CBC News - the fifth estate - Judge Andree Ruffo
Andree Ruffo graduated at the top of her law school class and established one of the first practices to specialize in representing children. She seemed the ideal choice to be named to the Quebec youth court. When she was appointed, in 1986, Judge Andree Ruffo was one of the youngest, and one of very few female, judges at the time.
But Ruffo spoke often, and very publicly, about the flaws she saw in the youth protection services system. In her court, she refused to issue judgments that fit the resources rather than the child.
Throughout her career, Ruffo has criticised flaws in the youth protection services system in Quebec.
Her determination to act on her conscience, and to speak her mind during her twenty years as a judge, set her on a collision course with the judiciary and with the social service bureaucracy.
Social workers and even her boss, the Chief Justice of Quebec, complained about her to the judges' disciplinary group, the Quebec Judicial Council. In total, hundreds of complaints were filed against the outspoken judge – though none of those came from children, their families, or the lawyers representing them.
Numerous complaints against Judge Ruffo led the Judicial Council to determine, in 2004, that she was unfit to sit as a judge.
Throughout those years, the Quebec Human Rights Commission, was investigating agencies of the Youth Protection Service. In one case, they found an agency to be so seriously dysfunctional that the Commission advised the province to step in. In another they found children locked in empty cells, sometimes for days. Both agencies were in Ruffo's jurisdiction and had made complaints against Judge Ruffo.
Like Ruffo, the Commission concluded the entire youth protection system was in need of an urgent major overhaul. The province has now started committee hearings on reform.
But being right hasn't helped Judge Ruffo. In 2004, the Judicial Council determined that her behaviour and her refusal to change, rendered her unfit to sit on the bench as a judge. The Court of Appeal of Quebec dismissed Ruffo's appeal of that decision, effectively saying that a good cause does not justify improper judicial behaviour.
Ruffo has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to review her case.
Now Ruffo has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to consider her case. If the highest justices in the land agree to hear her case, she may play a role in changing the law on judges' freedom of speech. If they decline, Andree Ruffo will be a judge no longer.
While she waits for their decision, Andree Ruffo keeps busy working for children. She is a founding member of the group 'Magiciens Sans Frontieres' which travels to orphanages and refugee camps performing free for children.
Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Saturday, March 26, 2011
"CHILD HUNTING" A NEW CLASSIFICATION of CPS CHILD ABUSE CRIMES DISCOVERED
"CHILD HUNTING" A NEW CLASSIFICATION of CPS CHILD ABUSE CRIMES DISCOVERED
by Cess Ssec on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 2:50am
Nicolas Stathopoulos and Felicita Luna both social service crime researchers for SSEC have discovered a new type of crime that canvasses children in schools for Child Protection Services.
A correlation between organized crime, social workers, teachers and other mandated workers were discovered to be colluding together for the purpose of canvassing children for CPS.
SSEC (research) has dubbed this type of crime "CHILD HUNTING" and the persons who participate in the crime "CHILD HUNTERS"
CHILD HUNTERS collude together in groups of 2 or more in compartmentalized or de-compartmentalized settings, for the purpose of securing massive quotas of children from schools for Child Protection Services.
The result is profit for all participants involved.
2011 Campaign to expose corrupt Child Protection Services
Child Protection Services
Report CPS and Save a Child's Life
Psychopsema - How Malicious Social Workers use this system to attack parents and steal children.
Psychopsema - How Malicious Social Workers use this system to attack parents and steal children.
by Cess Ssec on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 8:07am
Angela-May Worthington
Senior Staff writer
SSEC - Social Service Economic Crime (research)
March 5, 2011
Psychopsema [psy•cho-pse-ma] is mainly categorized as an orchestrated assault, utilizing several methods of fraud, psychological operations, psychological intimidation and other similar premeditated offense based systems against a parent or a family. A malicious social worker or other malicious social service professionals usually employed by a Child Protection Service (CPS) agency or a similar social service agency are the perpetrators of the act.
Psychopsema is mainly utilized to deflect attention from crimes committed by said workers against children, as those children are canvased, for the purpose of profit. “Child Protection Service” agencies throughout, North America, the UK, Australia and other European countries are the benefactors of the act.
The term or description was originally created by Canadian and American social service crime researcher experts Nicolas Stathopoulos and Felicita Luna on February 2011, to assist former and present victims, police, prosecutors and other authorities identify previously unknown key strategic systems.
Both researchers are part of [SSEC] Social Service Economic Crimes.
SSEC is a research group dedicated to analytical study of social service crimes throughout North America.
by Cess Ssec on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 8:07am
Angela-May Worthington
Senior Staff writer
SSEC - Social Service Economic Crime (research)
March 5, 2011
Psychopsema [psy•cho-pse-ma] is mainly categorized as an orchestrated assault, utilizing several methods of fraud, psychological operations, psychological intimidation and other similar premeditated offense based systems against a parent or a family. A malicious social worker or other malicious social service professionals usually employed by a Child Protection Service (CPS) agency or a similar social service agency are the perpetrators of the act.
