WARNING: Some details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is required.
It’s been almost a week since Valentino Baker died at just five weeks old.
His parents still don’t know how or why.
“They say, ‘I’m sorry, he passed away,’” said Andrew Chapman, Valentino’s father. ‘And he’s just dead. No one told us what happened.”
The baby’s death raises questions about how B.C.’s Ministry of Children and Family Development handled the case.
Chyanna Baker, Valentino’s mother, said a social worker came into her hospital room and told her to call the department because of suspected drug use.
An attorney who worked with the family said the claim was never substantiated.
“It is my understanding that this child had no medical problems that would have resulted from drug use during pregnancy,” said attorney Roslyn Chambers. “So it’s unusual that there would have been any kind of notice.”
Valentino was put on a safety plan and was eventually taken to one of Chyanna’s friends.
Days later, on August 6, Surrey RCMP responded to an infant in medical distress.
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Valentino was taken to hospital by ambulance and was later pronounced dead.
RCMP said the Serious Crime Unit is supporting the coroner’s investigation.
Russ Grabb, former chief inspector of the RCMP, told Global News this is a heartbreaking case.
He said investigators should make sure they have all the facts of the case and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
“We know from experience that even in the most loving and protective environments, five-week-old babies can tragically die of natural causes. Things like this happen every now and then.”
Last year, however, Grabb said in an interview that he feared another child would die as a result of the failure of the province’s Ministry of Children and Family Development.
Grabb still has his notes from May 11, 1993, when he visited BC Children’s Hospital as the lead major crime investigator in a horrific toddler abuse case.
The two-and-a-half-year-old girl, who can only be identified as an MP because BC’s chief inspector of Family and Child Services had a family services file on her family at the time, ended up in a coma. According to Grabb, she was not expected to survive.
“If this is another Lake Errock, and in my opinion it will not be the result of a social worker’s failure,” he said.
“But again, a systemic failure on the part, not just of this system and certainly not on the part of the minister, but a failure of leadership at the top, especially at the level of the assistant deputy ministers.
“That’s just my opinion from my own experience.”
Children and Family Development Minister Grace Lore told Global News she could not speak specifically about Valentino’s case.
“I can say that every time something happens to a child whose family receives services from our ministry, there is a thorough review, a review of the practice and the decision,” she said.
The family said they have been told it could be two months before they get answers about what happened to Valentino.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
