(silence)
Anne: Ok Colleen. We're probably going 
to do this a little bit together, 
and ... Colleen's 
done this before, so she's just 
trying to figure out which way 
to start probably at this 
point. What we wanted to share, 
I think, is Colleen's experience 
as a parent , and as a
 parent with a disability and with 
the struggle she's had in being 
able to keep her child, 
and what the child welfare system 
has sort of been like and how 
its been involved in her 
life. Is that ok, 
is that a good start?
Colleen: Yes that's good.
Anne: So can you tell us how
 you lost your daughter, 
and how you got her back?
Colleen: Back in December 13, 
2001, my daughter was taken 
away from me. There was, 
I was in a ... on that particular
 day I had just come out of a 
domestic dispute with my ex, 
relationship kind of thing. 
And yeah she was taken, and 
eight and a half years old. She 
was gone for four and a half 
years, and I didn't, couldn't 
understand why she was taken 
away from me. I was a very devoted
 parent I had made sure 
that she got into all the 
necessary programs for school and ...
Anne: So it was a surprise to you 
that this happened. Did the 
workers ever say to you 
why they took your 
daughter away from you?
Colleen: They said that they 
accused me of abusing her, 
physically, emotionally, 
and mentally.
Anne: So then what did they 
tell you you had to do if you 
wanted to stay involved with your 
daughter? Do you remember those days?
Colleen: Yeah. They told me that I 
had to have a roof over my head. 
I had to have food 
on the table. I basically had to
 keep myself clean, although 
I don't do drugs, I don't drink. 
So they basically kept telling 
me "Keep doing what you're doing, 
and you'll get your daughter back."
Anne: And they said 
that many times to you?
Colleen: Many times, over the 
next four and a half years.
Anne: So you did those things, 
yes? You went to parent classes, 
you went for assessments?
Colleen: Yes, I did all the 
assessments, I did parenting classes, 
I went through a domestic 
abuse life skills class at DECSA, 
here at Edmonton. I went through 
a one year program. I 
went back to work when I could. 
The thing is that I couldn't go 
back to work, it was 
really hard to go back to work 
'cause also I was in and out of 
court, for three years of that 
time I was in court trying to get 
better visits with my daughter, and
 just better access to her.
Anne: So where was Ashley, your 
daughter, all this time while you 
were fighting to get her back? 
Where was she living?
Colleen: She was in a number of 
foster homes. She went through 
five foster homes, I 
think. She was in a group home for 
a year and a half, and out of 
all that the only good 
foster home she that was in, she 
was in there for two years, two to 
three years, and to this 
day I still talk to her.
Anne: And all the time you're
 still trying to prove that 
you're a good mother and that you 
can have Ashley back.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Anne: So can you tell about that 
period when she ... how she 
ended up in the group home 
and then you know that complicated 
period, you know, you remember, 
I think it would be interesting 
for the audience to hear
Colleen: My daughter was, they 
ended up, she was, they took her 
out of the very good 
foster home, and they put her in a 
group home and they stuck her 
there for a year and a 
half. And this funny situation was 
that every time my daughter 
was on a holiday or a 
school vacation, the group home 
would call me up and say "Could 
you take her". And so... 
Anne: There wasn't enough staff?
Colleen: Yeah, and there wasn't 
enough staff, and they told me that 
they would rather her 
be with me than with them. So, at 
that point, that was towards the
 last year, year and a 
half or so, I realized that you 
know what, this, I'm not doing 
this any more. I'm going to 
do everything I can to get her 
back. And, I mean, all the way 
through it I was. But this 
was when I realized that, you know 
what, enough games have been 
played with me. So, I 
basically by fluke, I got a hold of 
... someone had called me from AACL, 
asking me to 
donate clothes, or household items 
and I basically I said "Well, I have 
a situation where I 
want my daughter back, can you 
help me?" They referred me to 
a lady called Maureen 
Reid, and she was an advocate 
through AACL and that's where I 
started the ball rolling. 