Psychopsema is mainly utilized to deflect attention from crimes committed by said workers against children, as those children are canvased, for the purpose of profit. “Child Protection Service” agencies throughout, North America, the UK, Australia and other European countries are the benefactors of the act.
The term or description was originally created by Canadian and American social service crime researcher experts Nicolas Stathopoulos and Felicita Luna on February 2011, to assist former and present victims, police, prosecutors and other authorities identify previously unknown key strategic systems.
Both researchers are part of [SSEC] Social Service Economic Crimes.
SSEC is a research group dedicated to analytical study of social service crimes throughout North America.
Private child welfare agency under fire
Private child welfare agency under fire - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com
After the most scandalous child death in a decade, chinks are beginning to show in the armor of the state’s largest private provider of child welfare services, Our Kids
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/25/2133051/private-child-welfare-agency-under.html#ixzz1HklqZ7JW
After the most scandalous child death in a decade, chinks are beginning to show in the armor of the state’s largest private provider of child welfare services, Our Kids
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/25/2133051/private-child-welfare-agency-under.html#ixzz1HklqZ7JW
Foster parent of suicide victim speaks out
Foster parent of suicide victim speaks out » News » The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA
MANDATA — A foster parent of a teenage girl who committed suicide on Feb. 16 after being cyberbullied spoke out passionately Thursday night about the need for parents to communicate with their children because “just doing that could help prevent the kind of tragedy that befell my daughter, Britney Tongel.”
I'm sure being stuck in Foster care didn't help!
MANDATA — A foster parent of a teenage girl who committed suicide on Feb. 16 after being cyberbullied spoke out passionately Thursday night about the need for parents to communicate with their children because “just doing that could help prevent the kind of tragedy that befell my daughter, Britney Tongel.”
I'm sure being stuck in Foster care didn't help!
DA: NYC abuse case goes beyond job incompetence
DA: NYC abuse case goes beyond job incompetence | The Associated Press | News | San Francisco Examiner
Three years before 4-year-old Marchella Pierce was found starved, beaten and drugged, the city's own investigators said child-welfare workers had failed to protect the vulnerable.
New York City's child-welfare agency had overseen 11 cases in less than a year in which a child died after workers reported the child was living in a safe, clean home. In all but one, the 2007 investigation charged, the Administration for Children's Services did inadequate or incomplete work. The inquiry prompted major reforms, but no caseworkers were held criminally responsible.
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2011/03/da-nyc-abuse-case-goes-beyond-job-incompetence#ixzz1Hkk8Q9C2
Three years before 4-year-old Marchella Pierce was found starved, beaten and drugged, the city's own investigators said child-welfare workers had failed to protect the vulnerable.
New York City's child-welfare agency had overseen 11 cases in less than a year in which a child died after workers reported the child was living in a safe, clean home. In all but one, the 2007 investigation charged, the Administration for Children's Services did inadequate or incomplete work. The inquiry prompted major reforms, but no caseworkers were held criminally responsible.
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2011/03/da-nyc-abuse-case-goes-beyond-job-incompetence#ixzz1Hkk8Q9C2
Foster mom gets 14 years in toddler death
Foster mom gets 14 years in toddler death - SignOnSanDiego.com
BY KRISTINA DAVIS
FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2011 AT 1:02 P.M.
NANCEE E. LEWIS
Linda Coleman is arraigned in July 2007 in connection with the death of toddler Malachi Roberts-McBride.
PHOTO BY NELVIN C. CEPEDA
Mourners hold photos of Malachi Roberts-McBride at his funeral in July 2007, just days before he would have turned 2 years old.
PHOTO BY NELVIN C. CEPEDA
Family members bury Malachi Roberts-McBride following a funeral.
SAN DIEGO — A longtime San Diego foster mother was sentenced to 14 years in prison Friday for the abuse she inflicted on a toddler who died in 2007 before he could reach his second birthday.
Linda Faye Coleman, 51, pleaded guilty in January to child abuse, along with two special-circumstance allegations of inflicting great bodily harm and willfully causing injury and harm to a child resulting in death.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles G. Rogers also ordered Coleman to pay more than $8,600 in restitution to the county to cover the burial expenses for Malachi Roberts-McBride, who died from blunt-force trauma on June 29, 2007.
Malachi’s mother, Keisha Roberts, who was a 15-year-old foster child herself when she became pregnant, did not attend the hearing Friday. But she told a probation officer recently that she felt cheated by the sentence agreed to in the plea deal.
“How do you kill someone’s kid and have the possibility of getting out (of jail)?” she told the officer, according to court documents.
Roberts, who is about to give birth to her second son, has filed a lawsuit against Coleman and San Diego County in the death.
The judge said in court Friday that he was struck by the starkly divergent views of Coleman when comparing the facts of the case to statements from Coleman’s supporters, who paint her as a trustworthy and loving caretaker.
Friend Robin Simon, who was among the supporters crowded into the courtroom, told the judge that she had “peace of mind” when she allowed Coleman to watch her two grandchildren each day.
“Linda is one of the most caring, conscientious, hardworking people I know,” she said. “She had a special gift of love she pours into every child.”
