MOM SAYS SHE'LL STAY IN HIDING

Jennifer Bertrand would love authorities to assess her newborn son to prove
he's healthy and not drug-addicted.

But if the 28-year-old mom comes forward with Aidan, police will arrest her
and social workers will seize her son.

Bertrand, in hiding since she and her family bolted with the day-old baby
from Kelowna General Hospital June 27, doesn't know what to do except pray.

"I wish I could bring Aidan forward to prove he's healthy and drug-free, but
it's too risky and I won't," she told The Daily Courier in a telephone
interview Wednesday. "It's out of control."

Bertrand is now living at an undisclosed safe house outside the Lower Mainland.

She's been on the run, fearing the Ministry for Children and Families will
apprehend Aidan because her two older sons have already been seized and are
now in foster care. A trial to determine permanent custody resumes next month.

Bertrand is prepared to remain underground until the tug-of-war with the
ministry is settled.

"We'll do whatever we need to do to protect my children, one month, one week
or one year," she said.

Bertrand wants her mother Gloria Marsaw, a former nurse and social worker,
to have custody of her three boys, but the ministry says it must assess
Aidan before making any recommendation.

Ross Dawson, the province's head of child protection, wants Bertrand to
submit her plan through a lawyer, but Bertrand claims the plan was forwarded
to the ministry's Kelowna office last week.

"There's no accountability or leadership," said Bertrand's advocate Kari
Simpson.

Bertrand admits she went on a three-week cocaine binge in 1997, but says she
hasn't touched the drug since. In October that year, social workers took her
eldest son Aaron, then three, because of her drug use.

Five months later, she consented that Aaron needed protection, even though
she claims he didn't, so they'd return him within three months and she could
keep her second son Avery.

"Legalized blackmail," she said. "I was afraid they wouldn't return Aaron...
and I wouldn't see him at all."

On June 4, 1998, Aaron was returned to Bertrand and her common-law husband
Mark Steiner. At month's end, she "had a slip" by smoking marijuana.
Authorities found out about it and both boys were apprehended from their
daycare while Bertrand was at work.

A Kelowna psychologist determined there was a "pattern" of drug use which
warranted the children's removal. Since then, Bertrand and Steiner have
travelled to Kelowna every weekend to visit the boys at their foster home.
The boys were transferred to a second home three weeks ago amid allegations
of physical abuse at the first home.

Now the parents must swallow the fact they can't visit their older sons
while on the lam. Still, Bertrand plans to participate in the custody trial
Aug. 23 from a distance.

Simpson points to provincial legislation which says the extended family
should be given first priority to look after a child once he's removed.
Marsaw fits the bill perfectly, she says.

"The grandmother is willing, ready and able to take the kids. This is what
the family should be encouraged to do, but she's being denied," said Simpson.

The ministry now has interim custody of Aidan, but lawyers are working on an
appeal, said Simpson. She planned to write Dawson and Premier Glen Clark
today to complain about the ministry's handling of the case.

"I hope Clark will see children are used and abused under his government,"
she said.