Katelynn Sampson died August 3, 2008
On August 3, 2008 Katelynn Sampson died.
Seven-year-old Katelynn was murdered by her two caregivers in their Parkdale, Toronto apartment. Paramedics found her lifeless body in a pool of blood, covered in 70 wounds, each more ghastly than the last. Eight of her ribs had been broken, her teeth had cut through both her lips, and there was a gaping hole in one finger, exposing the bone.
Police found her blood in every room of the apartment.
They found a note on which she’d written, 62 times: “I am A awful girl that’s why know one wants me.”
(Catherine Porter
Toronto Star November 15, 2015)
Two separate child protection agencies in Toronto were responsible for ensuring Katelynn was safe in her home.
I met Katelynn after she passed away, a few weeks into my first term as Ontario’s Child Advocate, through a call, on a Sunday, from a member of the media. I came to know Katelynn through the ensuing years. Like many she found a place in my thoughts and my heart. I still carry Katelynn with me to this day. To me Katelynn represents so many children connected to the child protection system whose lives were lost, whose voices were silenced. In 2022-2023 a record 136 children. When I reflect on Katelynn, I reflect on them.
Katelynn to so many was invisible. So many who were either responsible for her safety, or who were part of the web of support that acts as a net of points of protection for children, never saw her, although she was in plain sight.
Years after her death, with a push from determined young people in and from care, “Katelynn’s Principle” found its way into the Child Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA). All children. regardless of age, in Ontario , receiving service under the Act, child welfare, special needs, youth justice..must meaningfully participate in any decision made about their lives. This is the law. Every service under the Act must be delivered in a manner that is child centred. This is the law.
Katelynn influenced much more, but I highlight Katelynn’s Principle because it forced the Province at least within the law to understand children as human beings. As Januscz Korzak, the father of Childrens Rights said “ Children are not people of tomorrow, but people today. They are entitled to be taken seriously.”
It is entirely true that legislation, regulation, policy are often nice words and sentiment that do not ring true in the lives of people on the ground. The successful fight for Katelynn’s Principle laid the groundwork for the implementation of the new Act. Implementation would have required fundamental change in the cultures of our systems of care, fundamental change in program and policy planning, fundamental change in service delivery. This has not taken place.
Instead the current government of Ontario immediately, after it took power,shuttered the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, the Ministry responsible for implementation of the new CYFSA. They. soon after ,closed the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, the sole institution responsible for ensuring children of Ontario, like Katelynn, are seen and heard. The government has undermined “child protection” with a ham handed system “redesign” at the edges and in turn has hollowed out any service system meant to support children and families.
Today it feels as though we have lost sight of Katelynn again.
Here is the thing. There is a difference between “change” and “influence”. A government can close Ministries, repeal legislation. It can make “change”. Today without a doubt there have been and will be other Katelynn’s who will suffer because of the changes made. We will be outraged. We should be outraged.
“Influence” represents a change in how we think. This is much harder for a government to erase. Katelynn has influenced Ontario. I believe she is with us in our collective heart. We can act with or without government until the time comes when a government decides again to make change that mirrors what is within us. We can see the children who are looking to us. We will see the children who are looking to us.
Today I ask you to take a moment to find Katelynn who is there within your heart.
