I've been posting case examples from the Representative for Children and Youth report Fragile Lives, Fragmented Systems.
Here's number four; the first three are in posts below.
You can read and judge if the system is working to protect children.
Case Example
The mother of this infant was involved with MCFD child protection social workers during her pregnancy. She had two toddlers. The family lived on reserve in a home that had extensive mould. The pregnancy was assessed as high risk, and the mother was confined to bed rest. A service agency was contracted to provide assistance to the family to address housing- related issues. One of the stated goals of the service provider was for the family to find adequate housing. During the final weeks of her high-risk pregnancy and in the first few weeks following the infant�s birth, it appears that the infant�s mother was expected to locate adequate living conditions. In the months following the infant�s birth, it appears that the only help the mother received from the service provider was housing lists and contact phone numbers for low-income housing agencies. The infant was brought to the hospital three times between the ages of one month and five months for coughing, vomiting, fever and breathing difficulties. At approximately six weeks old, the infant was diagnosed with respiratory syncytial virus. At that same time a sibling was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with pneumonia. In the hospital the infant�s mother advised the treating physician of her concerns with regards to the mould in the family�s residence.
A few weeks after the infant was born, an MCFD social worker wrote a letter to B.C. Housing and a low-income housing provider requesting that the family be given priority on a waitlist for housing because all of the children were frequently ill with respiratory illnesses thought to be related to the mould in the house. A year later the family was still waitlisted for housing and had to move off reserve into a motel with the young children when the infant was one year old.
One day while the mother was at work, the children were being cared for by their father. The infant was placed to sleep on an adult bed in the room, propped up with a pillow and covered with a blanket. The infant began to vomit and defecate. The infant�s breathing became noisy and irregular, and the infant became unresponsive. Emergency health services were called and took the infant to the hospital, where the infant was pronounced dead.
No comments:
Post a Comment