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this is going to be the longest post ever and with good reasons. be sure to read it all, there will be some important links at the botom of it. this is something most of us go through. especially now when money is tight and times are tough. it's also one of the reasons why public schools make me sooo mad. the article is an older one but it really still does apply today.
Children's Protective Services Statistics
Children's protective services specialists investigate reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. There were 123,149 complaints filed with the DHS during the 2007 fiscal year. In that year, CPS specialists conducted 67,756 investigations and found evidence of abuse or neglect in 17,748 cases affecting 29,638 children. Of complaints not investigated, 57% did not meet the standard of child abuse or neglect. The most predominant forms of maltreatment are physical neglect and physical abuse. In approximately 90 percent of all cases the perpetrator is the parent.
Protest the CPS - Demand Reform in Child Protection Laws
The FIA Game
By Attorney Janet M. Frederick-Wilson
Many citizens in our great State of Michigan are unaware of Michigan's dirty little secret that falls under the guise of the Child Abuse and Child Welfare Protection Laws. The advertisements and literature surrounding this area seem to be doing a magnificent thing for the children of our state. We have been led to believe that the State of Michigan is saving thousands of children from severe physical abuse and neglect. This is far from the truth.
The truth is that this campaign is a giant money machine fueled by abuse of power of supervisors and case service workers employed by the Michigan Department of Family Independence Agency and private agencies that have contracted with FIA that we, the tax payers, are paying dearly for through our hard earned tax dollars. Basically it is "make work by creating a case and keep your job or contract with the state government."
The current campaign to save the children is doing just the opposite. Parents and children are being permanently separated and families are being permanently destroyed under this new plan as a result of abuse of power in the name of more state and federal funding.
I have been working extensively in this area of law for approximately two years. All of the cases that I am working on do not involve children suffering from broken bones, bruises or starvation. In fact most of the cases that I am involved in regard parents that merely spanked their children by giving the children one or two swats on the clothed behind, parents who have physically defended themselves from a physically violent teenager, parents who argued in front of their children, recently divorced single parents, parents with low incomes, parents who have failed to take their child to a doctor for mere cold symptoms such as sniffles and mild congestion, or parents who owned pornographic materials stored in a safe place where the children broke into and viewed the materials.
According to FIA, the present state of law is that:
Parents cannot spank their child. Spanking, even with clothes covering the bottom, is severe physical abuse. Parents are only to use time out, reasoning and loss of privileges.
Parents cannot engage in physical self defense to protect themselves from a physically hostile teenager. An act of self defense by a parent is severe physical and emotional abuse. Parents are to use reasoning, time out and loss of privileges only and must sacrifice their physical safety for their violent teenager's safety.
Parents cannot argue or talk about adult subjects, such as family finances, in front of their children. These are subjects that the child has no control over and [arguments about them] create extreme emotional distress in the child. FIA has classified this area as emotional or environmental abuse and/or neglect of the child.
Parents with low income are neglecting their children's basic needs. Low-income parents cannot provide for the proper medical, physical or emotional needs of their children due to their limited income. The parents' failure to obtain middle income jobs means environmental, medical and emotional neglect.
Parents that fail to take their child to the family physician for colds, flu, sniffles and mild congestion, or parents who fail to obtain a family pediatrician are neglecting the medical needs of their children. FIA has classified this as medical neglect.
Parents who own pornographic materials, such as magazines, books, and video tapes, and conceal such materials from their children have created environmental and emotional neglect of their children. Parents who own and hide such material run the risk that children will find these material and view them causing emotional harm to their children. FIA has classified this as environmental neglect.
Divorced, single parent families seem to be targeted by FIA as high risk environments for emotional and environmental neglect. Most single-parent families have low incomes and of course, according to FIA, cannot provide for the basic needs of the children as measured against middle income standards.
