How Could You? Hall of Shame-Canada- foster carer adult son 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 Saskatoon, Canada, ” a 17-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted by her foster parents’  adult adopted son wept and sighed during a second day of vigorous  cross-examination by the defence.

The complainant was 14 years old between Jan. 18 and April 15, 2009, when her  23-year-old foster brother touched her sexually on at least one occasion and had  intercourse with her at least twice, she testified this week in Saskatoon Court  of Queen’s Bench.

The assaults are alleged to have occurred in the basement rumpus room at a  Saskatoon-area acreage and in a trailer on the property.

The foster parents had custody of seven children and, with the help of paid  assistants, provided short-term emergency care for varying numbers of other  children, court heard.

A publication ban protects the identity of the girl, who underwent seven  hours of detailed and sometimes confusing questioning by defence lawyer Kevin  Liesler over two days.

After hours of questioning, she showed difficulty deciphering the timelines  of details of the assaults as they were put to her repeatedly and she made  inconsistent statements.

A calendar, on which she had noted dates of the alleged assaults, was entered  as an exhibit.

Court heard social workers removed the girl from the home in April 2009 and  placed her in a “safe house.”

In a video-recorded statement to the RCMP the next day, the girl apparently  expected to return soon to the only home she had ever known, as she referred to  her plans to be with her family that coming weekend.

She said that she hadn’t disclosed the incidents to her foster mother out of  fear that she would kick the accused out of the house and the girl didn’t want  the person she considered to be her brother, to lose his home.

“I just want it to stop,” she said in the statement.

But it was the girl who lost her home and the adults she called mom and dad.  She has never returned to live with the family.

The girl said the man has ruined her life. The accused did not testify, but  his girlfriend testified for the defence and provided possible alibis.

The 29-year-old produced an appointment book in which she had circled all the  dates from December 2008 to mid-April 2009 when she said she and the accused had  spent nights together.

Court heard she showed the book to the defence lawyer after the 2010  preliminary hearing when the complainant’s calendar was examined.”

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update: “A 23-year-old man who sexually assaulted his 14-year-old foster sister will  wait until Dec. 6 to learn his sentence.

Justice Allison Rothery said evidence from the accused’s girlfriend was “simply untrue,” and did not cast any doubt upon the evidence of the  complainant, now 17, whose story was “unmoved” despite “extensive and lengthy” cross-examination.

The girl testified at trial last month that the man, who she considered her  brother, touched her and raped her in the basement of the house where they lived  on a Saskatoon-area acreage and in a trailer on the property.

When the girl disclosed the abuse to authorities, she was removed from the  home and the family with whom she had lived since she was a toddler.

In an interview Monday, the girl, whose identity is protected by a  publication ban, said the assaults, the changes in her circumstances and stress  over the court process contributed to a downward spiral that included running  away from foster homes and using alcohol and drugs.

“I’m happy (the court process is) finally over with. It’s been going on too  long. In that time it really screwed up my life,” she said.

“Now I’m going to change it around because it’s all over with. I’m going to  go to treatment, start school.

“As soon as I got moved away from the (family) and came to the city, that’s  when everything started happening, all the drugs and all the alcohol use. It  (was) just so I can forget everything.”

The girl said she used any drugs offered to her, from marijuana to cocaine  and was hooked on crack for a year.

After repeatedly running away from foster homes, she lived for a time with  her biological grandmother, but that relationship failed and she now lives with  a friend she considers a sister.

“It’s not a foster family. It’s just, I call family. It’s a street family,” she said.

The girl is now pregnant and looking to the future. She hopes to re-establish  relationships with her younger siblings, who remain in the home where she was  abused. [Disgusting!]

The former foster brother is in custody, but the girl still worries about her  siblings and is fiercely protective of them.

“It makes me all sick that my (siblings) are still in that home,” she  said.

She is satisfied with the man’s conviction.

“It’s good for me. I can move on. I won’t look back,” she said.”

 

Man guilty of sexual assault upon foster sister

[The Star Phoenix 11/5/12 by Betty Ann Adam]