Not that anyone’s paying attention, but . . . today, Texas CPS “non-suited” three more of the FLDS kids that it illegally confiscated back in April. It’s become almost a daily ritual, tallying up the latest non-suits. At this rate, with roughly 200 kids to go, nearly all of those remaining could be free by Christmas. Wouldn’t that be nice, nine months after Texas official terrorist organization first broke into the YFZ Ranch on the strength of a fraudulent search warrant.
{ 284 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m waiting for the count of the non-suits and continuing suits to not total up the same as the head count of the children taken.
I wonder what their allowance is for margin of error in the counts?
I’m wondering when someone in Texass is gonna start doing some apologizing?
Probably shouldn’t hold my breath, huh?
Jeny
Gotta love the way CPS works. Parents accidentally kill child in hot car while taking a nap–they’re prosecuted for murder. Foster Mother does the same–prosecutor says “there but for the Grace of God, go I”
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/09/03/baby_death_heat.html
9-month old dies in hot minivan
Foster mother said she had taken prescription medication, forgot baby was in vehicle
By CHRISTIAN BOONE, CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
A 9-month-old girl died Tuesday after her foster mother said she forgot the infant inside a hot minivan for more than two hours, officials said.
Jackson County sheriff’s deputies are still investigating Wendy Osborne’s account. The 29-year-old Nicholson woman told Jackson County Sheriff deputies that she came home from a doctor’s appointment about 2:30 p.m., unloaded her two adopted girls but forgot about the baby in the car seat.
Osborne, a foster parent for five years, said she took a nap, waking around 5 p.m. Maj. David Cochran of the sheriff’s department said at that point she remembered the baby in the minivan.
State Child Advocate Tom Rawlings identified the girl as Jessica Marie Scovil. The infant, who had lived with Osborne for five months, was pronounced dead by emergency personnel called to the scene, Cochran said.
Osborne told deputies she had been sick for several days and was prescribed medication for strep throat, which may have contributed to her drowsiness. A toxicology report has been ordered, and charges could be filed.
Two other foster children who had been living with Osborne were removed from the home, Cochran said.
The state Division of Family and Children Services, which oversees the foster care system, is also investigating the death, said spokeswoman Dena Smith. She said there had been no indications of problems with Osborne as foster mother.
Rawlings said if Osborne’s version is correct, he would tend to oppose criminal charges.
“I usually look at these kinds of situations as there but for the grace of God go I,” he said.
=======================
Geez. Guess this woman is lucky she isn’t the child’s natural mother, or she’d be locked up in jail facing murder charges, instead of recovering from strep throat at home on her couch.
Meanwhile, this baby is still dead.
Jeny, that’s awful about the baby but even more so about the double standard used by the legal authorities when anyone who’s a foster parent/CPS person commits a crime.
You’re absolutely right - if it had been the natural mother CPS, lawyers, judges, and the community would have been down her throat.
I noted that her mothering instince kicked in so that she didn’t leave her OWN (Adopted) children in the car - just forgot the most vulnerable (and incidently not HER child) in a car to cook to death.
Awful. Just awful.
jessica the 9 mo old who died was my best friends baby these parents were good parents they had done everything to get jessica back . we now find that she should have been returned 2 weeks ago. these parents were not told anything till wenesday am and then not what happened .the parents need to tell their story . this baby should have been home with the family who has fought to get her back . please help us dont let this happen to another child .
Amanda–why was the baby taken away? Can you tell us more about her story?
Beyond that–I want the foster mother to face charges–just exactly like a natual parent would.
This happened in Jackson County, GA. I will see if I can find the details for the Jackson County Prosecutor and post them here so that the group of people posting here who are pro CPS reform can be heard.
If the Prosecutor hears from enough outraged Georgians (and others from all across the country), perhaps he will be MUCH more inclined to do more than say “there but for the Grace of God go I” and charge this irresponsible woman.
He darned well would have had she been the baby’s natural mother.
This gross injustice *should not* stand.
There’s no listing for district attorney in Jackson County:
http://www.jacksoncountygov.com/Index.aspx?page=89
(it says District Attorney - coming soon, Last updated: 6/6/2007 11:01:51 AM)
Here is the listing for the Magistrate’s Court:
Chandler, Billy Chief Magistrate Judge Magistrate Court (706)387-6356
RAWLS, WANDA CLERK OF COURT. Magistrate Court (706)387-6356
Thurmond, Sherri Magistrate Judge Magistrate Court (706)387-6356
Anyone who wants to give the Jackson County Courthouse and protest the baby’s death in Foster Care and the smack on the hand the Foster Mother has gotten for killing this infant, feel free to flood the courthouse with calls.
Baby Jessica’s death is *UNACCEPTABLE”, and the double-standard treatment of the Foster Mother cannot be tolerted in this society.
CPS can’t give Foster Parents special privileges to kill children without consequence, while taking children away from their natural parents to “protect them”—and given those children to those who would rape, molest, neglect and kill them.
I’ve had ENOUGH of seeing these kinds of stories. CPS and the Foster Care system needs to be dismantled.
Children are in far more danger being cared for by money motivated Foster Parents who don’t love nor care about these foster children like they do their own, than if the children would just be left with their natural parents.
Prosecute Ms. Wendy Osborne, age 29, for the murder of 9 month old Jessica Scovil.
NOW
Kurt—can we focus on the Jessica Scovil case? Can we give her story its own thread? Especially since this happened in our own backyard.
Please….let’s give this innocent 9 month old the attention she deserves.
We couldn’t help her in life, let’s see to it that her killer doesn’t get away with killing her now that she is dead.
Magistrate court in Jackson County, GA:
Chandler, Billy Chief Magistrate Judge Magistrate Court
(706)387-6356
RAWLS, WANDA CLERK OF COURT. Magistrate Court
(706)387-6356
Thurmond, Sherri Magistrate Judge Magistrate Court
(706)387-6356
To the above listed person above named Jeny:
You are out of line to assume ALL foster parents are bad!
The statement you made “CPS can’t give Foster Parents special privileges to kill children without consequence, while taking children away from their natural parents to “protect them”—and given those children to those who would rape, molest, neglect and kill them.” Do you have any idea what CPS has to prove to have a child taken away? I guess not! There had to be some pretty HEAVY causes to have that child taken away and been away for SEVERAL MONTHS!”
And to your statement: “CPS and the Foster Care system needs to be dismantled” You have NO IDEA what some children go thru being raped and molested and beaten but some of their “bio parents” do you feel those children need NOT be protected”
And lastly, with your statement: “Children are in far more danger being cared for by money motivated Foster Parents who don’t love nor care about these foster children like they do their own, than if the children would just be left with their natural parents”
I was a foster parent and I was a damn good one. I left the Foster Parent association because I seen too many cases where the children were returned too fast to the bio parents! The system has its faults but unless you know the ENTIRE story and how CPS works then you have no room to say anything!
Just because they share blood does NOT make them the best for the child, as my 2 year old I adopted as a foster child! hE IS very HAPPY AND HAS A MUCH BETTER CHANCE AT LIFE WITH ME THAN FROM HIS BIO PARENTS!!!!!!
I think there’s a real danger here of doing to this particular foster parent exactly what we’ve condemned Texas CPS for doing the FLDS. I don’t know enough about the circumstances to say whether she should be prosecuted. It’s a tragic case. Certainly it is working looking at more closely. But I’m not ready to start a crusade just yet.
Amanda E.
1. I never said ALL foster parents are bad. Please point out exactly where I said that. Oh right, you can’t, because I didn’t.
2. On the otherhand, my dear, you seem to assume that all “bio parents” are bad.
CLUE: Not ALL NATURAL PARENTS are bad.
You might check your nasty attitude towards “bio parents”.
I suspect you can’t have children of your own and have a rather large chip on your shoulder against those of us who can.
Have you ever had a child of your own?
If you haven’t, then you have absolutely NO idea how it feels to be threatened with having that child you carried under your heart for 9 months and labored and delivered, ripped from you by an out of control “CPS” agent–or to actually have that happen.
As you well know, CPS must follow up on ALL claims of abuse or neglect. Including anonymous claims.
CPS has a tendency to take children away first and then sort it all out in court later.
Just like what they did in the FLDS case. Over 400 children taken from their parents on an a FALSE anonymous call to a hotline.
They were gone from their parents for over 2 months–and are only now (very slowly) being released from CPS supervision, even though NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE OF ABUSE was ever produced for these children.
So, don’t come in here being all high, mighty and sanctimonious with me.
As a NATURAL PARENT, if I were to leave my infant trapped in their car seat in my van, where they died of heat stroke or exhaustion while I took a nap in my air conditioned house–I can GUARANTEE criminal charges would be filed against me.
However, if you as a “Foster parent” did exactly the same thing with a foster child that wasn’t even yours, you would be let off with a slap on the hand. No criminal charges.
That’s a double standard. And it’s NOT going to fly.
Studies have actually been done that show the harm that comes to children in foster care (in many cases) being a worse risk than leaving children in thier homes with their NATURAL PARENTS (not “bio parents” as you call them), while supervised by CPS.
Get a grip on your anger, we’ll have a conversation. Keep yelling at me over what you “think” I’m saying, and well, I’ll view you as nothing more than a CPS troll.
By the way, I am a “bio parent” and a DAMN GOOD ONE.
I am a single parent, at that. I have twins I have raised since infancy without help after their father left us.
The sleep deprivation and exhaustion with twins the first year is absolutely indescribable. However, I was never so tired that I left them trapped in their car seats to die of heat stroke all by themselves. In fact, I’ve never been so busy or tired that I’ve *ever* forgotten them anywhere, anytime, any place.
Why? They are important to me. They are my life—and I could *never* just “forget” them.
I notice the so-called mother in the case I posted remembered to bring in her two adopted children. She “just forgot” the defenseless 9 month old foster baby.
And YOU defend that??? Get a grip, lady.
Best,
Jeny
Again with the stero type. I CHOSE not to place another biological into this world because their are so many in the system now with out families.
I opened my heart and my home and my finances, yes I spent WAY more on my foster child than I ever recieved!
Do you even have a clue what some foster parents go thru or what CPS does on a daily basis - I am guessing NOT.
And in regards to me being a CPS troll - lol that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard - but any way, if you ready above I have many issues with CPS but my issues are with CPS returning the child TOO SOON.
Not all bio parents are bad just like not all Foster parents are all bad, but this particular case needs further investigation and that is on the way. To to say fry her and she is getting a double standard you need to learn the law and know an investigation is underway. Don’t jump the gun too soon. Remember innocent until proven guilty.
I would expect that to a foster mother as well as a bio mother.
That’s fine if you don’t want to “start a crusade”, Kurt.
But….an innocent 9 month old foster baby is dead.
She was left trapped in her car seat by a careless (clueless) foster “mother” who managed to take her own two adopted children into her air conditioned house for a nap. And NO charges are going to be filed against her.
I understand she was sick–I had measles and pneumonia when my twins were 18 months old. I still had to be “Mom” and function–safely. I caught the measles from their live virus MMR innoculation, and came down with pneumonia as a secondary bacterial infection….I was one sick pup.
Yet, I managed to drive to the dotor, the pharmacy, cook, feed, bathe, and care for my children without killing them.
I was beyond “exhausted” from medication—but my kids were so important that I waited to take “sleepy” medicine until they were safely asleep at night. Why? Because I needed to be as clear headed as possible to take good care of them.
As a single parent, I am keenly aware that I am under threat of CPS intervention 24/7/365. Somehow they see 1 good single parents as less capable than 2 bad parents. We single parents are to blame for all the ills in the world–so we’re often singled out for special attention by CPS
But I digress–once this baby was taken from her mother, she never saw her again.
This innocent baby died all by herself in a stranger’s van–unloved or cared for by anyone, while that stranger and her children were napping in air conditioned comfort in south GA.
As a mother and NATURAL PARENT, I can’t let that just go unchallenged.
The foster parent, Wendy Osborne, age 29, *should be* charged in the murder of little 9 month old Jessica Scovil–just the same as one of those “bio parents” Amanda E. hates so badly. I’m sure Amanda E. would insist that the “bio parents” be charged criminally if they left their 9 month old in their van while they took a nap and the baby died. Right, Amanda E.???
So Jenny are you saying a person can not love another child if they did not carry them? That is what I am hearing?
Why did you not choose to give life to a child already in need vs being selfish and producing another child when there are so many hearts in need of homes and love?
Jenny once again please read if you can, I said the law states ALL are innocent until proven guilty. Foster parents AND Bio Parents.
We all have the same laws.
//That is what I am hearing?//
No, that is what you are imagining. She never said that.
Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 12:38 pm }
To to say fry her and she is getting a double standard ==================
I never said “fry her”. Stop with your hystrionics and flat-out lies.
I said PROSECUTE HER.
I said CHARGE HER CRIMINALLY.
I said treat her the same way as they would any other natural parent who left their child trapped in a hot car to die.
To wit:
Charge her criminally. Take away her children (notice they did not do that with her two adopted children, just the other foster children in her care?–but, you are biased towards foster parents and of course you didn’t notice that).
I NEVER said a thing about “frying her”. Stop putting words in my mouth. Stop exaggerating and assuming things I never said
The ONLY thing I’m saying is:
Put her in jail, remove the children in her care and sort it all out in court. Just like they do us “bio parents”.
Why do you have a problem with this foster parent being treated the same as a “bio parent”?
As far as being a foster parent, I was a bio parent. My children are grown and on their own. We have so much love and understanding for other misfortuned children that we opened up our home to them. As far as doing it for the money well, let’s just suffice to say that if I wanted more money I would have gotten a second job for 8 hours. Not a 24 hour (job). This is a lobor of love to most foster parents and their extended families. Granted not all foster families are good just like not all bio families are good. Those we just have to weed out. You really have to go through alot to even become a foster parent. We were finger printed and drug screened and treated just like the common criminal. I was once told that foster parents live in glass houses.
Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 12:41 pm } So Jenny are you saying a person can not love another child if they did not carry them? That is what I am hearing?
Why did you not choose to give life to a child already in need vs being selfish and producing another child when there are so many hearts in need of homes and love?
============
Why do you assume “bio parents” are “selfish”.
What a crock. Your post does not deserve the dignity of further response.
We get that you hate us “selfish bio parents”.
Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 12:45 pm } Jenny once again please read if you can, I said the law states ALL are innocent until proven guilty. Foster parents AND Bio Parents.
We all have the same laws.
=====================
Laws are only good if they are followed.
The law says the foster mother ought to be charged with a crime–but someone has the discretion to say “no charges”. Whatchya wanna bet that discretion will be exercised? Whatchya wanna bet Wendy Osborne will go on with her life as if nothing happened–her adopted children still at home and life as usual? I’m saying odds are pretty good.
And then there are the FLDS in Eldrado Texas. Excellent parents by all accounts–whose 465 children were taken in an overnight raid and held unlawfully by CPS for over two months. They were *only* returned when the Appeals Court and the Texas Supreme court forced the judge that OK’d their removal to return then to their parents.
Those laws you cite *werent’* followed in the FLDS case (which is a huge focus of this blog, just FYI).
In fact, CPS has been shown time and time again to cut corners and forego following “the laws” you cite when the laws are too inconvenient or get in the way of a good false abuse case.
Forgive me if I don’t look at our legal system as any measure of protection from the CPS vultures and false claims of abuse or neglect being laid against me.
I don’t.
Amanda, you have no sympathy from me. Foster parents are part of the problem. If there were no foster parents bugging CPS for kids, CPS would have to make more effort to keep kids with their biological parents where they should be.
I’ve rarely seen a good case of foster kids growing up all that attached to their foster parents. The biological/genetic connection simply isn’t there. Better a kid were raised in an orphanage, if their natural parents died or whatever. At least in the orphanage, the kid has common ground with other orphans.
To Joey,
So wrong and ignorant not even woth responding other than :
ARE YOU SERIOUS!
To Joey,
That is the most insensative post ever. That is not even worth responding other that, ARE YOU SERIOUS.
Thank you so much for feeling so down on foster parents. I feel that the child that I have had since 5 months old is very happy. His parents abandoned him and we are the only parents he has ever known. the attachment is very real. I feel as though I had given birth to him. I love him that much. We didn”t bug dfacs for him. They called me at work. The people that had him came to my work. Have you ever been in a group home? I have. Not a nice place.
Yeah, I think Joey’s go off the deep end on this one. I know some fantastic foster parents who provide an enormous amount of value to their foster kids. This kind of extreme remark is just not credible.
I was always taught to never judge a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. In every aspect of life you have some apples that try to spoil the whole thing. Please don’t let a few bad apples spoil your thoughts on a good thing.
Don’t get me wrong, Joey. I agree that in almost all cases, where the blood parents are living and breathing, the kids are better off with “bad” parents than “good” foster parents. But there are lots of exceptions.
As opposed to your posts where you insist that giving birth to children is inherently selfish? Come on.
Kurt can you really say and believe in your heart that a child is better off “in almost all cases, where the blood parents are living and breathing, the kids are better off with “bad” parents than “good” foster parents”
Put poor innocent kids with “bad” parents vs “good foster parents”. Why make a child suffer?
Selfish? Depends on your circumstand. But think about all the children abandonded and in need of a loving family, why not give them a chance? Look at your local CPS web sites, I know GA has PAGES of children in need of love!
Selfish to birth vs adopt, depends on the situation. But there are MANY of chiildren in each state that has hundreds of children wanting to be adopted why not give them a chance? Why not open your heart to them?
It depends on the family, it depends on the child. For example, they may not be willing to deal with the process of adopting. They may not feel they have adequate resources for special needs children, and so on.
//Put poor innocent kids with “bad” parents vs “good foster parents”.//
Yes, that’s the best choice in a lot of situations, like that of the baby girl discussed above.
Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 2:15 pm } Selfish to birth vs adopt, depends on the situation. But there are MANY of chiildren in each state that has hundreds of children wanting to be adopted why not give them a chance? Why not open your heart to them?
================
Why insult and denigrate as being “selfish” those of us who have welcomed God’s greatest gifts into our lives and families with open arms?
I suppose we could have always aborted them, eh? Now THAT I would agree is selfish.
Having ones own child(ren) and lovingly raising them isn’t selfish. If you truly believe that, you have deep issues we can’t help you with here.
Best,
Jeny
Kurt Schulzke { 09.04.08 at 1:49 pm } Yeah, I think Joey’s go off the deep end on this one. I know some fantastic foster parents who provide an enormous amount of value to their foster kids. This kind of extreme remark is just not credible.
=================
And I know *multitudes* more “bio parents” (as the fosters like to call us) who do an enormous job with their children every single day.
They don’t get a dime from the State in TANF to raise these children. They don’t get Food Stamps, PeachCare or other state funded health care coverage from the State to raise these children. They don’t get any assistance whatsoever to raise these children.
In fact, they PAY enormous sums for the privilege of only being “bio parents”. Hundreds of thousands of dollars before one of their “bio children” is raised and off to college.
And yet they do it with grace and aplomb, with the presumption they are guilty until proven innocent should they encounter CPS–even on a demonstrably fake, anonymous call to a hotline claiming abuse or neglect.
They do this out of love—for their children. They expect nothing out of it, except to be left alone by the government to teach and raise their “bio children” as they see fit, in their religious customs and in their culture and heritage.
Just like the FLDS. Just like me. Just like Joey. And all of the other “selfish” “bio parents” here on this site standing up for the FLDS in their time of need.
I don’t think the fosters here “get” our outrage….probably because this is the *only* thread the fosters have read on your blog.
When the fosters “get it”, maybe we can have a better dialogue.
Meantime, the “bios” trying to talk to the “fosters”, is kind of like trying to get through to Judge Barbara Walther or Natalie Malonis. Not gonna happen.
My opinion purely.
Jeny
28 Amanda E { 09.04.08 at 2:15 pm } Selfish to birth vs adopt, depends on the situation.
====================
Just WHO are you to judge “the situation” and decide which of us is being selfish having a natrual child, which is not, and which of us should adopt vs. having natural children?
Please explain–why do YOU get to make that call? Hmmm.
See, I don’t think it’s up to you. Or CPS. Or a Judge.
I think it is between me and God whether or not I should have natural children, or whether I adopt.
I bet there are many here who would agree with me.
Amanda, you do you deny genetics? Do you understand how evolutionary biology works? How species, and individuals within species, will kill to preserve their own offspring with few exceptions? Maybe you need to go back to school.
Joey - Killing to preserve one’s offspring has nothing to do with evoluntionary biology.
Just had to respond on this one: Yes, Kurt I believe that most children are better off with 2 “bad” parents than 2 “good” foster parents. Please read my post I said MOST, Most children are removed from their parents due to lack of money and resources, not because they are beaten, sexually abused or emotionally battered. Of course a child who HAS been beaten, sexually abused or is emotionally battered needs to be placed in a safer place, that place being another family members home ( 1st) if possible and second ( a foster home). But most children are removed from their parents, or parent which is often the case because they are poor and lack the resources, that foster parents are given for each child from day one. I know this from experience: I know single parents who lost their children due to lack of money, and grandma got sick, or the babysitter quit without notice.
I know of a single parent who is almost lost his child, not because he hurt her in any way but because his wife passed away unexpectedly and he lacked childcare for her after school and at nights. The sad thing is the mother’s funeral was the same day as the CPS visit, right the same day. The CPS dogs were already on his case. To note when his wife was hospitalized for two weeks the child was always supervised by friends and family and they will continue to do so as long as needed. CPS told the poor father, that they were watching him and want names and number and dates and such. His head was reeling and his daughter was aware that CPS is talking about HER, which is what happens when they show up at the home right after the funeral asking her questions about where she has been staying. I cannot tell you of the poor child’s emotional state for days she refused to leave her father’s side. She didn’t want to attend school. CPS traumatized her more than she already was by the mere suggestion that she might lose another parent. CPS cares nothing of that, their concern is who takes care of the child after school, and nights when the father works. A child who is removed from a parent suffers severe emotional trauma, which is never addressed by CPS. Most often the emotional trauma of being separated from the parent or parents is so much worse than the abuse or neglect “perceived” by CPS.
Statham, maybe you don’t think so, but it’s the reason women are so selective in mating. They know they will have to carry a baby to term and nurture that child for years at great cost. It has a great deal to do with evolutionary biology. Mate selection has to do with genes, passing on and improving your own genes in your offspring. Adoption occurs but is often considered a freak of nature.
Studies support keeping kids with families: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118740260/abstract?
Kurt cited studies previously that show that children are 50 times more likely to die of abuse at the hands of unrelated people living with them than with biological parents. http://iperceive.net/california-proposition-8-opponents-the-children-can-go-hang/ which certainly jives with the Strayhorn report on Texas CPS, where kids are 4 times more likely to die of abuse in CPS foster care than at home.
Also the NYTimes (http://tinyurl.com/63mb22) cites studies showing the latent and long lasting affects of child removals.
All these studies, to me at least, scream out the fact that **newsflash** children are better off with the parents they were born to. If a gorilla knows this, why don’t Texans?
Txmomof2: CPS cared nothing for the emotional trauma that they inflicted upon Merrianne Jessop. The CPS caseworkers could not possibly have been colder or lacking in compassion for what that poor girl was feeling. As one of the mental health workers wrote about her experience at Fort Concho, CPS cared about the sexual abuse that had been alleged, but nothing about the actual emotional abuse that they were inflicting.
Awesome post, Tx Mom of 2.
You absolutely nailed it. Dead on.
Many thanks to you
–Jeny
(the damned good single “bio parent”)
39 Thomas Forguson { 09.04.08 at 7:43 pm } Txmomof2: CPS cared nothing for the emotional trauma that they inflicted upon Merrianne Jessop. The CPS caseworkers could not possibly have been colder or lacking in compassion for what that poor girl was feeling. As one of the mental health workers wrote about her experience at Fort Concho, CPS cared about the sexual abuse that had been alleged, but nothing about the actual emotional abuse that they were inflicting.
==============
But whatever happened to all those LAWS “we all have” that Amanda E. was telling us about?
How could that happen with all those LAWS that CPS has to follow? ::::::thinking, thinking:::::::
Oh yeah—-CPS and Judge Walther said “screw the law, we’re doing this *our* way”.
i love jessicas family they were not bad parents. please help keep this awake dont let the justice system fall asleep on little jessica marie scovil again. the family were tring to bring jessica home fighting with every thing jumping through hoops to satisfy the state. jessica should have been home safe with her loving family. again PLEASE help keep this awake until there is justice for jessica PLEASE DONT FALL ASLEEP
The state should have to jump through hoops for you, not the reverse.
“When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny.”- Thomas Jefferson
And you can replace ‘fear’ with ’serve’ as well.
You all need a much needed lesson on love. Maybe even volunteer at a childrens home or foster a day in your life and see all sides! Maybe your views and hearts will change just a little bit! Or maybe not. I just know there are two sides to ALL stories and to just defend one side I felt the need to ALSO defend the other side!
43 amanda { 09.05.08 at 9:45 am } i love jessicas family they were not bad parents. please help keep this awake dont let the justice system fall asleep on little jessica marie scovil again. the family were tring to bring jessica home fighting with every thing jumping through hoops to satisfy the state. jessica should have been home safe with her loving family. again PLEASE help keep this awake until there is justice for jessica PLEASE DONT FALL ASLEEP
===============
Please tell us what you know about why Jessica was taken from her parents and what was happening in court, etc when her foster mother left her trapped in the hot car to die.
A little more background on baby Jessica, her parents, and her family situation would be very helpful to us who would like to see her foster “mother” held accountable for her criminally culpable/liable behavior.
Thanks,
Jeny
You all need a lesson on love.
Go volunteer in a childrens home and see if those children would rater stay there or be adopted. Look into their eyes past their tears and ask them what they want!
Every story has two sides and both sides may even have equal rights and wrongs but until you have walked in their shoes don’t be so quickly to judge.
try being a foster parent, it is a lot harder than you think. To have a neglected, abused, raped, drug induced child come into your home, see their parents not care to even work to get their child back.
In the meantime you develope a relationship with that child along with trust from the child and a bond of love. Not as easy as you think.
There are some good bio parents and bad as well as good foster parents as well as bad.
The point trying to be made was you don’t know all the facts and until the investigation is done, which it is not, we can’t judge.
Love is unconditional you can love an adopted child as much if not more than a biological child, depends on your heart and your values. I feel my adopted son is more precious than a God given birthed child because I CHOSE him. I will also love my biological child but that child will have been chosen for me. I CHOOSE my child. God guided me to him and allowed me to chose him for me and my family.
And since we want to quote God in this site remember the best revenge is forgiveness and that forgiveness is taught in the Bible, so take a lesson and forgive before assuming or convicing.
I would expect that with a bio or foster situation. There is NO double standard. We are told as foster parents thru all of our training and classes and in the begining of all cases that REUNIFICATION is the goal. And CPS goes above and beyond to help the parents thru that including paying for housing, clothing, after school care, medical care, transportation expenses, parenting classes, drug rehab, etc!
Foster parents do not get that!
That will do it for me, no more discussion on this thread because I feel this blog is one sided and not equally fair to BOTH sides.
Good luck to your children!
Baby Jessica’s obituary:
http://www.accessnorthga.com/access/obituaries.php?m=detail&id=32478
Jessica Marie Scovil, InfPassed Away: 09/04/2008
Evans Funeral Home announces the death of Infant Jessica Marie Scovil, age 8 months, who passed away Tuesday, September 02, 2008.
Jessica was born December 03, 2007, daughter of Robert Scovil and Evelyn Marie Carter of Jefferson. She was a happy baby, always smiling and will be greatly missed.
In addition to her parents, survivors include grandparents, Alan and Georgia Nichols; George and Tina Marie Swatowski; grandfather, Fred Collins; aunts and uncles, Pixie and Tom Campbell; Laura and John Buntyn; Teresa and Mike Buntyn; Jolene and Wayne Scovil; aunts, Tiffany, Brittany and Jessica Scovil; uncle, Steven Carter; aunt, Nikita Smith; and many cousins.
Funeral services will be held at 1:00 PM Saturday, September 06, 2008 from the Chapel of Evans Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Evans Memory Gardens.
The family will receive friends at Evans Funeral Home from 11:00 PM until the hour of the service at 1:00 PM, Saturday, September 06, 2008.
Online condolences may be expressed at http://www.evansfuneralhomeinc.com
Evans Funeral Home of Jefferson is in charge of arrangements … 706-367-5467.
lrm
========================
Anyone? Comment? Sure seems to me she came from a large family that surely loved her and would have taken her in, on the occasion her parents could not take care of her.
WHY was Jessica placed in foster care? WHY is her “foster mother” Wendy Osborne still walking around free, as well as in custody of her two very young adopted children?
WHY is she being let off the hook?
WHY were her parents given the ultimate punishment?? The death of their child.
WHAT did they do so wrong that foster mother who killed the child was “better” than they were?
Just judging from Baby Jessica’s obituary, something is fishy here.
WHY wasn’t she placed with family, rather than a stranger?
And WHY was that stranger allowed to kill her and then walk away scot-free?
WHY?
Baby Jessica’s picture:
http://evansfuneralhomeinc.com/obituaries/photos/large/scovil.JPG
WHY is this little girl dead?
WHY is her “foster mother” not criminally charged with killing this baby?
WHY haven’t her two adopted children been removed from her custody?? Her other foster children were immediately removed.
==============
The 29-year-old Nicholson woman told Jackson County Sheriff deputies that she came home from a doctor’s appointment about 2:30 p.m., *****unloaded her two adopted girls but forgot about the baby in the car seat.*****
===============
Two other foster children who had been living with Osborne were removed from the home, Cochran said
===============
WHY is Wendy Osborne being let off the hook in the killing of Jessical Marie Scovil?
WHY are there only TWO news articles on the whole internet about this little girl’s killing?
WHY doesn’t anyone seem to care–other than me and a handful of her family?
WHAT is wrong with people that killing innocent infants is OK? “There but for the Grace of God….” (the GA Child Advocate said that about Ms. Osborne)
====================
State Child Advocate Tom Rawlings identified the girl as Jessica Marie Scovil.
Rawlings said if Osborne’s version is correct, he would tend to oppose criminal charges.
“I usually look at these kinds of situations as there but for the grace of God go I,” he said.
======================
THAT is unacceptable. On any level.
OMG….this innocent little girl’s killing deserves ANSWERS and ATTENTION!!!!!
But most of all ACCOUNTABILITY!
Ok, I said I would leave, but I am back with another comment.
Some of the above questions by Jeny are correct. With such a big family way wasn’t she placed with another family member? Just because she has a big family doesn’t mean they all could pass the “test” for baby Jessica to be placed with them.
With my sons case and many others the family member don’t wnt them, can’t take them or in a lot of cases can’t pass the tests such as drug and back ground checks that CPS conduct to place the child into a family members home whic is CPS first priority!
And once again, the fother mother is not free just yet. She will live with guilt and an investigation is still pending, charges are still possiable!
The questions still remain why was she not only placed in foster care, but why not with other family member, and why for so long?
Again, all facts please, not just one side.
50 Amanda E { 09.05.08 at 1:22 pm } Ok, I said I would leave, but I am back with another comment.
Some of the above questions by Jeny are correct. With such a big family way wasn’t she placed with another family member? Just because she has a big family doesn’t mean they all could pass the “test” for baby Jessica to be placed with them.
With my sons case and many others the family member don’t wnt them, can’t take them or in a lot of cases can’t pass the tests such as drug and back ground checks that CPS conduct to place the child into a family members home whic is CPS first priority!
And once again, the fother mother is not free just yet. She will live with guilt and an investigation is still pending, charges are still possiable!
==========
I rather doubt this foster mother has a thing to worry about. The GA State ***Child’s Advocate*** is on HER side:
=====
State Child Advocate Tom Rawlings identified the girl as Jessica Marie Scovil.
“Rawlings said if Osborne’s version is correct, he would tend to oppose criminal charges.
“I usually look at these kinds of situations as there but for the grace of God go I,” he said.”
=====
This Rawlings guy is the guy who is supposed to be sticking up for the CHILD in the State of Georgia. He’s supposed to Advocate for the CHILDREN–not the foster parent(s).
Especially not foster parents who kill the foster children in their care–accidental or not.
And here he is sticking up for the woman who KILLED the little baby—saying “There but for the Grace of God, go I” about her?
I’d say the odds are pretty good she’s not going to be charged. Her only punishment will be whatever sense of remorse or guilt she has (if any at all).
I am SO angry and frustrated that this little baby never stood a chance. NEVER. Not once CPS and the foster system got their hands on her.
Jeny
Amanda E { 09.05.08 at 1:24 pm } The questions still remain why was she not only placed in foster care, but why not with other family member, and why for so long?
Again, all facts please, not just one side.
========
“So long”?
For crying out loud, she was only EIGHT MONTHS OLD. She was taken by CPS when she was 5 months old….which means she was in foster care 12 weeks. Is that a LONG time to you?
I am WAY less concerned about how long she was in foster care, than I am conerned with WHY she died in foster care.
At this point, how long she was in foster care is of little value. She is dead. It makes no difference it it was 12 weeks or 120 weeks. She is dead because her foster mother simply “forgot” her and left her trapped helplessly in a hot vehicle she could not escape on her own.
I am way less concerned that she spent 12 weeks in foster care than I am concerned about what the consequences are going to be for this person who was responsible for taking care of her, who left her to die.
That foster parent was supposed to keep her ALIVE. Not kill her. She had a duty of care to make sure the child was SAFE and came to no harm while in her care.
She did not act properly on that duty of care and the child is now dead.
This is not some trivial, silly “correctable mistake” that can all be fixed if we just sit down and sort out the facts. The baby is D-E-A-D, and we know who is responsible for her death.
Baby Jessica’s life was worth something–and it was snuffed out senselessly by someone who doesn’t appear to be held accountable for her actions.
If I am caring for someone’s infant child, and I take them anywhere in my vehicle, I have a duty of care to that helpless 8 month old baby, I have a duty to make sure she isn’t left to die of heatstroke in a hot car she cannot escape on her own.
If *I* (or any “bio parent”) allowed a child to die in their hot vehicle while I napped, I would EXPECT to be arrested for that child’s death.
That has not happened to Wendy Osborne, the foster “mother” who was responsible for caring for Jessica Marie Scovil.
I think the prudent question to ask now has nothing to do with the length of Jessica’s stay in foster care, but WHY isn’t the woman responsible for her death while in foster care IN JAIL?
Sorry you are more focused on how long the baby was in foster care. Your priorities are a little screwed up.
She is D-E-A-D. Her foster mother killed her.
It doesn’t matter how long she was in foster care now.
Jeny
Jeny
Oh Jeny, once again as you are assuming and not waiting, because time is not precious to you aparently, an investigation is still under way. God will do his part and the right thing will happen.
And yes, it is important why she was in care and 12 weeks is a LONG time to be away from your child bio or not!
But aparently 12 weeks “….which means she was in foster care 12 weeks. Is that a LONG time to you? ” is a long time to be in foster care and I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t be able to be away from my child for that long! But 12 weeks aparently is not a long time for you to be separated from your child.
In fact if you do a little research and pull files at any court house in any state you will find majority of children are returned to the biological parents with in the madatory 72 hours. So this precious little girl had an opportunity to go home with in 72 hours, which once again is still too long for me to be away from MY child, so why didn’t she?
