Stop Donating to CAS!

October 27, 2008 permalink

Mary Janiga is addressing a letter to CAS donors, alerting them to the atrocities purchased with their money, and asking them to withdraw support.

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Sunday, October 26, 2008

An open letter....

This is a letter that is being sent out to all the contributors of the Grape Expectations Gala event on October 27, 2008 and we will also be using it to bring to the attention of the corruption of the Children's Aid Society of Hamilton and the Province of Ontario.

October 27, 2008

Dear xxxxxxx:

Child Assist Services was first formed in March 2005 out of a growing concern of a number of families in the Hamilton area that are in contact and are directly affected by the Children’s Aid Societies in this community. We are a group dedicated to improving the plight of the poor, the disadvantaged, and those affected by the Children’s Aid Society. We hold public awareness campaigns, public protests, and other informative sessions, along with providing referrals to the appropriate agencies and also to bring the awareness to light about the Children’s Aid Society and the pain they inflict on parents and children of our community.

We have supported Andrea Horwath’s (MPP NDP for Hamilton Center) Private Bill 93 and the Ombudsman Oversight of Children’s Aid Societies in this province. Only with accountability of this agency will we ensure the rights of the families and children are protected in this community and province.

On February 7, 2005 it was announced that there was a donation of the largest contribution to the Children's Aid Society of Hamilton's history, $500 000 dollars. This contribution made it possible for their name to be enshrined on a building that houses the Children's Aid Society of Hamilton.

The Children's Aid Society purchased this building for approximately 4.5 million dollars and did a further renovation of 1.5 million dollars for its grand opening on this date. Dignitaries and politicians and members of the public, along with staff, clients, their families and friends attended this grand event. If not for all the hype and festivities of this gala event the public would have missed what was really happening in their beautiful City of Hamilton.

I am writing this letter to bring to your attention the injustices committed by the ones that you contributed to. They led you down the garden path of helping children, families and those in need of the Children's Aid Society of Hamilton. I admit there are families that do need the assistance and I am not downplaying their efforts. I am just one of many families in this community that has faced injustice, despair and humiliation at the hands of a non-registered SOCIAL WORKER and agency members.

Every year for the past 3 years we hold an event that coincides with the Hamilton Children’s Aid Society’s Gala fundraiser event called the Grape Expectations. This will be our 4th year of public protest and a public awareness campaign of the injustices that families have been inflicted and sometimes destroyed by the Hamilton Children’s Aid Society and their sister agencies across this province. With a budget of $50 million dollars in the Hamilton Children’s Aid Society they have 633 children in foster care this year. There are 53 Children’s Aid Societies in the province of Ontario and there are over 29 000 children in our foster care system in Ontario. The Hamilton Children’s Aid Society is guilty of intimidation, falsifying affidavits, fabricating evidence, they enlist the services of the police to act as accessories to these crimes, breaking doors down without warrants, apprehending children without just cause, strictly to raise money, and have a total disregard for the safety of children while they are in foster care.

In 2006 there were 83 children that died while in the care of CAS in Ontario. In 2007 there were 90 children that died while in the care of the CAS in Ontario. Please refer to the OACAS website regarding the backup of these statistics in Ontario. http://www.oacas.org/pubs/external/index.htm

Just under 1/5th of the children in Ontario are dying in the care of the Children’s Aid Society.

The family court system in Ontario acts like and is nothing more than a kangaroo court, and our organization has direct information that most of the judges on the bench in Hamilton are acting illegally by working with CAS.

We fought a second world war in Canada and Canadians died protecting our way of life and yet we have an agency that is using Nazi tactics that is abusing our way of life.

For the wine industry being so progressive and so well known around the world, it is a shame that they are supporting such an abusive association such as Children’s Aid Society.

If xxxxxxxxxxxx really wants to help support children and families in the community as your company says it does, then I would suggest that your company stop funding the CAS until the CAS agrees to be more accountable for the way it operates. Better yet, fund some other causes that ensures that money more directly helps those in need. All we can say in the many cases that the Society is involved in they must have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars intruding and destroying families with absolutely nothing done except to harass and intimidate them all. We have heard of others in my community who have had similar experiences with CAS

The millions of dollars that CAS has spent on workers to intimidate and harass families would have been much better spent on providing benefits directly to families and children in need directly in the form of financial assistance.

I believe that your company has been misled by supporting the Children's Aid Society of Hamilton, which is doing more harm than good to children and families. The CAS should be made to clean up its act before receiving money from private companies like xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If anyone from xxxxxxxxxxx would like to speak directly to me about this then please feel free to contact me at my phone number listed xxx xxx xxxx. I find it troubling to learn that xxxxxxxx is providing funding to an agency, which maintains a veil of secrecy over its operations and clearly is hurting many children and families in my community.

Sincerely,

Child Assist Services

Representatives

Posted by maryjaniga at 7:34 PM

Source: Mary Janiga blog entry for October 26, 2008