Tears of relief for mom

Photo: The Canadian Press

Watching their son and daughter play in a home near Vancouver's children's hospital, a couple from northern British Columbia received the news they had been praying for.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development had seized their two children for the second time in October, because their five-year-old son kept suffering unexplained broken bones.

During an interview, the father read an email from their lawyer out loud. It said the ministry was officially returning the kids to their parents' care.

"They state there's no reason for the director's continued involvement," the father read, his voice trembling with excitement. "They are, as of 9:15 a.m. this morning, out of your lives."

His wife began to shake with sobs as the two embraced for several seconds. Their children, normally noisy and rambunctious, fell silent and stared at their parents curiously.

"It's a relief," said the mother through tears. "I was starting to get really bad anxiety ... We feel like we're set up for failure."

The family's joy is also bittersweet — the boy is still being tested for genetic disorders, some serious and frightening.

The boy suffers from a rare genetic disorder, which is the reason for his history of recurring bone fractures, and the breaks are not the result of abuse, the documents say.

The mom said doctors are testing for several possible disorders, including a rare form of brittle bone disease, and a condition called hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy, which inhibits sensitivity to pain.

She also said the hospital is working to get her son tested for autism soon. Autism has long been suspected, but the boy has been stuck for months on a BC Autism Assessment Network wait list.

The province's child representative, Bernard Richard, will review the "quite unusual" case and release findings in the new year.