Single parents work outside of the home, leaving their children unattended or with "inappropriate care takers" (neighbors, older siblings, grandparents, relatives) causing environmental and emotional neglect of the child. Single working parents are unable to clean their homes "appropriately" and leave their homes cluttered, disorganized, and untidy (i.e. beds unmade, dirty clothes on floors or hampers, dirty dishes in the sink from breakfast, unswept or unvacuumed floors and carpets, etc.) which the family must return to in the afternoon or evening are classified as causing environmental neglect.
Basically, single parents tend more to their needs (i.e. working outside of the home) than to the needs of their children, which is classified as emotional and environmental neglect.
Ironically, FIA compiles a list of single parent households from the Friend of the Court, sends prevention workers to the homes of such families and initially offers the families free, voluntary services through their prevention program. Such services include free parenting classes, free nutrition programs, free household budgeting programs, free employment training programs, and WIC. The social workers in these programs compile information on the family and home for FIA.
Basically, when you allow these workers to enter your lives and your home, you are allowing FIA to build a PS (Protective Services) record against you for child neglect, that leads to further child protective proceedings in the Probate/Family Court, which will ultimately result in the removal of your children and the children being placed in foster care. These workers are not hired to help you, they are hired to make a case of child neglect against you.
Why are families being targeted by FIA? Most people have the misconception that concerned citizens report child neglect and abuse. That is untrue! Only a small percentage of my cases involve reports of neglect and abuse from neighbors, family members, friends and school officials. In fact, the majority of my cases involved the family receiving some form of voluntary services from FIA, such as the free programs listed above. In the majority of cases, school officials, such as teachers and counselors, never suspected child abuse or neglect in the families that were prosecuted. Moreover, in most cases the family physicians never suspected child abuse or neglect in the families prosecuted. Families are targeted because FIA must justify its need for State and Federal grants to keep its workers employed.
Currently, FIA receives, in Federal grants, $2,000 to $4,000 per month per child in foster care and $10,000 per child adopted out into permanent homes after the parent's rights have been terminated due to alleged neglect and abuse. The State of Michigan provides matching funds to FIA. Bill Clinton recently signed new legislation providing for an additional $2,000 to $4,000 per month per child in foster care and $10,000 for adoption. FIA is making money hand over fist through our tax dollars. FIA social workers receive bonuses for removing children from their homes and for adoption. The incentive for abuse of power is extremely high and has occurred at alarming rates.
During 1996, Clare County removed 50% of the children in the county for neglect and abuse in the home. It is very hard to comprehend that 50% of the parents in Clare County are neglecting and abusing their children. Clare County is a "demonstration county" that is a pilot county for The Binsfield Laws supported by Federal Grants. These programs involve privatizing the foster care system. The foster care program hires private industry to service the foster care needs of the county children removed from the home.
Currently, Eagle Village in Hersey, Michigan holds the foster care contract for Clare County FIA.
How does the system work? FIA initially offers families free, voluntary services through prevention services to the families on the FOC (Friend of the Court) files, AFDC files, Employment Security Commission files, Social Security files, etc., such as free parenting classes, free nutrition programs, free homemaker services, free budgeting classes, free employment training programs, etc. The prevention worker works closely with the family to coordinate these free services by meeting with the family in their home on a regular basis, once or twice per week. While working with the family, the worker identifies problems areas that put the children at risk for abuse and neglect so as to qualify the family for these free services, such as poor parenting skills, homemaker skills, budgeting skills, and employment-seeking skills.
The flip side of this arrangement is that the worker is building a case of neglect and abuse against the parents. Most problems identified are lack of bonding with the children and nurturing due to the parents participation in these free programs. Basically, the parents are putting their needs before the children's needs by focusing on their problems as identified in their participation in these programs. Furthermore, workers in these programs work in tandem with FIA to identify other risk factors such as poor parenting skills, why else would a parent take a free parenting class if they themselves have admitted to having poor parenting skills. Voluntarily entering into these programs is an actual admission to poor parenting-, nutrition-, homemaker-, budgeting- or employment-seeking skills that put the child at risk for neglect and abuse that thereby lays the foundation for child protective proceedings in the Probate/Family Court.