Why months later the possiability?
It is sad this precious life was taken away by God, why?
We can never question Gods plan!
If I find out that Jessica Marie Scovil was taken from her biological parents for spurious reasons by CPS workers, I’m going to throw up.
Amanda { 09.05.08 at 3:06 pm } In fact if you do a little research and pull files at any court house in any state you will find majority of children are returned to the biological parents with in the madatory 72 hours. So this precious little girl had an opportunity to go home with in 72 hours, which once again is still too long for me to be away from MY child, so why didn’t she?
================
Have you seen these files on Jessica? Are these FACTS—or are YOU ASSUMING??
Right. The word hypocrite comes to mind. *rolling eyes*
Amanda { 09.05.08 at 3:06 pm }
It is sad this precious life was taken away by God, why?
We can never question Gods plan!
=================
You’re saying it’s “God’s Plan” that some semi-conscious foster “mother” killed a child by leaving her trapped all alone in a vehichle as hot as an oven—one she could not escape on her own?
I don’t think so.
Her death was completely, entirely preventable. Her killer should be prosecuted.
Like it or not–in Georgia it IS AGAINST THE LAW to leave children in hot cars unattended. Ms. Wendy Osborne broke the law–and no matter what her excuse is for her illegal behavior, she should be punished to the maximum extent the law allows.
She took an innocent child’s life through her callous, selfish carelessness.
I have *never* been so sick or so tired that I forgot either of my children in the car. Never. Not once. Ever.
A truly loving caring mother could never do that….no matter how tired she is. Exhaustion comes with motherhood. If she can’t handle children and exhaustion, she probably shouldn’t be adopting for fostering.
In fact….I’d be thrilled to find out she’ll never be allowed to care for another child again. She is absolutely UNQUALIFIED.
Best,
Jeny
Joey { 09.05.08 at 3:50 pm } If I find out that Jessica Marie Scovil was taken from her biological parents for spurious reasons by CPS workers, I’m going to throw up.
============
So far CPS and DHS are being VERY tight-lipped about the Scovil case.
Which would indicate to me something’s rotten in Denmark and they are scrambling to cover their @sses.
I’m not going to let off Jessica’s case until there are answers and accountability. If I have to leave this blog and start my own blog with Jessica and the wrongs of CPS and foster parents being the focus, so be it. I will.
SOMEONE MUST ANSWER FOR HER DEATH.
It doesn’t matter why she was removed from her parents in the first place—how does that lessen the foster mother’s culpability in the infant’s death?
It doesn’t matter how long she was in foster care, rather than being returned home in 72 hours. How does that lessen the responsibility of the foster mother who killed her?
Nothing having to do with this child’s removal from her Mom and Dad has ANYTHING TO DO with the foster mother leaving Jessica strapped into a car seat in a baking hot vehicle she couldn’t escape on her own–so she could die of heat stroke alone. Her death had to have been horrific. I can’t even imagine.
And there are people who are only to ready to “forgive and forget” all about what happened to Baby Jessica.
I am not one of those people. I am going to become Wendy Osborne’s worst nightmare. I am not going to back off this story until she is held accountable for killing Jessica Marie Scovil.
Period.
In Memory of Jessica Marie Scovil
December 3, 2007 - September 4, 2008
http://evansfuneralhomeinc.com/obituaries/photos/large/scovil.JPG
I’m sorry but this story is so sickening. That foster “mother” needs to be thrown into a dark, damp cell in a dungeon somewhere and fed bread and water for the rest of her (hopefully shortened) life.
And every CPS worker who kidnapped that kid and placed her with strangers needs 7-10 years, just as an example.
Biological children need their biological parents. Strangers (non-bio parents) do not have the innate capacity TO CARE even when they are half conscious!
Our foster friend Amanda asked for more facts.
Here ya go. Good stuff.
/sarcasm
http://www.jacksonheraldtoday.com/archives/696-Infant-dies-after-being-left-in-car-Tues.-afternoon.html
The 9-month-old baby who died of a heat stroke after having been left in a vehicle for several hours will be buried Saturday.
Baby Jessica Scovil died of a “fatal heat stroke” according to autopsy results released Thursday. The child had been left in a car at home on Hwy. 334 in Nicholson late Tuesday afternoon. The child had reportedly been left in a closed minivan for around three hours and was unresponsive when deputies and EMTs arrived about 5 p.m.
No charges have been filed in the death, but authorities are continuing to investigate circumstances surrounding the incident.
According to Jackson County Sheriff’s Office investigator Maj. David Cochran, Wendy Osborne had returned home around 2 p.m. Tuesday from an Athens drug store and taken two 3-year-old children into the house, along with some food and other items. Osborne, who was reportedly ill and taking medication for strep throat, subsequently fell asleep, accidentally leaving the 9-month-old in the vehicle. The baby was a foster child being taken care of by the Osborne family.
Two teenage children, also under foster care in the home, later arrived at the house from school. Around 5 p.m., one of the teens asked where the baby was, according to Cochran. It was then that Osborne realized she had left the female baby in the minivan. She found the baby unresponsive and called 911, according to Cochran.
Osborne reportedly took the baby into the house. Deputies who arrived first on the scene did CPR on the infant until an ambulance arrived, according to a deputy’s report. The deputy said he noticed while doing CPR that the child’s head was hot. ***The child’s core tempreture was reportedly above 108 degrees when tested at BCJ Medical Center.***
***The two other foster children in the household were taken by DFACS to another location following the incident.***
Investigators are currently awaiting results of a toxicology test from Osborne before deciding how to proceed, officials close to the investigation said.
=================
Are these enough facts, Amanda?
Baby Jessica’s core body temperature AT THE HOSPITAL, after being brought in the *airconditioned* house, given CPR, put in the *airconditioned* ambulance and treated in the *airconditioend* hospital was ONE-HUNDRED EIGHT DEGREES FARENHEIT, which means it was 110 F and more prior to being measured.
In other words—her brain literally fried and he body shut down due to heat stroke.
Is that enough “facts” for you?
How about this:
The two 3 year olds she adopted are still living with her. But the two teenaged fosters were immediately removed.
So…..she’s safe enough to care for two toddlers, but not the teens? That’s bassackwards.
And…..she’s still not charged with anything, even though in our state (Georgia) it is CLEARLY against the law to leave a child in a car (hot or cold) unattended. Clearly, she broke that law, but that doesn’t seem to be too important.
Ms. Obsborne remains “under investigation”, but I am unconvinced anything more serious than a tongue lashing from a Judge will ever happen to her.
Especially considering she has the GA CHILD Advocate on her side—-clearly ADVOCATING for HER (instead of the CHILD).
=====
State Child Advocate Tom Rawlings identified the girl as Jessica Marie Scovil.
“Rawlings said if Osborne’s version is correct, he would tend to oppose criminal charges.
“I usually look at these kinds of situations as there but for the grace of God go I,” he said.”
=====
What actually are the chances that “investigation” will result in actual charges being filed against this foster parent?
I’d say between slim >>>>> to none.
Meanwhile, had *I* (or another “bio”) done this very same thing to an innocent 8 month old in our care, we would have been immediately arrested and taken to jail, ALL surviving children immediately removed from our custody and the book would be thrown at us.
I ask….what is so special about Wendy Osborne??? Is it because she is part of “the system” that she is getting differnent treatment?
Why would they remove two teenaged foster children—but leave two 3 year old toddlers in her custody?
Obviously if she’s not safe to foster Jessica, and she’s not safe to foster those teens, she’s not safe to care for her adopted 3 year olds–who are also young enough to meet the same fate as baby Jessica in her hands. At least the teens could escape a hot car on their own. The 3 year olds….maybe not. Depending on if her vehicle has child safety locks preventing them from opening the door on their own.
I am SO aggravated….
In Memory of Jessica Marie Scovil
December 3, 2007 - September 4, 2008
In Memory of Jessica Marie Scovil
December 3, 2007 - September 4, 2008
http://evansfuneralhomeinc.com/obituaries/photos/large/scovil.JPG
Chai Tea { 09.04.08 at 4:24 am } Jeny, that’s awful about the baby but even more so about the double standard used by the legal authorities when anyone who’s a foster parent/CPS person commits a crime.
You’re absolutely right - if it had been the natural mother CPS, lawyers, judges, and the community would have been down her throat.
I noted that her mothering instince kicked in so that she didn’t leave her OWN (Adopted) children in the car - just forgot the most vulnerable (and incidently not HER child) in a car to cook to death.
Awful. Just awful.
=============
I am truly disgusted by the double-standard that some here seem to think doesn’t exist, yet quite clearly it does.
Please pray for this little one. She is being buried today. Pray God and all the Angels take her in their arms and watch over her until her Mother and Father can one day be reunited with her in heaven.
I know her REAL Mother and Father must be devastated—along with her large extended family (see her obituary posted further above).
Please pray that Baby Jessica’s parents can find some peace and answers regarding the death of their innocent baby, who I’m sure they loved very much.
Please pray that Justice is done in Jessica’s death–her death was absolutely needless and completely preventable. The person responsible for killing Jessical must be held responsible and accountable under the laws of our Great State of Georgia and not given special treatment.
I am sorry for the foster “mother” that she finds herself in the terrible position she is in–but her carelessness caused the death of an innocent, helplesss, vulnerable baby. This was a child she was supposed to be “protecting” from her own parents. And she killed her. Accidental–or not–Wendy Osborne should be held to account for what she’s done. Just like any other who kills.
More facts:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/09/06/baby_hot_van.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
Birth parents seek charges after baby dies in hot van
Associated Press
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Nicholson — The birth parents of a 9-month-old girl who died of heat stroke want the baby’s foster mother charged for leaving the infant in a hot minivan for more than two hours.
Jackson County Chief Deputy David Cochran says authorities are waiting on the results of a toxicology test to make a decision on whether to charge 29-year-old Wendy Osborne. Cochran said Osborne was on medication that may have made her disoriented and drowsy.
Osborne’s attorney appealed for sympathy and leniency in statements released late Friday.
“No one loves children more than Wendy Osborne,” Forsyth County attorney David Olson said.
Authorities say Osborne returned home Tuesday afternoon, unloaded two adopted 3-year-old girls from the van and fell asleep inside her house.
She woke up about two hours later and realized Jessica Scovil was still in the van.
An autopsy confirmed that Jessica died of heat stroke.
***Birth parents, Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter, were hoping to regain custody of their child at a Sept. 16 hearing.***
Olson said Osborne’s family was “devastated and heartbroken over what can only be characterized as a terrible accident.”
He said Osborne was “suffering through unimaginable pain” because of Jessica’s death, and complained about reporters visiting her.
“It has not helped Mrs. Osborne in dealing with her grief that members of the press have failed to respect her privacy.”
— AJC reporter Marcus K. Garner contributed.
=============
Boo-hoo, Mrs. Osborne. I’m not at all sympathetic to you. You killed another pasent’s child. Grow up and deal. I’m absolutely unmoved by your “grief”, or your attorney’s pleas for sympathy and understanding for you. Reporters *should* hound you. Detectives *should* hound you. Baby Jessica *should* haunt you. You deserve it. You have a LOT to answer for, and so far you haven’t. I have not an ounce of sympathy for your “pain” and “grief’”.
That pain and grief belongs to Jessica’s REAL Mom and Dad, not you. My sympathy lies with the Scovil family.
I hope the Scovil’s wishes are duly considered (that charges are laid against Ms. Osborne) and that the foster mother is arrested and charged. She should be treated the same as they were—including losing custody of her adopted children.
Justice for Baby Jessica Marie Scovil
December 3, 2007 - September 4, 2008
Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter should sue the state for 100 million dollars. The state murdered their child. Un freakin believable. Just more evidence that CPS, a neo-communist institution, is a danger to society and our children.
Joey { 09.06.08 at 11:51 am } Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter should sue the state for 100 million dollars. The state murdered their child. Un freakin believable. Just more evidence that CPS, a neo-communist institution, is a danger to society and our children.
====================
I hope the sue Georgia and I hope they are awarded a significant sum in damages.
I say this as a Georgia taxpayer and citizen–our State employees killed their child and they should answer for what they’ve done. The parents should be compensated for the loss of their infant child–who was taken by the State–ostensibly to “protect” her from her own Mom and Dad.
Sure seems Baby Jessica would have been safer with them than with the stranger our State gave her to.
A semi-conscious foster “mother” whose adopted 3 year old toddlers safely made it into the house before she passed out, leaving Baby Jessica to die of heat stroke. Her core body temperature when it was measured at the hospital (after she had been removed from the car, taken into the airconditioned house, then taken to hospital in an airconditioned ambulance, and then taken to the airconditioned hospital, where I am certain they gave her cooled IV fluids to bring her temperature down (I have worked in the ER as an ER/Pharm Tech–I know this procedure) was STILL 108 F.
Which means when she was first pulled out of the car, her core body temperature was well over 110F. Her little brain fried and her her organs failed.
Even if they could have resuscitated her, she would have been left severely brain damaged for life–from the heat stroke.
Her parents deserve 1) justice for their baby—her killer charged, arrested, tried–and hopefully convicted and incarcerated in the death of Jessica Scovil and b) compensation for funeral expenses, legal expenses from their adventures with CPS, and for the loss of their 8 month old infant who never stood a chance at life once CPS removed her from her own home and parents.
My opinion.
Jeny
http://onlineathens.com/stories/090508/new_328706107.shtml
The birth parents of a 9-month-old Jackson County girl who died of heat stroke Tuesday want her foster mother prosecuted for leaving the little girl locked in a minivan for more than two hours, according to the couple’s attorney.
But friends of foster mother Wendy Osborne came out Thursday in support of the 29-year-old, pointing out that she has fostered several children over the past five years without problems and saying that what happened to the child, Jessica Scovil, was a tragic accident.
Jackson County sheriff’s detectives are waiting to decide whether to charge Osborne, who lives on Georgia Highway 334 near Nicholson, until they receive the results of toxicology tests, said Chief Deputy David Cochran.
An autopsy performed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Decatur confirmed that Jessica died from heat stroke.
“The next step, I guess, for the parents, is to talk to the district attorney and to ask him to move forward with charges on this case,” said Crandall Heard, attorney for Jessica’s birth parents, Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter. “That’s all they can do as they work to get through this.”
Deputies and emergency medical personnel were called to the Osborne home Tuesday afternoon, after Wendy Osborne found Jessica unconscious in the minivan.
Osborne told sheriff’s investigators that she came home from a doctor’s appointment shortly before 3 p.m., unloaded two adopted 3-year-old girls from the van and went inside. Once inside, Osborne lay down for a nap while the other two children played. She woke up about 5 p.m., Cochran said, and rushed outside to find Jessica unresponsive in her car seat.
Osborne’s doctor had prescribed medication that may have contributed to her disorientation and drowsiness, Cochran said. She was sick for several days before she went to the doctor, he said.
Some people who know Osborne and her husband see them as dedicated foster parents who consider it their mission to help children, said Edna Stroud, who owns Creative Kids day-care center where Jessica spent some days this summer.
“I have the utmost respect for the Osborne family,” Stroud said. “I remember thinking when I interviewed Mrs. Osborne before Jessica stayed with us that she was really choosey about who was keeping Jessica. She acted more like a parent, really, than a foster parent. She was very patient, and very loving towards the children, you could see they had a passion for what they were doing.”
Scovil and Carter lost custody of Jessica early this year, but were close to regaining guardianship, Heard said.
A custody hearing was scheduled for Sept. 16 in Jackson County Juvenile Court, and Heard expected that Jessica would have been returned to her parents at that time.
“This mom is a good lady,” Heard said. “She’s done everything I have asked her to do to get her child back, and so has the father. I could not have had two people do more to get their child back. … If there had been cooperation on both sides, we could have had this cleared up weeks ago. But we weren’t getting any cooperation, so we were having to go back to court.”
Heard, a public defense attorney serving Barrow, Jackson and Banks counties, would not say why Scovil and Carter lost custody of Jessica, but he did say that it wasn’t related to any type of criminal charges, substance abuse or physical abuse.
“(Division of Family and Children Services officials) were telling my clients that, ‘We don’t think they’re able to take care of their child right now,’ ” Heard said. “Instead of sending her home, they sent her to a home where she eventually died.”
Calls to Robert Scovil’s home were not immediately returned Thursday. Calls to Wendy Osborne’s home went unanswered.
It would appear CPS took Baby Jessica because her 19 year old mother had medical/mental health problems that they believed left her unable to care for her child. Even though with medication she was able to live an entirely normal life.
I am guessing the whole Britney Spears saga didn’t help the Scovil family, and others like them. At the time the baby was born, Brittney was in full-blown bi-polar craziness. I’m guessing CPS was very cognizant of Britney’s unstable behavior, and simply extended the assumption to any mother with bipolar/schizophrenia they were an “unfit” parent.
It would appear CPS took Jessica in a proactive step, because it doesn’t appear that any actual event of abuse or neglect or endangerment triggered Jessica’s removal in all that I have uncovered so far.
It also appears that CPS was *very* uncooperative in returning the Baby to Jessica’s parents, even though they’d jumped through every hoop presented to her.
In refusing to return the child, she was left with someone who ultimately killed her.
Heads should roll on this.
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7361165&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1
=================
JACKSON COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX Atlanta) – A Jackson County family talked Thursday about the death of their 9-month-old baby while in the custody of the child’s foster parents. Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies said the little girl was found dead Tuesday after the foster mother left the baby in her hot car.
Sheriff’s deputies said 9-month-old Jessica Scovil died when her foster mother left her in a hot minivan. The little girl’s biological parents, Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter, found out Wednesday that their daughter was gone.
The 19-year-old mother said the state took her daughter in April and placed her in foster care. Carter said she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, but that her medications allowed her to live a normal life.
Carter said she wanted to be a good mother, attended parenting classes every week during her pregnancy and then continued them even after her child was born.
Jackson County officials said the child’s foster mother, 29-year-old Wendy Osborne, returned home from a doctor’s appointment Tuesday and removed her two adopted daughters from the car. After waking from a two hour nap, Osborne remembered the baby was still in the car.
Carter and Scovil said the wanted charges filed against Osborne.
The couple said they missed their weekly visit with their baby because of the Labor Day holiday and were looking forward to seeing her this week. Now, Carter and Scovil are planning a funeral.
================
I hope Carter and Scovil are also planning a massive lawsuit for after the funeral. And I hope Mr Heard achieves some measure of justice for Jessica and her parents.
Jeny
Thanks for keeping up with this story. This poor couple needs justice. The state has proven time and again, it doesn’t know how to deal with people compassionately. It acts like a machine that processes human beings. These poor people are victims of state aggression.
Joey { 09.06.08 at 10:09 pm } Thanks for keeping up with this story. This poor couple needs justice. The state has proven time and again, it doesn’t know how to deal with people compassionately. It acts like a machine that processes human beings. These poor people are victims of state aggression.
========================
Thanks, Joey. I agree. They’ve been ovezealously prosecuted by GA CPS–on the assumption that treated, under control mental illness inherently makes a parent “unfit” to care for their child.
If that is the case–then every parent in GA on Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin, Zoloft, Celexa, yada yada ought to drive their children to CPS and turn them in to be raised by the state, since their treated mental condition makes them unfit parents.
Baby Jessica was taken in April 2008. What was going on back then, anyone remember? I do.
Britney announced she was bi-polar and being treated for it. She was put under the conservatorship of her father after acting, well, nutz.
I think (but can’t prove) CPS took baby Jessica in a move that sought to “protect” Jessica from her Mother, because CPS assumed Evelyn Carter, the mother, must be equally crazy because she was diagnosed bipolar/schizophrenic. Both conditions that are quite treatable with medication–and people with these conditions *can and do* live normal lives so long as they remain on their meds.
That CPS took Baby Jessica in April when Britney was having her problems cofirms (in my mind) that CPS abused their power. No one has cited an incident that caused the ageny to take the child from her home and her parents. I can find nothing to suggest that her parents were unfit to raise her–other than this mental health diagnosis for her mother, and that in itself does not seem to be reason alone to remove a child from her home, else–as I said, all the people on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication who have children should also turn ‘em in.
I hope the Scovils take the State to court and I hope they are awarded a MASSIVE, HIDEOUS amount of our tax dollars in damages.
They’ve been damaged in the most ultimate way–the State of Georgia stole their child, refused to give her back, placed her in the “care” of someone unfit to care for her, and ultimately killed their child.
NO ONE deserves the treatment they have received. NO ONE deserves to lose thier child like this..
Not even a mother with a treated mental illness that is not her fault and she cannot control that she has it, anymore than a black person can control that they are black.
So…..ya’ll here in GA with the Prozac and kids–round ‘em up, and turn ‘em in.
CPS says you’re unfit parents!
Jeny
Joey { 09.06.08 at 10:09 pm } Thanks for keeping up with this story. This poor couple needs justice. The state has proven time and again, it doesn’t know how to deal with people compassionately. It acts like a machine that processes human beings. These poor people are victims of state aggression.
==========================
Thanks for taking the time to care about this innocent little baby girl, Joey.
And thanks for taking time to care about her absolutely devastated God-given parents, Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter.
No one should lose their child like this. No one.
The State of Georgia will be paying them millions of MY tax dollars, and I am A-OK with that.
Our State has abused them and their daughter needlessly, and now their little girl is dead.
The State of Georgia has a lot of answers they owe the Scovils and they owe them a huge lawsuit settlement/award.
Jeny
Please let’s not forget….eight month old Jessica Marie Scovil was buried yesterday–she should be home safe and sound with her God-given Mom and Dad today. She should never have been taken from them in the first place (in my opinion).
Instead, she was re-distributed to her State of Georgia-supplied fake “Mom” and “Dad”, who ultimately killed her.
==============================
In Memory of Jessica Marie Scovil
December 3, 2007 - September 4, 2008
http://evansfuneralhomeinc.com/obituaries/photos/large/scovil.JPG
The Jackson County Georgia District Attorney’s office can be emailed at mcole@jacksoncountygov.com if you want to encourage them to pursue justice for Jessica Scovil.
Tom Rawlings (the State of Georgia Child Advocate) has a website at gachildadvocate.org. You can send your views to him through the “Contact Us” tab on the web site.
Statham { 09.08.08 at 1:28 pm } The Jackson County Georgia District Attorney’s office can be emailed at mcole@jacksoncountygov.com if you want to encourage them to pursue justice for Jessica Scovil.
Tom Rawlings (the State of Georgia Child Advocate) has a website at gachildadvocate.org. You can send your views to him through the “Contact Us” tab on the web site.
================
Thanks, Statham!! I really hope Justice for Jessica is achieved. I haven’t had a chance to dig into the news sources today for any updates—so if you know of any new news, please post away.
Today has been a doozy of a Monday for me. I’m going to head to bed soon. I’ll including Jessica in my prayers and will send off letters to the Child Advocate (Tom Rawlings) and the Jackson County DA in the morning!
God bless you for caring enough to post this info!
**hugs**
Jeny
Statement from Baby Jessica’s Maternal Grandmother:
http://www.jacksonheraldtoday.com/archives/715-Baby-Jessica-buried-Saturday;-grandmother-calls-for-system-to-be-fixed.html#extended
The maternal grandmother of the baby who died after being left in a hot van last week said the state’s foster care system “is broke and needs to be fixed.”
Baby Jessica Scovil was buried Saturday. “Today is a day of mourning, sorrow, separation and tears,” said Rev. Johnny Ray at Jessica’s service.
GRANDMOTHER SPEAKS OUT
Tina Swatkowski said in a statement Monday that the state’s foster care system failed both her daughter, ***Evelyn, who had given up the child on a temporary basis***, and Wendy Osborne, the foster mother who accidentally left the child in a van last week.
***“Evelyn needed supports put into place and not to have her daughter taken from her,” ***said Swatkowski. “The foster mother must have been overwhelmed to have left Baby Jessica in the van like she did. So I guess the system not only doesn’t support birth parents, they don’t even give foster parents the support they need.”
*********Swatkowski said Jessica had been removed from her daughter’s care after Evelyn asked for help to deal with a bipolar condition. She said there were no neglect or criminal charges involved in Jessica’s having been placed in foster care. ********
“The system is broke and needs to be fixed,” Swatkowski wrote. “Don’t let Jessica die in vain, let’s get justice for Jessica, let’s change the system.”
=====================
Grandma, my heart breaks with you, and I will do everything in my power to see to it that there is Justice for your beautiful, innocent grandaughter Jessica.
I hope that God will grant you and your heartbroken grieving family much love, healing, hope and …. some day, peace.
Please know so many of us Georgians support you and your family. CPS in Georgia is broken. Period.
We MUST change the system before there are any more Baby Jessica’s lost due to State-assigned fost “parents”, rather than God-given parents raising their children.
God Bless and hold you in His arms in this time of deepest sorrow for you and your entire family.
With much love,
Jeny
************************
OSBORNE LAWYER ASKS FOR ‘DECENCY’
Meanwhile, the attorney for Osborne defended his client as a “loving and caring provider (who) is suffering through unimaginable pain with the loss of a child that was loved as one of her own.”
Attorney Phil Pilgrim said Osborne had been a foster parent for many years and had helped teach other foster parents about “how to help these children better adapt to their new lives.”
Pilgrim also blasted the media for its coverage of Osborne, saying “the press have failed to respect her privacy to the point where she cannot even come home to her own residence.”
“We can only hope that somewhere, someone in authority with the various media agencies would find one scintilla of decency and allow our client to grieve in private.”
===================
Meanwhile, I will break out my teeny-tiny-itty-bitty-little violins for Wendy Osborne. Grieve? Grieve what?
Perhaps she’s grieving the fact that she could (but probably won’t) go to jail for killing an innocent infant she was supposed to be “parenting”?
Perhaps she’s grieving the legal expenses she’s now going to incur since she killed another Mother’s child?
Perhaps she’s grieving the fact she’ll have to leave her two adopted 3 year olds behind if she goes to jail?
I don’t know exactly what she’s grieving–but I rather doubt it is Jessica’s death she’s grieving. She caused that child’s death.
She’s not grieving—she’s scared to death she’ll go to jail.
Perhaps what she’s feeling is guilt–not grief? I suspect very much that is the case. Guilt would be an appropriate emotion for her in this case.
If Mrs. Obsborne showed just one scintilla of remorse or true sorrow for causing baby Jessica’s death, instead of acting as if *she* is the victim in this crime, them perhaps I might find her attorney’s pleas for privacy and “decency” less contrived and just plain ridiculous.
Mrs. Osborne is NOT the victim. She has no right to play “victim” and demand “decency and privacy”.
I, for one, am tired of Mrs. Osborne’s “victim” act. She is NOT a victim in any sense of the word, and to view her in that light is disingenous at best.
Jeny
76 Joey { 09.08.08 at 11:48 pm } Put —- in hot (electric) chair for a couple hours. That’ll teach her what it’s like to fry someone to death.
=====================
I’d be happy with putting her in a pair of handcuffs, hauling her off to jail in a black and white, and throwing her in a cell for a long, long time–with a couple of really grouchy cell mates–while she awaits trial for killing Jessica Scovil.
Of course, the chances of your scenario or mine actually happening are probably about the same. Slim to none.
Jeny
Really good blog on Jessica:
http://www.dualtriadian.com/?p=96
Taking Away Parenthood: Jessica Scovil and the Media’s Use of the B-Word
September 6th, 2008 | Foster Care Deaths, News Items
Bastardette recently blogged about the tragic case of Jessica Scovil, an almost 9-month old baby who died after being left in a hot car by her foster mother.
While I am inclined to believe that Jessica’s death was a tragic accident, I am disturbed by the media’s insistence on referring to Jessica’s parents, Evelyn Carver and Robert Scovil, as “birthparents“.
Jessica had not been adopted by her foster parents. So why is the media referring to Jessica’s parents (who were working to get her back) as anything other than “parents”? To call someone a “birthparent” when their parental rights are still intact is not only inappropriate, in cases like this, it is just plain cruel.
Jessica Scovil had parents. The state took her away from them because they believed it to be in her best interests to be fostered by someone else, at least temporarily. But the state’s care for Jessica went horribly wrong, and she is being returned to her parents as a corpse.
Jessica’s obituary lists her parents as her parents. Her birth certificate lists her parents as her parents.
But the media can’t seem to get it right. In fact, it looks like nobody got it right in this case:
The state took Jessica away from her parents.
Jessica’s foster mother accidentally took away her life.
And now the media has taken away her parent’s “parenthood”.
Rest in peace, Jessica.
I’m covering this horrendous story in my own blog, The Daily Bastardette. So far I’ve had three of Wendy Osborne’s friend show up and call me and my readers “idiots” –among other things. Ive now got 2 entries up if anyone is interested in reading it.
I’ve found the comments here very interesting and have linked the blog.
http://bastardette.blospot.com
Marley–read your blog last night. Thanks for linking to Kurt’s blog and Jessica’s story.
I don’t know the family, but I’m a Mom and I can’t imagine losing my child in this horrendous way. The more I dig into Jessica’s story, the more horrific it becomes.
It seems Evelyn Carter and her Robert Scovil lost custody–supposedly temporarily–because Ms. Carter sought out help from public resources for her bi-polar disease. Apparently she could not afford treatment herself, and because she sought public help, CPS was brought into the case when they learned she had a new baby.
Apparently Ms. Carter was talked into putting the child into CPS custody “temporarily” while she sought treatment–and lived to regret it–playing hell getting her child back from CPS.
Meanwhile, Wendy Osborne, Jessica’s State-selected “parent” negligently caused her death just two weeks before a hearing where it was expected Jessica would be returned to her loving parents.
Instead–she was returned as a corpse, and the State of Georgia, nor Wendy Osborne have yet to take responsibility for the death of this innocent child who should have NEVER been place in CPS’s care.
Heads need to roll and Ms. Osborne needs to do some time on this one. I won’t rest until that happens…..I hope you’ll join me in this endeavor, and anyone else who would like to help too.
And yes—I’ve read Ms. Osborne’s “preachy” friends brag about how many Bibles they Osbornes have given out to foster children over the years. Can anyone say—Separation of State? Hmmm.
I’ll post on your site tonight…it seems I need to register or something. Don’t have time right now….but will get to it later.
Best to you—I appreciate your showing this little baby the love she deserves. Even if it is post-mortem.
God bless,
Jeny
I’d like to know about this bipolar disorder. Do many parents have it? Is it always enough reason, even if untreated, to take children away? Was there any threats and coersion (lies) done by DFCS against the mother (nulling any claims of consent to search and seizure)? I think there are a host of ways to get a successful law suit going. Ultimately a grave injustice has occurred, just another manifestation of an unconstitutional system that punishes innocent people without due process of law (jury of peers, adequate representation, etc.).
Maybe CPS/DFCS/Whatever should have the parents sign a disclaimer from now on, stating that they are not responsible, in the event of the death or injury of their children, etc., and have them sign it, before voluntarily handing over their child. It would a fair thing to obtain at this point.
Joey–here’s some info on Bi-Polar (Manic Depression):
More people than you probably realize actually have this condition. Many of them parents–with custody of their children and little difficulty leading normal lives, so long as they take their medication.
http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx20.htm
Bipolar disorder (also known as “manic depression”) is often not recognized by the patient, relatives, friends, or even physicians. An early sign of manic-depressive illness may be hypomania — a state in which the person shows a high level of energy, excessive moodiness or irritability, and impulsive or reckless behavior. Hypomania may feel good to the person who experiences it. Thus, even when family and friends learn to recognize the mood swings, the individual often will deny that anything is wrong.
In its early stages, bipolar disorder may masquerade as a problem other than mental illness. For example, it may first appear as alcohol or drug abuse, or poor school or work performance.
If left untreated, bipolar disorder tends to worsen, and the person experiences episodes of full-fledged manic episodes and depressive episodes.
One of the usual differential diagnoses for bipolar disorder is that the symptoms (listed below) are not better accounted for by Schizoaffective Disorder and is not superimposed on Schizophrenia, Schizophreniform Disorder, Delusional Disorder, or Psychotic Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.
And as with nearly all mental disorder diagnoses, the symptoms of manic depression must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Symptoms also can not be the result of substance use or abuse (e.g., alcohol, drugs, medications) or caused by a general medical condition.
Specific symptoms of the various types of bipolar disorder:
Bipolar I Disorder
Bipolar I Disorder actually is a number of separate diagnoses, depending upon the type of mood most recently experienced.
Bipolar I Disorder, Single Manic Episode
Presence of only one Manic Episode and no past Major Depressive Episodes.
Note: Recurrence is defined as either a change in polarity from depression or an interval of at least 2 months without manic symptoms.
Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Hypomanic
Currently (or most recently) in a Hypomanic Episode.
There has previously been at least one Manic Episode or Mixed Episode.
Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Manic
Currently (or most recently) in a Manic Episode.
There has previously been at least one Major Depressive Episode, Manic Episode, or Mixed Episode.
Bipolar I Disorder, Most Recent Episode Mixed
Currently (or most recently) in a Mixed Episode.
There has previously been at least one Major Depressive Episode, Manic Episode, or Mixed Episode.
Bipolar II Disorder
Presence (or history) of one or more Major Depressive Episodes and at least one Hypomanic Episode. Additionally, there has never been a Manic Episode or a Mixed Episode.
From a BP message board:
“As long as your following docs orders, providing food & shelter for your children and have a relationship with them like a ‘regular’ parent, there is no reason that the courts would do that. There are MILLIONS of us bipolars, and I don’t know of one who ever lost her children. ”
http://dailystrength.org/c/Bipolar_Disorder/forum/9054-bipolar-parent-and-custody
Bipolar Disorder appears to be another one of those bogus pop psyche disorders. Any one that lives life a bit wildly, carefree, “acts like a teenager,” could be diagnosed with BP. I don’t think that makes them necessarily dangerous, perhaps slightly more than the average dull person. Britney Spears, from what I can tell, didn’t actually become dangerous to herself (allegedly banged head against wall) until they came for her kids — a terrifying event in itself, which could trigger a “mama bear” reaction in any one that’s sane. (I think passively giving your kids to a kidnapper acting under color of law is a sign of insanity)
Does the following sound like someone you know or have known? (from http://empoweringall.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/britney-spears-and-bipolar-disorder/)
“When the person is in manic state, he/she experiences elated mood, over confidence, requires less sleep than usual, is in a high energy state, may become restless, hyper active, irritable, argumentative, lose inhibitions, may indulge in drugs, smoking and alcohol, may even go overboard with sexual relationships. They may experience a sense of grandiosity, believe that they have high abilities and power, the sense of judgement lowers, may go on a spending spree, lavish reckless spending, will think the world is under their feet! They try to create situations with impulsivity, with shock value that gets the whole world’s attention.
You see many of these descriptions suiting Britney’s life happenings stated above.
This elated mood can last for a prolonged period or slowly fade giving rise to a feeling of low, a mood of depression! During this phase, they suddenly lose that confidence, start feeling inferior, lose interest in activities loved earlier, may withdraw from socializing, may experience a sense of hopelessness and worthlessness, may get suicidal ideations, may even attempt to take their life, become sad, irritable and anxious, sleep excess or very little, over eat or eat very less, low energy levels and fatigue, crying spells and may indulge in excess smoking, drinking and drugging, wrongly believing that all this would bring solace to their troubled heart and mind!
