UPDATE: PAUL AND ZABETH BAYNE; "SHAKEN BABY" CASE; BATTLE TO RETRIEVE THEIR CHILDREN FROM B.C. CHILD WELFARE AUTHORITIES GOES TO COURT JAN. 10;

"FROM A CORRESPONDENCE DATING BACK TO JULY 14, 2008, A GOVERNMENT LAWYER, FINN JENSEN, DIDN’T THINK THE CASE FOR KEEPING THE BOYS IN GOVERNMENT CUSTODY WOULD STAND UP IN COURT OF LAW. A MEDICAL REPORT FROM NOVEMBER OF 2007, ALMOST TWO MONTHS AFTER THE BOYS WERE SEIZED, INDICATED ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE OF INJURY TO THE CHILDREN, NOR HAS ANY NEW EVIDENCE BEEN PRESENTED IN THE TWO YEARS SINCE THE FAMILY WAS TORN APART BY THE GOVERNMENT. THE BOYS HAVE BEEN PLACED IN FOUR DIFFERENT FOSTER HOMES IN THE LOWER MAINLAND SINCE THEY WERE TAKEN BY THE STATE.

THEN IN APRIL OF THIS YEAR A NEW AND SHOCKING REVELATION CAME TO LIGHT THAT COULD EXPLAIN THE INJURIES OF THEIR DAUGHTER. INTERNAL DOCUMENTS FROM THE MINISTRY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT REVEALED THAT THE HEAD INJURIES TO THE LITTLE GIRL WERE LIKELY NOT CAUSED BY ABUSE, ACCIDENT, OR OTHERWISE, BUT FROM A RARE GENETIC DISORDER CALLED GLUTARIC ACIDURIA."

COLUMNIST RAPHAEL ALEXANDER: THE VANCOUVER SUN;
(ADRIAN MACNAIR IS A VANCOUVER WRITER WHO SOMETIMES WRITES UDER HIS MIDDLE NAME, RAPHAEL ALEXANDER);

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BACKGROUND: The two boys, now aged three and four, and a 19-month-old girl, were apprehended by the ministry in September, 2007 because the couple was suspected of shaking the girl and causing a head injury. The Baynes believe the injury was caused when their youngest son tripped and fell on their daughter’s head. Dr. Peter Stephens, one of eight doctors prepared to testify on the Baynes’s behalf, said shaken-baby cases are driven by politicians who don’t want to appear “soft” on crime, and by social workers who rely on the opinion of doctors unaware of chronic subdural hematoma. “People like the Baynes are collateral damage in the war on child abuse,” he told The Chilliwack Progress in a telephone interview from his North Carolina home. He said the baby girl’s head injuries were not caused by being shaken, but by the lack of oxygen to her brain caused by a chronic subdural hematoma. Nobody knows for sure how these chronic conditions start, Stephens said, but they could begin as early as birth and a “minor bump in the bathtub” trigger a re-bleed. Whoever is last seen with the child when the brain damage is finally discovered, is the one who is mistakenly blamed, he said. Reporter Robert Freeman's article on the Bayne's ordeal in the Chilliwack Progress was the subject of a post on this Blog on July 29, 2009;

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"A Surrey family that had their three children seized by the government of British Columbia in October of 2007 is still desperately trying to get them back more than 26 months later," columnist Raphael Alexander's Vancouver Sun column, published on December 28, 2009, begins, under the heading "A family in need of reunification."

"Their children were taken by the province after Child Services believed that the parents had shaken their then two-month-old baby girl, Bethany, even though those allegations now seem to be false, and government workers even advised their boys be returned as early as November of 2007," the column continues.

"The children have been in foster care ever since. The two boys who are aged five and four, respectively, and Bethany, now two, were taken by the Ministry of Child and Family Development when Paul and Zabeth Bayne were suspected of shaking their baby girl causing a head injury. The accusation is commonly known as “Shaken Baby Syndrome”. The Bayne’s insisted the injury occurred when their younger son tripped and fell on their daughter, but those pleas fell on deaf ears.

But the case has been fraught with concern about the power that government authorities have to seize children from their parents on slim evidence, and the lengthy time it has taken to restore the children to their parents again. Worse yet, evidence has surfaced which indicates the province had numerous opportunities to return their children, but for some reason did not.

From a correspondence dating back to July 14, 2008, a government lawyer, Finn Jensen, didn’t think the case for keeping the boys in government custody would stand up in court of law. A medical report from November of 2007, almost two months after the boys were seized, indicated absolutely no evidence of injury to the children, nor has any new evidence been presented in the two years since the family was torn apart by the government. The boys have been placed in four different foster homes in the Lower Mainland since they were taken by the state.

Then in April of this year a new and shocking revelation came to light that could explain the injuries of their daughter. Internal documents from the Ministry of Child Development revealed that the head injuries to the little girl were likely not caused by abuse, accident, or otherwise, but from a rare genetic disorder called glutaric aciduria.

Zabeth and Paul Bayne have had to find night jobs in the time since their children were abducted by the government, so that they can visit them during the days when they are granted access.

A court hearing on the alleged abuse will finally commence on January 10. Before then, the parents are holding a fund-raising concert entitled “For Love and for Justice” at Richmond Peace Mennonite Church on January 3 between 6:30-8pm. Those attending are encouraged to call the number 778-228-4717 to reserve a place. You can also visit several Facebook pages to learn more about their plight to get their children back.

For Love and for Justice: Facebook Event
The Bayne Campaign for Justice: Facebook Group
The Bayne Petition Site;"

The column can be found at:

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/communityofinterest/archive/2009/12/28/a-family-in-need-of-reunification.aspx

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;