Jeffrey Baldwin – DOB: January 20, 1997
Date of Death: November 30 2002
“On the last day of November in 2002, not quite two
months before his sixth birthday, Jeffrey Baldwin died. He died from acute
bacterial bronchial pneumonia with terminal septicemia, which occurred as a
complication of prolonged starvation”. (R. v. Bottineau, para 1) With these
words, Justice J. Watt of the Ontario Superior Court begins his decision in the
criminal charges involving Elva Bottineau the grandmother of Jeffrey. She was
also charged with unlawful confinement of Jeffrey’s sister Sibling J2 . Her common
law husband, Norman Kidman had also been charged.
Jeffrey’s life was not long – just under 5 years.
His last years were difficult and tragic. He came into the care of Elva
Bottineau and Norman Kidman when he was only 5 or 6 months of age. When his life
took the painful turn towards death is not clear from the public record.
The biological parents of Jeffrey his two older
sisters and younger brother, Yvonne Kidman and Richard Baldwin had been found
to be inadequate to the role of parent and child protection services had placed
the children in the care of these grandparents. The children had been in the
care of these grandparents from around April 1998. Sibling 1, their sister,
came into the care of these grandparents December 6, 1995 and Sibling 2 in
January 1999 not long after his apprehension at birth. Elva Bottineau had legal
custody of Sibling 1 and she and Norman Kidman of Sibling 2.
In his decision, Justice Watt notes that the child
protection authorities supported the placement of Sibling 3 and Jeffrey in
this home.
Judge Watt notes:
133 Shortly after seven o'clock on the morning of
November 30, 2002 Elva Bottineau called 911. She asked for a (police) car to be
sent to 354 Woodfield. As she put it, somewhat matter of factly,
"apparently my grandson is not breathing right now". She reported
that her grandson was conscious, "a little", but he hadn't been
eating well lately either.
134 In conversation with an emergency medical
services operator, Ms. Bottineau speculated that her grandson might have choked
on some food. She described his colour as red and white. He was also clammy,
perhaps with a touch of the flu. In further discussions, Ms. Bottineau reported
that Jeffrey was not breathing or making any sounds. She later said:
He does have a little bit of movement in him...
In his decision Judge Watt then goes on to describe
what emergency service personnel then encountered:
136 Captain Royal Bradley of the Toronto Fire
Department was in charge of the pumper unit that responded to Ms. Bottineau's
911 call. After some initial difficulty in getting a response to his knock,
Captain Bradley and his crew entered the main floor of the residence. It was
dark. He had to ask for lights to be turned on. Ms. Bottineau told him to keep
his voice down because there was another child sleeping in the house.
137 Jeffrey Baldwin was laying on the kitchen
counter on a towel. He was not breathing. He had no pulse.
138 On Captain Bradley's instructions, the two
firefighters who had accompanied him, Paul Manning and David Merrifield, began
CPR on Jeffrey Baldwin as he lay on the kitchen counter. Paul Manning could
detect no pulse. He saw no signs of rigor mortis and none of post-mortem
lividity.
139 Robert Selfridge, a level 3 paramedic, arrived
at 354 Woodfield, along with his partner, Marc Dugas, at about 7:18 a.m. By
then, Jeffrey Baldwin had already been removed and placed in the rear of the
basic life support ambulance that was already outside 354 Woodfield when
Selfridge and Dugas had arrived. Jeffrey Baldwin appeared very severely wasted.
He was extremely malnourished. Selfridge could see the outline of Jeffrey's
bones beneath his skin, especially around his ribcage and upper and lower legs.
There was also a severe rash on Jeffrey Baldwin's abdomen.
140 Robert Selfridge detected no signs of cardiac
activity. Jeffrey was not breathing. There was vomit in his airway. The
attendant was unable to intubate Jeffrey to administer epinephrine. Selfridge's
experience was that, even in cases where a person had recently died, some
venous response usually occurred. There was none here. And there were no signs
of life.