MASSIVE numbers of horror stories about CPS are here:
http://www.fightcps.com
It does appear the way the FLDS case was handled–especially the cruel and vicious way the mothers and children were treated—surely is “standard” practice on the part of CPS.
It would seem CPS treats *every* family the same way–with hostility and the presumption of guilt, until the family can hire a lawyer, fight in court and prove themselves innocent. That is, if they can *afford* legal representation. Those who can’t afford legal *good* representation (vs. public defenders/attorneys), for all intents and purposes, lose their children forever.
Something that stood out to me in reading these stories is that CPS sees a family living in poverty as “abusive” or “neglectful”. Instead of helping the family access the things they need to improve their lives–job training, transportation to jobs, food stamps, health care, etc, they simply take the children and give them to State-selected parents whom CPS deems “better” than God did.
The more I read and educate myself about the abuses and excesses of CPS the more I am convinced the system is broken well beyond repair.
The FLDS case was not a one-off. They weren’t treated much differently than any other family that encounters CPS. The FLDS case simply had MANY MORE parents and children than the normal case.
The lies CPS told, their cruel treatment of the mothers and children, the law breaking (by CPS), the anti-parent bias by the Judge–that’s all the same stuff every other parent in the same shoes would face. And it doesn’t seem to matter from State to State, they’re all pretty much run the same way.
Another thing that is standing out more and more: Children are being broked by CPS. They are being given to parents who are often WORSE, MUCH WORSE, than the God-given parents a child started out with.
CPS in this country is out of control. In every state. Not just Texas. Not just Georgia. ALL 50 states (see Obama—it’s 50 states, NOT 57).
Just a few samples that raised my hair:
========================
When I was 10 I fell out of a tree I was climbing and broke my arm. The doctor in the emergency room informed CPS and they did a full investigation. They took me into a room and kept trying to get me to say my parents hurt and abused me, which never happened. They threatened my parents telling them they would take me and my brothers away for not cooperating. They kept telling my mom that they believed my father abused us, which was a complete lie. I lost track of how many interviews we had, and the social worker walking through our house nitpicking about our trash can and toys lying about. For months my parents lived in terror that someone would show up and take their children away. Anyone who pulled up in front of the house sent all of us scrambling into the house to cling to our mom. I totally think the state should have paid all our court costs after dragging us through hell and back and forcing us to hire a lawyer. Honestly, even an apology would do. I think that would have helped a lot, but instead we got the…”We are closing your case. For now.” And so the dread fills your heart and you pray that no one else falls out gets hurt anytime soon.
=======================
I am an advocate for 10 sets of parents who’s children were apprehended by Child Protection. It is astounding and disturbing to watch how these parents are treated. Yes, I believe the Social Workers should be screened, tested and supervised more. I have seen some significant damage done over the last year.
What ever happened to Section 7 of the Charter of Rights??? That’s what we’re bringing into the Sept. trial where my “adopted” son is fighting for his 4 girls.
Yes, most certainly the workers should be accountable for their actions…I wrote a letter to the Alberta Minister of Child Protection, asking for a public inquiry into their Central Alberta Office…..met with rudeness on the phone, from her assistant and haven’t heard back for 6 weeks. Hmmmmm……why would one avoid a situation if there was nothing to hide??
God bless you all on this journey for justice!
Comment by Sunny — May 9, 2008 @ 8:41 am
============================
Well I am sorry for the reason you think that CPS did you wrong, however your attorney should be able to give you direction and fight for you, if they are supposedly doing you wrong. What I think is wrong is taking a child from the bio parent for 2-5 years then placing these children back with bio parents who should have had their rights severed LONG before. I see to many times children are given back to bio parents, then their child dies IN THERE CARE. I know the system is not perfect. But in my opinion I think the system should be harder on parents and more respectful of the children’s wants and needs rather then the parents.
Comment by Mary — May 30, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
===================================
I was wrongly accussed by my step Daughters!!! of molesting them.. The courts, my lawyer and everyone gave up on me and I was forced to plead no contest. One problem, I lost my life, my wife and my own flesh and blood daugther. I travelled around the world living dangerously, hoping to die, but somehow made it to this point. I have work, but the walls are closing in. As an offender, I am not in a good position. WOrk is almost impossible to come by. I have NOT been able to pay child support, although I desparately want to. Of course I can’t see my daugther, or wife, or contact them to try and talk it out. It has been 8 years now!!!!!!! I want to try to overturn this plead but can’t, I have NO money to do that. I want to pay my child support but don’t make enough to live on in the first place and it’s hard to get a better job because of my record. I m screwed. I really dont’ know why I m writing this, you can’t help me either. Just trying to stay above water and wish to know what is going on back home. I m abroad for the last 8 years.
My family has given up on me.
Comment by Doug — September 10, 2008 @ 3:29 am
==================================
What are we going to do people? WHEN are we going to say ENOUGH and TAKE BACK OUR CHILDREN from these vultures?
CPS is funded by YOUR tax dollars. YOU pay the salaries of these vultures. YOU pay these people to inflict these hellish nightmares on children parents and good families every single day.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
Let’s STOP CPS’ ABUSE!!!!!! Now.
Well, as the comptroller of Texas, Strayhorn, noted, in CPS’ foster care, children are four times more likely to be killed than average.
As long as these statistics(http://soretoesandableedingheart.blogspot.com/2008/09/maltreatment-statistics.html) exist, showing CPS care to be risky, I don’t see why CPS should exist. Let law enforcment deal with any verified cases of abuse in the usual (usually) thorough manner of the criminal justice system. Children who have been (not will be “maybe”) abused, can be taken care of by the courts and a special child placement agency, that has no investigatory powers whatsoever.
Thanks for providing this link, Joey.
http://soretoesandableedingheart.blogspot.com/2008/09/maltreatment-statistics.html
CPS exists solely for one purpose–the brokering of American children. It’s a money maker for a *l0t* of folks. A LOT.
Until parents and American Citizens band together and stand up agains the monster CPS has become, their abuse of children, parents and families is going to continue unabated.
There *will* be more Jessica Scovil’s. There will be more FLDS mass dragnets in the middle of the night, there will be more false accusations against parents–like the parents I quoted above, all of this will continue as long as CPS continues to exist.
If parents and other interested Americans don’t put their foot down and let our government know we won’t be abused by it anymore, then the only people we can blame when CPS comes knocking on our door–or one of our loved one’s doors–is ourself.
/end rant
Jeny
Something is going on with these FLDS cases. Apparently in some of the cases that were non-suited, it turns out there is additional evidence that is causing concern over the children’s welfare.
SKK, Too bad for them that they nonsuited then. If more than 30 days have gone by, they are SOL.
You mean additional *planted* evidence?
Jeny,
You might find this useful.
http://www.parentsinaction.net/home.htm
A very active group against CPS in NY, where foster kids were used as guinea pigs for drug research as in Tx.
Click on “Facts”. I think you’ll appreciate the Euphemisms.
Thanks, CuriousTexan! I’ll check that link out–probably later. I just woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, so popped online to get sleepy. I’m afraid if I have a look at that site, I’ll end up so angry I won’t be able to go back to sleep.
Jeny
Interesting—the US Senate is *currently* taking a up a review of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 that pays CPS to kidnap and adopt out children (within 15 months, per the law).
THIS LAW SUNSETS SEPTEMBER 30, 2008.
Let your Senator know that you DO NOT want this law extended, updated or renacted.
TELL THEM NO TO STATE SANCTIONED CHILD TRAFICKING.
======================================
Contact:
Leonard Henderson leonard@familyrights.us
or
Bill Tower wmtower@familyrights.us
916-910-9293 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2008
SENATE SET TO RENEW 1997 LAW THAT PAYS CPS TO KIDNAP CHILDREN
S. 3038 is the renewal of ASFA ‘97, the act that gives the states BILLION$ to kidnap and adopt out children on the flimsiest anonymous allegation, even known malicious false accusations.
Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (PL 105-89), also widely known as ASFA ‘97 was the program designed to promote and increase the number of adoptions from foster care by rewarding states that increased adoptions each year.
*****ASFA ‘97 sunsets on September 30, 2008.******
In the Senate RIGHT NOW is the-
“Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008 (S. 3038) - Amends part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) extend the adoption incentives program through FY2012; (2) increase the incentive payment to a state for exceeding the highest ever foster child adoption rate; (3) increase incentive payments for special needs adoptions and older child adoptions; (4) revise requirements for the adoption assistance program to promote the adoption of children with special needs; and (5) give states the option to provide for relative guardianship assistance payments for children.”
BACKGROUND
Beginning with Mondale’s “Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 (CAPTA ‘74), a war was launched upon America’s families.
Soon after came “The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980″ The Act required all states to establish an adoption subsidy program and remove the financial disincentives to states by providing federal dollars to be used as a portion of adoption subsidy payments for children previously eligible for the Social Security Title IV-E Foster Care Program.
Then came the “Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997″ (PL 105-89).
This nightmare is now bleeding the US for at the very least, $7 Billion a year. (We think it’s a LOT more than that).
CONSEQUENCES- The “Collateral Damage”
What quickly evolved was- Malfeasant “investigations” conducted under the color of law, consisting of character assassination, hiding exculpatory evidence, “evidence” fabrication from thin air and bald faced lies both in Affidavits and Sworn Testimony in court, holding the kids hostage to coerce “cooperation”, and obstructing parents until the “15 months of 22 months” clock tolls for automatic Termination of Parental Rights (TPR).
As evidenced by the Texas FLDS fiasco, where the standard method of operation of CPS was put on every television in the world, there is not even the pretense of the REQUIRED BY LAW “Reasonable Efforts” being made to prevent children being kidnapped from their homes.
We now have unconstitutional “family courts” where every actor, including the “judge” is part of the “prosecution team”. The court-appointed attorneys do not offer anything resembling a “vigorous defense”- unlike what happened on behalf of the FLDS in Texas.
If people commit a crime against a child, then it should be treated as a CRIME, not as SORT OF a civil lawsuit. The accused is prejudged “Guilty”, having no Miranda Rights, no Constitutional Rights, no due process, no fair and impartial court, no defense.
We urge you to tell your Senators to vote NO on both S. 3038 and H.R. 6307.
Contact your Senators TODAY! Tell them to END the War on Families.
LET THE PERVERSE INCENTIVES SUNSET THAT FRAUDULENTLY KIDNAP KIDS FOR MONEY.
###
http://familyrights.us/news/archive/2008/june/pr_6-28-08.html
Check it out….
SKK,
Of COURSE there’s ’something else’ going on - CPS is crying that there is abuse by 48% of the men at the ranch, so they are keeping approximately 48% of the children under guard.
I’m sorry for those families. This whole thing has been a traumatic abusive experience for the children, mothers, and fathers. MOST of it totally ungrounded or necessary.
I am still waiting for one girl, boy, or wife to come forward and ask for CPS/Walther to ’save’ them from their lifestyle, religion.
When that happens, THEN I’ll believe that there is abuse at the YFZ Ranch in THAT family. Not until then.
I think the American public needs to be warned about the dangers of CPS. At this point I think CPS is a national security risk. A public information campaign needs to be waged. I know some altnerative radio show hosts have covered the dangers of CPS (e.g. Alex Jones). But the public needs to be made aware that having children, in itself, in an environment where CPS has a right to kidnap, sell, and/or kill your children for profit, is taking a risk. Becoming a parent in America has just become all that much more risky. There have been reports that CPS is engaged in the child-sex trade, meaning they want your little blonde blue-eyed kid to sell to overseas traffickers, and there’s nothing you can do about once you’ve been TPR’d. Legally you are forbidden from even having any contact with your former child, which gives CPS operatives carte blanche to do whatever they please with your little johnny or jessica.
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=view&id=2296
There’s also the Strayhorn report in Texas, and the fact that Texas has stopped publishing the foster care abuse statistics since then should send off red alerts.
http://www.fixcas.com/parody/notes.htm
ALL OF THESE CHILDREN died while in State Custody after being removed from their parents:
This page is in memory of children who died after social service agencies removed them from the care of their parents, placing them with fosters, adopters, group homes, or psychiatric facilities.
===========================
Alberto Acevedo, Florida, thirteen years old, March 17 1993, gunshot
Chelsey Acorn, Abbotsford British Columbia, fourteen years old, June 2005, runaway/homicide
Genesis Acosta-Garcia, Las Vegas Nevada, three months old, November 19 2005, septic shock
Demetrick Dantrell Adams, Covington Georgia, four months old, May 30 1989, battered
Travis C Adams, Salem Oregon, August 8 2000 - December 16 2002, wandered into creek
Janessa Aguirre, Anchorage Alaska, two years old, December 16 1997, battered
Lydia Alday, Brazoria County Texas, two years old, June 8 2007, unknown
Gregory Aldrich, Springfield Massachusetts, seventeen years old, February 1990, stabbing
Giovanni (Joey) Aletriz SummitQuest Academy Pennsylvania, sixteen years old, February 4 2006, restraint
Danial Alexander, Portland Maine, two years old, January 20 1993
Kayla Yvonne Allen, Richlands North Carolina, November 10 1995 - August 24 2003, poison/insecticide
Kevin Alston, Lexington County South Carolina, three years old, June 16 1993, drowned in pool
Cindy Alvarado, District of Columbia, May 20 1990 - September 26 2003, untreated intestines
Emma Alvey, Spring Hill Tennessee, twenty months old, October 24 2005, battered
Byron Anderson, DeKalb County Georgia, sixteen months old, December 16 1994, brain damage / seizure
Manique Anderson, Richmond Virginia, fifteen years old, January 2 1988, burns
Martin Lee Anderson, Panama City Florida, fourteen years old, January 6 2006, beating/suffocation
Randi Anderson, New York City, five years old, 1992, battered
Rodney Anderson, Indianapolis Indiana, sixteen years old, September 15 2007, stabbing
Sarah Marie Anderson, Utah, June 1979 - December 1979, crib death
Socrates L Anderson, Fort Wayne Indiana, one year old, October 10 1999, drowned in bathtub
Urandia Anderson, New York City, five years old, November 8 1990, battered
Natasha Mukti Angel, Sisters Oregon, infant, March 19 1998, malnutrition
Leon Anger, Vanango County Pennsylvania, seventeen years old, September 16 1984, runaway/drowning
Andrew Anstey, Keysbrook Western Australia, thirteen years old, July 22 2005, runaway/diabetic
Teresa Anziano, Baltic South Dakota, fifteen years old, June 1987, put under chest
Erick Aragon, Sanpete County Utah, six years old, 1989
Richard L (Ricky) Aragon, Albuquerque New Mexico, January 24 1991 - April 12 1993, battered
Shirley Arciszewski, Charlotte North Carolina, April 19 1992 - September 11 2004, restraint
Miguel Humberto Arias-Baca, Westminster Colorado, two years old, February 2 1999, battered
Tony L Armentrout Jr, Shrewsbury Pennsylvania, April 4 2002 - July 14 2004, drowning
Alicia Armstrong, San Bernardino California, three years old, August 1991, dismembered
Angellika Nicole Arndt, Rice Lake Wisconsin, March 3 1999 - May 26 2006, restraint
Zoe Arriaga, Garland Texas, ten months old, April 10 2008, untreated trisomy 8
William Arroyo, Bronx New York, seven years old, October 10 2000, house fire
Ian August, Sevier Desert Utah, June 21 1988 - July 13 2002, heat exhaustion
Jaymaya Auls, Buffalo New York, twenty one months old, October 26 2002, battered
Daniel Brock Austin, Lansing Michigan, fourteen years old, April 3 2007, gunshot
Beredis Avalos, Anaheim California, three years old, December 15 1998
Millicent (Millison) Ayala, Bronx New York, six years old, February 15 1992, battered
Denzel Bailey, Los Angeles California, eleven months old, April 2001, malnutrition
LaToya Bailey, Milton Massachusetts, seven years old, August 16 1994, drowned
Queen (Queenie) Baker, Brooklyn New York, twenty one months old, May 24 1995, battered
Jeffrey Baldwin, Toronto Ontario, December 20 1996 - November 30 2002, malnutrition/pneumonia
Richard (Frankie) Balisterire, Orange County California, eight years old, October 24 1988, gunshot
Travis Ballard, Pryor Oklahoma, fifteen years old, September 3 2001, asthma/forced running
Samuel Barber, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, three months old, December 4 2006
Loreyna Barea, Evans Colorado, seven years old, March 9 2007, malnourished/battered
Donovan (Donavian) Barksdale, Wickhaven Pennsylvania, two years old, June 8 2008, drowned in pool
Michael Barnett, San Diego California, sixteen years old, November 4 1989
William Barr, Orange County California, eleven years old, October 24 1988, gunshot
Enna Barreto, New Albany Mississippi, two years old, May 18 2008, battered
Casey Paul Barrow, West Valley Utah, eighteen months old, October 22 2003, battered
Anthony Bars né Grimes, Indiana, four years old, January 20 2004, starvation, battered
Shelly Bash, Midland Michigan, eight years old, March 2005, transplant rejection
Christopher Battie, Fresno County California, four months old, May 16 2003, crib death
James D Baumbach Jr, Alexander Arkansas, sixteen years old, May 13 2001, suicide/hanging
Amber Lynn Bean, Salt Lake City Utah, seventeen months old, September 1 1996, suffocation
Nadine Catherine Beaulieu, Dauphin Manitoba, twenty three months, February 1996, battered
Joseph Beebe, Tarkington Prairie Texas, eight years old, ca May 1999, battered
Jaaliyah Beecham-Davis, Longview Texas, two years old, March 4 2006, battered
Khadijah Bell, Seattle Washington, ten weeks old, January 4 1989, unexplained
Ophelia P Bell, Beaverton Oregon, fifteen years old, February 25 1996, runaway/perforated ulcer
Teddy Bellingham, Smiths Falls Ontario, sixteen years old, August 1992, beaten
Jayla Belton, Austin Texas, two years old, May 24 1996, battered
Treau Jadyn Bemis, Groton Connecticut, June 2 2005 - September 16 2007, drowned in bathtub
Jerome Bennett, Oshawa Ontario, fifteen years old, February 3 2006, stabbing
Maria Anastasia Bennett, Lancaster Ohio, November 22 1999 - October 23 2002, shaken baby
Kayesean Blackledge, Brooklyn New York, five years old, May 20 1993, strangulation
Cedric Blan, Felton California, eleven days old, August 2 1991, baked in van
Modesto Blanco, Lubbock Texas, twenty two months old, March 2 2002, battered
Amir Blanford, Coon Rapids Minnesota, June 21 2005 - July 2006, cardiac arrest
Christian Blewitt né Osik, Halesowen England, three years old, December 2002, reset osmostat
Meshach Boges, Liberty City Florida, fifteen years old, February 17 2007, homicide/gunshot
Keith Bollard, Kingsessing Pennsylvania, four years old, December 7 2006, house fire
Demartez Bolling, Venice Missouri, two years old, June 10 1992, battered
Monny Bolling, Queens New York, four months old, July 1998, battered
Deondre Bondieumaitre, Florida, sixteen months old, April 16 2003, battered
Andre Booth, Agua Dulce California, nine years old, October 2000, hit by car
Grace Bogey née Graciela Cano, Roswell New Mexico, July 15 1997 - September 2 2000, head injuries
Timothy Boss, Remsen Iowa, ten years old, February 23 2000, battered
Alex Charles Boucher, New Port Richey Florida, January 25 1997 - September 25 2000, asphyxiation
Ashley Boyd, LaFayette Georgia, twelve years old, December 13 2005, suicide/hit by car
Ronald Patrick Bradberry, Athens Georgia, seventeen years old, December 6 1987, gunshot
Dontray Kevin Bradley, District of Columbia, June 3 1990 - June 3 1992, battered
James Earl Bradley Jr, Van Buren Township Michigan, three years old, April 13 2007, battered
Melissa Renee Bradley, Fresno California, ten years old, June 21 2000, dehydration/injuries
Keyana Bravo-Hamilton, Gresham Oregon, two years old, September 4 2006, internal injuries
Layah Brazil, Columbia South Carolina, three years old, November 18 1997, drowned in river
Christopher Breeding, Nashua New Hampshire, five years old, July 13 2005, drowned in pond
David Briggs, Portadown Northern Ireland, fourteen months old, October 2000, battered
Mary Briggs, Brewer Maine, five years old, June 23 1993, Escherichia coli
Jason Bright, Las Vegas Nevada, fourteen years old, August 5 2006, gunshot
Kameron Bright, West Valley City Utah, three years old, April 5 1994, battered
Christian Brock-Allen, District of Columbia, five months old, January 13 2001, unheeded milk allergy
Maurice Brock-Smith, Hyattsville Maryland, four years old, September 30 1992, house fire
Michael Brock-Smith, Hyattsville Maryland, four years old, September 30 1992, house fire
Kerry Brooks, Los Angeles California, nine years old, February 10 2001, suicide/hanging
Marcus Brooks, District of Columbia, three years old, August 24 1991, house fire
Talitha Brooks, Colorado, one year old, July 1998, heatstroke
Alexis Brown, Kansas City Missouri, two years old, August 20 2000, house fire
Aliyah Brown, Kansas City Missouri, six years old, August 20 2000, house fire
Amira Brown, Reading Pennsylvania, twelve years old, September 4 2005, battered/restraint
DeAndre Brown, Los Angeles California, nine years old, June 24 1987, gunshot
Herbert Brown, Edisto Island South Carolina, four years old, 1983, hit by truck
Jamilah Brown, Oakland California, two years old, December 19 2003, battered
Jonathan Brown, Newark New Jersey, four years old, June 29 1997, house fire
LaKeisha Brown, Alexander Arkansas, seventeen years old, April 9 2005, untreated blood clot
Michael Anthony Brown Jr, Mansfield Connecticut, seven months old, May 19 2008, fall off bed
Robert Brown, South Los Angeles California, twenty three months, November 1991, battered
Tadasha Brown, Houston Texas, one year old, 1989, skull fracture
Douglas Brumley, Olathe Kansas, four years old, October 16 1992, battered
Diminiqua Bryant, Dothan Alabama, two years old, May 1999, battered
Scott Buckle, Swansea Wales, twelve years old, February 6 2005, hanging
Steven R Buffington, Santa Rosa California, thirteen years old, December 10 1996, car accident
Joslyn Bullbear, Waubay South Dakota, three years old, January 15 2005, house fire
Vanna My Bun, Fort Worth Texas, November 16 1982 - December 28 1996, respiratory disease
Andrew Burd, Corpus Christi Texas, four years old, October 3 2006, Cajun spice (on appeal)
Brittany K Burke, Scarborough Maine, fourteen years old, July 12 2007, car crash
Darrell Busby, Sumter South Carolina, fourteen years old, October 13 2006, untreated asthma
Latasha Bush, Manvel Texas, January 2 1987 - February 28 2002, restraint
Michelle Butler, Mountain View California, ten months old, June 28 1988, battered
Tosha Butler, Landover Hills Maryland, thirteen years old, July 17 1989, strangled
Michael Wayne Buxton, Miami Oklahoma, five years old, July 5 1998, battered
Everlyse Cabrera, Las Vegas Nevada, two years old, June 10 2006, lost
Jordan Cain, Granville Illinois, three years old, 2003, battered
Raquel Calhoun-Turner, Milwaukee Wisconsin, six months old, March 8 1991, battered
Lamoni Call, West Valley Utah, seventeen years old, February 23 1997, house fire
Eduardo Calzada, Bakersfield California, three months old, March 8 2004, battered
Chris Campbell, Toledo Iowa, thirteen years old, November 2 1997, restraint
Gladys Campbell, Phillipsburg New Jersey, two years old, June 9 1988, battered
Sean Campbell, Arlington Virginia, six years old, June 13 2004, hit by bus
Edith Campos, Tucson Arizona, fifteen years old, February 4 1998, restraint
Breonna aka Brianna Canales, Harrisburg Pennsylvania, four years old, April 24 2006, dozen Zoloft pills
Latasha Cannon, Boston Massachusetts, seventeen years old, April 2001, slashed throat
Mario Cano, Chula Vista California, sixteen years old, April 27 1984, untreated blood clot
Sherri Canterbury, Lynn Massachusetts, eleven years old, February 1980, strangled
Jonathan Carey, Schenectady New York, thirteen years old, February 15 2007, restraint
Robley (Bobby) Carr Jr, Valley Washington, fifteen years old, December 2006, methadone overdose
Chloe Carroll, Cedarville Ohio, seven weeks old, cs October 1992
Hannah Carroll, Cedarville Ohio, six years old, September 21 1992, bleach
Josiah Carroll, Cedarville Ohio, twelve years old, June 14 1993
Mollie Carroll, Cedarville Ohio, three years old, December 9 1992
Noah Carroll, Cedarville Ohio, three years old, November 15 1992
David Cass, Iowa City Iowa, ten years old, December 1997, lung and kidney disease
Jeremy Todd Caston, Memphis Tennessee, two years old, May 17 1994, choked on biscuit
Joshua K Causey, Detroit Michigan, March 21 1998 - March 18 2003, battered
Jamie Ceballos, Salinas California, August 26 2003 - November 27 2005, infection and bleeding
Maria Isabel Cervantes, North Hollywood California, four years old, September 27 2001, battered
EVR Rohit Chakravarthy, Harlingen Texas, ten months old, February 2006, battered
Maria Sue Chapman, Williamson County Tennessee, five years old, May 21 2008, hit by car
baby boy Charles, Las Vegas Nevada, seven months old, August 4 2006, head injury
Sherry Charlie, British Columbia, nineteen months old, September 4 2002, battered
Sarah Angelina Chavez, Alhambra California, two years old, October 11 2005, battered
Felix Chen, Bloomington Indiana, August 27 1997 - April 1 2004, treatment withheld
Sky Colon Cheverez, Paterson New Jersey, three months old, August 6 1998, shaken baby
Miyanna Renae Chowning, Indianapolis Indiana, three years old, December 31 2007, treatment withheld
Paul Choy, Shurz Nevada, sixteen years old, February 4 1992, restraint
Lillian Dorothy Christopher, Somerville New Jersey, seventeen years old, 1985, homicide
Hope Chumbley, Warrick County Indiana, seventeen months old, March 29 1990, house fire
Hei Min Chung, Sheridan Indiana, thirteen months old, September 4 2007, battered
Lucas Ciambrone, Manatee County Florida, seven years old, May 13 1995, battered
Jackie Cintron née Crimley, East Haddam Connecticut, eleven years old, January 27 1997, blood disease
Christopher Cisneros, Pleasant Grove Texas, two years old, March 23 1999
Tiffany Hope Clair, Fort Worth Texas, September 6 1985 - May 4 2001, heroin
Colton Levi Clark, Wewoka Oklahoma, May 24 1996 - April 20 2006, missing
Esther Clark, Lorain Ohio, two years old, July 14 1993, drowned in pool
Lorenzo Clark, Cleveland Ohio, two years old, October 25 1996, house fire
Angelic Rose Clary, Bakersfield California, three months old, September 14 2003
Brian Clarke, New Jersey, three years old, January 21 2002, AIDS/untreated pneumonia
Roshelle Clayborne, San Antonio Texas, sixteen years old, August 18 1997, restraint
Bessie Coleman, Coila Mississippi, seventeen years old, December 23 1991, gunshot
Casey Collier, Westminster Colorado, seventeen years old, December 21 1993, restraint
Charles Collins Jr, Lansing Michigan, fifteen years old, June 1998, forced exercise
Desiree Collins, Los Angeles California, fourteen years old, February 10 2002, gunshot
Trini Collins, Liberty Pennsylvania, three years old, January 21 1999, house fire
Pauline Civia Cone, Lake Worth Florida, two years old, November 10 1994, strangulation
Alex Connell, Corvallis Oregon, twenty three months old, May 1994, head injury
Samuel Conteras, Bronx New York, twenty two months old, January 15 2003, apartment fire
Nicholas Contreras, Queen Creek Arizona, January 15 1982 - March 2 1998, untreated infection
Tamara Cooper, Wilawukee Wisconsin, three years old, May 1998, treatment withhheld
Ashleigh Marie Copeland née Lethbridge, Michigan, twelve years old, February 23 2006, grand-mal
Alexis Cormier, Burlington Vermont, sixteen months old, 1999, shaken baby
Anthony Cortez, Stockton California, seventeen years old, April 21 2003, strangled
Radsheyon Cottom, Buffalo New York, four years old, November 24 1989, head injuries
Amariana Crenshaw, Sacramento California, May 2003 - January 11 2008, arson
Korvette Lynn Crier, Red Deer Alberta, January 18 1997 - August 11 1999, battered
Daniel Crow Jr, Dayton Ohio, December 1997 - December 29 2003, Menkes disease
Chelsey Cruz, East Hartford Connecticut, fifteen years old, March 12 2008, lupus/septic shock
Marleny Cruz, Bronx New York, fourteen years old, found February 1998, runaway/battered
Christopher Henry Cryderman, Springfield Missouri, July 27 2004 - November 22 2004, untreated infection
Xavian David Cull-Munoz, Campbellsburg Indiana, Decembr 4 2007 - February 14 2008, suffocation
Thomas Cunningham, Palm Beach County Florida, two months old, March 1 1995, crib death
Brian Joseph Curtiss, Conneaut Ohio, seven years old, January 29 2001, house fire
Dirk D Dalton, Clarkston Washington, June 7 1989 - May 1 1994, battered
Arieale Daniels, Naples Florida, fifteen years old, 1999, car crash
Theresa L Daniels, Chester Pennsylvania, June 27 1989 - June 18 1993, battered
Isaiah Dao, Salem Massachusetts, four months old, July 27 1999, asphyxiation
Tajuana Davidson, Phoenix Arizona, three years old, November 3 1993, battered
Aaron R Davis, Saint Louis Missouri, five years old, August 3 1990, battered
Chermeka Davis, East Saint Louis Illinois, sixteen years old, January 4 2004, drowned in creek
China Marie Davis, Phoenix Arizona, March 23 1991 - October 31 1993, battered
Courtney E Davis, Saginaw Michigan, seventeen years old, December 30 2006, gunshot
Dyman Davis, Chicago Illinois, twenty three months old, September 2003, battered
Jasmine Davis, Antioch California, fifteen years old, September 2 2008, unknown
Nathan Dominic Davis, Boston Massachusetts, July 7 2003 - June 5 2006, heart trouble
Quyzir (Quazir) Davis, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, three years old, August 23 2005, battered
Precousia Day, Florida, four months old, June 1986, battered
Sabrina Elizabeth Day, Charlotte North Carolina, July 4 1984 - February 10 2000, restraint
Darlene Marie Rose De Byle, Lake County Michigan, June 14 2005 - October 18 2005, choked
Jesse Dela Torre, Sacramento California, two years old, February 9 1999, scalding
Tyler Joseph DeLeon, Stevens County Washington, January 13 1998 - January 13 2005, dehydration
Brianna DelGrosso, Saint Petersburg Florida, February 19 1995 - July 8 1995, crib death
Jamiya DeLoach, West Palm Beach Florida, three years old, July 28 2007, battered
Cheyenne Delp, McMinnville Tennessee, six years old, June 26 2004, choking
Kameron Justin Demery, Long Beach California, two years old, October 14 1996, shaken baby
Cassandra Deming, Wallingford Connecticut, seventeen months old, January 2 1988, battered
Daisia Derzon, Grand Lake Colorado, three years old, January 12 2008, battered
Lura DeVine, Fresno County California, twenty months old, April 28 2004, head injury
Jeremiah DiCalogero, Rio Linda California, fifteen years old, January 4 1997, runaway/alcohol
Dominick J (Andrew) Diehl, District of Columbia, thirteen years old, October 29 1986, battered
Connre Dixon, Ridgefield Township Ohio, eleven years old, October 18 2004, stabbing
Dion Dixon, Baltimore Maryland, two years old, January 5 1991, battered
Tracy Dixon, Kalamazoo Michigan, two years old, February 15 2001, homicide
Gilbert Dominguez, Santa Maria California, three years old, June 11 2008, unknown
Javier Dominguez, Orange County California, sixteen years old, March 24 2001, pneumonia/sepsis
Daun Marie Dominy, Bogalusa Louisiana, June 5 1981 - June 4 1991, car crash
Ditaya Douglas, Brooklyn New York, two years old, March 20 1993, scalding water
Sunari Dowdell, District of Columbia, ten months old, February 9 2007, liver disease
Mark Draheim, Orefield Pennsylvania, October 10 1984 - December 11 1998, restraint
Charmaria Drake, Cleveland Ohio, twenty months old, March 13 2003, battered
Stephanie Duffield, Manvel Texas, July 14 1984 - February 11 2001, restraint
Ronshay Dugans, Tallahassee Florida, eight years old, September 5 2008, bus crash
Suzanne Dukic, Parma Heights Ohio, five years old, June 8 2001, drowned in pool
Anthony Dumas, Oakland Park Florida, fifteen years old, June 12 2000, suicide/hanging
Michelle Duong, Orange County California, twelve months old, February 2 2005, cardiac arrest
Willie Lawrence Durden III, Lecanto Florida, seventeen years old, October 2005, untreated heart attack
