Child Protective Services, CPS, has devastated and destroyed hundreds of thousands of families in America during the last thirty years leaving a trail of broken hearts, broken dreams, and shattered childhoods.
Rather than helping families, government agents have used unconstitutional laws in Juvenile Court to rip children away from their loving parents, break asunder God-given, natural, parent-child bonds, and adopt the children of the grieving out to others who profit financially with large monthly adoption subsidy payments.
Child Protective Services must be stopped! The law that started this, CAPTA, must be repealed. We must work tirelessly to inform the public of this very dangerous travesty of justice. We must keep faith knowing that if there is a God, there is an answer and a way to end this heartache.
Child Protective Services Agents - please come to your senses! Family destruction on false or trivial grounds is wrong, reprehensible, and inhumane.
Fosterers - be aware that for the money you get you are holding much-loved children away from their grieving families while the parents are forced to perform a service plan that is anything but a service to them. I call this hostage holding for the government. This is not kindness - to help misguided government agents destroy family relationships and break loving bonds.
CPS workers and fosterers - I ask that you now give up these unworthy professions and find something more dignified to do with your lives. Let the children of the innocent return to their homes where they are truly valued, adored, and loved by the parents God gave them.
Family rights are God-given rights. And they should not be ignored or postponed. Every moment these loving parents and children spend separated from one another is a torment beyond what anyone should ever have to bear.
It is unworthy of human dignity to allow this terrorism and torture of families to go on without saying something, speaking out, and trying to make a change.
Site mission: To provide information and support for families attacked by Child Protective Services and child welfare agents, especially those families facing false or trivial accusations of child abuse or neglect; and for researchers working to protect natural family rights.
This is all over the internet now - it might as well be here too!
OPERATION, WE THE PEOPLE
Listening to all these tragic stories that are foisted upon our citizens
by The Domestic Terrorists (CPS) is unbearable.
The recent events in Florida, and now in Michigan, to say nothing of
every other state in the Union, by the CPS is not an aberration. We
don't have to tell anyone how notoriously incompetent and how it
practices illegal tactics to warehouse children in less than desirable
facilities, destroying families and burdening taxpayers.
For these reasons, Families For Freedom(Pennsylvania) and Mid-Hudson
VOCAL (Sheryl Lane-McGrath(NY), along with numerous other nonprofit
organizations are petitioning the President of the United States to
invoke necessary changes in CPS. We urge everyone to mail postcards ($.25)
on September 20th asking for relief from the devastation foisted upon families.
Accountability of the Child "Protective" Service is primary!!!!
We must be relieved from the pernicious talons of this Agency.
Postcard should be addressed:
Mr. President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC 20500
Postcard should read:
Dear Mr. president:
THE CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICE IS OUT OF CONTROL!
Write your message. It might include:
* My family has been destroyed
* Our children have been taken. We have not seen them in x years.
* My spouse has been falsely imprisoned.
* Any message that suits your case.
End message with:
WE, THE PEOPLE ask for relief from this Agency. Repeal the Mondale Act
of 1974; gut the system; or institute reforms immediately. MAKE CPS
ACCOUNTABLE.
Your name
Street/PO Box
City, State, Zip Code
Age, if a child
Numbers count. SEND A POSTCARD! Send as many as you can. Pass this on to all your family, neighbors, friends, co-workers. Take it to church with you on Sunday.
KAY HENSON IN JAIL AGAIN
HER FAMILY IN HIDING
Walworth County, Wisconsin Sept. 13, 2002 -- Kay Hensen has been
jailed on a claim that she has violated her probation in a battery
case. This battery case involved a spanking, using her LEFT HAND,
administered to her son by the right-handed Mrs. Hensen. Mrs. Hensen
is a minister's wife, living in Delavan, Wisconsin. The spanking
incident involved one of her two children from a previous marriage.
Mrs. Hensen has five children from her present marriage.
The initial child abuse report was made by Mrs. Hensen's former
husband, Alan Cardella. This report became a criminal complaint to
which Mrs. Hensen pled "no contest" on the advice of her court
appointed attorney. She was put on probation, and has since been
jailed twice for allegedly violating the conditions of her probation.
The first alleged violation occurred during another investigation of
alleged child abuse. Mrs. Hensen's probation officer at the time,
Eilene Haffey, stated that contacting an attorney would be considered
a violation of her probation. The second alleged probation violation,
for which she is currently jailed, involves reports that the Hensen
children played in the street in front of their home in a residential
area. While jailed, Mrs. Hensen, who has a 9 month old daughter, has
been denied the use of a breast pump. This may result in mastitis and
other health issues.
Mrs. Hensen claims she is being penalized because she professes her
innocence, and also because she has been in close contact with
national family advocacy groups.
For further information, please see-
http://www.familyrightsassociation.com/members/wisconsin/henson.html
You may contact Leonard Henderson of the American Family Rights
Association (AFRA).
