SAD CAS STORY

Another sad CAS story from Cambridge

Dear ------

          I'd like to thank you for your time. My story is a very sad one and I would like to share it with you as I have nobody to hear and help me except God.

My name is Maybelle and I am a nurse who was born in the Philippines and live in Cambridge Ontario with my husband was born in Egypt and he is a pharmacist holding a good position. We decided to come to Canada  looking for a better future for our kids. So we came to Canada . It is not easy for us to be adapted for the new life but he struggled in order to get his license as a pharmacist. He succeeded after almost 3 years of painstaking procedure.  Finally, we moved to Cambridge in early 2000 as he started a new job in Shoppers Drug Mart as a full time pharmacist.

We bought a brand new big house with 3 bedrooms and finished basement.  We chose a corner lot as it has a bigger lawn area for our kids to play and also on a crescent so that there is not much traffic and it is safer for our kids to enjoy. I became pregnant with Marianna (8 months old now) and my doctor told me that it is going to be C-section as my first son (Ayryk -4 years old) was born by C-section outside of Canada.  We live alone in Canada and nobody will take care of my son while I am in the hospital and after going back to the house from the hospital. Ayman (my husband) called his mother for help.  Although she is working in Egypt, she can not speak English well, she has never flown, and on top of that she has a heart condition (angina), she answered our request with happiness and came over from Egypt to help us out before, during and after delivery, God bless her. We were very happy because of our beautiful Marianna. She is a very happy baby she does not cry at all only when she is hungry. She sleeps all night and she wakes up smiling as if she is saying good morning. We were a perfect family.

          I applied for maternity benefits but I was not eligible as I did not satisfy 600 labor hours (was only 500) My husband said "it's okay. Don't worry about it, just stay at home and take care of our kids and I'll work. My mother in law decided to go back home after 2.5 months as she has work. We decided to baptize Marianna on Sept 23,2001 and there was a big baptismal party for her, many friends and neighbors came to congratulate her and us. They played with her and many people handled her as she is a lovely, sweet, and cute baby.

          On Sept 30, 2001 around 5:15 PM Marianna was dropped from Ayman accidentally as he was carrying her, Ayman was trying to close the window curtains while Ayryk pulled his arm while jumping and about to fall. Marianna was dropped on the mattress. Marianna cried but did not show any abnormal signs afterwards.

          On October 1, 2001 I went to work after urgent call from work asked me to cover this shift. I went to work I left Ayman with both my kids (this was not the first time to leave my husband with the kids as I was taking driving lessons many times before this) Ayman put Marianna to sleep after he fed her and tried to sleep and also my son, but my son refused to sleep and he requested to watch the TV downstairs.  Ayman could not let him alone downstairs as we have a gas stove and there is a possibility for Ayryk to play with it.  So, Ayman took the baby monitor and went down to stay with Ayryk while he was laying down he fell asleep and woke up on Marianna's crying he ran upstairs she stopped crying and she showed some stiffness and she was unresponsive.  He ran downstairs to the couple (friends) who stay in the basement and they said it is OK Marianna seemed to be fine, babies are like that when they cry for long time they hold their breathe. Ayman did not inform me about what happened when he picked me up from work as I was tired and I easily get worried about my kids. but he advised me to book an appointment with Marianna's doctor to make sure she is fine. The earliest appointment was on Friday Oct 5, 2001. I took Marianna to her doctor and the doctor said Marianna is fine she has no problems and she ordered blood test for her. I called the hospital and booked an appointment for her blood test on the next day Oct 6, 2001.

          On Oct5, 2001 My husband finished work at 9:00 PM and we took our dinner. Marianna and Ayryk slept down stairs, while we transferring them to the bedrooms upstairs Marianna woke up and started crying hard till she stopped and she was stiff, her eye rolled back, it was a seizure we were terrified and my husband called 911, while talking to the attendant she came back and was fine (the seizure lasted for 1-2 minutes) we went to hospital on Sat. Oct 6, 2001 at 12:30 AM

          We stayed overnight hoping that she will be released next morning. We also asked the doctor to make sure that there is no epileptic focus in the brain.  They did a blood test and CAT scan.  The results were a disaster for us, there was a bleeding in the brain which was diagnosed as Bi-lateral and subdural haematoma.  They sent us to the London health and science center.  

