Four Mennonite kids home
Two more to be returned to other family this week
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/11/2013 (4615 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
FOUR Old Order Mennonite children — among dozens apprehended from their community by Child and Family Services amid allegations of physical abuse — have returned home.
The young children were returned on Thursday after nearly five months away from home.
The four children brought home to the “horse-and-buggy” community — aged two to six years — were the first to be returned to their parents.
Their father described how he returned to his house and was greeted by the sound of happy childrens’ chatter as he approached.
His children and wife met him at the door.
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” he said, describing the feeling of having his daughter and three sons home. “We were just overjoyed.”
Two more children from another family are expected to return home to their parents at the Manitoba community on Tuesday. The community and its residents can’t be identified by court order.
At last report, 13 adults from the community faced charges such as assault and assault with a weapon in connection with the allegations of physical abuse. The charges date from July 2011 to January 2013.
Community members said the charges relate to allegations of extreme discipline. The Crown maintains the alleged abuse was an effort to extract false allegations of sexual abuse from the children.
CFS apprehended all of the community’s children in two waves during January and June. The children numbered about 40 in total, and were placed in homes across southern Manitoba with Mennonite caregivers.
Neither the father, nor his wife, are among the adults of the community who have been charged. Nor is the couple who are expected to welcome home their two daughters, aged four and one, on Tuesday.
The father said his children, and those of the other family, are not among those said to have been abused.
General Child and Family Services Authority CEO Jay Rodgers said, at this point, the agency is working on a plan to reunite the children and parents of two further families, but there’s no date yet.
— Brandon Sun