Isaac Dykstra, Iowa City Iowa, November 18 2003 - August 14 2005, battered
Ieisha Dyson, Detroit Michigan, four months old, January 1993
Adam Earp, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, eighteen months old, March 30 1996, house fire
Kaitlin Eaton, Sarasota Florida, one month old, February 24 2006, positional asphyxiation
Brian Edgar, Overland Park Kansas, nine years old, December 30 2002, asphyxiation
Dane Edgar, Ashington England, fourteen years old, December 24 2006, drug overdose
William Edgar, Peterborough Ontario, thirteen years old, March 1999, restraint
Tammy Edmiston, Latrobe Pennsylvania, sixteen years old, September 11 1982, fall from bridge
Duane Edwards, Topeka Kansas, fifteen months old, 1990
Elizabeth Rose Edwards, Adelaide Australia, nine months old, June 30 2004, suffocation/choking
Fistan Edwards, Banning California, November 26 1992 - December 3 1996, homicide
Kyla Aranae Edwards, Salisbury Maryland, two years old, December 20 2006, battered
Casey (C J) Elgie, Buffalo New York, five years old, September 1 2002, detergent poisoning
Tiffany Eilders, Rancho Cucamonga California, fourteen weeks old, December 7 2005, battered
Stephanie Elliott, Union City California, four years old, March 28 1995, house fire
Tyeesha Ellis, North Shore Beach Florida, three years old, June 21 2000, repeated dunking
Ryan Ellison, Las Vegas Nevada, three months old, January 17 2006, prematurity concealed
Salma ElSharkawy, Derbyshire England, twelve years old, July 2007, car crash
Nikolai Emelyantsev, Toole Utah, fourteen months old, March 7 2008, battered
Kathleen Emilius, Belle Glade Florida, nine years old, February 19 1990, alligator
Alvaro Enriques, San Antonio Texas, seven years old, March 24 1991, house fire
Kayla Erlandson, King County Washington, two years old, April 24 1991, battered
Robert Doyle Erwin, USA, fifteen years old, November 24 1980, boating/drowning
Angelina Irene Espalin, Oceanside California, four years old, November 19 2006, battered
Aurora Espinal-Cruz, Tulsa Oklahoma, seven months old, January 27 2002, asphyxiation
Jamila Esposito-Elfilali, Westfield New Jersey, two years old, January 13 1996
Chelsey Essex, Treeton Rotherham England, eleven weeks old, January 2007, heart attack
Luke Evans, Lowell Indiana, sixteen months old, November 30 2001, malnutrition/battered
Roberta (Berta) Evers, Bayfield Colorado, six years old, June 13 1998, restraint
Sara Eyerman, California, twenty months old, April 1986, untreated pneumonia
Jenell W Fain, Orosi California, July 28 1989 - December 26 2002, hit by car
Sean Isaac Faith-Hymas, Eagle Idaho, February 17 2003 - May 13 2006, drowned in pool
Christie Lynn Farni, Medford Oregon, January 18 1972 - December 14 1978, lost
Dillon Ray Farrer, Houston Texas, July 26 1999 - June 21 2002, smothered
Chardiavian Fears, Talladega Alabama, two years old, December 27 2002, choked on pill
Leona Featherston, Elverta California, four years old, December 30 1999, choked on food
Nicole Marie Clegg Ferrier, Lynn Massachusetts, fifteen years old, May 25 1993, runaway/strangled
Marcus Fiesel, Cincinnati Ohio, three years old, August 6 2006, taped in closet
Shaun Finnerty, Upper Riccarton New Zealand, sixteen years old, February 13 2008, assault
Kyle Fisher, Buffalo New York, eight years old, February 20 1996, heart disease
Laura Fleming, Palmdale California, October 11 2004 - November 21 2004, cause unknown
Katy Elizabeth Flewelling, Azle Texas, fifteen years old, May 24 1995, house fire
George Flores, Corpus Christi Texas, seventeen years old, April 5 2007, homicide/gunshot
Melissa Flores, Houston Texas, seventeen years old, July 14 2007, runaway/gunshot
Daniel Flynn, Waubay South Dakota, four years old, January 15 2005, house fire
Roanna Meagan Fontaine, Winnipeg Manitoba, fourteen years old, June 24 2007, suicide/jump
Christopher Michael Forder, Seabeck Washington, eight years old, November 24 2002, sustained abuse
Sarah Jane Forrester, Woodlawn Maryland, October 30 1985 - found May 13 1999, battered and stabbed
Kyreese Foster, Brooklyn New York, seven months old, December 31 2002
Rita Foster, Pasadena California, four years old, June 29 2006, run over by bus
Kameryn Fountain, Bibb County Georgia, two months old, November 20 2005, unknown cause
Jayla Fox, Sacramento California, two years old, March 28 2007, pneumonia
Katherine Frances, DeSoto Texas, six years old, December 3 2006, battered
Chloe Francis, San Antonio Texas, six years old, March 24 1991, house fire
Jarvis Franklin, Chicago Illinois, seventeen years old, May 30 1998, gunshot
Keayne Franklin, Riverton Manitoba, fourteen years old, August 12 2008, drowned in river
Chad Andrew Franza, Polk County Florida, sixteen years old, August 17 1998, suicide/hanging
Earl Freeman, Saint Paul Minnesota, sixteen years old, April 22 2007, gunshot
Eddie Frye, Hamilton County Ohio, seven years old, January 8 1995, suicide/pills
Sonjia Galindez, Battle Creek Iowa, ten years old, ca 1996, head injury
Henry Gallop, Boston Massachusetts, two years old, August 11 1987, poison
Josephine Alley Galloway, Liberty South Carolina, thirteen months old, August 2001, shaken baby
Debbie Galston, Placerville California, fourteen years old, June 20 1984, stabbing
Denise Jean Galston, Placerville California, fourteen years old, June 20 1984, stabbing
Ebony Gamble, Pittsburg California, seventeen months old, March 13 1985, shaken baby
Alexander Ganadonegro, Albuquerque New Mexico, March 10 1998 - February 4 1999, battered
Alexis Garcia, Victorville California, two years old, August 2006, drowned in tub
Christening (Mikie) Garcia, Ingram Texas, twelve years old, December 4 2005, restraint
Jasmine Garcia, Gardena California, two years old, June 15 2001, battered
Raymond Garcia, Queens New York, fourteen years old, December 21 1997, runaway / gunshot
Camron P Gardner, Waupun Wisconsin, three years old, May 5 2006, battered
Michael Gardner, Franklin Indiana, two years old, May 2004, treatment withheld
Passion Gardner, Columbia South Carolina, two years old, March 31 2000, battered
Daryl Lee Garner, Colorado, twelve years old, March 19 2004, fall
Hildred Thomas Gasaway, District of Columbia, nine months old, September 1979, battered
Lance Gaston, Rikers Island New York, seventeen years old, January 1999, strangled by cellmate
Aiyana Gauvin, Lafayette Indiana, December 12 2000 - March 16 2005, battered
JoBeth Geibel, Denver Colorado, two years old, May 22 1995, homicide
Dylan James George, Fremont California, April 16 2002 - October 4 2004, battered
Rodney Gest, Sauk Village Illinois, six years old, August 6 1997, drowned in pool
JoBeth Giebel, Adams County Colorado, two years old, May 1995, battered
Jesse James Gilbert, Barbour County Alabama, ten years old, January 7 1990, house fire
Kimberly Gilbert, Barbour County Alabama, eight years old, January 7 1990, house fire
Lillian Leilani Gill, Big Bear City California, four years old, before October 8 2002, buried in yard
Tatiana Gill, Crete Illinois, six years old, July 1996, car crash
Cindy Givens, New Jersey, five years old, December 8 1989, AIDS
Anthony Marino Gladue, Edmonton Alberta, seventeen years old, April 26 2006, hit by train
Steven Golden, Kansas City Missouri, five years old, January 10 1991, battered
Corese Goldman, Chicago Illinois, two years old, February 25 1995, drowned under faucet
Kyle Golebieski, Brick Township New Jersey, three years old, August 1 1993, battered
Ruben Gonzales, Mexia Texas, June 1991 - January 15 2007, restraint
Hailey Gonzalez, Staten Island New York, twenty one months old, August 13 2007, battered
Joseph Gonzalez, West Islip New York, nine years old, December 9 1993, runaway/hit by car
Julio Gonzalez, Glendale California, May 10 1995 - December 29 1996, battered
Mollie Gonzalez, Jefferson County Colorado, ten years old, November 18 2002, drug overdose
Elizabeth (Lizzy) Goodwin, Coeur d’Alene Idaho, March 22 1996 - October 22 2002, drowned in bathtub
Chandler Ashton Grafner, Denver Colorado, seven years old, May 6 2007, starvation
Shane (Moo) Graham, Port Saint Lucie Florida, eleven years old, 2000, lost
Emory Grant, Brooklyn New York, six years old, May 18 1998, hit by bus
Louise Grant-Kelly, Brooklyn New York, sixteen years old, July 3 2002, knife
Anthony Green, Brownwood Texas, fifteen years old, May 12 1991, restraint
Christopher Green, Tampa Florida, four months old, February 25 1993
Danielle Green, Campbell County Tennessee, seventeen years old, August 12 1998, car crash
Deonna Green, Pittsburg California, January 2004 - December 13 2006, malnutrition/poison
Sabrina Green, New York City, nine years old, November 8 1997, burned and battered
Lamar D Greene, Jacksonville Florida, sixteen years old, 2001, car crash
Christopher Greer, Newberry Park California, two years old, November 4 1986, battered
Corey Greer, Treasure Island Florida, four months old, July 21 1985, dehydration
Donnell Griffin, Detroit Michigan, fifteen years old, January 4 1996, stabbing
Jamar Griffiths, South Kortright New York, fifteen years old, October 18 1994, restraint
Anthony Gripper, Columbia South Carolina, July 24 1989 - April 11 2004, homicide/gunshot
Gage Guillen, Boston Massachusetts, three years old, September 5 1995, strangulation
Gage Dakota Guimond, Winnipeg Manitoba, July 21 2005 - July 22 2007, battered
Darvell Gulley, Lincoln Nebraska, thirteen years old, April 27 2002, restraint
Amberlynn Guzman, Marstons Mills Massachusetts, twenty two months old, December 8 1997, house fire
Jared Hackett, Bloomfield Township Michigan, two years old, February 6 2006, leukemia
Jessica Albina Hagmann, Prince William County Virginia, two years old, August 11 2003, smothered
Brett Hall, Columbia South Carolina, December 8 1978 - November 1988, AIDS
Jared Hall, Leicester Massachusetts, September 26 1980 - April 1985
Savannah Brianna Marie Hall, Prince George British Columbia, September 9 1997 - January 21 2001, malnutrition/restraint
Latiana Hamilton, Arlington Florida, seventeen months old, July 18 2001, drowned in bathtub
Brittnay Hampton, Jacksonville Florida, three years old, November 16 2007, drowned in tub
Mykeeda A Hampton, District of Columbia, two years old, August 24 1997, battered
Kelly M Hancock, Malden Massachusetts, November 6 1985 - July 18 2000, stabbed
Laura Hanson, West Palm Beach Florida, May 17 1981 - November 19 1998, restraint
Jerrell Hardiman, La Porte Indiana, four years old, October 24 1993, exposure
Michelle Haro, Orange County California, five years old, February 6 2002, bone marrow transplant
Alex Harris, Minden Louisiana, twelve years old, September 2005, forced running
Diane Harris, Seguin Texas, seventeen years old, April 11 1990, restraint
Linda Harris, Clarksville Tennessee, fourteen years old, September 18 2005, restraint
Milanya Harris, El Paso Texas, two years old, April 7 2008, battered
Chase Harrison né Dmitry Yakolev, Purcellville Virginia, twenty one months old, July 8 2008, baked in car
Letia Harrison, Akron Ohio, October 23 1999 - September 19 2002, baked in attic
Aaron John Harwood, Christchurch New Zealand, eight years old, November 4 2007, house fire
Reed Hauff, Wilton Manors Florida, seven years old, April 25 1985, battered
Meghan Hawkins-Rusch, Geneva New York, thirteen months old, ca October 1992
Wayne Hayman, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, six years old, February 1985,
Anthony T Haynes, Maricopa County Arizona, fourteen years old, July 1 2001, dehydration
Rodney Haynes Jr, Los Angeles California, twelve years old, August 25 1997, homicide/beating
Niccol Haywood, Wichita Kansas, two years old, November 2000, battered
Christopher D H, Tallahassee Florida, seventeen years old, December 7 2007, car crash
Jordan Desmond Heikamp, Toronto Ontario, May 19 1997 - June 23 1997, starvation
Tammy Herman, Johannesburg South Africa, twenty two months old, January 2006, battered
David Hernandez, Milwaukee Wisconsin, nine years old, August 23 1994, suicide/gunshot
Eric Hernandez, Cedar Hill Texas, January 6 1999 - March 7 1999, suffocation
Manuel Hernandez, Bronx New York, twenty two months old, June 29 2000, respiratory arrest
Gary Herring Jr, Maryland Heights Missouri, sixteen years old, October 27 1995, gunshot
Laura Lee Hertzig, Sacramento California, sixteen years old, December 30 1994, rape/gunshot
Tommy Glenn Hester, USA, sixteen years old, ca 1983, untreated appendicitis
Anna Hider, Havant Hampshire England, seventeen months old, July 29 2007, drowned in pool
Logan Higginbotham, Shelburne Vermont, three years old, November 25 1998, battered
Zachary Higier né Nikita Khoryakov, Braintree Massachusetts, May 24 2000 - August 15 2002, battered
Christopher Allen Hill, Hillsborough County Florida, four years old, April 11 1993, fell from car
Christopher Ladell Hill, Hawkins Texas, seventeen years old, September 21 2006, runaway / hit by train
Dwight Hill, Tucson Arizona, four months old, November 16 2005, battered
Nina Victoria Hilt née Vika Bazhenova, Manassas Virginia, thirty three months old, July 2 2005, battered
Raymond Hobbins, Detroit Michigan, thirteen months old, September 11 1982, battered
Cheril Hobbs, Chicago Illinois, thirteen years old, September 1 1999, stabbing
Megan Hockersmith, Sand Springs Oklahoma, two years old, June 5 1992, shaken baby
Steven A Hoffa, Des Moines Iowa, February 4 1993 - May 18 1996, battered
Nicholas Hoffert, Cleburne Texas, three months old, February 9 2006, battered
Cameron Hoke, Hoke County North Carolina, September 5 1997 - December 1997
Damien Holland, Sheffield Massachusetts, sixteen months old, February 25 1998, suffocation
Richard (Ricky) Holland, Williamston Michigan, September 8 1997 - July 2005, battered
Michael Holmes, Orange New Jersey, February 4 1995 - February 19 1997, battered
Ranier (Renier) Holmes, Chester Pennsylvania, eight months old, September 4 2000, gunshot
Vernon Holmes Jr, Maryland, thirteen years old, October 1994, gunshot
India Marie Holt, Reynoldsburg Ohio, ten years old, April 30 2001, baked in car trunk
Kimberly Holton, Dover Delaware, sixteen years old, September 30 2003, homicide/suffocation
Delante Horne, Charlotte North Carolina, three years old, November 12 1996, suffocation
Brittany A Howard, Spencer Massachusetts, three years old, July 15 2001, drowned in pool
Lamar Howell, Hamilton County Ohio, thirteen months old, July 22 1984, drowned in bucket
Shamir Hudson, Berlin Maryland, eight years old, March 1998, battered
Kelly Huff, Victoria Texas, fifteen years old, January 27 2008, carnival accident
Michael Anthony Hughes, Choctaw Oklahoma, March 21 1988 - September 12 1994, kidnap/missing
Robert C Hughes III, Jefferson City Missouri, November 18, 1996 - May 30 2000, house fire
Jarod (Jerry) Hulsey, Mesa Arizona, ten years old, April 3 2006, drugged/battered
Gustavo Adolfo Hunt, Saint Paul Minnesota, seven months old, March 16 2004, battered
Shanequa Hunter, Riviera Beach Florida, two years old, April 7 1987, hit by police cruiser
Joseph (Joey) Huot, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, two years old, January 27 1988, battered
DeShawn Hutchinson, Jacksonville Florida, fifteen years old, June 27 2005, stabbing
Andrew Ibarra, Riverside California, twenty three months old, July 19 2000, battered
Aliyah Ismail, London England, thirteen years old, October 18 1998, runaway/heroin
Dion Jack, Sproat Lake British Columbia, six years old, March 1 2006, untreated seizure
Bobby Jackson, Eugene Oregon, seven years old, January 5 1993, imipramine prescription
Courtney Jackson, North Columbia South Carolina, three years old, November 22 1990, house fire
Eartha Jackson, North Columbia South Carolina, two years old, November 22 1990, house fire
Keyandra Jackson, Saint Louis Missouri, sixteen years old, October 31 2006, runaway/rape/murder
Roslyn Jackson, North Cobb Georgia, fourteen years old, June 3 2003, hit by car
Samuel Dewayne Jackson Jr, Broken Arrow Oklahoma, seven weeks old, August 15 1999, baked in car
Walter Jackson, Chicago Illinois, ten months old, August 9 2005, battered
William Jackson III, Matteson Illinois, two years old, October 1998, scalding
Yantai Malik Jackson, Lynn Massachusetts, two months old, May 1997, crib death
Matthew D Jacobs, Upper Nazareth Pennsylvania, twelve years old, August 30 2003, runaway/hit by train
Ronald Jacobsen, Long Island New York, fourteen years old, February 13 1987, school fight
Alberto Johnny (Bobo) James, Gallup New Mexico, four years old, October 4 2007, battered
Dominic Raynell James, Springfield Missouri, June 4 2000 - August 21 2002, battered
Pierre Jamison, Monroe Township New Jersey, ten years old, January 23 1991, house fire
Jasmine Jay, Fairplay Colorado, two years old, February 20 2002, cough syrup/hydrocodone
Dontel Jeffers, Boston Massachusetts, four years old, March 6 2005, battered
Demetrius Jeffries, Crockett Texas, seventeen years old, August 26 1997, strangulation
Billie-Jo Jenkins, Hastings East Sussex England, thirteen years old, February 1997, battered
Caleb Jensen, Montrose Colorado, September 11 1991 - May 2 2007, untreated staph
Ciara Shanette Lavonte Jobes, Baltimore Maryland, August 17 1987 - December 11 2002, starvation/beating
Stephanie Jobin, Brampton Ontario, thirteen years old, June 21 1998, restraint
Jameel Benjamin Johns, Napa County California, one month old, February 23 1986
Aaron (Arron) Lewis Johnson, Boston Massachusetts, fifteen months old, November 17 1987, poison
Anthony Johnson, Marshall Texas, four years old, July 11 2005, drowned in bathtub
Dante M Richardson Johnson, Ladson South Carolina, two months old, April 12 1996, suffocation
Dyneekah Johnson, Newark New Jersey, five years old, March 4 1989, battered
Elijah James Johnson, Los Angeles California, three years old, May 10 1999, scalded
Janean Johnson, Howell New Jersey, six years old, May 27 2001, drowned in pool
Kevin Johnson, Crete Illinois, twelve years old, July 20 2008, unknown
Keyana N Johnson, Fort Myers Florida, fifteen years old, March 13 1999, asphyxiation
Lorenzo Johnson, Queen Creek Arizona, seventeen years old - June 27 1994, drowned during escape
Oneisha Johnson aka Robinson, Gardena California, two years old, August 7 2003, battered
Quartrina K (Snappy) Johnson, Pikesville Maryland, December 25 1988 - July 20 2004, beaten and choked
Simone Johnson, Brooklyn New York, four years old, August 27 1995, gunshot
Theodore Johnson, Lebanon Pennsylvania, seventeen years old, January 18 1992, house fire
Tiffanie Nicole Johnson, Akron Ohio, four years old, August 8 2002, battered
Adriene Jones, Monroe North Carolina, four months old, October 19 2004, house fire
Bryan Jones, Washington County Georgia, fifteen years old, July 24 1995, electrocution
Christal Jones, New York City (Vermont ward), May 24 1984 - January 3 2001, suffocation
David L Jones, Chicago Illinois, April 15 1992 - March 7 1998, battered
Deondre Jones, Mesquite Texas, fifteen months old, March 20 2001, shaken baby
Nadine Jones, Queens New York, eight months old, June 20 1989, unknown
Shamar Jones, Pasco County Florida, four years old, June 6 2002, treatment withheld
Tina Marie Jones, Portland Oregon, thirteen years old, December 1985, stabbing
Xavier Jones, East Orange New Jersey, September 8 2004 - June 7 2006, methadone poisoning
Brandon Allan Jordan, Peoria Illinois, seven months old, May 28 1994, stun gun
Yessana Jordan, Brooklyn New York, one year old, June 23 1990, battered
Dennis Craig Jurgens né Jerry Sherwood, White Bear Lake Minnesota, three years old, April 11 1965, malnutrition / battered
Allen Kalfus, Chicago Illinois, six years old, February 22 2001, freezing bathwater
Marissa Elan (Shorty) Karp, Pompano Beach Florida, December 6 1985 - August 19 2002, gunshot
Kealii Keahi, Nanakuli Hawaii, one year old, April 2003, choked on penny
David Ryan Keeley, New Haven Connecticut, six years old, August 12 1998, battered
Alexis Keintz, Park Ridge Illinois, January 27 2001 - February 24 2001, battered
Kevin Ryan Kendzia, Smithfield Virginia, four months old, May 1986
Michael Thomas Kendzia, Smithfield Virginia, four months old, August 28 1985
Angel Kerrigan-Kinahan, Thunder Bay Ontario, three months old, January 27 2002, metabolic disorder
Shaniece Kerrigan-Kinahan (twin), Thunder Bay Ontario, three months old, January 27 2002, metabolic disorder
Jordan Kettelwell, Pleasanton Texas, six months old, November 8 1996, car crash
Cassandra Killpack, Springville Utah, November 29 1997 - June 9 2002, water therapy
Ahmad King né Rawls, Alma Georgia, three years old, January 24 2006, battered
Lawrence King, Oxnard California, fifteen years old, February 12 2008, gunshot
Melissa King, Tampa Florida, five years old, September 4 1990, battered
Ryan King, Lake City Pennsylvania, fourteen years old, February 21 2001, head injury
Kyle Kingsley, Phoenix Arizona, eleven years old, February 15 1995, restraint
Breanne Kinn, Colorado, eight years old, June 14 1999, natural causes
D’Angelo Jamar Kinniebrew, Seattle Washington, six months old, March 23 1989, unexplained
Heather Michell Kish, Berlin Township Michigan, September 15 1987 - September 15 2002, murdered
Noah Knapp, Marysville Washington, six years old, May 30 2005, automobile collision
Alissa Kneen, Newport Minnesota, five years old, September 7 2001, house fire
Cordell Kneen, Newport Minnesota, twenty months old, September 7 2001, house fire
Thomas Knight Jr, Warrenville Illinois, eleven months old, March 17 1996
Ashlee Mary Knipp, York South Carolina, January 26 1990 - March 21 2002, shotgun
Zaire Knott, Newark New Jersey, September 16 2005 - October 20 2005, cause unknown
Anatoli Kolenda, Westfield Massachusetts, May 20 1991 - October 20 2002, stabbing
Yana Kolenda, Westfield Massachusetts, December 31 1990 - October 20 2002, stabbing
Tasha Kostu, Point Pleasant West Virginia, two years old, September 1984, fall
Chaeli Kyrie, Sheridan Indiana, thirteen months old, September 4 2007, shaken baby
Kristen LaMarr, South Amherst Ohio, thirteen months old, June 1990, fall
Anthony Lamb, Lake Butler Florida, twenty months old, January 25 2006, traffic accident
James Lamb, USA, fourteen years old, November 24 1980, boating/drowning
Ricky A LaMere, Norfolk Virginia, seventeen years old, January 3 1991, homicide/stabbing
Deacon Lane, Orange County California, six years old, May 30 2000, bone cancer
Keisha Shardae Lane, Hagerstown Maryland, fifteen years old, August 17 2005, gunshot
Tyquane Lane, Bronx New York, six years old, June 23 1999, ten story fall
Brian Keith Lankey, Norfolk Virginia, three years old, January 1 2003
Jessica LaRock, Apalachin New York, seven years old, December 14 1989, exposure
Lynck LaRoque, Yakima Washington, seventeen years old, December 23 1987, house fire
Halaina Dawn Lascelle, Powell River British Columbia, three years old, April 30 2001, slit throat
Robert Lavenhouse, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, fourteen years old, August 31 1989, house fire
Gary Lawson, Dayton Ohio, twelve years old, July 13 1995, hit by car
Omega Leach, Nashville Tennessee, seventeen years old, June 3 2007, restraint
Thomas Lee, Orange County California, one month old, July 1 2000, crib death
Brittany Legler, Millcreek Pennsylvania, fifteen years old, May 9 2004, battered
Tameka Lehmann, Bladenboro North Carolina, eleven years old, June 15 1987, battered
Rochelle LeMajeur, Albuquerque New Mexico, three years old, June 24 2001, suffocation
Jeremy Leon, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, two years old, October 12 1988, house fire
Isaac Lethbridge, Detroit Michigan, two years old, August 16 2006, battered
Richard (Ricky) Letourneau, Durham Maine, four years old, January 6 1990, battered
Tiffany Lewandowski, Waubay South Dakota, seven years old, January 15 2005, house fire
Travis Lewandowski, Waubay South Dakota, four years old, January 15 2005, house fire
Dominique Lewis, Oakland California, fourteen years old, June 2 2002, suicide/hanging
Trenton Jared Lewis, Canyon County Idaho, three years old, July 8 2006, drowned in pool
Johnny Lim, Seattle Washington, fourteen years old, December 26 2005, brain hemorrhage
Destiny Linden, Indianapolis Indiana, seven weeks old, April 28 2008, unknown
Jacob Lindorff, Franklin Township New Jersey, five years old, December 14 2001, battered
Joshua Lindsey, Chester South Carolina, February 11 1990 - October 1991, battered
Shantel Lisby, Brooklyn New York, eleven months old, June 1 2000, cocaine overdose
Jennifer Little, Utah, two years old, June 4 1977, brain hemorrhage
Christian Liz, New York City, three weeks old, November 29 2004, suffocation
Roland Lamont Kirvin Lloyd, Akron Ohio, July 21 1993 - January 18 1994, pneumonia
Markia Lockman, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, two years old, April 13 2000, battered
James Lonnee, Guelph/Hamilton Ontario, sixteen years old, September 7 1996, beaten by cellmate
Joseph Lopez, Las Vegas Nevada, seventeen years old, April 28 2008, gunshot
Pablo Lopez, Weslaco Texas, five years old, June 18 2008, pit bull
Sharon Lorimer, Miami County Ohio, three years old, November 15 1996, peritonitis
Gregory Love, Florida, twenty three months old, April 2005, head injury
Shawn C Lowrance né Andy Mohler, Shelton Washington, ten years old, October 9 1999, drowned for insurance
Charles Lucas, USA, sixteen years old, November 24 1980, boating/drowning
Raven Lucas, Plano Texas, five years old, June 22 2008, car crash
Wesley Lucas, District of Columbia, two months old, February 14 1998, foster dad died
Allan Lucy, Uniontown Alabama, thirteen years old, 1985, battered
Nikki Lutke, Cheyenne Wyoming, five years old, August 28 2003, drowned in bathtub
John (Jake) Lynch, DeKalb County Georgia, fourteen months old, January 1990, AIDS
Zachary James Lyons, Winston-Salem North Carolina, January 24 1992 - October 8 1996, battered
Keray (Koray) Maddox, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, sixteen years old, May 20 1991, attack/fall
Rocco Magliozzi, Gooding Idaho, twelve years old, July 28 2006, West Nile virus
Melissa Mahon, Lough Gill Ireland, fourteen years old, September 14 2006, homicide
Matt Maloney, Colorado, thirteen years old, February 22 1998, suicide
Denis Manuel Maltez, Hialeah Florida, twelve years old, May 23 2007, restraint
Shaquella Mance, Belton South Carolina, seven months old, March 27 2005, battered
Elizabeth Mann, Lake Butler Florida, fifteen years old, January 25 2006, traffic accident
Heaven Mann, Lake Butler Florida, three years old, January 25 2006, traffic accident
Johnny Mann, Lake Butler Florida, thirteen years old, January 25 2006, traffic accident
Thomas Mapes, Topeka Kansas, seventeen years old, July 8 1994, restraint
Logan Marr, Chelsea Maine, October 14 1995 - January 31 2001, asphyxiation
Angel Martin, Chicago Illinois, four years old, November 13 1997, battered
Jimmy Terrell Martin, Green Pond Alabama, sixteen years old, July 2002
Terrence Martin, Detroit Michigan, two years old, October 1994, battered
Brooke Martinez, Fort Worth Texas, eight months old, March 7 2006, battered
Erica Martinez, Pasco Washington, five years old, August 25 2007, head injury
Fernando Ibarra Martinez, Bakersfield California, nine months old, March 26 2006, battered
Frank Martinez, San Diego County California, five months old, June 30 1991, baked in van
Gerardo Martinez, Los Angeles California, three months old, August 2 2006, airway compromise
Stephanie Martinez, Pueblo Colorado, five years old, December 31 2001, untreated burns
Jaquez Mason, Coral Springs Florida, three years old, December 25 2005, scalding
Tiffany Laverne Mason, Folsom California, June 11 1986 - August 9 2001, battered
Daniel (Danny) Jack Matthews, Clearwater Florida, February 14 1986 - May 31 2003, beaten by cellmate
Viktor Alexander Matthey né V Sergeyevich Tulimov, Hunterdon County New Jersey, six years old, October 31 2000, hypothermia
Dominic James Matz, Osawatomie Kansas, July 6 2002 - February 15 2004, treatment withheld
Donte May, Peoria Illinois, three years old, June 12 1997, shaken baby
Jamie Lee Mayne, Atascadero California, March 24 1995 - February 10 2000, battered
Kristal Mayon-Ceniceros, Chula Vista California, sixteen years old, February 5 1999, restraint
Emily Ann Mays, Tucson Arizona, sixteen months old, August 24 2005, battered
Christian Edward McAllister, Rolesville North Carolina, eight years old, December 27 2000, drowned in tub
Brandon McBride, Chicago Illinois, ten years old, July 20 2000, house fire
Raegan McBride, Windsor Connecticut, twenty five months old, February 24 1997, battered
Timothy McBride, Chicago Illinois, eight years old, July 20 2000, house fire
Malachi Jermaine McBride-Roberts, San Diego California, July 5 2005 - June 29 2007, battered
Andrew McClain, Bridgeport Connecticut, December 6 1986 - March 22 1998, restraint
Kenneth McClain Jr, Alexander Arkansas, fifteen years old, September 16 2001, suicide/hanging
Jessica Li McClure, Lakeville Minnesota, ten months old, August 17 1993, battered
Kevin Jacob McCullough, Chevy Chase Maryland, two years old, July 21 1993, AIDS
Michael McDonald, Boston Massachusetts, eleven years old, December 24 1980, fell through ice
Ryan McDonald, Lonsdale Tennessee, fifteen years old, August 21 2008, gunshot
Charles Thomas McEntire III, Richmond California, April 30 2003 - November 22 2004, stabbing
James McGee, Oswego Illinois, fourteen years old, February 19 2007, car crash
Dymond McGowan, Springfield Massachusetts, fourteen years old, May 10 2007, runaway/gunshot
Kylee McGowen, Fountain Valley California, ten years old, April 25 2005, car accident
Shinaul McGraw, Lynnwood Washington, twelve years old, January 5 1994, restraint
Lacresha McGuire, Preston County West Virginia, five years old, November 24 1998, house fire
Edward McKenna, San Antonio Texas, seven years old, March 24 1991, house fire
Jerry McKensie, Athens Ohio, fourteen years old, May 4 1997, gasoline fire
Deaira McKinzie, Saint Louis Missouri, eight weeks old, November 10 1991
Deairis McKinzie, Saint Louis Missouri, eight weeks old, November 10 1991
Jennifer McLarin, Wheaton Maryland, fourteen years old, April 21 2002, suicide/hanging
Cory Bradley McLaughlin, North Carolina, four years old, July 4 1997, battered
Jerry McLaurin, Brownwood Texas, fourteen years old, November 2 1999, restraint
Darrion McMichael, North Columbia South Carolina, seven months old, November 22 1990, house fire
Shurlean McVea, Columbus Ohio, thirteen years old, December 5 1991, rape/murder
David Meffe, Toronto Ontario, sixteen years old, October 1 2002, suicide/hanging
Jasmine Melcher, Orange County California, five months old, December 17 2004, cardiac arrest
Breianna Melendez, El Paso Texas, twenty months old, October 1999, battered
Deborah Lee Melville, Darwin Australia, twelve years old, July 12 2007, untreated injury
Demitria Melvin, Brooklyn New York, three years old, June 12 1995, battered
Joshua Mendelson, Fort Lauderdale Florida, seventeen years old, October 31 2006, shot by police
Maria De Jesus Mendoza, Katy Texas, fourteen years old, October 12 2002, restraint
Yonathan (Yhonathan) Mengesha, DeKalb County Georgia, fifteen months old, February 1 1995, brain injury
Chelsea Mensinger, Dupont Pennsylvania, eleven years old, September 22 2000, gunshot
David Mercado, New York City, seventeen years old, December 30 2007, suicide
Caleb Jerome Merchant, Edmonton Alberta, thirteen months old, November 26 2005, battered
Denis Gene Merryman né Uritsky, Harford County Maryland, eight years old, January 2005, starvation
Roosekerson Methelus, Broward County Florida, four months old, February 28 2003, Sudafed overdose
Savannah Meyer, Jefferson County Kentucky, seven years old, May 31 2001, drowned in pool
George (Jorge) Milan, Santa Rosa California, twenty three months old, September 11 1993, shower spray enema
Angela Miller, Snoqualmie Washington, seventeen years old, March 1 2001, suicide/hanging
Brandon Miller, Bushnell Illinois, two years old, July 14 1994, drowned in pool
Devon L Miller, Spokane Washington, twenty months old, August 6 2006, battered
DuJuan Miller, Detroit Michigan, baby, April 1995
Euryale Miller, Kansas City Missouri, one year old, April 1 2001, battered
Jacob Miller, Cherokee County Georgia, twenty two months old, November 20 1997, shaken baby
Kenzie Lee Miller, Bolton England, August 9 2007 - November 18 2007, pneumonia
Nicholas Lawrence Miller, Redwood City California, eighteen months old, August 31 1986, transplant rejection
Clayton Miracle, Georgia, three years old, August 11 1993, battered
Elza Marina Miranda, Colleton County South Carolina, nine years old, July 17 1994, battered
Christina Mitchell, Birmingham Alabama, seventeen years old, ca January 2007, motorcycle accident
Emma Louise Mitchell, Cramlington Northumberland UK, fifteen years old, September 23 2007, hit by car
Lamar Mitchell, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, two years old, July 12 1993, battered
Sheldon Mitchell, Saint Stephen South Carolina, thirteen years old, April 8 1998, double pneumonia
Weyland Brown Mitchell, East Meadow New York, seven years old, May 20 1992, malnutrition
Nathan Moncrieff, Oakland California, fourteen months old, June 12 1986, battered
Hanna Denise Montessori, Santa Ana California, March 16 1988 - January 19 2004, homicide/head-injury
Alfredo Montez, Auburndale Florida, two years old, July 1 2002, battered
Janeen Montoya, Denver Colorado, one month old, October 21 1995, car crash
Charles W (Chase) Moody Jr, Mason County Texas, April 10 1985 - October 14 2002, restraint
Michael Moon, Fall River Massachusetts, fourteen months old, September 14 1998, drowned in bathtub
Breighonna Moore, Sea Tac Washington, three years old, March 13 1993, battered
Tamaihia Lynae Moore, Sacramento California, seventeen months old, October 22 2007, battered
Tahtjauna Moore, Columbus Ohio, twenty one months old, January 23 1997, homicide
Noah Morales, Rialto California, two years old, June 3 2005, battered
John Moran, USA, seventeen years old, November 24 1980, boating/drowning
Zachary Kay Moran, Charlotte North Carolina, fourteen months old, August 8 2003, battered
Ricardo Moreno, Orange County California, nineteen months old, October 24 2004, renal cancer
Christina Morlan, Scott County Iowa, September 3 2003 - November 30 2003, unknown
Joshua Angel Morrow, Tampa Florida, four years old, December 28 2006, hit by car
Kenze Morton, Norfolk Virginia, four years old, December 24 1997, strangled
Vivien Morzuch, Kamloops British Columbia, fifteen years old, July 29 2000, runaway/homicide
Antonio Moseley, Chicago Heights Illinois, two months old, September 8 1998, shaken baby
