A social worker from SJIB took police officers to the I Can Home on August 26th to remove a brother and sister who were placed at the home some four years ago. The two children in question ran away through the hills in Dutch Quarter to escape from the police and a social worker. SMN News was present when the police officers and three women, (the social worker, a teacher and the care giver of another home) went to the I Can Foundation and searched for the two children in the presence of other children at the home.
The judge decided that in the interest of the two children who are certainly traumatized by the incident should remain at the I Can Foundation until the outcome of the appeal hearing which might be heard as early as the end of September.
It should be noted that the social worker had obtained a verdict from the court of First Instance during the last week of August to remove the two children, but the older child a 16 year old boy protested. During the first hearing, the boy was denied a hearing even though the law states that any child over 12 has right to be heard. The mother of the two children was also not heard in the first hearing.
The young man claimed that he will not allow his sister to be placed at another home or family. The social worker's intentions were to place the little girl in another home while she places the boy at Crystal Home (MPO).
SMN News will bring you the outcome of the case when it is finalized in the courts.
