Friday 30 May 2008

A 16 The Documents Speak For Themselves


The Documents Speak For Themselves
Chapter 16

He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it . . . . This falshood of tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions. - Letter to Peter Carr (August 19, 1785) - Thomas Jefferson


Imprinted along the top of the paper is the stamp proclaiming this document to be
"Exhibit 'A' " , an affidavit of the social worker that would become known to me as "Little Miss Liar". "Sworn before me", it continued, "this 19th day of May A.D. ____, and then signed by "___. ___. A Barrister of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.

This Barrister as it turned out was one of the lawyers for Children's Services, a wiry, stiff and steely, short-cropped red-head - or at least the faded hint of the red he once had when he was younger. His eyes were cold and blue, and I often watched him in the hallway before and after court, amazed that even there, outside of court, there was never any hint of defrost. His head was rigid, his back was hard. When I tried to penetrate this exterior to find even a hint of warmth, I found none. Instead, I sensed a heart that was frozen, and a mind that was numb, and whenever I looked at him, a chill ran through my soul. This was the product of a seared conscience, the walking dead, a heartless, mindless entity.

I was new at this - the routine of getting a copy of the latest update of the

PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY SERVICES
FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICES
DARTMOUTH DISTRICT OFFICE
CASE RECORDING REPORT


only a day or two before court. It was only the second installment but I was already well acquainted with it's inaccuracies and unclear, ambiguous statements. I was astounded that social workers should be allowed to write in such a fashion. I knew my university professors would not tolerate such nebulous writing. It was beyond me how this could be allowed in a profession where so much is at stake, the future of a child, and the need for clarity should be paramount?

I read through the numerous pages:

20__/03/16 ASSESSMENT OF RISKS . . .

20__/03/17 FOSTER PARENT CONSULTATION . . .
DROPPED OFF _______'S TOYS AND TAXI VOUCHERS FOR THE FOSTER MOTHER. ________ SMILED AND TOOK THE PUMPKIN TOY THAT HIS GRANDMOTHER HAD SENT FOR HIM . . .

(I had bought this stuffed pumpkin on a trip to Alberta, and, for some reason, my grandson had taken a particular liking to this fuzzy-faced veggie. Not yet granted access to my grandson and hoping this toy would form some kind of memory link between him and I, I slept with this pumpkin for several nights so that my scent would be captured in the plush. Through this, I hoped that he would smell his Grammie - that he would be able to know that I knew where he was, that I had not forgotten him and that I loved him still.)

20__/03/17 TELEPHONE CALL . . .
4:00 RECEIVED PHONE CALL FROM [GRANDMOTHER -me]. SHE ASKED WORKER WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH COURT NEXT WEEK. WORKER ASKED HOW SHE KNEW ABOUT IT. SHE ADVISED THAT SHE HAD CALLED THE FAMILY COURT ABOUT HER CUSTODY HEARING AND HAD BEEN ADVISED THERE IS A HEARING NEXT WEEK.

(while inquiring about my custody case, I had inadvertently been told that Children's Services was moving ahead with a case involving my grandson.)

WORKER ADVISED HER THAT SHE WOULD BE SERVED A NOTICE OF HEARING,

(I never did receive this !)

ADVISED THAT SHE SEEK LEGAL COUNSEL IN NOVA SCOTIA. SHE ADVISED THAT SHE COULD NOT AFFORD IT. WORKER ADVISED THAT SHE COULD APPLY TO BE MADE A PARTY TO THE PROCEEDING AND THE AGENCY WOULD MOST LIKELY NOT OPPOSE HER. ADVISED THAT (MOTHER OF CHILD) MAY OPPOSE HER BEING MADE A PARTY TO THE PROCEEDING.

(As you read what follows you will see that Children's Service's was determined that my daughter be present to oppose me)

[Granmother -me] ASKED WHEN SHE WOULD GET ACCESS WITH _______. ADVISED HER THAT IF SHE WERE MADE A PARTY ACCESS WOULD BE ARRANGED. SHE ADVISED THAT SHE IS OFF ON WEDNESDAY AND MONDAY MORNINGS.