Georgia Lee Moses, Petaluma California, twelve years old, August 13 1997
Keith Moye, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, seven years old, August 31 1989, house fire
Preston Moye, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, five years old, August 31 1989, house fire
Andrew Jamal Muff, Fort Wayne Indiana, five months old, August 6 1994, shaken baby
Travis Robert Mulligan, Fresno County California, July 1999 - July 2001, drowned in hot tub
Carlyle Mullins, Nashville Tennessee, five years old, May 27 2005, battered
Peter Munck, Endwell New York, twelve years old, February 13 2008, physical altercation
Steven G Murray, Anchorage Alaska, ten years old, July 28 1999, battered
Vatell Murray, Baltimore Maryland, fifteen years old, December 31 2005, murder/gunshots
Justin Thomas Murrietta, Fresno California, December 23 2007 - April 20 2008, crib death
Davion Mutts, Hampton Virginia, four years old, July 13 2005, battered
Gareth Myatt, Stoke-on-Trent England, fifteen years old, April 19 2004, restraint
Bryan C Myers, Louisville Kentucky, two years old, November 27 1987, battered
Cedrick Napoleon, Killeen Texas, June 26 1987 - March 7 2002, restraint
Jason Herb Nason né Jason Andrew Moore, Sisters Oregon, four years old, November 24 1985, shigella
Jodi Kay Nason née Karina Alejandro Munoz, Sisters Oregon, two years old, November 29 1985, shigella
Danielle Christine Neal, Peoria Illinois, thirteen months old, September 2 1976, shaken baby
Angel Negron, Lynn Massachusetts, two years old, August 23 1991, head injuries
Rachel Nelson, McBee South Carolina, seven years old, December 3 1996, battered
Sarah Nelson, Orange County California, sixteen years old, April 29 2001, suicide/hanging
Robert Nesbitt, Bronx New York, two years old, February 5 1998, house fire
Terrence Nesbitt, Bronx New York, four years old, February 5 1998, house fire
Candace Elizabeth Newmaker née C Tiara Elmore, Colorado, November 19 1989 - April 19 2000, re-birth asphyxiation
Allison Newman, Canton Michigan, two years old, September 23 2006, battered
Karlye Anne Newman, Thompson Falls Montana, sixteen years old, October 8 2004, suicide/hanging
Jonathan Nichol, Cook County Illinois, two years old, June 16 1995, drowned in toilet
Anthony William Nicholls Jr, Adams Massachusetts, August 6 2001 - November 7 2001
Darrian Nichols, Moreno Valley California, ten weeks old, August 1994
Lacey Nichols, Coleman Texas, fifteen months old, January 12 2006
Tameaka Nickerson, Middlesex County New Jersey, seventeen years old, December 29 1994, stabbing
Christian Nieto, Corsicana Texas, sixteen months old, September 4 2006, battered
Robert Nolan, Park Forest Illinois, seventeen years old, March 23 1987, suicide/hanging
Trevor Edward Michael Nolan, Mono County California, May 10 1991 - April 12 1997, treatment withheld
Taurean Norfleet, North Little Rock Arkansas, eight years old, August 20 1991, asthma
Demonte Norton, Indianapolis Indiana, ten years old, September 15 2007, stabbing
Deva Latrae Norwood, Chester Pennsylvania, two years old, April 18 1994, battered
Alfred O’Brien Jr, Anchorage Alaska, fourteen years old, June 14 2000, crashed stolen car
Oscar Ocasio, San Carlos Park Florida, two years old, March 7 1983, battered
Brianna O’Conner, Aurora Colorado, one year old, January 1 1992, drowned in hot tub
Sierra Odom, Arlington Texas, three years old, August 11 2005, battered
Jamal Odum, Summerville South Carolina, nine years old, March 23 2003, restraint
Adrian Olvera, Madera California, twenty months old, December 1 1994, undetermined
Sahara Jovan Onishea, Bossier City Louisiana, two years old, February 27 2000, battered
Emily A Orban, Saint Louis Missouri, two years old, June 27 2001, car crash
Lenny Ortega, Ingram Texas, twelve years old, May 30 2006, drowned in creek
Louise A Osborn, Bloomington Illinois, three years old, July 29 1993, baked in cabinet
Maria Catherine Ostlund, Robbinsdale Minnesota, two years old, July 15 1986, shaken baby
John Outlaw Jr, Nassau County New York, four years old, May 28 1978, battered
Tracia Owen, Winnipeg Manitoba, fourteen years old, August 25 2005, suicide/hanging
Keron Owens, Walterboro South Carolina, three years old, January 19 1992, battered
Ted Daniel Owens, Nicholasville Kentucky, seventeen years old, December 3 2001, alcohol poisoning
Sean Paddock né Ford, Johnston County North Carolina, four years old, February 26 2006, asphyxiation
Omar Paisley, Miami Florida, seventeen years old, June 2003, untreated appendicitis
Robert Pakan, Glendale Arizona, three months old, September 11 1994, baked in car
Kevinnesha Palmer, Plano Texas, six years old, June 22 2008, car crash
Raymond Palmer, Ardmore Oklahoma, nineteen months old, June 28 2008, hit by car
baby boy Panyouvong, Portland Oregon, January 8 1998 - January 23 1998, crib death
Orlena Parker, Colorado Springs Colorado, fifteen years old, March 10 2003, restraint
Terrell Parker, Buffalo New York, two years old, 2003, battered
Travis Parker, Cleveland Georgia, thirteen years old, April 21 2005, restraint
Juan Turner Parks, Roanoke Virginia, twenty three months old, September 7 2007, baked in car
Melva Dee Parrott, Hersey Michigan, May 4 1998 - June 29 2000, bronchitis
Philip Patrick, Memphis Tennessee, eleven months old, October 7 1996, neglected birth defects
Alex Pavlis né Geiko, Schaumburg Illinois, six years old, December 19 2003, battered
Ariana Payne, Tucson Arizona, October 2002 - 2006, corpse found in storage
Tyler Payne, Tucson Arizona, November 2001 - 2006, missing
Tristan Payton, Lewisville (Denton County) Texas, seventeen months old, September 4 2000, battered
Dillon Tyler Peak, Saint Petersburg Florida, fourteen years old, June 17 2006, undiagnosed illness
Cozy Pearce, Munroe Falls Ohio, thirteen years old, July 23 2002, drowned in pool
Carol Ann Pearl, North Babylon New York, six years old, July 11 2000, roughhousing fall
Ian E Peddicord, Weatherford Texas, eight years old, July 30 2001, seizure
Raymond Pena, Englewood Colorado, four years old, April 16 1994, HIV/spleen
Luis Gonzalez Perez, Springfield Massachusetts, thirteen months old, July 8 1995, scalding
Dawn Renay Perry, Manvel Texas, sixteen years old, April 10 1993, restraint
Angellica Pesante, Seneca County New York, four years old, April 18 1997, battered
Annette Pesqueira, Orange County California, seventeen years old, January 6 2003, cocaine
Victoria Petersilka, Des Plaines Illinois, fourteen years old, February 9 2002, suicide/hanging
Terrell Peterson, Atlanta Georgia, five years old, January 16 1998, battered
Dustin E Phelps, Lancaster Ohio, fourteen years old, March 1 1998, restraint
Cynteria Phillips, Miami Florida, December 10 1986 - August 14 2000, rape/murder
Dashiell Phillips, Brooklyn New York, three years old, July 1 1990, thrown off roof
Charles E (Chuckie) Pickard Jr, Tewksbury Massachusetts, four years old, November 8 1978, battered
Dionte L Pickens, Tuskegee Alabama, March 24 1986 - October 16 2000, hanging
Brandon Pickinpaugh, Lincoln Nebraska, seventeen years old, February 18 1999, shot committing robbery
Marguerite Pierre, West Orange New Jersey, five years old, December 2005, poison
Amanda Piggott née Leandra Gutierrez, Meadow Lake New Mexico, fourteen years old, January 8 2007, week’s inattention
Rikka Pinckney, Tampa Florida, eleven years old, June 30 2006, smothered
Elaine Pino, New York City, eleven years old, December 28 1992, apartment fire
Emporia Pirtle, Indiana, six years old, November 11 1996, battered
Taya Pishion, Madras Oregon, one month old, December 5 2007, crib death
Jason Plischkowsky, Southampton England, May 25 1985 - December 19 1986, head injury
Trivaughna Plummer, Chowchilla California, one year old, January 1991, shaken baby
Thomas (Tom-Tom) Plunkett, Lexington County South Carolina, two years old, February 10 1991, suffocation
Huntly Tamati Pokaia, Huntly New Zealand, three years old, April 2002, battered
David Polreis, Greeley Colorado, two years old, February 6 1996, battered
Maryah Che Ponce, Rialto California, December 5 1997 - June 29 2001, baked in car
Constance S Porter, Kearney
http://www.fixcas.com/parody/tomb.htm
Constance S Porter, Kearney Missouri, July 20 1998 - February 12 2001, battered
Domico Leigh Presnell, Seattle Washington, six years old, April 21 1996, drug (Elavil) overdose
Dakota Denzel Prince-Smith, Lancaster California, five years old, July 8 2003, baked in car
Nehemiah Nate Prince-Smith, Lancaster California, three years old, July 8 2003, baked in car
Megan Pryor, Milwaukee Wisconsin, two years old, July 11 1997, cough medicine overdose
Jamee Pugh, Union City California, five months old, March 28 1995, house fire
Jacob Hollis Quada, Utah, February 17 1979 - January 11 1997
Karen Rose Quill, Saint Louis Saskatchewan, twenty months old, September 13 1997, internal injuries
Christal A Quimby, Rochester New Hampshire, November 17 1975 - August 12 1992, runaway/car crash
Travis Quinzer, Vanderburgh County Indiana, three months old, March 13 2003, positional asphyxia
Dorothy Quirico, Orange County California, six years old, July 17 2001, sepsis
Rodrigo Armando Rameriez Jr, Victorville California, eighteen months old, July 6 2001, drowned in pool
Crystal Ramirez née Camarillo, Gonzales County Texas, eight years old, August 2007, malnurition/battered
Mark Ramirez, Dracut Massachusetts, two years old, September 7 1998, drowned in pool
Stephanie Ramos, New York City, eight years old, July 9 2003, dumped in garbage can
Dejuan Ramsey, Valdosta Georgia, one month old, August 31 2006, baked in car
Bobby Jo Randolph, Houston Texas, seventeen years old, September 26 1996, asphyxiation
Candice Marie Raynor, North Richmond Virginia, fifteen years old, September 30 2006, runaway/electrocution
Jacquelyn Reah, Grand Rapids Michigan, ten years old, November 27 2004, runaway / hit by car
Christopher Rector, Clovis California, January 8 1998 - December 8 2000
Patrick Norman Redhead, Oakbank Manitoba, March 24 1984 - August 26 1999, suicide/hanging
Shannon Ratchford, Greenville South Carolina, nine years old, August 20 1996, scalded/drowned in bath
Cecil Reed, Bronx New York, 1984 - April 7 2000, drugs/heart attack
Latayna Reese, Bradenton Florida, fifteen years old, April 2 1996, runaway
Anwan G Reid, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, eight years old, August 31 1989, house fire
Caprice Reid, New York City, four years old, June 29 1997, starved and battered
Jonathan Reid, Gardena California, nine years old, June 9 1997, treatment withheld
Matthew Reid, Welland Ontario, three years old, December 15 2005, suffocation
Dustin Scott Rhodes, Litchfield Park Arizona, nine years old, August 13 2003, battered
Katherine Rice, Saylorsburg Pennsylvania, sixteen years old, May 2 2008, methadone overdose
Michael Richardson, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, seven years old, December 24 1987, house fire
Terrell Davon Richardson, Cassett South Carolina, eight years old, May 26 2004, battered
Tiffany Richins, DeKalb County Georgia, twelve years old, April 26 1981, battered
Alana Rickard-Cowell, Honolulu Hawaii, two months old, April 23 2006, unknown (broken bones)
Adam Rickwood, County Durham England, fourteen years old, August 9 2004, suicide/hanging
Christian Riddel, Brooklyn New York, nine years old, November 16 2001, house fire
Davel Riddel, Brooklyn New York, ten years old, November 15 2001, house fire
Tiarra Rimmer, Milwaukee Wisconsin, eighteen months old, August 22 1998, house fire
Vicky Dawn Louise Rinkel, Hooker Oklahoma, nine years old, ca 1998, battered
Simon Pedro Rivero, Boring Oregon, two years old, January 25 1996, battered
Julio Rizo, San Diego California, eleven years old, July 4 2005, cardiorespiratory arrest
Trenton Robbins, North Richland Hills Texas, three weeks old, August 16 2003, battered
Eric Roberts, Keene Texas, June 16 1979 - February 22 1996, restraint
Sarah Louise Roberts, Llanddwyn island Wales, twelve years old, August 22 2005, drowned at beach
Malachi Roberts-McBride, San Diego California, July 6 2005 - June 29 2007, battered
Michael Robertson, Plantation Florida, seven months old, December 29 1990, suffocation
Dasani Lorenza Robinson, Tampa Florida, seven weeks old, June 22 2006, suffocation/co-sleeping
Kentoya Robinson, DeKalb County Georgia, twenty months old, May 19 2001, battered
Juan Carlos Rodriguez Jr, Liberty Missouri, July 28 2004 - December 2004, oxygen turned off
Yessenia Rodriguez, Dallas Texas, seven months old, January 18 2003,
Ana Rogers, Sparks Nevada, four months old, July 2005, pre-existing injury
Dominique Rogers, Glenarden Maryland, two years old, December 11 1994, head injury
Donderey Rogers, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, fourteen years old, July 30 2002, restraint
William G (Billy) Rohrer III né Muguelito Alvarada, Haddon Township New Jersey, two years old, May 28 1975, brain hemorrhage
Genevieve (Genny) Rojas, Chula Vista California, four years old, July 21 1995, starvation, scalded
Robert Rollins, Rutland Massachusetts, twelve years old, April 21 1997, restraint
Adrianna Maria Romero-Cram, Veracruz Mexico (US supervision), August 25 2000 - June 13 2005, battered
Guadalupe Rosales III, San Antonio Texas, April 2005 - June 13 2006, shaken baby
Paola Rosales, Milton Ontario, fourteen years old, July 3 2001, suicide/hanging
Kyle Anthony Ross, Springfield Massachusetts, September 7 1995 - June 9 2001, rottweiler
Shelton Ross, Fair Oaks California, six years old, January 3 1991, house fire
LaShawna Roth, Seattle Washington, two months old, April 28 1993, unexplained
Carlos Ruiz, Pima County Arizona, thirteen years old, December 16 1994, hiking/fall
Juliana Ruiz, Mesa Arizona, three years old, March 29 2008, battered
Sophia Rush, Saint Paul Minnesota, thirteen years old, September 30 2002, hit by car
Krista Ruthanne née Krista Ann Loscalzo, Port Jefferson Station New York, eight years old, March 27 2008, cancer
Harry Tyrone Rutledge, Hawkins Texas, fifteen years old, September 21 2006, runaway / hit by train
Donald Rymer, Milwaukee Wisconsin, two months old, February 1997, crib death
Seing Saephan, San Francisco California, five weeks old, April 1994, crib death
LeRon Saint John, Detroit Michigan, fifteen years old, March 1 2003, untreated tuberculosis
Francesca Saint Pierre, Montreal Quebec, fourteen years old, August 18 2007, homicide/beating
Carlos Salas, Pomona California, eighteen months old, July 1 1986, battered
Melissa Sale, Western Bay New Zealand, fourteen months old, January 8 2006, brain injury
Aquan (Quanny) Salmon, Hartford Connecticut, fourteen years old, April 13 1999, shot by police
Jason Saltares, Staten Island New York, two years old, June 11 1995, drowned in pool
Nancylia Salter, Buffalo New York, fourteen years old, August 26 2008, gunshot
Naeem Sanders, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, three years old, November 10 1986, battered
Michelle Carmina Sandoval, Orange County California, eleven days old, September 28 2004, sepsis
George Santiago, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, seven months old, August 1996, crib death
Manuel Junior Santiago, Medway Massachusetts, May 12 1995 - August 9 1995, baked in car
Marlon Devine Santos, Worcester Massachusetts, five months old, November 5 1998, missing
Katrina Sappington, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, sixteen years old, January 6 1982, runaway/drowned
Andres E Saragos, Warm Springs Oregon, August 5 1995 - July 13 2000, baked in car
Nathaniel Saunsoci-Mitchell, South Sioux City Nebraska, twenty months old, September 22 2006, closed head injury
Leslie Sawyer, Port Saint Lucie Florida, eleven years old, April 2 1991, drowned in pool
Eric David Schibley, USA, seventeen years old, November 24 1980, boating/drowning
Michael Schmader, Lincoln Nebraska, seventeen years old, October 18 1995, stabbing
Kearren Schneider, Sharpes Florida, ten years old, April 5 2003, car crash
Kaden Schnitzler, Winnebago County Illinois, two years old, September 25 2006, head injury
Joseph Schriver, Aliquippa Pennsylvania, seven months old, October 5 1997, battered
Sean Schwartz, Boerne Texas, six years old, June 1996, AIDS
Gina M Score, Plankinton South Dakota, May 7 1985 - July 21 1999, baked by boot camp
Caprice Scott, Florida, infant, 1999, mother in foster care
Kenneth Scott, Illinois, eighteen months old, March 1991
Ryan Scott, Sheffield Lake Ohio, two years old, March 27 1998, battered
Jessica Marie Scovil, Nicholson Georgia, nine months old, September 2 2008, baked in van
Krystal Shalene Scurry, Aiken County South Carolina, February 1989 - November 2 1991, rape / murder
Marcus Serna, Costa Mesa California, two years old, December 1996, fever
Andrew (Andy) Thomas Setzer, California, April 27 1995 - August 2 1999, battered
Ashley Shaddox, Snoqualmie Washington, fourteen years old, March 1 1998, suicide/hanging
Joshua Sharp, Las Vegas Nevada, fifteen months old, August 15 2006, infection
Joshua Sharpe, Oconomowoc Wisconsin, seventeen years old, December 28 1999, restraint
Ariel Shaw, Bibb County Georgia, nineteen months old, January 26 2000, battered
Ricky Shaw, Chicago Illinois, two years old, April 6 1996, battered
Jordan Kaleb Shelton, Knoxville Tennessee, sixteen years old, November 24 2007, chokehold
Christopher Royce Shepherd aka Hoa Nguyen, Aurora Colorado, six years old, April 17 1999, battered
Elijah Sheppard, Snellville Georgia, five years old, April 24 2004, drowned in river
Vivan Uk Sheppard, Jacksonville Florida, eight months old, May 15 1999, suffocation
Colby Shirley, Gallup New Mexico, eighteen months old, March 20 2006, battered
Joseph H Shriver, Pennsylvania, March 2 1997 - October 5 1997, battered
Jamarian Shropshire, Summit County Ohio, three years old, January 1991, gunshot
Diana Shumaker, Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania, two years old, October 1990, fell down stairs
Isaiah Simmons III, Carroll County Maryland, seventeen years old, January 23 2007, restraint
Quincey L Simmons, Omaha Nebraska, August 21 1997 - March 24 2001, battered
Theresa Marie Simmons, Lithia Springs Georgia, fifteen years old, 1989, runaway/strangled
Christopher Simpson, Howell Michigan, seven years old, November 14 1998, house fire
Jordan Simpson né Richard Morrison II, Howell Michigan, five years old, November 14 1998, house fire
Nicole Simpson née Desira Morrison, Howell Michigan, seven years old, November 14 1998, house fire
Jonathan Skinner, Waveland Mississippi, three years old, March 28 1986, house fire
Terrance Skinner, Waveland Mississippi, four years old, March 28 1986, house fire
Devin A Slade, Milwaukee Wisconsin, October 23 2000 - June 19 2001, asphyxiation
Lisa Sliedgeski, Derby Connecticut, three years old, July 10 1991, drowned in pool
Ana Smallen, Orange County California, two years old, July 22 2006, drowned in Jacuzzi
Albert Smith, Tampa Florida, five years old, January 8 1988, battered
Andre Smith Jr, Reno Nevada, nine years old, July 1997
Ann Smith, Bordentown New Jersey, sixteen years old, October 14 1996, suicide/hanging
Cameron Smith, Jonesboro Arkansas, fourteen years old, May 19 2007, gunshot
Carrie Smith, Brandon Florida, sixteen years old, July 4 1998, car crash
Charnell Smith, Columbia South Carolina, six years old, October 9 1998, battered
Dia Khary Smith, Boston Massachusetts, May 16 1977 - April 23 1995, runaway/gunshot
Earl Smith, Detroit Michigan, nine years old, November 1995, restraint
Holly Ann Smith, London Kentucky, fourteen years old, July 8 2003, high speed chase
John Smith, Fishersgate England, four years old, December 24 1999, battered and bitten
Keyundra Smith, Eudora Arkansas, twenty two months old, May 28 2008, shaken baby
Mikinah Smith, Cincinnati Ohio, one year old, March 18 2003, shaken baby
Reachelle Smith, Minot North Dakota, September 10 2002 - May 17 2006, lost
Shawn D Smith, Daytona Beach Florida, thirteen years old, October 29 2001, suicide
Keyanna Marie Snowdown, Winnipeg Manitoba, twenty two months old, May 12 2004, drowned in hot tub
Mark Anthony Soares, Marlborough Massachusetts, sixteen years old, April 29 1998, restraint
Branden Soberay, Wildomar California, twelve years old, December 28 2002, buried under mound
Cindy Gilbert Sohappy, Salem Oregon, sixteen years old, December 6 2003, alcohol
Aaron Sosa, El Paso Texas, twenty two months old, February 2001
Tristan Sovern, Greensboro North Carolina, sixteen years old, March 4 1998, restraint
Shakeem Spaights, Newark New Jersey, four years old, April 11 1999, head wound
DeJohn Speed, Saint Paul Minnesota, four years old, January 1994, battered
Ebony Spellman, Brentwood New York, June 1985, battered
Nicki Colma Spriggs, District of Columbia, fifteen years old, November 26 1998, untreated curved spine
Calista Springer, Centreville Michigan, sixteen years old, February 27 2008, house fire while chained
Jushai Akua Spurgeon, North Las Vegas Nevada, fourteen months old, April 3 2005, scalding
Tommy Stacey, Carmichael California, three months old, January 3 2003, crib death
Elizabeth Stafford, Sharpes Florida, four years old, April 5 2003, car crash
Michelle Stafford, Sharpes Florida, seven years old, April 5 2003, car crash
Lloyd Stamp, Edmonton Alberta, November 18 1987 - September 29 2005, suicide/hit by truck
Calvin Stanley, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, three years old, August 6 1992, battered
Tahgee Stanley, Orange County California, twelve years old, June 12 2000, brain damage
Maria Yvonne Stark, Renton Washington, four years old, December 2 1986, electrocution
Michelle Stark, Denver Colorado, three years old, June 4 1991, head injury
Ty’Shay Staten, Red Wing Minnesota, four years old, January 6 2008, codeine overdose
Samantha Steadman, Newark Ohio, November 24 1991 - January 10 2008, vomiting and diarrhea
Randy Steele, San Antonio Texas, nine years old, September 6 2000, restraint
Elizabeth (Lisa) Steinberg née Launders, New York City, May 14 1981 - November 4 1987, battered
Christopher Stephens, Pleasant Hill Iowa, fourteen years old, August 9 2007, police chase/crash
Klaudia Stepter, Baton Rouge Louisiana, six months old, August 29 1995, battered
Brandon Stonechild, Saskatchewan, toddler, 1997, suffocation
Adora Grae Stout, Johnson City Tennessee, seventeen years old, January 9 2000, camping trip
Karen Striplin, Walnut Creek California, fourteen years old, May 23 1997, suicide/hanging
Wade Strong, Pembroke Pines Florida, fourteen years old, January 4 2003, seizure
Jamaro Stubbs, West Palm Beach Florida, five years old, August 18 1990, drowned in pool
Brandon Stuchkus, Drums Pennsylvania, eight years old, June 3 1997, suffocated under plywood
Eleanor Sueppel, Iowa City Iowa, three years old, March 24 2008, murder/suicide
Ethan Sueppel, Iowa City Iowa, ten years old, March 24 2008, murder/suicide
Mira Sueppel, Iowa City Iowa, five years old, March 24 2008, murder/suicide
Seth Sueppel, Iowa City Iowa, eight years old, March 24 2008, murder/suicide
Kehaulani Niu Sullivan, West Valley Utah, four years old, February 19 2003, stabbing
Chris Surbey, Winnipeg Manitoba, October 13 1987 - June 6 2005, stabbing
Michelle Lynn Sutton, Arizona, fifteen years old, May 9 1990, dehydration/exposure
Tiere (Tia) Porshay Sutton, Kinston North Carolina, twelve years old, August 25 2008, house fire
Rosa Marie Swain, Neptune New Jersey, two years old, December 15 1984, head injury
Andrea Swenson, Evergreen Colorado, thirteen years old, November 1990, suicide/aspirin overdose
Tara Amanda Talbot, Magna Utah, three years old, March 8 1995, head injury
Jason Michael Tallman, Wiley House, New Jersey, twelve years old, May 12 1993, restraint
Joshua D Tavani, Jefferson County New York, sixteen months old, January 1989
Dexter Taylor Jr, Fresno California, twenty two months, September 2000, battered
Kathy Jo Taylor, Lawrenceville Georgia, seventeen years old, April 1997, battered
Yasmin Taylor, Paterson New Jersey, seven months old, May 8 1994, virus
Lazaro Tew, Miami Florida, July 31 1986 - April 3 1988, battered
LaKeysha Tharp, Irmo South Carolina, October 9 2003 - April 7 2004, asphyxiation
Adam Michael Thimyan, Riverview Florida, October 2 1986 - April 3 2004, gunshot
Bobby Sue Thomas, Duluth Minnesota, seventeen years old, August 16 1996, restraint
Deshan Thomas, North Amityville New York, three years old, November 26 1993, battered
Hannah Thomas, Sioux City Iowa, eighteen months old, 1998
Kirstey Thomas, Rhos Carmarthenshire Wales, eleven years old, June 24 2007, drowned in pond
Mikinah Thomas, Westwood Ohio, one year old, March 18 2003, shaken baby
Timithy J Thomas, Banner Elk North Carolina, nine years old, March 11 1999, restraint
Christopher Lee Thompson, Hustontown Pennsylvania, ten years old, February 21 1991, Doberman/German shepherd
Liam Thompson né Dmitry S Ishlankulov, Columbus Ohio, October 16 2000 - October 16 2003, scalding
Rachel Joy Thompson, Springville California, five years old, September 7 2000, asphyxiation
Leanne Thomson, Moray Scotland, seventeen years old, July 6 2002, asphyxiation
James Alan Thorne, Greenbush Maine, eleven years old, June 7 1995, car crash
Ramona M Thorne, Minneapolis Minnesota, twelve years old, March 3 2000, battered
Krystal Ann Tibbits, Midvale Utah, three years old, July 7 1995, holding therapy
Germaine Tiggs, Akron Ohio, three years old, July 11 1996, battered
Michael Tinning, Schenectady New York, two years old, March 2 1981, Munchausen/asphyxiation
Caroline Touchie, Nanaimo British Columbia, four months old, September 11 2007, cause undisclosed
James Towner, Haverhill Massachusetts, four years old, December 16 1993, house fire
Kelly Ann Tozer, Egg Harbor City New Jersey, January 10 2004 - July 30 2005, drowned in pool
Patrick Traufler, Phoenix Arizona, six weeks old, February 18 2003, shaken baby
Heaven Traverse, Winnipeg Manitoba, two years old, January 14 2005, battered
Jerry Trivett, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, fifteen years old, June 1 2003, treatment withheld
Will Trout Jr, Winnipeg Manitoba, sixteen years old, May 26 2008, suicide/hanging
Daisia Miquella Trujillo, New Mexico, two years old, September 13 2002
Danielle Tucker, Kalamazoo Michigan, three years old, December 8 1995, fell/pushed down stairs
Demetrius Marcellus Tucker Jr, Roseville California, five days old, October 23 1999, German shepherd
Demetrius Tyler, Johnson City Tennessee, six months old, November 10 2004, drowned in bathtub
Patrick Tyson Jr, Fort Worth Texas, five years old, February 20 1991, drowned in bathtub
Ralph Norman Van Pelt Jr, Long Beach California, seven years old, May 3 2000, drowned in pool
Tyler Vanpopering, Southgate Michigan, September 23 2003 - April 14 2004, shaken baby
Justin Vasey, Surrey British Columbia, fourteen years old, February 25 2008, beaten and stabbed
Damian Vaughn, Jefferson City Missouri, January 7 1993 - May 30 2000, house fire
Quavarius Vaughn, Massac County Illinois, twenty two months old, April 23 2008, drowned in pool
Fernando (Fred) Luis Velazquez, West Palm Beach Florida, twelve years old, September 14 1986, stabbing
Jacqueline Veney, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, six years old, September 18 1998, killed to hide infidelity
Alizé Vick, Colorado Springs Colorado, two years old, October 10 2007, battered
Reena Virk, Saanich British Columbia, March 10 1983 - November 14 1997, teen swarming
Samuel (Sammy) Craig Vitela, Fairfield California, October 28 2006 - April 25 2007, crib death
Shaqueda Waddell, Taylorsville Utah, six months old, December 9 1993, head injury
Troy Wade, Fort Myers Florida, thirteen years old, October 22 1983, runaway / hit by car
Jerry Lee Wager, Silverdale Washington, thirteen years old, August 26 1994, runaway/beaten
Cheryl Walker, Birmingham Alabama, eight years old, March 22 1997, drowned in tub
George Walker III, DeKalb County Georgia, ten months old, November 7 2002, choked on hot dog
Jesse Walker, Barbour County Alabama, five years old, January 7 1990, house fire
Joshua Walker, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, four years old, January 13 2000, hit by bus
Kimberly Walker, Barbour County Alabama, five years old, January 7 1990, house fire
Larry Walker, Barbour County Alabama, ten years old, January 7 1990, house fire
Marketta Walker, Barbour County Alabama, four years old, January 7 1990, house fire
Pierre Walker, Chicago Illinois, ten years old, July 20 2000, house fire
Darryl Wallace, Brooklyn New York, six years old, November 16 2001, house fire
Gilbreania Wallace, Willowbrook California, two years old, June 13 1999, battered
Wauketta Wallace, Des Plaines Illinois, twelve years old, July 11 1989, restraint
Robert Walls, Winston-Salem North Carolina, five months old, March 1994, house fire
Johnny E Walters, Bloomington Illinois, six years old, March 18 1990, house fire
Michelle Walton, Boston Massachusetts, October 6 1994, asphyxiation
Michelle Walts, Richland New York, two years old, December 30 1998, mobile home fire
Paula Walts, Richland New York, five years old, December 30 1998, mobile home fire
Eddie Ward, District of Columbia, thirteen years old, June 6 1996, ventricular dysplasia
Erickyzha Warner, Utica New York, July 19 2002 - May 31 2004, untreated burns
Kasey Warner, Columbus Ohio, thirteen years old, October 8 2004, drowned in bathtub
Shane Devell Washington, Fresno California, fifteen months old, 1996, drowned in toilet
Alan Waters, Springfield Massachusetts, two years old, May 24 1993, house fire
Evan Watkins, Las Vegas Nevada, twenty one months old, July 11 1996, battered
Michelle Watson, Boston Massachusetts, nine years old, October 6 1994, unknown cause
Michael Weber, Richmond Michigan, seventeen years old, November 1 2000, hit by train
Patricia Nancy Webster, Albany New York, sixteen years old, July 4 2008, runaway/diabetic
Taylor Webster, New York City, six years old, May 18 2008, fentanyl transdermal patch
Franklin Weekley, Marianna Florida, seventeen years old, December 6 2002, lost
Daniel Wegert, Port Charlotte Florida, four months old, September 9 2000
Daniel Patrick Weller, Dallas Texas, six years old, May 24 1999, hit by truck
Omar Wellington, Toronto Ontario, seventeen years old, July 15 2006, stabbing
Michael Wendt, South Park Pennsylvania, two years old, December 24 1991, battered
Anariah West, Peoria Illinois, eleven months old, December 26 2007, house fire
Maurice (Reecie) West, Rochester New York, two years old, August 1989, battered
Tyler (Ty Ty) Westbrook, Farmington New Mexico, two years old, January 26 2007, suffocation
Christine Wetrich, Tacoma Washington, fourteen years old, April 1996, untreated leukemia
Diana Nicole Whaley, Ocala Florida, three years old, October 26 1990, battered
Arlene Whipple, Pompano Beach Florida, three months old, January 21 1999, pneumonia
Jacob White, Stokes County North Carolina, three years old, September 5 2006, drowned in river
James White, Ephrata Pennsylvania, seventeen years old, December 12 2005, enlarged heart
Jeffrey White Jr, Stokes County North Carolina, four years old, September 5 2006, drowned in river
Keena White, Beech Island South Carolina, January 17 1991 - January 18 1992, head injury
James Whitefeather, Orange County California, five years old, April 9 2002, cardiopulmonary failure
JoAnna (Porscha) Whitfield, Rockledge Florida, four years old, October 24 1989, battered
Devin Wilder, Cleveland Ohio, July 29 1998 - April 21 2001, shaken baby
Richard Wilder, Almond Wisconsin, twelve years old, July 26 2002, drowned at camp
Arthur Lee Wiley, Randallstown Maryland, eleven years old, March 19 2002, neglected injuries
Melissa Wilkins, Durham North Carolina, nine years old, June 2003, battered
Anthony Williams, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, two years old, February 28 1997, shaken baby
Dominic Jerrod LaMar Williams, Saint Louis Missouri, June 8 1987 - June 3 2004, strangulation
Sherrod Williams, Columbus Ohio, six years old, July 18 1993, hit by car
Andrew Wilson, Owensboro Kentucky, three years old, August 7 2005, drowned in pool
Brian Wilson, Tosorontio Township Ontario, four years old, June 12 2007, garage fire
Celes-Tina Wilson, District of Columbia, fourteen years old, July 13 1995, homicide/gunshot
Javon Jabreeze Wilson, Detroit Michigan, seven years old, ca Feburary 2004
Lorenzo J Wilson, Seattle Washington, January 29 2004 - October 22 2004, battered
Rilya Wilson, Florida, September 29 1996 - 2001, lost
Michael Spencer Wiltsie, Silver Springs Florida, September 18 1987 - February 5 2000, restraint
Carlos Winbush, Brooklyn New York, twenty three months old, February 1998, battered
Davion Winrow, Omaha Nebraska, September 18 2006 - September 27 2007, head injury
Tina Winston, Palatine Illinois, eleven years old, July 10 2000, restraint
Jacqueline Moyra Wood, Bedford Park South Australia, seventeen years old, June 9 2002, suicide/paracetamol
Jimmy Allan Wood, Adams County Colorado, fourteen years old, November 13 2002, drug overdose
Johnnie David Wood, Springdale Arkansas, eight years old, August 13 2005, drowned in lake
Kayla Lorrain Wood, Moreno Valley California, sixteen years old, September 9 2006, runaway/stabbing
Timmy Wood, Nashville Tennessee, nine years old, 1996, head injury
Braxton D Wooden, Alba Missouri, May 15 1997 - June 2 2005, gunshot
Donietha Woods, Buffalo New York, two years old, December 21 1993, scalding water
Donte L Woods, West Palm Beach Florida, February 25 1986 - May 27 2002, gunshot
Robert C Woodson, Pacific Washington, fifteen years old, January 8 1999, runaway/hit by train
SkyDawn Word, Chickasha Oklahoma, two years old, June 29 2008, drowned in pool
Gregory Wright, Brooklyn New York, thirteen years old, September 20 1994, homicide/gunshot
Thomas (T J) Wright, Providence Rhode Island, three years old, October 31 2004, battered
Willie Wright, San Antonio Texas, fourteen years old, March 4 2000, restraint
Nichole Elizabeth Yegge, Las Vegas Nevada, seventeen years old, July 23 2008, runaway/choked
Jamie Young, Sierra Vista Arizona, thirteen years old, June 5 1993, hiking/heatstroke
Kelly Young, Wall Township New Jersey, seventeen years old, January 5 1998, restraint
Kyle Young, Edmonton Alberta, sixteen years old, January 22 2004, fall in elevator shaft
Rufus Manzie Young Jr, Michigan, four years old, April 6 2003, battered
Nicolas Zavala, Oxford Indiana, eleven years old, August 2002
Epiphany Zeigler, Greensboro North Carolina, nine years old, February 11 2002, missing chromosome
Robert Zimmerman, USA, seventeen years old, November 24 1980, boating/drowning
That’s a LOT of dead kids in State care.
