impossible standards?

Melissa is a 24 year old female from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and the mother of 4 – year – old twins boys. In recent months, both boys were removed from Melissa’s home and placed in a foster home. This took place after an incident where police were called to Melissa’s home after and domestic disturbance call. When police arrived they found that Melissa’s boyfriend( not the twin’s father) had assaulted her severely and she needed to be transported to local hospital. While she was being treated, her children were taken into temporary emergency care but upon investigating the home after the incident, police found evidence of cocaine use , combined this with previous domestic disturbance calls around the same relationship, a decision was made to put the twins into temporary care in a foster home, once Melissa was released She started supervised visits at the local children’s services office. which was 35 minute drive from her current home.

Melissa herself grew up in the foster care system. She was taken into care at 2 yrs old because her mother struggled with cocaine addiction and never attempted to regain custody. Melissa never knew siblings or grandparents , has limited contact with her mother and has essential no living support system. In adulthood, she has struggled on and off with addictions and abusive relationships. The father of her children has never had involvement or paid support. Until the children’s removal, Melissa supported herself by collecting income assistance and child tax benefit, though she has a history of being evicted for non payment of rent.

The child protection agency explained to Melissa that to try and reunite with her children that she would have to seek help with her addictions and prove effort in that area, to regularly pass drug tests, to have no contact with her former boyfriend and participate in all legal action against him regarding the assault, to maintain a safe, clean and stable home for her children to return to, and to regularly attend her supervised visits 3 times a week and show appropriate parenting. If Melissa shows consistant effort in these areas she could have her children back in 3-6 months.

more than 9 months has passed and melissa has moved to a smaller apartment and is living with a roommate with a criminal past, has refused efforts from police to testify against her boyfriend, and has missed several visits with her children. she has tested clean for Cocaine consistently but has been positive fore marijuana more than once. The Case supervisor is considering recommending the children for permanent care on the basis that Melissa isnt interested in re-gaining custody.

Upon asking Melissa, the case worker learns that :
1. When the children were removed, Melissa lost her child tax benefit and social assistance payment and was unable to afford the apartment she was living in at the time of removal so she moved to a smaller one.
2. she had lots of difficulty finding work in the rural community she is from where many people know her circumstances and is working under the table currently for less than minimum wage.
3. she took on a roommate in an effort to afford her apartment, he occasionally smokes marijuana in the apartment which accounts for her positive test but she insists she is committed to her sobriety.
4. She has avoided the police/testifying because she claims the reality is that her ex-boyfriend wont do much time in prison if any and will likely come after her for testifying against him and she is afraid.
5. She has only missed visits because they are held 35 minutes away from her home. she doesnt have a car and often hitchhikes to get to her visits. she misses them on days where she cant get a ride. She maintains that she is committed to getting her children back and wants to be a good mother.

According to the agency Mandate: The case worker is technically assigned to oversee the health and safety of the children and it is often looked upon as the responsibility of the mother to meet her requirements and deadlines. Moving the visits closer to Melissa would mean the children spending over an hour in the car three times a week and this seems unreasonable. Melissa’s small apartment and choice of roommate make her home a dangerous place for children to be returned to. If Melissa’s abuser walks free , there is a chance that the children may encounter him again/ be in danger.

Questions:
1. What are the systemic challenges to this case? how are systems amplifying the issues?
2. What are the ethical implications for ensuring the “health and safety” of the children? Should it include helping the mother/ensuring her success? or is this a conflict.
3. Should Melissa’s past and current difficulties be used to explain her current situation with her children, should a case worker be sympathetic and understanding? Does it make a difference?
4. How far should the agency that is investigating her go towards alleviating her problems? Are there changes that could be made to help her without harming the children or influencing the case at their expense?
5. were there any problems with the case workers recommendations and timeline?( i.e testify, drug test…)