Sometimes

M is a second generation Canadian of Pakistani descent and a very good friend of mine. M has ? criminal history..it is a query because no one knows the extent of her trouble with the law..

It all started with a new pair of new shoes. Her son wanted a Nike, but M couldn’t find the ones he wanted and bought something similar. ( We used to cross the US border every second week to buy groceries etc from Bellingham and the shoes were on sale. M has 5 kids and one income, so it was a big deal for her to get those shoes)
Her son was not happy to wear a shoes that didn’t match his expectations and M being the normal mother told him, he doesn’t have to wear it and please keep it aside and his younger brother will grow in to it eventually !
He didn’t want his brother to have his shoes and so grudgingly he wore it to school.
He was crabby and the shoes were a bit tight.. so with a sad face he limped in to the class that morning.
“are you alright” the teacher asked.
“yup” the boy answered sadly..
As the day wore on..the teacher noticed the boy limping more and more..
She called the boy to her desk and asked him
“Are you sure you are alright”
The boy nodded his head.
“You know you can tell me if anything is wrong”
the boy nodded his head.
“Did someone hit you?” The teacher asked
the boy nodded his head !

M went to pick the kids up as usual and she was a bit late. There were 2 police cars in the school car park and no sign of her kids. She did wonder what happened for the police to come to the school. But since it was none of her business, she continued to wait at the car park. Eventually after not seeing any of her children for  20 minutes, she walked in to the school and the principal came out of the office with the police officer and said ” We need to talk to you”
Each of her children were in separate rooms being questioned by the child services..
The cops started to question M. They already blamed her for being tardy to pick up her kids after school and they didn’t believe that she was waiting in the car park for 20 minutes. ( Sometimes the whole class gets detention for 10  to 20 minutes after school and M really didn’t think what are the chances that all her kids get detention at the same time and for that long)

Eventually M said she wanted to see her son and exactly where he was beaten. Up until that moment the teacher, the principal, the cops or the child security officers didn’t bother to check for any injuries on the child. They just believed the child’s story that his parents beat him on the sole of his feet and that is why he was limping.
There were no injuries.
The child accepted he was lying..
But no one can prove that the parents never hit the child before..benefit of doubt…and so there is some sort of  record..

The school, the cops and child services did what they are supposed to do..but sometimes innocent people get in to trouble for no fault of theirs!

 

3 thoughts on “Sometimes

  1. Gautham: The record that the cops and the child services came to the school will never be removed from my friend's file even though she wasn't accused of any crime. So in the event my friend wanted to adopt or foster a child, that record will still be part of the police clearance. the same thing would happen if any of her children are taken to the emergency dept with injuries..there will be a ?child abuse tag..

    Ashok: thanks

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