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(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

PENTICTON - For being set up for a life of crime, two people who grew up in B.C.’s foster care system are suing the province.

In B.C. Supreme Court lawsuits filed in Penticton Aug. 22 on behalf of Bree-Anne Buhler and Kael Svendsen, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and its director of child welfare are accused of negligence and asked to pay unspecified damages and compensation for loss of earnings and future earnings.

Svendsen, according to the claim, was and is vulnerable to abuse given his history of parental neglect, medical neglect, transiency and exposure to traumatic circumstances.

He was placed in a foster home by the ministry, but while there was provided with alcohol on many occasions.

Kael Austin Svendsen is suing the province.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED / RCMP

The foster parent was allegedly an alcoholic and the director failed to ensure the security and protection of Svendsen.

At some point, Svendson was removed from the home and became homeless, hungry and addicted to drugs. He then became infused in crime to afford food.

“The plaintiff suffered from alcohol addiction, which stated during theme the plaintiff was a child in the home of the foster parents who was an agent of the director,” reads the suit. “As a result of his alcohol addiction that the plaintiff started while in foster care, the plaintiff began to steal to feed his addiction.”

In time, Svendsen migrated to illicit drugs and the suit claims that’s when the ministry should have stepped in.

“No planning was ever done even when the director was aware that the plaintiff was incarcerated, transient or homeless,” it reads.

Similarly, Buhler was also allegedly failed by the organization who she was entrusted to.

Bree-Anne Alicia Buhler is suing the province.

Image Credit: Contributed

According to the claim, she was vulnerable to abuse given her history of neglect, medical neglect, a victim of sexual assault, housing transiency and exposure to traumatic circumstances.

Buhler was harmed by the director's negligent parental actions and was sexually assaulted and exploited due to her vulnerability.

“(Buhler) was exposed to periods without food, street homelessness, illicit drugs such as methamphetamine, crack and cocaine and was sexually exploited and assaulted as a result of actions of the director,” reads the suit.

Both Buhler and Svendsen are in jail.

Buhler entered guilty pleas in 2017 on 11 charges including three counts of break and enter, one count of theft under $5,000, four breaches, one count of dealing with an identity document without legal excuse, one count of being in a vehicle without the registered owner present, and one count of possession of a controlled substance.

Svendsen is awaiting trial on alleged crimes including careless use of a firearm, one count of possession of a firearm, one count of escaping lawful custody, one count of theft under $5,000, one count of mischief under $5,000, two counts of break and enter, two counts of assault, two counts of fraud under $5,000, two counts of breach of undertaking and eight counts of possession of stolen property.

A response has yet to be filed from the ministry or the director. 

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