On the next day, Sun Oct7, 2001 at around 11:00 AM an ophthalmologist came to check her eyes, he said her eye is fine and there was no retinal hemorrhage (after 5 days another ophthalmologist said there was a retinal hemorrhage) They did all kinds of tests and examinations. MRI, X-ray for every bone in her body, they did not find any broken bones, then they did bone scan in which they injected a radio active agent (phosphate)  ( it is not recommended for babies and extreme caution should be taken to use this kind of agents in infants).  The bone scan was clear which means there was neither beating nor aggressive pressure was applied on her body.  After many blood samples from her head and legs, they diagnosed her injury as a "shaken baby syndrome"

The most important thing is that Marianna had recovered from this injury and it won't leave any significant complications.  After 14 days in the hospital a social worker from the children aid society came and talk to us.  We told her about our story as exactly as listed above.  She asked us some question about my husband work and how many hours he was working? He told her that he works 40 hours as a full time pharmacist,  9 hours every Wednesday, and 12 hrs on Saturday (only one Saturday a month).  That means he works average of 52 hours / week-(Later on She said that he was working 62 hrs a week which made him tired  and as a result he shake the baby).  The social worker left as she would come again to see us next morning on Wednesday Oct 17,2001 at 10:00 AM to meet with us.  We told her that my husband had work at 1:00 PM in Cambridge.  She came with a guy from CAS Cambridge at 12:30 PM. after my husband had left and they took my daughter without warning.  They said that they had a warrant.  I was alone and my husband was at work. I was terrified and shocked and did not know what to do, I called my husband informing him, and he went crazy. They placed my baby with a foster parent and they offer me to come with her (social worker) in her car.  So I and my son went from London hospital going to Cambridge with Jenny [not her real name] in her car ( London CAS Social worker). I asked her to go to my house first as my husband was waiting for us at home.  She refused and she drove directly to the CAS Cambridge (I knew later that they were planning to kidnap my son as well). Once we entered the office they took my son without warning and without warrant, I met my husband at the CAS office where they told us that they will take the children due to Marianna's unexplained injury.  They did not want to listen to any reason or rational my husband told them we did not do that to our child and we are neither on drugs nor alcoholics.  We are adults (over 30 years) not teenagers.  We have neither family problems nor financial problems.  My husband is a caring father and loves his children he even does not smoke. We have an older son who is quite healthy. We are well educated.  Both of use are health professionals.  My husband is a pharmacist and he is holding a good position and I am as a nurse was working in the pediatric ward in the Philippines. We know about shaken baby syndrome and how dangerous it is and the complications that could happen due to it.  So who wishes to look after a disabled child?  Who is going to suffer?!!!  Both parent of course.  The social worker said he is going by the book.  My husband told him that "please use your professional judgment and discretion. Ask about us, investigate, do something before making any disruptive decisions to our family. He said that it won't change anything and we are going to take your kids.  And they took our son from us at this moment.  My husband said to him "please do not take our kids".  He said that this won't change anything after that my husband collapsed and they called 911 for him.  He was hyperventilated and later became fine, they told use that we will meet with the police officer on the next morning, we said fine we would stay here and wait for the police because we can not enter the house without the kids, they told us that they were going to close the office and no one can stay inside, we said that "well we will wait outside the office till tomorrow" they told us that it is against the law to do that.  After that my husband was able to drive home (Later on, they took his "emotional reaction" and used it against us as they said that his reaction was like that because my husband feels guilty). We were crying like crazy, we could not believe what had just happened and we did not know what to do as we asked them what we have to do, they said it is up to us.  And they said also we will meet with the police on the next day.  My husband asked should we hire a lawyer they said it is up to him. That was our black Wednesday Oct 17,2001 at 4:00 PM. My husband entered inside the home to make phone calls asking for help.  I could not enter the house without my kids. and I preferred to stay inside our car overnight rather than enter the house without our kids and I stayed in the car all night long.

This is only half of our sad story, sadness continued till this moment. Please pray for us. The rest of this interesting case (as they called it) is coming because many things had happened to us within the last couple of months, some are good and some are very bad.


My name is Ayman and I will continue the story that my wife started.

