Innocent bystander attacked after CAS action

June 17, 2003 permalink

A Toronto woman bereft of her children by CAS has savagely attacked a neighbor suspected of snitching. This is a good reason for non-parents to take notice of Children's Aid -- even you could be its victim. Since links to newspaper articles rarely last for more than a few days, here is the story as reported by J. Kelly Nestruck in the National Post on June 13, 2003:

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A Scarborough woman has had her hands surgically reattached after they were severed by a machete-wielding neighbour.

Madeline Monast, a 44-year-old single mother of five, is in stable condition at Toronto Western Hospital, but whether she will regain the full or partial use of her hands is still uncertain, her sister, Dawn Irwin, said.

"She's holding up very well," Ms. Irwin said. "The hands have been reattached. There's a possibility that the left one will be OK. The right one doesn't look too promising at this time."

The attack on Ms. Monast took place on Wednesday moments after the police and officials from the Children's Aid Society seized her neighbour's four children. The neighbour, a 38-year-old single mother, allegedly attacked Ms. Monast believing she was the one who had alerted Children's Aid.

With her hands hanging by their tendons, Ms. Monast was rushed to Toronto Western Hospital, where she underwent an eight-hour "replantation" surgery.

Doctor Herb von Schroeder, a microvascular hand surgeon at Toronto Western, said 80% of the appendages his unit reattaches survive. "We'll typically estimate that an average amputation will get 80% of the sensation back and 80% of the mobility back."

It takes considerable strength to completely sever a hand, he said. "We see several machete injuries a year here and it takes a very significant force.... It's not a simple cut."

Dr. von Schroeder said the psychological effects of a serious hand injury are tremendous. "[Hands] are the way we interact with our environment, with each other."

A teenage neighbour, who lives behind Ms. Monast's residence on Charles Le Blvd. in the Victoria Park and Finch area, was shocked by the attack. He said Ms. Monast is a friendly woman who volunteered at Chester Le Public School. "I don't really see her as someone who could make someone want to do that," he said. The accused, who cannot be identified, was charged yesterday with aggravated assault and failure to appear in court.

The Toronto Sun's article on the subject of June 17, 2003 ended with the paragraph:

To donate to the CAS Madeline's Hope trust fund, call the Children's Aid Foundation at 416-923-0924 or visit www.cafdn.org

Even with blood on their hands, they still solicit your money.