141 Marc Dugas, the level 2 paramedic who
accompanied Robert Selfridge to 354 Woodfield, also failed to detect any signs of
life in Jeffrey Baldwin. Jeffrey did not look like any five year old child that
Dugas had ever seen before. He was much smaller and thinner than anyone Dugas
had ever seen of equivalent age. He appeared emaciated, his ribs, tendons and
veins standing out, visible to the naked eye. Jeffrey Baldwin's skin was
mottled, almost like it was very bruised, and it was cold to the touch. Dugas
could not establish an intravenous line. He noticed no signs of rigor mortis.
142 At about 7:26 a.m. on November 30, 2002 Jeffrey
Baldwin was taken by ambulance to the Hospital for Sick Children. He arrived
there at about 7:34 a.m. and was pronounced dead about ten minutes later.
189 In cross-examination, Paul Manning testified
that Ms. Bottineau's calm, unemotional demeanour struck him as a bit strange.
She did not offer the emergency crew any assistance, did not come outside to
guide them into the house and told them not to turn on any lights once they
were in.
In trial the pathologist outlines Jeffrey’s medical
condition at death, stating (as reported by Judge Watts):
157 It was the evidence of Dr. Wilson that Jeffrey
Baldwin was a stunted and wasted child. His height, ninety-three point five
(93.5) centimetres, was below the third percentile for his age, thirty-three to
thirty-five (33-35) percent below the average height of one hundred and fifteen
centimetres for his age. His weight, nine point six eight (9.68) kilograms, was
more than fifty percent below the average weight of twenty kilograms for his
age. Jeffrey Baldwin suffered from marasmus, a general deficiency of energy, a
caloric deficiency. He had received some proteins and carbohydrates, perhaps
even fat in his diet, but not nearly enough to sustain life.
158 Dr. Wilson concluded that Jeffrey Baldwin died
from acute bacterial bronchial pneumonia involving, as I have said, the upper
and lower lobes of the left lung and the lower and middle lobes of the right
lung, with terminal septicemia, occurring as a complication of prolonged starvation.
At death, Jeffrey Baldwin was cachectic, in other words, in a state of severe
malnutrition. His body mass was at only the twenty-fifth percentile for a year
old boy and at the third percentile for an eighteen month old boy. His weight
at death was less than half what would be normal for his age. In his first year
of life, his height and weight were well within the normal range.
159 It was the evidence of Dr. Wilson that Jeffrey
Baldwin's weight loss from chronic malnutrition was sufficiently severe that it
would be expected to be fatal. His height related to normal body length for age
as a percentage, known as "stunting", was eighty-one (81) percent, a
nineteen (19) percent reduction, and his weight related to the weight of a
normal child at his height, known as "wasting", was sixty-four point
five (64.5) percent, a thirty-five point five (35.5) percent reduction. This
stunting/wasting analysis indicates that, for Jeffrey Baldwin, the reduction in
nutrition was both so extreme and so long-lasting, that not only did the
deceased not grow appropriately in length for a child of his age, but his body
weight for his reduced body length could not be maintained. Weight reduction of
about thirty-five to forty percent compared to expected weight for the reduced
length is reasonably expected to be fatal.
160 Dr. Wilson testified that the pneumonia from
which Jeffrey Baldwin suffered was due to a mixture of Gram-positive and
Gram-negative bacteria with predominantly fecal flora growing from lung culture
and E-coli, amongst others, isolated from the blood culture. There were
caked-on collections of bacteria on his skin. It is reasonable to conclude,
according to Dr. Wilson, that the pneumonia developed from his extensive
bacterial load from the skin through entry into the upper respiratory tract and
then aspiration, carrying these organisms into the lower respiratory tract.
This condition is not consistent with an incontinent child who has been bathed
on a daily basis. Dr. Wilson had never before seen this degree or level of
bacteria growth on the skin of a child.