Mr. Henderson can be reached by email at
leonard@OregonFamilyRights.com
AFRA is a national Professional Association of family rights groups
and individuals who are working on issues concerning the rights of
families, parents, and children. AFRA's website is at
http://FamilyRightsAssociation.com
September 12, 2002 -- The city has agreed to shell out $150,000 to a battered mother after a federal judge ruled that the Administration for Children's Services has a history of wrongly removing children from their homes. Shawlene Nicholson's attorney, Carolyn Kubitschek, said that by paying the hefty judgment, the city is admitting it was wrong to yank her children out of their home. "It's vindication for her," said Kubitschek. "The city doesn't give out money just if it feels like. The fact that they paid significant amounts of money means they know they made mistakes." It was the third settlement in a class-action suit filed by 15 women. The city previously agreed to pay $300,000 to Ekaete Udoh, a mother of four, and $150,000 to Sharlene Tillett and her two children. The settlements followed a landmark decision by Brooklyn federal Judge Jack Weinstein, who slammed the ACS for its "widespread and unnecessary cruelty." The judge ruled that the agency has a history of hurting kids with its knee-jerk reaction to domestic violence - and of wrongly prosecuting mothers who are victims of abuse.
[I'm not sure of the source for this article as I found it on a mailing list with no attribution.] posted by Linda for FightCPS.Com at 1:21 AM
Another support group helps families in Missouri...
8/28/02
By: Tony Beason, KY3 News
SPRINGFIELD -- Parents, grandparents and relatives of children who have been taken from them by the State of Missouri feel they've been abused by the system. They?ve formed a support group called Whose Children Are They?.
Shari Finnell started the group. The Missouri Division of Family Services removed her daughter from her custody. Finnell says her daughter was taken from her based on a lie. It was the beginning of a long nightmare that would end with her firmly convinced the system has to be fixed.
Two years ago, Finnell never imagined that she would be trying to help families fighting for the return of their children from the state. She never imagined she would have her five-year-old daughter taken from her and placed in a foster home for a year. She never imagined she would become so frustrated and angry at the Division of Family Services that she would hit the sidewalks of Springfield to distribute flyers to try to organize a fight back.
"I was told the reports all indicated I had been diagnosed as having a bi-polar disorder and had not been taking my medication," Finnell said.
She says it isn?t true.
"No, I have numerous psychological evaluations that state otherwise," she said.
Finnell says her ex-husband made the false allegation of bi-polarism. They already shared joint custody and he wanted full custody. She says the Division of Family Services ignored her denials and placed her daughter in foster care, with supervised visits once a week.
"From that point on, you go through the treatment plan. If there's anything they find out of place with a psychological evaluation, or if you don't pass a parenting class, they may add on more treatment they feel is you need,? she said. ?Even though the psychological evaluation ruled out bi-polar, that wasn't enough to get my daughter back because, by that time, there were conflicts between my ex-husband and me.
?It's the most devastating thing in the world when you know you've never abused, neglected or endangered the life of that child."
She organized Whose Children Are They? even before the final disposition of her case. Three hundred people are on the mailing list. Weekly group meetings for support are provided. The goal is not to dismantle DFS but to stop a system charged with intervening in the abuse of children from abusing its own power.
"Because of a retaliation type hotline call, at 5:30 in the morning, my door was busted in and DFS came in. I have since learned there was nothing in that incident handled in the proper manner. They tore my door down and arrested me and took my children into foster care. They put me in jail and later charged me with medical neglect,? Finnell said.
?The reason for the charges was because my son had a matted eye. He had a defective tear duct which the doctors knew about."
She says it took two years for a judge to determine the forced entry was illegal.
"You know the law specifically states, unless a child is in immediate danger, they are to offer intensive in-home services within that child's home, not to put him in foster care. Their own statistics say only ten percent of children in foster care are placed with family members.
?They state that foster parents go through numerous weeks of training. That's not true,? she said. ?We have numerous people in our organization whose children are placed in homes that are not licensed until after the children have been placed there."
DFS always says it cannot comment on individual cases because of privacy laws. That makes it hard for outsiders to judge whether DFS does its job well, whether it abides by state law and rules and whether concerns of parents and grandparents are valid.
More questions about DFS came up last week after a two-year-old boy from Springfield died while in the care of foster parents in Willard. DFS placed the boy in foster care in June, according to his father, because of a domestic situation in his family. An autopsy shows the boy, Dominic James, suffered abusive trauma to his head. Greene County prosecutors think they?ll be ready to file charges this week after getting an investigative report from Willard police.
Finnell now has her daughter back, although final disposition of her case is still a few months away. She works unpaid hours as a volunteer for Whose Children Are They? and cleans homes for income. She says the nightmare is over for her but only beginning for too many.
----
To reach Whose Children Are They?, call (417) 887-6920.
Look at the list of related articles in the sidebar of the article linked above......
Hotline call made in effort to aid boy
Abuse was suspected at Dominic?s first hospitalization, prosecutor confirms.
September 8, 2002
By Laura Bauer
News-Leader
Willard rescue workers, who helped Dominic James the first time he was rushed to the hospital, feared the toddler had been abused and called the agency in charge of protecting him.