          On the black Wednesday Oct 17,2001 I started to call everybody that I know asking for help as they told me that we would meet with the police on the next day (Thursday Oct 18,2001) it was about 6:00 PM and there is no way to find a lawyer in order to represent us with the police officer.  But I called all my friends who referred me to other friends. I spoke with the father of our Catholic church who referred me to a lawyer who referred me to another lawyer who works with the family law.  Anyway I could not find a lawyer who can come with us on the next day. (you can imagine how much stress we were under) On the next day (Thursday) the intake worker called us and postponed the appointment with the police till the next day (Friday) that gave us not enough time to look for a lawyer. He said if you are not guilty you do not need a lawyer. I told him in fact, I believe that innocent people need lawyers more than guilty people. I used many resources to find a lawyer I used Lawyer Referral System it did not work, I used the phone book and I left messages for everybody to call us back, no body did until 5:00 PM Thursday Oct 18, 2001. I called one lawyer who agreed to meet with us right before she was gone home. On Friday Oct 19 the lawyer postponed the appointment with the police officer. The CAS informed us that there will be a court within 5 days of apprehension which would be Monday Oct 21,2001. they dropped off the court papers On Friday Oct 19, 2001 at 9:00 PM.  That means I have to be prepared with some affidavits and to meet with the lawyer and arrange everything with her during the weekend which is impossible. On top of that, they set up two different cases for two different children (my son and my daughter) in two different courts (Kitchener court (for my son) and London court for my daughter), that means I have to be present in two different courts that located in two different towns at the same time (at 10:00 AM) which is practically impossible, so that I would not be able to make it and the judge would say the kids would stay under the care of the CAS. (They know what they are doing in order to easily get the children from their parents. They have the experience, the power and the funds.)

          After two days of apprehension we went to see our sweetheart son and daughter on Friday Oct 19,2001 at or about 10:00 AM we were so emotional when we saw our kids and the intake worker talked to us in front of the observer (Jean) and the foster parents and he took off my son's pants and brief half way down and pointed to a blue spot at his lower back and he said this looks like beating and he insisted even though we told him that no it is not.  This is called Mongolian spot found in some races. He forgot that he is talking to a Pharmacist and a Nurse. He did not stop bugging us after he uncovered our son's butt in front of people until we show him the same spot on Marianna's ( my daughter) lower back. (I consider this as a sexual assault)

          I called my mother back home asking her to pray for me as I had an exam regarding my license ( I could not inform her the truth as she has a heart condition "angina pectoris" and diabetic on top of that, she can not do anything but praying for us which helped us). Later on the intake worker said in his affidavit that I could not tell my mother about what happened because I feel guilty.  Can you imagine how they twist every action and every word to be taken against parents. They have "the power" to control our kids, and our actions toward them. Their biggest "concern" will be that you obey their "regulations." Not whether or not you abuse the kids. not just money, but power; the power to take over the role of parents, without having to take the responsibility for the consequences. Is this the way they make money.  Is this the way they feed their kids from that money?  From destroying families!! and where does this money come from? From taxpayers like me!!  That is really weird .

         

At 6:00 AM. on Monday morning we went to my lawyer's office and we did about 12 affidavits (from 6 AM to 10 AM) by friends came over from Toronto and Mississauga, neighbors, coworkers (a pharmacist and a pharmacy technician), nuns from our church, myself and my wife.  The nun went with us to the court room and waited till 5:30 PM. When we entered the judge and CAS were astonished because the strong and big community support, even the judge asked the CAS lawyer if it is okay that all of those people will attend.  The lawyer said it is okay as long as there are enough seats.

The judge returned my son at the 1st hearing that day (after 5 days of apprehension).  But my sick, injured, sweet baby has to wait until her file be transferred from London to Kitchener court according to my lawyer's request.

My son was returned home by the case intake worker who said that Ayryk (my son) had not gone to the washroom for these 5 days and was not eating.  We have noticed that as once he entered home, he went to the fridge and asked us for food right in front of the social worker.

          On November 5, 2001 we went to the court in Kitchener for the 1st hearing for Marianna’s case, everybody came over to support us including people from the church, nuns and friends.  People who know us and interact with us and they know that it is impossible for us to harm our child by any means.  The judge said that he is going to go through all documents and affidavits and he was going to fax his decision within couple of days.  But he did not and we were so worry about our daughter condition as she was staying with a foster parent.

