Grieving B.C. grandmother demands apology after grandson's death in foster care

Warning: details in this story are disturbing

A grieving grandmother from Vancouver Island looks down at the framed photo of her and her grandson and remembers the happy boy who loved to play outdoors.

 “When he saw me, he’d always run toward me, arms open: ‘Granny, granny,’” she recalled.

“And because he was so short, he would always hug my legs…then I’d bend down and I would give him lots of hugs and kisses,” she said.

“He was always happy back then,” she recalled.

Her grandson was just 11 when he died after being beaten in February 2021. It was just one of many beatings and acts of torment that he and his younger sister, both Indigenous, suffered at the hands of their Indigenous foster parents. Much of the abuse was captured on video cameras inside a home a judge in Chilliwack described as a “house of horrors.”

Abuse against the children included being punched, kicked, and hit with belts and pieces of wood. Neither the children nor their family or foster parents can be identified because of a court ban.

The grandmother said when her son’s boy was put in care, she called the Ministry of Children and Family Development and offered to care for the boy herself, but was refused.

“That’s my blood. I don’t know why I couldn’t take him,” she said.

She said once he went to the abusive foster parents, she was only able to speak with her grandson on the phone once and was told to make it quick as they were travelling and heading out of cell range.

“He got on and says, ‘Hi Granny, I love you granny. I miss you.’ And I said, ‘I miss you too, baby.’ And I could hear her (the foster mom) saying it’s time to hang up,” she said.

It would be the last time she heard her grandson’s voice. She said she tried reaching him through the foster mom repeatedly, but there would be no answer and no way to leave a message.

Later attempts to reach her grandson led to frustration as the foster mom’s phone was disconnected and “out of service,” the grandmother said.

In court, it was revealed that the ministry did not have contact with the boy for seven months prior to his death.

“The Ministry (of Children and Family Development) it’s just so broken,” the grandmother said in an interview with CTV News.

“I want the minister to apologize. They haven’t said anything to me,” she said.

The grandmother and the boy’s aunt are calling for a public inquiry, as well as assurances foster children are seen regularly by ministry staff. She also wants better screening of foster parents.

“I think (the ministry) failed miserably because I would have a harder time adopting a cat from the SPCA (than becoming a foster parent),” the aunt said.

Since June, CTV News has repeatedly requested an interview with the Children’s Minister Mitzi Dean, but was told each time she was away or unavailable.

However, her ministry released a statement saying that as soon as the ministry was alerted to the conditions of the home, “immediate steps were taken to make sure any children that had been previously connected with that home were in a safe place.”

The statement said children in care are to be seen at least every 90 days by a social worker.

It’s unclear why the boy who died had not been seen for seven months. The ministry said changes have been made to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

The ministry also said that extra measures are now in place at various levels throughout the ministry to ensure:

• Every child and youth who were the responsibility of the local office received in-person visits to assess their safety and wellbeing.
• Policies and procedures that should have been followed in this circumstance are being followed with every child and youth who is in the care of government.
• All children and youth in care receive regular, private, in-person visits, so that frontline workers can establish a good relationship and determine exactly how the children and youth feel about the home where they live.

The ministry said staff associated with the case are no longer involved with the ministry, but that they couldn’t say if they were fired or quit due to privacy rules.

The ministry said it has a thorough process for becoming a foster caregiver, but that “in this specific case the proper procedures were not followed. That is not acceptable, and extra measures have been put in place to ensure that existing Ministry polices and procedures are being adhered to with every child and youth who is the care of government.”

Meanwhile, the former foster parents are now serving a 10-year sentence for manslaughter and aggravated assault.

“I was horrified that it was only 10 years long for monsters that do that to a child,” the boy’s aunt said.

His family is now fighting for better care for other foster kids. And they are doing it to honour the boy’s memory.

“His spirit is out there, but now it’s our turn to be his voice,” the grandmother said.