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Harder to adopt dog than child
Tuesday August 12 2008
 
Katelynn Sampson never stood a chance. Details of the life of the seven-year-old Toronto girl, found murdered in an apartment Aug. 3, emerged last week and they are not pleasant.
Bernice Sampson, a drug addict,  turned over custody of her daughter to family friend Donna Irving — the woman now charged with killing Katelynn.
Unbelievably, it appears Irving was able to gain custody of Katelynn in January without the involvement of any child and family services agency and without a background check on Irving who had a trio of criminal convictions. A simple application to family court was enough to shuffle this young girl from one unhealthy environment to another.
Homicide Det. Sgt. Steve Ryan said it was "probably the worst thing I've seen in 20 years of policing" when describing the little girl's body.
Through court records and other accounts it appears Katelynn's life was a living hell. Her mother was a drug addict. Her father was a drug addict and out of the picture. She was sent to live with Irving who  had criminal convictions for assault with a weapon, possession of cocaine and communicating for the purpose of prostitution.
Irving's live-in boyfriend, Warren Johnson, was also charged with second degree murder in the case on Wednesday.
How could this happen in Ontario today? In some instances there are more checks and balances in place for people to adopt an animal than there were for Katelynn to be moved from one disaster-in-waiting to another.
Already rumblings of an inquest have surfaced but it would have to wait for a resolution to the criminal case in this matter that will take years. There appears to be a legal loophole that needs plugging immediately by our provincial politicians.