Zellers fires poor dad for taking chocolate from trash for his kids

The Canadian Press, various newspapers across Canada, The Chronicle Herald, Halifax, Nova Scotia, December 21, 2005

ST-HYACINTHE, Quebec A single father of three fired for taking chocolate bars from a garbage bin at a Zellers store will get some Christmas cheer from a charitable organization.

Guy Masse, 47, had planned to give the discarded chocolate to his children, ages six, nine and 15, for Christmas.

Masse, who was on welfare and had been working at the store only for a couple of months, was first suspended and then fired.

"I think its inhuman," Masse told CJAD radio station in Montreal of his dismissal. More ..

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Mother fronts court over axe attack

Herald Sun, Australia, By Elissa Hunt, December 9, 2005

A YOUNG mum accused of chopping off her son's leg with an axe faced court yesterday charged with attempted murder.

The woman, 21, walked into court No. 1 at Melbourne Magistrates'Court shortly before 1pm with the help of Box Hill CIU detectives.

The little boy, aged 20 months, was the youngest child in Australia and the second youngest in the world to have a leg reattached after it was severed on November 7. More ..

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Shouldn't men have 'choice' too?

Los Angeles Times - Meghan Daum: December 10, 2005 www.latimes.com : Opinion : Commentary

FOR PRO-CHOICERS like myself, Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s position regarding spousal consent for abortion seems like one more loose rock in the ongoing erosion of Roe vs. Wade. Even those of us who are too young to remember the pre-Roe era often see any threat to abortion rights as a threat to our very destinies. We are, after all, the generation that grew up under Title IX, singing along to "Free to Be You and Me" (you know, the 1972 children's record where Marlo Thomas and Alan Alda remind us that mommies can be plumbers and boys can have dolls). When it comes to self-determination, we're as determined as it gets.

But even though I was raised believing in the inviolability of a woman's right to choose, the older I get, the more I wonder if this idea of choice is being fairly applied. More ..

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Child Support Agency forced to pay back wrongly accused men

The Guardian, U.K., David Hencke, Westminster correspondent, Monday November 28, 2005

The Child Support Agency has had to refund hundreds of thousands of pounds in maintenance payments to more than 3,000 men after DNA tests revealed that they had been wrongly named by mothers in paternity suits. One in six men who took a DNA test to challenge claims by women that they were the fathers of their children were cleared by the results, according to official figures disclosed by the agency.

Under CSA rules, men must start paying maintenance the moment they are named by mothers as the father of the child. They can challenge the ruling by asking for a DNA test but have to pay for it themselves.  More ..

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More women charged in sex cases

USA TODAY, By Wendy Koch, November 30, 2005

In courtrooms nationwide this month, at least seven women four of them teachers have been charged or sentenced for having sex with boys, mostly teenagers. One of the women is pregnant.

Tuesday in Georgia, Lisa Lynette Clark, 37, was indicted in the molestation of her son's 15-year-old friend, who she says is the father of the baby she's expecting. She was arrested one day after marrying the boy.

No definitive data exists on whether more females are sexually abusing children. Yet the number arrested for sex crimes has risen in five of the past six years as more people consider molestation of boys as heinous as that of girls.

"There's been a decline in the double standard. That's why you're seeing more of these cases," says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. As more women enter law enforcement, he says the old attitude that boys are willing, even lucky, participants has changed. More ..

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Secrets and lies

The Age, Australia, Saturday essay, Leslie Cannold

November 26, 2005

Upon the birth of a child, men ought to be given the opportunity to give one-time-only non rescindable consent to their acceptance of the rights and responsibilities of fatherhood. "Paternity fraud" implies deceptive women cuckolding men into believing children are biologically theirs. But the truth is more complex, and more human, writes Leslie Cannold.

While the DNA paternity test has been around since the early 1980s, it was not until the mid-1990s that concerns about what fathers'rights activists call "paternity fraud" took flight in Australia. It started with the Child Support (Assessment) Act of 1989, which in effect transformed the age-old definition of a father from the man married to a child's biological mother to the man whose sperm caused the child to be conceived. Designed to compel men to take fiscal responsibility for their children, the new law was lauded by politicians as a boon to both women and children. More ..

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No jail time for Lafave

The former middle school teacher pleaded guilty to the charges in Hillsborough and Marion counties. She will serve three years of community control.

Ste. Petersburg Times, Tampa, Florida, U.S.A., By CANDACE RONDEAUX, November 22, 2005   More..

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Child-welfare system lacking: advocate

Winnipeg Free Press, By Alexandra Paul, Tuesday, November 22, 2005

MANITOBA'S child-welfare system doesn't measure up to United Nations standards for protecting children's rights, Manitoba's Child Advocate declared yesterday.

Billie Schibler, the province's watchdog for child-welfare standards, said foster parents'funding rates are too low and kids are too often cut off from help once they hit the age of 18. More ..

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Australia's High Court takes support case

United Press International (UPI), Australia, November 19, 2005

MELBOURNE, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Australia's High Court has agreed to hear the case of a man trying to recoup tens of thousands in child support he paid for children he didn't father.

Liam Magill had been thwarted in his efforts for six years to get back the money after DNA tests proved two of three children he thought were his were actually someone else's, The Australian reported Saturday.  More ..

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Dudded dad wins OK for compo fight

Herald Sun, Australia, by Norrie Ross, law reporter, November 19, 2005

A MAN who found he was supporting two children he had not fathered can continue his fight for compensation.

Liam Magill, 54, hugged his current partner after the High Court yesterday granted him special leave to appeal against a ruling that he was not entitled to compensation.

During arguments in the case Justice Michael Kirby said the issues of parenthood were important in an age of DNA testing.

In March, the Victorian Court of Appeal stripped Mr Magill of a $70,000 County Court payout from his ex-wife, Meredith, on a legal technicality.

Mr Magill had said birth certificates shown to him by his ex-wife led him to believe he was the father of a daughter and son. More ..

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Court test for duped fathers in 'DNA age'

The Australian, Australia's National newspaper, by Natasha Robinson, November 19, 2005

A FATHER who was tricked into paying tens of thousands of dollars to his unfaithful ex-wife for two children that were not his has won the right to take his six-year battle for compensation to the High Court.

A three-member sitting of the court sent Liam Magill's case to the full bench after finding yesterday that the dispute was an appropriate test of emerging social dilemmas in the "age of DNA" and sperm donation.

Mr Magill was initially awarded $70,000 by the Victorian County Court in November 2002 when he sued his wife for general damages and economic loss from his payment of child support.

However, his former wife, Meredith Magill, 37, successfully appealed against the decision when the Victorian Court of Appeal ruled there was no evidence to show she had intended to deceive her then husband about the paternity of the children. More..

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Breast-feeding mother allegedly kills baby

Inebriated 27-year-old told police she fell asleep on top of 4-month-old girl

The Associated Press, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA,  Nov 12, 2005 

OshKosh, Wisconsin U.S.A.. - A 4-month-old girl died when her inebriated mother fell asleep on top of her while breast-feeding, prosecutors said.