20__/03/20 CASE AIDE/ACCESS WORKER REPORT

20__/03/21 ATTEMPTED CONTACT

2000/03/21 TELEPHONE CALL
4:30 [GRANDMOTHER -ME] HAD LEFT VOICE MAIL FOR WORKER TODAY REQUESTING ACCESS WITH [GRANDSON] AND FOR HER UNCLE TO ATTEND ACCESS AS WELL.

WORKER LEFT MESSAGE ON HER ANSWERING MACHINE ADVISING THAT IF SHE WAS APPROVED AS A PARTY ON THURSDAY THERE WOULD BE A VISIT FRIDAY 9:30-10:30 AM. ADVISED THAT THIS IS HER QUALITY TIME WITH [ GRANDSON ] AND IF [GRANDSON] DOES NOT KNOW THIS UNCLE THERE WOULD BE NO POINT VALUE (sic) FOR [MY GRANDSON] IN THE UNCLE ATTENDING ACCESS. . .

20__/03/21 ASSESSMENT OF RISK . . .

20__/03/22 SUBSTANTIATE INTAKE . . .

20__/03/23 WORKER/CLIENT CONTACT

10: 25 RECEIVED PHONE CALL FROM [MOTHER OF _______]. SHE ADVISED THAT SHE DOES NOT WANT TO ATTEND COURT TODAY AND SHE IS NOT GETTING A LAWYER. WORKER RECOMMENDED THAT IF SHE WANTS TO HAVE A SAY IN WHERE _________ ENDS UP LIVING SHE WOULD HAVE TO ATTEND COURT AND A LAWYER SHOULD REPRESENT HER.

[MOTHER OF _________] ADVISED THAT SHE WAS AT A FRIENDS IN DARTMOUTH AND HAD NO WAY TO GET TO COURT. AGREED THAT I WOULD APPROVE A CAB, GIVE HER A VOUCHER AT COURT FOR RETURN TRIP AND SHE WOULD ATTEND COURT.
CAB ARRANGED TO PICK HER UP AT [BLANKED OUT]

(Gee, I wondered, where was my taxi cab? Why was she afforded such special treatment? - she the person who wanted to give up my grandson to the system.)

20__/03/24 COLLATERAL CONTACTS
20__/04/04 COLLATERAL CONTACTS
20__/04/04 WORKER/CLIENT CONTACT . . .

12:45 RETURNED CALL TO [MOTHER OF _______] AT [BLANKED OUT] SHE HAD LEFT A VOICE MAIL REQUESTING THAT I CALL HER ON MARCH 28/00 (WORKER ON VACATION) . . .

WORKER ASKED [MOTHER OF _________] IF SHE INTENDS TO GO TO COURT ON THURSDAY. SHE ADVISED SHE DID NOT. WORKER ENCOURAGED HER TO GO AND OBTAIN LEGAL COUNSEL. ADVISED [MOTHER OF __________] THAT A NEW WORKER, KARY. IS TAKING OVER THE CASE AND AGREED THAT WE WOULD MEET HER TOMORROW AT 3 PM AT SWISS CHALET. WORKER TO CONFIRM APPOINTMENT TIME.

20__/04/05 ATTEMPTED CONTACT

10: 00 PHONE CALL TO [MOTHER OF _______] AT HOME TO CONFIRM APPOINTMENT THIS AFTERNOON. NO ANSWER.

2:15 PHONE CALL TO SWISS CHALET TO CONFIRM THIS AFTERNOONS APPOINTMENT WITH [MOTHER OF ________]. WAS ADVISED THAT SHE HAD GONE FOR LUNCH AND AMY (sic) NOT BE BACK UNTIL HER NEXT SHIFT AT 5 PM.

3:00 WENT WITH WORKER KARY. TO MEET [MOTHER OF ______] AT SWISS CHALET. [MOTHER OF __________] WAS NOT AT WORK. KARY. TO CONTACT HER AT A LATER DATE.

20__/04/05 WORKER/CLIENT CONTACT
WORKER INTRODUCED TO [GRANDMOTHER] BY ____________ DURING AN ACCESS VISIT. . .

20__/04/05 WORKER/CLIENT CONTACT

20__/04/05 ATTEMPTED CONTACT
WORKER ATTENDED SWISS CHALET WITH ____________ FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS WORKER MEETING [MOTHER OF _______]. [MOTHER OF _______] WAS NOT AVAILABLE AT HER WORKPLACE.

