Four more Lev Tahor children will be returned to their parents Thursday.
At a child custody hearing Wednesday in Chatham, the lawyers representing the Lev Tahor families and Chatham-Kent Children’s Services consented to the return of the children to their parents, affective Thursday.
However it may be temporary, as a settlement hearing will be held in late summer.
Justice Paul Kowalyshyn congratulated all parties for coming to “an appropriate, thorough and well thought out consent.”
Kowalyshyn adds, “This consent reflects the spirit of cooperation. Hopefully the society and family can build on that.”
The decision comes one week after Kowalyshyn ordered children’s service return an infant back into the care of the baby’s 17-year-old mother. The two were separated when the mother was taken into custody in Calgary after fleeing Ontario in March.
Two Lev Tahor children remain in CAS custody. That matter will be heard on May 29.
In total, 13 children were ordered to be taken into full-time care of the province on Justice Linda Templeton’s order back in April.
Seven of them fled to Guatemala with members of the sect, where they remain.
In November, approximately 40 families with the Jewish group left Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., and relocated to Chatham.
