Latest news with #childwelfare
CTV News
12 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
Northern Ont. man charged in historical child sexual abuse case
A 56-year-old man has been charged with sexual offences following a year-long investigation into historical allegations involving a child welfare agency worker. The Thunder Bay Police Service launched the investigation in 2024 after receiving reports of abuse dating back roughly 20 years. The accused, who was assigned to the victim's family at the time of the alleged offences, was arrested last month and appeared in court on May 28. The local man faces charges of sexual assault and sexual interference. 'The investigation remains ongoing, and police continue to examine the possibility that there are more victims who have yet to come forward,' police said in a news release. Investigators are urging anyone with information to contact Det. Const. Tanka Awosika at (807) 317-0146 or Crime Stoppers anonymously. Thunder Bay Police Service flag A flag flies at the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters in Thunder Bay, Ont., Monday, April 15, 2024. (David Jackson/The Canadian Press) Resources for sexual assault survivors If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis: A full list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling can be found at Resources in your community can be found by entering your postal code. If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety, you should call 911. Helplines, legal services and locations that offer sexual assault kits in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia can be found here. National Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419 24-hour crisis line: 1-416-597-8808 Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-833-900-1010 Trans Lifeline: 1-877-330-6366 Sexual misconduct support for current or former members of the Armed Forces: 1-844-750-1648 Read about your rights as a victim here.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Almost one-in-eight children live with one parent, CSO survey finds
Almost one-in-eight children in Ireland live with one parent , new data from a Central Statistics Office (CSO) survey of 10,000 households shows. The study draws on findings from the longitudinal Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) survey, which followed a group of children born in 2008 – known as 'cohort '08″ – who will be turning 17 this year. Data analysed in this report was collected when the children were three years old. Almost 10,000 households with a three-year-old child were interviewed as part of the survey. Of the 9,793 interviewed, 12 per cent of 'primary-resident' parents reported that their child had another parent who was not living with them, or a 'non-resident parent'. READ MORE A 'non-resident parent' refers to a parent of a child who did not live at the child's primary address at the time of data collection, while 'primary-resident parent' refers to the parent living with the child at the time of the interview who provided most care to the child. Contact details were provided for almost 400 non-resident parents, with responses obtained from 137 of them. All of them were men. Non-resident parents whose contact details were not provided lived further away from their child and had reduced daily contact with their child. They also had decreased rates of providing financial support to the primary-resident parent and reduced frequency of contact with that parent. They had less positive relationships with primary parent than those for whom the primary parent did provide contact details, according to that parent. Half of non-resident parents reported living with the mother of the three-year-old when she became pregnant with the child, while four-in-10 said they spoke about the child with the primary parent every day. Of the 137 non-resident parents who responded, 60.6 per cent said they paid nothing towards the rent or mortgage due on the home where their child was primarily resident. Three-quarters said they provided regular financial support (other than direct mortgage or rent payments) to the primary-resident parent. Three-in-10 primary-resident parents who provided contact details for the non-resident parent reported that the non-resident parent never provided any financial contribution towards the household and maintenance of the child. That figure doubled for those who did not provide contact details. Some 35 per cent of non-resident parents felt they had a lot of influence on big decisions concerning their three-year-old, such as decisions regarding healthcare. Some 51.8 per cent of non-resident parents reported spending more than seven nights with the three-year-old in a typical month, while 47.4 per cent reported that the length of a typical contact occasion with the child was 24 hours or more. Of the primary-resident parents who provided contact details, almost four-in-10 reported that the other parent had daily contact with the child.
