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Intake worker's 'oversight' allowed mother to get Sinclair back

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 12/4/2012 1:23 PM | Comments: 0

Phoenix Sinclair ( )

An intake worker closed the file on Phoenix Sinclair after leaving her in a situation where either of her troubled parents could legally take her back, the inquiry into the death of the little girl in care heard this morning.

Lisa Conlin said she wrote a letter to Phoenix's caregivers Kim Edwards and Rohan Stephenson telling them they should not return Phoenix to her dad, Steve Sinclair, who had substance abuse issues. The Feb.13, 2004 letter didn't specifiy that they shouldn't return the little girl just shy of her fourth birthday to her mom, Samantha Kematch, either.

"That was an oversight on my part," Conlin testified at the inquiry.

In May, 2004, Kematch contacted CFS to get Phoenix back. In 2005, she murdered Phoenix. Her death wasn't discovered until 2006.

The inquiry into the death of the little girl in care was announced by the province in March 2011 to find out if and how child welfare let her and her family down. The inquiry began in September.

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