After Reporting Ongoing Child Abuse, What Can You Do?
by Name Undisclosed
(Location Undisclosed)
Darlene,
My husband and I (not residents of Canada), have reported to a Children's Aid Society, an ongoing case of physical and emotional abuse and neglect of our 8-year-old nephew by his parents, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, residents of Ontario. We believe that there was a case file on my nephew prior to our contact, based on reports from his school, but my sister-in-law has admitted to manipulating the investigations by intimidating and coaching my nephew to lie to case workers, threatening him with more beatings or "being taken away to homes where {he} will be raped". We have since been unable to re-establish communication with the parents and therefore have no way of knowing the status of the investigation or if the case worker has managed to find sufficient evidence in his investigations, and if my nephew and his parents are getting the help that they desperately need.
My husband and I have attended counselling sessions to deal with the shock of discovering the severity of the abuse and the paranoid state of mind of my sister-in-law. We have invited the rest of the family, but they are in denial, and in fear of past childhood abuses being brought to the surface.
Given the laws in Canada that prevent the social worker from providing any feedback even to family members who have reported abuse, is there anything else that we can do to find out if my nephew is still in harm's way or if he is being helped, or to establish ourselves as concerned relatives? Can you recommend any support groups, or legal or social avenues that we can consider?
Many thanks for your advice.
Note from Darlene: My answer to this Ask Darlene question "After Reporting Ongoing Child Abuse, What Can You Do?" can be found below. If you do not see the comments I've written, please be patient, as there is a system glitch regarding comments going live on my site. I replied to your query June 6, 2008, comments titled "I sincerely wanted to be more helpful..." Keep checking back to this page. I thank you and my other visitors for your understanding while I work at getting this minor malfunction rectified.
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