Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 Source: Vancouver Province (Canada) Copyright: The Province, Vancouver 1999 Contact: http://www.vancouverprovince.com/ Author: Kathy Tait, Children and Families Reporter The Province MOM, BABE IN HIDING A Surrey mom, her newborn baby and the baby's grandmother are on the run today from the ministry for children and families. The trio were heading for a safe house in an undisclosed location last night after the grandmother took her day-old grandson out of Kelowna General Hospital in a duffel bag, fearing the baby would be apprehended. The baby's older brother and sister are in foster care. "I've been on the run since 10 hours after I gave birth," Jennifer Bertrand, 28, said when The Province tracked her down. "I feel like a fugitive even though we don't know what we're running from." Bertrand, who is a nurse, gave birth to her son Aidan in Vernon hospital on Saturday morning. She and her common-law husband Mark Steiner, 36, had been visiting their two children, aged five and 14 months, who live in a foster home, when Bertrand went into labour. The family's advocate, Kari Simpson, said the mother and baby left the Vernon hospital and were staying in a Kelowna motel when three Mounties and a social worker showed up to take the baby. "She gets me on the phone and I tell her they have to get a court order," said Simpson. "They agree to have the baby go to Kelowna hospital. The social worker is demanding a drug test on the baby." Simpson said the baby's grandmother, Gloria Marsaw, 57, of Port Coquitlam, "tucked the baby in a duffel bag and left" the hospital Sunday night, just a day before the ministry got a court order for interim custody of the infant. Marsaw is a nurse, child-care consultant and registered foster parent, and a former social worker for the ministry. A hospital spokesman said the infant was not abducted because the mother had custody when the baby left. He said there was no reason to keep the baby in the hospital. Simpson says the ministry believes the baby may have been born drug-addicted. "This is ridiculous," she said. "He's a beautiful, healthy, happy nine-pound baby." Yesterday morning Langley RCMP called at Simpson's home looking for the baby. B.C. child protection director Ross Dawson said the ministry and the police are searching for the child. "We have enough protection concerns," he said. "It is up to the court to determine if our concerns are adequate." In an interview a week ago with The Province, Bertrand said she first got involved with the ministry after she asked for support for post-partum depression. She also admitted using cocaine for three weeks after she and Mark split up briefly more than a year ago. Simpson said she is meeting with lawyers to discuss the family's options. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea