Mom of teen charged in 2 Point Douglas killings says child welfare system failed her son
‘What good is their help if your child ends up in a situation like this under their care?’ mother says
The mother of a 15-year-old boy facing murder charges in two apparently random August attacks in Winnipeg's Point Douglas neighbourhood says she's angry at the child welfare agency that cared for her son, and thinks it should share the blame for the situation he's now facing.
She says rather than support her, the agency forced her to hand over her son — who had several developmental challenges — but failed to give him the mental health care and supervision he needed.
"What's the sense in taking kids if they can't help them, but you … blame the parents the first round, saying that they can't help them? What good is their help if your child ends up in a situation like this under their care?" she said.
The boy's grandfather shared his daughter's frustration, saying he went from seeing his grandson struggle in school and in need of care to watching police arrest him.
"It still hurt, to see my young grandson coming out, and [he] had his hands up," the grandfather said. "I went and wept with him because I don't know where this is going for him."
WATCH | Grandfather's video of teen's August arrest:
The mom said it's important to talk about the issue now, because she knows there are other children out there like her son.
"What happened, it could happen to anyone, anywhere — but I really think things could have been different if we had the support," she said.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the woman and her father, who were interviewed at a location in their community, can't be named, because doing so would identify the 15-year-old accused.
On Monday, Aug. 22, people in Winnipeg woke to news that several people were attacked in a span of less than two hours in the Point Douglas area. The attacks, which police later said were random, left two people dead and one man in critical condition.
Two 15-year-old boys were charged with second-degree murder for the deaths of Danielle Dawn Ballantyne, 36, and Marvin William Felix, 54.
They're also charged with aggravated assault for injuries to another man in his 50s. The Winnipeg Police Service said Monday that man is still in critical condition.
Forced into care, mom says
The mother who spoke with CBC said her son started medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder from as early as Grade 3 or 4, but dosing was always a problem.
Sometimes the side-effects were so bad "he couldn't sleep and he couldn't eat," his mom said. Other times, the medication was weak and he'd lose control of his anger.
Dakota Ojibway Child and Family Services stepped in when he was 11 years old, after he "blew up at the school and did some damage" to school property, his mother said.
"We were just getting his pills sorted out … to get him on the right medication."
She said the only option the social worker gave her was to sign a voluntary placement agreement for six months, during which time they would get him stabilized on his medication. If they family refused, child and family services would apprehend the boy, his mother said.
"I was forced to sign that.… It wasn't by my choice. And then that was it," she said. "They didn't try and do any home visits to try and work with us, to try and fix the problem."
Poor supervision, few updates: mother
The boy became a ward of Dakota Ojibway Child and Family Services, a non-profit agency authorized by the province of Manitoba to provide child and family services to Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council members in the province.
His mother says he was placed in a group home in Brandon, Man., where he lived in what his grandfather described as "just a box he sleeps in" and was exposed to gang activity.
His mom said on one occasion, he was hit in the head with a bat by an adult in the community. He was shot at twice with a BB gun by a group of boys, and he was also attacked with bear mace, she said.
She said she pleaded to have him moved to a home where he'd be better supervised and get specialized care.
"His behaviour … [was] changing," she said.
He did receive some care in the group home, his mom said. One of the workers told her that an assessment was done, which found "he can't sit in the regular classroom — he won't fit in and he can't write for very long," she said.
However, she wasn't given any documentation outlining what the underlying issue was, she says.
She wanted him assessed for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, saying he can be fine one moment and then "just blow up somewhere." That assessment would help ensure he's on the right medication, she said.
But his mother says the home never got him stabilized on his medication — the reason he was initially taken into care — which she knew "was going to affect him in the long run."
The family says there were two or three voluntary placement agreements, but after each expired, the agency delayed returning the child, leaving him increasingly frustrated.
"I would have to catch him in a good mood to explain for him … that I had no control to go and get him," she said. "Otherwise they would apprehend him, then that was it — I'd lose him forever."
Dakota Ojibway Child and Family Services referred CBC's request for comment to their lawyer.
Dean R. Kropp, general counsel for the agency, said in an email that the Child and Family Services Act — under which the agency's group homes are regulated — prevents them from commenting on the allegations made by the child's family or responding directly to CBC's inquiries about the child or his family.
"The agency works very hard to provide appropriate and necessary resources to assist families and children," Kropp said, adding a parent can withdraw from a voluntary placement agreement at any time.
Further, Kropp said when a child is in care, whether under a voluntary agreement or apprehension, the parent remains the child's legal guardian and so "would have full authority not only to make decisions regarding medical treatment, but also to receive medical information."
'Don't sign anything': family advocate
Cora Morgan, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs' First Nations family advocate, said voluntary placement agreements are sometimes "sold to moms" by child welfare workers as the best option to get the counselling and support kids need.
Many parents accept them because they think it will help them to get their kids back sooner than if they are apprehended, she said.
Typically, however, so many requirements are eventually tacked on to the agreements that "many children became permanent wards of the system based on a voluntary placement agreement," Morgan said.
Her office has worked hard on convincing parents to avoid them, she said.
"Don't sign anything.… Let the agency prove that the child is in need of protection."
Morgan said it's also not uncommon for parents to be kept in the dark about what happens to their children once they enter the welfare system.
Few are ever granted the right "to be informed about what's going on in their child's life … even when they are supposed to be involved in medical decisions and different things," she said.
The result is not only a break in the bond between the parent and child, but parents who are left unable to hold child welfare services accountable, said Morgan.
The mother of the 15-year-old boy said she is scared for her son and can't stop thinking about the other families involved in the situation.
But "there's nothing I can do but pray for my son and pray for the families," she said.
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