Sky News
4 days ago
- General
- Sky News
This gravely ill girl has been ordered to leave the US by the White House - but doctors say she could die within days
In a lawyer's office in downtown Los Angeles, a little girl sits at a desk made for adults - tiny trainers dangling off the edge of a swivel chair. She's surrounded by dozens of TV cameras but has no understanding of why she's suddenly the centre of attention. Sofia, whose real name we are not using, is a gravely ill four-year-old caught in the crosshairs of Donald Trump's sweeping and often indiscriminate immigration policy. The White House has ordered she leaves the US immediately, but Sofia's doctors at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles say that - if she is sent back to her home country of Mexico and her treatment stops - she could die within days. As Sofia places rainbow stickers carefully in a book and plays snap, the lawyers fighting for her to remain in the US speak at a podium on her behalf. "We're sending them to die," Gina Amato Lough, a lawyer for the pro bono firm Public Counsel, says. "That's not justice and it doesn't make us any safer. We cannot let our country turn its back on this child." Sofia wears a backpack for 14 hours at night and four hours during the day which keeps her alive - containing nutrients she can't absorb naturally. It is cutting-edge healthcare only available in the US. She was born with short bowel syndrome, a debilitating and life-threatening condition that meant she spent most of the first two years of her life in hospital. Under the Biden administration, Sofia and her mother Deysi entered the US legally in July 2023 - granted humanitarian parole to access medical care for two years. But in April - three months into Donald Trump's presidency - the 28-year-old received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security, informing her that the family's right to stay in the country was being revoked. "It is time to leave the United States," the first line of the letter reads. "Even before getting the letters, I would hear in the news how many people are being deported, even with humanitarian paroles, and I worried a lot," Deysi says. "I was always walking down the street looking over my shoulder, there is so much fear and so much anxiety, it's very hard. "It's always in my mind that my daughter can die. It may not sound real, but it is really what will happen if my daughter is not connected to her treatment." Sofia's lawyers warn that if there is an interruption to her treatment, her doctors say it could be "fatal within days". The lawyers have written to officials within the Trump administration, but say they haven't heard back yet. "It seems as if nobody noticed that this child is four years old and that she will die without her treatment," Ms Lough says. "And not only have they not responded, but they have continued sending notices to the family verifying that their status has been cancelled and that they are required to leave the United States immediately. "Sofia's doctors have been clear that she will die within days. Deporting this family under these conditions is not only unlawful, it constitutes a moral failure that violates the basic tenets of humanity and decency." In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said: "Any reporting that [the family] are actively being deported are FALSE. This family applied for humanitarian parole on May 14, 2025, and the application is still being considered." When approached by Sky News, Trump's border czar Tom Homan denied specific knowledge of Sofia's case, but said he would instruct the White House press office to "look into" the circumstances. For now, Sofia is a tiny symbol of the human casualties of often unbending and ruthless immigration policy.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Gardaí fear mother was held captive in Dublin ‘house of horrors' for many years
The mother of a family living in Dublin may have been kept captive by the father for years in what has been described in court as a 'house of horrors'. Gardaí are trying to locate the man, who they believe is still in the jurisdiction. They suspect he may have hoarded money he received in social welfare rather than spend it on caring for his family, the Dublin District Childcare Court heard on Wednesday. The children in the house were taken into care after the authorities were prompted to visit the house, as one of the children had attempted suicide. Locks on the internal doors in the house, the neglect of the children, and other factors have led to fears the woman was severely restricted in her movements for many years, possibly more than a decade and a half. READ MORE However, questions have arisen about the authorities' responses to concerns raised about the woman's welfare in hospital when giving birth to her children, some of whom are now teenagers. Judge John Campbell, of the Dublin District Childcare Court, asked for the Health Service Executive (HSE) to be represented in court for Wednesday's hearing. He is concerned that one of the children, a girl with severe difficulties, is about to reach 18 years, after which she will no longer be governed by the Childcare Act. Solicitor Brian Horkan, for the HSE, told the judge a high-level meeting is to be held later this week with the Tusla Child and Family Agency . The meeting will discuss funding and other aspects of support the teenager will require after she ages out of the childcare system. She is currently receiving medical care. The court heard the teenager has already been diagnosed as having 'complex post-traumatic stress disorder' and may have an emerging personality disorder. The lack of a plan for the girl's future needs 'is causing her distress', said solicitor David Stafford, for the children's court-appointed representative (guardian ad litem ). 