The Services People need most from CPS

I received the following article from Leonard Henderson.

May 28, 2010
Guest Editorial

www.familyrightsassociation.org
The Services People need most from CPS

There are a lot of services both parents and children could benefit from, at the behest of CPS, but it seems the only "services" available are psychological ones.

It's either classes of some sort, (psychological, parenting, etc.), or evaluations of some sort, or assessments, or programs, treatments, etc.

What is rarely afforded to parents and children are what they really need: legal help, financial help, housing, employment, all of the things that could turn a family's life around for the better and make them contributing members of society rather than a continued burden to it.

The problem with that concept is that it would terminate their involvement with the agency in question, and so would the funnel by which the money flows.

I've been involved with hundreds of families personally and I can tell you from that personal experience that agencies within the CPS are mainly concerned with just how many workers they can get involved in a family's life- child protection worker, family services worker, kinship worker, child services worker, family coordination worker, child intermediate worker, etc., and of course all of the supervisors attached to them.

Then there's the time frame of involvement. It would seem that to serve a family and child's best interests- get in and get out- is not in the agency's best interest. An agency will milk a case for as long as possible, a year, two years, sometimes longer, sometimes almost indefinitely, just to keep that flow of government funding going.

It's "capitalism" at its worst*, and as any detective novel will plainly preach, "Follow the money".

There is little if no incentive what-so-ever to get involved in a case and expedite matters efficiently, swiftly, and effectively. However there is all kinds of financial, employment, and social incentives to expedite the matter slowly, arduously, and with as much complexity and confusion as possible.

One can hide a mountain of irrelevance and non essentials within the confusion and confoundings of a complex and least understood case file, and that's just the way the CPS likes it.

But most of all, it is the easiest way to bury the truth of a situation and hide it behind a whole plethora of; suspicion, innuendo, rumor, speculation, opinion, and even plain old gossip.

Last but not least, the most important aspect of defense and offense for a CPS agency is to prolong a case file for as long as possible, sometimes growing new cases from an old one, generating new cases with the children and their children's children.

It's called securing one's position within the establishment.

Whatever happened to the Constitution? Whatever happened to civil rights? Whatever happened to personal protections? Whatever happened to security of person? Do all of these things just get in the way of these people continuously manipulating the system, perverting the judiciary, subverting our society, and suborning those many values that our ancestors fought and died to defend and protect?

But most of all, what happened to "Miranda"? You know, "You have the right to remain silent, if you give up the right to remain silent anything and everything you say may be used in evidence against you in court, you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for you, do you understand these rights as I have explained them to you?"

Since the days of Ernesto Miranda and the Supreme Court of Arizona, this proclamation has long held to protect the rights of every individual from the onslaught of government oppression upon those who are brought to justice.

However, in Family Court, things like Miranda just don't seem to apply- while Perjury and Subornation of witnesses by CPS and their contractors is perfectly acceptable.

The real question we should all be asking is, "Why Not Miranda?" Why is there a difference from one court in the land and another?

Why can't the law be applicable to one and all, equally, fairly, without regard to; race, creed, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, general location, and nationality?

*AFRA Editor note- "capitalism at it's worst" is socialism- "(in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles."


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"Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own." --Aesop (c. 550 B.C.) legendary Greek fabulist

Learn as much as you can, as fast as you can at How To Fight CPS

Child Protective Services true intentions

Over the years, I have been taken to task by CPS people for calling them KIDNAPPERS.


Oh the sanctimony! "We aren't kidnapping kids. We are doing what is in their 'best interest", you see? If it weren't for us watching out for kids 'best interest' they would be getting whippings and held responsible for their actions. If it weren't for us, some kids would DIE!"

Yeah well.. Want to see the LAW about that?

18 U.S.C. § 1203 : US Code - Section 1203: Hostage taking

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure, or to continue to detain another person in order to compel a third person or a governmental organization to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the person detained, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life and, if the death of any person results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment.

So let's talk about the typical CPS case. What happens? CPS receives a "complaint". CPS acts on that "complaint". To "err on the side of caution", they remove the child from his/her home.

What's wrong with that?