161 The underlying cause of Jeffrey Baldwin's
death, according to Dr. Wilson, was chronic severe protein-energy malnutrition.
As a result, the deceased's resistance to bacterial pneumonia lessened. His state
of hygiene probably contributed to the infection, which rapidly developed into
fatal septicemia. There were no shaking injuries and no natural disease
processes at work.
162 It was the evidence of Dr. Wilson that the
chronic malnutrition and failure to grow happened in a period after Jeffrey
Baldwin was eighteen months old and continued until the time he died. It would
not have been possible for him to have weighed about forty pounds within a few
months of his death. The malnutrition occurred over a very prolonged period,
not just months but getting into years. His weight may have fluctuated from
time to time, perhaps one or two pounds, but not substantially more. His
appearance at thirteen months of age was normal, but it was not remotely so
thereafter.
A pediatrician and nutritionist, Dr. S.H. Zlotkin
also examined Jeffrey’s death. He states at trial as reported by Judge Watt:
173 Dr. Zlotkin concluded that when he died,
Jeffrey Baldwin was both stunted and wasted.
174 He compared photographs of Jeffrey Baldwin
taken at one year of age and at death. When he was one year old, Jeffrey
Baldwin was a well-proportioned child with adequate fat in his arms, stomach,
ankles and cheeks. He presented a technical picture of a healthy- looking child
and showed adequate proportional linear growth. At death, he was severely,
severely malnourished. There was no adipose tissue fat on his arms, legs, face,
abdomen or chest. The tendons at the top of his legs were visible. So, too, the
bones of his ribcage, and the outline of all the bones in his upper arms and
legs. The colour of his hair, a shade of red, was indicative of chronic
malnutrition.
175 It was the evidence of Dr. Zlotkin that he
considered several possible explanations for the degree of growth failure he observed
in Jeffrey Baldwin. Genetics were not a factor because Jeffrey showed normal
growth in the first year of life. Further, five standard deviations below
normal growth is not within the range expected from normal genetic variations.
176 Dr. Zlotkin also rejected environmental factors
as an explanation for the degree of growth failure. These included both disease
and non-disease states. The insult here occurred sometime between one year of
age and death. There was no evidence that Jeffrey was stunted at six months of
age, quite the contrary, but he was severely stunted at the time he died, only
fifty percent of the expected median height for a boy his age. The insult here
did not occur within weeks or months of death, or even a year. Weight-for-height
is a better index of acute risk than weight-for-age, hence a greater value in
identifying children who need nutritional treatment. Jeffrey Baldwin's
weight-for-height ratio was sixty-seven point six (67.6) percent, a figure
below the cut-off for severe malnutrition in developing countries. The Canadian
standard is ninety percent. If a physician had observed the deceased's
condition, he or she would have had the deceased admitted to hospital as an
emergency patient.
177 It was the evidence of Dr. Zlotkin that, at
death, Jeffrey Baldwin had the appearance of a textbook case of severe
marasmus. He was severely malnourished. He was both stunted and wasted,
suggestive of the chronic process that continued until his death. The etiology
of the stunting and wasting was nutritional in origin. If the stunting had been
secondary to endocrine or genetic causes, Dr. Zlotkin would have expected
Jeffrey to have been stunted, but not wasted. The deceased suffered severe,
long-standing malnutrition, very likely of nutritional origin. He had been
chronically starved of food. Dr. Zlotkin could think of no alternative
hypothesis to explain severe wasting and stunting.
178 Dr. Zlotkin also considered the prospect that
some disease process, which interfered with either the digestion or absorption
of food, or the metabolism of nutrients once absorbed, could have caused
malnutrition, despite a reasonable food intake. The doctor concluded and
rejected as influential:
i. cystic fibrosis;
ii. short-bowel syndrome;
iii. celiac disease;
iv. chronic diarrhea;
v. hyperthyroidism;
vi. HIV/AIDS;
vii. Kwashiorkor;
viii. chronic renal disease;
ix. chronic infectious disease; and
x. cancer,
among others.