If those kids were dead at the hands of their parents–instead of the State–no doubt our politicians would raising hell, average citizens would be raising hell, and those responsible for the killing would be in JAIL. With the key thrown away.
…..but….since the State was the killer, no problemo, right?
DAMN!!!!
Jeny
Chai Tea
You’re not going to see any victims coming forward asking to be saved because the victims suffer from a type of Stockholm Syndrome and identify with and protect their abusers. Surely, this is not a new concept to you if you’ve followed this case.
Girls under the age of 17 have the right not to be sexually assaulted. They are legally incapable of giving consent. Put another way, girls under the age of 17 do not have the right to consent to sexual assault (anymore than a person has a right to consent to be another person’s slave or consent to being murdered).
Do you have a name for this “type of” Stockholm Syndrome? Cuz we know it ain’t Stockholm Syndrome. Different circumstances entirely.
How can a child be “brainwashed” by its parents? That’s what parents are for. To brainwash their children, i.e. program their blank disk drives (minds). Heck, brainwash itself is a misnomer, since brainwashing, a discredited theory and not a legal term, is actually DE-programming, not programming.
So unless you have a name for this condition you ascribe to these poor “cult” children, even just a pseudo term, lay off the pop psychology terms that are inapplicable in this situation.
And BTW, did you know that 14 year olds can get married / emancipated (meaning they can legally give consent) in Texas under certain conditions? Bet you didn’t know that did you.
This is what I get when I google “CPS” + “death”.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=CPS+%2B+death&aq=f&oq=
Results 1 - 10 of about **1,640,000** for CPS + death. (0.26 seconds)
Amazing. Over 1.6 million hits for CPS + death. WOW.
http://najlahhicks.wordpress.com/
Stories from former Foster Children.
Good read.
http://najlahhicks.wordpress.com/
STORIES FROM HOMELESS FORMER FOSTER CHILDREN:
Meet Johnathan Norman Hughes, born at 6 1/2 months to a mentally ill mother. DHS - Children’s Protective Services in Michigan removed him from his mother after his sister reported neglect. After living in more than fifty foster homes, he ran away from his last foster home at sixteen years old. He says, not once did the police, his case worker or foster parents come looking for him. “If she (foster parent) reported me, then she wouldn’t get the money no more. She didn’t report me. She got the money and I didn’t want to be there and that’s a fair trade. She got what she wanted and I got what I wanted. She wanted free money without the responsibility and I wanted to be the heck away from this place. We both got what we wanted.”
At seventeen, Johnathan was emancipated from the foster care system. “Until you can learn to live with yourself, you can’t live with nobody else. Especially when you’re young and out there on your own with no support, no family, no motivation.
He’s lived in Covenant Houses in Michigan, New York City, Newark and California. Myspace.com is “100% useful to me. You can be homeless and still have an email. You can be homeless and still have a life. Just because you’re not financially, doesn’t mean you’re not socially, doesn’t mean you’re not mentally, doesn’t meant you’re not physically. I was still breathing, I wanted to meet people, I wanted to socialize and myspace is a way to do that.”
“I believe myspace is valuable to anyone who wants to be realized, anybody who wants to be known, anybody who wants anyone to find them. Myspace is the best way. Myspace is the best way to be found.”
He’ll probably be at Covenant House another two weeks. “I can’t stay. I can’t. I can’t. Cause, it’s like, and if you read about the indigo children, it’s like I’m searching for something. Something big is coming. Like I said, I don’t know how I’d be if I was with my real mother but right now I’m where I want to be.
Interviewed on the streets of Newark during a night of Outreach to the community.
PLEASE READ—
http://cpscorruption.blogspot.com/2008/08/adoption-bonuses-hr-3038-getting-ready.html
This explains better than I could ever explain, the CPS/Child Trafficking business.
http://cpscorruption.blogspot.com/2008/08/adoption-bonuses-hr-3038-getting-ready.html
“101 SKK { 09.11.08 at 12:49 pm } Chai Tea
You’re not going to see any victims coming forward asking to be saved because the victims suffer from a type of Stockholm Syndrome and identify with and protect their abusers. Surely, this is not a new concept to you if you’ve followed this case.
Girls under the age of 17 have the right not to be sexually assaulted. They are legally incapable of giving consent. Put another way, girls under the age of 17 do not have the right to consent to sexual assault (anymore than a person has a right to consent to be another person’s slave or consent to being murdered
+++++++++++++++++++
You’re kidding right? My understanding of the Stockholm Syndrome is that the victims are kept from all outside influences and contacts - kinda like Elizabeth Smart with her captor. That can hardly be said about these women and children who had access to the internet (albeit without the garbage), outside communities, adults from other communities, medical and dental care when needed.
The Mental Health workers, whom I would think were trained to recognize the Stockholm Syndrome, did not note that in their observations of either the wives or the children - the did note FREQUENT and HORRIBLE CPS abuse.
AND, I take REAL exception to this statement: “Girls under the age of 17 have the right not to be sexually assaulted.”
ALL women/girls of ANY age have the right to NOT be sexually assaulted by ANY age man/boy whether they’re FLDS or non-FLDS.
And…how come, since CPS is SO concerned about these teen FLDS girls they aren’t as concerned about the non-FLDS teen girls getting pregnant everyday in Texas?? Where is the villification of the ’sperm donors’ who have impregnated those girls? Why aren’t those girls being paraded publicly across the media outlets?
Because this whole mess is about religious persecution.
Period.
SKK: There are several problems with what you just wrote. If these young women were suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, at some point they recover. This didnt happen at Fort Concho-San Angelo or the foster homes. This never happened. Even before the grand jury, these young women didnt see themselves as victims.
You overlook the fact that statutory rape is a legal fiction. The moral capacity can never be given or taken away by passing a law. To be legally incapable of making a decision is not the equivalent of being morally incapable of making a decision. If a 16 year old is the first and legal wife, she is not a victim. If you take this same girl and make her a spiritual wife the state says she has been raped, despite the obvious fact that she has the same degree of moral awareness. Finally, if a 16 year old is fully responsible for her actions when she shoots somebody, then she must be fully responsible for her actions if she has sex. No one gives consent to rape. Because if they do, it is not rape. That includes 16 year olds.
Jeny:
I am not clear about the story concerning the baby. Did the mother initiate contact with CPS to ask for help because she felt too ill to care for the child then CPS took custody of her? That is despicable if thats what happened.
What about the availability of the father and the grandmother to help her with the baby?
CPS is certainly out of control across the nation and what needs to happen is that social workers for those agencies to be legally accountable for their actions. If a nurse makes a bad decision that harms a patient she can be sued. Why not social workers?
Joey:
There’s also the Strayhorn report in Texas, and the fact that Texas has stopped publishing the foster care abuse statistics since then should send off red alerts.
……………………………………………………….
Ms. Strayhorn said in her report that she sent her data to Gov. Perry and requested funding to continue her work but he denied her request. Thats why there have been no further reports.
From GA Senator Nancy Schaefer:
http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/newsletters_updates.php?filter=25
November 16, 2007
THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer
Senator, 50th District
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 the 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 back to the southeast, and 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 not recovered.
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 and children across the state because they have no rights and 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 over the state of Georgia.
In this report, I am focusing 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 almost 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 Service (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. This report is concerned with the children and parents caught up in “legal kidnapping,” ineffective policies, and DFCS who do does not remove a child or children when a child is enduring torment and abuse. (See Exhibit A and Exhibit B)
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 DFCS department that required many, many drug tests from parents and individuals for profit. In another county children were not removed when they were enduring the worst possible abuse.
Due to being exposed, several employees in a particular DFCS 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 deeds.
Having worked with probably 300 cases statewide, I am convinced there is no responsibility and no accountability in the system.
I have come to the conclusion:
that poor parents often times 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 always 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 they are at work and while their children are separated from them. 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;
that caseworkers and social workers are oftentimes guilty of fraud. They withhold evidence. They fabricate evidence and they seek to terminate parental rights. However, when charges are made against them, the charges are ignored;
that the separation of families is growing as a business because local governments have grown accustomed to having taxpayer dollars to balance their ever-expanding budgets;
that Child Protective Service 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, 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 social workers are the glue that holds “the system” together that funds the court, the child’s attorney, and the multiple other jobs including DFCS’s attorney.
that The Adoption and the Safe Families Act, set in motion 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 sell and you must have plenty of them so the buyer can choose. Some counties are known to give a $4,000 bonus for each child adopted and an additional $2,000 for a “special needs” child. Employees work to keep the federal dollars flowing;
that there is double dipping. The funding continues as long as the child is out of the home. When a child in foster care 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;
that there are no financial resources and no real drive to unite a family and help keep them together;
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. Look at the waste in government that is forced upon the tax payer;
that the “Policy Manuel” is considered “the last word” for 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 all children are not always safer. Children, of whom I am aware, have been raped and impregnated in foster care and the head of a Foster Parents Association in my District was recently arrested because of child molestation;
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.
fathers, (non-custodial parents) I must add, are oftentimes treated as criminals without access to their own children and have child support payments strangling the very life out of them;
that the Foster Parents Bill of Rights does not bring out that a foster parent is there only to care for a child until the child can be returned home. Many Foster Parents today use the Foster Parent Bill of Rights to hire a lawyer and seek to adopt the child from the real parents, who are desperately trying to get their child home and out of the system;
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 trying to get custody of their grandchildren. DFCS claims relatives are contacted, but there are 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.
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.
Please continue:
(See Final Remarks below)
FINAL REMARKS
On my desk are scores of cases of exhausted families and troubled children. It has been beyond me to turn my back on these suffering, crying, and sometimes beaten down individuals. We are mistreating the most innocent. Child Protective Services have become adult centered to the detriment of children. No longer is judgment based on what the child needs or who the child wants to be with 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 a director of DFCS.
I have witnessed such injustice and harm brought to these 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
Please continue to read:
Recommendations
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
RECOMMENDATIONS
Call for an independent audit of the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) to expose corruption and fraud.
Activate immediate change. Every day that passes means more families and children are subject to being held hostage.
End the financial incentives that separate families.
Grant to parents their rights in writing.
Mandate a search for family members to be given the opportunity to adopt their own relatives.
Mandate a jury trial where every piece of evidence is presented before removing a child from his or her parents.
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.”)
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.
LW { 09.11.08 at 7:54 pm } Jeny:
I am not clear about the story concerning the baby. Did the mother initiate contact with CPS to ask for help because she felt too ill to care for the child then CPS took custody of her? That is despicable if thats what happened.
What about the availability of the father and the grandmother to help her with the baby?
CPS is certainly out of control across the nation and what needs to happen is that social workers for those agencies to be legally accountable for their actions. If a nurse makes a bad decision that harms a patient she can be sued. Why not social workers?
===================
It is my understanding that Ms. Carter (Jessica Scovil’s Mother) sought public services for treatment of a mental health disorder–bipolar disorder (or manic depression) because she is 19, she is not covered under her parent’s health insurance and did not have the funds herself to see treatment, so she turned to our Dept of Health and Human Services to see if there were any programs that might help fund treatment for her (ie, medication, counseling/therapy, etc).
When it was learned that she was a new mom of a 4 (four) month old infant, the social worker decided that she was not capable of caring for her infant. As I understand it—a deal was brokered. The State of GA would fund her treatment as long as baby Jessica was temporarily signed over to foster care. In other words, Jessica’s parents made a deal with the devil, and it didn’t take ‘em long to realize it.
The got legal representation and tried to bring their baby girl home A hearing was set for September 16, 2008, where it was expected Jessica would be returned to her parents. Unfortunately, the foster mother ensured the Mother would never again have custody of her child by baking the baby in her vehicle.
Jessica was returned to her parents and family as a corpse.
The State of Georgia and Wendy Obsborne are solely responsible for this child’s death—and we’ve yet to hear another peep about prosecuting Ms. Osborne–who by all rights should be in JAIL for what she did.
If she were the natural mother of baby Jessica she would have been arrested on the spot for killing that innocent baby. But since she’s on the State of Georgia’s payroll as a foster “parent”, she’s going to get off scott free. No charges filed.
Makes me completely sick.
Jeny
Jeny,
As much as I agree with most of what you are saying, about CPS, about the double standard etc. I completely disagree with the double standard going against the foster mother as they would the natural mother, I think it should change the other way, they should SEE and ACCIDENT when they have one.
The post that got my goat was:
“I rather doubt it is Jessica’s death she’s grieving. She caused that child’s death.”
Having some experience in causing other people pain, I KNOW that there is NO greater grief than being guilty. You could put her away for life (which would not be “unjust” considering what others are in jail for) but you could NOT make her SUFFER more than knowing she caused the death of an innocent child.
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.
This type of hearing should be happening in every state on a regularly scheduled basis. I suggested this to TDFPS- they need to create a way to receive feedback on their employees- and got no response. There is a Parental Advisory Committee. The chairman had this to say:
“They say, ‘Ok, we’ve got the kids for a year. Now, you gotta do what we tell you to do. We don’t know what that is, and that might change as we go along.’ Now, I would submit to you that is abuse. That is parental abuse by CPS,” said Tim Lambert, with the CPS Parental Advisory Committee.
Lambert said the legislature formed his group to make sure the state hears parental concerns in cases like these.
The committee hasn’t met in six months. He plans on changing that soon as these parents say they have plenty to complain about.
WHY HAVEN’T WE HEARD FROM LAMBERT AND THE PAC?
Will we?
The irony… bio mom lost custody because she was taking rx drugs and could harm the child.
Foster mom is taking rx and kills the child.
Should these drugs carry a warning lable
“Do not parent while taking these drugs”
Probably doesn’t apply to foster parents, but people caring for children in daycare can’t take meds that cause drowziness.
What? Did the drowziness hit sometime after she got the other two kids in the house?
Joey { 09.11.08 at 1:20 pm }
Do you have a name for this “type of” Stockholm Syndrome? Cuz we know it ain’t Stockholm Syndrome. Different circumstances entirely.</b?
It is Stockholm Syndrome precisely.
Hey, just because CPS is terribly flawed doesn’t mean abuses weren’t taking place within the FLDS community.
Just because the initial outcries were a hoax does not mean there were not abuses taking place within the FLDS community.
SKK, the FLDS aren’t bothering to try to prove a negative, which is impossible. But you knew that.
Regarding CPS, they are drawing attention to the fact that a child is four times more likely to die in CPS care and 10 times more likely to be sexually abused. If more people knew that, they wouldn’t insist on putting FLDS children in CPS care (kind of a no-brainer).
The reason for pointing out that the initial outcry was a hoax is because some people still think Sarah exists. This misconception (thanks to too much media coverage on it) needs to be laid to rest.
SKK { 09.11.08 at 11:17 pm } Just because the initial outcries were a hoax does not mean there were not abuses taking place within the FLDS community.
==========================
Perhaps, but it *does* mean that the original warrant to enter the premises is WORTHLESS and ILLEGAL, therefore all of the evidence gathered directly as a result of that warrant is WORTHLESS and ILLEGAL.
Otherwise, why wouldn’t we all go around making “outcries” against our foes and enemies?
For instance, my neighbor next door gets on my nerves because he always cuts his grass at 6 am. Maybe he beats his kids and grandkids when they visit? Maybe he’s abusing the little girls sexually? Maybe I’ll just call that “outcry” in? (by the way none of this is true…any more than “Sarah Barlow” being beaten by her 50+ year old husband while the other wives hold her 9 month old baby).
See how that would work if bogus “outcries” are actually tolerated—nay—encouraged like Rozita Swinton’s?
SKK { 09.11.08 at 11:15 pm } Hey, just because CPS is terribly flawed doesn’t mean abuses weren’t taking place within the FLDS community.
=====================
In otherwords, thousands of kids die in CPS custody every year. including little infants baking in minivans.
Ooopsie, $hit happens–right?
Damn…..it’s heartless people like you that allow this nonsense to happen in the first place.
112 Pliggy { 09.11.08 at 9:51 pm } Jeny,
As much as I agree with most of what you are saying, about CPS, about the double standard etc. I completely disagree with the double standard going against the foster mother as they would the natural mother, I think it should change the other way, they should SEE and ACCIDENT when they have one.
The post that got my goat was:
“I rather doubt it is Jessica’s death she’s grieving. She caused that child’s death.”
Having some experience in causing other people pain, I KNOW that there is NO greater grief than being guilty. You could put her away for life (which would not be “unjust” considering what others are in jail for) but you could NOT make her SUFFER more than knowing she caused the death of an innocent child.
=============================
Pliggy–I might agree with you except that I am local to this story. In our local media the *only* thing we’ve heard is from Wendy Osborne’s attorney (immediately) asking for sympathy and understanding of a woman who could manage to 1) bring her two adopted 3 year old children into the house, but “just forgot” the 9 month old foster child she was responsible for and 2) allowed the 3 year olds to play unsupervised for TWO HOURS while she slept in a drugged stupor.
We’ve seen her friends talk on camera about what a great person she is because she has given out so many hundreds of bibles to foster children over the years (ahem….I wonder how folks would feel if a Mormon foster parent handed out The Book of Mormon to each foster child in their home?).
The friends all defend and ask for sympathy for Mrs. Obsborn–but what the heck of Jessica’s MOTHER and FATHER? They don’t seem to mention them whenever they are interviewed.
But THAT is where the sympathy goes….not to the woman who caused the baby’s deasth.
Would you be so understanding and forgiving if one of the FLDS infants had been left in a car to bake in the Texas sun after the raid? I suppose you would, but I am not you, and you are not me.
I am the mother of twins. I was never so sick, so tired or so exhausted because of medication that I EVER forgot them anywhere, anytime, anyplace. Including in the car–strapped in to bake while I napped.
Beyond that, when they were 3, there was NO WAY I would have laid down and napped while they played UNSUPERVISED in our house for more than TWO HOURS.
Do you have ANY idea what mischief two UNSUPERVISED 3 year old children can dream up in a 2 hour time span? NO WAY would I have napped, leaving them alone at that age.
So 1) Mrs. Osborne neglected the 9 month old by leaving her to bake in the van and 2) Then Mrs. Osborne neglected the two adopted 3 year olds by leaving them unattended for 2 hours while she napped.
Bottom lin: SHE IS UNFIT TO PARENT children.
SHE IS DANGEROUS to small children—one has already died in her care, and the two 3 year olds are at risk as well due to her irresponsible neglect and very POOR JUDGEMENT.
She just is NOT responsible enough to take care of young children by herself.
I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with your support of Mrs. Osborne. It might have been a terrible “accident”–but it was absolutely AVOIDABLE if she had just acted as a responsible adult.
She didn’t and a little baby is now dead. I have yet to see HER anywhere taking responsibility for what she’s done and apologizing. Instead, she has a slick lawyer speaking for her–and he’s telling a pack of lies on her behalf.
I’ve had strep throat. I had strep throat that turned into Scarlet Fever–I was never given ANY medication that made me sleepy. Including the giant anti-biotic shot I got at the doctor’s office. Which is what she is claiming made her so drowsy she couldn’t rememnber the baby and left her to bake in the minivan.
Sorry, no sale, Pliggy. I love you to death—I support you all the way as far as the FLDS go, but I expect ALL children in CPS custody to be treated properly by CPS–including the way they’re treated by foster “parents”.
I expect this not just for FLDS children….I expect it for ALL children in their custody, and in this case this baby was NOT treated properly by CPS or the foster “parent”.
I don’t feel sympathy for the foster parent. If she’s feeling guilt, well then good. She should feel guilty–she killed an innocent baby with her imaturity and poor judgement–but feeling guilt for the rest of her life doesn’t mean she she should be off the hook and escape punishment in the legal system.
She clearly broke the law (it is against the law to leave a small child unattended in a vehicle here in GA).
She did, the baby died, and she should be in jail. Period.
Best,
Jeny
And I agree, she should be held responsible, and CPS should be held responsible ABSOLUTELY! And it definately is the parents who are the REAL victims. (Besides the poor child)
But it was not her INTENTION to have a child bake in her van. That was an accident.
Put her in jail, close down CPS, use this atrocity as a reason to do so, but it was still an accident.
There is NO WAY to make restitution, even if you put her to death as a murderer.
And accidents do happen under the nose of natural parents without CPS taking all the children. I had a 16 year old niece who backed over and killed her 16 month old younger brother several years ago. It was all we could do to help that girl keep her senses for a long time. I can only imagine what would have happened if they arrested her.
Just a thought. And SKK she is 21 or 22 now and still not
“abused” (married).
Carry on.
Jeny - read up on search and seizure law. The warrant is not illegal. In a suppression hearing, the warrant is considered on the four corners. The defendant cannot challenge the truth of the facts alleged in the affidavit.
Joey - thanks for the clarification.
by the way, I agree with much that is said about the problems with CPS. They take kids they shouldnt and they leave kids in situations when they should take them into custody. No argument there.
I also agree that foster placement should be an absolute last resort and it is risky at best.
That does not mean that CPS is wrong in every single instance and it does not mean that every child in foster care is abused or mistreated.
And it sure doesnt excuse the alleged abuses against children that took place in the FLDS community.
SKK, are you really a lawyer? Why are still speaking in generalities, issuing verbal indictments against a whole group of people, many of whom are innocent. You impugn their good names by such talk. It’s slanderous.
Same goes for your assertions regarding the warrant. The warrant is in dispute, so you can’t say one way or another whether it was legal or illegal. We know the taking of the children was illegal, because the Supreme Court of Texas says so. Now we’ll wait to see what the Criminal court of appeals says about the warrant.
No one’s trying excuse abuses that took place any where. We are however challenging unjust laws and unjust actions perpetrated by the state of Texas.
SKK, and it doesn’t excuse the alleged abuse by you.
I just came across this Schulzke family website today and have read all the comments on the above subject. My overwheming impression regarding this Scovil situation is that there is too much speculation here about the circumstances under which this unfortunate tragedy occurred, and, until all the facts are in, those who are seeking to castigate the foster parent should check their lynch mob mentalities and refrain from applying the “I am holier than she” mentality. To refuse to do so smacks of poor form and faulty logic. It also leaves many of us with the distinct impression that those who insist on grinding this ax may well be trying to compensate for some past or present shortcoming in their own parenting abilities. “Me thinks she doth protesteth too much…”
Similar cases in the judicial system are not treated identically, simply because they are similar, not identical. There may be reason for her not to go to jail. All the facts are not yet in, so put away the noose, the lethal injections, the electric chair, the gas chamber and the firing squad, at least for now, OK? Chill out, you crazed zealots.
If your child was murdered by the system, how would you feel? Put yourself in the shoes of every parent who ever had their child raped and murdered in a system that claims to protect them.
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
http://jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu/TJ.html
CPS is out of control and must be put down. Children rarely survive the foster care system in this country in one piece. Jessica Scovil isn’t by far an isolated incident. Patriots must stand up against tyranny. It’s what this country is all about.
Mr. Ultralogic, what we are protesting, aside from the actual death of a child that shouldn’t have been in foster care in the first place, is the double standard also being practiced - one district attorney says the actual death of a child is an unfortunate accident; another district attorney sees some young (of age) pregnant women, and screams CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE and a whole towns-worth of children are kidnapped and traumatized based on a lie and a false hysteria in order to persecute a religion.
Don’t read just one thread about the FLDS and posts by some outraged people, read the whole FLDS story (preferably from some unbiased people who aren’t making bundles off their tabloid-style ‘true-life’ stories).
chill out you crazed zealots.
ditto.
Chill out? A woman leaves her kid in the car in Illinois for 5 minutes and gets charged with neglect. Osborne, a paid foster parent, leaves baby Jessica Scovil in the car for two hours as Jessica’s brain melts and so far no hint of charges against Osborne, only sympathy by the system. Can you not see the double standard here? The system will not admit it was wrong. It will wring its hands over ordinary parents’ mild or unsubstatiated neglect, while giving a free pass to foster parents to abuse and abuse as much as they want, with no repercussions. It’s tyranny. The system gets away with murder.
SKK { 09.13.08 at 9:20 am } chill out you crazed zealots.
ditto.
==================
Good job with the name calling.
I guess that makes you feel all grown up and stuff. How special. ROFLMAO.
Yes
Hmmmm. Found an add for Foster and Adoptive parents on the front page of http://www.chron.com–advertising all the benefits foster and adoptive parents receive from the STATE OF TEXAS, especially featuring a “sign on bonus”. But….I thought this was not for profit, but “for the kids”?
http://circlesofcareinc.org/
===================================
“Bringing Children and Families Together”
Circles Of Care
Circles of Care is a private non-profit, social service agency. Our mission is to enhance children, youth, and families ability for effective living and growth through comprehensive social and mental health services.
Circles of Care is licensed by and receives funds from the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
=================================
Support / Services Provided
There are services and support for all foster/adoptive parents within the COC system, including:
1. 24 hour Case Management support
2. Reimbursement; rates per day, per child:
Basic Care $20.60 Levels of Care are based on child/youth needs and degree of emotional or behavioral problems.
Moderate Care $36.00
Specialized Care $46.30
3. Initial clothing allowance
4. Training money provided to obtain annual continuing education training requirements
5. Foster family appreciation events
6. Agency events/outings for children
How will I be able to afford and pay for having a child in my care?
Circles of Care pays the foster parents to help cover the cost of caring for these children. Children are assigned what is called a Service Package from an agency called Youth for Tomorrow. The Service Packages are: Basic Care, Moderate Care and Specialized Care and Intensive Care. The Service Packages are assigned based on a number of factors such as presenting problems and behaviors and how well the child functions when compared to other children and what services they require such as counseling services. Circles of Care works with Basic, Moderate and Specialized needs children. Children requiring Intensive Services require a more secure setting other than a home, such as a Residential Treatment Center. Circles of Care pays 20.60 per day, per child for Basic Care, 36.00 per day, per child for Moderate Care and 46.30 per day, per child for Specialized Care. Children’s Service levels are evaluated on a regular basis and their levels can fluctuate and change.
This payment is to cover cost of lodging, food, clothing, school supplies, school uniforms, daycare if needed, diapers, personal hygiene needs, recreation expenses and other miscellaneous expenses. It is not to cover medical procedures, surgery, hospitalizations, dental needs or prescription medications. All State foster children have Medicaid coverage to cover medical and dental needs.
This payment is considered reimbursement and is not taxable except in special circumstances. Always talk and consult your accountant to help you determine if you must pay some taxes at the end of the year. This payment is to help the foster parents provide the food, clothing, school uniforms, school supplies, pampers (for infants and toddlers ), over the counter medication, recreation expenses and such things as gas and other underlying expenses incurred in raising and caring for children.
All foster children have federal medical coverage called Medicaid that will cover all their medical, dental, and prescription costs, with the exception of more than 2 pair of glasses needed in a calendar year (Medicaid pays for two pair a year) or for more than 6 braces bracket repairs a year (Medicaid pays for 5 repairs a year)
Circles of Care offers other support and services to you which are explained below.
==============================
My golly, $26.00 a day is more than I get in child support from my ex-husband for each of our twins. I get exactly $60.00/week–when and IF he decides to pay. If he doesn’t–oh well–I get to figure out how to cover the bills without his money.
I don’t know what I’d do with a whole $46.30/day per child.
$46.30 x 31 = $1,435.30/month
Two kids at $1,435.30 = $2,870.60/month– TAX FREE!!!!!!
I didn’t realize in my “seflishness” as a birth parent that I was doing such a terrible thing giving birth to my twins–I’m getting the message clearly now though.
I shoulda just fostered instead of birthed my kids. It pays WAY better than the whole court ordered child support of $420/month for my twins. Most months we don’t even get that. For instance, this month we’ve gotten exactly $0.00 for each child, and the month is already 1/2 over.
$2,800/month TAX FREE MONEY would take care of my teenagers NICELY.
Even at $20.60, we’d be better off. $20.60 x 31 = $638.60. Times two children is $1,277.20
This is GUARANTEED MONEY each month, instead of the $0.00 we currently get from their Dad.
Interesting indeed.
covering some expenses of foster care is not “for profit”
It would be nice if the courts would use the same formula to provide for birth children as they do for foster children when telling dead beat parents to pony up for their children. Why should birth children be worth less than foster children. Unless I’m mistaken, the judges are the same that sit on family cases whether they are CPS cases or non-CPS divorce/support cases.
AH well. We dummies can see what’s happening
$3k/month for two children is not “covering expenses”.
THAT is plain pure PROFIT.
I have two natural children who don’t even receive $500/month in child support to help “cover expenses”. It was court determined that $60/week to be the appropriate amount, in spite of the fact their father earns 4 times more than I do.
Why are foster children’s “expenses” so much higher than natural children?
I’ll tell you — $3k/month for two children is MONEY IN THE FOSTER PARENT’S POCKET.
And you’re full of baloney if you say otherwise.
$3k/month — TAX FREE– covers the entire house paymemt or rent bill, car payment, groceries, utilities and gasoline and insurance.
Are you kidding me? Bring in two foster kids into the house, work a full time job, and you’ve freaking got it made.
If you’re not so greedy or just lazy, drop the full time job, and you’ve still got a pretty good existence without having to go out and work for it.
Free school lunches
Medicaid
Clothing allowancs
Food Stamps
$3k/month coming in to cover everything else
Good gig if you can get it, I supppose….
hai Tea { 09.14.08 at 6:26 am } It would be nice if the courts would use the same formula to provide for birth children as they do for foster children when telling dead beat parents to pony up for their children. Why should birth children be worth less than foster children. Unless I’m mistaken, the judges are the same that sit on family cases whether they are CPS cases or non-CPS divorce/support cases.
AH well. We dummies can see what’s happening
=========================
The judge that determined my children deserved $60/week child support from their father who earns more than $100k/year was exactly the same judge who handles foster care and adoption cases.
He would have ordered that $3k/month to me if my natural children were fosters I was taking in.
But, since i carried them and gave birth to them, they’re only worth $60/week (that usually doesn’t come anyway). When the check comes, it *maybe* buys the few extras for them I can’t afford—the things I have to tell them “no we can’t afford it”. $120 week won’t buy gasoline and groceries, it won’t pay for marching band, baseball and volley ball expenses at high school—those activities are freaking EXPENSIVE. Had to ask my folks to help pay for them this year.
But if my kids were fosters–the money would be there—the question would be, woudl the foster spend the money on the kid–or themself?
Who exactly accounts for how this $3k/month for two foster kids is spent?
Open records? Sunshine laws?
Nah…..that money is spent anyway the foster parent wishes–it’s foster parent’s discretion, no receipts needed and no information is available to the taxpayer who is funding their existence. Confidentiality rules, and all.
***rolling eyes big time***
In Texas, they won’t place kids with a foster who has a full time job.
JennyM .. in your scenario, you fail to make the distinction between a father paying child support and the government subsidizing care. The courts are not ordering 3k/month in child support from the bio parents.
It’s an incentive .. obviously. There would be no foster parents if they had to foot the bill from their own pockets. I won’t argue that there are some lowlife foster parents who abuse the system and don’t take good care of their foster children. Those are the exception rather than the rule.
Without the financial subsidies, all kids under state conservatorship would remain in group homes .. orphanages, in other words. It’s not an ideal system, but your arguments are irrational.
No, SKK, the word “irrational” is yours, and yours alone.
You are a childless, heartless, cruel and inhumane creature (can’t use the word human–as it does not appear you possess as single human emotion or quality) who really does not understand the parent/child relationship and never will.
My opinion purely.
Jeny
So you want all abused children to stay in orphanages?
Wow.
Is that what I said? I don’t believe I did. Don’t put words in my mouth. I haven’t done the same to you.
SKK–tell us how the foster parent is accountable for how they spend their “daily rate”?
Who do they submit receipts to?
Is there a list of where they can spend it, and where they can’t?
I am assuming their daily rate is loaded on a Texas state debit card–similar to the Child Support payment program.
https://www.eppicard.com/eppicard/txcard/index.jsp
I would hope there are restrictions as to where they can use the card and what they can use them to purchase.
I would assume liquor and booze are blocked, cigarettes are blocked, and if they want to buy gasoline they have to go into the store and present the card to the attendant, rather than pay at the pump (among other restrictions on child support cards).
Who goes through their monthly statements to determine their expenditures (on behalf of the foster child(ren) were appropriate? Or does that not happen?
Is there any accountablility for the foster parent’s spending?
Please enlighten us who “know nothing”…..since you are endowed with so much more knowledge than we are.
Jeny
ps. If there is *no* accountability for how foster parents spend US Taxpayer dollars on behalf of foster children, then there darned well should be and I will also push for this accountability.
I’m on a major mission—a campaign….and I’m not stopping until there are MAJOR changes to the way the foster child and adoption (ie, child trafficking) industry operates in this country.
Jeny
139 SKK { 09.14.08 at 12:18 pm } In Texas, they won’t place kids with a foster who has a full time job.
===================
Coolio. I’ll just quit my good job. Bring in 4 foster kids (along with my 2 natural children), and I won’t have to work.
We should all be able to get along on about $6k/month. Nicely, matter of fact.
Wow. This is like hitting the lottery. I’ll only have to pay school lunches for 2 of the 6 children. I’ll only have to fund health care, clothing, school activities, etc. for my two. Maybe I can just dig into the foster kid’s money to take care of my kids? Hmmm….
I’m thinking I’m in the wrong line of business. I’m a damned good mom, and I’ve always wanted to be a stay at home mom. You’ve shown me a way to make that happen. Wow.
Thanks.
lol Jeny.
I am on a Christmas Giving Tree committee - Believe it or not we had a FOSTER Parent ask us for gifts for their foster kids - they had like 3 and two natural children. The dad made over $80,000 while the mom stayed home - They could buy gifts for their kids, but they weren’t about to spring for any of the foster children.
The Christmas Giving Tree Committee turned them down, and I was glad they did. Talk about selfish, selfish people. These people were being paid to provide for these kids, and they wouldn’t even spring for a present for them out of their own pocket. We had families of 8 making less than $12,000 and these selfish, ego-centric people were asking for help to suck even more off the system.
Talk about bleeding the beast. I think Foster Care is probably responsible for more of that than any FLDS family ever thought of being!
SKK…you can talk all you want about that there is no ‘profit’ in fostercare…but you’re talking out of both sides of your mouth when you admit that the $$ offered include an ‘incentive’ for parents to take on foster care.
Please… at least be honest with yourself.