There's the minor detail of the CHILD'S Fourth Amendment Right "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Why not arrest the alleged "perpetrator" instead?

Because that would be a CRIMINAL charge and the alleged perpetrator would receive his

Miranda, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendment Rights and Constitutional DUE PROCESS.

Instead, parents get dragged with no defense through the unconstitutional family court system, trying to make CPS happy so they can get their kids back. See What Happens in the Fog

The child of course has not gotten a blessed thing but his absurd new "Best Interest Civil Right".

Happily, some of this "problem" was recently addressed in the Greene v. Camreta case. So now it is "discovered" that American kids actually have Constitutional Rights that certainly overcomes the "best interest" sacred cow of European Socialism.

So what about the legal definition of Kidnapping "...detain another person in order to compel a third person or a governmental organization to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the person detained, or attempts or conspires to do so.."

Well bunkie, what do you think about volunteering your Constitutional Rights away to "cooperate" with CPS and signing a Safety Plan?

These monsters aren't going to GIVE you your Constitutional Rights. If you don't KNOW your Constitutional Rights and DEMAND them, you are a slave.

In US. vs. Johnson, 76 F.Supp. 538, 540 (1947), Federal District Court Judge James Alger Fee ruled that-

"The privilege against self-incrimination is neither accorded to the passive resistant, nor to the person who is ignorant of his rights, nor to one indifferent thereto. It is a FIGHTING clause. It's benefits can be retained only by sustained COMBAT. It cannot be claimed by attorney or solicitor. It is valid only when insisted upon by a BELLIGERENT claimant in person." McAlister vs. Henkel, 201 U.S. 90, 26 S.Ct. 385, 50 L. Ed. 671; Commonwealth vs. Shaw, 4 Cush. 594, 50 Am.Dec. 813; Orum vs. State, 38 Ohio App. 171, 175 N.E. 876. "The one who is persuaded by honeyed words or moral suasion to testify or produce documents rather than make a last ditch stand, simply loses the protection. . . . He must refuse to answer or produce, and test the matter in contempt proceedings, or by habeas corpus."

“A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.” -Ezra Pound

COMMENT on this story at AFRA's new "Intense Debate" page





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"Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own." --Aesop (c. 550 B.C.) legendary Greek fabulist

If CPS hasn't attacked YOUR FAMILY yet, see If you are ever approached by anyone from social services.... and WHEN THEY COME AFTER YOU

Learn as much as you can, as fast as you can at "How To Fight CPS"-

http://familyrights.us/how_to/fight_cps.html


Get YOUR VERSION OF HISTORY ON THE RECORD with your Sworn Affidavit-

http://familyrights.us/bin/FORMS/sworn_affidavit.html



Leonard Henderson, co-founder

American Family Rights Association

http://familyrights.us

"Until Every Child Comes Home" ©

"The Voice of America's Families" ©



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I am not a lawyer and I do not pretend to give legal advice. If you need legal advice, see AFRA's Lawyer Friends who certainly are not pretenders (http://familyrights.us/info/law) I merely relate the things I learned in the past that seemed to work in my own case or things that others have related to me that worked in their cases. I provide information for free and do not expect to receive any form of payment or reward on this side of heaven. Therefore, DO NOT rely on this information as legal advice. Real Legal advice would come from a real lawyer who hates CPS and prepares a VIGOROUS DEFENSE against a negative (proving nothing happened) instead an ATTORNEY (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/attorn) talking you into a plea bargain (http://familyrights.us/bin/The_Problem_with_Plea_Bargaining.htm)

The Nightmare Called Child Protective Services

The Nightmare Called
'Child Protective
Services' (CPS)

Unlicensed Bureaucrats Deny Children Their Parents -
All Based On An Anonymous Complaint

