From: canadarevenue.agency@yahoo.com   
      
   Canada Revenue Agency Tells Couple to Return Baby Bonus After 8 Day Old Son   
   Dies: CRA SOTW   
      
   By Azzura Lalani, The London Free Press    
      
   LONDON, Ont. -- A London couple was devastated when their happy, seemingly   
   healthy eight-day-old baby boy died suddenly.   
      
   But then the Canada Revenue Agency asked for their baby bonus back, adding   
   insult to injury.   
      
   Ashley Lisabeth and her fiance Frank Greco were overjoyed when they found out   
   they were going to have a baby.   
      
   "Our whole life changed," said Lisabeth, an office assistant at Anderson's   
   Electronics. "Everything in our life changed because of Emmett. We bought our   
   first house together, we really started thinking about our future."   
      
   But eight days after their son, Emmett Richard Greco was born on Aug. 2, 2015,   
   he died from a rare condition called myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart.   
   Lisabeth and Greco were shattered.   
      
   They called the government to say their son had died and the monthly baby   
   bonus cheques - now called the Canada Child Benefit - could stop.   
      
   But when they got in touch with a government official, they say they were told   
   they had to return the baby bonus they'd received for August.   
      
   "It made us feel upset. Upset and frustrated because, I mean, you just have a   
   baby and you experience all this stuff . . . and it's kind of just taken away   
   from you," said Lisabeth.   
      
   A quirk in the Canada Revenue Agency's policy means that if a child is born   
   and dies in the same month, the family's eligibility for any child benefits is   
   negated.   
      
   "The eligibility for the Canada Child Benefit ends the month in which the   
   child passes away," said Jelica Zdero, a spokesperson for the CRA. "With this   
   said, if the child is born in one month and passes away in the following   
   month, the parents would be    
   eligible to receive benefits for the first month." If the London couple's baby   
   had been born July 31 and died Aug. 7, they would have been allowed to keep   
   the benefits. But since Emmett was born and died in the same month, his   
   parents were not eligible    
   to keep the benefits they received.   
      
   In total, the couple received just under $530 in child care benefits which   
   they had to repay -- a considerable amount for them, said Lisabeth, who'd just   
   bought a house with Greco.   
      
   "Losing a child is as difficult as it is," she said. "But they could have some   
   sympathy for families. Either don't make families repay that month, or wait   
   till after their maternity leave is over before asking for that money back."   
      
   Their grief was enormous. Greco took a month of unpaid leave from work to deal   
   with the loss. Lisabeth had 15 weeks of paid maternity leave, as well as an   
   additional 15 weeks prescribed by her doctor, but after her maternity leave   
   ended she went back to    
   work to pay the bills.   
      
   "We were already under a lot of stress and frustration and having to pay all   
   that back was a big frustration," she said.   
      
   The couple is trying to move forward and to keep Emmett's memory alive, said   
   Lisabeth.   
      
   On Sunday the first of what's expected to be an annual five-kilometre walk,   
   called the Emmett Greco's Myocarditis walk, will be held to raise money for   
   the Heart and Stroke Foundation.   
      
   "We're hoping to raise hopefully between $7,000 to $10,000," said Lisabeth,   
   adding there will also be a lunch, raffle and information session.   
      
   alalani@postmedia.com   
      
      
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