Lorinda Hawkins told police she fell asleep about 15 minutes after she started breast-feeding the baby Feb. 23 because of her intoxication, a criminal complaint said.

When she woke up about an hour later, the baby was pale and wasnt breathing, the complaint said. Hawkins was charged Friday with one count of child neglect causing a death. If convicted as a repeat felony offender, she could be sentenced to 29 years in prison and fined $100,000.  More..

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BodyBark-clad monster guards Senegal circumcision rite

Reuters, U.S.A., By Rose Skelton, Friday, November 4, 2005

ZIGUINCHOR, Senegal (Reuters) - Dressed head-to-toe in a costume of deep red tree bark and with a large knife in each hand, the monster-like figure turns the corner of a quiet street, screeches and strides after a group of fleeing women.

Trampling plastic buckets beneath its oversized bark-clad feet, it slashes at wooden market stalls where minutes before vendors were lazily swatting flies from piles of fish.

Petrified children cry and women scream as they flee the "Kankouran," a mysterious figure believed to be endowed with special powers who appears in the villages of Senegal's southern Casamance region during annual circumcision rites.

During the August-November rainy season, young boys are circumcised during elaborate three-week ceremonies celebrated by the Manding people of Casamance. Celebrants dressed as the Kankouran play a key role in these rites. More ..

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Abercrombie Pulls T-Shirts That Girls'Group Found Offensive

The Associated Press, U.S.A., Nov 4, 2005

NEW ALBANY, Ohio, U.S.A. (AP) - Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said Friday that it will stop selling several T-shirts that a group of teenage girls found offensive.

The Women & Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania objected to shirts for women emblazoned with sayings such as "Who needs brains when you have these?" and "I had a nightmare I was a brunette."

"We recognize that the shirts in question, while meant to be humorous, might be troubling to some," the company said in a statement.

The foundation said it was satisfied with the agreement. More ..

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Senate committee calls for children's commissioner to protect rights

Canadian Press, November 2, 2005

OTTAWA (CP) - A Senate committee says Canada needs a children's commissioner to protect the rights of young people.

In an interim report Thursday, the human rights committee recommends that a commissioner monitor Canada's progress on implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The independent appointee, reporting annually to Parliament, would conduct ongoing reviews of federal legislation, services, and funding for programs affecting children and their rights. More ..

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Province unveils new meth strategy

The province yesterday announced $6 million in funding over three years for a two-pronged approach to restrict supply and reduce demand for crystal meth in Manitoba.

The Brandon Sun, MB, Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005

The Manitoba Meth Strategy includes:

Joining Saskatchewan to restrict the sale of 17 single-source pseudoephedrine products, the preferred ingredient in making meth, to make them available for sale only behind the counter in pharmacies and limiting quantities to 3,600 mg per purchase. More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Court weeps as siblings recall beatings

Foster parents recall siblings'wordsJudge to rule whether to allow this evidence

Toronto Star, NICK PRON, COURTS BUREAU, Nov. 1, 2005

Spectators wept in a downtown courtroom yesterday as the trial of two grandparents facing murder charges in the death of 5-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin heard about life in his house through the eyes of his three siblings.

The two girls and a boy their identities protected by a publication ban were taken from their east-end home after Jeffrey died on Nov. 30, 2002, and now live with foster parents.

It was their "utterances," comments they made to the foster parents and a case worker with the Catholic Children's Aid Society, that were recalled by witnesses during legal arguments to decide if the remarks can be used as evidence against their grandparents, Elva Bottineau, 54, and her common-law husband, Norman Kidman, 53.

Both have pleaded not guilty to one count each of first-degree murder and unlawful confinement in the trial by judge alone. More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Prosecutors'role queried in pathologist review

Chief coroner gives details for review of pathologist's work

Association for wrongly accused urges Crown attorney probe

The Toronto Star, HAROLD LEVY, STAFF REPORTER, Nov. 2, 2005

A Toronto-based group that fights for wrongly accused persons wants Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant to call an inquiry into the role played by his prosecutors in cases involving disgraced pathologist Dr. Charles Smith.

The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted called on Bryant to set up the inquiry yesterday after Chief Coroner Dr. Barry McLellan released details of an independent review of 44 cases involving Smith, including 10 where people are in prison or under some form of constraint such as parole.  More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Adoption bill passed to cheers, tears

Received support across party lines

Critics want veto clause for privacy

Toronto Star, GILLIAN LIVINGSTON, Canadian Press, Nov. 2, 2005

Supporters sobbed, cheered and embraced one another yesterday as the Ontario government finally passed controversial legislation to unseal the province's adoption records after what proponents of the bill consider 80 years of secrecy and shame.

New Democrat member Marilyn Churley, a birth mother and long-time champion of changes to Ontario's adoption laws, bowed her head and wiped away a tear as the votes were counted, aware that her 10-year battle for change was at an end. More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Jeffrey labelled `bad,'trial told

Sister told of horrific abuse

`Bad things happened in tub'

Toronto Star, NICK PRON, COURTS BUREAU, Nov. 2, 2005.

The revenge the young girl wanted was clear her grandparents should be jailed "forever" and get roughed up in prison for killing her younger brother, 5-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin.

And, as a court also heard yesterday, the 8-year-old child said she never wanted to see her mother and father again "because they let it happen."

Eight months after Jeffrey's death on Nov. 30, 2002, the anger that had been bottled up inside the girl boiled over one day in a fit of screaming, crying and cursing, her one-time foster mother recalled. Both her identity and the child's are protected by a court order.

"He was just a little boy," the woman recalled the girl saying, adding that she said she hated "all those assholes" who lived at Jeffrey's east-end home. More..

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Girls gone raunch

Increasingly, young women are treating themselves and each other like pieces of meat. Why?

Maclean's Magazine, JUDITH TIMSON, September 26, 2005

She and her friends talk about it constantly. How to go out and have a great time. How to make their way through a sexual landscape that somehow has upped the ante in racy behaviour. The challenge, says Shauna (not her real name), a 20-year-old third-year psychology major at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., is how not to feel like a misfit just because she thinks that the sexual titillation factor has gone too far. "One thing I have noticed more and more," she says of the student scene, "is that girls spend as much time, if not more, dancing provocatively with each other as they do with men. Many girls have made out with each other in front of a group of boys, or for their benefit after having been dared, or even without provocation. I was recently at a bar with a group of friends from high school," she continues, "and a group of girls came wearing short skirts and low-cut tops -- they had each written words on their breasts or upper thighs and were willingly showing this to the guys when asked. The club scene where this behaviour often happens is one that I avoid most often, and look for other ways to have fun -- and I am in a minority in that respect." More ..

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Alberta readying law to seize drug addicts'kids

CTV, October 22, 2005

The Alberta government is trying some drastic new measures to battle a growing problem. The province is preparing a new law that would allow it to seize children from parents who are either addicted to drugs or involved in the drug trade.

