Lawsuit: Alberta’s Director of Child Services UPDATED
From Edmonton, Canada, former foster child Steven Morin describes the sexual abuse in his foster home.
“Seated at the band office in his home of Enoch Cree Nation, Steven Morin shuts his eyes as he describes the sensory triggers for his childhood PTSD — the sight of showers or the smell of Head & Shoulders can bring him back to the moments when his foster mother’s boyfriend molested him.
But the most vivid memory from Morin’s childhood is the day he was taken from home at four years old.
He recalls the day with striking detail, despite his age at the time. He remembers the pattern of the wooden panels in the station wagon that took him from home, the bright orange sky stretching above him, the tears rolling down his mother’s cheeks as she hugged him goodbye.
“The whole sky was orange,” Morin recalls. “It was such a beautiful summer, for such a sh—y day.”
There are other memories still deeply ingrained in Morin’s psyche from his time as a ward of Alberta’s child intervention system — a system he says failed him and left him vulnerable to five years of violence, emotional abuse and sexual assault.
“I’d sit there praying that I wouldn’t get this harm done to me. But it never worked,” Morin says while shaking his head. “It was tons of pain, man. But there was nothing I could do, though. I was just a little kid. A child without a childhood.”
Morin has filed an $11-million lawsuit against Alberta’s Director of Child Services — the legal entity responsible for children in government care. In the statement of claim filed Thursday, Morin and his lawyer Robert P. Lee allege Alberta Child Intervention — a department within the Ministry of Child Services — failed in its duty to monitor the foster home Morin was living in and screen all occupants to ensure the children were safe.
Morin’s story is one of thousands that social workers, lawyers and child advocates hear on a regular basis, Lee said.
“I have been arguing for the last 20 years on behalf of my clients that when the courts put children into the care of Alberta (Child Intervention) that they are too frequently putting those children at severe risk,” Lee said.
Speaking generally about issues within the province’s child intervention system, the Alberta government said they are aware of the system’s failings and are committed to working with First Nations and Métis partners to improve outcomes for Indigenous children in government care.
Morin’s allegations have not been proven in court. A judge will hear the case on Sept. 10.
Morin was born to a single mother on Enoch Cree Nation, the third oldest of four siblings. His family has experienced five generations of government interference; his mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great-great grandmother were all involved in either the foster-care or residential-school systems.
His early childhood was turbulent; his biological mother had her own trauma from her time in the foster-care system. She became overwhelmed by child rearing when he was four and decided it was best if Morin lived under government care. He was taken and placed in a foster home in Edmonton, where he says he suffered extensive abuse.
Starting in or around 1998, Morin alleges, he was sexually abused by his foster mother’s boyfriend, John Edward Beaver, from age five to nine. He says he was also forced to engage in sexual acts with his siblings and that Beaver threatened to kill him if he told anyone.
Court documents show Beaver was facing three counts of sexual assault against a minor and two counts of possession of child pornography in 1999. All of the charges were withdrawn except one count of child pornography; Beaver pleaded guilty and was convicted. He served six months in jail.
Despite the conviction, court records show Beaver moved back into the home shortly after his release. The molestation continued, Morin said. He was seven years old.
Morin said he felt alone, helpless and lived in constant fear of being abused. He didn’t tell anyone of the molestation because he didn’t have anyone he trusted.
“I really had no one so I couldn’t tell no one. I felt like I was a Ken doll; they can do whatever they want to me … If I say something, I know it won’t make a difference. Because the government is who my parents are now. And there’s nothing I can do, because if I say something they’ll just put me in another home and it’ll happen again.”
At age nine, Morin was placed in a group home after cornering a babysitter in the home with scissors. Lee says this was a desperate cry for help.
When he was moved, it was the first time Morin felt free from the abuse.
“I felt really happy, a lot of relief to get out of that home,” he says. “I just felt comfort. Something I’ve never felt before.”
At age 12, he told a group home worker about the abuse. He was forwarded to Edmonton’s Zebra Child Protection Centre, where he gave a statement, which was given to Edmonton police.
Beaver was charged with 13 counts of sexual assault against a minor in 2007, including three charges naming Morin. He died before he could go to trial.
Lee says the fact that a convicted sex offender was allowed to live with minors while in a position of trust illustrates how poorly co-ordinated Alberta’s child intervention system was at that time. He says Child Intervention was negligent in investigating Beaver and considering the risk he posed to children.
In a bail hearing after Beaver was charged with numerous counts of sexual assault against a minor, a lawyer said Morin’s foster mother would leave Beaver as the sole adult responsible for the children on a regular basis.
“It is incomprehensible how a person criminally charged with child-sexual-abuse allegations and with a conviction of possessing child pornography could be allowed anywhere near foster children,” he said.
Morin said he saw his social workers just two to four times a year, when a “major event” happened. He didn’t have a close relationship with his primary social worker, so he didn’t feel safe disclosing details of the abuse.
To this day he doesn’t understand how Beaver was allowed back in the house after his conviction, or if child services even knew.
“They failed me,” Morin says. “They didn’t do their visits properly. This guy never had a criminal record check. They apparently never knew he was living with her.”
He says he struggled to access counselling and therapy as a teenager. He ended up with numerous addictions, which he has overcome. Today he still grapples with emotional, psychological and physical scars from his childhood and is seeing a therapist for a childhood PTSD diagnosis.
“You don’t move on,” Morin says. “You just move forward.”
Morin’s allegations are echoed in the life of Serenity, a four-year-old girl whose death in government care in 2014 prompted a review of the system.
In a report on Serenity’s death, Alberta’s child and youth advocate Del Graff reported that she died of a brain injury, which her guardians blamed on a fall. Media reports later found evidence of sexual abuse and that her injuries were inconsistent with a fall. ”
[The Star 8/26/19 by Omar Mosleh]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: “And the man who lived with his foster mother, John Edward Beaver, should never have been anywhere close to children he said.
“This man came back into our home, and when he came back into our home, he continued to abuse us,” said Morin. “But not only did he continue to abuse us, the abuse towards me severely accelerated.
“In the most horrendous disgusting ways you can think of.”
Beaver had a conviction of possession of child pornography, and sentenced to six months in prison in 1999.”
Former foster child who suffered sex abuse while in care suing Alberta for $11M
[APTN News 9/4/19 by Chris Stewart]
Kids almost always do better left at home. As one kid said…Governmwnt is the worst parent you could ever have!!!