By Terry Wanston
twanston@aol.com

Educate Yourself.com

8-22-5


Imagine for a moment that you are outside playing with your children and one of them disturbs one of your neighbors. A shouting match ensued even though you have tried several times to apologize and had your child apologize. Now a couple of days later a CPS worker shows up with a report of "suspected" abuse by an anonymous tip.
They never tell you who made the report. So having nothing to hide, you let them in to see that your children are fine.
You don't think that the bruise on your sons leg from falling off his bike last week will matter. You don't think that because the kids have been out back playing in the dirt will matter or that maybe you haven't started the laundry or washed the days dishes yet, will matter. The worker leaves and says you will hear from them if it is unfounded.
They won't tell you that your adorable children fit the profile of kids that the perfect foster parents are looking for. So after a couple of days, the worker comes back with the police and takes your children. It happens everyday in this country.
You have no rights in their eyes. No warrant is needed.
Now what? In a couple of days they let you see the children if you are lucky. Your daughter's or son's hair may have been cut. They may have been examined by a doctor and or psychiatrist. The worker(a different one) now tells you that your children are saying that you abused them!
Then you go to a hearing where the worker explains to the judge or referee that you did this or that or some other form of abuse. Now you get appointed a lawyer you have never spoken to before. The lawyer says plead "no-contest" so you can get them back quicker. It happens everyday in Genesee County.

Then you get no say in court. Not a peep will they listen to. The worker just stands up there spewing unbelievable lies and you can do nothing. Then a month later you have to sign a "contract with about eight things on it that you HAVE to do in order to get your children back. If you refuse to sign, they make you sign a piece of paper that says you refused to sign (which is the same as refusing services) which they WILL use against you in court.

Now you get a visit once a week with your children for two hours. Every three months you go to a review hearing where you again don't get to speak. They continue to lie about you and say you are non-compliant. After fifteen months if the "contract" is not fulfilled they start termination proceedings.

If they terminate your rights, all future children are taken when one day old and you can't stop them. Termination is then immediate. The whole time that this is going on, your court-appointed attorney sits there. Your 4th and 14th amendment rights have been stomped on and no one cares. Your family is torn apart and no one believes you are innocent of wrong doing. Your own family won't even believe you. Now what?

You contemplate stealing your children back, you plan revenge, you go crazy or commit suicide. It happens all the time in this country.

The foster parents get subsidies for having your children in their home. Then when they adopt, the government pays all their fees, plus the government pays the state between $4,000.00 to 6,000.00 dollars for every child adopted out of foster care. They continue to pay the adoptive parents until each child turns eighteen. How do you feel now?

The media is allowed to sit in on every case of child abuse in this state. They only report the sensational ones where a child is injured or killed. Why is That? With media coverage the fraud and lies would be stopped. The "contracted doctors and psychiatrists" would be exposed and the laws may get changed.

So, I am asking that you cover the story of Emily Lake and her mother, a Michigan mother and nine year old little girl pepper sprayed TWICE by the police in PORTLAND OREGON. The mother is still NOT facing any charges but doesn't have Emily either. Can you sleep at night not doing anything? Please help us! Start covering these cases and help us expose the corruption. Most DHS, CPS,HHS or DCFS workers aren't even licensed. A law they overlook. How can someone with no license decide who is or isn't a good parent?


Thank You for reading this and doing something to help.


Terry Wanston


P.S. Go to the internet, type in "Fight CPS and Win". http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Fight%2BCP

S%2Band%2BWin%22&btnG=Google%2BSearch

The stories you will find there are honest parents trying so desperately to get their children back. Approx. 26,000 children per state every year get taken. Please help.

_____

Terry Lynn Wanston is the founder of the Michigan Foundation For Childrens Rights . You can reach her at twanston@aol.com> or call her at (810)785-2224



Related

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/portalndpolicegestaporaid14aug05.shtml

Portland Police Vie with Anne Frank's Captors for 'Nazi Raiders of the Century' Award (Aug. 14, 2005)



http://educate-yourself.org/cn/susandetlefsenupdatesonemilylake20agu05.shtml

Emily Lake: Interstate Child Protective Services Fraud and Abuse Case (re. Portland raid Aug. 21, 2005)



http://educate-yourself.org/cn/cpsabuseinmichigan14aug05.shtml





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Beware Child Protective Services

Beware Child Protective Services

www.welfarewarriors.org/mwv_archive/s07/s07_cps.htm 

What Victims, Advocates, and  Mandated Reporters Need to Know

 

The following information is from the Women’s Justice Center . To read the entire document, go to www.justicewomen.com

 

Most mothers say they would rather be threatened with jail than to be threatened with the loss of her child. Such a governmental threat is invasive, terrifying, and awesome. Yet virtually all the decisions as to her fitness, compliance, and fate are decided at the lowest judicial standard of evidence: 51% of the evidence. This is the 'preponderance of the evidence' standard. It is a far cry from the 'beyond a reasonable doubt' standard. (That is the standard the government must reach before sentencing someone to jail for even the briefest time.) 