Children's Services Minister Heather Forsyth is developing the legislation, which is expected to be introduced in the legislature next spring. If passed, it will be the first legislation of its kind in Canada.

Forsyth says there are four situations in which children will be removed from a home: "If they are involved in a grow op situation, if they are involved in a meth house, if there is drug trafficking or if there's drug use being involved."

Premier Ralph Klein says the legislation is similar to the Protection of Children Involved in Prostitution Act, which allows the province to apprehend and detain child prostitutes. More ..

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Public Health Agency of Canada Releases Key Study on Reported Child Abuse And Neglect

Press Release, October 4, 2005, For Immediate Release

OTTAWA - The Public Health Agency of Canada today released the report of the second cycle of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS), a national child health surveillance activity that provides information in the area of child abuse and neglect.

"The findings from this report give service providers, policy makers and other stakeholders a strong, comprehensive evidence base that can help them to help improve the lives of children in Canada and to protect children from harm," stated Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh.

The Public Health Agency is working with provinces and territories, researchers and other experts to provide valuable information," said Carolyn Bennett, Minister of State (Public Health). This collaboration demonstrates the Agency's commitment to improving the health of Canadian children through leadership, collaboration, and scientific excellence in public health."   More ..

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Abused Boys Become Abusive Men: more likely to commit domestic violence

Canadian Press, October 18, 2005

(HealthDay News) - Physically abused boys may be more likely than other boys to become men who commit domestic violence, a new study found.

The study of 197 men, aged 18 to 49, living in areas of Philadelphia with high rates of domestic violence found that a history of childhood physical abuse may be more common in men from cities, and that men who were physically abused as youngsters are more likely to commit domestic violence.

Of the men in the study, 51 percent had experienced some form of childhood physical abuse. The mean age of the start of that abuse was 8 years old and the mean age at the end of the abuse was 14 years old. The abuse included being kicked, hit with an object, choked, burned, bit, scalded or punched.

Approximately 75 percent of that abuse was perpetrated by parents - most often mothers - while the remainder was committed by extended family members and non-family members. More ..

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How to end spoilt brat syndrome

The Times, London, UK, By Alexandra Frean October 24, 2005

Far from being kind, overindulgent parents can be a danger to their children but help is at hand to avoid the pitfalls, says the author of The Pampered Child Syndrome

SHE has had her first sexual encounter and made her first suicide attempt; she takes drugs and stays away from home for days at a time. She is 13 years old.

You might think this teenager is the product of an abusive family background and a turbulent upbringing, but she is in fact a much-loved child of well-educated and considerate parents who have always given her everything. And that is her problem. She is suffering from pampered child syndrome.  More ..

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Pop quiz: Paternity test a pass-or-fail proof of fatherhood

 Even when the genetic issue is settled, legal, moral and humane questions remain.

Mireya Navarro, the New York Times, October 23, 2005

Joseph Dixon said he was not exactly thrilled when his girlfriend of 1 1/2 years told him she was pregnant. But, Dixon says, he did not want her to have an abortion and was determined to do the right thing.

''I told her I'd definitely be there''for her, says Dixon, 29, a hotel doorman in Chicago. And he was. The two didn't marry but settled into the common rhythm of separate but shared parenthood, he says, allowing him to see his daughter whenever he wanted.

But when Dixon arranged to buy a life-insurance policy to give his 4-year-old daughter financial security last January, the results of a required DNA test delivered stunning news.

''The probability of paternity is 0 percent,''the results read. He was not the girl's biological father.  More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Parents plead for treatment to aid sick kidsHealth ministers asked to provide drug coverage for rare disorders

The Toronto Star, DENNIS BUECKERT, Canadian Press, Oct. 23, 2005

Health ministers were confronted yesterday by desperate parents who say governments are condemning their children to death by refusing to cover drug treatments for rare disorders.

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman had briefly left the closed-door meeting on a bathroom break when he found himself being introduced to Jasmine Sekhon, 7, who suffers from a rare condition called MPS, or mucopolysaccharide.

"I need my IV back," Jasmine told the minister, referring to intravenous infusions that have proven effective in treating the debilitating and eventually fatal condition.

"Well that's what we're working on here, today," said Smitherman, offering the first indication that coverage of rare conditions is on the ministers'agenda for their weekend meeting.  More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Supreme Court rejects challenge to `residential schools'

Federal policy on natives doesn't create `actionable wrong'

Ruling dismays advocates for victims'compensation

The Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper, SEAN GORDON, OTTAWA BUREAU, Oct. 22, 2005

OTTAWAThe federal government cannot be sued simply because it took aboriginal children from their homes and placed them in residential schools, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled.

In a 9-0 ruling, the court said yesterday lawsuits must be based on damages suffered from specific wrongful abusive acts committed at the schools.

Groups advocating for compensation on behalf of residential school victims saw the ruling as a major blow.  More ..

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The Observer (UK)

Violence blamed on teenage mums

Study claims that immature young parents with poor discipline techniques are creating aggressive children

The Observer, UK,  Mark Townsend, Sunday October 16, 2005

Britain's high rate of teenage pregnancies is a principal factor in the cause of violent crime, according to a controversial report by a leading criminologist.

Speaking before the launch of one of the largest ever studies into violence, its author George Hosking said that parents under 16 were contributing to 'a cycle'of aggression that meant people were 25 times more likely to be a victim of violence than 50 years ago. His comments were denounced by many as demonising young parents. More ..

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News Release - University of Pennsylvania

OCTOBER 17, 2005

Penn Study Finds Physically Abused Boys May Be More Likely to Commit Domestic Violence As Adults

Most Abuse of Boys Done by Parents ... Most Frequently Mothers

(Philadelphia, PA) - According to a study in the October 18 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, a history of childhood physical abuse may be common in men from urban settings, and these men with physical abuse histories may be more likely to commit domestic violence. The study found that the childhood abuse was primarily committed by parents, with mothers being the most frequent abusers.  More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Standardized education tests get a starProf touts their precise analysis of student needs

Parents, educators urged to get over score phobia

The Toronto Star, LOUISE BROWN, EDUCATION REPORTER, Oct. 19, 2005

They've been blasted by teachers, boycotted by kids and brandished by real estate agents trying to rank neighbourhoods by school.

But eight years after standardized tests hit Ontario, there is mounting proof the scores including the latest batch due today are providing schools with a power tool to pinpoint how to help children learn, says Premier Dalton McGuinty's special adviser on education.  More ..

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Reports missing in boy's murder case30 lost files could embarrass Catholic Children's Aid Society

One may have endorsed grandparents as foster parents

NICK PRON, COURTS BUREAU, Oct. 19, 2005

The trial of two grandparents facing murder charges in the death of 5-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin has been delayed after it was revealed in court that more than 30 files compiled by the Catholic Children's Aid Society on the case are missing.