The Courts believe that the FIA workers are the professionals and take their word as gold. The parents cannot defend against FIA. The testimony and statements given by the parents mean nothing in the Probate/Family Court. In fact the Court can issue an emergency pick-up order for the children based on only FIA's statements in an ex-parte hearing conducted by the judge and the FIA worker.
The parents are not present during these hearings. The Court will issue an ex-parte emergency order allowing the FIA workers to enter the home or child's school to remove the child from the parents' custody. The parents do get a hearing approximately two weeks after the removal of the child, but FIA is only required to prove that probable cause exists that the children are at risk of neglect and abuse if they remain in the home.
Approximately 90 days later the parents may have a trial to determine whether by a preponderance of the evidence the children are at risk of abuse or neglect if they are returned to the home. Most parents plead to abuse or neglect upon FIA's promise that if the parents plead and engage in services, they will get their children back sooner. Most parents plead to charges that they have a temper, that they have beaten their children by merely spanking them, that they have failed to provide the child with medical attention when they had cold symptoms, or that they are unable to provide for the basic needs of the child because they are temporarily unemployed. The Court then takes jurisdiction over the children, places them in foster care and orders the parents to follow the Parent/Agency Agreement to be drafted by FIA. FIA then engages in a lengthy and vague process of ordering the parents to engage in specific services, such as individual counseling, parenting classes again, anger management classes and counseling, psychological evaluations, drug and alcohol testing, -classes and -counseling, etc..
Once parents complete these services, FIA informs the parents, usually during a court proceeding, that they have not dealt with the proper issues in these programs that initially led to the removal of the children, or that the parents have not satisfactorily completed the programs because they will not or are not mentally able to comprehend their actions and the effect of their actions that have harmed their children. It is a no-win situation. FIA is in complete control of the interpretation of whether the parents have successfully completed the Parent/Agency Agreement.
Furthermore, if the parents elect to participate in FIA's services with their hired agencies, then the parents never successfully complete the Parent/Agency Agreement. These agencies are FIA's hired hands that build a case against the parents. If the parents elect to engage in services provided by professionals of their choice or referred by their HMO or other health care providers, then the parents must pay enormous amount of money for these services and for these professionals to come to court on their behalf to testify. More importantly, the Court views expert witnesses hired by the parents as hired hands and discounts any testimony given by these professionals as being adversarial and unbelievable. FIA and some of the Courts have gone as far as accusing the parents of failing to comply with the Parent/Agency Agreement by engaging their own professionals for service which has been deemed grounds for termination of parental rights. It is a no-win situation that fails to focus on the best interest of the child.
Also, most children are placed with foster parents who intend to adopt the children. The purpose of placement is to find the children a permanent, stable and safe environment which they can live with dignity and respect. The focus in Michigan is no longer keeping families together by repair or rehabilitating parents to properly care for their children. The focus in Michigan and across the country now is to quickly place children into permanent homes. This means the pool of foster parents are usually upper middle class with financial security. The children are then introduced to the finer things in life like Reeboks, Nikes, Starter Jackets, designer clothes, and other luxuries that the average working class or middle class family cannot afford to provide for their children. The children readily associate with their new parents as being the good parents that can provide for their needs and the biological parents as being abnormal, dysfunctional, poor, and unable to meet their new basic needs. Some children do not want to come home because they cannot live the new life provided by their foster parents to which they have become accustomed to during foster care.
This system of protective services and foster care is very disturbing. During this whole process, the Department of FIA is raking in the Federal and State grants to support its preventive, protective, and foster care programs. These are our tax dollars at work and are being misappropriated and wasted to create a foster care and adoption industry in our state. I am not arguing that there are never cases of child abuse or neglect in this state. There are real cases of that sort for which proper social nets are needed. However, our current system is froth with abuse of power and waste of precious tax dollars that created false allegations of child abuse and neglect for the purpose of creating employment for social workers and private industries providing foster care services, counseling agencies that provide individual therapy and psychological evaluations, and community education programs that provide anger management and parenting classes. All of these agencies are funded by our tax dollars which are being wasted on parents who are only less than perfect and on children who are not abused or neglected in the legal sense.
