Children’s Aid Society Removes Baby

In March, a three-week-old baby was apprehended and removed from the care of his mother by the Toronto Children’s Aid Society (CAS) without warning. The 27-year-old single mother is deaf. Her landlady had called the CAS to complain that the new mom couldn’t hear her son’s cries and was neglecting him.

Not only did the Children’s Aid Society choose to take the extreme measure of removing a child from his mother on the basis of that complaint, but, furthermore, it did not make arrangements for a sign language interpreter to accompany officials when the baby was removed. CAS claimed it was not able to provide an interpreter.

The baby was returned to his mother over a week later for an emotional reunion. A court-approved arrangement includes regular visits to the family by the CAS.

"The mother was thrilled and relieved that this is over," Chris Kenopic of the Ontario Association of the Deaf told the Toronto Star. "It was just difficult for her to deal with every day not knowing how her baby was doing."

Kenopic also told the newspaper that the Ontario Association of the Deaf was planning to work with the CAS to ensure that this does not happen to another deaf parent.

This was just the latest in a string of controversial cases in which children are removed from the custody of parents with disabilities without a fair assessment of the parents’ ability to care for their children.