Some of the apparently lost files could be embarrassing for the agency. One, for instance, described the grandmother, Elva Bottineau, as a child-care worker approved by the agency, the court heard yesterday.

Another key file contained information on an apparently favourable "risk assessment" that was done by the society on the suitability of the grandparents Bottineau, 54, and her 53-year-old common-law husband, Norman Kidman to be foster parents.  More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Autistic boy kept in New Brunswick jail

No other place for him to stay 13-year-old must go to U.S. hospitalNo other place for him to stay

13-year-old must go to U.S. hospital

The Toronto Star, KELLY TOUGHILL, ATLANTIC CANADA BUREAU, Oct. 19, 2005

HALIFAXA 13-year-old autistic boy now living in a New Brunswick jail compound will be sent out of Canada because there is no home, hospital or institution that can handle him in his own province.

Provincial officials confirmed yesterday the boy is living in a visitor's apartment at the Miramichi Youth Centre and will be moved to a treatment centre in Maine by November.

They stressed he is not under lock and key, has no contact with other inmates and is living outside the high wire fence that surrounds the youth detention centre.  More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Masked teen on way to fight

Died in fall from car during chaseTwo groups doing battle at Vaughan park

Toronto Star, JIM WILKES, STAFF REPORTER, Oct. 17, 2005

A Woodbridge teen was fatally injured as he and other masked youths armed with weapons chased other teens to assault them, police revealed yesterday.

Pritpaul Singh Dhanoa, 17, died in hospital Saturday, hours after he fell from a moving car and struck his head on a curb along Chancellor Dr. in Vaughan.

York Region police said there was no evidence to support earlier reports that Dhanoa had been repeatedly kicked in the head and thrashed with sticks by up to six assailants in the Friday night fight.  More ..

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USC student held in newborn's death

Associated Press, U.S.A. October 14, 2005

A University of Southern California student was charged Thursday with murder for allegedly leaving her newborn son in a box next to trash bin where he was found dead.

Holly Ashcraft, 21, of Montana was charged with one count of murder and one count of child abuse, Deputy District Attorney Efrain Aceves said.

Ashcraft, who was arrested Wednesday, made a court appearance Thursday but her arraignment was postponed to Nov. 9. If convicted, she would face 25 years to life in prison.  More ..

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Childcare debts ground parents

Courier-Mail, Australia, by Nicolette Burke, October 13, 2005

ABOUT 500 parents have been prevented from leaving the country by the Child Support Agency.

The government agency has the power to direct the Australian Federal Police to stop people at the departure gate at Australian airports, if they have not paid their childcare maintenance bills.

 Figures obtained by The Courier-Mail show that 482 parents were contacted by the agency in the last financial year, and ordered to pay their outstanding debts before travelling overseas. That was up from 100 cases the previous year.

The agency's international director David Mole said parents who persistently avoided their obligations were targeted under the airport crackdown.  More ..

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The divorce law needs to put kid's rights first

The Globe and Mail, Canada's largest national newspaper, By HOWARD IRVING, Wednesday, October 12, 2005 page A23

Amid all the talk of rights for children, one more right needs to be asserted: Each child should have the right to benefit from long awaited and much needed changes to the Federal Divorce Act.

In May, 1997, when the Divorce Act came into effect, the then minister of justice proposed that a joint committee of the House and Senate make recommendations regarding child custody and access. After 55 hearings, and more than a year of study, the committee made 48 recommendations to Parliament, all with an underlying theme: The adversary system as it pertained to the majority of custody and access disputes put families (especially children) at risk. Despite this disturbing conclusion, Bill C-22, created to amend the Divorce Act, still sits on a shelf. Justice Minister Irwin Cotler recently said that the government aims to reintroduce child-custody and access reforms this autumn. It's about time. Correcting the current act is long overdue. More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Families step aside on Homolka film

'They are not the censor police'Distribution in Canada now likely

Toronto Star, RICK WESTHEAD, BUSINESS REPORTER, Oct. 13, 2005

The families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy won't try to block the release of Karla, a film about the slayings of the teens, paving the way for the film's Canadian distribution.

"The families recognize that they are not the censor police," Tim Danson, a lawyer for the French and Mahaffy families, told the Toronto Star. "They understand that people have a constitutional right to make a movie or write a book."

The Hollywood film company behind the controversial movie, depicting the horrific murders by Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, says it's close to signing a contract with a distributor that would get the picture into Canadian theatres. More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

Ruling rightly blames adults for teen addictions, says Linda McQuaig

The Toronto Star, Oct. 9, 2005, LINDA MCQUAIG

The tobacco industry and its supporters have long insisted that smoking is simply a matter of "individual choice."

They note that the dangers of smoking are well-known, and yet people choose to smoke anyway just like people choose to drive cars even though they realize many die in car accidents, and people eat junk food even though they know that can cause heart problems.  More ..

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Paternity Testing Grows in Popularity

Almost One-Third Of Men Who Took Paternity Tests in 2003 Were Not the Biological Father

Oct. 5, 2005 - Dr. Enrique Terrazas thought his second wife was crazy when she suggested he take a paternity test because she saw no resemblance between him and his 10-year-old daughter.

Terrazas relented and the test results revealed there was a zero percent chance he was the biological father of the girl.

"I was in shock," Terrazas said. "This is the kind of thing that happened on Jerry Springer, I couldn't believe it was happening to me." More ..

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Female Teacher Re-Arrested in Alleged Sex Assault Case

ABC News - KVIA-TV, TX, U.S.A. October 5, 2005

EL PASO, TX. [U.S.A.] - An El Paso school teacher faces another criminal complaint in New Mexico, which means she's now been charged six times. ABC-7 has learned that Las Cruces Police have again arrested 52-year-old Donna McKnight for alleged sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old boy.

Ms. McKnight was previously charged with one count of Criminal Sexual Penetration, one count of Criminal Sexual Contact, and two other related charges in Dona Ana County. She was also charged with one count of Indecency with a Child by exposure in El Paso County. More..

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Painless Paternity Tests, but the Truth May Hurt

New York Times, New York, U.S.A., October 2, 2005, By   MIREYA NAVARRO

JOSEPH DIXON said he was not exactly thrilled when his girlfriend of one and a half years told him she was pregnant. But, Mr. Dixon said, he did not want her to have an abortion and was determined to do the right thing.

"I told her I'd definitely be there" for her, said Mr. Dixon, 29, a hotel doorman in Chicago. And he was. The two didn't marry but settled into the common rhythm of separate but shared parenthood, he said, allowing him to see his daughter whenever he wanted.

But when Mr. Dixon arranged to purchase a life insurance policy to give his 4-year-old daughter financial security last January, the results of a required DNA test delivered stunning news.  More ..

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Mundane matters for dads

The Australian (Australia's national daily newspaper), by Caroline Overington, September 8, 2005

Divorced fathers who see their children only once a week or once a

 fortnight are at risk of developing a "Disneyland Dad" syndrome, where they

 are focused on entertaining their children, rather than developing a

 strong, meaningful relationship.

