Institutional failures, dismissed warning signs factors in deaths of eight children, report says

Institutional failures, dismissed warning signs factors in deaths of eight children, report says ANJA KARADEGLIJA OTTAWA THE CANADIAN PRESS PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO Open this photo in gallery: Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner has introduced a private member's bill to curb parental alienation claims. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. A new report on child murders says institutional failures – and warnings from mothers that officials dismissed – played a role in the deaths of eight children in Canada. “Our analysis reveals that significant warning signs were present before each death but did not result in adequate protective action,” says the report, drafted by the National Association of Women and the Law and law professors at the University of Sherbrooke. “Mothers (and, in one case, a grandmother) who had previously identified safety risks were disbelieved or penalized, while the children were left in contact with fathers whose abusive conduct was already known to institutions,” the report says. The report, published Thursday, analyzes the deaths of eight children in five different cases. It says in all of the cases, family members expressed concerns about the safety of the children and “repeatedly reached out” to police and family courts. In one 2019 case, a seven-year-old girl was found unconscious in her room in Granby, Que., and later died in hospital. She had been placed in her father’s custody after being raised by her paternal grandparents. Her grandmother had warned authorities there was a serious risk of sexual abuse, the report says. But she “lost custody after being perceived as hostile for reporting the dangers the girl was exposed to while in her son’s care,” the report says. The report cites several institutional failures in the case. It says the director of youth protection did not push for home visits and no action was taken after the girl was removed from school for a month. The report says the child’s stepmother was found guilty of manslaughter and false imprisonment and the father pleaded guilty to false imprisonment. The report authors are scheduled to present their work at a press conference on Parliament Hill Thursday morning. They will be joined by Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner, who has introduced a private member’s bill that looks to curb parental alienation claims. Her…