The Fifth Estate

The Trouble With Evan (19x2)

: 12, 1994

The Trouble with Evan is a two-hour special edition of the Fifth Estate. It reveals how much harm can be done to a child by the people who love him the most. For 14 weeks cameras were placed in the home of a family in Hamilton, Ontario whose 11-year-old boy has been a problem for them since he was in kindergarten. The cameras capture the troubling, abusive and at times loving family relationship. Evan cannot control his behavioral problems. He shoplifts, smokes, sets fires, extorts money, bullies, and runs away from home. His mother, Karin and stepfather Michael try to find ways to control their son. There is yelling and screaming, threats, verbal and physical abuse. They also try new techniques taught to them by therapists and parenting classes. The life of Evan is placed alongside the stories of a group of young offenders undergoing an innovative therapy treatment program called Portage, at a correctional centre in Elora, Ontario. They talk of childhoods scarred by abuse, lack of communication and lack of attention. There is fear these traits could be carried over to their adulthood and passed onto their children.