In last meetings with Children’s Aid Society, boy was crying, thin. He died months later, Ontario trial told

WARNING: THIS STORY DETAILS ALLEGATIONS OF CHILD ABUSE.

In the five years a boy lived with his prospective adoptive parents, the Halton Children’s Aid Society (CAS) never spoke to him alone despite receiving multiple reports about suspected abuse, a Milton, Ont., court heard.

Even during a virtual call in September 2022, when a CAS worker noted her concerns about the boy’s apparent thinness, paleness, sunken cheeks and the dark circles under his eyes, no subsequent followup visit happened before he died on Dec. 21 that year, confirmed Lisa Potts, a now-retired CAS child protection worker.

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That night, paramedics found the 12-year-old unresponsive, soaking wet and lying on the basement floor of his tiny bedroom, which locked from