Aylmer Parents Join CAS

August 1, 2001 permalink

Today the London Free Press reported that 82 members of the Church of God in Aylmer Ontario have joined their local Children's Aid Society as members. In another action similar to Dufferin, the church leader, Rev Henry Hildebrandt, has been charged with a crime for disclosing the identities of the abducted children. This article was withdrawn from the web in record time.

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London Free Press, London Ontario, Wednesday, August 1, 2001

Church blitzes CAS

Mass sign-up targets society board, pastor vows to fight charge

By STEPHANIE CESCA, Free Press Reporter

ST. THOMAS -- 

Church of God members swarmed the St. Thomas-Elgin Children's Aid Society yesterday and signed up to become members and influence the agency that took away seven of their children a month ago.

Meanwhile, the pastor of the church declared his innocence after being charged with identifying a child involved in a court proceeding -- a provincial offence -- after the identities of the seven children were revealed on a Web site.

Eighty-two church members signed up with the CAS, outnumbering current society members by 25, in a bid to voice their support for corporal punishment.

"Whatever it takes, whatever it takes," said Rev. Henry Hildebrandt, the church's pastor. "I hope to influence this agency and for it to become more balanced."

The church, which believes in spanking children with sticks and straps, says it's time to play a more active role in the CAS and hopes to sit on the board of directors, which is elected each June.

But the CAS says the church's membership will have a limited impact if it wants to make change.

"They can't change anything that's already here," said board member Janet Hagerty. "Things are mandated down and that's how social workers work. Everyone follows the same mandate, the same set of risk-assessment tools."

All Ontario Children's Aid agencies follow regulations set by the province's Child and Family Services Act.

But CAS members can vote on who sits on the board of directors, which approves budgets and sets other, more minor, policies.

"It's time to find out who is who and what is what and find out how we get involved because obviously we weren't represented and it seems like there's a real need for our diversity here in the agencies," Hildebrandt said.

Marijke den Bak, the society's acting director, welcomed the new members.

"We're not concerned about them wanting to become members, no," she said.

But she also said the Church of God will not influence the society's position on corporal punishment.

The seven children who were taken from their parents are back home, pending a court hearing Sept. 6.

Hildebrandt faces his own trial Aug. 9 after being charged under the Child and Family Services Act with identifying a child.

Pictures of the seven children were published on a Web site dedicated to the case.

"I don't know who posted them, I don't know who provided them, I did not have the pictures," Hildebrandt said. "I did not supply any information or whatever. I didn't create (the site). I was not involved in it."

On conviction, the charges carry a maximum fine of $10,000 or three years in jail.

Aylmer police say no one else will be charged because the operator of the site lives in another province.

The law firm representing the seven children's parents say the charge against Hildebrandt isn't expected to interfere with the children's case.

Source: London Free Press