But the hotline call to the Division of Family Services on Aug. 10 didn?t prevent the child from being returned four days later to the foster care home where prosecutors say he was later fatally injured.
An investigator with DFS investigated the case ? after bruises on the child?s back had faded ? and found the allegations to be unsubstantiated, Prosecutor Darrell Moore said. He and other prosecutors have reviewed the case.
Dominic was returned to the foster care home in Willard and within four days was back at the hospital, this time slipping into a coma and living on life support for two days before he died.
Moore and Assistant Prosecutor Cynthia Rushefsky have filed charges of second-degree murder against foster father John ?Wesley? Dilley, but no charges will be filed against medical workers or DFS officials for failing to report signs of abuse, Moore said.
?Since a call was made, there will be no charges filed,? Moore said. ?We?ve done what we can do. I still think there?s issues the legislators need to address with DFS ? their financial needs and the quality of their programs and personnel.?
This is the first time any official has acknowledged that abuse was suspected the first time Dominic was hospitalized. In the weeks since his death, many of the details regarding his life in foster care have been shielded by DFS officials who insist privacy laws prevent them from speaking about any specific case.
And now, after Moore said there was a hotline call and an investigation into the suspected abuse, agency officials again insist there?s nothing they can say, except that an internal probe showed the agency did nothing wrong.
Christine White, assistant deputy director of children?s services for DFS, said the investigation showed her agency and its workers followed all policies and procedures from the time the toddler went into foster care on June 18 until he was rushed to the hospital with fatal injuries Aug. 18.
?Our worker had a lot of contact with the family, a lot of contact with the child,? White said Friday. ?Obviously, this is a tragedy, and I don?t want to say we?re not open to making changes. My message is, I don?t see any policies or procedures we did have or didn?t have that would have prevented this. ... I think it?s a good question as to why do some people snap, for lack of a better word.?
Prosecutors say that Dilley first shook Dominic on Aug. 10, and the child was airlifted to Cox Medical Center South. Dilley told authorities he shook the toddler to get his attention and then later found him lying on the bedroom floor. He was hospitalized with seizurelike symptoms. After four days, he was released and the Dilleys took him back home.
On Aug. 18, Dilley later told authorities, Dominic threw up on himself and the foster father gave him a bath. As he vigorously dried the child?s hair, Dilley said, the boy went limp.
He was hospitalized that night, up in bed communicating with his biological mother, but then he slipped into a coma the morning of Aug. 19. He died Aug. 21.
Dominic?s death has sparked a community outcry from people critical of DFS and others who want to share education on how children can become victims of shaken-baby syndrome, the cause of Dominic?s death, according to an autopsy. Advocates who never knew the child refer to him and the case surrounding his death simply as ?Dominic.?
And they say that his death has troubled many.
Carolyn Slavens, a nurse who specializes in child-care issues for the Greene County Health Department, said she had heard much talk about the Springfield toddler who lived in the Willard foster-care home. It?s always tough when a child reportedly dies from being shaken too hard, she said.
?I think people show anger, outrage that it happened again,? Slavens said.
?There?s a feeling of frustration ... what can we do to prevent this as a community? How can we provide awareness and education??
As the health department continues offering education to health care providers on shaken-baby syndrome, a duty it?s done for the past year, others fear another child could face a similar situation to Dominic?s, especially when DFS says all their policies and procedures were followed.
?If they followed everything the way they should have and everything was A-OK, how can we be sure that this won?t happen to another child?? said Deanna Gilbert, whose husband is pastor of the church where Dominic?s family attends. The Gilberts have been beside Dominic?s family through the hospital stay, his death and his funeral.
?I don?t want to see another child go through that,? Gilbert said.
Legislators are still asking questions, wanting to look at reports and files from the case.
White said as she looked over the mounds of paperwork for several days, she saw everything the caseworker did.
?We feel very good about what the worker has done,? she said.
According to reports that prosecutors reviewed, five or six emergency personnel workers who were called to the Dilley home Aug. 10 noticed bruises on Dominic?s back. The workers pointed out the bruises to hospital emergency workers at Cox South, and the Willard workers were told they could have come from the toddler ?rocking back in a rocking chair,? Moore said.
A spokeswoman for Cox South has said they cannot comment on a specific case.
After talking with hospital personnel, a couple of the workers went a step further and made the hotline call to DFS, Moore said.
White said she couldn?t comment on whether there was a hotline call, or whether there was an investigation of any such call. But, generally speaking, she said, all concerns are checked out.
?If there were concerns, if we thought the child was being abused, we would move the child out,? White said.
?Our No. 1 priority is child safety.?
Gilbert wonders, though, if things would have been different if Dominic ? or any other child ? had been taken the hospital with the same bruises and symptoms by his biological parents. Would DFS have taken the child out of the home? Were signs on Dominic ignored because he was in foster care, with a couple who were part of the state system and licensed by the state?
?I just have a hard time with the fact there were bruises and they saw no reason to do anything about it,? Gilbert said.
?Why did one person see the bruises and get concerned and another didn?t??
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