How Could You? Hall of Shame-Canada-Alex Gervais 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 British Columbia, Canada, “An 18-year-old in the care of B.C.’s child welfare system fell to his death last week from a fourth-floor window at an Abbotsford hotel, where he had been living for at least a month after the province shut down his group home, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
Both the B.C. Coroner’s Service and the Representative for Children and Youth are investigating the death of the young man, whom the Ministry of Children and Family Development placed in the hotel instead of with a foster family or group home, sources have told The Sun.
None of those agencies would release the teen’s name, but The Sun has learned he was Alex Gervais. A family member and a friend have posted messages of condolence on Facebook.
There was a national outcry over placing foster kids in hotels after the 2014 death of Tina Fontaine, 15, who was murdered after she disappeared from the Winnipeg hotel where she was lodged by Manitoba’s child welfare system. That province has since phased out using hotels as overflow housing for older foster kids.
“I want to know why he was living in that hotel when he was a child in care and should have been living in a family setting. … And what relationship did his living in that hotel have to his mental health and his well-being?” children’s representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond said Tuesday.
“No parent in B.C. would place their child in a hotel to be raised. … That cannot be a care system. That is not appropriate.”
The coroner’s service confirmed that an 18-year-old man fell from the window of his fourth-floor room at the Super 8 hotel in Abbotsford last Friday at 9 a.m., said spokesperson Barb McLintock. The death is being investigated as possibly being suicide, and the coroner is waiting for test results to determine if the teenager had been using drugs or alcohol.
Abbotsford police do not suspect foul play. “We did investigate, but after consulting with the coroner it was ultimately determined the death was not suspicious and no one else was in the room prior to the tragic event,” said Const. Ian MacDonald.
Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux said in a statement she was “deeply concerned” by the case but would not answer specific questions, citing privacy concerns and it being “a police matter.”
Starting in 2014, she said, ministry staff had to get high-level permission to place foster kids in hotels, and the provincial director of child welfare monitors such arrangements. The director is not aware of any other children in hotels, Cadieux added.
“It is the ministry’s stated policy and practice to place children and youth in care in foster homes and residential resources that match their needs and minimize the possibility of further moves. Hotels are — and should only be — used in rare occurrences and as briefly as possible in between or prior to other more appropriate placements,” her statement said.
The young man who died in Abbotsford was one of 33 teens living in group homes run by an agency whose contract was cancelled by the province earlier this year because of health and safety concerns raised by Turpel-Lafond and others. The representative said she sought a guarantee from the ministry when the group homes were closed that those kids would not be moved to hotels.
“I am personally devastated by this because I certainly was assured that no youth would be living in a hotel, and I was assured of this by senior people in the ministry,” she said. “This was a young person left in a hotel, in a fair amount of crisis who had been through a lot in recent times, was unsure about his future, and may very well have taken his own life.”
At age 19, B.C. youth lose foster care support. If they do not get significant guidance to prepare for independent living before that birthday, they face major struggles in their early adult years, statistics show.
In December, Turpel-Lafond called for change in this province after revealing B.C. foster children who need emergency or specialized placements are occasionally put in hotels when residential options are not available. She criticized the practice as “costly and non-therapeutic.”
Her report, called Who Cares? B.C. Children with Complex Medical, Psychological and Developmental Needs and their Families Deserve Better, recommended all hotel placements of B.C. foster children should lead to an automatic public audit of the length of stay and the reason for it, and a review of the child’s long-term care plan.
In response to the report at the time of its release, Cadieux issued a statement that did not directly address the issue of placing foster youth in hotel rooms. But it said: “we will certainly take the representative’s views into consideration as we proceed to improve residential placements for children and youth with complex needs. And I can assure the representative that we will continue to implement improvements as quickly as resources and budgets allow.”
Management at the Super 8 in Abbotsford would not comment on this story.”
B.C. teen in provincial care dies in fall from hotel window[Vancouver Sun 9/23/15 by Lori Culbert]
“A B.C. teenager who recently died while in the care of the province had formerly been living in a group home run by an agency whose contract was terminated by the province due to serious concerns about its standard of care.
Alex Gervais, 18, was living in a Super 8 hotel in Abbotsford, mostly alone, when he either jumped or fell from the fourth-floor window.
