CAS Impostor

June 6, 2012 permalink

A woman posing as a CAS worker entered the home of a CAS client, stripped a child, examined the child and left, saying that the regular caseworker would follow up. CAS says the woman was not one of their staffers. Maybe she was a fake, or maybe CAS lost track of one of its own.

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Woman poses as CAS worker, removes child’s clothes

June 6, 2012. 9:52 am, Posted by: Trevor Wilhelm

The sign at the Windsor-Essex Children's Aid Society building in Windsor, Ont. is shown in this 2004 file photo.

Tim Fraser / The Windsor Star

Amherstburg police are trying to track down a woman who visited a home posing as a Children’s Aid worker and removed a child’s clothes for a so-called inspection.

Police said the woman went to a home in the Amherstburg area on April 10 requesting to check on the well being of a child. She said she was an after-hours emergency case worker with the Children’s Aid Society, investigating a complaint that the parent had burned her child.

The woman took the child’s clothes off. After “inspecting” the child, the woman told the mother she would be contacted by her regular case worker as a follow up.

The parent called CAS when she didn’t hear from her regular caseworker after several days. The Children’s Aid Society checked their records and canvassed all their staff, but couldn’t find the person who did the visit.

The woman is about 30-years-old with a medium build and long black hair. She had what appeared to be CAS credentials.

Anyone with information can call Amherstburg police at 519-736-8559 and ask for Det. Const. Aaron Chambers.

Source: Windsor Star

Addendum: More details the next day.

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Police search for CAS imposter

Child stripped during bogus inspection

By Trevor Wilhelm, The Windsor Star June 7, 2012

Amherstburg police are trying to track down a woman who posed as a Children's Aid worker to gain access to a family's home, then stripped down their infant for an inspection.

Police said the imposter talked her way into the family's home by claiming CAS received a complaint that a parent had burned her child.

CAS executive director Bill Bevan said Wednesday his organization never received any complaint about a parent burning the child, something they've already told the mother involved.

"Whoever it was made a story up in order to gain access to the person's home," said Bevin. "That's what it appears like based on what the individual is saying. We have told her there was no complaint of that nature and we didn't send a worker out. It appears to be clearly an imposter and that's certainly worrisome."

Police said the woman went to a home in the Amherstburg area on April 10 requesting to check on the well-being of a child. She said she was an afterhours emergency case worker with the CAS, investigating a complaint that the parent had burned her child. Det. Const. Aaron Chambers wouldn't reveal the gender, but said the child was less than a year old.

The woman took the child's clothes off. After "inspecting" the infant, the woman told the mother she would be contacted by her regular caseworker as a followup.

The parent called CAS when she didn't hear from her regular caseworker after several days. The Children's Aid Society checked their records and canvassed all their staff, but couldn't find the person who did the visit.

"We have no record of this particular call, there is no record of any individual having gone out and there's no one that fits the description," said Bevin.

Chambers said the woman didn't inappropriately touch the child, but what she did is still disturbing.

"I think it would be concerning to everybody," said Chambers.

Bevin agreed. "If clothes were taken off a child, this would be a chargeable offence," said Bevin. "That's why we've worked cooperatively with the police."

The woman is about 30 years old with a medium build and long black hair. She had what appeared to be a lanyard issued by CAS to identify staff and caseworkers. Bevin said if the woman had CAS credentials, they were likely forged.

He stressed that people have the right to ask CAS workers for proper identification.

"The public should be comfortable in knowing they are indeed talking to one of our workers," he said. "That's the key thing here, I think. People are more than welcome to double check and call in about the worker if they're not certain who they are seeing."

Chambers said police are investigating if the woman had knowledge about the family and its CAS ties. If the woman did have inside information, police want to know how. He said the women hadn't met before the home visit.

Bevin said the family is involved with CAS. But he said he didn't know if the imposter had knowledge of that, or whether the person randomly knocked on a door.

twilhelm@windsorstar.com

Source: Windsor Star