Kelowna man sues former social worker
Lawsuit alleges youth was pulled from foster home to get control of his assistance payments
KELOWNA — A former youth in care is suing the B.C. government and a former social worker accused of stealing funds designated for children entrusted to his care.
As a ward of the Ministry of Children and Family Development, K.L. bounced between foster and group homes in the Kelowna area throughout his childhood before being assigned to social worker Robert Riley Saunders.
In a civil claim filed in Supreme Court in Kelowna pon Monday, K.L. alleges that, in early 2008, Saunders pulled him from his first stable living situation, moving him into an unstable living arrangement in order to make K.L. eligible for benefit payments by the ministry.
That action “was part of a deliberate and dishonest plan by Saunders to ensure that he had control over the funds and benefits designated for the plaintiff’s care,” K.L. claims in his court filing.
The claim alleges Saunders manipulated K.L. into opening a joint account with him at TD Bank then “stole the funds deposited by the ministry into the joint bank accounts by moving them to his own individual account and by paying his personal expenses by electronic transfer from the joint bank account.”
Saunders failed to consider K.L.’s best interests, failed to ensure he received adequate care and support, and failed to provide for his basic needs, the court filing alleges. As a result, K.L. ended up in an unstable and transient living situation, including “sleeping on the streets during winter periods and was subject to periods of hunger.”
Saunders has been named in another lawsuit and faces allegations of financially exploiting children in his care, most of them Indigenous youth such as K.L.
Saunders is no longer a ministry employee. None of the allegations have been proven in court. No criminal charges have been laid and Saunders has not yet been called upon to file a defence in the lawsuits. Postmedia was unable to reach Saunders for comment.
K.L., whose name Postmedia has elected not to publish, said Saunders became his social worker when he was 13.
At 14, he found himself in a loving home with a foster mother who still plays an important role in his life, he said. For 18 months, he had stability, food and his own bedroom. He played hockey, attended school and cut back on cigarettes and beer, and the foster mom began taking the steps to adopt him, he said.
But K.L., now 26, alleges he was robbed of that life when he was suddenly pulled from the foster mother’s care.
“Saunders removed the Plaintiff from a settled foster home and in so doing caused the plaintiff to miss out on the opportunity of adoption by the Foster Parents”, the lawsuit alleges.
“My world went to shit,” K.L. said in an interview in Kamloops.
K.L., who said he had been led by Saunders to believe the adoption “just fell through” for some unexplained reason, said he was hurt by the move.
“I was extremely depressed and completely lost because that (the foster home) was the first place I moved into that I actually felt like was home,” he said. “I was so ... loved, and I just didn’t understand and I never got an explanation of why I got ripped out of there.”