Are you listening, Minister MacFarlane?

No one — not the overworked, understaffed social workers trying to cope with messes they didn’t make in a bureaucracy they can’t control, not the family court lawyers and judges tasked with enforcing the unreasonable, not the family and children’s advocates trying to change the unchanging, and certainly not the parents and children trapped inside […]

Child protection: Catch-22 all over again. Again and again… Part 2

The case of the “Minister of Community Services v J.C,” says Emma Halpern of the Elizabeth Fry Society, “shows all the gaps in our child protection supports and services.” There are a lot of them. Read Part 1 of this article here. PART 2 As of September 8th, I have had two one-hour supervised visits […]

Child protection: Catch-22 all over again. Again and again… Part 1

J.C. spent most of her growing up years “in the care of the minister.” They weren’t easy years, and she barely survived. She wanted better for her son, and she did everything authorities asked of her, and more. So why did Nova Scotia’s child welfare decide to take her child anyway? And what does what […]