Renee Heikamp Case Summary

Introduction of the Client

Renee Heikamp, 19, and case worker from the Catholic Children’s Aid Society (CCAS), Angie Martin, were charged with criminal negligence resulting in the 1997 death of newborn baby, Jordan Heikamp. The charges were dropped shortly after Jordan’s death, due to a lack of evidence from the investigation of a 63-day inquest. (CBC, 2001). Renee Heikamp and her baby were residing at the Anduhyaun shelter that services Aboriginal women fleeing abuse during the time of his death. Jordan Heikamp had starved to death, weighing only 4 pounds, 4 ounces less than what he weighed at his pre-mature birth, in May 1997; a photograph shown to witnesses at the inquest revealed the corpse of the baby who was little more than a skeleton.

Medical evidence of Heikamp’s autopsy showed significant signs of starvation approximately 10 to 14 days before his final days and hadn’t been fed for one to two days before his death (CBC, 2001).
The lack of pre-natal care support and education provided to the young mother to raise a child was a result in the unfortunate death of her baby boy. His mother, who was diluting his formula with far more water that the instructions directed, carried him wrapped in a blanket, making it hard for the Anduhyaun staff to observe the physical condition of Jordan. When asked about her transition to motherhood and the well-being of baby Jordan, Heikamp assured her support system that both were doing just fine and Jordan was doing great and gaining weight; none of the professionals assigned to work with her questioned her assurance (Philip, 2001). The overlap regarding the lack of information for Renee and the lack of support from the services she was connected with caused conflicting decisions on who should be deemed responsible for Jordan Heikamp’s death.

Social Services Accessed

At the time of Renee’s pregnancy, she was also homeless was placed in the Anduhyaun shelter by the CCAS. At the time of Jordan’s birth, the nurses at the hospital were very concerned with the young woman’s lethargic behavior towards the birth and well-being of her newborn baby. Child-welfare authorities were contacted upon the discharge of Renee and Jordan; Angie Martin, case worker with the CCAS was then assigned to the pair for supervision (Philip, 2001). Between the connections with the CCAS and the Anduhyaun shelter, Renee and Jordan received very little support.

The supervisor at the shelter has assured Martin that the shelter had two registered nurses on their staff team; Angie Martin then scheduled appointments to see the woman and her baby once a month with the assumption they would receive around the clock care from the nurses at shelter. During the five short weeks of Jordan’s life, now one observed the physical state of the baby (Philip, 2001). Frequent support from both the shelter and the Children’s Aid Society would have benefitted Renee and would have prevented the tragic death of baby Jordan.

System Success VS. System Lapses

Pregnant and homeless, the Catholic Children’s Aid Society provided positive assistance to Renee by promptly placing her into to Anduhyaun shelter before she gave birth to her son. The CCAS was very successful in ensuring that Renee was placed in a culturally sensitive shelter, as it serviced young women of the Aboriginal background. They also were successful by providing her with a case worker that was meant to supervise her at the time of her birth and to support her in any way necessary.
There were many discrepancies in those services that influenced the death of Jordan. The workers at the Anduhyaun shelter could have improved their practice by doing a proper assessment to seek adequate understanding of Renee’s needs in order to serve her better. Becoming a new mother without any knowledge of how to care for a baby should have prompted the staff to check on the mother and newborn frequently and ensure that she is providing the basic necessities of life properly to Jordan. The two registered nurses that were staffed at the shelter could have provided advice and support on how to care for the child; teach her how to properly change his diaper, make sure he is getting enough food and nutrition, how to safely burp him, and how to properly cloth the baby.
The CCAS could have improved by also doing a proper assessment to identify her needs in order to serve her better. Her case worker, Angie, could have connected a shelter that provides services for young Aboriginal women with children, not a shelter for abused women. Other services and support such as counselling and societal re-integration peer programs was certainly an option for Angie to consider because at the time of receiving Renee as a client, she had no internal supports to add to her situation of being homeless and pregnant. Monthly visits were too far apart for a women who was in need of support and care while raising a new born baby, therefore, a weekly visit to evaluate and update Renee’s situation and Jordan’s well-being would have prevented the tragic incident of Jordan’s death. Having Angie advocate for Renee and have her enrolled in free services such as prenatal and postnatal care programs would also have benefitted the overall situation.

Societal Stigma’s & Ethical Dilemmas

One of the biggest societal stigmas that are related to this case is that Renee Heikamp not only had a baby out of wedlock as a teenager, but conceived the child while homeless and unemployed.

No matter what age an individual is, society automatically deems a person to be an adult once they have a child. Unfortunately, Renee dealt with a lot of isolation, neglect, lack of emotional, physical, psychological support that would have helped her successfully transition into a new chapter in her life. Renee was treated like an independent and competent adult when in reality, she was in serious need of many support systems to educate and support her. As a social worker, Angie Martin’s actions within her practice created an ethical dilemma when she failed to maintain the best interest of her client, Jordan. Angie was expected to fulfill her role as a social worker by playing a vital role in coaching and educating Renee on how to care for Jordan. If there were frequent scheduled appointment in place, there would be enough evidence from Angie’s file on Jordan and Renee alone to decipher who should have been responsible for the death of Jordan. Frequent visits to the young mother and her child would have given Angie the opportunity to provide the courts with enough documentation to understand the case thoroughly to make a conviction, in needed, without dropping charges and dismissing the

case.

Inquest Recommendation

After a 63-day inquest in the death of Jordan Heikamp, a total of 44 recommendations were presented from the jury. The recommendations were also directed at governments, including the City of Toronto, as well as several institutions such as agencies who work with homeless mothers and their children. A brief description of a few of the recommendations includes the following (ANGELIZD’s Place, n.d.):

 Any worker involved in child protection services must understand that their client is the child in need of protection, not the parent
 The worker must schedule face to face follow ups on a weekly basis for children under the age of four months of age
 Workers must comprehend that young individuals registered in the shelter system are adept to manipulating and lying against the system to benefit their situations
 All staff within a shelter must have appropriate and relevant knowledge and education in order to recognize signs of malnutrition and/or inadequate care of babies
 Newborn baby risk assessments completed by children’s aid worker should be every seven days, rather than every 21 days
 The government should provide increased funding opportunities to supervising agencies
 New prenatal and postnatal programs should be established for teens and homeless mothers