179 It was the evidence of Dr. Zlotkin that Jeffrey
Baldwin would have the same appearance he had at death ten days before he died
and a similar appearance ten weeks earlier. He would have appeared slightly
different ten months earlier, but his appearance would leave no doubt that he
was severely stunted and severely wasted. There would only be a slight change
in his stunting over a ten month period.
180 Dr. Zlotkin testified that persons who are
mentally challenged have a sense of hunger and appetite. They have the ability
and desire to eat. Over a very short period of time, a child may show his/her
wishes by stopping eating. A meal or two, perhaps part of a day. But children,
he testified, have a very strong mechanism of hunger. He considered that a
description of Jeffrey Baldwin "eating like a horse" may have been
accurate for the first year of his life, but was absolutely impossible and
inconsistent with his appearance thereafter.
181 It was the evidence of Dr. Zlotkin that Jeffrey
Baldwin would not have been able to interact with his environment in any
meaningful way for weeks, even months before he died. As his death approached,
Jeffrey would have been unable to walk or climb stairs. In the preceding
months, he would have limited physical capacity and would tire easily because
he lacked muscles.
Norman Kidman tells the police, as reported in
trial:
208 During the interview, Norman Kidman told the
police that he and Elva Bottineau had been together in a common law
relationship for about thirty (30) years. He described when and how he and Ms.
Bottineau got custody of their various grandchildren, including Jeffrey and
Sibling 3. Mr. Kidman explained that Jeffrey, who was "borderline for
mentally retarded", drank out of the toilet, peed and poohed and generally
messed up his bedroom, and wasn't toilet-trained despite their best efforts.
Jeffrey also banged his head on the floor and threw himself on the floor
"if he gets mad".
He also states:
210 Norman Kidman explained that the bedroom
Jeffrey shared with his sister, Sibling 2, had only two trunks and two beds.
The other furnishings were removed because the deceased would wet and
"pooh" himself and "put it all back in the dresser". He
pointed out that Ms. Bottineau put the lock on the outside of the door to
Jeffrey's and Sibling 2's bedroom. Its purpose was to prevent Jeffrey from
getting up in the middle of the night and going to the bathroom and drinking
out of the toilet bowl. The lock had only been on the door for about a month,
perhaps not even that long. The lock had been on the door for, he said later, a
year, for the same purpose. Ms. Bottineau unlocked the door each morning just
before Mr. Kidman left for or about the time he left for work.
The trial evidence also shows the details of the
world in which Jeffery and Sibling 2 lived in their bedroom.
212 Jeffrey and Sibling 2 occupied what has been
designated "Bedroom #2" at 354 Woodfield Road. It is located on the
upper floor between the bedroom, occupied by Norman Kidman, Elva Bottineau and
Sibling J1, and the bathroom. To get to the Bottineau/Kidman bedroom from the
first floor, a person would pass right by the door to the second bedroom.
Likewise, on any trip to the bathroom from anywhere in the house, except from
bedroom #3.
213 It was the evidence of Sergeant Farrugia that
Elva Bottineau agreed to show police officers around 354 Woodfield, in
particular, the bedroom occupied by the deceased and his sister. As they
approached the door to the bedroom, Sergeant Farrugia noticed a hook and eye
lock on the outside of the bedroom door. The lock was high up on the right-hand
side as one faced the door, far enough from the floor that an adult would have
to extend their arm and hand above their head to unlock it or lock it. Once
engaged on the outside, a person inside the bedroom would be unable to get out.
214 Sergeant Farrugia testified that when Elva
Bottineau opened the door to bedroom #2, there was a strong stench of urine in
the room. The room was cold. There were two cribs, one against the wall with no
linen on it, the other had the railing off, no sheets and two towels with what
appeared to be fecal staining on them. There were two metal trunks and a
similar number of white plastic bags on the floor. There was macaroni in a
plastic bowl on one of the trunks. The room was unheated, despite Ms. Bottineau's
claim that City Homes had been contacted about this problem.