Prior to living in the hotel, Gervais had been a resident for seven years of one of 23 group homes run by Community Vision. The agency has been working with B.C.’s Ministry of Children and Family development for 15 years, providing a “safe, secure and comfortable home-like setting,” according to its website.
All 23 group homes run by Community Vision were shut down in June, affecting 33 children and teens in the province’s care — including 18-year-old Alex Gervais.
Drugs, sex and porn on premises
The province’s representative for children and youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, alleges that staff at some of those group homes were engaging in inappropriate behaviour.
“The kids were calling and talking to me about inappropriate physical discipline, caregivers using substances, caregivers viewing pornography,” said Turpel-Lafond on CBC Radio One’s B.C. Almanac on Thursday.
“Some had possession of child pornography. There were some weapons issues.”
The accusations were outlined in a Turpel-Lafond’s December 2014 report, Who Cares?, although the agency was not named.
In addition to those concerns, Turpel-Lafond said there were serious health issues.
“There were also mouldy homes that were condemned by the local municipality, but the kids were forced to live in them,” she said. “So there were some pretty Dickensian things coming forward.”
Agency and ministry respond
In a written statement, Community Vision told CBC that none of the concerns raised by Turpel-Lafond occurred in any of its homes.
It said the contracts were terminated without cause after a ministry review.
B.C.’s Minister of Children and Family Development, Stephanie Cadieux, said the ministry launched an investigation into Community Vision earlier this year, during which some of its caregivers were suspended.
The ministry terminated its contract with Community Vision after its review. Cadieux said the province had lost confidence in Community Vision’s ability to provide a safe and acceptable standard of care for children.
CBC host Andrew Chang demands answers
B.C. opposition leader John Horgan said it was Cadieux who ultimately failed Alex Gervais by placing him in an Abbotsford hotel.
“I don’t know how many swings at the plate you get,” he said. “We need to stop defending the ministry and start defending children.”
The ministry is reviewing how Gervais ended up in a hotel instead of in better care.”
Agency running Alex Gervais’s former group home subject of serious allegations [CBC 9/25/15]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: “The death of 18-year-old Alex Gervais has triggered a rare joint review by the B.C. government and its independent child watchdog that will look into how many children in the province’s care wind up staying in hotels for days or weeks at a time.
That review – which is already under way – will likely find that the use of hotels as stop-gap placements is more widespread than previously understood and not necessarily restricted to any one agency, said Child and Youth Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.
“The fact that there is a single placement of a youth in a hotel is a concern,” Ms. Turpel-Lafond said on Monday. “But the fact that there are multiple usages of hotels – in some instances not authorized – requires an urgent response and correction.”
Mr. Gervais was in government care when he fell from the window of a hotel in Abbotsford, southeast of Vancouver, in September. Minister of Children and Family Development Stephanie Cadieux has said he had been placed there against provincial government policy, which requires senior ministry staff to be notified of hotel placements. Mr. Gervais was also placed in a hotel, despite assurances given to Ms. Turpel-Lafond preceding his death that no children would be placed in hotels as a result of 23 group homes in the region being closed. Mr. Gervais had been one of 33 youths living in those homes before they were closed earlier this year. His death thrust the question of hotel placements – which Ms. Turpel-Lafond had flagged as a serious concern in a May report on the death of another child in care – further into the spotlight.
Hotel placements for children who have been removed from their family home have been a concern in other provinces.
Manitoba announced it would phase out hotel placements following the death of Tina Fontaine, an aboriginal girl who had been placed in a Winnipeg hotel before she was killed in August, 2014.
In British Columbia, however, hotels were not on the public’s radar. In response to a query from The Globe and Mail in October, 2014, the ministry said hotels were “only used when a suitable placement for the child is not immediately available” – and that such stays were so rare, and so brief in duration, that they were “not statistically significant.”
In the days following Mr. Gervais’s death, however, the province said there had been a couple of dozen hotel placements over the preceding year. There are more than 8,000 children in care in the provincial child welfare system.
Ms. Cadieux was not available for an interview Monday.
The joint report is expected to be available to the public by the end of the year. The B.C. Coroners Service is also conducting an investigation of its own.
The outcry over Mr. Gervais’s death also resulted in tension between the province and First Nations child-care agencies. Mr. Gervais had been in the care of Fraser Valley Aboriginal Children and Family Services Society, one of more than 20 First Nations agencies delegated by the province to provide child-care services.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark spoke of “consequences” that would result from Mr. Gervais’s death, which raised concerns that the native agency was being scapegoated. The Sto:Lo Tribal Council, which has a long-standing relationship with the Fraser Valley agency, called for Ms. Turpel-Lafond to investigate his death, saying the provincial review was tainted.
