Beating the Odds IBI & Child Development Services, commonly known as Beating the Odds, was a Canadian company that provided therapy to children on the autism spectrum.
Founded by Amber Maloney in 2015, the company initially provided home-care visits, and opened a therapy centre near Barrie, Ontario in 2022.
The centre was shut down in 2023, shortly before the owner was arrested.
Activities
Beating the Odds IBI & Child Development Services was founded in 2015 by Amber-Lee Maloney[1] (born 1986 or 1987).[2] Based in Essa, Ontario,[3] the company provided Applied Behaviour Analysis and Intensive Behavioural Intervention therapies.[1] Initially providing autism therapy via home-visits, the company opened a therapy centre on June 23, 2022.[4] By July 2023, the centre had not obtained a license to operate the therapy centre.[5]
On July 18, 2023, the Ontario Ministry of Education issued a protection order to the school, declaring "an imminent risk to the safety and wellbeing of the children receiving care."[6] The order prohibited the centre from operating.[6] The Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General issued a statement discouraging parents from using the centre.[5] The day prior, the Ontario Provincial Police issued a public advisory about Lauriston Maloney (born 1980 or 1981[6]) the husband of Amber Maloney and a convinced sex offender.[3] Lauriston Maloney was operating a construction company, registered to the same address as the centre and lived on the same premises.[5] From 2002 to 2004, Lauriston Charles Maloney operated a business managing sex workers. According to Maloney, one of his workers was under 18 years old.[7] In 2004, Maloney was arrested[8] and charged with offences after a fourteen-year-old girl from Brampton was allegedly forced to perform sex work for one month.[9] In their public advisory, police noted Lauriston Maloney's sixteen convictions in relation to "trafficking and sexual offences involving minors."[10] His convictions occurred in 2004 and 2013.[11]
Parents of the children who attended the centre held a second protest outside the centre on July 19.[12] The same day the centre was searched by police[13] and both Lauriston Maloney and Amber Maloney were arrested.[3] Lauriston Maloney was charged with "two counts of assault, trafficking a person, receiving material benefit from trafficking a person and forcible confinement". Amber was charged with "trafficking a person, receiving material benefit from trafficking a person, administering a noxious substance, fraud and uttering a forged document."[12]
^Mitchell, Bob (4 August 2004). "Teenage prostitution ring busted". Toronto Star. p. B02. ProQuest438729315.
^Douglas, Pam (6 August 2004). "Brampton men face string of prostitution- related charges". The Brampton Guardian. ProQuest362368495. Peel police say they have rescued a 14-year-old Brampton girl forced to work 10-hour days turning tricks in hotel rooms throughout Mississauga ...Lauriston Charles Maloney, 23, of Brampton is charged with procuring a person to become a prostitute, living off the avails of a juvenile prostitute...