215 Sergeant Farrugia also looked at the other
bedrooms at 354 Woodfield. Both were warm and fully furnished. There were
comforters on the beds and no smell of urine or feces in either room. Neither
had a locking mechanism on the outside of the door.
216 Detective Constable Ian Kennedy also saw
bedroom #2. Unlike the other bedrooms, there were no toys or other children's
things in the room Sibling J2 and Jeffrey occupied.
217 Detective David Simpkins gave evidence that
there was no carpet on the floor of Jeffrey and Sibling 2’s bedroom. He had
never seen anything like it before in nearly three decades on the police force.
218 Police Constable Stephen Gibbons testified that
bedroom #2 stood out from the rest of the house. It was harsh, dark, cold and
damp and had about it an odour of both urine and feces. As he put it, bedroom
#2 was a horrible room, not one in which he would expect anyone to live. The
other bedrooms were brighter, cleaner, warmer and did not have a locking
mechanism on the outside of the door.
219 Osiris Villalobos, an emergency after-hours
worker with Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto, went to 354 Woodfield
Road at about 12:30 p.m. on November 30, 2002. Sergeant Farrugia and the
coroner, Dr. David Giddens, were there at the same time. Mr. Villalobos noticed
the lock on the outside of the door of bedroom #2. He estimated that it had
been installed about three-quarters of the way up the door from the floor. The
odour of urine inside the room, he testified, was extremely heavy.
220 Mr. Villalobos gave evidence that he noticed
the crib in the room with a couple of towels and a pair of sleepers, like those
worn by a baby, on the mattress. There were a couple of bags filled with filthy
diapers in the middle of the room. The uncarpeted floor was heavily water or
urine-stained. One of the mattresses was soaking wet, apparently with urine,
and there were splattered dry feces on the surface. There was filthy clothing
on top of the towels. The overall appearance of the room was "extremely
shocking". The bedroom was "freezing cold". There was no heat
coming from the vent on the common wall with the bathroom. There was another
mattress in the room apparently unused. Mr. Villalobos saw no toys or
children's clothing in the room.
221 It was the evidence of Mr. Villalobos that the
other rooms in the house were warm, comfortable and appropriately furnished.
Mr. Villalobos decided to apprehend all of the children who remained in the
house.
222 Dr. David Giddens described bedroom #2 as very
cold. The uncarpeted wooden floor was stained. There was no heat from the floor
vent. There were no decorations, only a single unwrapped toy. There was no
sheet on the mattress in the crib. The mattress was stained and had feces on
it. The smell of urine was overwhelming. The rest of the house appeared normal.
223 Derek Freestone moved in 354 Woodfield Road in
October 2003. He readied the premises for winter. He noticed that the second
bedroom was colder, so he caulked around the baseboards and fixed the vent so
that it would remain open. Mr. Freestone also opened the valve in the basement
heat duct and fixed it to ensure that it remained open. The room warmed up
substantially.
224 It is common ground that City Homes, the
landlord at 354 Woodfield, had never received a complaint about lack of heat in
bedroom 2 during the Bottineau/Kidman tenancy.
In the decision, we also see one of the ways in
which these cases can involve medical practitioners:
226 It was the evidence of Dr. Alladin that he saw
Sibling 1 twenty-seven times between January 6, 1994 and March, 2000. Sibling 2 attended twenty-three times between December, 1995 and March, 1998. Sibling
2 was seen ten times between October, 1998 and February 26, 2001. On one
occasion, Sibling 2 was hospitalized for whooping cough.