Chai Tea { 09.14.08 at 2:22 pm } lol Jeny.
I am on a Christmas Giving Tree committee - Believe it or not we had a FOSTER Parent ask us for gifts for their foster kids - they had like 3 and two natural children. The dad made over $80,000 while the mom stayed home - They could buy gifts for their kids, but they weren’t about to spring for any of the foster children.
The Christmas Giving Tree Committee turned them down, and I was glad they did. Talk about selfish, selfish people. These people were being paid to provide for these kids, and they wouldn’t even spring for a present for them out of their own pocket. We had families of 8 making less than $12,000 and these selfish, ego-centric people were asking for help to suck even more off the system.
Talk about bleeding the beast. I think Foster Care is probably responsible for more of that than any FLDS family ever thought of being!
=================
You know what’s frustrating? As a single parent, I make just enough money so that we don’t qualify for free or reduced lunches at school (or any other “safety net” programs)–but foster kids get ‘em no matter how much money their foster parents make, simply because they’re foster kids. Children of illegal aliens the same too.
Last year I applied for help with school lunch. Turns out we had $42.00/month in household income more than the allowed cutoff. AND they included our court ordered child support which we NEVER get when they calclucated our household income.
Had they not included the child support we don’t get, we could have at least gotten a little relief on school lunches. Instead, I pay full price.
A gal I work with has 4 kids by two dads–they get free the hell everything. Free health care. Free lunches. Free daycare. AND…she makes the same as me.
But with all those kids, she’s qualified for all kinds of help. Oh, and get this–her Dad left her a PAID FOR old house, so she has no rent or mortgage. And in January the father of her two youngest kids passed away, leaving SSI for them. She’s actually not doing too bad at all financially.
Me? I’m sucking wind financially. Even though I’ve been responsible. After I got divorced from my one and only husband, I realized I could barely afford the two I had without Dad’s money, so I made sure there were no more babies, no more mouths to feed in our house–even though I always wanted a large family. And…now at 45 I”m too old to have any more kids, so the two I have are all I’m gonna have.
People always assume because I”m a single parent I get all kinds of help–truth is I don’t. I work hard for everything we have, and we pay full price.
/rant
So .. what did you find about foster parent accountability?
Hint: Part of the answer is in one of your posts above.
By the way — that “collaborative” model that you all hate so much.. well, better outcomes for foster children is one of its primary directives. That translates into higher accountability for resources. Can’t have it both ways.
I haven’t found anything that says Foster Parents are required to account for how they spend the daily rate US taxpayers give them to foster children.
Nothing at all. In fact, it would appear they’re allowed to spend the TAX FREE money any way they wish, on anyone they wish, on anthing they wish. Whether or not it is directly or indirectly related to caring for their ward.
Perhaps you have the link that would show us otherwisde, SKK?
http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/newsletters_updates.php?filter=25
November 16, 2007
THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer
Senator, 50th District
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 the 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 back to the southeast, and 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 not recovered.
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 and children across the state because they have no rights and 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 over the state of Georgia.
In this report, I am focusing 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 almost 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 Service (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. This report is concerned with the children and parents caught up in “legal kidnapping,” ineffective policies, and DFCS who do does not remove a child or children when a child is enduring torment and abuse. (See Exhibit A and Exhibit B)
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 DFCS department that required many, many drug tests from parents and individuals for profit. In another county children were not removed when they were enduring the worst possible abuse.
Due to being exposed, several employees in a particular DFCS 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 deeds.
Having worked with probably 300 cases statewide, I am convinced there is no responsibility and no accountability in the system.
I have come to the conclusion:
that poor parents often times 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 always 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 they are at work and while their children are separated from them. 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;
that caseworkers and social workers are oftentimes guilty of fraud. They withhold evidence. They fabricate evidence and they seek to terminate parental rights. However, when charges are made against them, the charges are ignored;
that the separation of families is growing as a business because local governments have grown accustomed to having taxpayer dollars to balance their ever-expanding budgets;
that Child Protective Service 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, 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 social workers are the glue that holds “the system” together that funds the court, the child’s attorney, and the multiple other jobs including DFCS’s attorney.
that The Adoption and the Safe Families Act, set in motion 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 sell and you must have plenty of them so the buyer can choose. Some counties are known to give a $4,000 bonus for each child adopted and an additional $2,000 for a “special needs” child. Employees work to keep the federal dollars flowing;
that there is double dipping. The funding continues as long as the child is out of the home. When a child in foster care 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;
that there are no financial resources and no real drive to unite a family and help keep them together;
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. Look at the waste in government that is forced upon the tax payer;
that the “Policy Manuel” is considered “the last word” for 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 all children are not always safer. Children, of whom I am aware, have been raped and impregnated in foster care and the head of a Foster Parents Association in my District was recently arrested because of child molestation;
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.
fathers, (non-custodial parents) I must add, are oftentimes treated as criminals without access to their own children and have child support payments strangling the very life out of them;
that the Foster Parents Bill of Rights does not bring out that a foster parent is there only to care for a child until the child can be returned home. Many Foster Parents today use the Foster Parent Bill of Rights to hire a lawyer and seek to adopt the child from the real parents, who are desperately trying to get their child home and out of the system;
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 trying to get custody of their grandchildren. DFCS claims relatives are contacted, but there are 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.
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.
Please continue:
(See Final Remarks below)
FINAL REMARKS
On my desk are scores of cases of exhausted families and troubled children. It has been beyond me to turn my back on these suffering, crying, and sometimes beaten down individuals. We are mistreating the most innocent. Child Protective Services have become adult centered to the detriment of children. No longer is judgment based on what the child needs or who the child wants to be with 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 a director of DFCS.
I have witnessed such injustice and harm brought to these 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
Please continue to read:
Recommendations
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
RECOMMENDATIONS
Call for an independent audit of the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) to expose corruption and fraud.
Activate immediate change. Every day that passes means more families and children are subject to being held hostage.
End the financial incentives that separate families.
Grant to parents their rights in writing.
Mandate a search for family members to be given the opportunity to adopt their own relatives.
Mandate a jury trial where every piece of evidence is presented before removing a child from his or her parents.
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.”)
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.
Continue to Exhibit A
EXHIBIT A
December 5, 2006
Jeremy’s Story
( Some names withheld due to future hearings)
As told to Senator Nancy Schaefer by Sandra (XXXX), a foster parent of Jeremy for 2 ½ years.
My husband and I received Jeremy when he was 2 weeks old and we have been the only parents he has really ever known. He lived with us for 27 months. (XXXX) is the grandfather of Jeremy, and he is known for molesting his own children, for molesting Jeremy and has been court ordered not to be around Jeremy. (XXXX) is the mother of Jeremy, who has been diagnosed to be mentally ill, and also is known to have molested Jeremy. (XXXX) and Jeremy’s uncle is a registered sex offender and (XXXX) is the biological father, who is a drug addict and alcoholic and who continues to be in and out of jail. Having just described Jeremy’s world, all of these adults are not to be any part of Jeremy’s life, yet for years DFCS has known that they are. DFCS had to test (XXXX) (the grandfather) and his son (XXXX) (the uncle) and (XXXX) to determine the real father. (XXXX) is the biological father although any of them might have been. In court, it appeared from the case study, that everyone involved knew that this little boy had been molested by family members, even by his own mother, (XXXX). In court, (XXX), the mother of Jeremy, admitted to having had sex with (XXXX) (the grandfather) and (XXXX) (her own brother) that morning. Judge (XXXX) and DFCS gave Jeremy to his grandmother that same day. (XXXX), the grandmother, is over 300 lbs., is unable to drive, and is unable to take care of Jeremy due to physical problems. She also has been in a mental hospital several times due to her behavior.
Even though it was ordered by the court that the grandfather (XXXX), the uncle (XXXX) (a convicted sex offender), (XXXX) his mother who molested him and (XXXX) his biological father, a convicted drug addict, were not to have anything to do with the child, they all continue to come and go as they please at (XXXX address), where Jeremy has been “sentenced to live” for years. This residence has no bathroom and little heat. The front door and the windows are boarded. (See pictures) This home should have been condemned years ago. I have been in this home. No child should ever have to live like this or with such people.
Jeremy was taken from us at age 2 ½ years after (XXXX) obtained attorney (XXXX), who was the same attorney who represented him in a large settlement from an auto accident. I am told, that attorney (XXXX), as grandfather’s attorney, is known to have repeatedly gotten (XXXX) off of several criminal charges in White County. This is a matter of record and is
known by many in White County. I have copies of some records. (XXXX grandfather), through (XXXX attorney’s) work, got (XXXX), the grandmother of Jeremy, legal custody of Jeremy. (XXXX grandfather) who cannot read or write also got his daughter (XXXX) and son (XXXX) diagnosed by government agencies as mentally ill. (XXXX grandfather), through legal channels, has taken upon himself all control of the family and is able to take possession of any government funding coming to these people.
It was during this time that Jeremy was to have a six-month transitional period between (XXXX grandmother) and my family as we were to give him up. The court ordered agreement was to have been 4 days at our house and 3 days at (XXXX grandmother). DFCS stopped the visits within 2 weeks. The reason given by DFCS was the child was too traumatized going back and forth. In truth, Jeremy begged us and screamed never to be taken back to (XXXX his grandmother) house, which we have on video. We, as a family, have seen Jeremy in stores time to time with (XXXX grandmother) and the very people he is not to be around. At each meeting Jeremy continues to run to us wherever he sees us and it is clear he is suffering. This child is in a desperate situation and this is why I am writing, and begging you Senator Schaefer, to do something in this child’s behalf. Jeremy can clearly describe in detail his sexual molestation by every member of this family and this sexual abuse continues to this day.
When Jeremy was 5 years of age I took him to Dr. (XXXX) of Habersham County who did indeed agree that Jeremy’s rectum was black and blue and the physical damage to the child was clearly a case of sexual molestation .
Early in Jeremy’s life, when he was in such bad physical condition, we took him to Egleston Children Hospital where at two months of age therapy was to begin three times a week. DFCS decided that the (XXXX grandparent family) should participate in his therapy. However, the therapist complained over and over that the (XXXX grandparent family) would not even wash their hands and would cause Jeremy to cry during these sessions. (XXXX the grandmother), after receiving custody no longer allowed the therapy because it was an inconvenience. The therapist reported that this would be a terrible thing to do to this child. Therapy was stopped and it was detrimental to the health of Jeremy.
During (XXXX grandmother) custody, (XXXX uncle) has shot Jeremy with a BB gun and there is a report at (XXXX) County Sheriff’s office. There are several amber alerts at Cornelia Wal-Mart, Commerce Wal-Mart, and a 911 report from (XXXX) County Sheriff’s Department when Jeremy was lost. (XXXX grandmother), to teach Jeremy a lesson, took thorn bush limbs and beat the bottoms of his feet. Jeremy’s feet got infected and his feet had to be lanced by Dr. (XXXX). Then Judy called me to pick him up after about 4 days to take back him to the doctor because of intense pain. I took Jeremy to Dr. (XXXX) in Gainesville. Dr. (XXXX) said surgery was needed immediately and a cast was added. After returning home, (XXXX), his grandfather and (XXXX), his uncle, took him into the hog lot and allowed him to walk in the filth.
Jeremy’s feet became so infected for a 2nd time that he was again taken back to Dr. (XXXX) and the hospital. No one in the hospital could believe this child’s living conditions.
Jeremy is threatened to keep quiet and not say anything to anyone. I have videos, reports, arrest records and almost anything you might need to help Jeremy.
Please call my husband, Wendell, or me at any time.
Sandra and (XXXX) husband (XXXX)
Continue - Exhibit B
EXHIBIT B
Failure of DFCS
to remove six desperate children
A brief report regarding six children that Habersham County DFCS director failed to remove as disclosed to Senator Nancy Schaefer by Sheriff Deray Fincher of Habersham County.
Sheriff Deray Fincher, Chief of Police Don Ford and Chief Investigator Lt. Greg Bowen Chief called me to meet with them immediately, which I did on Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Sheriff Fincher, after contacting the Director of Habersham County DFCS several times to remove six children from being horribly abused, finally had to get a court order to remove the children himself with the help of two police officers.
The children, four boys and two girls, were not just being abused; they were being tortured by a monster father.
The six children and a live in girl friend were terrified of this man, the abuser. The children never slept in a bed, but always on the floor. The place where they lived was unfit for human habitation.
The father on one occasion hit one of the boys across his head with a bat and cut the boy’s head open. The father then proceeded to hold the boy down and sew up the child’s head with a needle and red thread. However, even with beatings and burnings, this is only a fraction of what the father did to these children and to the live-in girlfriend.
Sheriff Fincher has pictures of the abuse and condition of one of the boys and at the writing of this report, he has the father in jail in Habersham County.
It should be noted that when the DFCS director found out that Sheriff Fincher was going to remove the children, she called the father and warned him to flee.
This is not the only time this DFCS director failed to remove a child when she needed to do so. (See Exhibit A)
The egregious acts and abhorrent behavior of officials who are supposed to protect children can no longer be tolerated.
Senator Nancy Schaefer
50th District of Georgia
Senator Nancy Schaefer
302 B Coverdell Office Building
18 Capitol Square, SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Phone: 404-463-1367
Fax: 404-657-3217
Senator Nancy Schaefer
District Office
P O Box 294
Turnerville, Georgia 30580
Phone: 706-754-1998
Fax: 706-754-1803
email: senatornancyschaefer@alltel.net
Please forward to anyone interested
Jeny { 09.14.08 at 4:51 pm } I haven’t found anything that says Foster Parents are required to account for how they spend the daily rate US taxpayers give them to foster children.
Nothing at all. In fact, it would appear they’re allowed to spend the TAX FREE money any way they wish, on anyone they wish, on anthing they wish. Whether or not it is directly or indirectly related to caring for their ward.
Perhaps you have the link that would show us otherwisde, SKK?
Jeny, I was a single mom from the time my children were 8 and 9 and their dad died in a car accident. I did have it ‘easy’ financially because of life insurance through his work place and social security death benefits, but I have a pile of friends who have been in similar situations to yours. You’re special people - I know it’s a constant battle, and I give you a lot of credit for working when it would be easier to go on the dole and let the ’state’ support you.
God bless ya, girl.
Jeny, you can thank the government for effectively sterilizing you. The system discriminates against honest people. It doesn’t want honest people to breed.
Those are surprizing numbers for foster care incentives. I wonder what Jessica Scovil’s foster mom is going to do now without the $2000 dollar “incentive” the little baby brought in. I can see now why she’s upset! How’s she going to pay the mortgage? She lost her two other foster kids on account of this, now she’s down $5000 a month! It will be at least 6 months until the DFCS can trust her again with another little baby to abuse. Who knows that baby could belong to that nice young couple next door. So glad to see the system cares - NOT.
Joey { 09.14.08 at 8:09 pm } Jeny, you can thank the government for effectively sterilizing you. The system discriminates against honest people. It doesn’t want honest people to breed.
==================
Yeah, nice eh? I would have dearly loved to have another baby–even two. I always thought growing up I would have four children. That was my plan.
Of course, I never planned on twins, I never planned on ended up divorced because my ex-husband fell for (and married) our neighbor–who had four children with her husband.
If you’d asked me when I was a teenager, or when I was in college, if this is how my life would turn out, I would have laughed you right out of town.
*sigh*
Still, no regrets. I have two amazing teens who are growing up to be two of the nicest, most intelligent, honest, capable young people you’d ever want to know. I am truly blessed to be their mother.
I only hope and pray one day they don’t come back to me with resentments over the fact they grew up in a crappy neighborhood (best I could afford) and that our neighborhood school is so bad they had to go to a NCLB transfer school 12 miles away just to be safe. I hope they don’t come back to me as adults with resentments that we couldn’t afford to move to the high school district all their friends will be attending in 9th grade next year. I’m trying now to find a rental in that district that we can afford. My plan is to rent our house out (not going to even try to sell in this market) and rent something in the high school district, so they don’t have to change schools all over again. They just did it last year in 7th grade and it was truly culture shock and painfulf for them. I can’t do that to them again.
Anyway…..I digress. I guess it’s all good that I only have my two. Another two would be so much more to worry about hating me as adults.
================================
Those are surprizing numbers for foster care incentives. I wonder what Jessica Scovil’s foster mom is going to do now without the $2000 dollar “incentive” the little baby brought in. I can see now why she’s upset! How’s she going to pay the mortgage? She lost her two other foster kids on account of this, now she’s down $5000 a month! It will be at least 6 months until the DFCS can trust her again with another little baby to abuse. Who knows that baby could belong to that nice young couple next door. So glad to see the system cares - NOT.
===========================
You *know* she and her husband are freaking out at the loss of income from THREE foster children being removed from their home. That was probably the *only* way they could afford for her to be a stay at home Mom to their adopted children after the adoption bonus payment ran out. Now the fit is hitting the shan for the Osbornes financially.
Unfortunately, Wendy Osborne baked their main paycheck in her minivan a few days ago….and now jail is a possibility, albeit very slight….so, now what for them?
Why….hire a slick lawyer (with taxpayer funds, by the way) to plead mercy and sympathy for her.
No mercy, no sympathy from me.
Sorry…..that belongs with Jessica’s Mother, Father and entire large extended family—on both sides.
Jeny
Chai Tea { 09.14.08 at 7:36 pm } Jeny, I was a single mom from the time my children were 8 and 9 and their dad died in a car accident. I did have it ‘easy’ financially because of life insurance through his work place and social security death benefits, but I have a pile of friends who have been in similar situations to yours. You’re special people - I know it’s a constant battle, and I give you a lot of credit for working when it would be easier to go on the dole and let the ’state’ support you.
God bless ya, girl
=============================
My Mother and Father have always told me that God doesn’t give me more than he trusts me to handle. Some days I wish he didn’t trust me so darned much!!!
My kids are almost 14, they’re in 8th grade. Their childhood is rapidly coming to a close and we’re starting to look towards their futures as young adults. My son played with the high school marching band Friday night—and I swear I was so choked up with sobs, his twin sister literally had to help pull me together. She said ….I promise Mom, I won’t move out until I’m 30…which made me cry harder.
I want them to grow up to be happy, healthy, self-sufficient, succesful people. I’ve done my best to lay the foundation for them, and I hope they will make the most of every opportunity that comes their way.
When their Dad first left, I wished on a daily basis that a large dump truck would run over him as he crossed a street. Visualized it in my head and everything. I knew that SSI benefits would be triple what he is ordered to pay the kids–and that it would come every month without fail. I wouldn’t have to hire an attorney to force CSE to hold him in contempt and make him pay his arrears, it would just arrive each month on the 1st and that would be that.
But then….he had a heart attack (he survived) when the kids were about 7, and they took it really hard. It was then I realized that though he sucks as a husband and father, they still love him and losing their father to an early death would be a devastating and painful experience for them that I don’t want them to have.
So….that brought me to the neutral phase, where I remain. My only resentment is that things are so tough for us–and he seems not to care. In fact, he seems to enjoy my struggles, and I can’t figure out why. He left me and was remarried before the year was out. Still, he searches for ways to punish me.
However, that which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. I know for a fact I am a stronger woman because of all that I have been through. I suppose this is God’s plan for me….all I can do is make the best of it and finish raising my kids to the best of my ability.
Somehow, someway, we have always managed. We will persevere.
I especially enjoy seeing the ex frustrated that I haven’t given up or thrown in the towel after all this time. No matter how hard he’s tried to destroy me, I’m like a Timex. I take a beating and keep on ticking!
Thanks for the very kind words. They mean more than you know on those days when I don’t think I can do this one more day.
**hugs**
Jeny
PS. SO sorry for the loss of your husband. I can’t imagine going through that loss. Divorce is easier than death—you don’t feel guilty for hating them for leaving you. Death, it’s not easy. And I imagine there must have been times you got good and mad at him for leaving, and then felt guilty because you know it wasn’t his choice. God bless you too, hun!!!
After reading today’s main story here on Kurt’s blog, anyone still doubt CPS is an arrogant, corrupt, out of control gestapo-like organization?
Hmmmmm.
Someone on this blog would be a millionaire if she would just stop blogging and use that time to make money instead. Too much time spent here is the equivalent of gossiping over the back fence all day…
Yeah, whatever you say–non-logic.
YOU do with your time what you like, and I”ll do with MINE what I like. How about that?
I’m a Mom….I care about kids. Even babies who aren’t mine, aren’t related to me and I don’t know.
Little Jessica Scovil’s killing by her foster mother is NOT going to be swept under the carpet and forgotten–no matter how much you’d like to see that happen.
There are a LOT of folks out there just like me who are going to see to it that Wendy Osborne is held fully accountable for this innocent 9 month old’s absolutely PREVENTABLE killing.
Mrs. Osborne should be treated **exactly** the same as if Jessica’s own God-given mother had left her in the car to bake to death. We all know that “birth parents” who accidentally leave a baby in a car to bake to death usually have the book thrown at them—meanwhile, foster parents like Mrs. Osborne who do the same to a foster child are completely protected and given a pass. No charges, no worries. It’s all “oops, $hit happen$”.
I hope this kind of tragedy never touches your life or the life of anyone you love. I suspect if it did, you’d be way more sympathetic to the position I’ve taken on this.
God bless you….
Jeny
PS. Ultralogic–don’t worry about the money issues. I have an excellent full time job with a major corporation (you would recognize it instantly if I named it). We have excellent, excellent benefits and I have very good propects for promotion. I am building a career path that will lead to positions that pay more than enough that even if the deadbeat dad in our lives doesn’t pay, we won’t feel it.
So…..you worry about your finances….and I”ll continue to focus on improving ours. P~
OK, Jeny,
“Mrs. Osborne should be treated **exactly** the same as if Jessica’s own God-given mother had left her in the car to bake to death. We all know that “birth parents” who accidentally leave a baby in a car to bake to death usually have the book thrown at them”
Here is your latest bald assertion without any statistical support whatsoever. We all don’t know that at all; in fact, I have yet to see any nonanecdotal evidence of that anywhere on this blog. I know of many cases where “the book” was not thrown
“PS. Ultralogic–don’t worry about the money issues. I have an excellent full time job with a major corporation (you would recognize it instantly if I named it). We have excellent, excellent benefits and I have very good propects for promotion. I am building a career path that will lead to positions that pay more than enough that even if the deadbeat dad in our lives doesn’t pay, we won’t feel it.
So…..you worry about your finances….and I”ll continue to focus on improving ours. P~
The above retort is directly at odds with so many of your recent lengthy paragraphs in which you bemoan your financial fate. You can’t have it both ways–either you are poor and struggling and jealous of all those foster parents and the benefits you feel they don’t deserve OR you are doing fine financially and are not jealous of them.
“Little Jessica Scovil’s killing by her foster mother is NOT going to be swept under the carpet and forgotten–no matter how much you’d like to see that happen.”
Now, where in the world did you ever get the idea that I’m trying to sweep someone’s killing under the rug?!?
…where the book was not thrown”…at the birth parents.”(Please add to the end of paragraph one.)
Oh, Jeny,
“Yeah, whatever you say–non-logic.”
My experience is that people only resort to name calling when stung by the truth of the accusation(s) against them.
You should be ashamed. You can do better.
How much is Jessica Scovil’s life worth? I think that’s a good question for the tort lawyers. The issue that screams out in all these cases where kids die in state care is what would have happend if the child remained with the parent, and why was the child taken in the first place. These questions demand answers, and the deaths of the children just aggravate the burning question.
Here’s one where someone’s filing a law suit:
http://www.the-injury-lawyer-directory.com/2008/06/foster-care-death-sparks-wrongful-death.html
My experience is that people only resort to name calling when stung by the truth of the accusation(s) against them.
You should be ashamed. You can do better.
===============
My experience tells me that when others criticise the amount of time one spends at the computer, the person doing the criticising is the one with the actual problem.
Same goes for when they criticise their budget.
Are you familiar with the word hypocrite? If not, look it up and see if you don’t find your picture right next to it.
Cheers, my friend.
Jeny
Oops, I was wrong; you apparently can’t do better.
You’re trying to avoid answering the concerns I had in #164. Your inability to respond to them speaks so loudly that I can’t hear anymore of your infantile namecalling.
You’re probably one of those who thinks that as long as she gets in the last word, she wins. If so, that is truly pathetic.
By your own actions, you have now been dismissed. Enjoy what you can of your life. Goodbye.
This tragic story aside, because some people seem to be making this blog about their personal issues, here is what I have to say.
I have been watching and reading, and I have to agree with mr ultralogic in many of his points. Especially those pointed to Jeny whom seems to be the main speaker in this blog. Jenny does seem to preach about double standards but she sure does speak of her self and her family in double standards. So which is it Jeny? Boo-hoo momma who struggles every day and foster parents get everything or sucessful business woman of the year with no struggles to compare?
And if you are so above foster parents why not give it a try and see what they go thru before judging them and their situations? Not everyone and every situation is a cookie mold.
Hey dville, if foster parents think it’s tough, then they shouldn’t be foster parents. Sheesh. They could end up killing a child.
I can assure you than I know better to leave babies in the car or duct tape kindergarteners’ mouths shut and then cry about it after they died.
D’ville, unless you have a clue about what it is to be a single parent, I don’t think you should be throwing stones.
I admire Jeny for her efforts to build a life for herself and for her children. The fact that she is doing so without any assistance from the father of her children is only more reason to offer her encouragement - not condemnation or criticism.
I don’t know if you have a family or not, but if you do, and you think it is at all a struggle at times, double what you deal with and try to do it all by yourself.
I was fortunate - I had financial security while my children were young, but single parenting is never an easy road in any way, shape, or form. Yes, you can be financially secure and still have many struggles. I would have given up some of the financial security for a stable relationship with an honorable man who was interested in fathering my children.
It’s easy to condemn people until you walk in their shoes.
Hey Chai,
You’ve totally missed the point. D’ville’s not throwing stones at her single parenting, she’s throwing stones at her logic (or more precisely, lack thereof).
To reiterate, D’ville’s not condemning Jeny herself, just her inability to be logically consistent and her inability to refrain from talking out of both sides of her mouth at once.
MUL (Mister Ultra Logic) - I was referring to this quote from D’ville: “Boo-hoo momma who struggles every day and foster parents get everything or sucessful business woman of the year with no struggles to compare?”
That may not sound like a personal attack against Jeny to you, but it sounds like one to me.
There are many circumstances in life where we may play dual roles that are seemingly contradictory - When we are attempting to do the best we can, that should evoke respect from others, not criticism nor mockery.
If I missed the point, I apologize. Single parents have a special place in my heart, especially those that do it without assistance from their former partners.
BTW…CPS nonsuited an additional 4 cases…. what’s the count up to now?
D’ville and “logic”….I haven’t been on the blog much in the last 24 hours because….ta daa……
I have a life.
Twin teenagers who play sports and have practices, games and other school activities, and I have a full time job too. I post here when I can and I post on what I feel like posting about. This week has been especially busy…so I haven’t had much time to pay attention to my favorite thread.
Beyond that, you ought to know I mostly ignore agitators and trolls who come here looking to play games. You can figure out which you are and why I am not addressing either of your posts specifically.
Ya’ll have a great day….
Cheers, my friends.
Jeny
Chai Tea { 09.18.08 at 7:40 pm } MUL (Mister Ultra Logic) - I was referring to this quote from D’ville: “Boo-hoo momma who struggles every day and foster parents get everything or sucessful business woman of the year with no struggles to compare?”
That may not sound like a personal attack against Jeny to you, but it sounds like one to me.
There are many circumstances in life where we may play dual roles that are seemingly contradictory - When we are attempting to do the best we can, that should evoke respect from others, not criticism nor mockery.
If I missed the point, I apologize. Single parents have a special place in my heart, especially those that do it without assistance from their former partners.
===============
Thanks, Chai.
I haven’t discussed my personal circumstances because I was looking for pity.
I was pointing out how “bad” foster parents have it compared to single parents like me–while they piss, moan and whine on the taxpayer dime (including MY hard earned dimes).
I really don’t give a rip what D’ville or “Ultra-logic” think of me. They are nameless, faceless agitators and trolls on an internet blog. Big deal. They are of no consequence to me.
Thanks for understanding the motivation behind my comparing and contrasting my circumstances vs. that of foster parents.
You nailed it.
***hugs***
Jeny
173 Chai Tea { 09.18.08 at 7:12 pm } D’ville, unless you have a clue about what it is to be a single parent, I don’t think you should be throwing stones.
I admire Jeny for her efforts to build a life for herself and for her children. The fact that she is doing so without any assistance from the father of her children is only more reason to offer her encouragement - not condemnation or criticism.
I don’t know if you have a family or not, but if you do, and you think it is at all a struggle at times, double what you deal with and try to do it all by yourself.
I was fortunate - I had financial security while my children were young, but single parenting is never an easy road in any way, shape, or form. Yes, you can be financially secure and still have many struggles. ****I would have given up some of the financial security for a stable relationship with an honorable man who was interested in fathering my children.****
It’s easy to condemn people until you walk in their shoes.
=================
Awesome and brutally honest post. I know what you’re talking about in the part I put asterisks by above.
It’s hard to be at the son’s baseball game and the daughter’s volleball practice at the same time. Someone usually gets short shrift, and I try to make it me, not them. I do a lot of driving back and forth when games and practices conflict.
but the hardest part….
Just showing kids the ropes of life all by yourself. Moms can only do so much….kids need a Dad. Men are important in the lives of children. VERY important.
Children need men in their lives to help raise them up to be honorable young men and women.
That’s not to say single Moms can’t (and don’t) do a fine job every single day of their lives—but it would be even so much better if every kid could have a Dad in their life, even better, in their home permanently.
Best,
Jeny
Ever notice that there are no single moms in the FLDS? See, the principle of plural marriage solved one of society’s biggest problems: single, over-burdened, mothers.
Joey { 09.18.08 at 10:09 pm } Ever notice that there are no single moms in the FLDS? See, the principle of plural marriage solved one of society’s biggest problems: single, over-burdened, mothers.
===================
I can’t say I haven’t looked at the FLDS women’s lifestyle and not admired parts of it.
Many hands make light work of raising children, keeping house, all all the comes along with being “The Mom”.
Often is the time I have wished for extra help to accomplish all that I want to do each day. I run out of time and energy long before the “to do list” ever gets completed.
A few sister wives sounds good to me on those nights when I am exhausted right down to my bones, and I know I have to head to bed or I will never get up in time to start all over again in the morning.
….you make an excellent point, Joey.
Jeny
Unfortunately, the main part of the FLDS lifestyle I couldn’t ever deal with is—sharing a husband. That’s just not me. I don’t have the ability to do that.
But God Bless them if they are happy, their children are happy and healthy, and so are their husbands. *That* is truly the mark of a wife’s success….
Jeny
Your welcome, Jeny -
Even hearing you speak of being bone tired exhausted and having to get up and do it all again brings back painful memories!
God bless and super ** hugs ** back atcha!
Actually I am a single parent of three beautiful children ages 2,4, and 6 so I do know a thing or two about single parenting, not that I am looking for any pitty.
I just know that Jeny seems to “want her cake and eat it too” and that just can’t be!
I have been under investigation thru CPS more than one occasion and even though I felt their “visits” were with out merrits, I appreciate someone caring and not just judging.
Also, as a single parent with the invasion of CPS, I was offered many services of help such as WIC, food stamps, free child care, low income housing, car insurance paid for, low income housing, and a vehicle paid for. They also paid for my time and travel expense to classes. Now I mention all this not to show others my defaults but to prove to you that SOME FAMILES DO APPRECIATE HELP NO MATTER WHERE IT COMES FROM EVEN CPS!
Because of their concern they were able to help me and my family and will continue to. So not only do foster parents, which I have respect for the one who cared for my children, get paid I can say birth parents can also because I did.
So try to do a little more research and let those who welcome help continue to get it. Because if the system is demolished who would’ve helped me and my family in my time of need? You? Tax payers? Nope, just CPS.
I have much respect for them. As they are not perfect but neither was/am I as a birth parent!
And in regards to :
R { 09.18.08 at 3:41 pm } I can assure you than I know better to leave babies in the car or duct tape kindergarteners’ mouths shut and then cry about it after they died.
———————————————————————-
Should we close down kindergarden and maybe even schools altogether?
NO ONE and NO SYSTEM is perfect, but to judge a situation, or a handful of situations as means to dismatle a program is NOT fair.
Treat each situation as separate for all fairness.
171 Joey { 09.18.08 at 3:37 pm } Hey dville, if foster parents think it’s tough, then they shouldn’t be foster parents. Sheesh. They could end up killing a child.
—————————————————————–
Anyone could have this tradgey on their hands. Myself as a birth parent included. But I have witnessed what a foster parent can be awsomely capable of doing for a child not of their own and I am thankful my three children were with a good foster parent because they are not all bad. There is good and bad in EVERYTHING!
But this sad situation could’ve happened to anyone that is the point I am trying to make!
D’Ville,
You know absolutely NOTHING about me or my family and are in absolutely NO positin to sit in judgement of me.
I haven’t killed an innocent child while being PAID by the state to guard its life and ensure it remains safe.
On the other hand, Wendy Osborne has, and *she* certainly merits condemnation and harsh judgement.
Good luck with all 3 of your kids. I am assuming CPS must have given them back to you—make sure you don’t lose them again.
As for me and my family—my children have *never* been taken from me by anyone, for any reason. Least of all because I couldn’t take care of them. God help me, they never will either.
Best,
Jeny
Oh D’ville that’s great that you didn’t bat an eye when your children were stolen from you. What a good little sheep you are. Was it the money you received in return?
Know that if you had been married, and in Texas, it wouldn’t be CPS paying you for your kids, you would be paying CPS child support, for the privilege of having them held hostage.
Should we close down kindergarden [sic] and maybe even schools altogether?
Who was talking about schools? The children I was referring to were Logan Marr of Maine, and Jessica Scoville of Georgia (mentioned already in the thread), both killed by their foster mothers - not teachers.
And no, I don’t think schools (generally speaking) should be shut down. I think the public schools need a lot of overhaul, however.
D’ville,
I’m thankful that when you were not able to safely care for your children there were ‘good’ foster care parents able to step in and do so.
However, that said - Not all foster care parents are doing it because they ‘love the children.’ Some are doing it because it pays the bills…and some resent that any of the $$ they receive for the children actually has to be spent on the children’s expenses.
You seem like a very bright and articulate person, and appreciative for CPS’s intervention in your situation. You can only judge by what you personally know…as can the rest of us.
Hopefully you are getting your life together so that CPS is no longer a factor in it. There are a lot of people that receive public assistance, WIC, medicaid, etc., without being ordered to do so by CPS. It does raise a lot of questions about why you didn’t just do those things without having to be ‘guided’ to do so by CPS.
Back to the topic - We know how the FLDS have been mistreated and maligned by CPS/Walther/Malonis. If you can watch the videos of the women and children being herded on to the buses in April and driven away from the ranch with just the clothes on their back, and if you can watch that without having chills, then…you must not have watched or read any documentaries about how the Jews were treated in Europe when they were being taken to Concentration camps because the government hated everything they believed and practiced.
There’s a reason so many of us are DEEPLY offended about that action occurring on American soil. There are many of us who had parents, grandparents, uncles, brothers, etc. who fought to keep such a thing from happening on American soil…and yet…here it is, encouraged and praised by AMERICANS! It makes me literally sick to my stomach to even think about it.