A report by Bruce Smyth at the Australian Institute of Family Studies says

 divorced fathers are often denied an opportunity to have "mundane" contact

 with their children, "doing ordinary things, such as just tucking them into

 bed, or sitting down to peel potatoes".

The report - to be included in the institute's winter edition of Family

 Matters, and which reveals that a quarter of fathers have no contact or see

 their children less than once a year - says the recent debate about child

 custody was "all focused on the numbers".  More ..

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Fathers are 'stricter' over TV dangers

The Scotsman, Scotland, UK, By JOHN INNES, September 6, 2005

CHILDREN are less likely to view scenes of sex and violence on television if they are with their father than if they watch with mother, according to new research.

Fathers are stricter about the dangers of being exposed to post-watershed and other adult programming, said a study of families which found most have concerns about the issue.

The research also found single parents impose much stricter controls on what their kids watch than traditional families.

Possible reasons for fathers being more strict are that married mothers may put their children in front of the television unsupervised while they get on with other jobs around the house. Meanwhile, single parents, and fathers in particular, when at home, will spend the time with their children and by doing so will be more aware of what their children are watching. More ..

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EP Female Teacher/Husband Face More Abuse Accusations

KFOX News, TX, USA, August 29, 2005 -- by: Elizabeth O'Hara

An El Paso teacher and her husband face new allegations of sexual abuse, this time allegedly involving their children

Las Cruces Police arrested 53 year old Donna McKnight and her husband, Ronald, Monday morning at the Century-21 Motel off North Main Street. Police were alerted to the couple by a family member and say the two were not trying to flee but were allegedly going to see an attorney. Both are being held on $50,000 dollar cash bonds.

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Four fathers' child-support case will go to top court

Ruling on retroactive payment could affect hundreds of thousands of divided families

The Globe and Mail, By DAWN WALTON, Friday, August 19, 2005 Page A4

CALGARY -- The Supreme Court of Canada agreed yesterday to hear the appeal of four Alberta fathers, some of whom were ordered to pay massive amounts of retroactive child support, in a case that has implications for hundreds of thousands of divorced and separated families across the country.

"The overall message to Canadians is go on and sort out your ongoing child-support issues, but if you have a big retroactive claim you better put it on your backburner until the Supreme Court of Canada makes a decision," said Deidre Smith, whose Toronto-based law firm MacDonald & Partners is representing the Alberta men.

The fathers are appealing an Alberta Court of Appeal decision in January that required parents with child-support payments based on old court orders and separation agreements to pay thousands more in retroactive support to better reflect their higher incomes.  More ..

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Appeal may cost parents millions

Supreme Court agrees to hear fathers'caseThousands may face lump-sum back claims

TARA BRAUTIGAM, Canadian Press, Aug. 19, 2005

Canada's highest court will hear the appeal of four Alberta fathers who were ordered to pay retroactive child support in a case that could dramatically impact the financial obligations of countless divorced or separated Canadian parents.

Should the Supreme Court of Canada uphold the original January ruling, it could result in hundreds of thousands of parents being hit with lump-sum support payments totalling millions of dollars, said Deidre Smith, one of the lawyers leading the appeal.

Despite existing court orders and separation agreements, the fathers were ordered by an Alberta judge to make immediate lump-sum child support payments, some stretching as far back as 1997, to reflect changes in their incomes, Smith said.

One of the appellants "is about as opposite from a deadbeat dad as you can get," Smith said from her Toronto office. More ..

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Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal that could cost millions in child support

MacLean's magazine, and various other publications,  Canadian Press, TARA BRAUTIGAM, August 18, 2005

TORONTO (CP) - Canada's highest court has agreed to hear a case that's expected to determine whether parents across the country who are either separated or divorced would be required to pay millions of dollars in retroactive child support.

Toronto lawyers filed the appeal on behalf of four Alberta fathers ordered to make immediate child support payments stretching back as far as 1997.

The appeal was launched to challenge an Alberta court decision in January that required fathers to pay large sums of money in child support based on changes in their incomes over the years.

In one case, a man was required to pay more than half of his annual earnings.  More ..

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High court to determine if parents to pay millions in lump-sum child support

MacLean's and various other publications, Canadian Press, August 18, 2005, TARA BRAUTIGAM

TORONTO (CP) - Canada's highest court agreed Thursday to hear a case that could determine whether hundreds of thousands of divorced or separated Canadian parents who owe millions in retroactive child support will have to make their payments in a single lump sum.

Toronto lawyers filed the appeal on behalf of four Alberta fathers who were ordered to make immediate child support payments stretching back as far as 1997.

The fathers are appealing an Alberta court decision in January that required parents with child support payments based on old court orders and separation agreements to pay thousands more in retroactive support to better reflect their higher incomes. More ..

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Mom Smoked Meth While Breast-Feeding Son

Pleads Guilty to Endangering 9-Month-Old Boy

ABC News, U.S.A., Aug. 17, 2005

A Salem, Oregon, U.S.A., meth-addicted mother pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that she endangered her 9-month-old son by smoking the drug while breast-feeding him.

Prosecutors say going after mothers who knowingly endanger their children by feeding them drug-tainted breast milk is another way of tackling the state's problem with methamphetamines.

The drug is such a problem that Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a law Tuesday requiring people to get a prescription to buy cold and allergy medication containing pseudoephedrine, one of the key ingredients people use to make meth. More ..

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Teacher jailed for sex with boy

The Guardian, UK, Martin Wainwright, Tuesday August 16, 2005

A married primary schoolteacher was jailed for 15 months yesterday after admitting having sex with an underage teenage boy.

Hannah Grice, 32, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two counts of indecent assault on the boy, who was aged 14 and 15 at the time of the offences.

Sentencing her at Stafford crown court, Judge John Shand told Grice, from Cannock, Staffordshire, she had abused her position of trust.

"Cases such as this are, of course, made worse by the fact that you were a member of the teaching profession," he told her. "You should have been very sensitive indeed to child welfare issues." Grice was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years.  More ..

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Paternity fraud penalises the innocent

News Weekly - Melbourne Australia, 13 August 2005, By Babette Francis

Businessmen who are caught committing corporate fraud or insider trading are exposed and punished - with fines, jail or both - and rightly so. However, women who commit paternity fraud, i.e. deceive their husbands about the paternity of "their" children, appear to get away with it and seem to have the Victorian Women's Legal Service and the Child Support Agency on their side, reports Babette Francis.

Paternity fraud not only involves infidelity, but also deception at a most fundamental level of the husband, the children and the community. Birth certificates need to record accurately who the biological parents are - not only for legal reasons, but also because medical issues and issues of consanguinity may arise. Here is the story of the paternity fraud inflicted on Liam Magill.  More ..