On Monday, Ms. Turpel-Lafond said the province has also agreed to cut short its review into Mr. Gervais’s death to enable a broader review by her office.
“I think that is also a recognition by the ministry that there are cases, like that of Mr. Gervais, where a fulsome independent public review needs to be conducted for the purposes of public accountability.””
B.C. reviewing use of hotels to house foster kids after teen’s death [The Globe and Mail 11/9/15 by The Canadian Press]
Update 2:“Newly released government documents say drugs and weapons were issues at a former private group home where an 18-year-old British Columbia teen lived before his death.
Alex Gervais fell from an Abbotsford hotel window last September, and his death prompted a review by the government and BC’s representative for children and youth into the placement of foster children in hotels.
Gervais was sent to live in the hotel after the Ministry of Children and Family Development shut down several group homes operated by private care provider, A Community Vision for Children and Families.
Documents obtained through a freedom-of-information request indicate BC’s director of child welfare received allegations last January of caregivers using drugs and possessing weapons, which resulted in four people losing their jobs.
The company says in a statement that it has a 20-year history of successfully housing B.C.’s most difficult youth. It says the ministry put its interest in terminating contracts with the private-care provider ahead of the needs of the vulnerable children.
The company says one of those vulnerable people was Gervais, who had been living in the company’s care for seven years but died of a suspected suicide just weeks after being moved from the group home.”
Drugs, Weapons at BC Group home where teen lived before death: Documents [New 1130 12/8/15 by The Canadian Press]
Update 3:“The family of 18-year-old Alex Decarie-Gervais, who fell or jumped from of a hotel window September 18 while in government care, says an internal review into his death is tainted because the officials they blame for his death are investigating themselves.
“It’s a conflict of interest,” said Line Decarie, who wrote the province a letter complaining that officials at the Ministry of Children and Family Development should not be reviewing their own actions.
“I think we should be looking back at the decisions of why they closed the homes … you can’t have someone investigating their own decisions, you need someone from the outside,” said Decarie who hopes the provincial government agrees to fund an independent inquiry into the deaths of several teens in care.
Decarie says, after speaking with her nephew’s caregivers and friends, she is convinced the ministry made a hasty mistake when it closed Gervais’s group home in July, leaving the teen without a home and placing him in a Super 8 motel in Abbotsford where he languished, living alone for nearly three months.
Family questions closure of group home
It was one of 23 homes run by A Community Vision, closed by the Director of Child Welfare after problems were found at some of the homes, but not Gervais’s.
“I was told he was doing excellent in his group home, the structure, he was well fed, it was where he needed to be at that point … why did they move a child who has issues … and put them up in a hotel room?” asked Decarie in an interview from Ottawa.
Ministry response
The Ministry of Children and Family Development confirmed that the director of child welfare has launched a case review into Alex Gervais’s death that must be completed by May.
It did not, however, respond to concerns about conflict of interest raised by people close to Gervais.
The province has said it closed all 23 group homes out of concern for the safety of the children and that none of the care plans included hotels.
Two former foster brothers who lived with Gervais and two former caregivers confirm to CBC News there were no complaints at the group home and it was never investigated.
“We provided Alex with a structured, caring atmosphere,” wrote Jordan Smit Fougere who worked weekends at the specialized home for teens with complex issues.
“Alex would refer to me as his foster mother and I cared for him very much.”
Moving Gervais to motel ‘beyond inhumane’
“I know without a doubt the choice to move Alex into a hotel room alone led to his demise. His very life depended on consistent support, care and guidance.”
“How an individual with Alex’s needs ends up in a hotel room alone is beyond inhumane,” said Fougere.
Stephan Fromowand DallasRanville lived with Gervais at the same group home and say he was doing well before the move to a hotel.
They say he was a funny, social boy who hated being alone.
Days before his death, Gervais complained of not having any food and of social workers ignoring him, in text messages to a friend.
“I tell the social workers to help me and they do nothing …. I’m not doing very good,” texted Gervais, nine days before his death.