I was calling my lawyer twice a day asking her about the judge decision she said that she had not received any, and she was angry already because I kept bothering her. She said as soon as she received the court decision, she would call me.

          On Nov. 13, 2001 Marianna went with the foster parent to London hospital for follow up. At about 4:30 PM we found a message on the answering machine that the intake worker left at 3:30 PM stating that “this message for Ayman or Maybelle, this is the  John [not his real name] from CAS, please call me back as soon as possible , this is in regards to Marianna.”   When we retrieved this message, I called this Social worker back.  Unfortunately the agency was already closed. We went like crazy as we thought that there was a problem with Marianna's health especially since we knew that she was in the hospital that day.  I gapped the phone book and using the internet I could not find this guy's name in order to call him back at home.  I called all the listed phone numbers that for his last name, and again it was in vain. We decided to drive to London hospital looking for Marianna. We tried one more number (the CAS emergency number) the operator did not want to help us.  It was almost 8:00 PM and we insisted and we told her that we were going to drive all the way to London to find out what happened to our daughter.  After this she called the social worker and told him the story.  He could not call us back but all he said "tell them that Marianna would be returned the next day."

          We were so happy for this news, On the next day, before going to CAS office I bought a nice cake for CAS staff in order to tell them thank you, and I bought a very nice Christmas gift for the foster parent just to say thank you for taking care of Marianna during this time.

          Unfortunately, the intake worker took it personally as he does not want us to be happy for long time.  He said "Marianna may be apprehended again."

On the same day, he asked me to talk to him personally. I said it's OK.  We went to a separate room.  He approached me and tried to discuss the shaken baby allegations and what happened.  Although I had been previously advised by my lawyer not to discuss these matters with him, I had no problems discussing these matters with this social worker as I do not have anything to hide as I did not harm the baby.

He told me that sometimes good people do bad things, it does not mean that they are bad.  Still they are good.  Something like that could happen due to anger, frustration or being tired.

I told Mr. intake worker (John [not his real name]) that I did not think that we fit the profile of someone who would shake the baby as we have no mental health issues, I have no substance abuse issues and I have no difficulty coping.  We are over 30 years old and live together. We have neither financial problems nor family problems. On top of that, Marianna is such an easy baby to parent as she only cries when she is hungry you can ask her foster parent about this.  Also as a pharmacist and a nurse we appreciate that it would be very dangerous to shake a baby and we would not want to cause such harm to my own child as I realize that a baby could become a disabled child as a result of shaking and I would not choose to raise a disabled child.

He said, Ayman I know that you did it but you did not intend to do it. I told him I did not do it, I did not intend to do it, and I have never done this.

Then he asked "do what" I told him the one you just said, shake the baby.

That time I saw the dirty look in his eyes and I realized that I may have said something wrong.  Then I  told him that I was advised by my lawyer not to talk to you but I have nothing to hide that's why I am talking to you now.  After that he let us go with Marianna.  I informed my lawyer about this conversation.

My English is a second language and if he played word game, of course I will be the loser as he was born here in Canada.

Nov 14,2001 @ around 11:00 am was the only time he talk to me since apprehension (was Oct 17,2001).  Although we went to CAS office twice a week for the whole month.

There was another court date on Nov 21, 2001, I can not remember why. But we were surprised after a phone call from my lawyer at around 6 PM on Nov 20, 2001 (a day before the court date) telling me that the social worker applied for another apprehension for both of my kids on the next day court date based on my confession.

          I could not believe it, this guy took it personally, for some reason he wanted to give us a hard time. He should respect our cultural background and recognize that we are unfamiliar with the Canadian system. 

Two different judges had reasonable grounds to return our kids back to us and he does not want us to be happy for more than a week after returning my daughter. He would  use any situation, would do just about anything to gain control over our children and "take the patents out of the loop." I believe  his very funding depends upon how many children he can take away from parents, for however short a time they can accomplish it. The longer, the better. And if he can take them away permanently, so much the better. He gets (at this time) $?,000 for each child they can "terminate" from the parents and put up for adoption.

 

 

My lawyer advised me to come in the early morning to her office on the next day (the court day) in order to give her another affidavit explaining what happened.  The application for apprehension was served and reached my lawyer on Nov 20, 2001 after 5 PM. so that we would be in a rush in order to limit our ability to respond.

