The grandmother of a local teenager now being treated for behavioural difficulties in Truro says she doesn’t expect much from a meeting with the province on Friday.
The woman, who cannot be named to protect the 15-year-old’s identity, wants the province’s Department of Community Services to take the boy out of residential facilities and into a tailor-made foster care program.
She says without family contact, she doesn’t expect any rehabilitative treatment to be successful.
“Work with the child to come back home,” she said. “But work with the family. If you don’t work with the family, it won’t work.”
Community Services spokeswoman Vicki Wood could not speak to the specifics of the case, or confirm that communication between the family and the youth has been suspended.
She did say, however, that it is less common to suspend communication with older children in residential care than very young children.
The boy has been in provincial care since 2008, when it was determined he was a threat to himself and the community.
He was sent to Bayfield Homes, a residential facility in Ontario. The facility recommended suspending contact with the family.