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CBC FILM Review

A First Look at Karla

An exclusive review of the contentious film

By Matthew Hays, August 12, 2005

Not many films have created as much of a furor in Canada as Karla. Nice, polite Canadians reacted with abject horror when it was announced last year that a Los Angeles-based film company had a movie about Karla Homolka in the works. Later, as questions about the films distribution surfaced, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty urged Ontarians to boycott it. The project, it was assumed by many from the get-go, could amount to nothing but sheer exploitation in pursuit of profit.   More ..

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Australian Associated Press

One in 25 raise another's child: claim

AAP, Australia, Aug 11 2005

One in 25 fathers could unknowingly be raising another man's child, British scientists say.

Researchers at Liverpool's John Moores University examined the findings of dozens of studies, published over the past 54 years, on cases of paternal discrepancy - where a man is proved not to be the biological father of his child.

The studies, most of them peer reviewed, came from countries as varied as the United States, Finland, New Zealand, South Africa and Mexico. More ..

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The Telegraph

1 in 25 men in dark as they raise others'children

The Telegraph, by Celia Hall, Medical Editor, August 11, 2005

One father in 25 could unknowingly be bringing up a child who is not his own, says new research that suggests a rise in genetic testing has opened a Pandora's box of sexual secrets and lies.

Genetic testing for diseases in families is growing and can reveal a child's real paternity, leaving doctors to decide how much to disclose to the family.

One of the authors of the study, Prof Mark Bellis, of the centre for public health at Liverpool John Moores University, said: "Twenty years ago doctors would have tended not to tell when they came across this information unless it was important for the health of the child.

"But advances in genetics mean that there is now more pressure for a child to know who his or her biological parents are." More ..

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The Telegraph

I had to find out whether I was really the father

The Telegraph, U.K. by Celia Hall, Medical Editor, August 11, 2005

It was a whirlwind romance. Within four months Michael and his girlfriend were hopelessly in love and discussing a life together and the prospect of children, not immediately, but in the future.

They moved in together then bought a house. Life was very good, said Michael, who asked for his identity not to be disclosed. "I was infatuated."

But his career in banking took him away from home all the time. He was effectively commuting to France and, before long, he said, he had reason to believe his girlfriend had not been faithful. "But I was in love and I put the thoughts to one side.

"Then she became pregnant," Michael said. "It was sooner than we had planned but we had wanted children together and I was still in love." More ..

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One in 25 fathers 'not the daddy'

Up to one in 25 dads could unknowingly be raising another man's child, UK health researchers estimate.

Increasing use of genetic testing for medical and legal reasons means more couples are discovering the biological proof of who fathered the child.

The Liverpool John Moores University team reached its estimate based on research findings published between 1950 and 2004.

The study appears in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Biological father

Professor Mark Bellis and his team said that the implications of so-called paternal discrepancy were huge and largely ignored, even though the incidence was increasing.

In the US, the number of paternity tests increased from 142,000 in 1991 to 310,490 in 2001.  More ..

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Judge Delivers Sentence In Teacher's Sex Trial
Dawn Reiser To Serve 8-Year Prison Sentence

NBC5i TV, Dallas-Forthworth, Texas, U.S.A., August 3, 2005

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A Fort Worth judge Thursday sentenced a Grapevine teacher for having sex with her 13-year-old student.

Judge Wayne Salvent followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced former seventh-grade teacher Dawn Reiser, 30, to as many as eight years in prison and at least two years of probation.

NBC 5 reported that Reiser was sentenced to 10 years of probation to be served concurrently with her prison term. If she serves the full eight years, she would serve two years of probation.  More ..

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Teacher's Sex Trial Begins

NBC5i TV, Dallas-Fortworth, Texas, U.S.A. August 2, 2005

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A 13-year-old boy took the witness stand in the Tarrant County Courthouse Tuesday to testify against a teacher at a Catholic school. The boy told jurors that he and the teacher had a sexual relationship, and that she promised the boy she would leave her husband so she and the boy could get married when he turned 18.

The allegations of sexual contact included episodes of bondage, during which 30-year-old Dawn Reiser is accused of tying up the boy to engage in repeated sexual encounters. The prosecution produced scarves allegedly used by Reiser to bind the boy.

The jury also saw love letters allegedly sent by Reiser to the boy. A DNA expert testified about saliva that sealed the envelopes. More ..

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8-Year-Old Charged For Sexual Conduct With Sitter

KUTV, CBS Broadcasting,  Salt Lake City, U.S.A., July 28, 2005

(KUTV) SALT LAKE CITY, Utah A mother is upset after a 14-year-old babysitter engaged in sexual conduct with her eight-year-old boy, and the eight-year-old was charged with lewd conduct.

Prosecutors have since dropped the charges against the boy, but his mother is still concerned.

The sexual conduct occurred during a game of "truth or dare" while the boy was being watched by the babysitter.

Prosecutors say that, while the babysitter initiated the contact, the young boy was a willing participant.  More ..

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America's Union Movement (AFL-CIO)

Protest Wal-Mart Child Labour

Write CEO Lee Scott to say you won't buy school supplies from Wal-Mart.

from America's Union Movement (AFL-CIO) Dateline: Friday, July 22, 2005

Connecticut just fined Wal-Mart for child labour law violations. And in January, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $134 540 after being cited for child labour violations in Connecticut, Arkansas and New Hampshire.

Really, that's not the kind of place we want to shop for our children's back-to-school supplies, is it?

This is a great opportunity to send a strong message to Wal-Mart and start the children in your life on the way to activism. Help them write letters, by August 1, to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott telling him why their families won't buy school supplies from Wal-Mart this year. Here are some unpleasant facts about Wal-Mart they can use as they write their letters:

Several states have found Wal-Mart workers younger than 18 operating dangerous equipment, such as chain saws.

Wal-Mart has racked up huge fines for child labour law violationsMore ..

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The FRO under scrutiny

The Women's Post, "Canada's national newspaper for professional women", by Leslie Whatmough, July 7th, 2005

On June 9, 2005 the McGuinty government announced the passage of Bill 155, legislation that promised to increase enforcement, improve fairness and enhance efficiency at the Family Responsibility Office (FRO). However, the legislation did not address the problem of accountability and, as things now stand, the FRO is a threat to every Canadian affected by a governmentregulated support and custody arrangement system. Think of George Orwells 1984 and youll have a good picture of how issues are handled at the FRO.

They have legal power to extort money from Canadians, but are not responsible or accountable for their actions. Last year an FRO staff member decided not to wait for a court date to review the financial status of an out-of-work truck driver and took it upon themselves to suspend his license because he was, understandably, behind on his payments, having lost his job earlier in the year. Although he was looking for work, the FRO cut off the only way he knew of to earn a living. His suicide note explained how hed lost all hope. Is this what we want FRO to be doing? It is one thing to chase after dead-beat dads (this philosophy is an integrated part of the FRO mandate), but what of the majority of people who pay regularly and lose their job or run into tough times? Should they too be stripped of their civil rights?  More ..

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Does the FRO have a feminist perspective?

