http://www.lfpress.com/2015/03/16/child-welfare-agency-found-to-have-wasted-money-on-office-renovations-consultants-and-bloated-management

http://www.intelligencer.ca/2014/10/21/three-cas-cases-settled

http://www.lfpress.com/2014/04/10/london-middlesex-childrens-aid-society-hit-with-record-court-costs-of-14-million

The London area’s child-welfare agency has been hit with record court costs of $1.4 million, for failing to protect three boys caught in a marathon trial the judge says was marked by a manipulative mother and a father falsely cast as an abusive monster.

In a just-released written decision, the judge also ordered the mother — whom he said “manipulated the court by misrepresenting the facts in order to gain an advantage” — to pay $604,478.36, or 30% of the more than $2 million court costs.

The 154-day trial, over three years, was known in court halls as “the trial that never ends.” It helped build a huge backlog in London family court cases last fall, forcing officials to prioritize child-protection cases over divorce trials.

In a scathing indictment of the London-Middlesex Children’s Aid Society, Superior Court Justice John Harper wrote the CAS “did not live up to (its) statutory duty to investigate thoroughly and objectively” in the case, and instead accepted the mother’s warped version as the truth. The $1.4 million is believed to be the largest financial penalty ever dished out to a child-protection agency in Ontario.

The cash-strapped CAS made headlines last fall when it couldn’t balance its books.

Spokesperson Michelle Bacon said the agency hadn’t reviewed the decision yet.

“Once we have, we will be considering our response,” she said.

The judge ruled in the case last fall, dismissing the CAS child-protection application and granting a divorce and awarding custody of the kids to the father.

But not until this week were the costs dished out.

“This started as a snowball of an allegation of unspecified emotional abuse that was flagged and assessed as high risk and it came crashing down on this family like an unstoppable avalanche,” Harper wrote.

The CAS applied for a court order in September 2010 to protect the three boys, aged 15, 12 and 5, months after the parents separated. But the judge found the CAS became “a lead advocate” for the mother, the driving force behind the trial. Her “multiple problems” included substance abuse and “manipulations and false claims.”

“(The CAS) had the statutory duty to investigate these claims through a thorough, objective and professional manner and they did not do so,” the judge said.

The family’s identity is protected by court order.

The erratic mother went from claiming her husband emotionally abused her, to claiming he was a sexual abuser and murderer who used his eldest child “as a gun in his hands to try to kill the mother of these three children.” Harper wrote.

Recordings, text messages and e-mails showed the woman to be erratic, verbally abusive to her sons, often drunk and having at least two extra-marital affairs.

In the middle were the three boys, who boomeranged between the parents. They repeatedly tried to alert the CAS to their mother’s violence, alcoholism and manipulation, only to see the agency side with her.

The case spilled into the criminal courts, with the mother alleging her oldest son had tried to kill her. But a charge of attempted murder against the son never got past a preliminary hearing after the mother testified. Instead, the Crown accepted a plea to assault by the son for “excessive self-defence” from his mother.

The judge dismissed the mother’s ever-shifting evidence. The agency, Harper said, tried to squelch any evidence that went against its theory the mother was a victim. A supervisor, responsible for providing lawyers in the case with CAS information, removed 475 pages of notes, records, e-mails and summaries from the file.

At trial, it was revealed the mandatory document-sharing was running a year behind.

Notes in the file referred to the mother as the “Society’s client.”

Meetings were held to discuss how to protect her and case workers from the father.

The mother also made a “most wanted poster” put up in her workplace and in her youngest son’s school file that had photos of her husband and oldest son with the words, “if you see these men, call the police they have a history of violence.”

Neither father nor son was convicted of any crime until the son’s self-defence plea. Harper found the sons were in more need of protection from their mother than father.

Trial by numbers

154: Days it lasted

$2,014,927.86: Total court costs

$1.4M: Amount CAS ordered to pay

$604,478: Amount mother ordered to pay

WHAT ELSE THE JUDGE WROTE:

About the mother:

Serious credibility problems “drove the case to the extreme it became.”

About the father:

Fortunate had help “to dig out from under the avalanche thrust upon him.”

About the children:

“What did survive were the scars to the children . . .”

About the CAS:

“Acted in bad faith.”

Other fallout:

“This was exacerbated by the actions of the Society, some police officers, some women’s groups, a school board and her employers . . . many of whom accepted without any level of scrutiny the (woman’s) self-reports.”

Three former County foster children have reached out-of-court settlements with the Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society for damages stemming from sexual abuse sustained while they were in the society’s care.

An order dismissing further action against the child welfare agency has been approved by a judge at the Prince Edward County superior court where the lawsuit was filed in April 2013. Court staff confirmed only three of the five cases have been settled to date, leaving two outstanding plaintiffs.

