A provincial social worker in West Kelowna is being accused of having an affair with the allegedly abusive husband of a female client, a conflict of interest that persisted for years, according to an explosive new lawsuit.
In a civil claim filed Monday in B.C. Supreme Court, Melanie Hatton alleges social worker Kirsten Belitzky “unlawfully” used her position at the Ministry of Children and Family Development to access Hatton’s file and share information with her abusive spouse, with whom Belitzky was having an affair.
Hatton is married to Jeffery MacLean, who was charged with assaulting her during an incident in November 2021, but the charge was stayed in August prior to trial due to the Crown’s excessive delays breaching his Charter rights. After the criminal case collapsed, Hatton sued MacLean for the alleged abuse she suffered.
In the lawsuit filed this week naming the MCFD and Belitzky, Hatton claims she first met Belitzky in September 2019 when she was an intake social worker at the West Kelowna MCFD office.
Hatton was seeking behavioural help with one of her children and disclosed “issues in her marriage and the abuse her children had suffered at the hands of their father,” the suit claims.
It is alleged Belitzky made “sexual advances” towards MacLean during a later intake meeting. Hatton sent five emails to Belitzky to follow up on the resources that were promised to her family, but received no response.
“Belitzky willfully and intentionally failed to carry out her duties by failing to provide the plaintiff with resources as promised and instead commenced an affair with the plaintiff’s husband, MacLean,” the lawsuit says.
Hatton then pursued private counselling for herself and children and did not become involved with MCFD again until the aftermath of the alleged Nov. 26, 2021 assault that resulted in charges for MacLean. Hatton and MacLean separated at that point.
The lawsuit alleges MCFD employees became aware of Belitzky’s affair with MacLean prior to that assault, and that she had access to her and her children’s file at the time.
“Employees of MCFD became concerned that Belitzky had access to the plaintiff’s file and the resulting conflict of interest,” says the claim, adding Belitzky’s supervisors Kyle Deleurme and Tami Lund were then informed of the conflict.
The suit alleges neither supervisor took any steps to restrict the file or to restrain Belitzky from accessing it. The file was later restricted in April 2022 when the lawyer for the director of the Vernon MCFD office took over the file.
The lawsuit claims MacLean moved Belitzky into the family home in January of 2023, prompting complaints from Hatton to MCFD. Deleurme told Hatton he could not get involved in Belitzky’s personal life and asked her to not call again on the matter.
The province’s privacy branch investigated the complaint and in March 2023 informed Hatton that her file was restricted and Belitzky had no access. The lawsuit, however, claims that investigation took place after the file was already restricted in April 2022.
The civil claim alleges Belitzky accessed the file during that time and shared information with MacLean.
“MacLean used the information unlawfully provided by Belitzky to continue to harass and track the plaintiff,” the lawsuit claims. “The private information … was used by MacLean to frustrate the child protection measures of the children’s new social workers.”
The lawsuit further claims Belitzky “unlawfully enriched herself” by using the plaintiff’s joint bank account to take a trip to Jamaica with MacLean and spending Hatton’s money while living in her home, all while Hatton was solely paying the mortgage.
The lawsuit is seeking a variety of damages and argues that the provincial government is vicariously liable for the allegations. In 2018, MCFD admitted vicarious liability for the thefts of Kelowna-based social worker Robert Riley Saunders, who stole from Indigenous youth in his care.
Hatton is being represented by Michael Patterson, a lawyer who also represented a number of Saunders' victims.
The Ministry of Children and Family Development declined to comment on the lawsuit, as the matter is before the courts.
Belitzky did not respond to messages sent to her social media accounts seeking comment.
None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been argued or proven in court and both defendants have 21 days to file a response.
