KITCHENER — On Feb. 21 at 10 a.m., Nicole Eidt was supposed to be opening the door to her Kitchener residence for a visit from a worker from a child-welfare agency.

Instead, Eidt, who had previously quit drugs but relapsed a few weeks earlier, was using powerful opioids — for the second time that day — in the room she shared with her 20-month-old daughter, Amelia Runstedler.

Three and a half hours later, at 1:30 p.m., Amelia was dead. She found her mother's drugs in a zipped pocket and ate them.

Family and Children's Services of the Waterloo Region had arranged the visit with Eidt after learning she may have been using drugs again. Presumably the worker wanted to meet with Eidt to see if that was true and check on her daughter and their living conditions.

Just before 6 a.m. on Feb. 21, Eidt called the agency and left a voice message cancelling the visit.

Then, at 10 a.m., Eidt, 28, consumed a mixture of carfentanil and fentanyl and passed out in bed, according to an agreement statement of facts presented in court.

Two hours later, she was awoken by Amelia laying on top of her. The toddler was limp and her lips were blue.

Eidt's screams sounded like they were from a horror movie, court was told.

CPR failed to save Amelia, Eidt's only child. She was pronounced dead at hospital at 1:30 p.m. Toxicology tests found an "astronomical" level of carfentanil in Amelia's body and a smaller amount of fentanyl.

Eidt, a longtime drug user, had stopped using after getting pregnant with Amelia but relapsed about three weeks before her daughter's death. She pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death and was sentenced on Wednesday to four years in prison.

In a victim impact statement, Eidt's mother, Deborah Donner, said this was not the first time Eidt had cancelled an appointment with Family and Children's Services.

"Why would anyone with a long addiction history be allowed to cancel several appointments?" she asked.

No one from the agency was called to speak at Eidt's sentencing hearing, but the Crown, judge and the agreed statement of facts detailed its actions.

"Family and Children's Services received a referral Jan. 25, 2019, from a physician's office that a family member suspected that Nicole Eidt was using drugs," the statement of facts says.

"On Jan. 31, F&CS spoke to Nicole Eidt and the father of the child and both denied that Eidt was using drugs. Further followup with Nicole Eidt became difficult and attempts were made to contact her on numerous occasions to schedule a home visit without any response."

Eight days before Amelia's death, an agency worker did an unscheduled visit at Eidt's last known residence. The worker was told Eidt had moved to an unknown location.

"Feb. 14, F&CS again reached out to Nicole and eventually made contact with her and scheduled a home visit for Feb. 21 at 10 a.m.," according to the statement of facts.

Eidt, Amelia and the child's father, Christopher Runstedler, had all lived in a room they rented in a house on Heritage Drive, in the Stanley Park area of Kitchener. Four days before Amelia's death, Runstedler, 29, was arrested on charges of trafficking fentanyl, cocaine and meth. He was in jail when his daughter died. Eidt had full custody of Amelia.

Sometime in the morning on Feb. 21, a man who lived in another part of the house and was friends with Amelia's father, told Eidt he did not want a worker from Family and Children's Services coming to the house. Eidt cancelled the visit at 5:50 a.m.

On the day of Amelia's death, the room she and her mother lived in had drug paraphernalia strewn about. Methadone, glass pipes, a small torch, syringes, alcohol wipes and scales with drug residue were in the closet. What appeared to be drug residue in tinfoil was in the cup holder of Amelia's car seat. There was no crib.

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"This is not a case of what Family and Children's Services could have done," Crown prosecutor Jane Young said in court. "They did what they could have done as soon as they became aware that Ms. Eidt was potentially back using narcotics and did their utmost to track her down and have an in-house visit.

"These are people who are reaching out and ... concerned about Amelia."

The first contact Eidt had with Family and Children's Services was arranged by Eidt herself. She asked for assistance to "ensure she stayed clean of drugs" while pregnant, Justice Melanie Sopinka said on sentencing day.

In the weeks leading up to Amelia's death, Eidt "was untruthful with authorities about recommencing drug use and then failed to draw on the supports offered by cancelling a visit on the very day of Amelia's passing," Sopinka said.

"Ms. Eidt's lack of candour with child-welfare workers does aggravate her conduct as it removed a safety net that might well have saved Amelia."

The judge noted Eidt "chose to care alone for Amelia despite the support she had in the community from Amelia's grandparents and Family and Children's Services, an agency that she had voluntarily engaged in the past to ensure her successful parenting."

That, combined with leaving deadly drugs in a room with no crib, "represented an environment of abuse that was simply ripe for disaster," the judge said.

Amelia's grandparents told the court of their "immense grief" over the toddler's death.

"Her grandparents all reflect on what a beautiful, caring and happy child she was," the judge said. "She brought much love and joy to all of their hearts and her loss in such tragic circumstances is simply devastating."

gpaul@therecord.com

Twitter: @GPaulRecord

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