I do apologize for the silence for so long this week but with all the emotions and stress of this trial, with no legal counsel to help, I needed the down time after court each day to just focus on my family. So here is your update.
Monday started off with my landlord testifying. He attested to giving us permission to build the extra room in our home and how we are as tenants. Along with how we have kept the home over the past 5+yrs we have been renting it. He attested to us always paying our rent on time, how we have done some big improvements like replacing lino and painting and that we do all minor repairs ourselves. He attested to us picking that home because the schools all the kids would need are within a few minutes walk from the house and how there are many parks, a pool and an ice rink all within a few minutes walk. He attested to overseeing 50-60 rentals and that in his eyes we are one of the best tenants he has ever had. We adore our landlord and see him and his wife as family. He also attested to us informing him right from the first interview about our picking the home for the amount of rooms it has for all the kids.
Next came my longest friend whom I have known since high school. He attested to how it was while I was a victim of domestic violence. How my ex did all he could to isolate me from even him. He also attested to the fact that even at that time though I always had a clean home, my kids were well kept and I was not abusive to them at all. He also attested to as soon as I cut out my abusive ex and was off the meds that had affected me so badly that were being prescribed by my doctor, that I turned my whole life around. That he has been to our home many times and how it appears, how happy my children are. He also attested to us doing Holiday Helpers last Christmas to help 50 families in our community and that it was him and his company that gave us the secret santa gift of the gift cards at Christmas as he and his partner did not think it was right that we helped so many and would lose our Christmas for it. I had suspected but hearing him say it on the stand made it hard for me to keep back the tears. He also attested to my desire to be a wife and a mother was all I ever wanted to be since the entire time he has known me.
Next came my sons current worker. She testified that it is was not her job to go through the file to check for facts even if another worker brought it to her attention that facts were now being suspect for being completely wrong about everything. She confirmed the records I got into evidence as being hers and how accurate they are and so on. Wish I could tell you what was in those records as it would blow all your minds what goes on behind the scenes when workers know things and how far they will go to stop any parent from being able to get their children returned so as to keep an adoption going forward. It would shock most of you but I found it sickening and very scary that none of these people had any issue with doing this to families. I do respect her for the fact that she was honest about the emails and records but for her continued support in causing so much pain to my family I have no respect for. She did state she would not consider re-evaluating me and that once a child has a permanency worker it is not there job to consider parents if a PGO was granted no matter what info comes forward. So people if you have all the proof in the world to show that a PGO was granted on false information, omitted facts and on malice it doesn't matter. As far as many workers see it, if the PGO was granted nothing else matters. My question then is why does the legislation say that if no adoption has occurred then the parents can access this legislation to try and get the PGO re-evaluated? Why does it not say if the file is moved to a permanency worker you can't access it?
Next came the children's therapist and I liked her. She was very open and very nice. She did admit to having no knowledge of very important information, she also acknowledge that there is a chance that there is an attachment there from my sons to me. She testified to the attachment that is there between the couple and my sons and how continued therapy is going. If we win I do know I want her to help lead the therapy and finding the therapist here to work with all of us.
Next was the assessor of my children. I liked him too. He spoke of the attachment that was there between the couple and my sons and that is developing and his concerns if it is suddenly cut. Yet he also stated it is like a Chrystal ball in predicting what could happen. There is no guarantees to either side. He could not guarantee that with a slow transition, proper therapy and community supports that my children would suffer irreparable harm. He also stated that RAD can be overcome. He also stated he found it very concerning how much information was completely omitted, changed or so on when I pointed out the things that came out the past two weeks in court. Very concerning he stated as I listed off the biggest issues that had gotten on the record. He also stated no one mention if my sons had told anyone of a desire to move home to me or not and that he could not answer the question of the attachment of my sons to me as he has never met me or observed us together. But he also stated clearly that attachment is just one piece of the puzzle that the judge has to look at in determining this whole situation. After his testimony he sat in the court room and continued to watch. When we were done I got up and went to shake his hand and tell him I thought his report was in no way bias as he had stated a concern that one of the parties might think that. He then shocked me completely. He said he had witnessed many self litigated cases over the years with the majority being "Gong Shows" as he put it. He then smiled at me and said that with me though, from what he saw I was the most professional and organized self litigant he had ever met. WOW I was in shock and thanked him. For me the biggest thing he helped with was when the department questioned him at first they tried to cover up all the huge issues that have come out, that have not been disclosed, lied about or omitted by claiming there was only one issue he got that was a mistake which was a time line error. He stated if that is the only mistake then it is a concern but not a huge one but if there were others he would find that very concerning and depending on what they were he would want to dig further. So when I started to list them off, from records that are suppose to be documents made for a provincial court that showed falsified facts, huge omissions and so on he was very concerned he stated about them.
He was the last testimony on Tuesday. Wednesday we gave our closing statements. Mine was 13 pages long but even the judge stated that he could tell I put a lot of time and effort into it. Maybe I will post a vetted copy of my closing statement at some point but right now I won't be. Tomorrow is the possible verdict. There is a lot for the judge to think about. We could still lose. In fact I am preparing to lose because that is all I know. I know that justice very rarely happens. I know how powerful Children Services is. But I have the abuse caused by that monster on the record now. I have many of the glaring issues and possible crimes by many workers on the record as well. No longer hidden in the shadows. And I know, after all this that no matter the verdict I am not done. If I lose this, I still can go to the Supreme Court and I now have the grounds to do so. And I also know I have the grounds to file a clear Humane Rights complaint as well and will be doing that in the near future as well. I think I have shown I am not a mother who will just give up.
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