Expert: Illinois' child protection system can be 'cruel'
http://www.bnd.com/homepage/story/331568.html
Holbrook says he will research issue
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat
Illinois' child protection system "can be arbitrary, capricious and
cruel," even though it has made "significant progress," the executive
director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform said
Monday.
Richard Wexler cited a story that appeared Sunday in the News-Democrat
about more than 3,000 cases of persons wrongly listed as child abusers
by the Department of Children and Family Services. He cited the
newspaper's 2006 series about the deaths of 53 children in the agency's
care.
"The problems revealed Sunday and those revealed in the 2006 series
'Lethal Lapses' are not 'opposites' that need to be 'balanced,'" Wexler
said in a statement issued Monday. "Rather, they are directly related.
The more time DCFS workers waste persecuting innocent families and
taking away children because of false allegations, trivial problems or
issues that can be resolved without tearing apart families, the less
time they have to find children in real danger who really must be taken
from their parents."
The nonprofit coalition was formed as the result of a national
conference at Harvard University in 1991.
The newspaper re****ted Sunday that of 11,473 cases between 2002 and 2007
in which persons placed on the state's official child abuser list
appealed to be removed, 3,051 either won an appeal before a DCFS
administrative law judge or had their cases thrown out without a hearing
because of a lack of evidence. All of these names were dropped from the
list, called the State Central Register.
But the appeals often cost thousands of dollars in attorney's fees, and
the wrong listings ruined reputations and resulted in children
needlessly removed from homes, according to several families interviewed
by the newspaper. In these cases, the hearing judges criticized DCFS
caseworkers for failing to properly investigate.
A DCFS spokesman has said that while mistakes are made, the vast
majority of persons who end up on the list stay listed for at least the
required minimum of five years.
State Rep. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville, who helped push for a new state
law to increase child protection after reading the newspaper's Lethal
Lapses series said, "I don't know that in 14 years, I've had anyone come
in with the issue that they were improperly placed on the child abuser
list and can't get off it."
However, Holbrook said, "If they err on the side of caution for the
child's safety, it's hard to argue with that. But unfortunately, it's
set up in many cases where there is a no-win situation ... a lot of
these children have disruptive homes. ... There is no moral compass in
their lives. And their complaints can really destroy someone if there is
some vendetta there and the complaints aren't true."
Holbrook said he may bring up the subject of persons wrongly accused of
child abuse to the house standing committee on DCFS "as soon as I
research more about it."
Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Greenville, who co-sponsored the recent child
protection law with Holbrook, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Wexler said that erring on the side of the child does not protect
children.
"There probably is no phrase in the child-welfare lexicon that has done
more harm to children than "err on the side of the child," Wexler said,
adding, "The problem with the systematic abuses revealed by the
News-Democrat Sunday is not that they hurt parents, though of course
they do. ...
"They hurt children by subjecting them to the enormous emotional trauma
of needless foster care. ... They hurt children by placing them at risk
of abuse in foster care itself, where the rate of abuse is far higher
than generally realized, and far higher than the general population."
Contact re****ter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or 239-2625.
Contact re****ter Beth Hundsdorfer at bhundsdorfer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or 239-2570.
An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and
the Child Protection "INDUSTRY"
Child Protective Services Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of CPS.
every parent should read the free handbook from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Wa****ngton. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59
***ual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13
Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12
Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and ***ual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST
Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally
guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other
agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central
intelligence agency wiretaping programs…
THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia
http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/articles.php?filter=6
This is Child Protection?
By Gregory A. Hession, J.D.
http://www.jbs.org/node/4632
Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-callahan16oct16,0,5019944.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILURE:. A Brief Analysis of the Casey
Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler
http://www.nccpr.org/re****ts/cfpanalysis.doc
HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN
http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html
Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families
By Nev Moore Massachusetts News
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:
30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
2% receive a college degree
50% were unemployed
Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children
not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems,
including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and
impaired social relation****ps. Some experts estimate that about 30% of
the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various
studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care
tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school
compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their
education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment
than the general population.
*Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Sup****t
80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.
The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn
of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child
psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should
just be blown up.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991
Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s
foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent
housing.
This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would
have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in
the first place.
Front-page story in USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-foster-study_N.htm?csp=34#Close
Read the studies online.
Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Care: Findings from the
Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study,"
www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm
MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects
of Foster Care,"
www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf
Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" re****ts:
www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren
The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system
for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than
walking wreckage...
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY
GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER
AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS....
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLI****NG CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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