Court documents released Friday reveal the troubled start to Malachi’s life and the circumstances leading up to his tragic end.
Roberts was 16 when she gave birth, and she was able to stay in school and live with him at her foster home. The baby suffered from asthma, hernias and was slightly delayed in development. He underwent surgery for a heart defect.
As she neared 18, the thought of being turned out on her own as a single mother with adult responsibilities scared her, and she ran away, leaving Malachi behind.
He was then sent to live with Coleman in San Diego’s Mountain View neighborhood.
Coleman, who was caring for her two grandchildren and another foster child, was thought to be a good fit. Another child with similar health problems had thrived under her care.
On June 27, 2007, Coleman called 911 reporting Malachi was seizing. She told authorities he had a spoon in his mouth, and when she took it out, he had trouble breathing. A small amount of blood was found in his mouth, and he was unresponsive to loud noises or gestures, according to records.
At the hospital, doctors found retinal hemorrhages and bruising all over his body, including on his ears, face, foot and torso. Marks on his legs and buttocks were in the shape of a spoon. Doctors also concluded that internal bleeding had shifted his brain, and he was put on life support.
He died two days later. The Medical Examiner’s Office found 29 different angles of injury to the head.
Coleman was arrested July 3 and denied harming the child, saying he often fell.
The death devastated Roberts, who by that time was being housed at the county’s children’s home. She turned to drugs to numb the pain and guilt, and the addiction led to arrests.
“I lost everything because of this,” she recently told a probation officer.
kristina.davis@uniontrib.com • (619) 542-4591 • Twitter @kristinadavis
BY KRISTINA DAVIS
FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2011 AT 1:02 P.M.
NANCEE E. LEWIS
Linda Coleman is arraigned in July 2007 in connection with the death of toddler Malachi Roberts-McBride.
PHOTO BY NELVIN C. CEPEDA
Mourners hold photos of Malachi Roberts-McBride at his funeral in July 2007, just days before he would have turned 2 years old.
PHOTO BY NELVIN C. CEPEDA
Family members bury Malachi Roberts-McBride following a funeral.
SAN DIEGO — A longtime San Diego foster mother was sentenced to 14 years in prison Friday for the abuse she inflicted on a toddler who died in 2007 before he could reach his second birthday.
Linda Faye Coleman, 51, pleaded guilty in January to child abuse, along with two special-circumstance allegations of inflicting great bodily harm and willfully causing injury and harm to a child resulting in death.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles G. Rogers also ordered Coleman to pay more than $8,600 in restitution to the county to cover the burial expenses for Malachi Roberts-McBride, who died from blunt-force trauma on June 29, 2007.
Malachi’s mother, Keisha Roberts, who was a 15-year-old foster child herself when she became pregnant, did not attend the hearing Friday. But she told a probation officer recently that she felt cheated by the sentence agreed to in the plea deal.
“How do you kill someone’s kid and have the possibility of getting out (of jail)?” she told the officer, according to court documents.
Roberts, who is about to give birth to her second son, has filed a lawsuit against Coleman and San Diego County in the death.
The judge said in court Friday that he was struck by the starkly divergent views of Coleman when comparing the facts of the case to statements from Coleman’s supporters, who paint her as a trustworthy and loving caretaker.
Friend Robin Simon, who was among the supporters crowded into the courtroom, told the judge that she had “peace of mind” when she allowed Coleman to watch her two grandchildren each day.
“Linda is one of the most caring, conscientious, hardworking people I know,” she said. “She had a special gift of love she pours into every child.”
Court documents released Friday reveal the troubled start to Malachi’s life and the circumstances leading up to his tragic end.
Roberts was 16 when she gave birth, and she was able to stay in school and live with him at her foster home. The baby suffered from asthma, hernias and was slightly delayed in development. He underwent surgery for a heart defect.
As she neared 18, the thought of being turned out on her own as a single mother with adult responsibilities scared her, and she ran away, leaving Malachi behind.
He was then sent to live with Coleman in San Diego’s Mountain View neighborhood.
Coleman, who was caring for her two grandchildren and another foster child, was thought to be a good fit. Another child with similar health problems had thrived under her care.
On June 27, 2007, Coleman called 911 reporting Malachi was seizing. She told authorities he had a spoon in his mouth, and when she took it out, he had trouble breathing. A small amount of blood was found in his mouth, and he was unresponsive to loud noises or gestures, according to records.
At the hospital, doctors found retinal hemorrhages and bruising all over his body, including on his ears, face, foot and torso. Marks on his legs and buttocks were in the shape of a spoon. Doctors also concluded that internal bleeding had shifted his brain, and he was put on life support.
He died two days later. The Medical Examiner’s Office found 29 different angles of injury to the head.
Coleman was arrested July 3 and denied harming the child, saying he often fell.
The death devastated Roberts, who by that time was being housed at the county’s children’s home. She turned to drugs to numb the pain and guilt, and the addiction led to arrests.
“I lost everything because of this,” she recently told a probation officer.
kristina.davis@uniontrib.com • (619) 542-4591 • Twitter @kristinadavis
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)