WINNIPEG – Torn apart by allegations of child abuse, families of an Old Order Mennonite community are trying to get their children back.
“They’re all distraught,” said Paul Walsh, a lawyer for five of the families. “They feel this is just a clash of cultures and they’ve done nothing wrong.”
A small Old Order Mennonite community, which we can’t identify because of a court order, is now in a fight with Child and Family Services to get 42 children returned to their families after they were removed in June.
“They walked into the houses, took the babies out of their cribs when they were sleeping,” said a community member at the time of the mass apprehension.
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“Some older children, teenagers, made some complaints to the police,” said Walsh, “(about) discipline they were enduring at the hands of certain members of the community.”
Earlier this year, three men and one woman in the community were charged with assault and assault with a weapon. Court documents allege children were assaulted with weapons such as a whip, strap and cattle prod.
CFS has agreed to meet with community members next Thursday to discuss discuss conditions for the return of some of the children, including having no contact with the members who are facing charges and restrictions on how the community disciplines children.
“Spanking, for example, in Canadian law is legal, although our agency and our system doesn’t condone it, but we’ve made sure community members understand the difference between what is legal in Canadian law and what isn’t,” said Jay Rodgers, CEO of the General Child and Family Services Authority in Manitoba.
Walsh said his clients never used harsh discipline methods and are willing to do whatever it takes to get their children back.
“When the agency meets with them as individual families, I expect their children will be returned.”
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