The anonymous caller makes the call to CPS (Child Protection Service) because they don't like you. Maybe they don't like your kids and they think they're brats. I'd like to think that most people wouldn't do something like that, but sadly I know I'm wrong. They call the department anonymously and throw a bunch of crap out there hoping something sticks. Perhaps the angry neighbor can get you out of there, or the angry ass hole of the community can get you out of the way. It could be they just don't like you and want to see you painfully taken down through there. The anonymous caller can make all the claims they want and you're guilty until proven innocent.
Most people don't think about this or don't care. That is until it happens to them or someone they know. There was a petition created through change.org that surprisingly only got 309 signatures. That number is incredibly low considering how many people that I've seen in the forums facing the issue. I think the reason is that most of the people affected by this are the low income families who don't routinely use the internet. The CPS success rate is lower when it involves the families that can afford a lawyer. I'd be willing to bet that they've never opened a case against a family where mom or dad is a lawyer. They want to take on the fight that they know they can win.
The posts are mostly from anonymous posters. They're concerned but don't want to put themselves in the line of fire. The facts are what they are, facts. We don't know that everything the posters have posted is true, but if even half of this is true that is too much. Is the government backing CPS in the worlds largest child abduction ring? I cannot say no to that question, and neither can anyone reading this. We can say they're taking children from good homes and putting them in dangerous situations. They can spin the thing however they want.
So here we have parents who may occasionally smoke marijuana, which has been legalized in two states, and is set to be decriminalized or legalized in a handful of others. They're going to have to fight for their rights to keep their children. If they fail the drug test for what will soon be as legal as alcohol, all the accusations will be considered true. Just because they didn't own up to their usage, which didn't take place in front of their children. Now they beat and neglect their children because they smoke pot. If they smoke marijuana they're obviously are demons who abuse kids. They threw a bunch of shit against the wall and hoped something would stick to damage the credibility of the parents.
With no evidence that any of the other accusations are true they're treated like criminals for something that is socially acceptable. People are starting to realize that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. Not just for the user, but for those around them as well. Marijuana vs Booze? That's a discussion for another day, because both can have you in hot water with CPS.
The Corrupt Business of Child Protective Services
http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC={5433EE7C-6775-4D17-A2A1-CE4686AE1697}
By Nancy Schaefer
Georgia State Senate, 50th District
revised September 25, 2008
My introduction into Child Protective Service cases was due to a grandmother in an adjoining state who called me
with her tragic story. Her two granddaughters had been taken from her
daughter who lived in my district. Her daughter was told wrongly that if
she wanted to see her children again she should sign a paper and give
up her children. Frightened and young, the daughter did. I have since
discovered that parents are often threatened into cooperation of
permanent separation of their children.
The
children were taken to another county and placed in foster care. The
foster parents were told wrongly that they could adopt the children. The
grandmother then jumped through every hoop known to man in order to get
her granddaughters. When the case finally came to court it was made
evident by one of the foster parent’s children that the foster parents
had, at any given time, 18 foster children and that the foster mother
had an inappropriate relationship with a caseworker. In the courtroom,
the juvenile judge acted as though she was shocked and said the two
girls would be removed quickly. They were not removed. Finally, after
much pressure being applied to the Department of Family and Children
Services of Georgia (DFCS), the children were driven to South Georgia to meet their grandmother who gladly drove to meet them.
After
being with their grandmother two or three days, the judge, quite out of
the blue, wrote up a new order to send the girls to their father, who
previously had no interest in the case and who lived on the West Coast.
The father was in “adult entertainment”. His girlfriend worked as an
“escort” and his brother, who also worked in the business, had a sexual
charge brought against him.
Within a couple of days the father was knocking on the grandmother’s door and took the girls kicking and screaming to California.
The father developed an unusual relationship with the former foster
parents and soon moved to the southeast. The foster parents began
driving to the father’s residence and picking up the little girls for
visits. The oldest child had told her mother and grandmother on two
different occasions that the foster father molested her.
To
this day after five years, this loving, caring blood relative
grandmother does not even have visitation privileges with the children.
The little girls are, in my opinion, permanently traumatized and the
young mother of the girls was so traumatized with shock when the girls
were first removed from her that she has never completely recovered. The
mother has rights but the father still has custody of the children.
Throughout
this case and through the process of dealing with multiple other
mismanaged cases of the Department of Family and Children Services
(DFCS), I have worked with other desperate parents across the state of Georgia
and in many other States because their children were taken for no cause
and they have no one with whom to turn. I have witnessed ruthless
behavior from many caseworkers, social workers, investigators, lawyers,
judges, therapists, and others such as those who “pick up” the children.
