Child's death sparks calls for probe

Neveah, 4, had been in child protection system before being returned to mother

- JENNIFER PAGLIARO AND WENDY GILLIS

Child advocates are urging the province not to “look away” from the death of a four-year-old girl whose remains were found in a Toronto dumpster in 2022, calling for a coroner’s inquest to probe her time in Ontario’s child protection system and the still-mysterious circumstances of her death.

“We must find the answers to ‘How did this happen to this little child?’ ” said Irwin Elman, who served as the province’s child advocate from 2008 to 2019. “We must learn about where those errors in judgment lay and where the mistakes happened.”

More than a year after Toronto police identified her remains, the Star published new details on the weekend about the life of Neveah, a four-year-old girl whose decomposed body was found in a Rosedale dumpster in May 2022, wrapped in blankets.

A court document filed in a recent child protection case involving Neveah’s siblings revealed the deceased girl, who had complex special needs including autism spectrum disorder, had spent the bulk of her life in the province’s child welfare system.

Critics now say a March 2021 decision to return Neveah to the care of her mother must be closely scrutinized.

Months before her death, Neveah, who’d lived most of her life with a foster family, had been placed back into the custody of her mother on the recommendation of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) of Toronto.

(A publication ban stemming from a recent Child, Youth and Family Services Act hearing prohibits the Star from using Neveah’s full name or identifying her relatives).

The mother, whose six children all spent time in the child welfare system, struggles with mental-health challenges, addiction issues and housing insecurity, and child protection workers previously identified safety and sanitation concerns in the home. Although police still don’t know how Neveah died, forensic testing determined that she died some time in 2021, after being returned to her mother’s care.