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Foster Squalor
June 23, 2006 permalink
Gaetane Jarvinen was a foster mother who cared for children on behalf of the Province of British Columbia. Her landlord, Ray Headrick, was grossed out by unsanitary conditions in the home and repeatedly complained to the BC Ministry of Children and Families. When his complaints were ignored, he called CTV, which produced a report.
Child protectors routinely complain of clutter in a home, finding fault with normal living conditions — feces in the cat litter, dirty dishes piled up before loading the dishwasher, laundry in a heap, the inevitable food spoilage. The Jarvinen home was not one of those, but was genuinely unhealthy.
CTV has two sets of reports on this incident:
A social worker visited the home a day before CTV and found it acceptable. (Or maybe she signed the report without making the visit, it has happened before). The Ministry claimed that only one complaint had been received from the landlord. A week after the removal of her foster children, the foster mother continues to receive foster payments of $1600 per month. The Ministry said she had been a foster parent for three years. Later, they said five years. Still later, seven years.