I have been stunned by what I have seen and heard from victims all
across this land.
In
this report, I have focused mainly on the Georgia Department of Family
and Children Services (DFCS). However, I believe Child Protective
Services nationwide has become corrupt and that the entire system is
broken beyond repair. I am convinced parents and families should be
warned of the dangers.
The Department of Child Protective Services, known as the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) in Georgia
and other titles in other states, has become a “protected empire” built
on taking children and separating families. This is not to say that
there are not those children who do need to be removed from wretched
situations and need protection.
However,
this report is concerned with the children and parents caught up in
“legal kidnapping,” ineffective policies, and an agency that on certain
occasions would not remove a child (or children) when the child was
enduring torment and abuse.
In
one county in my District, I arranged a meeting for thirty-seven
families to speak freely and without fear. These poor parents and
grandparents spoke of their painful, heart wrenching encounters with
DFCS. Their suffering was overwhelming. They wept and cried. Some did
not know where their children were and had not seen them in years. I had
witnessed the “Gestapo” at work and I witnessed the deceitful
conditions under which children were taken in the middle of the night,
out of hospitals, off of school buses, and out of homes. In one county a
private drug testing business was operating within the agency’s
department that required many, many drug tests from parents and
individuals for profit. It has already made over $100,000.
Due
to being exposed, several employees in this particular office were
fired. However, they have now been rehired either in neighboring
counties or in the same county again. According to the calls I am now
receiving, the conditions in that county are returning to the same
practices that they had before the light was shown on their evil deeds.
Having
worked with probably 300 cases statewide, and now hundreds and hundreds
across this nation and in nearly every state, I am convinced there is
no responsibility and no accountability in Child Protective Services
system.
I have come to the conclusion:
·
that poor parents very often are targeted to lose their children
because they do not have the where-with-all to hire lawyers and fight
the system. Being poor does not mean you are not a good parent or that
you do not love your child, or that your child should be removed and
placed with strangers;
·
that all parents are capable of making mistakes and that making a
mistake does not mean your children are to be removed from the home.
Even if the home is not perfect, it is home; and that’s where a child is
the safest and where he or she wants to be, with family;
·
that parenting classes, anger management classes, counseling referrals,
therapy classes and on and on are demanded of parents with no
compassion by the system even while the parents are at work and while
their children are separated from them. (some times parents are required
to pay for the programs) This can take months or even years and it
emotionally devastates both children and parents. Parents are victimized
by “the system” that makes a profit for holding children longer and
“bonuses” for not returning children to their parents;
·
that caseworkers and social workers are very often guilty of fraud.
They withhold and destroy evidence. They fabricate evidence and they
seek to terminate parental rights unnecessarily. However, when charges
are made against Child Protective Services, the charges are ignored;
·
that the separation of families and the “snatching of children” is
growing as a business because local governments have grown accustomed to
having these taxpayer dollars to balance their ever-expanding budgets;
·
that Child Protective Services and Juvenile Court can always hide
behind a confidentiality clause in order to protect their decisions and
keep the funds flowing. There should be open records and “court
watches”! Look who is being paid! There are state employees, lawyers,
court investigators, guardian ad litems, court personnel, and judges.
There are psychologists, and psychiatrists, counselors, caseworkers,
therapists, foster parents, adoptive parents, and on and on. All are
looking to the children in state custody to provide job security.
Parents do not realize that the social workers are the glue that hold
“the system” together that funds the court, funds the court appointed
attorneys, and the multiple other jobs including the “system’s”
psychiatrists, therapists, their own attorneys and others.
·
that The Adoption and the Safe Families Act, set in motion first in
1974 by Walter Mondale and later in 1997 by President Bill Clinton,
offered cash “bonuses” to the states for every child they adopted out of
foster care. In order to receive the “adoption incentive bonuses” local
child protective services need more children. They must have
merchandise (children) that sells and you must have plenty so the buyer
can choose. Some counties are known to give a $4,000 to $6,000 bonus for
each child adopted out to strangers and an additional $2,000 for a
“special needs” child. Employees work to keep the federal dollars
flowing;
·
State Departments of Human Resources (DHR) and affiliates are given a
baseline number of expected adoptions based on population. For every
child DHR and CPS can get adopted, there is the bonus of $4,000 or maybe
$6,000. But that is only the beginning figure in the formula in which
each bonus is multiplied by the percentage that the State has managed to
exceed its baseline adoption number. Therefore States and local
communities work hard to reach their goals for increased numbers of
adoptions for children in foster care.
