Letters From the Editor

Letters From the Editor

Citizens for Family Preservation

Why pick on judges - because many judges are supporting the corrupt practices of Child Protective Services and attorney action in word and deed. Consider the criminal ring of CPS case managers in Florida who were taking children out of hospitals and selling them overseas. As many as 3000 children are missing. In Texas and Georgia, courts and CPS not only took children from families, but out of retaliation took all the friends, relatives, and lawyer’s children putting them in foster care. In California, a well known attorney had two firms supported with government money and committed suicide once an investigation started and he was exposed for not taking care of his clients.

All over the nation, the stories of corruption in the family court dependency actions are rampant leaving a wake of broken hearted families with no recourse. This is happening because of judicial support and decision making. Without their undying devotion to child thievery, CPS could not do what they do.

But aren’t children being abused and need to be removed? Sure. But consider these reasons:

Children were removed forcibly by CPS and police because of a cluttered porch.
A father didn’t like the services his wife and newborn were receiving and decided to go to a different facility. The hospital put a hold on the baby and CPS took him.
Too many families to mention are getting children removed because they homeschool
One child was removed because he didn’t like going to church so he called CPS
A messy house is considered “emergent” and so is a messy car by many case workers
A child with a brittle bone disease was removed and put in foster care without first researching the cause

Washington State has one of the highest removal rates and receives some of the most exorbitant federal funding. Where is our Social Security money going? To adoption benefits instead of family reunification and at home services. Isn’t it satisfying to know that when we are old enough to receive Social Security benefits and there is no money, we can feel confident that our money was used wisely to keep the state going. We might not have the children or grandchildren – but hey – the CPS worker and judge get paid and that is all that counts. Right, judges?

The case worker decides to remove the children and has a private “hearing” with the judge. At his point, there is usually a conviction, with or without proof. The 72 hour shelter care hearing held after that is more of a kangaroo court. There is often coercion to get the family to sign off on foster care dependency in order to get their children back. Without realizing what they just did, that is signed away their children and possibly forever, the children are then kept in foster care an average of 14.5 months, or just under the 15 month maximum before rights are terminated. Even though required services are completed way before the 14.5 months, excuses are made to keep them longer.

What needs to be done? At this point, family dependency courts need to go back to the adversarial method with a few changes to support information exchange. In addition, the accused should be granted a jury trial if requested. The stakes couldn’t be higher – that of the permanent removal of children – yet there is little due process to protect the family. A murderer has more rights than an accused family.

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The problem with our government…..

We no longer have one government; we have two. The first and original was founded on the Constitution and electoral process. That entity then created a second government that couldn’t be touched by The People. A carefully weaved cocoon in the form of protective laws harbor that government then it is clothed in immunity. This protected government, armed with the laws that give it the freedom to do as it chooses without the interference of democracy - then goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom it may devour utilizing tax and social security money as it goes frolicking about denying The People due process rights while taking the children from devastated families.

Although there is a general awareness of the problem in higher government, little is done because of the mammoth and intricate foundation now built at the hands of those using a smokescreen of child protection. Corrections of problems often end up over corrections such as President Bush’s adoption incentives that now make adoption more of a priority than family unification as greedy states lap up the provided money and give CPS case managers a quota. I hope the blood of the children and the cries of the families keep him awake at night.

Many of those caught in the system lose twice. They lose the children, and then they realize they have also lost their country. Asleep as bill after bill was passed changing government dynamics into heartless tyranny, they awake to discover that the freedom they so cherished has vanished into an abyss.

Caught off-guard and unarmed, they watch as the government carries their children away with vague promises of returns unrequited and then they are sold on the adoption market. Titled demons of position tear the souls out of families one by one without remorse. The system is evil personified covered in a white veil. Smooth, deceptive words cloak the actions of a government dimension born in darkness.

It is time to waken from the political slumber and remove the veil. As a unified force, we The People, armed with the truth of freedom and democracy can take down the cocoon and replace it with justice, due process and dignity. We outnumber them and our passion can subdue the lion.

"Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

~ Robert F. Kennedy

TELL CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT NO ON ADOPTION INCENTIVES

The adoption incentive was Clinton’s overreaction to a real problem
This overreaction is tearing apart families nationwide
The adoption incentive invites poor decision making regarding family reunification
Laws have been passed taking away family rights and giving CPS too much power
In all States, it is more dangerous for children to be placed out of home than it is to do in home dependency. More children are abused and killed in foster care nearly six to one.
The adoption incentive has caused the Children’s Administration to make adoption a headliner in all their publications regarding child removal.
It has popularized ostracizing extended family like grandparents who may have a great deal invested in the children
CPS works hard at finding something wrong with extended family so they can place with foster families (example: your house is too clean or you don’t have a fence) which brings in more money
It encourages adoption over reunification by bringing in large sums of money to the state while reunification funding is considerably smaller
State workers are encouraged to adopt out and breeds an emphasis of family division
More than half the children removed last year were unsubstantiated – in other words removal was unnecessary and the parents had to fight to get them back – sometimes for months
They call child removal “therapy” and “detox” making a devastating system sound responsible and fair
CPS ignores their shortcomings and keeps others from looking at their behaviors using children as a bargaining tool and focus
Only one fourth were placed with relatives nationwide. The rest were being marketed under concurrent planning
Family courts have followed suit and developed state and local rules that clearly avoid due process and lack impartiality deferring to CPS leaving the families powerless
Family courts avoid input by extended family utilizing a variety of methods
Adoption incentive takes from a dwindling Social Security fund further victimizing the aging population

Families are saying NO to ADOPTION INCENTIVES and YES to IN HOME DEPENDENCY and REUNIFICATION

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During a recent public hearing concerning SB 6306, it was brought out that many check and balance systems are placed (constituent services and Ombudsman) yet problems continue to abound in regards to Child Protective Services and case management. As a citizen who has been at the butt end of CPS corruption and have attempted to rectify problems through both agencies, I would like to offer a solution.

The problem exists in the laws as written coupled with the fact that accountability only includes the laws and not ethics. If the laws encourage lack of accountability and ethics that would regulate poor decision making are non-existent, then logic would suggest that problems in executed services are assured. I would like the opportunity to present before you the laws as written and discuss how they are actually being used. It would appear to me that utopian ideals revolve around presented bills to legislators but the actual use of the bills turned into law at the street level present an entirely different picture.

Terminology used in the “wrap around team” at the courts include things like “therapeutic” and “detox” to describe the child removal process. If the case managers are providing social work and therapeutic services, then it stands to reason that they should get registered with the Department of Health and uphold the same standard of conduct as everyone else dealing with a vulnerable public. The Ombudsman office was very clear about their inability to regulate the morals of CPS yet they are the only office set up to hold CPS accountable and are failing miserably due to the laws, lack of laws, and no freedom to question ethics. This needs to change and sooner rather than later. As I said in a recent flyer placed in your boxes – over half of the removed children are unsubstantiated.

Most of you are parents and grandparents. Consider this story: I worked for a low income high rise apartment complex as an assistant manager. I lived on site on the 11^th floor and my supervisor lived in the penthouse on the 14^th floor. Across from me lived a woman who had alcohol dementia and her apartment began to flourish with roaches that were making a bee-line to everyone else’s apartments. I went to my supervisor to get the apartment bombed and she replied, “We don’t have it in the budget.” Astounded, I left but went back later and she insisted she didn’t have the money for an under $10 bomb. I carefully considered my next move which was somewhat risky to my job but my apartment was one of them the roaches were trailing to. I went back and informed my supervisor that I was taking a glass jar, collecting the roaches on my floor then letting them out on hers. Voila! The money strangely appeared and the apartment got bombed. Let’s make this personal.

Grandparents: Have CPS take your grandchildren from the parents, not tell you where they are, refuse to let you see them, and tell you that you have no rights. You find out the child is being taken to emergency but no information is available. You lose all contact and the foster parents refuse to participate in information exchange. All of your attempts to file a complaint go to the dead file.