 

The level of proof against her that CPS is required to put forth is minimal. It provides the mother little protection against any abusive, prejudiced, or discriminatory exercise of power by CPS. The low evidence burden on CPS also makes it nearly impossible for the mother to defend herself, especially against their vague accusations. 'Failure to protect', or 'she knew or should have known' don't even constitute a crime in the criminal system. Yet on those grounds children are separated from their mothers. 

 

The agency seems to be perpetually marred by a steady drumbeat of nightmare stories about CPS emanating from the very families CPS is supposed to serve. 

 

The Oppressive Swath of Danger and Damage 

 

The harm of the widespread CPS practice of removing children from non-offending parents extends far beyond the dangers and injustices to individual mothers and children. The harm extends to nearly every poor, immigrant, or minority race mother who is trying to deal with family violence. Most have heard stories of CPS removing children from other mothers in their neighborhoods. As a result, they become reluctant to seek help for their own situations for fear that the same thing might happen to them. 

 

Key Facts About Child Protective Services and Child Welfare Agencies 

 

1. In California, and Many Other States, Mandated Reporters Do NOT Have to Report to Child Protective Services. 

 

Many counselors, teachers, doctors are already sympathetic to the problems mothers experience with CPS. But they say there's nothing they can do about it. They believe they must make a report to CPS. But that's not what the law in California and many other states says. Mandated reporters in many states can choose not to report to CPS. The law gives mandated reporters a choice of institutions to which they can report. You can make your report to police, sheriffs, probation departments, or child welfare agencies. In fact, in California and many other states the mandated reporting laws put child welfare agencies last on the list of options. You have other options, and often those other options will be much more beneficial for both the mother and the child. 

 

2. CPS Does Not Have the Power to Open a Criminal Case Against the Perpetrator. Nor Do They Have the Power of Arrest. 

 

CPS agencies are not law enforcement agencies. They are social service agencies. This explains why CPS does not take action against the perpetrators in cases of one parent’s violence. 

 

3. The CPS/juvenile court System Has Only One Significant Power, the Power to Remove Children from their Parents. 

 

CPS does not have law enforcement powers. But, unlike most other social service agencies, CPS does have one awesome power. They have the power to take custody and remove children from the home. The stated purpose of this power is to protect the child from future abuse. The stated purpose is not to punish anyone. But obviously for parents and children who love each other this forced removal can be the worst punishment of all. 

 

4. At best, CPS/juvenile court Decisions are Made on the Lowest Judicial Standard of Evidence, the 'Preponderance of the Evidence' Standard, i.e. 51% of the Evidence. 

 

There is a void of evidence and rigor in the CPS/juvenile court system. That leaves the decision making process wide open to the virtually unchecked influence of mistakes, bias, discrimination, prejudice, vengeance, hearsay, junk science, nonsense, and arbitrariness of all kinds. (The one exception to this is that a final termination of parental rights usually requires a 'clear and convincing' standard of evidence. This is still a much lower standard than the 'beyond a reasonable doubt' standard of the criminal system.) 

 

Many lawyers themselves are so scornful of the flimsy evidence standard of the CPS system they call it "a crap shoot", or the "anything goes" standard. The problem for the mother goes beyond the fact that CPS doesn't need much evidence against her. It also means that whatever opinion a CPS worker may have of you, the worker can usually support that opinion in court. She can simply fish through the extensive family details the worker has gathered. Then she selects the one or two tidbits that favor the opinion. 

 

5. The Flimsy 'Preponderance of the Evidence' Standard is Bad Enough But things are Actually Much Worse. 

 

Increasingly, the CPS/juvenile court systems are handing off their fact finding and decision making responsibilities to mediators, evaluators, and even to CASA volunteers. All of them operate on NO standard of evidence at all. 