·
that there is double dipping. The funding continues as long as the
child is out of the home. There is funding for foster care then when a
child is placed with a new family, then “adoption bonus funds” are
available. When a child is placed in a mental health facility and is on
16 drugs per day, like two children of a constituent of mine, more funds
are involved and so is Medicaid;
·
As you can see this program is ordered from the very top and run by
Health and Human Resources. This is why victims of CPS get no help from
their legislators. It explains why my bill, SB 415 suffered such defeat
in the Judicial Committee, why I was cut off at every juncture.
Legislators and Governors must remember who funds their paychecks.
·
that there are no financial resources and no real drive to unite a
family and help keep them together or provide effective care;
·
that the incentive for social workers to return children to their
parents quickly after taking them has disappeared and who in protective
services will step up to the plate and say, “This must end! No one,
because they are all in the system together and a system with no leader
and no clear policies will always fail the children. Just look at the
waste in government that is forced upon the tax payer;
·
that the “Policy Manual” is considered “the last word” for CPS/DFCS.
However, it is too long, too confusing, poorly written and does not take
the law into consideration;
· that if the lives
of children were improved by removing them from their homes, there
might be a greater need for protective services, but today children are
not safer. Children, of whom I am aware, have been raped and impregnated
in foster care;
·
It is a known fact that children are in much more danger in foster care
than they are in their own home even though home may not be perfect;
·
that some parents are even told if they want to see their children or
grandchildren, they must divorce their spouse. Many, who are under
privileged, feeling they have no option, will divorce and then just
continue to live together. This is an anti-family policy, but parents
will do anything to get their children home with them. However, when the
parents cooperate with Child Protective Services, their behavior is
interpreted as guilt when nothing could be further from the truth;
·
Fathers, (non-custodial parents) I must add, are oftentimes treated as
criminals without access to visit or even see their own children and
have child support payments strangling the very life out of them;
·
that the Foster Parents Bill of Rights does not stress that a foster
parent is there temporarily to care for a child until the child can be
returned home. Many foster parents today use the Foster Parent Bill of
Rights as a means to hire a lawyer and seek to adopt the child placed in
their care from the real parents, who are desperately trying to get
their child home and out of the system. Recently in Atlanta,
a young couple learning to be new parents and loving it, were told that
because of an anonymous complaint, their daughter would be taken into
custody by the State DFCS. The couple was devastated and then was
required by DFCS to take parenting classes, alcohol counseling and
psychological evaluations if they wanted to get their child back. All of
the courses cost money for which most parents are required to pay.
While in their anxiety and turmoil to get their child home, the baby was
left for hours in a car to die in the heat in her car seat by a foster
parent who forgot about the child. This should never have happened. It
is tragic. In many cases after the parents have jumped through all the
hoops, they still do not get their child. As long as the child is not
returned, there is money for the agency, for foster parents, for
adoptive parents, and for the State;
·
that tax dollars are being used to keep this gigantic system afloat,
yet the victims, parents, grandparents, guardians and especially the
children, are charged for the system’s services;
· that grandparents have called from all over the State of Georgia
and from other states trying to get custody of their grandchildren. CPS
claims relatives are contacted, but there are many many cases that
prove differently. Grandparents who lose their grandchildren to
strangers have lost their own flesh and blood. The children lose their
family heritage and grandparents, and parents too, lose all connections
to their heirs;
·
that The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1998 reported
that six times as many children died in foster care than in the general
public and that once removed to official “safety”, these children are
far more likely to suffer abuse, including sexual molestation than in
the general population. Think what that number is today ten years later!
· That according to the California Little Hoover Commission Report in 2003, 30% to 70% of the children in California group homes do not belong there and should not have been removed from their homes.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1.
Call for an independent audit of all State Child Protective Services
(CPS) and for a Federal Congressional hearing on Child Protective
Services nationwide.
2.
Activate immediate change. Every day that passes means more families
and children are subject to being held hostage and their lives
destroyed.
3.
Abolish the Federal and State financial incentives that have turned
Child Protective Services into a business that separate families for
money.
4. Grant to parents their rights verbally and in writing.
5.
Mandate a search for family members to be given the opportunity to
adopt their own relatives if children need to be removed permanently.
6.
Mandate a jury trial where every piece of evidence is presented before
permanently removing a child from his or her parents. Open family court.
