The Brussels Post, 1978-03-29, Page 8People we know
Mr. • and Mrs, John Tooth, Mr. and Mrs, Burns Beharriell
Lorraine and Gregory of Toronto, of Dean. Lake, Algoma, visited
spent Easter with her parents, with Mr, and Mrs. Edwin Martin
Mr., and Mrs. Edwin Martin, Saturday,.
Where Personal Service is still
important
New Selection of Beautiful Decorative
Wall Clocks, Chimes
Kitchen Plate Clocks
and Travelling Alarms
Wonderful gifts for
Weddings & Anniversaries
Member B.B.A. Brussels 887-9000
Grows Them
* Inspect our Manufacturing Facility
* See Raw Materials used in our new Premix
Blending Plant.
* 1:30 p.m.-Film by Mhy and Baker
"Vibri onic Scours"
* Ontario Government Swine and Dairy
Programs Presentations.
* Free Coffee and Doughnuts
FRIDAY
MARCH
31
10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
New. Premix . Plant
OPEN
HOUSE
Mayor Harold Jordan Will Officially Open Our
New Facillities At 2:00 P.M.
EVERYONE WELCOME - BRING A NEIGHBOUR
P.O. Box 766
Mitchell, Ontario NOK 1 NO
Telephone (519) 348-9204
BY JOANNE WALTERS
"There is no doubt in my mind
that the Children's Aid Society is
a most relevant institution
today," said Judge John
Gammell at the 67th annual
Huron County Family and
Children's Services (Children's
Aid Society) meeting held
Wednesday, March 15.
Judge Gammell was appointed
provincial court judge, family
division for the counties of Grey,
Bruce and Huron on February 6.
As a former lawyer, he worked
with youth in the maximum
security division of the mental
health centre, Penetanguishene.
There, he said, he came into
contact with a broad range of
mental illness with the most
bizarre results. Every case was
different, he said, but there were
certain constants too.
One of the constants Judge
Gammell spoke of was a past
history of child abuse in the lives
of criminals or mentally ill people.
This abuse, he said, could be
physical or emotional, intentional
or unintentional.
The battered child situation
snowballs . he said. Battered
children usually become battering
parents and lead lives of conflict
with other people. And the
battered child is only the tip of the
iceburg he said. Emotional
maltreatment can be just as
severe with the consequences
appearing years later.
Judge Gammell said society
has been picking up the pieces in
child apuse cases for a long time.
This is a costly item with a
growing number of people being
• kept in jails and mental institu-
tions. '
"There •must be more
prevention than protection if
society is to survive.," he
concluded.
He urged the Family and
Children's • Services agency to
direct more economics toward
prevention.
John Penn, local director . of
HuronCounty's Family and
Children's services, agreed with
Judge Gammell and said that
prevention was the route to go.
He said he thought that the
agency could help cure families'
ills with preventitive
As he outlined in his annual
report, many of the agency's .1978
programs are designed to help a
family • spot problems and work
with the agency to solve them.
Although many families
request help for one child, said
Penn, those at the, agency feel
that the real client and the focus
of services is the entire family
unit. This is one of the rea •sons
why the Children's Aid Society
changed its name this year to
Family and Children's Services.
During 1977, said Penn in his
report, the agency worked with
344 families and assisted many
others for brief periods of time.
The number of children in the
care of the agency rose dramati-
cally between April and August
1977 said Penn: Most of these
children had been with
abusing families who had been
identified through the •community
People We
Know
Susan Langlois, Peggy Gibson,
Joan M air and -Joan Thiether
have returned after spending 9
days in ,Hawaii with Seaforth
District. High School,
child abuse program. These
additional children in care,
together with more children in
institutional care than antici-
pated, created a year ,end budget
deficit of some $32,000. Penn said
'the provincial government has
given verbal approval for these
additional funds and county
council also approved the deficit.
The adoption picture, reported
Penn, remained similar to
previous years. The adoptions of
15 children were finalized during
the year. While infants available
for adOption remain scarce he
said, the need for homes
prepared to adopt the older child
is growing.
•Penn reported that during the
year 1977, the agency was
actively involved in various
communities across the county.
The Community Child Abuse
Committee, composed of .
professionals who are involved
daily with children, met several
times during the year, This
committee certainly did its work
said Penn. The number of
abusing families \that the agency
assisted increased over 500 per
cent during its lifespan.
The program aimed at
community awareness, inter-
professional co-operation and
early detection of high risk
families. It was cancelled late in
the year as a reult of budgetary
restrictions imposed by the
Ministry of Community and Social
Services. However community
support voiced for the program
reported Penn, seems to have had
a significant influence on the
possibility of its reinstatement.
8 — THE BRUSSELS POST, MARCH 29, 1978
Child abuse snowballs, judge.
tells Children's. Aid