227 Dr. Alladin testified that he saw Jeffrey
Baldwin on seven occasions from June 10, 1997, when Jeffrey was four (4) months
old, until June 22, 1998, when he was a year older. In July, 1997 Jeffrey
weighed seventeen pounds five ounces and was twenty-eight and one half (28 1/2)
inches long. About seven months later, in February, 1998 when Jeffrey was
thirteen months old, he weighed twenty-two pounds.
228 On March 12, 1998, Elva Bottineau brought
Jeffrey to see Dr. Alladin after she had been awarded custody of her grandson.
Dr. Alladin referred the child to a paediatric neurologist at the Hospital for
Sick Children. Ms. Bottineau reported on the hospital visit when she brought
Jeffrey back to Dr. Alladin for the last time on June 22, 1998. She made no
mention of any diagnosis of Jeffrey as "borderline mentally
retarded", nor did she say anything about him banging his head. At that
time, Jeffrey was a healthy boy who was meeting his growth milestones.
229 Dr. Andrew Wong also practiced medicine at the
Raxlen Clinic. Norman Kidman had been his patient for a few years. Elva
Bottineau, Sibling 2 and Sibling 3 Kidman had also been his patients. Dr. Wong
never saw either Sibling 2 or Jeffrey Baldwin as patients.
230 It was the evidence of Dr. Wong that on
September 10, 2001 he saw both Elva Bottineau and Norman Kidman in his office
at the clinic. They spoke to him about what they described as Jeffrey's mental
retardation and behavioural problems. Jeffrey was not there. Dr. Wong was not
sure who provided the background information, but he thought it more likely
that Norman Kidman did because he had been a patient longer and the doctor knew
him better. At all events, Dr. Wong learned that the couple had become
Jeffrey's guardians about two years earlier. According to their story, a
paediatrician who had examined Jeffrey had said that he was "borderline
mentally retarded". The child was not toilet trained, would not sit on a
potty, was disruptive, could only understand simple commands and was limited in
his speech. Dr. Wong advised the couple to be patient, but firm with him. The
doctor offered to refer the child to a paediatrician if the condition
persisted.
231 Dr. Wong testified that if either Elva
Bottineau or Norman Kidman had made any specific complaints about Jeffrey's
behaviour, for example, that he deliberately banged his head, drank out of a
toilet bowl or spread feces around after soiling himself, he would have noted
such abnormal behaviour. He had no such notes. He would not have suggested that
rebelliousness was at the root of the problem.
232 Dr. Wong never saw Jeffrey Baldwin as a
patient. Had the child presented, as in the post-mortem photographs 18A-18C,
Dr. Wong would have sent Jeffrey straight to the hospital and reported his
condition to the police and child welfare authorities.
233 Dr. Dirk Webster Huyer is familiar with the
medical aspects of child maltreatment, including evaluation, interpretation of
injuries and the medical consequences of certain findings made on examination.
234 On January 20, 1997 he examined Jeffrey
Baldwin, who had apparently been shaken or otherwise handled roughly at
thirteen months of age. Dr. Huyer found no rib fractures or other physical
abnormalities. Jeffrey was irritable on examination, but Dr. Huyer considered
the chief reason to be two ear infections and a cold.
235 Dr. Huyer had no recollection of any
consultation with Jeffrey's grandparents in which he advised them that Jeffrey
was "mentally retarded". At all events, he would not use such
terminology, rather would describe the child as "developmentally
delayed" or challenged. He would have resolved any concern he had about
developmental delay by specific testing in occupational or developmental
therapy.
