Foster mother admitted using force

Manslaughter accused told police she sat child down hard on floor

A Morinville woman on trial for manslaughter told police she was frustrated when she sat her foster daughter down hard on the kitchen floor shortly before the girl had a seizure.

Christine Laverdiere, 38, is on trial for manslaughter in the 21-month-old’s March 2010 death. Her trial has viewed several videotaped police interviews. In an interview after her May 2010 arrest, Laverdiere told a different version of events than in previous interviews.

She said she was making supper and trying to convince the girl to drink apple juice. “I just kind of picked her up and told her she needed to drink and she didn’t, so I just sat her on the floor and it must have been harder than what, and I mean, I wouldn’t hurt her.”

“You obviously put her down harder than you thought, right?” Sgt. Christopher Van Imschoot asked.

“Well, I had to be to make her die,” a crying Laverdiere said.

The girl’s seizure began shortly after. The child was gasping for air and gurgling when the foster mother called 911. The girl went into cardiac arrest and Laverdiere performed CPR until paramedics arrived. The girl was taken off life support at the Stollery Children’s Hospital two days later.

Van Imschoot told the foster mother the infant girl died of “acceleration-deceleration rotational injuries,” a description Laverdiere recognized as shaken baby syndrome.

During the interview, Van Imschoot and Laverdiere spoke about how she had contacted Child and Family Services numerous times before when feeling “overwhelmed” by a previous foster child. The extra support she wanted never came, Laverdiere said.

The girl had been with the Laverdiere family for roughly five weeks at the time of her death. Before that, court heard, she was in a group home.

“She was a good kid, a happy-go-lucky kid,” Laverdiere told police. “We were never told any health concerns.”

Court heard the child was apprehended because her biological mother had mental issues. The biological mother was still allowed three visits each week with her daughter in a neutral location.

B efore t he sei z u re, Laverdiere said the girl seemed fine except for a lack of energy.

That morning, the girl had been taken by Child and Family Services for a visit with her biological mother, who did not show up.

Laverdiere’s own young daughter and a second foster child lived in the home. She had been a foster parent for two years at the time of her arrest.

The deceased girl’s identity is banned from publication.

The trial continues.