The Women's Post, "Canada's national newspaper for professional women",  July 7th, 2005, by Joseph Young

When families fall apart, they can make for the bitterest of enemies. The intensity of their hostility, the personal rhetoric, the posturing and positioning, and the utter faithlessness of remembrance in the relationship's good deeds and consequences is a breathtaking phenomenon. It's as if the positive qualities and countless achievements are struck from history as a revisionist might strike the Holocaust. Into all of this the family court system wades, often inelegantly. Divorce lawyers drive up the emotional and financial toll of separation and transformation. Family and friends frequently collude to make things worse.

And when government decides to rear its head, well, it's a mess for all the world to see. Witness the recent attention on Ontarios euphemistically branded Family Responsibility Office. A job in advertising doubtlessly greeted the person who came up with its title, because it suggests some sort of feel-good missionary work to hold together the sanctity of the institution.  More ..

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Mother injected child with faeces, say police

Associated Press, U.S.A. , July 16th, 2005

Bear, Delaware - A former paediatric nurse has been charged with trying to poison her toddler son by injecting human faeces into his bloodstream.

Stephanie McMullen, 29, was charged on Thursday with assault and reckless endangerment and released on bail.

Doctors at the hospital where McMullen worked alerted police that her 22-month-old son had been admitted to hospital six times since he was four months old for "serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses", acting police chief Lieutenant Colonel Scott McLaren said.  More ..

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Gay rights, children's rights

Opinion by Margaret Somerville, founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law; author of 'The Ethical Canary: Science, Society, and the Human Spirit'

National Post,  July 14, 2005.

As its advocates claim, same-sex marriage will be a powerful public

 statement against the discrimination suffered by homosexuals. But it will also affect the fundamental rights of children, a vulnerable group of Canadians with no power to protect themselves at the ballot box. So let me try to speak for them, and put forward the case that accepting same-sex marriage requires that we enact new legislation to protect children's rights.

When limited to the union of a man and a woman, marriage establishes, as the norm, children's right to an identified biological mother and father, and to be reared by them, unless there are good reasons to the contrary. Same-sex marriage, in disconnecting marriage from procreation, compromises this right for all children, not just those brought into same-sex marriages. The new

 law, Bill C-38, implements that change by redefining parenthood from natural parenthood to legal parenthood -- from an institution defined by biology, to one defined solely by law.  More ..

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Spousal violence affects almost 1.2 million: Statscan

The Globe and Mail, By TERRY WEBER, Thursday, July 14, 2005

More than one million Canadian women and men have been the victim of spousal violence over the past five years, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

The government agency also said the overall rate of spousal violence for the five-year period stretching from 1999 to 2004 has remained steady at 7 per cent.

That means an estimated 653,000 women and 546,000 men experienced some degree of violence at the hands of a current or former partner. More ..

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Demande d'ordonnance de sauvegarde rejeteKarla Homolka est libre

Presse Canadienne, Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, 04 juillet 2005

 peine sortie de prison, lundi, aprs avoir purg une peine de 12 ans pour sa participation aux meurtres de deux adolescentes ontariennes, Karla Homolka a jug qu'elle devait s'expliquer publiquement plutt que de chercher se cacher.

TOKEN_BLOC_LIENLa femme de 35 ans, nerveuse et l'air contrit, s'est rendue la Maison de Radio-Canada Montral moins de deux heures aprs avoir quitt le pnitencier de Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines pour y offrir une entrevue exclusive, a affirm sur les ondes de RDI la journaliste Joyce Napier, de l'mission Le Point.

L'entrevue d'une dure de 20 minutes dans laquelle elle dit entre autres tre remplie de remords pour les gestes qu'elle a commis a t diffuse lundi soir.

La criminelle la plus mdiatise du pays en ce moment s'est prsente aux installations de la socit d'tat dans une minifourgonnette, de la mme faon qu'elle a quitt la prison situe au nord de Montral.  [cliquez ici]

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Infant Abuse Linked To Early Experience, Not Genetics

Science Daily, July 3, 2005

Intergenerational transmission of infant abuse is more likely caused by early experience than genetic inheritance, new University of Chicago research on macaque monkeys shows.

"Maternal abuse of offspring in macaque monkeys shares some similarities with child maltreatment in humans, including its transmission across generations," said Dario Maestripieri, Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago.

"The mechanisms underlying the intergenerational transmission of abuse are not well understood," said Maestripieri, who is also an affiliate scientist at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University. " Ours is the first study to show that rhesus monkey females who are abused by their mothers in infancy tend to become abusive mothers themselves, and the first to provide experimental evidence that the intergenerational transmission of abuse is the result of early experience and not genetic inheritance," he said. More ..

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Paternity fraud an urban myth: study

Australian Associated Press (AAP), (Australia's national news agency), Wednesday June 29, 2005

Alienated fathers'rights groups and the paternity testing industry are responsible for urban myths about paternity fraud, a university study has found.

Professor of Sociology at Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology, Michael Gilding, said figures suggesting that up to 30 per cent of paternity tests showed that the nominated father was not the parent of the child in question were based on unreliable sources or studies.  More ..

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Where's Daddy?

The Washington Post, By Richard Morin, Sunday, June 19, 2005, Page B5

Psychologists Linda M. Fleming and David J. Tobin can't tell you where to look for today's fathers. But they do know where not to look: on the pages of modern books on child-rearing.

Forget those statistics showing that fathers are playing an ever-increasing role in the lives of their small children. Daddies who change diapers, cart the little one to the pediatrician or help cook for Baby Dearest rate barely a mention in the typical child-care book, Fleming and Tobin of Gannon University in Pennsylvania claim in an article for the journal Psychology of Men & Masculinity.

Instead, they found that recently published guides to raising babies, when they mentioned dads at all, typically perpetuated outdated stereotypes that portray fathers as being little more than what these researchers termed the "parenthetical parent."  More..

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Dad: his role in todays world is changing

Fort McMurray Today, Fort McMurray, Alberta, By NICOLE FITCH, Today staff, Friday June 17, 2005

Dont call him Mr. Mom.

From making video documentaries to changing diapers and attending Kindermusik lessons, stay-at-home dad Will Gibson has taken on a very different role in the last few years.

Gibson, 37, has learned a great deal after spending the past five years at home with his children during the day and working from his home office. He stresses that its not as easy as it sounds, however.  More ..

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Sexual Abuse Accusations Color Custody BattlesConsider child's age, physical or mental disabilities, feelings of alienation when evaluating allegations.

Clinical Psychiatry News, U.S.A., June 2005 Volume 33 Number 6, Heidi Splete, Senior Writer

HOUSTON, U.S.A. Sexual abuse allegations in a child custody case are not always true, and even professionals who work with these children can have trouble distinguishing fact from fantasy in the children's stories, Joseph Kenan,M.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry.

