Allegations of astonishing cruelty and a soulless ‘child protection’ bureaucracy run amok

I am not often left at a loss for words. As a writer and broadcaster, speechlessness is something of an occupational hazard. But an absolutely astonishing story out of Hamilton, Ont., has left me stunned by allegations of sheer cruelty and boneheaded bureaucratic stupidity.

First, the context: Derek and Frances Baars are a 30-something married couple now living in Calgary. According to an affidavit recently filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, in which the couple are alleging their Charter rights were violated, while still living in Hamilton, the couple chose to become foster parents after their own attempts to conceive failed. After passing the various levels of screening and interviewing required by the Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton (CAS), the couple was approved to serve as foster parents. Because of an apparent chronic shortage of available foster parents in the Hamilton area, the Baars received two foster children, sisters aged three and four, the very next day.

The Baars’ guardianship of the girls was always intended to be temporary — the girls maintained some contact with their parents and were intended to eventually return to their care. The Baars honoured specific requests from the mother while also providing frequent written updates as to the status of the girls. The CAS monitored the care of the girls and found it satisfactory. The girls were reportedly happy in the Baars’ care.

The problem? Santa and the Easter bunny, according to the affidavit. The Baars, observant Christians, view Christmas and Easter as Christian holidays. A staff member at CAS, however, apparently deemed telling the children that the Easter Bunny is real “part of Canadian culture.” According to the affidavit, the Baars said they would hide chocolate in their home for the girls to find, but would not lie to them and say that it was deposited there by a gigantic, cheerful magical mammal. The staff member also allegedly castigated the Baars for not taking the children for a photograph with a man in a Santa costume, again because it was part of Canadian culture. (The affidavit says that, in their frequent written communications, the mother of the child never requested that the Baars have such a photo taken.) The staffer, the Baars allege, became hostile and dismissive, and suggested that the Baars would fail to treat those living a non-Christian lifestyle with respect and courtesy.

Yes, we’ve only gotten one side of the story thus far via the affidavit and the CAS will have an opportunity to respond to the allegations in the court proceeding, but it’s worth noting that Hamilton’s CAS has not challenged the allegations. Dominic Verticchio, executive director of the CAS, said removing children would never be done lightly. There would be due process, he said, adding specifically about the Baars’ lawsuit, “We’re prepared to mitigate this in any way.”

Mitigate this? Is he out of his mind?

If the allegations are true then how does one mitigate the damage done to the Baars by the removal of these children, whom they clearly loved? How does it assess and mitigate the damage done to the young girls, who were already suffering through an almost certainly traumatic separation from their parents? And, going forward, how does the CAS assess and mitigate the damage done to untold other children who may be in urgent need of placement in a foster home (recall that Hamilton is underserved) who may be denied the safe harbour and apparently nurturing environment offered by the Baars? How does the CAS propose to assess or mitigate any possible damage done to the Baars’ future prospects of adoption? Having foster children seized from one’s home isn’t something you’ll want on your record.

There’s the grander issue, of course. The Baars have Charter-protected rights to religious freedom, as their lawyer, John Carpay, noted when announcing their suit. That issue will be settled by the courts. And I confess to a certain skepticism that the CAS would have responded in similar fashion to that alleged by the Baars if the foster parents were not Christians. As my AM 640 colleague Supriya Dwivedi trenchantly observed on the air with me this morning, would a CAS worker have been as quick to judge and condemn the religious faith of Muslim parents, or Sikhs or Hindus? Would anyone have told them their sincerely held religious convictions clashed with Canadian culture? If the allegations turn out to be true then did the CAS intend to suggest that observant Christians are unsuitable as foster parents?

But the grander issues only obscure the human issue. This case is really about two little girls and two people who volunteered their time, knowing the children would eventually be taken from them, to give them a safe, stable and loving home. It’s about what appears from the allegations to be mindlessly inflexible bureaucracy that shattered the brief calm these children found, by every account, in the care of the Baars.

If it turns out that the Hamilton CAS doesn’t have the sense of perspective and the basic damned human decency to realize that removing the children, and possibly threatening the ability of the Baars to ever adopt, was a wildly disproportionate response to their incredibly minor disagreement, how can any member of the public have faith in their administration of the children in their care?

For the record, I actually disagree with the Baars on the specifics of the alleged issue. My two young children genuinely believe that a gigantic sentient rabbit is going to somehow break into our house while they sleep this weekend to hide chocolate in the basement. My four-year-old believes in Santa so completely she often asks me to “email him at the North Pole” whenever she does something particularly kind and noble, just so he knows she should be on the good list. I love this. There’s only going to be a brief window of their lives when I can protect my children from the harsh reality of … everything. I’m going to load it up with as much wonder and magic as I can.

But that’s a choice I’ve made. The Baars made another one, and it was theirs to make, in the circumstances. And let’s not forget what those circumstances were: they were putting their time, energy, money and hearts on the line to help children.

It’s a shame that the Baars are right about there being no such thing as magical creatures bearing gifts. It could be that the folks at CAS are in need of exactly that kind of supernatural intervention.