Summing up the cause of death, Judge Watt states,
It is incontrovertible on the uncontradicted
evidence of Doctors Wilson and Zlotkin that Jeffrey Baldwin died of acute
bronchial pneumonia, which involved the upper and lower lobes of his left lung
and lower and middle lobes of his right lung, with terminal septicemia, which
occurred as a complication of prolonged starvation. The stunting and wasting
visible at death permits of no rational conclusion other than Jeffrey Baldwin was
chronically starved of food over a very long time. (par. 267)
He also makes it clear that the risk of child
welfare authorities was well understood by Elva Bottineau stating:
280 It was the evidence of James Mills that on two
or three occasions prior to the evening of November 29 and morning of November
30, 2002 he hd suggested to Elva Bottineau that Jeffrey Baldwin should be taken
to the hospital. Each time, Ms. Bottineau quickly changed the subject. She made
it clear that she did not want to talk about it. Her expressed fear of hospital
attendance was that hospital authorities would contact the CAS and she would
lose the children, more specifically, the money she received for taking care of
them as their guardian.
It turns out that in February 1979, a psychologist
assessed Elva Bottineau for family court. She testified at the criminal
proceedings. Justice Watt notes of her testimony regarding the 1979 assessment:
311 In further cross-examination, Dr. Bray
testified that Elva Bottineau would have great difficulty taking care of
children. She was not able to parent adequately and had no appreciation of the
risks she took with others. The demands of children were likely, according to
Dr. Bray, to be beyond her capabilities.
The CBC program, The Fifth Estate examined the
Jeffrey Baldwin case. What became apparent from that investigation is that the
Bottineau – Kidman family was indeed known to child protection services. What
then becomes relevant is that, within their files, child protection had
evidence of the prior criminal convictions for child abuse of each of these
grandparents. Elva Bottineau was convicted in June 1970 of assaulting her then
5 month old daughter. There is also the prior parenting capacity assessment
which suggested that this grandmother was not capable of assuming the role of
parent.
It is also clear that there were several other
adults living in the home who appeared to either turn a blind eye to what was
going on or chose to ignore it for risk of placing their own living
accommodations at risk. In total there were six adults and six children.
The Fifth Estate story also made it clear that
there were various professionals in the home for various reasons. Yet none
appeared to have taken any notice of the situation with Sibling 2 and Jeffery
although it appears probable that Elva Bottineau would take steps to avoid
these children being seen and putting her kinship care resources at risk.
This case also raised that there may have been
other professional eyes outside the home. An example is a teacher who saw
Sibling 2. At trial Justice Watt states:
497 In cross-examination, Mr. Garrido acknowledged
that he did not report Sibling 2s condition to anyone. He thought that the
educational assistant or home room teacher would do so. He agreed that it was
not unusual to see children at the school who were dirty.
499 In Ms. Revoredo's classroom there is a snack
table. The snacks, which are provided, include vegetables, drinks and fruit in
fixed portions. Students are allowed seconds and sometimes thirds. Sibling 2
asked for seconds, sometimes thirds when they were available.
500 In cross-examination, Ms. Revoredo recalled
that Elva Bottineau, Sibling 2s guardian, came to school on occasion and did
volunteer work in Sibling 1s class. She did not do the same for Sibling 2.
501 Helen Voikos was an education assistant in both
junior and senior kindergarten classes at Roden Public School in the Fall,
2002. Sibling 2 was a student who wanted lots of attention. She frequently
sought help from Ms. Voikos and followed her around the room. She was always
hungry. Ms. Voikos noticed a very strong smell of urine coming from Sibling 2.
The smell, which Ms. Voikos noticed a couple of times, perhaps more, was strong
enough that other children would sometimes not play with Sibling 2. To be
enrolled in school, a child must be toilet-trained.
This helps us to see one of the other challenges
and that is – who will take responsibility for raising the flag of concern.
Indeed, at what point is the problem big enough to warrant indicating concern.
The Fifth Estate also managed to track down an
older child of Elva Bottineau. What he tells is that the treatment of Jeffrey
may not have been out of character for her. He tells of an abusive childhood
that included being locked up.
