FAMILY INJUSTICE

[Clarence]

Well, I don't know why a kid with report to the authority that she is being abused, that make the government act to get her from the house. It is too bad, that she fled the house that hurt her, but then ended up in more tragic end.

[Admin]

Father honours Reena Virk with book
He says writing helped him grieve

Judith Lavoie

Times Colonist

Sunday, September 07, 2008

There
are pictures of Reena as a baby, as a toddler, as a 12-year-old and a
photo of the family together, before disaster struck.They are
pictures which, for years, Manjit Virk could not bring himself to look
at, but the catharsis of writing a book is helping Virk and his wife,
Suman, move on with life after the murder of their daughter."Initially
it was so hard for me. I could not look at any photos. I could not look
at her clothes. As time has gone on, I am over that and I can see her
photos," Virk said."It helped just to write it down. It helped me grieve."But,
even with a cushion of 11 years since 14-year-old Reena was beaten by
eight teenagers under the Craigflower Bridge and then killed, there are
places her father cannot face."I cannot go to the Gorge Park
where she was drowned and where we used to go as a family to play, and
I cannot go to the Craigflower Bridge. It's out of limits for me," he
said.The book Reena: A Father's Story, published by Heritage
House, will be released in October, and Virk's fervent hope is it will
help other families.The strongest message is that families must
take care of their children, not pass them off to government, and
parents must protect children from the outside stresses and peer
pressure, Virk said."When [Reena] went into the hands of outsiders, nothing worked from that day," he said.Children
need firm boundaries and strong parental understanding and support, and
when that is missing, it is devastating, he said.Although there
is residual bitterness about the role the Ministry for Children and
Family Development played in taking Reena into foster care after she
levelled allegations of abuse, which she later recanted, Virk is
generous toward social workers."I am sure they have good intentions, but the system is so broken," he said.Virk
started writing the book two years ago with the aim of setting the
record straight. People now believe the Virks are a loving, normal
family, but it has been a long road, Virk said.This week, another bump appeared in the road as the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a fourth trial for accused killer Kelly Ellard.It
is ironic that the family's civil lawsuit against the ministry and the
families of Ellard and Warren Glowatski, the other teen convicted of
second-degree murder, was dismissed because of delays, but the Ellard
trials keep dragging out, Virk said."The system has become such a joke. There cannot be unending pain," Virk said.The
family will have the least possible involvement in any new trial and,
instead, with the book hitting stores shortly, will try to move forward
with their lives, he said.

[Admin]

Report blames social workers in death of Reena Virk


The
parents of murdered teen Reena Virk are taking some satisfaction from a
newly released report they say points out how social workers failed
their daughter by not thoroughly investigating the girl's allegations
of abuse.

Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, September 05, 2008

Theparents of murdered teen Reena Virk are taking some satisfaction from a
newly released report they say points out how social workers failed
their daughter by not thoroughly investigating the girl's allegations
of abuse.Suman and Manjit Virk, Reena's mother and father, blame
government social workers who they say scooped up their daughter and
put her in foster care based on nothing more than Reena's adolescent
(often fantastic) tales of abuse.It was while living in foster care that their daughter met the streetwise teens who would eventually kill her."They
[child-protection workers] failed miserably. They failed miserably.
There is no excuse for how they failed," Suman Virk said in an
interview Monday.Reena died at the age of 14 on Nov. 14, 1997.
First, she was the victim of a group beating that night. After most of
her assailants had left, two of the teens, a boy and girl, remained
behind and beat her again. Then they dragged her into the Gorge
Waterway and drowned her.Six teenage girls were convicted of
assault causing bodily harm. Warren Glowatski, 16, was raised to adult
court and convicted of second-degree murder in March, 2000. Kelly
Ellard, 15 at the time Reena was killed, also was raised to adult
court. After three trials, she was convicted in April 2005 of
second-degree murder.The fatality review report was initiated by
the B.C. Children's Commission, now defunct. It was completed by the
commission's former chief investigator, John Greschner, on behalf of
the B.C. Coroners Service.A Ministry of Children and Family Services spokesman said the ministry is not prepared to make a comment at this time.While the report stops short of pointing fingers, it notes omissions when social workers became involved with Reena.Investigations
were closed prematurely, stories were not corroborated with sources
outside the family, and social workers failed to work with the Virk
family as a unit, the report says.The report details many of
Reena's allegations that began when she was 12. These included tales of
physical, mental, emotional and even sexual abuse. All proved to be
groundless. The allegations of sexual abuse began with Reena levelling
accusations at unnamed relatives in India and progressing later to her
father.Manjit Virk was arrested after a social worker took Reena
to police to fill out a complaint. All charges were eventually dropped,
but not before their entire family was nearly destroyed, the Virks said"Due
to concerns about the youth's credibility and her history of
fabricating events, criminal charges against her father were stayed in
court," the report says.