Remove the secrecy. Allow the press and family members access. Give
parents the opportunity in court to speak and be a part of their
children’s future.
7.
Require a warrant or a positive emergency circumstance before removing
children from their parents. (Judge Arthur G. Christean, Utah Bar
Journal, January, 1997 reported that “except in emergency circumstances,
including the need for immediate medical care, require warrants upon
affidavits of probable cause before entry upon private property is
permitted for the forcible removal of children from their parents.”)
8.
Uphold the laws when someone fabricates or presents false evidence. If a
parent alleges fraud, hold a hearing with the right to discovery of all
evidence made available to parents.
FINAL REMARKS
On
my desk are scores of cases of exhausted families and terrified
children. It has been beyond me to turn my back on these suffering,
crying, and beaten down individuals. We are mistreating the most
innocent. Child Protective Services have become an adult centered
business to the detriment of children. No longer is judgment based on
what the child needs or who the child wants to be or with whom, or what
is really best for the whole family; it is some adult or bureaucrat who
makes the decisions, based often on just hearsay, without ever
consulting a family member, or just what is convenient, profitable, or
less troublesome for the social workers.
I
have witnessed such injustice and harm brought to so many families that
I am not sure if I even believe reform of the system is possible! The
system cannot be trusted. It does not serve the people. It obliterates
families and children simply because it has the power to do so.
Children deserve better. Families deserve better. It’s time to pull back the curtain and set our children and families free.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and the needy” Proverbs 31:8-9
Ten Things You Must Do if CPS Knocks at Your Door
1) TAKE THE ACCUSATION SERIOUSLY.
Parents are routinely accused of ridiculous things: trying to sell their children to relatives for drug money;
molesting
a child in the living room during a family party; beating a child with
a baseball bat – without leaving bruises. Yes, those were real calls to
CPS – all taken as true by investigators. I don’ t care how absurd or
unbelievable the caseworker sounds. Understand that SHE is serious, and
likely presumes – no, likely “KNOWS” that you are guilty as accused.
Even if she doesn’ t flat out say that she’ s there to take the
children, she is quite possibly intent on doing just that. In testimony
to Congress, Chris Klicka, senior counsel for the Home
School
Legal Defense Association, stated that a case worker with 30 years’
experience once confided in him that “When I started working, we tried
to prove the family was innocent. Now we assume they are guilty until
they prove they are not.”
2) ASK WHAT THE CHARGES ARE.
Most of the time, the caseworker wants to keep you in the dark as to
what you have been accused of. despite being required by federal and
state law to tell you
details of the
accusation at her first contact with you. Don’t settle for the answer of
“abuse” or “neglect.” Those are categories, not details. You are
entitled to know what specific actions you are accused of committing.
3) SHUT UP. SHUT UP NOW.
It is imperative that you not
submit
to a CPS interrogation before talking to your attorney. It is natural
that innocent parents who have nothing to hide want to explain
everything so that a reasonable person can see that there’s no problem
here. But CPS agents are not reasonable. To them, the accusation IS the
evidence against you. That caseworker is there to find evidence to
support what she already believes to be true – that you abused your
child.
If you say nothing to them, you have taken away their greatest
weapon, which is their ability to twist your words. Let me give you some
examples of what was done to parents who
did talk to them:
The husband of a client of mine had been
accused of sexually molesting their autistic, non- verbal daughter. The
CPS investigator asked the mother if her daughter had exhibited any
unusual behavior lately. The only thing she could think of was that a
couple of times the month before, the girl had wanted her mother to come
lay down with her for a few minutes. Usually, she would just go in by
herself and go right to sleep. The investigator stated to the court that
the mother admitted her child had become afraid of her own bedroom.
One father I defended told the caseworker
that he had disciplined his daughter over a 20 minute period, where he
would talk to her about what she had done wrong, swat her a few times,
and then talk some more. The investigator stated to the court that the
father admitted to beating his child non-stop for 20 minutes.
4) FIND AN ATTORNEY WHO HAS EXPERIENCE FIGHTING CPS.
When? As soon as you realize your family is being investigated. The
sooner an experienced attorney enters the picture, the sooner he or she
can put a stop to abusive CPS tactics. Please note that I said
experience in
FIGHTING CPS. Many attorneys- if
not most – believe their role is to find out what CPS wants and make
sure their clients do it. That way often leads to disaster – and the
loss of your children.
5) BE POLITE.
Hostility toward the investigator is considered evidence of guilt.
Your perfectly natural angry reaction to being accused of harming your
child will be used as evidence of an abusive personality. This is where
an attorney can be a valuable asset. He or she can stand up to the bully
on your behalf.