'What is her future? Where is she going to live?' he asked. The child 'is going back into a deterioration phase, and we need to know where she is going to live'. Confirmation of funding for future care, for a least a year, is required, though longer would be better, he said. Solicitor Seona Ní Mhurchú, for the mother, who was in court and is receiving support, said her client is 'very concerned' about what was going to happen to her daughter. The court heard the authorities found about €7,000 in cash in a safe in the house, yet the family was living in very poor conditions. A Garda witness told Ms Ní Mhurchú and Judge Campbell that efforts to date to serve a protection order on the husband regarding his wife and children have not been successful. The witness said the man, who came to Ireland some years ago and may have applied for asylum, is now a naturalised citizen. He does not seem to have any known associates or hobbies, and is no longer drawing social welfare. 'He appears to have vanished,' the judge said. 'He appears to be in the country, but can't be found.' Border alert orders have been issued and there is no indication he has tried to leave the jurisdiction. Mary Phelan, barrister for Tusla, said the agency will meet with the HSE and inform the court next week of the decisions made on the care of the girl due to reach 18 years. 'We all know the clock is ticking,' she said. The judge described as 'extraordinary' the fact that the girl's younger brother had somehow at the age of 14 opened a Bank of Ireland account into which a substantial sum, in the low tens of thousands of euro, was deposited, apparently by his father. 'All we hear about money laundering and [money] mules and this [teenager] can have [tens of thousands of euro]' in a bank account and the bank 'seems not at all concerned', the judge said. The teenager, who is also in care, had recently begun to withdraw the money and was 'going through it like a dose of salts', the judge said. The current balance in the account is less than €1,000. Several Garda inquiries into the man are ongoing, including into his finances and possible domestic abuse and coercion. The Garda witness agreed to make inquiries of her colleagues regarding matters that would be relevant to the care of the man's children.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Mother of Charlie Nowland wo died of malnutrition pleads guilty to criminal neglect
The mother of a young girl who died from malnutrition has admitted to criminal neglect after spending three years pleading her innocence. Charlie Nowland, six, was found unresponsive at her family's housing commission home in Munno Para, in Adelaide 's northern suburbs, on July 15, 2022. Her death was confirmed at Lyell McEwin Hospital with the cause ruled as malnutrition. Police conducted an extensive investigation but no criminal charges were laid until April 2023 when Charlie's mother, Crystal Leanne Hanley, was accused of neglect and manslaughter. Hanley spent the following two years vehemently denying she neglected her daughter, saying 'I'm not a perfect mum but I feed my kids'. However, Hanley broke down in the South Australian Supreme Court on Wednesday as she pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal neglect. As the 49-year-old sobbed, prosecutors accepted her guilty pleas and withdrew the manslaughter charge against her. The court heard Hanley had neglected Charlie between April 1, 2022 and July 17, 2022 and committed an offence of criminal neglect where the child died as a result. Hanley was initially released on bail after police charged her in 2023 but she was taken back into custody earlier this following several breaches involving drug use. In earlier hearings, the prosecution alleged Hanley had raised Charlie in a 'squalid' home which was 'uninhabitable for humans'. Hanley previously claimed she'd asked family services for more support after her partner was jailed for stabbing her three times, in front of Charlie. She had to learn how to walk again, was having seizures and struggled to remember how to perform basic tasks like cook rice or drive a car. Charlie's funeral in August 2022 was funded by the South Australian government. Her white coffin was decorated with the handprints of her siblings, paper red hearts and adorned with colourful flowers and a stuffed monkey. Charlie's father was denied day release for the service and watched via livestream from prison. Her ashes were scattered at her favourite camping spot along the Murray River. Outside the court on Wednesday, Charlie's grandmother, Sandra Patrick, was relieved the case would not go to trial. 'We're glad it didn't go to trial, because of the children,' she told reporters. 'They don't need to go through that all over again. They've had enough trauma in their lives. 'They don't need anymore.' Ms Patrick added she didn't want to speak about her granddaughter yet as it would 'bring up too many memories'. Hanley's lawyer, Chris Kummerow, requested a lengthy adjournment ahead of her client's sentencing submissions. He claimed he would need the time to gather information about Hanley's history as a domestic violence victim. Hanley will remain in custody until her next hearing, set to be held in August.
