RUNNING SCARED

Re: "Boy who was in foster care in U.S. returns to Calgary," June 13.

"He was so happy, he just ran to me and hugged me. It was wonderful"
- -- those were the heartwarming words of the mother of the boy taken
by the Oregon social services. When it comes to child care, the
social services are so uptight they can barely see the difference
between a bad parent and one who made a slip in an unguarded moment.
This boy was picked up riding his bicycle without a helmet, and I am
stumped this warranted keeping him from his biological mother and
with different foster homes for so long. The welfare officials need
to put themselves in the affected people's shoes to enable them to
make more humane decisions. I am a mother of two boisterous kids, and
am so paranoid about the social services that my first thought is
about the welfare consequence if they were ever to hurt themselves in
a domestic accident. Putting parents on the defensive is not ideal. I
hope she seeks legal restitution from the Oregon Department of Human
Services. That she is an editor of a pro-marijuana magazine does not
make her criminal. We know that marijuana has some medical use.

Rosaline Yetunde Akinokun,

Calgary