How B.C.’s most vulnerable kids fell into the clutches of a social worker who betrayed them – CBC
The province says Robert Riley Saunders stole from more than 100 mostly Indigenous foster children
Jul 22, 2020
Craig cried on the day he learned Kelowna social worker Robert Riley Saunders was a liar. Because it meant his foster son — Stephen — wasn’t.
And like dozens of Saunders’ young, vulnerable teenage victims, it meant Stephen had been telling the truth years ago when he said he hadn’t spent government money provided for his care on drugs.
Stephen is one of at least 102 former foster children covered by a proposed multimillion dollar settlement of a class action lawsuit against B.C.’s Ministry of Children and Family Development and Saunders, who worked as a guardianship social worker from 2001 to 2018. CBC News is not giving Stephen’s or Craig’s full names so as not to identify children who have been in care.
Craig — who has since stopped being a foster parent — said the cost of Saunders’ betrayal is incalculable.
