Some Mothers Can’t Celebrate #MothersDayWeekend

Courtesy https://pxhere.com/en/photo/745052

Yesterday I watched a mother and her son admire my friend’s works at her Art Show, and my heart hurt as I thought about how a God-given privilege has been cruelly snatched away from many by government-approved institutions like Child Welfare Agencies in Ontario, Canada, and the “developed world”. For many mothers, an evening with their child is not possible. They can no longer have those moments with their children because the system has deemed their families unsafe for their children. These mothers are not drug-using, addicted, jailed, sick or dead mothers but mothers who are doing their best to meet the needs of their children.

Mothers are being celebrated everywhere on print, radio, TV, billboards and the internet this Mothers Day Weekend. Among the celebrants and the celebrated are those who have been instrumental in taking away the joy of motherhood from others. Here in Ontario, foster-mothers, counselors and social workers take steps that cause children’s lives to be derailed and in some cases exterminated, and then they go home to celebrate on weekends like this. They do this backed by laws while birth-mothers mourn their losses. The phrase “in the best interests of the child” is touted at different levels and decisions taken remain in the worst interest of the child. Where a mother refuses to let go, parental-alienation tactics are used to ensure that the child rejects their mothers.

The law protects foster-mothers but birth-mothers are left floundering. A foster-mother gets a one-step complaint process with Ontario’s Ministry of Youth and Children’s Services but birth-mothers have to jump through hoops, before they get someone to listen to them, knowing that listening doesn’t mean action. The system funds group homes where children become drug users within a month, make truancy a habit, basically ruin their own lives and no-one cares. Birth-mothers watch with broken hearts and lives while the government-backed institutions destroy their children’s lives. They pray that their child will not be the body of the 16-year old found dead in an alley or the 18-year old whose body was found six months after being declared missing behind the group home where he lived. These birth-mothers hope and pray that their child will not be the next one to kill themselves or be killed while in care. They hope and pray they do not receive that news. They hope and pray that in spite of this system that punishes responsible birth-parents, that one day their children will truly be allowed to “live” again.

As Canada celebrates Mothers Day weekend, these mothers cry for justice, they cry out for change in this system. As you celebrate Mothers Day, lend your voice and your pen to the cries of these mothers who do not want to be celebrated for a weekend, but who want their children to receive the love they need to be balanced and successful, so that they will live lives worthy of being celebrated.