Parents: Let’s suppose your child falls down and hurts himself. You take him to the hospital and the hospital decides (based on a whole lot of nothing) that this child was abused and puts a hold on him. CPS comes in and takes the child based on the obscure “failure to protect” motion. You are not allowed to see him because they are “detoxing” him from you while asking more questions to build a better case. You request records and they tell you it might be three months before you get them. The 72 hour shelter care hearing comes up and there is no legal preparation and you are coerced into saying you abused/neglected your child or you can’t have visitation. You are forced to sign treatment plans you don’t need using subtle threats of not getting your son back and get to see your son only in supervised circumstances once they think he is “detoxed” enough.

Most of you think you are immune to this because of your positions. You live on the 14^th floor. Think about it. Would you want this done to you?

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The People through discovery have found:

The imbalance of funding is creating corruption
Pathology has filtered through all manner of government and related agencies
Judicial decisions violate the public trust
Laws are created and passed that give parens patriae unlimited power not provided by the Constitution
The paradigm shift that accompanied a monopoly/monopsony strategy of funding extracted from dwindling Social Security is devastating families across America
Children’s lives are at stake and are being killed 6-1 over parents per 100, 000
That the states are not following guidelines placing with relatives but are screening them out using different criteria with foster families
That pockets of tyranny are going unchecked without recourse
Congress is not responsive to The People
That The People also have compelling interest as an implied term

The People are declaring a public health crisis as a result of these findings and also:

In addition, The People find the Parens Patriae to be more than a doctrine but a specialized position created by the government for the government that violates Article 1 Sec 9, 10: No title of nobility or honour shall be granted by the United States. The title extends to the courts, Children’s Administration and public education violating Amendment 14 depriving persons of life, liberty and property without due process. The position applies as a collective.

The People are ordering a cease and desist of the renewal of adoption incentives. Should action continue to commence, a nationwide class action lawsuit opposing Parens Patriae and the theft of Social Security to provide the continuing tyranny will be executed.

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Family Preservation and Re-unification Challenges

A Call for Reform

In Washington State and around the country, a phenomenon is occurring with child protection. Courts have been established that fall under a different set of laws that inhibit due process and a family’s ability to defend against legal actions. The issues that result in child removal are broadening to include a wide array of behaviors that may not necessarily require removal but in-home services. All related stakeholders to include parents, extended family and foster families are affected by the laws

Hospitals have gone into the child removal business with gusto. Concerned with litigation, “looking bad,” and federal funding for the hospital, Child Protective Services get called in and the parents are faced with hiring expensive forensic doctors to prove their innocence. Frivolous reporting by hospitals is at an all time high. Many families cannot afford such a costly expenditure and may find their family torn apart needlessly. Playtime accidents can now be considered parenting enemy number one in the health care regime. With the courts siding with CPS and their allegations, parents are often helpless against a system that has devised laws that enable the legal system to act on subjective and faulty allegations.

There appears to be a resistance to providing services in a timely manner, or to providing certain types of services at all. An example of this is children removed because of a messy environment. This does not usually require removal, but an evaluation of why the problem exists, a plan to change the environment, then services to assist and train the family helping them to get the home in order and keep it that way.

In addition, extended family support is frequently thwarted by the lack of laws and the continuous screening out of potential caregivers using criteria that may be too harsh in some cases and too lenient in others. The screening out results in low extended family caregiver opportunities. Critics suggest that the state gets fewer federal dollars with family placement while foster care brings substantial Title IV foster care and adoption assistance.

False accusations are a problem with both family and foster care placements. Foster care often has little say in what transpires along with extended family. All community stakeholders are vulnerable to the system. They keep everyone divided and off balance as much as possible even though laws and manuals suggest otherwise.

A new organization is forming called Citizens for Family Preservation. We are looking for concerned citizens willing to join this organization and support it through volunteering, financial support, grass roots and lobbying. This corporation will be a non-profit, but not tax deductible, and may offer stock options to its members in the near future. The finances and community action will go towards extensive outreach, education, lobbying, and media events.