Criminal neglect

They were the most vulnerable. Children. Young children. They had grown up in homes so chaotic, with parents so broken, the state had been compelled to intervene. They were removed from their homes, from their family. Some temporarily. Others would never return. And so they entered the system. Somewhere they would be safe. Protected. A place they could be children again. That was the idea.

Sadly, this was not the outcome for far too many children in Prince Edward County. Instead, a much worse fate was waiting for them.

Last week, William Sweet was charged with 10 counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and 10 charges of failing to provide the necessaries of life—a legal term meaning he stands accused of failing to protect and care for vulnerable children. Sweet headed the Children’s Aid Society of Prince Edward County from 2002 to his ouster in 2012.

He will, at last, be forced to answer questions about how the agency he headed put so many defenceless kids into the hands of predators—folks who used the Children’s Aid agency to feed their vile and deviant hunger. During Sweet’s tenure, at least 40 children were put into homes of people who would abuse them. Over and over again. Until it became normal. Six foster parents were eventually charged and convicted of sexual crimes against the children in their care. Put there by the County CAS.

An investigation by the Ministry of Youth Services in 2011 and 2012 found the County agency in disarray. Foster homes were established and children placed in them without proper screening or background checks. Investigations were started, but rarely followed through.

In one case file they found evidence of 11 alleged incidents, including allegations of sexual molestations of children. Only two allegations were investigated. Neither was verified. They found nothing to explain why the investigations had stopped there.

They determined that the agency failed to regularly visit foster homes. They encountered so much infighting and dysfunction within the walls of the agency that it interfered with proper planning and placement of the children it its care. In one cited example, children had been living in a foster home for 18 months before mandatory background screening was carried out.

The Ministry saved some criticism for the CAS board, finding it had no functioning ability to assure itself that the Society was in compliance with legislation, regulations, standards and other requirements.

Among the most troubling findings, however, was the Ministry investigator’s conclusion that County CAS management failed to provide “clear and cohesive” response to the situations involving sexual abuse in foster homes.

These weren’t isolated cases. Nor were they hidden from view. They were carried out over a span of a decade or more.

One particularly revealing and disturbing event: In 2005 the County CAS removed two foster children from a Bloomfield home after the kids, aged 8 and 9 at the time, accused their foster parent of sexual abuse. The OPP investigated. And while they believed the children, they were faced with an impossible dilemma. The accusers were children. The accused was a skilled liar and manipulator. A conviction was deemed out of reach. And so rather than force the victims to relive the trauma in a courtroom over months and years, the kids were moved to another home. The accused avoided charges.

But then came the most heartbreaking and shameful bit—the local CAS decided, absent a conviction, to put more children in the care of the accused—a man they had good reason to believe was abusing his foster children. At least a dozen more children—young boys and girls—were sent to live in this man’s home.

It would take another five years, and fresh charges of sexual abuse of other children in his care, before the County CAS finally acted to remove kids from the home permanently. The predator was later charged and sent to prison for nine years.

It is well past time the people who did this were held to account.

In his sentencing of Joe and Janet Holm to prison terms in 2011, Justice Geoff Griffin implored this community to seek a public inquiry into the County CAS.

“What took place here is so outrageous that it boggles the mind,” said Griffin. This is so troubling that it becomes difficult to put into words how horrendous it is.”

It has taken years, but perhaps now we can begin to learn what happened at the County CAS and find out how it failed so many of the vulnerable children we entrusted the organization to care for

rick@wellingtontimes.ca