VICTORIA – Premier Christy Clark’s minister of children and families made the shocking decision to appeal the second scathing B.C. Supreme Court ruling in a horrific child abuse case.

“It defies belief that this government wants to haul this family back to court for a third time to be re-victimized. It’s beyond deplorable. It’s outrageous,” said Doug Donaldson, New Democrat spokesperson for children and families.

“The Ministry of Children and Families placed these children in the custody of a known sexual predator and a child was molested as a result. These facts are beyond debate.”

Donaldson said the minister’s decision is clearly an effort to save her own political skin and avoid further scrutiny while the matter is before the courts. It also demonstrates how insincere the minister’s intentions were when she launched an internal review of the case last month.

“This is yet another exercise in protecting the minister before protecting kids. And it’s being done at the expense of a family who have already been repeatedly traumatized. It is absolutely despicable,” Donaldson said. “If there was a shred of public confidence remaining in Minister Stephanie Cadieux, this destroys it.”