          I went to her office on the next day early morning and she showed me a very astonishing document shows that this intake social worker had received the court order (from Nov 5,2001 court date) by fax on Nov 7,2001 and it was hand written order by the Judge himself. i.e. the endorsement of Mr. Justice Brophy was faxed to Cambridge CAS on Nov 7, 2001.  I was advised by my lawyer and believe it to be true that no one faxed a copy of the decision to her.  I contacted my lawyer twice a day up until Nov 13,2001 when Marianna was returned to our care (on Nov14, 2001) to inquire as to whether she had received the decision.  I was advised by my lawyer that she called the Ontario Court of Justice in Kitchener where the motion had been heard to inquire about the decision had been received or not but received no response.

          What had happened was that the intake worker kept Marianna in CAS care until Nov 14,2001 because he was unable to read the endorsement of Mr. Justice Brophy according to his affidavit. He did not decide to return Marianna until he met with the CAS counsel who told him that the Judge decision required him to return our baby immediately. It is not clear from the intake worker affidavit if he took any steps to clarify the illegible hand written endorsement.  It appears to me that since he could not read the endorsement(which is very clear to me as I could read it although my English is not as good as his) he simply ignored it and essentially kept our baby unlawfully for 7 days away from her parents who were on fire as their daughter is sick and needs their care each day for us was like a year i.e. he kept our daughter away from us for 7 years. I was advised by my lawyer that at no time did John [not his real name] or anyone from the agency even notify my lawyer that they had received an endorsement. No explanation was offered to anyone for the delay in returning the child.  I was advised by my lawyer that she did not even know there had been a significant delay in returning my baby until she received a copy of the endorsement and the application for apprehension together on Nov 20,2001 (1 day before the court date)

          I am very concerned about the affidavit and behavior of the intake worker: he has complete control of the situation.  It is his ward against mine and I disagree with his allegations.  As there was no independent party present and the interview was not taped I have no independent proof that he is misrepresenting the contents of our interview. There is no indication that this social worker has reported these allegations to the police for clarification as would be appropriate.

          Before entering the court room in Cambridge, my lawyer told me " unfortunately this judge is always with CAS side.”   She was right:  What happened inside the court room was grave injustice.  She asked the CAS instead of apprehension is it not enough that the father will stay away from his home? They answered yes, that would be fine. We mentioned the behavior of the intake worker in regards to the court order for returning my daughter that was received by fax on Nov 7, 2001 and he ignored it until Nov 14, 2001.  The judge said it is okay, it was the long weekend, and it is okay. I asked my lawyer to get a permission to speak to the judge she said okay.  I tried to explain what happened, and where I came from.  But the Judge refused to listen to me and she asked me to stop.  I told her "Please consider the whole family before taking you decision.  She ordered that the father won't stay alone at home with his kids.  It means that my wife can not go to work and leave kids with me, it means that I can not take my son to the dentist or to the doctor if he is sick unless my wife would accompany us.  This stupid situation will last until when? Nobody knows.

          On Wednesday November 28 in the morning, the intake worker and another social worker visited us at home (that was the 1st visit for the CAS social worker to our home, i.e. after 6 weeks of apprehension). The intake worker introduced the social worker to us and said that we have to sign an agreement that we will follow these procedures.

1- Maybelle and Ayman has to comply to the court order and Maybelle is responsible not to leave Ayman alone with the kids.

2- Maybelle and Ayman to attend individual or group counselling with respect to increasing their parenting knowledge as approved by the CAS.

3- Maybelle and ayman to attend individual or group counselling for anger mangement as approved by CAS

4- Maybelle and Ayman to meet with Family and Children's Services as requested by Family and Children's Servises

 

          I asked him were the parenting classes a court order he said yes. (later on we knew from our lawyer that this was not a court order.  (i.e. He lied).  I told him that you are asking two adults (over 30) , both are health professionals, having a 4 year old child  to go back to school for taking parental classes.

          I told him that those terms were not in the last court hearing. He said that it was from the 1st hearing (on October 22, 2001). I told him that you are telling me you are here to apply those terms and procedure which was ordered to protect my kids from us and you are applying this after more than a month.  You are telling me that you are protecting my kids and that is your first visit to our house more than a month ago.

