This is Happening

It’s 2016 in Ontario, Canada. Child welfare has become a business, the state keeping child safety “at an arms length.” The privatization of children begins to rip families apart at an alarming rate. Meanwhile careers within these private multi-million-dollar child protection agencies explode in growth. The buildings get bigger, salaries increase, vacation extended and every agency executive boasts salaries well over the $100k mark. However, such increases can only be sustained if the rate of child abuse increases as well.

Meet Kelley and Derek. After fighting off agents who targeted their own children, the couple sets out to teach others how to fight and protect kids from becoming agency stats used to balance the books. Kelley, an experienced social service worker, knows the ins and outs of the private non-profit sector, a cut-throat field that sees agencies in fierce competition with each other over funding. Child protection agencies, considered to be in this sector, however, receive billions of dollars from the government, using client stats to indicate that child abuse is always on the rise. Kelley and Derek use various means to educate the public to the danger this funding model puts children and their families in.

Through education comes awareness and when the child protection industry becomes aware of the couple’s activities, they become a target of unscrupulous actions used to stop them in their tracks. The couple has been charged with numerous crimes and faces up to ten years in prison all because they are alleged to have posted a link to Facebook. Kelley and Derek struggle to balance work, raising kids and defending themselves against a billion-dollar industry while continuing to advocate for change, now as pariahs in the small town.

Though, not everything is working against the family. Born and raised in the community, certain long-time relationships, both professional and personal, aren’t so easily forgotten in the face of mass media sensationalism.

Just how far will the agency go to protect its image and future growth? A game of chicken that is too outrageous to believe. A town divided, a family in peril, an industry exposed. Only the truth will yield justice, truth that will come with a high price.

No, this is not the plot synopsis of a popular new movie. This is happening. This is happening right now. The high price of justice can literally be itemized and billed, as the legal costs for a criminal trial. The right to this fair, impartial process does not include the right to good legal representation. Legal costs for this family are already in the thousands of dollars and this is only the beginning. A trial of this magnitude could easily cost over $50 000. This is the price of justice. This is the price to tell the truth.    
Please donate and help us get the truth out. Support the Kelley and Derek Legal Defence Fund at kelleyandderk.com.