Confidentiality provisions restrict the plaintiffs’ Belleville lawyer, John Bonn, from divulging details on the dollar amount of the compensation dispensed.

“It’s an order of the court dismissing the action on behalf of three of the plaintiffs, as against the children’s aid society,” Bonn said of the settlement. “They have resolved matters to their mutual satisfaction.”

Bonn added “there was no trial in this matter. They can’t talk about the terms of the resolution because there are confidentiality provisions in effect.”

When it was filed in 2013, the civil suits totalled $14 million ($2.8 million per plaintiff).

Each plaintiff initially claimed $350,000 for pain and suffering, in addition to $1 million each for loss of future earnings and another $1 million for punitive damages. They sought $100,000 in future care costs, plus $100,000 for special damages and $250,000 for aggravated damages.

Two outstanding plaintiffs will be addressed shortly, Bonn said.

“We continue to work on those,” he said. “We intend to mediate those.”

The suit directed at the CAS also targets four former foster parents, two are now serving prison terms for sexual abuse of children placed in their care. A third convicted predator’s case is now before the Ontario Court of Appeal.

“Like most of these issues, they’re difficult all the way through and deal with unpleasant issues, but the fact that we’ve been able to reach some form of agreement means that each side is able to live with it at some level,” Bonn said Tuesday.

Bonn filed the claims on behalf of the five female plaintiffs, now in their late teens and early 20s.

“With litigation done, it would bring an end to this piece of their involvement with the CAS,” Bonn said.

All complainants listed claim the Prince Edward County CAS (PECCAS) is liable for the abuse each of them suffered while in the care of PECCAS.

The County society is now part of the newly-amalgamated Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society, which also spans the societies of Hastings and Northumberland counties.

Mark Kartusch, the society’s executive director, was also tight-lipped about the settlement.

“I can’t disclose any of the details,” he said Tuesday. “However, we do hope this helps these youths move forward.”

Kartusch wouldn’t go as far as viewing the settlements as a form of closure for the plaintiffs.

“How does one ever have closure?” he said. “We believe in these young people and their future and want to support them in that.”

Before the 2013 merger, PECCAS was subjected to an extensive government probe which revealed a bevy of damning findings.

The investigation led by the Ministry of Child and Youth Services in Dec. 2011 - following a rash of child sex abuse charges against County foster parents - showed the agency was rife with significant internal conflicts recklessly placing vulnerable children in homes not properly screened and some cases not screened at all for months.

Kartusch said the agency has found better footing since the findings triggered amalgamation.

“I think we’re moving forward but will not forget the past,” he said.

Some concerns linger.

“I’m concerned that this may cause people to lose confidence in fostering or foster families,” he said, adding few bad apples aren’t representative of the whole bunch.

The 2013 statement of claims alleged “PECCAS is responsible, in fact and in law, for its own negligence and breaches of its statutory and fiduciary duties as well as for the negligence and breaches of duty committed by its servants, agents and employees,” states the claim, a copy of which was obtained by The Intelligencer in April 2013.

One statement of claim states, “PECCAS caused (the plaintiffs) permanent and extensive injuries and losses” ranging from alcohol and substance abuse to inability to trust, impairment of mental health, nightmares of abuse, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.

“They (plaintiffs) have incurred medical expenses and will continue to require therapy and medical attention,” the 2013 statement of claim adds.

Two of the former foster parents initially targeted in the claim were Walter Joseph Holm, 46, and his wife, Janet Holm, 49.

They pleaded guilty to several charges, including possession of child pornography, sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching and were sentenced in November 2011 to four- and three-year prison terms respectively.

Three of the five plaintiffs, now ages 21, 23, and 19, are linked to the Holms. It’s not known if they were the three of five now concluded.

Justice Geoff Griffin blasted the Holms for turning their home into a “sexual cult” while fostering 25 teenagers over the course of nine years.

The three plaintiffs further implied that PECCAS was “vicariously liable for the actions” of the Holms.

London’s child welfare agency squandered money on costly office renovations and highly paid, bloated management ranks, a just-released report by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services states.

The ministry put the Children’s Aid Society of London and Middlesex under review in late 2013 because the agency that cares for vulnerable children was running a deficit.

In a 25-page report kept under wraps for months, the ministry slams the CAS for budget deficits, having too many executives, paying them too much, its medical clinic and questionable expenses in its 2013-14 budget.

Highlights of the report, obtained by The Free Press after the paper filed a freedom-of-information request:

The CAS spent $300,000 to renovate a leased office at 685 Richmond St.
The agency shelled out $51,000 in parking fees.
22 executives were paid more than $100,000. The number at comparable agencies was 15.
The agency spent $50,000 in taxis, including $3,535 for one client during two months.
The bill for technology was nearly $85,600.
Included in the tab were 23 iPads ($19,600), $26,000 for remote access to desktops and $40,000 in other costs.

