have survived with earlier medical attention.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.


http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Kids+well+cared+aunt+brother+testified/5599111/story.html

Woman who killed four-year-old niece jailed 7-1/2 years
April 12, 2012


The father and grandmother of a four-year-old girl killed while under the care of her aunt hug outside the Edmonton Law Courts Building on April 11, 2012.
Photograph by: Ryan Cormier, edmontonjournal.com


An Edmonton woman who killed her four-year-old niece after assuming care of the little girl and five siblings was sentenced Wednesday to 7-1/2 years for manslaughter.

In October, the 27-year-old pleaded guilty and admitted to assaulting the girl and failing to seek medical care in the three days that followed.

Though the case highlighted problems in the provincial child welfare system and a family history of abuse, in the end Associate Chief Justice John Rooke decided the woman in the prisoner’s box was ultimately to blame.

“Whatever the circumstances, this offender had the final choice here,” Rooke said in his decision, which took three hours to read. “Responsibility rests on this offender, not on the support system. The buck has to stop somewhere and it has to stop with this offender.”

After receiving double credit for time already served, the woman has two years left on her sentence. She was also sentenced to three years probation.

The woman can’t be identified because she and the children were involved with Alberta Children and Youth Services.

The government placed the six children, all under the age of seven, in their aunt’s west-end home in August 2008 because their parents, the accused’s brother and sister-in-law, were drug addicts. Such placements are known as kinship care and differ from full foster care.

On Jan. 13, 2009, the aunt’s common-law husband called 911. When paramedics arrived, they found the girl dead. Her head, legs, arms and face were severely bruised, two of her ribs were fractured and she had serious head injuries.

The woman admitted she had assaulted the girl three days earlier, but had never contacted any professional help despite the child’s deteriorating condition. The girl became sicker, fell into a coma and died in a diaper on her bedroom floor.

Upon hearing his sister’s sentence, the child’s father kicked open the courtroom door and stormed out.

“That’s nothing,” he angrily said in the hall outside.

Before the sentencing began, the woman’s supporters were allowed to conduct a smudge ceremony inside the courtroom, a rare occurrence. Nine people, including the accused and her lawyer, Lisa Trach, family members and an elder from the Edmonton Remand Centre held hands as the smell of burnt sweetgrass filled the room.

“That young girl has paid the price for what happened and we ask that she rest easy at your side,” the elder said.

The woman smiled after the prayer, the only moment in her long court process she has not appeared solemn or miserable.

The scene was in stark contrast to her last court appearance, when the woman sadly apologized to family members for the death of her niece, though none of her family were present.

Rooke made a particular point to say that his decision would not judge the child welfare system. Though the woman did not have “the optimum of supports,” it was a mitigating factor and not a main consideration, he said.

Trach had argued for weeks that the system failed her client. “She was young and untrained, what parenting skills could she possibly have? She didn’t get very much support at all.”

Rooke concluded the child had been beaten with “tremendous” force.

“After the beating she was allowed to languish without serious care for some time,” he said.

The judge found it especially aggravating that the victim was so young and under the care of a family member.

Prosecutor Mark Huyser-Wierenga said the Crown will consider an appeal of the sentence after a closer look at Rooke’s decision.

Over the past weeks, two different pictures of the family home were presented to the court — one of an overburdened but well-meaning woman who tried to keep family members out of a foster home, the other of a woman who made a selfish decision that caused a child’s death.

“She couldn’t handle it and this was the result,” Rooke concluded.

Outside court, the woman’s mother said the family will never be the same.

“To my son, it’s just not fair,” she said. “I love my daughter, but I was a phone call away. She should have called me.”

The five remaining children are now staying with their grandmother.

A provincial fatality inquiry has been called into the child’s death, but has not yet been scheduled.

Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Woman+killed+four+year+niece+jailed+years/6441121/story.html#ixzz1svJvrAqH