HOME VIOLENCE IS NOT IMPORTANT TO GORD
Social workers in BC receive one day of training - one day - on the issue of domestic violence.
One day.
In 2007 in Oak Bay, Peter Lee killed his wife Sunny, his six-year old, Christian, Sunny's parents and then himself.
Sunny Lee had appealed to the police and half a dozen social agencies about her husband's threats and increasing violence.
A social worker, assigned to the case at one point met with Sunny once.
Once.
The social worker was instructed to speak to Christian the little boy.
He or she did not.
Yet, he or she concluded that the boy was safe.
How? Why?
The boy was stabbed to death by his father.
Does this social worker still have a job?
If so, why?
Mary Pole-Axed is the Minister of Children and Family Development.
She says the government is doing just fine in these cases.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond is BC's representative for Children and Youth.
She continues to be one of the best people we have in this country, speaking out courageously in defense of those who seem not able to defend themselves.
She is among many who have pointed to Gordon Campbell's cuts to domestic violence and child protection programs.
With what rationale can this dreadfully misguided politician feel that he is doing the right thing on any given day?
The Ministry of Children and Family Development has been a disgrace for at least a decade.
We have the highest rates of child poverty in the country. Supernatural, my ass.
We all know a simple truism.
If a guy's gonna kill someone, he'll kill someone.
But in this tragic case, dozens of people, not speaking to one another, not acting responsibly even in the shallowest ways, dropped the ball and an entire family has been murdered.
The care takers are not trained and they make lousy, deadly decisions.
The money is not there.
It could be tomorrow morning, if Gordon Campbell had a soul, instead of an ego.
2 comments:
"It could be tomorrow morning, if Gordon Campbell had a soul, instead of an ego"
How true David ........... and how unlikely.
How many men would not have been killed by police officers called to a domestic violence scene and how many children would have been spared violent scenes between their parents if some women would get the guts to leave a man instead of staying put long enough for the violence to escalate to even more horrific results? Oh wait. There is nowhere for the women to go. It's hard enough for a single woman with a good-paying job to find an affordable apartment in this city, let alone a battered woman with no financial resources, or with at least one dependent to feed and clothe. And if that battered woman and her children have a beloved pet that they want to take with them instead of abandoning to the abuser, they're really screwed. No one takes pets in apartments anymore. And THAT is why women stay with abusers, Gordo.
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