Child services grills mom after she let her kids play alone in their backyard

[Deleted]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/na...596/story.html

Child services grills Winnipeg mom after she let her kids play alone in their fenced-in backyard

WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg woman says she was reported to and investigated by Child and Family Services simply for letting her children play in her backyard.

Jacqui Kendrick, a stay-at-home mom, says a CFS worker showed up unexpectedly in early April, saying they had received a complaint about her children being unsupervised.

Kendrick has three children ages two, five and 10, and says they often played in her fenced-in backyard after school.

Kendrick says she’s either with them or watching them from her living room, though she says her oldest child also helps out by looking after her younger siblings.

But she says because a file has been created, she’s worried that any future complaints could end up with her children being taken from her.

She also says the grilling she underwent from the CFS worker left her in tears.

“(The worker was) asking me about if we’ve ever dealt with CFS before, what my childhood was like, how I punish my children,” Kendrick says. “She had to look to see where my kid slept. She had to see if we had enough food in the house.”

CFS officials did not respond to requests for an interview.

Winnipeg psychologist Dr. Toby Rutner says children should be as independent as their abilities allow.

He says with increased use of the Internet, “it has created a situation where everyone feels entitled to give an opinion, but this approach that says everyone’s opinion is equal in value.”

He calls the case common passive-aggressive behaviour; where in the past, concerned neighbours would have had to knock on someone’s door, now they can make an anonymous complaint.

Kendrick says her children have been well trained in how to be safe.

“We’ve taught both the (older) kids so far that you look after each other. That’s kind of the point. The older ones should be looking after the younger ones,” Kendrick says.

“My 10-year-old is very responsible. We’ve taught the older ones already the whole stranger danger, and they know what to do. When my five-year-old’s out there, she knows she’s not supposed to go up to the fence.”

Manitoba’s Child and Family Services Act states a child 12 or older can be left home alone unsupervised. It doesn’t say anything about children playing in a backyard.

[Deleted]

another day in america who cares

Infracted- Contribute to the thread when posting.

[Risale]

another day in america who cares

Uhm Canada you muppet.

[Sorrior]

another day in america who cares

I think this is England actually...

- - - Updated - - -

Uhm Canada you muppet.

Or this lol

This could honestly be any of the three countries mentioned sadly all are going nuts

[Kellorion]

Calgary, Winnipeg is in England?

[Aggrophobic]

Well, isn't it good that child services actually swings around and takes a look whenever there's something being reported?
I can imagine the outcry if a report was filed, something happened and it turned out child services never looked it up.
In this case, it was obviously nothing but how are they supposed to know this if they don't actually take a look?

[Septik]

another day in america who cares

Great reading, friend, it was in Canada.

On topic; the thing with FACS, if a report is filed, regardless of how absurd it is, they are required to investigate the complaint. They aint going to show up and tell you to stop letting your kids play outside. The person that filed the report probably claimed the mother was no where near the kids and that they were all by themselves. Mothers going to say she was in the house in view of the kids. It becomes a case of he-said-she-said but they still have to write in their system that some one went out there and investigated.

I know this for fact as we went through a similar situation where some nosy fuck head neighbour didnt like that when my kid was throwing a hissy fit outside when he was 5 that my wife dragged him into the house. They came, asked us and my boy a couple of questions and left, never heard back from them.

Calgary, Winnipeg is in England?

Lol. Calgary is a city in Alberta, where the news site is based. Winnipeg is a city in Manitoba, which is another canadian province.

[Ahovv]

Does the backyard include any dangerous/sharp equipment? If that was the case, I could understand a concern over lack of supervision. But if there's nothing inherently harmful in the vicinity, I don't see why anyone would care.

[Graeham]

She is, unfortunately, an easy target. There's no shortage of horror stories regarding terrible things happening to innocent children due to neglect or abuse. As someone who endured it myself as a child, however, I know all too well that in many cases the people who are meant to intervene don't - because they're much too busy pursuing cases that they can very quickly and easily be dealt with. Cases that can, unfortunately, escalate to the point where genuine great parents are punished and hounded when they never should have been targeted at all.

