And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (S.I.S.I.S.) writes: NATIVES' FAMILY AGENCY QUESTIONED The Province, March 10, 1999 by Kathy Tait [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. It is provided for reference only.] The children and families ministry is looking into 50 cases where social workers and others allege Squamish Nation children have been or are at risk. Sources inside and outside the nation say the investigation centres on Squamish-area and North Vancouver native children left at risk because of top-level decisions of the Squamish Nation's Ayas Men Men child and family service agency. The agency has some ministry-delegated child-protection authority for Squamish Nation children. The Squamish Nation is one of 120 of B.C.'s 197 native bands currently at some stage of attaining full responsibility for child welfare. According to sources, cases being investigated include: - Numerous sexual assaults of native children, including two foster children repeatedly sexually assaulted in Ayas Men Men foster homes, with no internal review being done. - A brother and sister repeatedly sent home to live with their father, a severe chronic alcoholic and single parent, after being put in foster care by social workers. - Children living where their mother's boyfriend, who sexually molested them, still lives. - Foster parents who are known to deal drugs, including cocaine, placing their own children and foster kids at risk. About 2,800 adults and children are members of the Squamish Nation, all but 400 living on reserves. Of the total population, 700 are children 12 and younger. Amid the investigation, a senior social worker left the agency this week, the third to do so recently. According to sources, Hennie Kerstiens resigned Monday after she was reprimanded by program director Gloria Wilson. Her resignation came just days after Kerstiens and other social workers told the ministry about numerous cases of children left at risk. "(Kerstiens) was going to be called up before the band council and she felt there was no sense in trying to defend herself in a kangaroo court," said one source. Kerstiens was not available for comment, and Wilson did not return phone calls. Ministry officials said they could not comment on personnel decisions, including resignations, within the Ayas Men Men program. Nor would they confirm the number of cases being investigated. But last week Ross Dawson, child-protection director for the ministry, said the investigation could be finished by the end of this month or "much longer if it requires us to audit a large number of files." With Kerstiens gone, only two of the program's five qualified social workers remain at work. Cindy Blackstock left several weeks ago and Rod Kingsfield was fired in January. Kingsfield had questioned program directors' handling of cases and the termination from foster care of his client Amanda Tychonick, 18, after she complained about her foster home. Since then, Tychonick says, the Mount Currie band has put her at the bottom of its two-year waiting list for expenses so she can go to college. "I was hoping to start college in September," she said. Kingsfield demanded a full-scale government investigation, saying the ministry is dumping responsibility for child protection on native people and not monitoring the results. Stan Parenteau, deputy director of aboriginal services, has since promised the ministry will monitor all native child-service agencies to ensure they comply with provincial standards. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Letters to The Province - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
