A former Kelowna social worker facing several criminal charges for stealing from foster children is facing another class-action lawsuit.
The claim, filed in B.C. Supreme Court last week, alleges Robert Riley Saunders failed to inform Zackary Alphonse, an Indigenous person who was placed in provincial custody as a child, of resources available to him upon his leaving the system. As a result, Alphonse says Saunders and the Ministry of Children and Family Development, as well as another unnamed social worker, are responsible for Alphonsesa国际传媒檚 depression and eventual one-month of homelessness after leaving care.
Alphonse claims he was not notified of the Young Adults Program, meant to ease the transition from the care system to adult life, until almost a decade after ageing out of care. The ministry sent him a letter in June 2020 stating he may qualify for certain services, but after a phone call with a ministry representative, he was told he was too old.
When he left the system at 19-years-old, Alphonse sa国际传媒渉ad only completed to Grade 9 of his secondary schooling, and without financial support, he could not afford to work on his graduate equivalency degree,sa国际传媒� reads the civil claim. sa国际传媒淔or a period of approximately one year, (Alphonse) could see no future for himself, felt hopeless and became depressed and unable to advance his interests.sa国际传媒�
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Alphonse managed to stabilize his working life over the next eight years, eventually returning to school for an online high school equivalency and a computer repair certification. Now at age 29, he has nearly completed his GED, but the suit claims he wouldsa国际传媒檝e been able to begin his adult education much sooner if he had been informed of the program.
The claim also states the ministrysa国际传媒檚 failure to inform Alphonse of the program sa国际传媒渉as a discriminatory effect on Indigenous persons who have aged out of care, which manifests in lower rates of program uptake for Indigenous persons and lower levels of educational attainment for Indigenous persons.sa国际传媒�
Alphonse is seeking reparations for several damages including the future cost of his education.
None of the claims made in the suit have been tested in court.
If approved by the courts as a class-action lawsuit, all who were in the ministrysa国际传媒檚 care and not informed of the program could be eligible for compensation.
Saunders is currently out on bail while facing 13 criminal charges alleging he defrauded and stole from children in his care; however, a previously settled class-action lawsuit sa国际传媒� which also named him and the ministry sa国际传媒� awarded funds to more than 100 people who were in Saunderssa国际传媒� care, many of whom were Indigenous. Up to $15 million could be handed out as part of that settlement.
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