Furthermore, all parents are court ordered to pay child support to the foster parents through the Friend of Court for the care of their children while in foster care. Parents pay an average of $25.00 to $30.00 per week per child if FIA is providing the foster care family through its county agency. Parents pay approximately $150 to $2,000 per month if a private agency is hired by FIA to provide foster care services. Nobody is sure where that money goes once it is paid to the Friend of the Court.
The system of FIA needs to be restructured to make its workers accountable for their actions. Presently, FIA workers have complete immunity from civil actions in the State of Michigan, unless a parent can prove that a worker was grossly negligent in the performance of his or her duties. Unfortunately that is impossible to prove. If a parent pleads or the Probate Court finds that it has jurisdiction over the child for neglect and abuse, FIA continues to have jurisdiction over the child and ultimately terminates the parents rights. That will bar any suit against the FIA worker under the immunity doctrine.
Once your child is in the system, FIA and its social workers are not accountable for the workers' actions. The courts accept the workers' word as gold. The only recourse a parent has is to appeal the Probate/Family Court's decision, which is very expensive. Most of the parents who are my clients spent approximately $10,000 to $20,000 in defending against FIA in child protection cases, even when they pleaded guilty. Most of my parents end up losing their homes, vehicles, jobs because of court appearances and engagement of professional services, and savings. Most of my parents are forced into bankruptcy.
http://fathersforlife.org/cps/child_apprehension_main_page.h tm - link to reported cases around the world.
http://kidjacked.com/states.asp?st=Michigan - cps reform
http://www.ripoffreport.com/default.asp - rip off report. don't let them get away with it.... let the truth be known!
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Posted by misslissa on 2008-08-26 12:27:58 | Rating: | Views: 43
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Wow that's some reasearch! Also sad but I'm afraid true. I've known of some of the same things to happen here in Ohio!
I'm sure your aware of the little Marcus Fiesel. A little special needs boy that was taped and put in a closet while the "foster parents" went on a vacation or away for the weekend.
I know a person that knew this boys mother. They told me of how they took him from her and claimed she had told them to take him because she couldn't handle him. From what I was told this was so not how that all happened. Also I knew another girl that had her two children taken from her for no good reason and parental rights were taken from her much of how you told about above. The two children were adopted by another person in the area. It's sad but true. People will not wake up to this until it is them that are being ran over by these people!
With the Marcus Fiesel case "heavy" investigations have "reformed" the system. Yeah I bet!
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Posted by anotherdaze
on 2008-08-26 13:21:40
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yea it probably didn't reform the system. one case isn't going to be enough to change all that. it has to be many cases. we as parents need to know our rights and fight when we know they are being stepped on.
this is pretty much how it happened to me. but i investigated. i thought something wasn't right when the police officer who was booking me said "you should have just spanked her on the bottom." my rely was "that's all i did!!!" i was furious. i fought back after they made my kids wards of the court. i fought for a year!! finally, they realized that i wasn't gonna give up my kids sooo easily and made it look like they were doing the right thing in giving them back. only cuz they did and said sooo many lies that i proved all wrong. i question my lawyer sooo much that he must have been so sick of me lol. but later i had it almost happen again. i didn't have the money for a lawyer so they called in a court-appointed one. turns out i ended up with the same lawyer. he went in there like a bat outa hell and accused the whole cps system of harrassing me. cps was told to return my kids right away. the cps worker kidnapped my kids for a whole week after that until the judge to her she was going to jail for felony kidnapping.
now that i know my rights as a mother, they leave me alone. now that it's the other way around, my son being abusive, they won't do a thing for me.
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Posted by misslissa
on 2008-08-26 16:18:28
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