Relatives offered to take baby-Sound Familiar?

Relatives offered to take baby
(But just like NH, relatives get passed over for stranger's. I guess Canada DCYF/CPS is just as corrupt as New Hampshire)

Girl died two months after she was put into foster care

BY BEN GELINAS AND TRISH AUDETTE, EDMONTON JOURNALMARCH 6, 2010


The family members of a 21-month-old girl who was killed this week while in foster care say relatives offered to take the child before the province stepped in.

"The family was told that it would be a short-term placement," one family member told The Journal. "A couple of other family members offered to take her."

The family member did not know why offers from relatives were turned down in favour of a Morinville-area foster home. The child was put into foster care around the end of January after being taken from her mother, who relatives say had a history of mental health problems. Her father was not a part of her life, the family member said.

"She was a healthy little girl," the family member said.

The girl's family was not made aware of the circumstances surrounding her placement. They say they weren't told where she was living or how many other children were living in the home.

The foster parent agency that placed the girl in the Morinville home declined to comment on the case.

The girl died at the Stollery Children's Hospital on Wednesday and RCMP are treating her death as a homicide based on findings by the medical examiner. RCMP are not saying how the girl died, and as of Friday afternoon no one had been charged.

Children and youth services spokesman Stuart Elson could not say Friday what the department's timeline is for finishing its internal investigation of the child's death.

Children Services Minister Yvonne Fritz said earlier this week she wanted her staff to launch a formal case review as soon as possible.

Elson could not confirm reports the child was in "respite" care at the time she suffered her injuries.

Alberta's respite care program allows foster parents to leave children with another set of foster parents; the substitute caretakers would be trained and vetted by the province.

Foster parents might access the program to take a break for example, or to take a vacation. There is no mandated limit for a child's stay in respite care.

While NDP and Liberal critics blasted the province in connection to the girl's death, former children's services minister Heather Forsyth simply called the incident "very tragic."

"The foster parents and the staff just do a tremendous job," she said Friday.

Forsyth was minister of children's services for two years in Ralph Klein's government. She currently sits as a Wildrose Alliance MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek.

"I think the province does a good job, period," Forsyth said. "The respite care program is to give parents a break when they feel they're at their wits end."

Earlier in the week, NDP Leader Brian Mason demanded the province launch a full public inquiry into the death, while Liberal MLA Harry Chase said the incident sheds light on the province's failure to support front-line workers.

bgelinas@thejournal.canwest.com taudette@thejournal. canwest.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Relatives+offered+take+baby/2647979/story.html