“It appears the CAS could have taken steps to reduce or eliminate its deficit in 2013-14, had necessary measures been implemented in a timely manner,” the report said.

The CAS moved into leased space at 685 Richmond St. from an office on Dundas St., acting director Regina Bell said.

“They moved walls, installed electric blinds, there was all kinds of money wasted there,” said Karen Cudmore, president of Local 116 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union that represent CAS workers.

The CAS has scaled back the Richmond St. office, Bell said. Employees there will move back to the agency’s Oxford St. headquarters in about a year and the Richmond office will close, she said.

The agency has trimmed staff and is cutting some programs and services, freeing up space at its headquarters. Details of the cuts to programs and services will be announced later this month.

Tracey MacCharles, the minister of Children and Youth Services, said in a statement her ministry made 37 recommendations to help the Children’s Aid Society of London and Middlesex whip its budget into shape.

“We expect that all CASes function effectively and efficiently, and that includes balancing their budgets,” she said in a statement about the ministry report.

The ministry is encouraged that the agency has acted on 25 of the recommendations and is following the handling of its finances closely, MacCharles said.

“We are optimistic that with the hard work and dedication of the new leadership and new executive, that the London-Middlesex CAS will return to balance. Until that happens, we will continue to provide support.”

As acting director, Bell is steering the agency as it tries to balance the books while meeting its obligations under the law to protect children.

Former director Jane Fitzgerald — at one time Ontario’s highest-paid child-welfare agency boss — is on a paid medical leave of absence.

Bell maintains that the CAS has made progress since the ministry’s report was completed in February 2014.

“I think the board and us have made a real effort to reduce costs. We get accountability, we want to be seen in a positive light,” she said. “Our staff are highly professional and proud of the work they do.”

In the report, the ministry forecast the CAS would have an accumulated deficit of $11.6 million by 2017. The estimate has been cut to $500,000, Bell said.

She cited other areas of progress:

The executive ranks will be cut to four from eight full-time equivalent, addressing a key concern in the report.
Other expenses, such as high taxi and volunteer driving costs, have been reduced and more cost controls are in place in those areas.
“We have reduced taxi cab use, we have tightened drivers’ expenses and decreased mileage significantly,” Bell said.

The report flagged the agency’s average cost of $12,000 for every open case. The average for other agencies is $9,000, adding $3 million to the CAS budget.

Many workers at the London and Middlesex CAS have a master’s degree in social work and therefore are paid more, Bell said.

“It’s a key variable. We have more (highly educated) staff than others. It increases the cost.”

Though the CAS has implemented nearly three-quarters of the ministry’s budget recommendations, the two sides remain divided over the agency’s medical clinic.

The agency spends about $300,000 a year for the clinic staffed by a pediatrician and nurses. The ministry doesn’t provide funding for the clinic and recommends the agency use community resources.

A committee is studying outsourcing the clinic’s work, said Michelle Bacon, project manager at CAS.

“Its primary purpose is to meet the medical needs of kids in care. It is highly valued by staff and care providers. It cannot be replicated in the community.”

Staff also oppose shutting the clinic, Cudmore said.

“I will fight to the death for our medical clinic, but the ministry is all over us to get rid of it,” she said.

“We have serious medical and mental health issues and we have well-qualified docs here.”

- - -

SHRINKING RESOURCES

London Middlesex Children’s Aid Society 2013-14 budget: $64.3 million (The Ministry of Children and Youth Services gave $3.9 million to pay off debt, $3.3 million for 2013 deficit)
Projected 2016-17: $61.3 million
Projected 2019-20: $55.5 million
Staff: 366, hourly and salaried
Children in care: 740, aged birth to 21.
RED FLAGS

Highlights of a provincial review of the 2013-14 budget of the London and Middlesex Children’s Aid Society:

$300,000 was spent on renovations to a leased office at 685 Richmond St. Parking fees for the office were $51,000.
$174,500 was spent on ­consultants.
The average cost of an open case was $12,000, $3,000 higher than the provincial average.
22 executives made more than $100,000; the average at comparable agencies was 15.
The agency had more executives, office administration and clerical staff compared with other agencies.
The bill for the agency’s medical clinic was $300,000. The agency doesn’t get funding for the clinic.
$50,000 was spent on taxis, including $3,535 during two months for one client.
Six volunteer drivers claimed more than $3,600 a month.
The agency shelled out $19,600 for 23 iPads, $26,000 for remote access to desktops, and $40,000 in other tech spending.