20__/04/06 COLLATERAL CONTACTS . . .

20__/04/07 ATTEMPTED CONTACT . . .

20__/04/07 CASE WORKER CHANGED . . .

20__/04/07 TELEPHONE CALL . . .

20__/04/10 COLLATERAL CONTACTS . . .

20__/04/10 OTHER/ MISCELLANEOUS . . .

20__/04/11 ATTEMPTED CONTACT

10:00 phone call to (mother of child) at home. No answer. 12:30 phone call to [mother of _____] at home, no answer. Phone call to (mother of child) at work. She is not coming in until later. Worker had wanted to encourage her to attend court today.

(Man, they were working hard at trying to get my daughter into court. They are working hard to bring someone into court to take my grandson into the system)

20__/04/11 TELEPHONE CALL

2:46 PM-PHONE MESSAGE FROM ________. TRIAL DATES SET FOR ____________ RE: PLACEMENT OF [MY GRANDSON] WITH GRANDMOTHER. DATES ARE MAY 29TH AND 30TH..

20__/04/12 COLLATERAL CONTACTS

(Despite the insanity of everything I had already read in this document, exactly half way through, on page 10, the strangest input was yet to come:)

20__/04/12 FOSTER PARENT CONSULTATION

10:20 phone call to foster mother. She advised that a cleaning lady who used to work in her building came for a visit the other day and advised that she recognized __________ (sic) from his grandmother's home as she cleans the building _______'s (sic) grandmother lives in. She made the comment to the foster mother that ________ is better off with the foster parent. The cleaning lady said that [ GRANDMOTHER] is right out to lunch. The foster mother did not discuss further with the cleaning lady.

Worker asked how ________ was doing. Foster mother advised that he started biting his hands. He bit them so hard that they bled. She is not sure at this point if he is doing it because he is teething.

(A wave of numbness swept through my brain, a heaviness invaded, and a stupefying, deadness took control. My eyes were stretched to capacity, as if trying to relieve the pressure building up in my head, while all the time searching the paper for words, some sort of words, that might clarify what was going on here! I knew this cleaning person well. She was a pleasant soft spoken woman. A person of truth and honesty - a serious Christian. She was a good friend of a friend of mine, also a person of integrity and a serious Christian. I knew she had not said these words so where did this lying statement emanate?

And as for my grandson biting his hands to the point of bleeding! Why was what was so apparent to me, so illusive to them? My grandson was stressed by his ordeal ! He was ripped from his loving home, shifted back and forth for a two week period by his mother and then shunted into a foster home where during this time of high stress his bottle and pacifier had been immediately ripped away from him!

What did they expect when even the soothing comfort of his sucking was denied him ? ! Don't social workers have a basic understanding of the needs of children under trauma? And is no basic knowledge of comforting traumatized children given to foster parents? In fact, the swift removal of his bottle and pacifier were touted as it they were some kind of high accomplishments on the part of the foster parents!

Where was " the best interest of the child" in all of this? And when I spoke up against this stupidity - I was stunned - I was villainized for having the common sense that apparently none of these social workers had.

As I searched this paper and read it over and over again, it was apparent that the two most likely culprits for this lie was either the social worker who inputted this data or the foster mom . The foster mom, I thought, being the less likely of the two for what possible motive could she have ? She didn't know me. She had never even seen me!

But then, why, I asked, would the social worker concoct such a story? "What is going on here?"

My mind was bursting under the stain of puzzlement for I couldn't get my brain around this and nothing made any sense. But it was early in the game, this legal game that would go on and on and I was still too naive to even begin contemplating possible motives for such a fraudulent report.

However, after recuperating from my initial shock, I endeavored to expose the lie: When the cleaning woman came to my apartment building, I invited her in, explaining what had been written in the documentation while I flipped through my files to find the offensive account. Upon finding the page, I pointed to the applicable paragraphs and I watched the shock spread across her face as she read it for herself. She was genuinely dumfounded and upset.

Yes, she explained, she knew this foster mother and when she dropped by for a social visit, she was surprised to see and recognize my grandson, but she insisted, she had never made the statement attributed to her by the foster mother. In fact, she was more than eager to set the record straight and without hesitation, she agreed to meet with my lawyer, to draft an affidavit concerning this.

