How Could You? Hall of Shame-Canada-Ashton Carifelle case-Child Death

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 Alberta, Canada, Ashton Carifelle, 4, “died in hospital in February of 2008 from dehydration.”

“Carifelle said his foster family neglected to take him to a doctor after he had been sick for 12 days.

“The foster family said, ‘we knew he was sick but didn’t know he was that severe,’ when he got his fever that’s when they decided to take him into hospital,” explained Carifelle. “But common sense tells most people that if a kid has diarrhea for more than 3 days, take him in, get some electrolytes into that child. But they didn’t do that.”

Ashton had been taken by child services when he was just nine-months old.

He was born prematurely and had several medical issues including a crooked spine and other problems that his mother said were never disclosed or properly diagnosed.

After he suffered a severe seizure at nine-months old, social workers showed up at the hospital and told Carifelle they were taking him away, and “accused” her of putting her son’s life in danger.

“They said I was an endangerment to my child. I wasn’t allowed to see Ashton anymore,” she said.

Having grown up in foster care on the Peavine Metis settlement in northern Alberta, she was already very familiar with the system.

Carifelle said she endured abuse by her foster father and that she was regularly raped by him until she became pregnant with his child at age 19.

She finally had her foster father charged and after a lengthy court battle he was sentenced to a year and-a-half in jail.

But she said her friends and foster family turned against her and instead took the side of her foster father.

Carifelle said that her life was threatened on many occasions.  She was taken in to protective custody by the RCMP, but was then taken to Edmonton, dropped off and left to fend for herself.

“I went from the country to the big city with no money, no nothing. I had to get street smart right quick,” she said.

For a time she was a sex-trade worker to support herself, took drugs and lived on the streets. And when her first child Terron, now 19, was born he was taken into care at just a few months old.

Two years later she was pregnant again, but by that time was able to get back on her feet. She said she wanted a fresh start, she wanted to be a good mother. But child welfare soon stepped in and took her new son away, she said.

“They (child welfare) ruined my life. They accused me of being a heroin addict, a crack addict, an alcoholic. I was none of them. It’s the old residential school, it has not changed whatsoever, I’ve lived it for 38 years now. Aboriginal children are being railroaded into the system,” said Carifelle.

She said that countless times she did what was asked of her to gain access to her children. Carifelle said she completed course after course, got a stable place to live, but it was never good enough.

Carifelle said her two oldest sons went back and forth between foster homes and they began to see her less and less. She said her sons also experienced abuse in care, a never ending cycle that she felt helpless to break.

By the time Ashton was born she had had two still births and a daughter, now 15, in between.

Carifelle hadn’t seen him for three years when she got a phone call that Ashton was about to die. She clearly remembers the day she got the call.

“I screamed… Ashton’s dad almost lost his license because we drove so fast to get to the hospital,” she said.

Upon arriving Carifelle said they were told they only had five minutes to say goodbye to their son.

“Because the foster parents said they didn’t want me there with him. I said, ‘I don’t give a flying fuck what the foster parents want! This is my child I’m going to spend as much time as I can with him,” she said.

Carifelle said she was also informed that she wasn’t allowed access to physically touch Ashton on his death bed. When she refused and reached out to touch her son she was escorted away by security.

To this day Carifelle said she is still searching for answers. And she even struggles to believe that her son really died.

“To this day I still question if that was my kid. The child I saw in the hospital was my son Ashton, but afterward the child I saw didn’t look like him…” she said as her voice trailed-off before breaking down again.

Carifelle said she had flashbacks to her childhood and began fearing for her own life. She also became paranoid over rumours government agencies were targeting and stealing children.

Her foster father died last Spring, but those ghosts of the abuse he put her through still haunt her.

Back in 2003 Carifelle was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I’ve heard of a lot of cases where they take the kids from families, then move them and then tell the parents they’re dead so they’ll quit fighting for them. To this day I still haven’t received a death certificate or anything stating that he’s actually passed away,” she said.

Carifelle was given Ashton’s ashes that she carries with in an urn held by a box filled with various mementos of his short life on earth.

She said she believes that if the foster family would’ve taken Ashton to hospital sooner, he may still be alive. For years afterward she was too scared to speak out about what happened because of fears of retaliation by social workers to her other children in care.

“But now I’m tired about hearing about all these little babies getting hurt by the system and nobody’s saying anything. I myself seen and witnessed children getting abused inside the system and told them and nothing was done,” said Carifelle.

Now she’s seeking reparation. Carifelle said she previously consulted a lawyer that didn’t work out. But she said she wants to fight for justice for her son and to prevent the same from happening to others.

“They say that abuse is a cycle? Well, guess what, it’s the government that’s being doing it to the native people,” said Carifelle.

Last year the Alberta Government lifted a publication ban of names and photos of children who’ve died in care in order to allow families the option of sharing their grief publicly.

Two years ago, a joint investigation by the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald highlighted gaps in children in care death investigations and frustrations over parents prohibited from speaking publicly.

The newspaper series also revealed that 145 children have died in care since 1999 and that the province utilized privacy laws to stifle the numbers.

With an already high number of Aboriginal children in care, the investigation uncovered that while only nine per cent of Alberta children are Indigenous they accounted for 78 per cent of children who have died in foster care since 1999.”

Indigenous mother seeks justice for 4-year-old son who died in Alberta foster care system [Aptn 11/6/15 by Brandi Morin]

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