Top Stories -   

1

Disabled girl tried to nurse dead mother back to health

The teen girl was found emaciated and alone with her mother's body by a neighbour in this Chilliwack trailer in October 2010. Michael Prentice appears on CTV's Canada AM on Friday, Nov. 12, 2010. The teen girl was found emaciated and alone with her mother's body by a neighbour in this Chilliwack trailer in October 2010.
The teen girl was found emaciated and alone with her mother's body by a neighbour in this Chilliwack trailer in October 2010.

View Larger Image

A A |  Email ThisEmail  | PrintComments (12) Facebook   

Date: Friday Nov. 12, 2010 8:45 AM ET

The brother of a disabled B.C. girl who spent nine days at her dead mother's side before being found, said his sister tried to nurse their dead mother back to health.

The teen girl, who has Down syndrome, was found last month in the trailer she shared with her mother. Her mother was dead and the girl was emaciated and alone in the filthy trailer.

Mike Prentice said the girl, who is his half-sister, had been trying to give medicine to their mother in an attempt to revive her.

He told CTV's Canada AM it is an "emotionally charged" situation.

"Especially when I think about my sister being with my mom's body that was decomposing for about nine days, my sister with Down syndrome," Prentice said.

"She was trying to nurse my mother back to health with pills and stuff, also there's an open macaroni box with cheese sprinkled on it so you know she was trying to make my mom better while she's lying there dead on the floor."

It wasn't until a neighbour noticed that the trailer seemed strangely silent that police were called to the shocking scene.

Prentice said his sister is now staying at a group home for people with special needs in Chilliwack, B.C. and is doing well.

He said his mother was addicted to prescription medication and struggled with alcoholism, and had isolated herself from the rest of the family, refusing to allow him to visit.

Prentice lives in North Vancouver, about 100 kilometres away from Chilliwack, where his mom and sister lived.

He said his mother's phone was cut off and no one was able to get in contact with her. As a result, no one knew she had died and that his sister was all alone.

"I felt in my heart I knew something was seriously wrong. I do not have a vehicle but I was trying to get out to Chilliwack and I just couldn't make it," Prentice said.

"She didn't have a phone because her addiction problems got so bad near the end. Her phone went out of service a couple of months before that so there was no way."

It's believed that the mother overdosed in the trailer.

CTV's Rob Brown reported Thursday that B.C.'s Ministry of Children and Family Development is officially probing the case, but he said officials wouldn't speak on the specifics due to privacy concerns.

Though the 14-year-old girl was safely taken into provincial custody after the discovery was made on Sept. 14, Prentice says that very little was done to prevent the incident.

He said his mother had lost about 100 pounds in the last two years and weighed about 85 pounds when she died.

"It's traumatic, it's horrible. I get pictures of what my mom looked like, rotting away," said Prentice.

He added that his mother's addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol had been getting worse. However, authorities wouldn't remove the girl from the home.

"I don't know how this slipped through the cracks because all you had to do is take one look at my mom and you knew that something very serious was wrong," Prentice said.

Last summer Prentice's brother removed their sister from the home over safety concerns, but was later told by provincial officials that the teen would have to go back home or he would face possible kidnapping charges.

Comments are now closed for this story

Doug # BC
said
0 0

WOW!! Are you saying that the abuse of alcohol and drugs can have tragic consequences? Who could have seen that coming? I feel for that poor little girl.She has enough challenges as it is,then HER MOTHER dumps this on her.No one deserves that kind of abuse. However,a witch hunt,fuled with the benefit of hindsight,doesn't speak very well of us either. THe two common themes seem to suggest the Ministry should have taken the child.A noble idea now that the mother is gone.But if the child had been taken while the mother was still alive, the howls from Human RIghts people would have been deafening.AND,if the child was not with her mother,where would she be? You can assume she would have been happier of better off with what we know now.Wth the knowledge they had at that time,the picture is not so clear. There are drug addicts all over this country.I think it's fair to assume many of them are also parents.Do we now go out and remove all these children from their homes,or do we remove only the disabled ones? Where will we place these children? Will they all be happer and healthier as a result? Where will the money come from for a program like this? What taxes will rise or what othr progams will be cut? The cause is noble and well intended,but is it practical to think the government can solve this on it's own? There are far to few people willing or able to adopt and care for a disabled child,never mind able to bear the costs. It's about the drugs people.They are killing our children.Who should pay for people who willingly get addicted to illegal drugs? It should not be this little girl,but WHO?


janfromnorthvan
said
0 0

The point is Social Services are in a terrible state in this province when it comes to supporting persons with special needs. This should be a huge wake up call that things MUST change and quickly. Children and especially adult children with special needs are not funded adequately and often are left with aging parents to cope as best they can. In most cases families will go the second mile for their 'kids' but as they continue to age the problem will only get worse. There needs to be support now for mentally and physically challenged adults. This recent situation is unconscionalbe. SHAME. The mother was probably using what little support money she received for her daughter for drugs. The girl should have had someone looking out for her. Surely the son knew this was a bad scenario. He was able to get out unfortunately his sister wasn't.


seen it before
said
0 0

I have had dealings with the Ministry of Children and Family Development in the past and believe me I found them very incompetent. I have seen it where they have removed children from a two parent loving home because the child said his parents would not feed him what he wanted or give him money to go spend willy nilly and then the parents spent well over 2 years to get the children back in their care. The mother was a stay at home Mom who cooked from scratch so saying that Mom's are the be all to end all is not true. It really depends on the social worker and what gratification they get from breaking up loving homes. I agree that in this case the child should have been removed from the situation.