Child advocate also raises questions
“An internal review is going to be far from adequate and I want to commence that fulsome investigation immediately,” said B.C. children’s watchdog Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, who has asked the legislative finance committee for $1.7 million to investigate Gervais’s death and the deaths of three other teens in care.
A decision is expected in the February provincial budget.
She also wants to investigate why proper placements for the teens were not in place before the group homes were closed.
“They had to close some of those and I appreciated that they needed to but what was the plan for the young people?” she said.
“I was assured that no young people be in a hotel and we need to investigate how that happened.”
Grand Chief Doug Kelly of the First Nations Health Council is doubtful the province will fund an independent investigation, especially after a consultant’s report released Monday recommended the province phase out the child representative’s investigative powers.
“Do you see Christy Clark and Mike De Jong making more money available to the representative to carry on with the investigations into the deaths of four children? I don’t think so. This is a cover-up of major proportions and the public has to speak up.”
Review of Alex Gervais’s death tainted, family says [CBC 12/17/15 by Natalie Clancy]
Update 4:”A teenager whose death forced the B.C. government to re-examine its policy of placing vulnerable foster youth in hotel rooms intentionally jumped out of his fourth-floor hotel room window, according to a coroner’s report released today.
Alex Gervais, 18, was placed in the Abbotsford Super 8 Hotel last year after his group home was closed by the government earlier in the year. Gervais lived in the hotel for an extended period of time, which is against ministry policies.
The report by coroner Adele Lambert said Gervais, who was “very sensitive and fearful of rejection”, came into government care at a young age and faced challenges related to his “behaviour, mental health, substance use and unstable living environment.”
In January 2013, Gervais threatened to commit suicide, but an assessment concluded he was of “zero risk” to do so.
When his group home closed in July 2015, workers decided residential treatment or independent living were not appropriate for Gervais. Unable to find another place for him to live, Gervais was put in the hotel and assigned a case worker, but “was unhappy about his living arrangements”, Lambert wrote.
Gervais, who was about to lose his government foster care support when he turned 19, had “a very pessimistic outlook about his life”, the report says. Gervais was using drugs and frequently threatened to commit suicide when arguing with his girlfriend.
On the day of his death, Sept. 18, he was to have another meeting with case workers to discuss a different housing option. He was angry and distraught that morning and told his girlfriend over the phone that he was going to commit suicide. Police concluded he broke the hotel room window from the inside and jumped.
The Ministry for Children and Family Development is conducting a major review of this case. The coroner’s only recommendation was for Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.’s representative for children and youth, to also investigate the case to avoid similar deaths in the future.
Immediately following Gervais’ death, the ministry said it only had one or two foster youths living in hotels, instead of foster homes or group homes.
Then, a startling new report issued this past January revealed that 117 kids with links to the foster care system had been placed in hotels between November 2014 and October 2015.
Children’s Minister Stephanie Cadieux said at the time she was unhappy with the report’s findings. “In a perfect world, hotels would never be used.”
The January report was jointly released by Cadieux and Turpel-Lafond, marking the first time the two officials (who are often at odds with each other) had worked together to produce facts and solutions that both sides could support.
The ministry’s “expectation”, the earlier report said, is that care workers would provide constant supervision for children during hotel stays, which were to be used only for short-term emergencies, as well as provide opportunities to participate in recreational activities. Gervais did not appear to have been given constant supervision or access to activities.
Both women said in January that they want the use of hotels eliminated, but Turpel-Lafond believes that will require “a significant effort” to improve resources in B.C.
Turpel-Lafond vowed to track the government’s progress and to release a second report later this year on the negative impact that hotel stays have on foster children, noting Gervais lived in hotel rooms for more than 100 days while in care.
Hotel stays for foster children became national news in 2014 when a Manitoba foster girl died after running away from the hotel where she had been staying.
NDP critic Doug Donaldson said it took Manitoba just seven months to have beds in place when that province vowed to stop using hotel rooms for foster kids. He blamed B.C.’s children’s ministry for moving too slow in making change here.
He also questioned whether there was a detailed transition plan to help the nervous teen adjust to life outside foster care, and noted as well that there was no new money in this year’s budget to help youth like Gervais with mental health challenges.
“When I see the flatline budget for youth mental health services in the budget, that is a concern for me,” Donaldson said.”
B.C. coroner’s report rules death of troubled foster youth was suicide [Vancover Sun 5/10/16 by Lori Culbert]
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