They, he came to every meeting that 
I was involved in with children's 
services. Every 
time children's services would 
come to my house, she was there 
too. She would come 
and come visit me and Ashley when 
I did have visits at my house. At 
that point, the last 
year before she was given back 
to me she was basically coming 
to my house every 
weekend, and every school vacation. 
Like Christmas time, spring break, teachers' 
convention, and also that year I 
was able to take her on a two and 
a half week vacation to Ontario.
Anne: So in that time you started to
 ask the child welfare people "Why 
can't I have my 
daughter back, right?". That was 
the really important question. 
What did they say to you?
Colleen: Um, they told me that that's
 not what they were thinking of, 
and that basically I 
had to keep doing what I was doing. 
And I'm going, "you know what, I 
thought I've heard 
this so many time, I don't want
 to keep doing this again."
Anne: Did they ask you ... you said 
to them "Have you had any complaints 
about me as a mother?"
Colleen: Yeah, that was when, 
basically that was when I came back 
from vacation, and 
from Ontario, and up until that point 
I had had no overnight visits with 
her for four and a 
half years . So I went from, I 
asked them, the week before 
I was going on holidays I 
asked them if I could have her for 
that whole week, to see what 
I was getting myself into, 
to see if I could actually be a 
parent again. So I asked them 
this. Two days before I went 
on holiday they just basically 
said "Here, you can have her."
 So I ... those two nights, 
although she was hyper, she was 
excited, we made the best of it, 
and the whole vacation 
she was awesome. I had her for 
about three weeks total. When I
 got back from vacation, I 
said "Look, this can't be going on, 
I have to have her more than this." 
So they gradually, 
they would come in. That September 
they came in and they made a plan,
 because I 
wasn't going to have it any other
 way. I told them that I had to, 
I had to have her back.
Anne: And in the end that happened for you?
Colleen: Yeah, she came back ...
Anne: How long has it been now?
Colleen: Three years. She's been 
home for three years. She came 
home when she was 12 
and she's currently 15 years old. 
She's currently attending high 
school, grade 10, She is 
still segregated in a school, 
which I was informed tonight that 
she wants to change to Ross 
Shephard next year.
Anne: So that's your new struggle?
Colleen: Yeah, that's a new struggle.
Anne: Get a more inclusive education.
Colleen: Yeah, but so ...
Anne: So I'm just going to explain a 
little bit about why we wanted
 to include this story 
as part of an understanding about 
the way in which systemic 
and pervasive oppression 
can hurt. You know that I think 
it's easy to make, easier to 
understand Wendy and Sam's 
experience in light of what we 
understand about oppression 
and eugenics and it's 
somewhat harder to recognize some 
people like Colleen and her 
situation where she's 
actually been oppressed because
 she's chosen to be a parent. 
We no longer are concerned 
about sterilizing people with 
disabilities so much, in fact, 
most of today's public opinion 
would be that it would be wrong 
to sterilize. However, there is
 still a lot of oppression 
and stigmatization and devaluation 
around being a parent, and being 
able to get the 
support that you need to be the
 parent that can have a good life 
with their children. I think 
the underlying belief of that 
devaluation is particularly clear
 if you get tied up in the child 
welfare system. I think over and 
over Colleen was told that she 
shouldn't be a parent, she 
should just give up her child, 
that the experience of the foster 
care system is I'm sure 
much more damaging for Ashley than
 her life at home had been, at 
that point or after. But 
it continued to be the professional
 view that Colleen could never prove 
herself as a good parent, no matter what she did.
Colleen: Yeah, the court's exact words
 is "You'll never ... how could a person with a 
disability take care of a person
 with a disability?" And because, 
I'm going "I can understand 
what she's going through".
Anne: And you happen to love her.
Colleen: I love that girl. I'm very
 proud of her, who she is today.
Anne: So we think that's an important
 piece to know, the picture. Thank you.