Kevin
said
0 0

My wife and I were foster parents for many years, eventually adopting three in our care. I can say that the province we were in had very capable social care system for suc children. However, it was not 100% and never will be. You have legalities, extended families, a judicail system that must presume innocence first, opportunities for rehabilitation and of course privacy issues. Again, it is very easy for many of you to read a report from one side [Social services are bund by privacy laws], and look at the few cases that become incredulous tragedies and say "It's not working." You cannot be 100% and there will always be such tragedies, but an all out "Let's take the children out of such circumstances" is not/and cannot become the answer. Group homes for these children are not the solution, it is "you" getting involved. If you're not willing then don't be an armchair critic.


Lynn
said
0 0

The area of Developmental Services is severely under-funded and under-promoted in this Country. Waiting lists for services are mind boggling (at some agencies in Ontario 25 year waiting list!!! ), there is an increasing population of elderly parents taking care of their children with a disability at home, with shockingly little resources to assist them, and no place for their children to go when their elderly parent dies.It is an issue the Governemnt- both Federally and Provincially- need to address and fast. People who have disabilities are among our most vulnerable members of our society- and I think most Canadians would be shocked to find out how very little supports and services are out there. Sadly enough, when their parents do pass away many of them will end up in nursing homes and taking up hospital beds as the already bulging system scrambles to find a place for them to call home.


beverly in Lethbridge
said
0 0

This situation is absolutely horrific. The family did everything they could to help the girl. As an addict, the mother could only help herself....something she chose not to do.Heads should be rolling over this prime example of government agency interference and incompetence in the well being of a child. Threatening the brother with kidnapping charges demonstrates a complete lack of understanding and what should be a criminal lack of concern. Add in the fact that the child is handicapped and this becomes a story that should only reside in a twisted novel and certainly not in reality. My heart goes out to the family - we can only hope that the caring and love you will now show to your sister can mend a portion of the damage both encouraged and fostered by government incompetence. Of course the family will now have to fight for the right to care for their sister and their competence in doing so will be judged by the same people who allowed their sister to endure this sad, sad state of affairs.


River
said
0 0

Ministry of Children and Family Development is a waste of funding be it Federal or Provinical. This is, and continues to be an unproductive society, time and time again situations continue to pop up in the news with tragic "end stage resutls".


Brenda
said
0 0

@ island girl, I have had dealings with the Ministry of Children and Family Development in the past and believe me I found them very incompetent. I find in quite funny that the Ministry of Children and Family Development is officially probing the case, they already probed the case when her sons took their sister and asked for help for their mother and sister and what were they told, return your sister or be charged with kidnapping. SOME HELP heh. Stop blaming the son and put the blame squarely on the shoulder of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. As for their probe, the case worker that had this girl returned should be fired and the two brothers should sue the Ministry of Children and Family Development on behalf of their sister. The worst part of this case is how many other people are in similar situation that have not come to light yet because no one has been hurt YET!


Ben
said
0 0

A sad story, I'm 52 years old & all most every person I've know that has died in my life time was because of alcohol addiction Alcohol took my fathers life at 49 years of age, alcohol seems to destroy an alcoholics sleep & they use drugs to try to get some sleep. I struggled with alcohol addition for 30 years, I've been sober 6 years & only sleep about 7 hours per week without medication. We need to put much more money towards mental health.


B.J.
said
0 0

This is so typical of social services. They had to know this mom was a drug addict, and they had to know the child had a disability, so why would they leave the situation like that. Too much work for them I guess, and for one of them to go in and say things are fine , needs to be fired. This is just another example how broken the system is, and noone cares.

Anne
said
0 0

It doesn't surprise me at all that "social services" wouldn't remove the girl from the home. "Moms' are the be all end all concern with them, whether they are fit or not. Try removing a child from a dangerous situation, one that other family members are totally aware of, and you will be told by legal counsel that the only way that can happen is if a child is severely injured or dead. Do a search on the web, there are countless horror stories - the whole system needs to be revamped.


island girl
said
0 0

If the brother couldn't make it down, why didn't he call on police or a neighbour to check? He could have had neighbours' phone numbers. I've called on neighbours of my elderly mother to check on her.


Share with your social Network:

Facebook DIGG Newsvine Delicious Twitter StumbeUpon Reddit Yahoo! Buzz

 

Advertisement

Contest

Today's Top Stories

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor waits for the start of his sentencing judgement in the courtroom of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam, near The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday May 30, 2012.  (AP / Toussaint Kluiters)

Charles Taylor gets 50 years for 'brutal' crimes

More   2 Comments 2    1 Video(s) 1

A police officer removes a package containing a human foot from the Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 29, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Police probe body parts in Ottawa, torso in Montreal

More    Comments    3 Video(s) 3

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, hold placards and banners bearing images of him before the verdict was given in his extradition case at the Supreme Court in London, Wednesday, May 30, 2012. (AP / Matt Dunham)

Britain's top court backs extradition of WikiLeaks chief

More   4 Comments 4    2 Video(s) 2