For the alleged victim of a former Kelowna social worker who is accused of abusing his power and stealing money from foster kids left in his charge, word of Robert Riley Saunders’ arrest brings some relief.
“A lot of people would see this as closure,” former foster child Aden Withers said. “But for a lot of us, it really isn’t the end of this chapter. For us, it’s more the beginning of a new chapter.”
Saunders is facing 13 charges, including breach of trust, 10 counts of fraud over $5,000, one count of theft over $5,000 and one count of uttering a forged document. He was arrested in Alberta.
According to documents filed in a civil suit, Saunders allegedly opened joint bank accounts with foster kids and then stole the ministry money meant for their food, clothing and shelter.
A class-action lawsuit against the Ministry of Children and Family Development settled for millions of dollars names more than 100 alleged victims.
Withers thinks Saunders should be facing more charges and isn’t confident he will serve the time in jail that he allegedly deserves.
“The system failed us for 17 years,” Withers said. “So how are we supposed to trust the courts to do their job when we’ve been failed so badly so many times?”
“No matter what his charges are, it’ll never be enough to replace the lives of those 104 children.”
Withers said many of Saunders’ other alleged victims are suffering from addiction.
“It’s horrible to see, horrible to watch them go through this thing knowing that if they had had a trusted adult in their life, that this wouldn’t have happened,” Withers said.
The money the victims have been awarded serves as a band-aid solution, Withers said.
“It feels very much like we’re being paid for a service that we didn’t want to provide,” Withers said. “It doesn’t cover the years of trauma that happened to all of us, and it doesn’t cover the broken trust in the system.
“My biggest fear right now is if he doesn’t get charged as greatly as he should be, then what’s going to happen to the youth? What’s going to happen to their self-esteem, to their already-broken trust?”
Withers wants to see an external inquiry into what happened carried out by an Indigenous organization.
“And not the RCMP, not the Ministry of Children and Family Development,” Withers said. “Because we know those systems are long vetted against Aboriginal and Indigenous people because of the systematic racism that comes into play. The systems were designed against us.”
“I think that Indigenous issues require Indigenous answers
“And I think that in order to resolve issues like this, there needs to be some sort of restorative justice that’s brought about.”
Withers believes other social workers are complicit in what happened.
“This corruption is much deeper than what we just see on the surface,” Withers said.
RCMP would not confirm if they are investigating any other social workers.
“I don’t feel like the Ministry of Children and Family Development is investigating themselves is enough,” Withers said. “I think they’re going to find themselves not as guilty as is what they really should be.”
In an email, the Ministry of Children and Family Development said it could not confirm whether or not other social workers are under investigation.
“The ministry has a number of quality assurance and review processes in place that are triggered in circumstances like this,” ministry spokesperson Shawn Larabee said. “Where any of these review mechanisms have staffing or personnel implications, these would be addressed through a separate process involving the public service agency.”
The ministry also said that when the allegations first surfaced, it strengthened financial controls and hired a consultant to conduct a review.
“It has always been our goal to make sure that there was appropriate compensation for people who are affected,” Larabee said. “This includes participating in class action, as well as efforts to settle individual claims through mediation.”
None of the criminal allegations against Saunders have been proven in court.
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