Yes, it's 'good' that they showed up to investigate a complaint but at the same time there's a great many genuine complaints that end up being ignored until it's much too late.

[Deleted]

It becomes a case of he-said-she-said but they still have to write in their system that some one went out there and investigated.

But even then there is a so what - You are not allowed to leave a sub 12 year old alone home, but there is no requirement you keep watch over the sub 12 year old indoors either.

[apples]

But even then there is a so what - You are not allowed to leave a sub 12 year old alone home, but there is no requirement you keep watch over the sub 12 year old indoors either.

its called feel good legislation

its only purpose is to make people feel good, not actually help anyone or anything

[Malachi256]

Does the backyard include any dangerous/sharp equipment? If that was the case, I could understand a concern over lack of supervision. But if there's nothing inherently harmful in the vicinity, I don't see why anyone would care.

Haha, left out of the article, "Mom is also an aspiring artist and was working on new sculpture in backyard..."

[Varanus]

Back in my day(yeah I said it!) we were free to roam unsupervised by the time we were like 6 or 7. Me, my brother and our 2 friends used to just hang out in the woods for hours, without any adult supervision. When our parents went to the store, for whatever reason, we were allowed to stay home if we chose. But you know, it was a different time, when people weren't overly paranoid and neighbors minded their own business. : /

[minteK917]

Its a fensed backyard, if you need to sit directly next to your 10 years old when shes playing on your propriety thats paranoid or you know your parenting was lacking. We are in a similar condition to this mother, we have a 9 years old girl and 7 years old boy. They play in our backyard all the time, the surpervision is periodic. We dont live in the middle of a warzone its Canada, there is less murder a year in my city then per day in cities of the united states of the same size "cough " chicago " cough".

[Chipskunk]

DAMN! why did i have to be born years ago? hell, my parents let me and my siblings pretty much play on the beach all day (they'd look off the deck every hour or so to make sure we were ok, or call us up for meals) unsupervised. neighbors didn't call, people walking down the beach didn't stop and ask where our parents were. we were told to stay on our property, not go in the lake without supervision. maybe they can be prosecuted now for not being "responsible" and scarring us kids with semi-independance. Hell, we even climbed 150ft+ sand dunes just to see if we could run all the way down to the water without falling down, which my parents laughed at. hell, they even joined in. it kinda hurts to fall in sand while running. where was cps?


this is sarcasm, btw.

[Independent voter]

Canada is the Sweden of the Americas.

[Demona3]

My kids go out to our backyard alone. We have a fenced in backyard and our front gate has a padlock on it. Let CPS come. I dare them.

[Sykol]

Here in Canada, we treat stay at home moms like they're at a job. Would your supervisor be cool with you leaving a project unattended while you did something personal on work time? No? Then we don't tolerate it here. Sit out back with your kids or find new children to look after. Or something. I forget what the argument was.

[Arthas242]

Its a fensed backyard, if you need to sit directly next to your 10 years old when shes playing on your propriety thats paranoid or you know your parenting was lacking. We are in a similar condition to this mother, we have a 9 years old girl and 7 years old boy. They play in our backyard all the time, the surpervision is periodic. We dont live in the middle of a warzone its Canada, there is less murder a year in my city then per day in cities of the united stats of the same size "cough " chicago " cough".

you do realize you will feel the wrath of the SJW's for being racist? *because all that crime is in downtown chicago*

[minteK917]

Here in Canada, we treat stay at home moms like they're at a job. Would your supervisor be cool with you leaving a project unattended while you did something personal on work time? No? Then we don't tolerate it here. Sit out back with your kids or find new children to look after. Or something. I forget what the argument was.

Must be an Alberta thing. The red necks of Canada going places!