          The new social worker looked at him and said "is this true". He said yes, because I was very busy, I have 20 families to deal with. I told him "well, if CAS does not have time to protect my children, it is better to leave my lovely kids for us to take care of.  He did not have any words so say and then he asked to leave.

The new social worker seemed to be nice and understanding.  She has experience and she gained our trust.  Although I have no trust to anybody now.

          The situation now is that both our kids are under our care.  With terms and conditions as listed above.  The new nice social worker is visiting us once every 2 weeks (on Wednesdays) and she is completely satisfied that the children are save under our care and we are a good loving parents, taking good care of our kids, following all medical appointments and instructions.  Our baby is gaining weight and she is absolutely healthy and growing up normally according to the doctor’s opinion.

          On Wednesday December 12, 2001 at 11:00 am, The new social worker said that John [not his real name] (the intake worker) is young and newly hired and did not have enough experience to handle those situations and to deal with different cultures and back grounds.

          On Wednesday January 2, 2002 at 11:00 AM, Kristina (the new social worker) was talking about the next settlement conference and what was going to happen in that kind of conferences.  She said no more apprehension and nobody will take your kids away from you.  And she thinks that everything is all right.

          We attended the parental classes according to our lawyer’s advice.  We found that our classmates are teenagers, single fathers, single mothers.  They were not serious and they think that they are going to those classes just for having fun.

          On Wednesday Jan 16, 2002 Kristina came at 10:00 AM and she said that in the settlement conference CAS would change the application from apprehension to just a supervision application and also drop the term which states that the father does not stay alone with the kids or at least make it apply to Marianna only not to Ayryk.  As she was confident that this term is very disruptive to our family life after she knew that we booked and appointment for my son Ayryk to go to the dentist,  I and Ayryk were about to go for his dental check up, but I could not take him after my wife reminded me of this term. (my wife does not drive)

          On the next visit, I was advised by Christina that she talked to CAS lawyer about changing the application for apprehension and terms.  The lawyer said NO, they can not do that. She felt sorry after I told here that it was very easy for John [not his real name] (the intake worker, who does not know us and had never come to see how we do live) to disturb a happy, lovely, and perfect family's life and convert it to crying, depression, sleepless nights, lose of work days and lawyers expenses.  However, it is very hard for you who know us well by now and sure that we are good family and there is no risk factors on our kids that apply to us as a good parents to change his actions and correct the damage that happened due to irresponsible and unprofessional behavior of that man. That is weird and corrupt!!!!!

          On Feb 15, 2002 was the settlement conference and actually it was postponed to March 19, 2002 as my lawyer could not attend. The Judge suggested that we may go for a trial as the CAS can not change their position asking for 6 month supervisory warship according to findings. Our position is that we did not harm the baby and we do not agree that our kids need protection but we may agree on a voluntary supervision bases.

          On Mach 8, 2002 Kristina came to visit us and she said that she feels sorry for us as we went though all of this and suggested that our lawyer may meet with their lawyer in our presence away from the court house and discuss how we can solve this problem. My lawyer refused to meet with their lawyer as she considered it waste of time and money if they won’t change their position.

          On March 21, We went to the second settlement conference, we was surprised and happy to hear that the CAS withdraw the case on the voluntary supervision agreement  bases which was signed in the court.

Dear Sir,

          I would appreciate if you can help me to reach my goals which are:

1- To stop Cambridge CAS from bothering us as a family especially for this unfounded case and the baby is absolutely fine.

2- To prevent this from happening again to another innocent couple or family

3- limit the power of those sick people who are disturbing families because they are power or money seekers.

4- CAS does not intervene aggressively by taking kids away from their parents before they have a very strong evidence for child abuse and it should not be a sick man or sick women decision.

5- CAS should hire highly qualified personnel for the intake worker positions who are registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Services Workers as the college’s job is to protect the public by ensuring that those workers possess qualifications and pass the quality assurance programs and investigating any complaint submitted to the college according the code of ethics for social work.

6- To place a complaint against John [not his real name] (the intake worker of CAS Cambridge) and Jenny [not her real name] (intake worker of CAS of London) as they are not registered  with the OCSESSW. (an official letter is attached)

Your assistance for the above matter is highly appreciated

Yours

Father                                                                    Mother

Ayman                                                                      Maybelle