Swiftly, an affidavit was written, signed and filed with the court. The lie had been stopped in its tracks - put to bed, the dragon slayed - or, at least, I thought it had. )



The last input for this report was dated May 17, 20__. It would be July 21, 20__ two months later, before we returned to court, the ninth court appearance in this case, before I would be able to review the updated Case Recording Report by the Department of Community Services. When I received my copy, I prepared to flip through the report, to search for the bias and inaccuracies that I now expected to find. Well to put it succinctly - One flip and I was there. The second entry states:

20__/05/23 FOSTER PARENT CONSULTATION

CALL FROM FOSTER MOTHER WHO INDICATED THERE WAS AN ISSUE WITH THE CLEANING LADY AND WHAT HAD BEEN WRITTEN IN THE RECORDINGS BY _____ ______. ______'S GRANDMOTHER IS INDICATING THAT SHE WILL TAKE THE CLEANING LADY TO COURT IF THE MATTER IS NOT RESOLVED.

(From this I understood that the foster mother was trying to make it look like I had, somehow, threatened the cleaning lady to get the affidavit she had filed speaking against the foster mother's words transcribed in the last report.

What was going on? Why was this lie being so tenaciously perpetrated. What could the possible motive be? I flipped through 20 more pages till I reached the end of the latest report. Without doubt I found much more to be disturbed about in these pages, but there was no clarification to this particular mystery and I remained mystified.)


Then I began reading through other papers filed by the Department of Children's Services for this court appearance. I picked up a document stamped:


SUPREME COURT
OF NOVA SCOTIA
JULY 19 20__
HALIFAX, N.S.
With the title
APPLICATION FOR DISPOSITION ORDER
AND NOTICE OF HEARING


Stapled beneath this document was a second document entitled

AGENCY PLAN FOR THE CHILD'S CARE

I read through page 1 . . . page 2 . . . page 3 . . . page 4 . . . page 5 . . . page 6 . . . page 7 . . . page 8 . . .and then I finally got to the last page - page 9.

(b) Description of the arrangements made or being made for the child's
long-term stable placement -

The Agency will seek placement of the child in an appropriate adoption home
provided by the Minister of Community Services. The possibility of the foster
home adopting _______ _______ is to be explored so that ______ ______
will have continuity in his placement.

(What! This was a shocker but at least now the mystery had been demystified. At least now I had a motive for the lying statements persistently thrown out by the foster mother. The foster parents had obviously put in their bid for my grandson. This was incredible. First my instable former neighbors, Sher and Terry, had earlier declared to the DCS that they wanted to adopt my grandson and now the foster parents were doing the same.

To me it was incredulous that foster parents should be allowed to voice such a desire while there is an active court case in progress over custody for a child by family members. To me this is a conflict of interest and should not be allowed. Surely "the best interest of the child" lies with keeping the child in the family, if possible. When foster parents are allowed to put in a bid while custody within the family is still before the court, it might prove too much of a temptation to make the easier call of just handing the child over to strangers instead of taking the time to sort out what needs to be sorted to place the child within the family. Indeed, this is what the DCS was pushing for. As a family member wanting a child to remain in the family, I think I should have the right to set my request before the court without non-family competing for the same.

If all interested family members have made their request before the court and have gone to trial and have all been denied - only then do I see it appropriate for non-family to seek adoption.
Once again, the cleaning lady came forth to file a second affidavit. This time she was so upset that she and her husband were talking about possibly taking legal action against the foster mother for her slanderous statements.

She went to my lawyer so that notes could be taken for a second affidavit, but she was never called back to sign the final affidavit. This woman constantly reminded me to get my lawyer to arrange the signing of this affidavit, but my second lawyer, a woman, was proving to be worse than my first.

At this point, my best action lay with the gathering of a number of specific affidavits, but my lawyer lied, harassed, misdirected, and even threatened me when I pushed her for the gathering of these affidavits.

When I hired my third and last lawyer, I request that particular unfinished affidavit be filed. He promised to do so but never did. In the end I came to believe that my lawyers were taking instruction - BUT NOT FROM ME! )


A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.
Don Corleone, in The Godfather - Mario Puzo

No comments: