BOY WHO WAS IN FOSTER CARE IN U.S. RETURNS TO CALGARY

Mom Plans Hectic First Day Home

After a nearly two-year separation, a 12-year-old boy seized by
American authorities and put into foster care there spent his first
full day back in Calgary with his family at a farmers' market, his mom said.

The boy, who spent more than 20 months shuffling between several
foster homes in Oregon, returned home to Calgary on Friday afternoon.

He cannot be identified now that he has returned to Canada.

"I am very, very happy but extremely exhausted. It feels like I've
been in labour for two years," the boy's mother said Saturday.

The child was taken into custody in 2008 while spending summer
vacation in the U.S. with his stepfather. Police there found him
riding a bicycle without a helmet. They did not consider his
stepfather to be the boy's legal guardian, and after further
investigation, found he had a social services file open in Canada.

He has since spent almost two years in a series of foster homes in Oregon.

The child's mother said his Canadian file was opened at her request
so she could access special-needs services for her son.

After months of court hearings, his mother was reunited with her son
Friday after not seeing him in more than a year.

"He was so happy, he just ran to me and hugged me," she said. "It was
wonderful."

The boy was expected to finish the school year in Oregon, but was
sent home two weeks early, just in time for his younger sister's birthday.

"We're extremely, extremely happy that he is home early. He's here
now, so we're all pretty excited," she said.

The child is staying with his grandparents in Calgary while he makes
the transition back to his family. However, his mother said she
retains full custody and hopes to have her son home soon.

"This is no different than any other grandchild staying with his
grandparents," she said. "He needs a neutral home to go to because
there's been a lot of alienation instigated by Oregon."

The mother was planning a packed itinerary for her son's first full
day back. He loves farmers' markets and homemade sausage and she
hoped the family would hold a picnic in the market.

"We can guarantee that at some time today there will be ice cream involved."

The family's lawyer, Tony Merchant, said the boy's early return was a
victory over Oregon's bureaucratic bumbling.

"There was a sense during the trial that (the child) was being
pressured by the family with whom he was staying (in foster care),"
he said. "My belief is that when social services had the opportunity
to find out (the boy) really wanted to be home, the extra time was
unnecessary."

Merchant said the whole affair was a mistake on the part of Oregon's
Department of Human Services.

However, the judge who ruled in favour of returning the child
expressed concern over the condition of his Canadian home.

"I am confident in my legal decision that (the child) return to
Canada," Judge Kip Leonard told a local newspaper at the time of his
ruling in May. "I am not as confident in my social decision."

The child's mother feared her job as an editor of a pro-marijuana
magazine factored into the Oregon DHS's indecision on the case. She
has also been convicted on a minor charge involving medical marijuana.

Merchant said neither the boy nor his mother should suffer any
further legal consequences. He said they should be able to travel to
the U.S., for example, without any problems.

He did not know whether the mother could seek any further legal
restitution from the Oregon DHS.