There are few heroes to be found in the report by B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth into the painful and tragic case of a 15-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was discovered last September beside the decomposing corpse of her mother.
But there is one: Allison Weber. And the role she played in this heartbreaking story deserves a fuller accounting.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s examination into the circumstances surrounding this case was released earlier this week. And as is her style, B.C.’s children’s watchdog didn’t restrain herself when it came to condemning the actions and conduct of individuals who failed the girl and her mother on countless occasions.
As the mother’s general health and mental wellbeing began to deteriorate precipitously, the proper checks weren’t put in place to ensure the girl was being sufficiently cared for. Perhaps that’s understandable when you consider that this case was one of a couple of hundred that the social worker had.
But Allison Weber cared.
She is a respite worker who often looked after the girl. Respite workers are paid by government to give parents in difficult and trying circumstances an occasional, much-needed break. In Allison’s case, she often ends up caring for children with exceedingly complex needs and behavioural issues.
It’s a job, quite frankly, few of us could imagine doing ourselves. It’s hard work. It pays little. And most of us go about our day-to-day lives thinking very little about the angels who carry out these thankless assignments.
When the mother of the girl cancelled all her appointments with Allison in the summer of 2010, alarms went off. Allison jumped in her car and drove to the family home to see if she could determine what the problem was. When she finally saw the mother, she could tell something was horribly wrong. The mother broke down crying, and complained about how hopeless her life had become.
Allison tried to convince her to let her take the girl for a few days to give her a break. The mother didn’t want to – at least for a few weeks.
In September, Allison got a call at the school where she works as an education assistant. It was an official with the Ministry of Children and Family Development: The mother was dead. Would Allison come and take the girl for a few days until a foster home could be found for her?
Allison said yes.
The 15-year-old was in horrible shape. She’d lost a considerable amount of weight in the nine days she’d been with her dead mother. A ministry official handed Allison a clear plastic bag with a doll inside that had been found on the floor beside the mother. That was it.
“They asked me if I would take the girl to the washroom,” Allison remembers. “She had a pull-up [adult diaper] on. She had severe diarrhea. She had a rash all over her buttocks and down her legs to her knees. It was very raw and hot to touch. It was awful.
“She had no bra on. An old T-shirt. Pants that were falling off.”
She took the girl to a walk-in clinic to get something for the rash. The doctor said she had lice too. She got cream for that. When she took the girl home, Allison began examining her scalp. It was full of scabs. She tried to get them out but had to stop because her head began bleeding.
“My mother was there and I started crying,” Allison remembers. “I felt a little overwhelmed.”
Allison took time off work to care for the girl. She bought her new clothes and underwear with her own money. At one point, the girl had a bad reaction to some medication she was on and Allison had to rush her to the hospital. After four days, the ministry found the girl a permanent home. Allison turned her back over to the care of the government and received not so much as a thank you for the job she’d done.
Or any compensation, either.
She agrees with Ms. Turpel-Lafond that the family was let down by those working in the system.
“I think the social workers are overworked and they lose their compassion quickly,” she said. “It becomes like working in emergency. When someone dies it’s nothing. You have to have compassion for these families or they become nothing, too.”
She last saw the girl in December. She was doing well, Allison reports. She believes the girl won’t be forever scarred by what happened, in part because of her developmental impediments.
“I remember one day I was brushing her hair and I said to her: ‘Do you miss mommy? Are you sad?’ And she looked at me and said: ‘Mommy sad. I’m not sad.’”
