A mother in the Lev Tahor community who is the subject of a child protection proceeding sent a letter to media outlets decrying the actions of Chatham-Kent Children’s Services and calling out for help.
The letter also includes hundreds of pages of court documents filed in her case. The woman had two of her children temporarily removed after social workers discovered what they said was a bruise on the face of a child. She maintains it was permanent marker.
The children, a boy and a girl both under five years old, were kept in a foster home for five days and returned. The matter was briefly heard Friday where it was adjourned until April.
“I must cry out to just any one, please call the society and look for some human feeling at the society’s office and ask them please gave up the improper visits and withdraw your unjustified case against any innocent parents including Jewish devoted one,” reads the letter.
The Child and Family Services Act prevents the Star from identifying either the parents or the children. The letter was written without the consent or knowledge of the woman’s lawyer, Chris Knowles.
“I can tell you I had nothing to do with that. It’s unusual,” he said.
Quebec authorities have documented what they say is evidence of neglect, psychological abuse, poor dental and physical health among members of the community. An Ontario court will rule Monday on whether to enforce a Quebec order for the removal of 14 children.
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11 Responses
They should take away all their children and give them to other Jewish family to look after them they abuse all their children
I agree with # 1
#1 Atyeshiva — Your kids should all be taken away.
THANKS AGAIN!
To #3
Not everyone is mentally sound enough to get married and have children. Furthermore, person’s children are not their property and nobody has permission to abuse any child anywhere no matter what!!!
She looks like a Moslem woman to me!
To #5 WIY
Keep your bolshevik views to yourself. Stalinists like you have no place in Jewish forum like this one.
I know this particular mother in person and she does not abuse her children. Her children are adorable sweet children. I am sure that the people making all these negative comments have never met this lady and have no right to pass judgement without knowing the facts firsthand. Hearsay is not evidence of anything. In fact I don’t believe that other than their mode of dress makes the women in this community any different from any other mothers. I have feel they are being grossly wronged by the child protection services in Quebec and no in Ontario and by the greater Jewish community who is quick to vilify them and suggest that their children belong in foster care (just because they think they are strange). I feel that everyone has the right to their chumros if they aren’t imposing them on others or suggesting that their way is the only right way. We all think we are doing the right thing, whether we are modern Orthodox, yeshivish or Chassidish. We don’t tell others to do things our way or they are wrong. So even if this group seems to be very different, we can’t say for sure there must be abuse and their children have to be taken away. One big problem we have nowadays is the internet, the (mis)information highway, with everyone’s opinion on it, right or wrong and a lot of loshon horah also. Somehow people think there is a heter to speak loshon horah on the internet.
To #5
Which is why I said Atyeshiva’s children should be taken.
Well said basmelech (#8). Yasher koach.
the following is shocking: Google it and you’ll find it.
A teen under the age of 18 who was pregnant at the time was taken to the Montreal Children’s Hospital, where she reported to nurses that she was beaten badly by her brother, sexually abused by her father, and married at age 15 to a 30-year-old man, according to newly released court documents.
The incident occurred on Dec. 11, 2012, and was one of several allegations of abuse that authorities documented about the ultra-Orthodox Jewish cult Lev Tahor in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., over the span of two years.
While photos were taken of the teen’s injuries, neither police officers nor youth protection case workers were able to speak with her because she was incoherent.
In another case, Quebec’s Youth Protection Department removed a girl in the spring of 2012 after she reported to authorities her father, and the wicked vicious abuser the wife of one of the community’s leaders, Mayer Rosner, hit her several times with a belt over the period of six months. The documents don’t detail whether the girl was ever returned to her family.
The documents were unsealed in court last week after a consortium of media sought access. The information to obtain the search warrant was released by the Surete du Quebec (SQ) Friday and was heavily redacted. The allegations have not been proven and the identities of children in the cult are protected by a court order.
On April 24, 2012, Quebec police investigator Stephane Chartrand received a document detailing allegations of abuse in the cult, including locking girls in basements as a form of punishment, removing children from their families, controlling members of the community with psychological drugs, and forcing girls aged 14 and 15 to get married, where the minimum legal age in Canada is 16.
Quebec’s Youth Protection Department made regular visits to the cult in the summer and fall of 2013, where they noted unsanitary conditions in the homes of community members, but they were working with the community to address several concerns.