 

There are a number of things that makes the system tend toward abusive responses. One of these is the cardinal truth of any power. Unchecked power always tends towards abuses of that power. And the power of CPS is hugely unchecked. And worse yet, as is discussed later, it is exercised in secret. 

 

A second thing that tends the system toward abusive and prejudicial responses is the class of the mothers themselves. Heaping social prejudices already prevail against them. The mothers who come to the attention of CPS are most often poor, or immigrant, or minority race. The harsh realities and chaos of their lives are generally incomprehensible to people who don't live like them. There is much prejudice, stereotypes, ignorance, and blame against these women floating in society. So the middle class social service system is primed from the start to blame these mothers. Or at the very least, they believe it's the mothers that need to be fixed. 

 

6. Both the Federal and State Welfare Law Governing the CPS/Juvenile court System are Full of Vague, Non-mandatory Language. This Further Promotes the 'Anything Goes' Atmosphere of CPS Proceedings. 

 

In addition, these laws almost always refer to the parents as an undifferentiated single unit, "the parents'. This puts a legal lock on viewing the non-offending parent with as much culpability as the abusive parent. Only recently has the legal language begun to recognize the existence of the 'non-offending parent' as separate or unique from the offending parent. 

 

7. The CPS/Juvenile Court System Operates in Secrecy Off the Public Record. This secrecy fans the flames of the system's other tendencies to abuse. 

 

The CPS/Juvenile Court findings, proceedings, mandates, and actions take place off the public record. This is ostensibly to protect the privacy of the child and family in what is viewed as a private family matter. But who really has been more protected by this secrecy, the CPS system or the families it serves? 

 

Nothing fans the flames of governmental abuse like governmental secrecy. Secret files, secret evidence, secret accusations, secret proceedings are a sure fire formula for allowing abuses to thrive and expand throughout the system. Since its inception, CPS/juvenile court activities have been off the public record with the exception of only a few states. The involved parents are informed. But, to date, neither the public nor any public watchdog has been allowed scrutiny or oversight of the handling of these cases. 

 

Fortunately, it looks like there is the possibility this may change. In 2005, The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges voted approval of presumptively open hearings with discretion of courts to close. This isn't yet law, but it's a big step in that direction. 

 

8. Most all CPS/juvenile court Systems deal ONLY with Intra familial Child Abuse. 

 

There is a schism between the way society deals with child abuse perpetrated by a family member versus child abuse perpetrated by an 'outsider' . This points out a staggering hypocrisy in the rhetoric about treating child abuse seriously. Behind the rhetoric is a child welfare and police system that in reality works hand in hand to let most child abusers walk free. 

 

Many people are very surprised when they call CPS to report a child abuse case perpetrated by a neighbor, a priest, a stranger. CPS tells the caller they don't handle these cases. They only respond to cases in which the perpetrator is a family member. So CPS tells the caller to report to police. 

 

Another thing that may surprise you. If you call police to report a case of child abuse perpetrated by a family member, police will often tell you to report the case to CPS. Police could take the report if they wanted to, and they should take the report. But police themselves are all too often on the same philosophical page as CPS. They too often believe that when fathers 'grow their own victim', the fathers shouldn't be held accountable like other offenders. 

 

And even if police do take a report of sexual abuse perpetrated by a family member, chances are very good, even if convicted, he will get off lightly compared to an outside-the-family perpetrator. California law, like the law in many states, maintains gaping legal loopholes. Prosecutors can, and frequently do, charge intra familial child sex abuse under different codes which allow the family offenders much lighter sentences. What's perhaps most telling is that, at least in California, these legal loopholes for intra familial perpetrators have been widened over recent years, rather than tightened. The more women and children have made demands on the system to stop family violence, the more the system has created ways to look good while paving the perpetrator's escape. The patriarchy with all its bluff and bluster to the contrary, still supports the notion that a man's home is his castle, and that his children are his to do with as he pleases. Unfortunately, CPS, with its hold-no-perpetrators-accountable system, is a vital part of the machinery for perpetuating these archaic and oppressive beliefs.

Marie De Santis
Women's Justice Center
rdjustice@monitor.net ; www.justicewomen.com