John and Jane served as foster parents in B.C. for 30 years.
But the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) cancelled their contract without explanation after they spoke out on behalf of their last foster child, according to them.
Coverage of foster parents on Globalnews.ca:
The pair raised their last foster child from the time he was seven months old.
He lived with them for nine years.
But then the MCFD decided to reunite the boy with his birth mother.
Video that captured the reunion showed the boy in an emotional state, telling his birth mother, “if you love me you’ll leave me where I am.”
His foster father John, also emotional, could be heard saying, “we love you more than anything in the world.”
John and Jane spoke out on the boy’s behalf – they said he asked them to – for the first time in three decades of foster parenting.
And it was for this reason that the MCFD cancelled their contract with the government, they said.
“I just would love to have our name cleared by the ministry and for them to reconsider,” Jane said.
Global News spent four days trying to arrange an interview with the MCFD to explain what happened in this case. Would the ministry be willing to take a second look at it?
But they refused, offering an emailed statement that did not address those questions.
“I feel like they kicked us in the teeth,” John said.
READ MORE: B.C. foster parents say ministry blackballed them for speaking out
They want their final foster kid to know that they don’t regret speaking out.
“He needs to remember that we love him dearly,” Jane said.
“And that that’s not going to change. And if he needs a safe place to fall, we’re his pillow.”
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