Crystal, with the only photo she has of her son Ashton. He was only 4 years old when he died in foster care in 2008. Photo: Brandi Morin/APTN

by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff

It was 7 years ago that Crystal Carifelle saw her son for the last time. It had been 3 years since she had seen him when she received a phone call that her little boy was dying. She and his daddy raced to the hospital where she was told that she had 5 minutes to say goodbye, but she wasn’t permitted to touch him. When she reached out to touch him, security guards escorted her away. They told her shortly after that he was gone.

Excerpt from APTN National News:

She said she believes that if the foster family would’ve taken Ashton to hospital sooner, he may still be alive.

Crystal was told that her son had diarrhea for the previous 12 days and started running a fever. He died from dehydration. The foster family reportedly knew the 4 year old was sick, but “not that sick,” and they didn’t take him to the hospital until it was too late.

Ashton – loved by his mother, but died when social services took him away from her. Source: ATPN/courtesy of the family

Ashton was taken by Child Protective Services when he was 9 months old. He was born premature and had some medical issues. After he had a severe seizure, social workers came to the hospital and seized him from his mother’s custody, accusing her of endangering him. But it was in CPS’ care that he died, arguably from medical neglect.

Excerpts:

For years afterward she was too scared to speak out about what happened because of fears of retaliation by social workers to her other children in care.

“But now I’m tired about hearing about all these little babies getting hurt by the system and nobody’s saying anything. I myself seen and witnessed children getting abused inside the system and told them and nothing was done,” said Carifelle.

Now she’s seeking reparation. Carifelle said she previously consulted a lawyer that didn’t work out. But she said she wants to fight for justice for her son and to prevent the same from happening to others.

Medical Kidnappings Happening in Canada, But They Just Aren’t Reported as Much

We have covered many stories of Medical Kidnappings in the United States, but what few Americans realize is that Canada may be just as bad. They just don’t talk about it as much. There are activists in Canada who work tirelessly to expose the injustice, but the Canadian media reports these stories even less than the U.S. media, partly due to governmental censorship in the media.

Up until just a year ago, Canadian parents were banned from posting or publicizing the names and photos of their children if they died in foster care. Mother and activist Velvet Martin is largely responsible for that ban being lifted. She began fighting the archaic law after her daughter Samantha died after spending much of her life in foster care.

Velvet Martin fights for Canadian families. Source: Samantha’s Law Facebook page

However, Canadian parents are still often banned from posting pictures on social media of their children who are in foster care. Numerous parents have confided to Medical Kidnap that they would be taking a huge risk if they were to allow their stories to be told publicly. They have said that children tend to go missing or their bodies are found if their parents take their stories to the public. There is much fear.

Marcky Herrmann Refused to Be Silenced

When we first began speaking with Marcky Herrmann’s parents about him being medically kidnapped in Alberta, Canada, they asked if we could publish the story anonymously – they were that afraid for his life. However, Marcky bravely decided to risk any retaliation from CFS (Child and Family Services), and allow Medical Kidnap to tell his story to the world. The resourceful teen found many creative ways to get information to his family, and onto a Facebook page created for him, even though he himself was forbidden access to the internet. He refused to be silenced, and he was terrified about what would happen to him if he didn’t speak up and find a way to escape the system.

At that time, we were not permitted to post any photos of Marc, so his first story contains no personal pictures.

See his original story here: Medically Kidnapped Teenager In Canada Pleads To Be Returned To His Family

Written by Marcky Herrmann while in captivity. Source: A Child in Canada Facebook page

The Herrmann family was originally from Germany, but had immigrated to Canada in order to be able to homeschool. However, the tyranny they found in Canada under their Child Protective System reminded them more of their historical homeland under Hitler than anything they had expected from mild-mannered Canada.

The German Embassy got involved with Marcky’s family, and told them that, because he was a German citizen, they had every right to publish photos of their son. So we did in our next expose piece:

Was Teenager Marc Herrmann Medically Kidnapped As Part of a Cover-Up for Malpractice in Canada?

Marcky was threatened by the foster family, Child Protective Services, and even the judge over the articles, and they demanded that he retract them, telling him he would never see his family again if he didn’t. The opposite, of course, was true. They were trying to bully him into silence. They labeled this brilliant young philosopher as “retarded,” so they would have an excuse to keep him in the system past the age of 18. They even reportedly had a strange man waiting in the wings ready to pay thousands of dollars to take custody of him when he turned 18.

But the German Embassy intervened, and was able to help Marcky and his family to escape back to Germany. See story: Medically Kidnapped Teen and Family Escape Canada: Speak Out on Abuses

Now, Marcky continues to fight for Canadian children who are still trapped in the system. He writes frequently, and is a regular contributor to the Facebook page A Child in Canada.

Marcky – happy now with his family and his dog Blacky, wearing the Medical Kidnap Awareness ribbon that he designed. Source: A Child in Canada Facebook page

Canadian Aboriginal Families Are Especially at Risk

Most children trapped in the system are not as fortunate as Marcky Herrmann. Aboriginal families in Canada experience a much higher rate than the general population of having their children seized by the state. Crystal Carifelle is aboriginal.

Excerpts from ATPN National News:

“They (child welfare) ruined my life. They accused me of being a heroin addict, a crack addict, an alcoholic. I was none of them. It’s the old residential school, it has not changed whatsoever, I’ve lived it for 38 years now. Aboriginal children are being railroaded into the system,” said Carifelle.

She said that countless times she did what was asked of her to gain access to her children. Carifelle said she completed course after course, got a stable place to live, but it was never good enough.

Too Many Deaths Happening in Foster Care and Covered Up

Excerpts:

Two years ago, a joint investigation by the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald highlighted gaps in children in care death investigations and frustrations over parents prohibited from speaking publicly.

[See article in Edmonton Journal – Fatal Care: Foster care tragedies cloaked in secrecy]

The newspaper series also revealed that 145 children have died in care since 1999 and that the province utilized privacy laws to stifle the numbers.

With an already high number of Aboriginal children in care, the investigation uncovered that while only nine per cent of Alberta children are Indigenous they accounted for 78 per cent of children who have died in foster care since 1999.

Other Advocates in Canada

Though the media is largely silent and rarely speaks out about the abuses in the Child Protective System in Canada, there are some advocates working diligently in alternative and social media to expose the truth. Protecting Canadian Children has a Facebook page as well as a website. NAASCA works for children and families in the U.S. and Canada. They also address the issues in their internet-based talk show “For Our Kids” – Facebook page here.

Read the full story of Crystal Carifelle and the loss of her son in foster care at http://aptn.ca/news/.

See also:

The Children’s Aid Societies of Ontario: Powerful As God