How Could You? Hall of Shame-Canada CAS /Malachi Ganteaume case-Child Death UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, after a premature boy was born to a couple with four young children who were living in temporary housing, Children’s Aid Society approached them for consent to place the child in foster care. “The family reluctantly agreed.

The baby was released from hospital into the care of foster parents on July 2, Haskett said. However, on July 4, the baby was brought to Health Sciences North, where he was pronounced dead.

His death is now under investigation by Greater Sudbury Police and the coroner’s office.

Haskett said his group is holding the rally partly in support of the baby’s family members, but he also wants the facts surrounding this case to be revealed.

“Even if the child died of natural causes, the death of a child is of concern to us,” he said. “We feel sorry for the family, and my condolences to them.

“Our group wants to make sure that if this wasn’t an accident, or if something could have been done differently, that there will be policy in the future to ensure it never happens again.

“Likewise, we want to make sure that if the foster family didn’t do anything wrong, that it’s known they didn’t do anything wrong.”

Dr. Craig Muir, the regional supervising coroner for the north region in Sudbury, said he couldn’t release very many details about the death, as it’s still under investigation. He said he expects he’ll release his findings in four to six months.

“You never want to be premature with facts and conclusions,” Muir said. “You can imagine the number of facts that need to be explored and validated. That’s part of the reason it takes as long as it takes.”

Colette Prevost, executive director of the Children’s Aid Society of the Districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin, also said she couldn’t say much about the case, as it’s being actively investigated by Greater Sudbury Police and the coroner’s office.

“We are just in the midst of gathering information and making sure we have all the details,” she said. “Essentially, in any active investigations, we wouldn’t be in the position to provide comment.”

Northern Life also contacted the baby’s parents. The baby’s father said he doesn’t want to discuss his son’s death publicly at this time.

He did say the family is currently seeking a lawyer, and they have a lot of questions about the baby’s death that still need to be answered.

The father also added that he’s unhappy about Muir’s statements to other local media outlets that the baby was not dead on arrival at the hospital. The family was told by doctors at the hospital that he was dead on arrival.

When speaking to Northern Life, Muir clarified his comments, saying that when someone is classified as being “dead on arrival,” the hospital didn’t make any efforts to resuscitate them.

In the baby’s case, the hospital tried to revive him.

“If any person arrives at a hospital and they’re not breathing and they don’t have a pulse, sometimes with resuscitation you can restore breathing or a pulse,” he said. “Efforts were made in that regard, but they were unsuccessful.”

A rally on July 11, 2012 “will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of  the provincial government building at 159 Cedar St. It was organized by the Ontario Coalition for Accountability, a group  fighting for the Ontario Ombudsman to oversee several types of provincial organizations, including children’s aid societies

Infant dies while in foster care

[Northern Life 7/10/12 by Heidi Ulrichsen]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 Nanny state takes another child. One commenter has a blog that is tracking abuse in Sudbury CAS’ system. See all of the reports at http://fixsudburycas.blogspot.com/

Update: The child’s name is revealed as Malachi Ganteaume. RIP.

“Marvin Ganteaume wants the impossible.

“We want the Children’s Aid Society to give back our son. That’s what we want. Our son back,” he said at a rally on Wednesday outside the provincial government building on Cedar Street.

Ganteaume’s son, Malachi was four-months-old when he died in early July, days after being placed in foster care.

The infant was born prematurely and weighed only one pound.

According to his father, Malachi was taken to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, where he stayed for about three months before transferring to Sudbury’s Health Sciences North.

“He had lung problems, brain problems and an eye problem,” Ganteaume said, adding that doctors said the infant was healthy enough to go back to Sudbury.

According to the father, it was around this time that the Children’s Aid Society of the District of Sudbury and Manitoulin contacted Leslie Beaudry, the child’s mother, who had four other children – two sets of twins – under the age of four.

The family had been living in Wikwemikong, but were forced to move to Sudbury, where they had trouble finding housing and were staying in a motel room. Beaudry hesitantly agreed to give her baby boy to a temporary foster family.

“We were informed that all of his medical needs would be met,” Ganteaume said.

The infant was released from hospital in early July and went to a foster family. On July 3, Malachi was taken to Sick Kids for an appointment, which the mother also attended.

“Mommy was concerned for his health and well being. She realized he wasn’t looking well,” Ganteaume said, adding that, around 6 a.m. the next day, the foster family called the hospital with concerns that the baby wasn’t eating. They were told that he was probably tired from the trip to Toronto, but ended up rushing the child to the hospital later in the day. Around noon, the infant’s parents were asked to come to the hospital. Around 3 p.m., they were told that he had died.

“Mommy and I were distraught. We started asking questions right away,” he said.

These questions fuelled Wednesday’s rally.

“We’re hoping to get justice. We want someone to be accountable for our child’s death,” Ganteaume said.

The infant’s death is now being investigated by the coroner’s office, which could take four to six months. The Greater Sudbury Police are helping the coroner in the investigation and the Children’s Aid Society are conducting an separate investigation.

Colette Prevost, executive director of the Manitoulin and Sudbury District CAS, said the agency can’t comment on the matter.

“The matter … is under investigation, so we’re not in a position to comment, but we’re aware of the rally,” Prevost said.

The rally, which attracted dozens of participants – many from First Nations communities – was partly organized by the Ontario Coalition for Accountability. The coalition is fighting to allow the Ontario Ombudsman to investigate children’s aid societies.

“Right now, (Ontario) is the only province in Canada that doesn’t allow our ombudsman to investigate Children’s aid Societies,” said Tabatha Haskett, of the coalition. “We’re here today in memory of a child that just recently died while in the care of the CAS.”

Like the family, Haskett has many questions.

“We want answers … we feel the family’s in limbo at this time, because we don’t have the coroner’s report. We don’t have any reports from anybody. We want them to get the closure they desperately need. They need to know what happened to their child,” she said.”

‘We want … our son back’

[The Sudbury Star 7/11/12 by Rita Poliakov]