As so often happens in these cases, the information
that becomes available after the fact is disturbing indeed. Testifying at the
trial, the foster mother describes that there was clearly a difference between
the two siblings who appear to have been treated differently by the
grandparents and little Sibling 2. She stated that these other siblings were
horrified that they had to sit at the same table as, what Sibling 2 became
known as in the grandparental home, one of the pigs. Canwest news services
reported from the rial on November 3 2005:
The first night the children arrived, the woman
said she observed the oldest sister was "horrified'' she had to sit at the
same dinner table as her youngest sister.
"Pigs eat on the floor. Pigs don't share the
table,'' the oldest sister said.
The younger sister and Jeffrey were allegedly kept
locked in the same bedroom and allowed to eat only after everyone else in the
home had finished.
There has been evidence the two children were
forced to sit in front of a kitchen wall for lengthy periods of time as
punishment. The younger brother of Jeffrey, reportedly asked the foster mother
"where the pigs' wall was,'' and added that his "old home'' had a
"wall of pigs.''
A few days after the children were placed in her
care, the foster mother said she noticed the younger brother didn't flush the
toilet. When she asked him why it was important to flush the toilet, she said
he replied, "so pigs don't drink piss and shit water.''
The foster mother was shocked to see the younger
sister try to drink from the toilet bowl.
"I stopped her immediately,'' the witness said
The foster mother also reported that the older
sister said that it was obvious Jeffrey would die and wondered why child
protection had not come to his rescue. This story is repeated by the foster
mother to the Fifth Estate. Jeffrey and the sister that were abused were
referred to as “pig” who ate at the pig wall from the pig bowl and slept in the
pig room. The sister who did survive the abuse was seen by the foster mother to
have many physical issues likely arising from her own abuse. The evidence also
is that these two children were denied many of the normal developmental
opportunities that most children had such as playing outside. Exercise for them
was walking around the kitchen and, if they stopped, having objects thrown at
them.
What is an important practice issue is what is
known to the supervising agency. Jeffrey and his siblings went to live with
their grandparents on a private guardianship basis but with the knowledge and
apparent approval of child protection. What did not appear to occur, and was
apparently admitted to by the CPS, is that they did not check their own records
which did include the prior convictions of both grandparents.
At times when caseloads are high, budgets
restrained, the time necessary to dig out old records and consider how that
information might apply to present circumstances can seem like an unnecessary
burden. What can be seen in this case is that can lead to disastrous outcomes.
There is an arguable case that the children should not have been placed in this
kinship care until the grandparents had been properly vetted. Yet, it is
probable that kinship care placements are occurring frequently with only tacit
if any review by child protection. It can also be argued that this works out in
most cases.
Casework is not about what works most of the time
but about what needs to occur in the particular case in front of the social
worker. This makes case work hard as there is a need to know as much of the
relevant history as possible without getting bogged down in details. You must
sift through information deciding what really matters and how has the past
history offered lessons about what is likely in the present.
Thus, from this case we learn several valuable
practice lessons:
• Past history is quite relevant and may be
difficult to access. It opens up the questions about what has occurred before
and what is or is not different today.
• Children have a particular relationship with
their caregivers which may be unique to that experienced by the other children.
There is often a target child.
• Kinship care may not be better. It requires
assessment on its merits on a case by case basis.
• There may be several professionals involved in a
child’s life that have concerns but no one professional feels that what they
know, in isolation, represents enough to warrant involvement of child
protection.
• Those who are abusive may well know that they
need to keep the secret and know that involvement of child protection will be
detrimental. They are effective at keeping information away from CPS even
during home visits. Thus, social workers need to be thorough in their reviews
including interviewing other children in the home and seeing the entire living
environment.
• It is poor case planning to believe that other
adults in the home act as another set of eyes and will be concerned about what
may be happening.
• Alleged facts offered by caregivers require
independent verification.
• Much information may be available after the fact
but case decisions are made with partial information.
• Risk assessment is based upon what is currently
known and therefore requires review when new information becomes available.
Note that numbered paragraphs are from the decision
of the judge in the Ontario Superior Court in respect of R. v. Bottineau and
Kidman.
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