6) NEVER LET THEM IN YOUR HOME.
Under no circumstances should you let any government agent in your
home unless he or she has a court order. Ask to see the warrant or
order, because the CPS worker may lie and say she has one when she
doesn’t. When she doesn’t have one, politely but firmly tell her that
she will have to stay outside until she gets one. If she claims it’s an
emergency, make her tell you what it is. Call her bluff – if it were a
true emergency, she would not be asking – she’d be there with armed
police officers, forcing her way in. Do not even open the door to let
her look at the children.
There is no compromise on this. There are no exceptions. If you
invite a caseworker into your home, you have waived your fourth
amendment protection. And if the caseworker is intent on taking your
children, SHE WILL FIND SOMETHING IN YOUR HOME TO JUSTIFY IT. THAT IS A
GUARANTEE.
Understand that you may be threatened. You may be lied to. She may
tell you that the 4 th amendment doesn’ t apply to caseworkers. That is a
lie. She may tell you that she doesn’ t need a warrant. That is a lie.
She may tell you that she’ll return with armed police officers. And she
very well may. But that changes nothing. Even a man with a gun on your
porch doesn’t change the fact that she has no right to enter your home.
Listen to the words of an ex-CPS investigator:
“I wish I could shout from the highest
mountain to parents to vigilantly learn their rights! If they knew what
their legal rights were there would be significantly lower numbers of
child removals. Social workers, unlike policemen making an arrest, are
not required to inform the parents of their legal rights. All we had to
do to remove a child was to show up at the home and tell the parents we
came to remove the kids. Often times we would take a police officer with
us (never telling the parents he was there for MY protection, not to
enforce an order or warrant). 99% of the time we never had to get a
warrant or court order to remove kids because the parents would be so
intimidated by the officer that they would just hand their kids over and
show up for court the next day. But if they had legally known their
parental rights, they could simply have told me that I could not take
the children unless I had a court order signed by the judge or had a
warrant to remove the kids. … the majority of times parents were just
intimidated and gave consent for the whole process to begin; completely
unknowing of what rights they just waived.”
If officers do force their way in, do not physically resist. Make
your objections clear, but stand aside. There’s no point in getting
arrested, or risking injury or death. Your children need you fighting
for them, and you can’t do that from a jail cell or hospital. Demand
that you not be separated from your children, and that your children be
interrogated only with your attorney present. (This demand will likely
be ignored, but demand it anyway. The fact that they ignored you may
become important in later court proceedings.)
7) RECORD EVERYTHING.
Demand that CPS tape any interrogation of your child. They are
required by Texas law to do so. Bring your own recorder in case the CPS
agent “loses” hers.
Tape record every conversation you have with a CPS worker – but do it
secretly. Nothing in my experience enrages a CPS worker – leading to
rash action – faster than finding out she’s being recorded. So don’t
tell her. In Texas, it’s perfectly legal to secretly record any
conversation that you are a part of.
8) HAVE A DOCTOR EXAMINE YOUR CHILD.
If the accusation is one of physical abuse, have your doctor give
your child a thorough physical exam. Ask him to write a letter stating
that no bruises, marks, or health concerns were found on the child that
would create suspicion of child abuse or neglect. Go to a doctor you
trust. Never never never go to a doctor recommended by CPS.
9) GET FRIENDS AND FAMILY INVOLVED IN THE FIGHT.
Gather names of friends and relatives who are willing and able to
care for your children if CPS takes them. They are required by law to
place with family or friends before considering a foster care child
warehouse, but will often ignore that law if you let them. Don’t let
them. If your children must spend time away from you, it’s far better
that they do so with people you know and trust than in an abusive foster
facility.
Also, get your friends, family, co-workers, pastor – anyone who has
seen you parenting your child – to write a letter on your behalf,
stating what a good parent you are. CPS investigators are required to
take such information into consideration, and it’s much harder for them
to illegally snatch your child without cause when they know a crowd is
watching them.
10) NEVER ADMIT GUILT.
Never, ever admit to anything. Even if CPS has taken your children
and offers to give them back if you do (they won’t), it would be immoral
to do so if you truly haven’t done anything. Even if you did make a
momentary mistake, admitting so may be a quick way to jail and to lose
your kids forever.
CPS agents are not above lying to you to prove you guilty of
something, so don’t trust what they say. They won’t understand. They
won’t give you a break. They will use anything you say against you, and
even make stuff up. Don’t make it easy on them.