When a forensic psychiatrist evaluates potential sexual abuse of a child in a custody case, he or she considers a host of factors, including the child's age, any physical or mental disabilities, and a child's feelings of alienation toward one parent or history of siding with one parent during arguments, he said at the meeting cosponsored by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Although psychiatrists use careful questioning and information-gathering skills to evaluate children's allegations, a study of 12 professionals showed that none of them could tell the difference between true and false stories after viewing videotapes of 10 different child testimonies, said Dr. Kenan, chief forensic psychiatrist at the Psychological Trauma Center, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. More ..

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Dads no longer playing a supporting parenting role

Sudbury, Ontario, BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN,  June 17, 2005

Sidney Osmond has been around to see a lot of things most dads never do. Hes witnessed his 18-month-old son, Sidney Osmond Jr., learn to sit up on his own, eat solid food, crawl, take his first steps and speak his first words.

The federal government allows dads such as Sidney Osmond to take a five-year family leave. Sidney Jr. approves. When the baby has a temper tantrum, Sidney is the one to soothe him, and when he wants to watch his favourite Thomas the Train DVD, he pushes play on the remote.

Sidney is a stay-at-home dad. When his wife, Chantal, became pregnant, they decided he would take a leave of absence from his job at Human Resources Development Canada and care for the baby.  More ..

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Missing: Males on College Campuses

FOX News, U.S.A., Wednesday, June 15, 2005, By Wendy McElroy

Some researchers call them the  "Lost Boys."  They are the students you don't see on college campuses.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)  tracks the enrollment in all degree-granting institutions by sex. From 1992 to 2000, the ratio of enrolled males to females fell from 82 to 78 boys for every 100 girls. The NCES projects that in 2007 the ratio will be 75 males for every 100 females; in 2012, 74 per 100.

In short, your son is statistically more likely than your daughter to work a blue collar job.

Thomas Mortenson, senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, argues that leaving a generation of boys behind hurts women as well. In a    Business Week cover story, Mortenson observed, "My belief is that until women decide that the education of boys is a serious issue, nothing is going to happen."  More ..

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Ex-pal: Karla psychopath

Wants her jailed for life

Toronto Sun, By ALAN CAIRNS AND BRODIE FENLON, Sun Media, Wed, June 1, 2005

TORONTO -- The woman who initially supported Karla Homolka as a "battered woman" now believes Homolka is dangerous and should be kept in prison for life.

"I think she should still be in there serving the same time as Paul," said Wendy Lutczyn, who worked with Homolka at the Martindale Animal Clinic in St. Catharines.  More ..

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Court set to weigh terms of Homolka's freedom

CTV news network, CTV.ca News Staff,  June 1, 2005

Little more than a month before her scheduled release, Karla Homolka's future will be argued in a Quebec court Thursday.

Homolka is set to walk away from a Joliette, Que. prison within weeks, but a team of Ontario lawyers is seeking to ensure that she won't be free to reoffend when she does.

Under the direction of Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, they intend to present evidence that could lead Judge Jean Beaulieu to impose further restrictions on the notorious criminal.  More ..

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Canadian Officials Fear Convicted Murderer

By Associated Press, Various newspapers around the World and in particular the U.S.A.,  June 2, 2005

JOLIETTE, Quebec -- Canadian authorities fear a convicted murderer may commit new crimes when she is released from prison, and authorities were seeking a court order requiring her to submit a DNA sample for a criminal database, officials said.

Karla Homolka pleaded guilty in 1993 to the sex slayings of two southern Ontario teenagers, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. She has served her 12-year manslaughter sentence and is set for release from a Quebec prison July 5, though she could be freed as early as June 23.  More ..

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Homolka weeps as public gets glimpse of one of Canada's most hated convicts

Luann Lasalle And Nelson Wyatt, Canadian Press, Thursday, June 02, 2005

JOLIETTE, Que. (CP) - It was a rare glimpse of Canada's most notorious female convict - Karla Homolka, weeping and wearing leg irons as the details of her horrific crimes were read out to a packed courtroom.

Like every other chapter in the saga of Homolka and her ex-husband, Paul Bernardo, Thursday's hearing to determine whether her movements should be restricted once she's out of jail was a media spectacle that featured at least one courtroom reporter gazing at her through binoculars.

Homolka began blinking and breathing heavily when Brian Noble of Niagara Regional Police described the deaths of schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, the two teens whose abductions and sex slayings stunned and sickened southern Ontario in the early 1990s.  More ..

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Jailed Homolka falls for controlling killer

ALAN CAIRNS AND STEPHANIE RUBEC, Special to The Free Press June 6, 2005

JOLIETTE, QUE. -- Karla Homolka's prison lover and avowed future husband is an abusive and controlling killer.

He is Jean-Paul Gerbet, 38, a French national serving a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend, Cathy Carretta, when she tried to leave him seven years ago.

Gerbet was named on Quebec TV yesterday by Cathy Carretta's father, Christian, who said he fears Homolka has found herself a replacement for ex-husband Paul Bernardo.

"He (Gerbet) is an individual who can be evil and I don't know what will come of him being chaperoned by Karla," he said.

"They are a diabolical couple and a horrifying couple," Carretta told the TVA network. "It resembles Bernardo."  More..

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Canadian Officials Fear Convicted Murderer

By Associated Press, Various nespapers around the World and in particluar the U.S.A.,  June 2, 2005

JOLIETTE, Quebec -- Canadian authorities fear a convicted murderer may commit new crimes when she is released from prison, and authorities were seeking a court order requiring her to submit a DNA sample for a criminal database, officials said.

Karla Homolka pleaded guilty in 1993 to the sex slayings of two southern Ontario teenagers, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. She has served her 12-year manslaughter sentence and is set for release from a Quebec prison July 5, though she could be freed as early as June 23.  More ..

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Media circus descends on sleepy town

Joliette, Que.

Katherine Wilton, CanWest News Service, Thursday, June 2, 2005

JOLIETTE, Que. - As a courthouse clerk, Annie Gallant normally spends her days sifting through divorce papers.

But those duties were shelved yesterday as Ms. Gallant was instructed to give courthouse tours to dozens of journalists who have descended on this sleepy town in anticipation of Karla Homolka's first courtroom appearance in 10 years.

"This is a lot of fun," said Ms. Gallant, who admits to being caught up in the Karla-mania that is sweeping through Joliette. "We are all talking about her at work. Everyone knows what she did."  More ..

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Canada's largest daily newspaper

The real shame about adoption

We don't need more sealed files or vetos that ensure even more secrecy

 The Toronto Star, By Valerie Hauch, Toronto Star writer and editor, May 26, 2005

"Unmarried and pregnant - you have sinned. For shame!''Such finger-wagging reproofs were not uncommon for a different generation of women who dared to have sex outside wedlock and unlucky enough to have it bear fruit.  In fact, moral denunciation of perceived wanton behaviour has been such a powerful force in society that it lingers today in the debate about whether to pass the provincial government's adoption disclosure bill.  

 Ontario's Privacy Commissioner Anne Cavoukian says it will be an invasion of privacy for wome