The Fifth Estate

Fatal care: how a teen was killed in his foster home (46x7)

: 18, 2021

For-profit foster care. It’s a term that raises fundamental questions for our child protection system. Should the care of children at risk be a public responsibility or a private business opportunity? And which comes first, care or profit? On The Fifth Estate tonight, Fatal Care investigates that essential issue through the tragic events which came to a head on Feb. 19, 2019 at a private, for-profit foster home in Barrie, Ont. On that terrible night, 15-year-old David Roman was stabbed to death, but everyone in the house was a victim. That includes foster brothers Evan and Nick, who witnessed it all, and 24-year-old Jordan, the foster parent caring for a household of troubled teens with little training. It also includes 14-year old James, now charged in David’s death. And we’ll also introduce you to the company which made profit from the Barrie foster home, the serious questions about how they conducted business, and the lack of oversight by government officials. In our second story of the episode, reporter Judy Trinh tells the troubling story of the Ottawa Police Service and its culture of sexism. You’ll hear from female officers and civilian employees who have endured everything from harassment to rape at the hands of their male colleagues.