******
I don’t know what you and MUL have against Jeny, but you’ve done nothing but condemn and criticize her since you both appeared. I am beginning to believe you’re the same person posing as two different people because you act like a tag team. You’re also very supportive of CPS, etc. Just seems funny to me…
Jeny - email me at songofjoy@myway.com
Thanks!
Do you think we could stop with the filthy language???
Good grief.
189 mr ultralogic { 09.19.08 at 6:57 pm } “You know absolutely NOTHING about me or my family and are in absolutely NO positin to sit in judgement of me.”
“I really don’t give a rip what D’ville or “Ultra-logic” think of me. They are nameless, faceless agitators and trolls on an internet blog.”
One thing we most certainly know about you is that you like to hear yourself spout your side of an issue only and you won’t address other points of view respectfully. We also know that you resort to juvenile name calling when confronted about it, as demonstrated above.
Do you think it would be fair for someone to refer to you as a [CENSORED FOR VULGARITY] on an internet blog? Probably not. So why do you do it to other people?
I ask you that respectfully.
======================
You ask that with the ultimate in disrespect—and I am surprised that kind of language survived Kurt’s inspection.
I do know that it*will* likely get you kicked off this blog.
AND…..I know that it shows you for the inferior person you are. That kind of language is certainly NOT necessary to convey your thoughts. We don’t use that kind of language here, although you may, I”m guessing you’ll end up finding a new place to use your vulgarity.
Best wishes…..and very respectfully,
Cheers!
Jeny
Chai Tea { 09.19.08 at 8:11 pm } Jeny - email me at songofjoy@myway.com
Thanks!
Do you think we could stop with the filthy language???
Good grief.
=================
Chai—will e-mail you later in teh day. My daughter has an all day volleyball tournament and my son has a double header basenall game(s) today, so the day is busy. Have to be at volleyball at 8:30, so I’m already up and at ‘em this morning.
I’m sure Kurt will take care of our vulgar visitors. And I agree with you…..looks like D’ville and Ultralogic are one and the same playing tag team, and I am their target.
Have a great Saturday!
Jeny
Darn….I meant to “bleep” the bad words and didn’t.
Color me embarrassed. It’ only 6:15 am. *sigh*
I wish I could go back to bed. Think I’ll stretch out in the recliner while kids get ready.
Jeny
I tried emailing Kurt but the link he has posted when clicked comes up “webmaster@sltrib” -
I’m beginning to think the site has been hacked. After contacting webmaster they said they were not Kurt and could do nothing about the vile language.
There’s no way to ‘ignore’ people on here is there?
Jeny - don’t worry about the email - I’ve basically said it all here.
lol
Chai….his email is kurt@iperceive.net
I’ve sent an email to him to let him know about the abusive posts. He’ll get to them when he can.
Thanks for your support!
Jeny
Jeny, go to the Policy and Corrections page and click on the email link to Kurt there - does it come up ‘webmaster@sltrib’ for you?
It’s supposed to be kurt@iperceive, but I keep getting webmaster@sltrib lol
Jenny et al:
I’ve been reading with much interest. First, thank you Jenny for bringing to light a huge problem with DSS all across the country. I won’t go into my story, but tragic it certainly is. Ask for help and reap what you sow I guess.
I don’t see your story as wanting your cake and eat it too - I call it hope. You’ve worked hard, very hard, and deserve the hope at a promotion and secure career. Keep going it will be worth it.
I can tell you from personal experience, your everloving ex does feel guilty - the only way for him to feel better is by making it next to impossible for you to continue. Your children? Well, he is divested for a reason. Guilt is a terrible thing, but his relationship, or lack thereof, with his children will come around in full swing before he knows it.
The system is faulty - please visit http://www.kidjacked.com for more. The problem is that WE the people continue to fund the corruption. Not to worry though, all those fosters out there doing this for the money are next - S-3038 passed the Senate Finance Committee - their funding will end soon. Wonder what the cries will be then? Certainly hasn’t been to the support of the more than 1000 children taken daily for money.
I support you… keep up the pressure.
More info on Senate Bill 3038 that Cathy mentions above:
=================
U.S. Sen. Grassley: Wins committee passage of bill to help foster care kids get permanent, loving homes
9/10/2008
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Grassley wins committee passage of bill to help foster care kids get permanent, loving homes
WASHINGTON — The Senate Finance Committee today approved legislation first proposed by Senator Chuck Grassley to help move kids in foster care to permanent homes was passed today by the Senate Committee on Finance. Grassley urged congressional leaders to find a way to achieve final passage of the legislation before the end of this year’s session.
“This bill is about giving hope and opportunity to some of the most vulnerable kids in the country,” Grassley said. “Today, 15,000 children could leave foster care for good and enjoy the security and stability of a permanent home if we provided federal assistance to their legal guardians who are also their relatives, and that’s just one aspect of this comprehensive legislation.” . . .
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/09/21/baby_0921_8.html
Evelyn Carter and Robert Scovil with their daughter, baby Jessica Scovil, before she was killed by a CPS Foster Parent
More on little Jessica Scovil
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/09/21/Baby_dfcs.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
DFCS CONTROVERSY
Man: DFCS is ‘responsible’ for baby’s death
Couple’s daughter was taken away for alleged neglect, then died in foster car
Robert Scovil and Evelyn Carter met on a blind date about two years ago. He liked her “ocean blue” eyes and she made him laugh. A few months later they moved in together.
[redacted for copyright reasons -- follow the link to AJC to read the rest] . . .
And they think about the memories they had hoped to make: Taking her fishing, teaching her to swim.
Carter wants to write a poem about Jessica.
“Every time I try,” she said, “I cry.”
====================
Anyone care about little Jessica’s senseless killing at the hands of CPS [redacted]?
Why has it taken *this* long to decide if charges will be filed? Is Mrs. Osborne going to be treated like Rozita Swinton? It’s beginning to look like it to me.
They’re both “touch me nots” by the system that is supposed to *protect* children, not kill them–or at best traumatize them for life.
PRESS RELEASE **PRESS RELEASE** PRESS RELEASE** PRESS RELEASE
Critical Reform Bill Promises New Help for Children in Foster Care
Last update: 2:17 p.m. EDT Sept. 18, 2008
WASHINGTON, Sept 18, 2008 /****PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/**** — The U.S. House of Representatives today approved critical legislation that promises to improve the American foster care system and make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children and youth across the country. H.R. 6893 builds on two bills that Congress acted on earlier this year: H.R.6307, a bill the House unanimously passed earlier this summer and S. 3038, a bill the Senate Finance Committee passed on September 10, 2008.
If approved, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 would invest in initiatives to help move children safely — and permanently — out of foster care.
In particular, the bill would strengthen support for family relatives who care for abused and neglected children outside of the formal foster care system; give American Indian tribes the same access to federal child welfare funding that states currently receive; and provide opportunities for additional assistance to older youth who are aging out of the system.
The legislation addresses issues critical to Casey Family Programs’ ambitious 2020 Strategy to improve foster care in America by:
— Safely reducing the number of children in out-of-home care by 50 percent over the next 12 years;
— Reinvesting savings from reductions to strengthen child welfare systems;
— And improving education, employment and mental health services for those in foster care.
“I appreciate all of the members of Congress who have made it a priority this year to provide better opportunities and a brighter future for the more than 500,000 children in our nation’s foster care system,” said William C. Bell, president and chief executive officer of Casey Family Programs. “We must ensure that all of our children have the best chance possible to succeed in the future.
This legislation marks an important step toward making Casey Family Programs’ 2020 Strategy a reality for those who need it most — the children in our foster care system.”
The Fostering Connections act is the most important funding reform of the foster care system in more than a decade. It creates a federally subsidized guardianship program and grants American Indian tribes direct access to Title IV-E, two 2020 strategies that Casey has advocated on Capitol Hill and in position papers released earlier this year.
Congress has often discussed the need to reform the major funding source of foster care, Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, but opted instead for more incremental changes. The latest vote marks a significant shift in congressional attitudes and priorities in child welfare legislation. Casey applauds this focus.
About Casey Family Programs
Casey Family Programs is the largest national foundation whose sole mission is to provide and improve — and ultimately prevent the need for — foster care. The foundation draws on over 40 years of experience and expert research and analysis to improve the lives of children and youth in foster care in two important ways: by providing direct services and support to foster families, and by promoting improvements in child welfare practice and policy. The Seattle-based foundation was established in 1966 by UPS founder Jim Casey, and has a current endowment of more than $2.2 billion.
For more information, contact Casey Family Programs at info@casey.org or 1300 Dexter Avenue North, Floor 3, Seattle, WA 98109. Visit our Web site at http://www.casey.org.
SOURCE Casey Family Programs
http://www.casey.org
# # #
Jeny….
Please stop re-posting it.
The fact that they have not come back makes me think that Kurt has banned them.
Thanks.
Chai
Chai Tea { 09.21.08 at 9:05 pm } Jeny….
Please stop re-posting it.
The fact that they have not come back makes me think that Kurt has banned them.
Thanks.
Chai
===================
The fact that Kurt has edited EVERY post I’ve made this afternoon, while leaving mul’s vile personal attack against me undisturbed and intact FOR THREE DAYS is very much an affront to me. Especially since he didn’t even bother to answer/acknowlege my e-mail.
IF he banned mul, he should have gone back and removed that post and any reference to it.
The fact that he let it stand–a personal attack using the most disgusting words speaks volumes to me about Kurt.
Apparently he’s not opposed to such vile personal attacks like that against his readers, but he IS opposed to Senator Grassley’s PRESS RELEASE in favor of changes to foste care being printed in full on his blog.
PRESS RELEASES are MEANT TO BE REPEATED IN FULL ON THE WEB.
I rather doubt you’d appreciate a post like that against you standing for THREE DAYS–ignored by the webmaster (no answer to either of my e-mails from Kurt).
Meanwhile your civilized posts were butchered almost immediately.
Put yourself in my shoes.
I am tired of being censored, while vulgarity and personal attacks remain.
It’s just wrong.
So I guess Wendy Osborne is going to get away with manslaughter. Nice.
Joey { 09.21.08 at 9:22 pm } So I guess Wendy Osborne is going to get away with manslaughter. Nice.
===============
It would certainly appear she is getting the kid-gloves, Rozita Swinton CPS touch-me-not treatment, even though both have comitted crimes against children. One more egregious than the other.
Yes, Wendy Osborne is going to get away with killing Jessica Scovil. Her only punishment? Supposedly “feelings of guilt” for life. Big-dammm-deal.
Best,
Jeny
204 Joey { 09.21.08 at 9:22 pm } So I guess Wendy Osborne is going to get away with manslaughter. Nice.
=================
Apparently so.
DAY FOUR—Post 189 containing a personal attack using vile names still stands, while every other post I’ve made has been deleted by Kurt.
So–what is it Kurt? Do the words in 189 fly?
Why won’t you remove the INAPPROPRIATE personal attack against me in post #189 in THIS thread?
Please advise.
I’m not a reader here; I found this site while looking for an update on the murders of the Sueppel children in Iowa City, IA. I’m an adoptive parent of two Korean teens who is strongly in favor of adoption reform, domestic and international.
There are certainly plenty of cases of adoptive parent abuse, including murder, of adoptive children. The Sueppel case is one of the most horrific. However, I’d like to make a small correction to the note in comment 97:
“http://www.fixcas.com/parody/notes.htm
ALL OF THESE CHILDREN died while in State Custody after being removed from their parents:
This page is in memory of children who died after social service agencies removed them from the care of their parents, placing them with fosters, adopters, group homes, or psychiatric facilities.”
The page linked does not include the statement that the children listed were in state custody at the time of their deaths, only that they were in the custody of other than their genetic parents; I think that statement was included in error.
The Sueppel children, who were legally adopted as infants, were in the custody of the adoptive father who murdered them, not a state agency, which of course raises an entirely different subject: the need for adoption reform. That, in my opinion, is an equally-needed discussion.
I am the one and only, no tag team, no duplicates, just plain old me!
Such one sided views on this blog, such a shame that ALL the views of BOTH sides can’t be given, accepted, and understood. Just aparently one side is only accepted.
Maybe not agreed with but with all of us smart intellegnt people just an understanding of there are two sides to every view. That is how life is.
such a shame that ALL the views of BOTH sides can’t be given, accepted,
It’s impossible, intellectually, to accept ALL the views of BOTH sides. But opposing views are not censored here, so don’t be such a whiner.
D’ville, I don’t think they are one sided at all. We can disagree and often do, but we don’t resort to the vile name calling that happened earlier. Thank goodness that Kurt finally cleaned it up.
SKK…ok…so I guess you don’t have an explanation about the imminent danger that Merrianne was allegedly in that was the basis for her removal from a very safe, secure home and relationship.
Only goes to show that the whole intent of removing Merrianne was to punish her parents and had nothing to do with her safety. Well, in punishing her parents for their lack of cooperation, you have tortured and traumatized this young woman.
Nice.
And we wonder why the FLDS don’t trust the state? I don’t blame them.
For most of Adrianna Swain’s 2 1/2 years, the toddler has been in foster care, a family friend confirmed Thursday.
The child was taken from her parents when she suffered a broken arm at the age of 3 months, said Brenda Tatum, a friend of Adrianna’s mother, Amanda Swain. Tatum said the child was recently returned to her Marietta parents.
Adrianna Swain had just recently been returned to her parents.On Wednesday, Swain and Flores-Amador, both 25, were charged with child cruelty after the toddler was rushed to surgery for multiple internal and external injuries. She remains in critical condition at Children’s Health Care of Atlanta at Scottish Rite.
Tom Rawlings, the state’s child advocate, says his office plans to conduct an independent review of the case.
“We will be pulling records and interviewing individuals who were managing this child’s case,” he said, adding that his office’s aim is not to pass judgment but to see “how the practices and policies in this case may have affected the outcome.”
Child advocates say this is a case where the system may have failed to adequately protect Adrianna, and her 1-year-old brother, who remained in the couple’s home until this week.
“Sources close to this case note that the safeguards of the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), the citizen’s review panel and the guardian ad litem — all of whom had first-hand information on this case and recommended that the child not be returned home — were all ignored by the court,” said Julie Bolen, a former CASA worker in Cobb. “If juvenile court proceedings were open to the public, judges and case workers might be more careful about sending children home to unsafe environments, in spite of compelling evidence that they will be in danger.”
—–
Ok, here is a little different treatment for a “bith parent” vs the case discussed above. Different, yes, fair, no.
BUT this is not the only case where the system failed, but in this case and many others, the system failed because THE CHILD WAS RETURNED!
Thoughts?
to continue my thought, treatments are not fair, and it can happen both with “birth parents” and “foster parents” but the bottom line is the system is failing the children weather they are returned to foster care or back to their parents. So what is our solution?
One solution is not to over populate a system with children who have no business in foster care, i.e., FLDS children, for example.
Seriously - it’s obvious the problem in both scenarios has lain with the judges. In all 3 cases, the FLDS, Taco’s, and Adrianna’s, the judges all evidenced prejudice or refused to listen to the very people that had accurate information.
The problem seems to be the judges.
I am disappointed at the l
I am disappointed at the lack of intellectual discourse on this blog.
Then how about contributing to the conversations here?
To call anything here a “conversation” is an injustice to the definition of conversation.
Most, but not all, of what you have here are the half-baked, not well thought out, ideas of a self-appointed “chosen few” whose ignorance, bias and closed-mindedness knows no practical bounds.
To summarize, most of the hard core contributors here are dimwits beyond any hope of intellectual salvation.
There are exceptions to this generalization and I ask those of you who qualify in that regard, “How can you have the patience to continue to discuss these topics with these most moronic of morons?!?”
You truly are just wasting your time; they lack the intellectual capacity to comprehend at any significant level.
Right back atchya, beni.
Actually, beni, having just finished the thread for the first time, I’m not sure which side you’re on. I can see pretty strong opinions on opposite sides here, which ones are you calling morons?
lol…
To all of you who care about children just think about it a 8 month old baby (1 day shy 9of being 9 months old) is dead. If you want to know more details about her and why she was removied from her PARENTS the mother who carried her for 9 months the father that couldn’t wait for her to be born all you have to do is Google Jessica Scovil and you will get all the information you need. I know more than most and I can tell you that if this babies mother had left her in that van she would be in jail because she has a mental illness and that does not make her a bad mother by any means. All this grandmother would like to see is Justice for Jessica. I do not beleive that Wendy ment to kill Jessica but there is no way around the fact that she did neglect Jessica and Jessica’s parents had to plan a furnal instead of her first birthday party. Which is coming up soon. This is not foster parent vers birth parent this is or should be about Justice for Jessica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m an adoptive mother of 2 sibling boys. My husband and I took these boys into our home at the ages of 8 and 10. They had been in the foster care system as legaly free to adopt children for 3 years by then. These poor kids had been through hell with their birth parents. Everything from verbal abuse, drug exposure, lack of food, lack of proper supervision, to physical abuse. One of my son’s was locked in a closet for hours at a time. You cannot convice me that their parents were the right people to take care of them. We are doing this because we feel we need to be there to help these kids finally have a future and a hope for tomorrow. We want to show them what a family should be like, and how a family loves and cares for each other. We both love these boys, as if they were our own birth children. I will do anything to protect them. We do receive a stipin to help offset the expenses of these kids. My boys are allergic to wheat, peanuts and fish so we have to buy special foods. Becuase of the nature of their trama, and the amount of loss they have endured we attend multipule doctors and therapy appointments each week. At the end of the month the little bitty $700 a month (total not for each kid) is barely enough to cover their specail needs for food, therapy and other non-covered nessesary items. There is little to no profit to be made in the foster care nor foster-adopt system. Becase of their schedules with appointments and school I have found it a lot easier to not be working right now. It has also facialitated our bonding process, which has been a diffcult process all considering. No one can really prepare you for a child that has not grown emotionaly past the age of two. I’m certain very few birth mothers have ever seen their eight year olds throw a horifically violent two year old fit on a regular basis. No one can prepare you for the manipulation and lies that most removed children tell and re-tell. They have been fourced to become professional liers as a means to surive with their birth parents. My oldest kid can look and sound like the perfect child, but none of it is real to him, and none of it is truth. To be honest the amount of additional stress a foster or foster-adopt child can bring into a home is nothing like that of a birth child. With the little bitty baby you carried for 9 months, cooed and gooed at, rocked, sang to, and taught to choose foods, clothing, to share, and that you will always be there, even when you are behind a blanket. These are all things my children missed out on all of that stuff critical to the atachament and mental well being of a child. When they were babies, 1, 2, 3 and 4, no one held them when they cried, no one rocked them to sleep, or read Good Night Moon over and over again, or palyed peek-a-boo, or even lovingly bathed and lotioned. And yes before you respond, I know this for a fact. They missed that care, that bond, that love every mother should provide and not all birth moms do. Yes there should be justice for baby Jessica, it is a true tradedy. But please don’t go around thinking social services is to blame, or that the foster mom did not care about the child. Social Services has an obligation to look into every report, even the stupid and bogus ones. A foster mom has an obligation to care for a child, some fail at this, and should not be foster parents. There was in deed a reason baby Jessica was taken away, and a reason she should have been returned. It is really sad that this happened at all but please do not attack all birth or all foster parents. In this world were we all see tragities, pain and suffering, let your family be a place of love and hope, no matter how you choose to do it. Show your children, show all children, what love and family is all about. I morn for baby Jessica’s family, and would never wish such an awful thing to happen to ayone’s child and I truly belive that responsible foster mother morns also. Having taken on the job of a foster and adoptive parent, I’m certain she felt and feels absoultly terrible about it. I’m certain it will haunt her for the rest of her life, as she is the one ultimently responsible for that poor baby’s death. How very sad indeed.
There was in deed a reason baby Jessica was taken away
While there are some extreme cases such as you mention, the
responsible foster mother
If that’s your idea of “responsible” behavior, then please send the children living with you away and don’t take any more in.
But please don’t go around thinking social services is to blame
Why not? They are to blame.
There was in deed a reason baby Jessica was taken away
How are you so sure? The only reason I’ve read was vague accusations of “failure to bond”.
Didn’t complete my sentence.
While there are some extreme cases such as you mention, the
… reality is that is not true all the time. I’ve seen kids taken away for the flimsiest of pretexts. Fake claims of sexual abuse. Twisting playground injuries into being beaten by parents. And so on.
Jennifer wake up and smell the roses. Those kids are not lying to you. They want to be with their real parents, and they will spend the rest of the lives trying to figure out why CPS kidnapped them from their parents and told lies about them. They will spend the rest of the lives trying to figure out why society branded them with the permanent label of “adoptee.”
Jennifer; What you describe is child abuse. Those children should have been taken out of the home. However, the handful of cases of underage marrages involving the FLDS does not even began to constitute child abuse.
I know to be a fact that baby Jessica had a loving mother whoes only crime was to ask for help when she needed it. She read to her baby from the time she found out she was carring her. The reason gave was not bonding with baby. Someone called that in. The fact that the mother has a mental illness along with that was all that was needed to take baby Jessica from a family that did all those thing with her that a baby needs and should have. I don’t blame the whole foster care system or al of the Social Services; but this foster mother and this Social Services failed Jessica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And her whole family.
CPS is the same all over- too busy making money to really care or correctly look into each case individualy. There is nothing so heart wrenching as having a CPS agent attack you. THIS is one experience I had. I just had a baby girl that doctors predicted would never be normal. After birth she quit breathing; her doctor had to do CPR on her. After He told me that one of her ribs had been broken. Every month I had to take her to a specialist. When she was about three months old, I took her to her regular appointment with this specialist. That specialist came in all mad, and was very cold to me. After a while a CPS agent came to talk to me. I had no Idea what this was about. She started asking “Do you shake your baby? Have you ever got mad at your child?’ and a load of other questions that I answered No. She shot question after question at me, then Finally after a long time said that I couldn’t take my baby home because she had a broken bone. After she left I bawled and called my husband and bawled at him what to do. He said tell them the doctor had broken the baby’s rib and give them the number to call him. This I did but they would not call or believe me until my husband called our doctor and had him call the specialist and talk to her. I tell you that ALL parents are guilty until proven innocent according to the CPS. and Unfortunately there is not another specialist I can go to without driving hundreds of miles. (The good news: my child is developing normal contrary to doctor opinion and She no longer has to see a specialist!!
It’s a wonder any one dares to have kids in this environment, knowing that CPS has the power to snatch them from you at will, for whatever reason.
Amberrose, I’m so glad that your daughter is doing so well. It sounds like you are a loving and conscientious parent.
Jennifer, it’s wonderful that there are people who are willing to take in other people’s children when there is real need in those children’s lives. The children, had they gone directly to an adoptive home instead of being warehoused at CPS probably wouldn’t have many of the problems you are dealing with.
Yes, there are bad parents out there that hurt their children. Yes, there are bad foster parents out there that hurt someone else’s children. But CPS is the only entity out there that deliberately hurts children and lies to the parents and the children, and probably the foster care people, in order to ensure their own jobs and salaries.
And, to compare the home that your children were removed from with any of the YFZ FLDS children’s homes is comparing apples to submaries.
Have you read the Mental Health workers reports about what good parents the YFZ mothers were and how they should be TEACHING parenting classes? Have you read the MH workers reports AND the reports of many of the administrators/staff of where these children were imprisoned and read about what well-adjusted, helpful, kind, social children these were? Have you read the report about these children’s education? How they scored ABOVE average in just about all areas?
I am angered by the actions of CPS who feels these can go into a small village and TAKE a village worth of children based on someone’s lie.
I read about a teacher in TX who was arrested this week for sending a nude picture of herself to a 14 year old student’s cell phone and I believe has been having a sexual relationship with him.
If CPS were to behave toward the teachers as they did toward the FLDS, they need to go to that school and remove every single child in harm’s way from ALL teachers (since all FLDS parents are child sexual abusers because one has been accused of doing so) but specifically they need to remove ALL teachers’ children from their homes and not permit any contact with either the teacher or their husband/wife, because obviously the children of teachers grow up in a pervasive atmosphere of abuse…
Do you begin to see how WRONG the taking of all 439 children was? Based on a LIE???
If not, I don’t know what to tell you.
I heard that Jackson County DA Rick Bridgeman indicted Wendy Osborne this week for manslaughter in the death of Jessica Scovil and his office is obtaining a warrant for her arrest.
STAND UP FOR THE TRUTH
OUR CHILDREN DEPEND ON IT
IT IS A SAD DAY, WHEN YOU CAN’T TRUST,
THE VERY ONES ENTRUSTED BY THE STATE, TO PROTECT OUR CHILDERN, TO NOT LIE OR TO FABERCATE FACTS .
DHS/CPS IS REALLY GOOD AT TAKING THE TRUE FACTS AND TWISTING THEM TO FIT THEIR NEEDS AND TO FIND A PARENT NEGLECTING THE CHILD, YET WHEN THE PARENT SAYS ANYTHING THEY ARE ONES LYING, BECAUSE THE CPS WORKER IS SO NOT CAPABLE OF SUCH ACTS, YET IT HAPPENS, AND THEY GET BY WITH IT, BECAUSE THEIR WORD IS GOLDEN! SADLY IT HAPPENS AND NOT ONLY HERE IN MADISON COUNTY!!!
STATEWIDE>>>>>>>>>>EVEN NATIONWIDE!!!!
TOGETHER WE CAN STAND A CHANCE OF BEING HEARD, AND HOPEFULLY AN OVERHAUL OF DHS/CPS, AND AN INVESTIGATION OF THE WRONG DOING IN THE OFFICES HERE AND STATEWIDE BY AN OUTSIDE PARTY, WHO WILL FIND IN OUR FAVOR!!!!
WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THE TRUTH IS HEARD!!!
WILL YOU STAND WITH US???
IF SO E-MAIL US AT standupforthetruth@yahoo.com!!!
OR WRITE TO P.O. BOX 546 ELKINS, AR 72727
hello i to have had alots of trouble with cps years ago . I was very stress so much the courts and the cps worker did not help any way .Through so much corruction and no help at all .lets speak out for a change in 2009 across this nation USA The banks lied . So did the cps system.Hope this will help
I would like to say that by now I hope everyone realizes that Jessica was taken from her mother because she has Mental Health issues. And as for the workers going to family to take Jessica before they put her in foster care I know to be a fact that they NEVER contacted the mother’s parents at all about taking Jessica. They were never given the chance to pass the states “TEST” to take care of her. Much less that they lived 1800 miles away. And as for it being God’s plan to take Jessica; I believe that Jessica died to show the state of Ga just because you have a mental illness doesn’t make you a bad mom even mom’s without a mental illness can make mistakes that kill children.
I am so sorry for the loss this mother suffered. Its a terrible thing when a baby dies, no matter who was in charge of her. I read through a few “comments” at the top and I can tell you speaking from expierience …. you are both right.
CPS is over zealous to shove kids in the system. They will look at all angles and get a worker in the home and at the first sign of a “violation” of their rules, they take your child and say its in their best interest. EVEN if their rules are not illegal or even immoral. It could be as simple as we dont like friend x, dont leave her alone with the children. They find out friend x sat in the car with the kids while you ran to a mailbox and kids 1-3 are looked at 6-9 months with strangers.
At the same time there are foster parents who TRULY love children and could care less about the money. They want to reach into the heart of the wounded child and teach them love!
My sources for my opinions~ I spent 6 years of my life in the system. In the years between 12 and 18 I lived with 47 different foster families. Stability, normal childhood and family was something I pined for. I begged to go home. I begged to be normal. I wished I was big so that nobody could tell me where to go, what to do and that no one would be PAID to love me.
However there were a few families who truly tried. They loved me through the emotional problems I developed in the system ( I entered due to a drug abusive mother and a grandfather who worked too hard to care for us, despite his age and long work hours. My brothers never got taken, just me as the only girl who NEEDED a mother…) My problems worsened in foster care and for a very long time I fought inner demons to overcome the aniexty, fear and loneliness I carried into adulthood. There were fond memories of a few families who took me to the beach, the carnivals. They did movie nights and made me snacks when I was hungry… never before had I felt so “normal”. SOme had kids of their own who they treated the SAME ( well their kids sometimes got spanked and I didnt so yay for that
I grew up and became a mommy…. the little boy I felt growing inside of me, his heart racing with mine transformed me. I was in awe of his existence. I felt him kick, and it told me “I am strong, Mommy! I am a fighter, I will make you so proud!” When he was born I felt like I was being torn in half but every tear, every gut wrneching pain led me to the moment when they placed him in my arms. He was screaming so loud he was turning purple! He was covered in blood and goo and sticky from head to toe. He was the most beautiful site I had ever layed eyes on. I was riveted in his breathing and watching him breastfeed after he was bathed. I was usre I was dreaming and somebody would show up and say ok, sorry but we changed our mind you cant have him, hes too precious! Hours later I awoke to a horrendous pain. I was hemmoraging blood and before I knew what happened the nurses and white coats invaded our dimly lit room and were trying to save my life. I nearly died, lost a third of my blood. and it would have been accepetable. If his life cost me mine, it would be a bittersweet price to pay. I loved him enough to give up anything for him…..
six weeks later a social worker handed me her buisness card and tried to take my son from my arms. A worker at the local CASA where I had called for help had reported my abusive boyfriend. They didnt care that I threw him out after he blackened my eye. I put a restraining order and tried to spare my son the misery. I had a job taking care of a little girl. My son accompanied me to work, he nursed at will and never left my side. No one was gone enough to watch him. I showered with him in the bouncy seat next to the tub. And yet when I reached out for help in what to do … and followed the instructions to throw the non working bum that was his father out… I lost my precious baby boy. He was yanked from my breast and stuck on formula. He was given shots he had already had by mistake in their care. I visited him daily. One hour was all I was allowed before the tore him away and gave him to his “new” mother. I cried so bad I threw up. I considered suicide but couldnt bear the thought of never seeing him again. Life was nothing without him. He was my life, my soul, my son. I had fallen completly in love in six short weeks.
I went to court and begged the judge to give me my son back, I pleaded, willing to sign whatever I had to. No price was too high and nothing would stand in my way. It worked. I left court that day and got my boy. I held him tighter then I had ever held anything before. I looked over my shoulder for quite some time wondering if they would come for him. He is four now, yet I still check in on him numerous times a nite. I am always checking locks and windows… terrifed somebody will take him away while he sleeps….. he will never remember that they stole him away for that week, but I will never forget. Its burned into my brain and my heart.
That week was worse then the 6 years I spent locked away from my childhood in the system. If anyone ever tried to take him, I fear that I would run. In a flash we would have different names and a new life. I must admit that its all planned out. The system has to stop stealing our babies! because bad choices arent always bad parents! Some people change when that baby is placed in their arms. Show them how to care for him or her! DONT take him away first!
Obviously I see both sides, but my heart remains partial to bio families.
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I just got done reading all these entries and I think that you all are just ignorant to all that is entailed with things dealing with foster parents and CPS. My mom and dad are not my bio parents. They were my foster parents from 3 months to 3 years when they were finally able to adopt me. I love them more than my bio family (that I have met 21 years after leaving their home). I felt no pull what so ever to my bio family. I would on the other hand give my life for my adopted family. They gave me a better life than I would have been given by my bio family. Matter fact, after I met my bio mother, I went directly to my mom and cried because I was so thankful that she gave me such a good life.
We have had over 150 children in and out of our home over a 30 years span. We have seen kids with all kinds of problems. My parents had one bio son and adopted me and another girl. It was not about the money at any point. Some of these kids came and went within days depending on their circumstances. The money we got for them was to take them to the store and buy them things that they needed such as underwear, socks, shoes, pants, shirts, toothbrushes. Normally we would put in our own money because what we got was not enough.
My parents took these kids in because they felt that children are our future and if they have very little chance of even surviving to adulthood what does that mean for our future.
You all think that CPS is out to get everyone but that is not true. I am currently a single mom of a 2 yr old who was born at 24 weeks at 1 lb 2 oz. I do not feel that CPS is on my back. My mother is actually a CPS supervisor and she sees nothing wrong with my child or anything else in the home. THEY ARE NOT THERE TO TAKE OUR CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They try everything in their power to keep the children in their bio homes. That one about the father who’s wife died probably had problems before that.
That comment I read about how CPS takes the kids from their homes because the foster care people are pushing them for more kids was the most rediculous thing I have ever heard!!!!!!!! On a norm, there are not enough homes for the children that are in the system. That is why the foster homes are overwelmed. That woman who had the 9 month old die in the car had two kids of her own and 2 other foster kids. 5 CHILDREN!! not the two that Jeny has. More than likely most of them if not all had some sort of problems whether it be physical, emotional, and/or behavioral. That is alot to deal with when you are well let alone sick and on medication. It was an accident. Yes it was bad that a child died because of it but unfortunatly it happens ever day. To be a foster parent you have to have love for children by choice not because you had given birth to them. That is a lot harder than most people give them credit. Children die everyday because they fall into a pool, or drink poison, or fall off the couch or even for no reason. It probably tore that woman apart knowing a child died in her care. You all act like it made her a cold hearted person because she made a mistake to a child that was not hers but that she opened her home and heart to.
The CPS workers have laws that they must follow. They are doing their jobs. They don’t make the laws. The government does. Do you know how many times my mother cries herself to sleep at night because of things that she has to do because the government tells her to. I have known people who should have gotten their children taken away from them but because of the laws they don’t. Or they will be taken just so the parents can put on a show to get their kids back and then go back to how it was before. Children are not taken because you are too poor!!!!!! There are resources out there to get help but if you abuse them or are unwilling to do what they want from you then that is your fault. If you are truely financially unable to care for your child even with all the help out there, then you should accept that and truely love your child and give them that opportunity to live a better life. It is very selfish of you to have your children when you are absolutly incapable of caring for them emotionally, physically, or even financially.
CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE!!!!!!!! It has been known that children of abuse of any kind is more ampt to become abusers. It is known that children who are malnutritioned are affected mentally and physically. Do you really want them to grow up and be the adults that take care of us?
The CPS workers have laws that they must follow. They are doing their jobs.
Which if you had been paying attention to this case you would know were not followed. Their own procedures were not followed.
Stories of CPS & CASA abuses are legion.
And this is classic: They try everything in their power to keep the children in their bio homes.
Again, not done in this case. In fact, various offers were made & rejected by CPS because how can you rifle through someone’s underwear drawer while they’re still in the house?
If you look on the internet, there are THOUSANDS of cases of abuse, neglect, and malice on the part of CPS against families and children. Are they all making it up?
Your story was nice, but it is the exception, never the rule.
Hitler loved his dogs, so what?
Taken as a whole, CPS is a rogue agency totally out of control. In Texas, this has been a CERTIFIED FACT.
This socialist retard who grew up in foster care, and doesn’t understand the love of a biological relative, the subconscious affection for your own flesh and blood that supercedes your conscious beliefs in fascist government values.
Her ignorance shows, as well as her lack of willingness to see the other side, but just assumes there is no world beyond her cultish foster care life. She must not have bothered to read the links to the articles that show Jessica Scovil’s mother did nothing abusive to her baby at all. She merely went to social services for help to buy some medications, and CPS comes and takes her child and puts her with an overworked foster care provider, all to pad their stats and keep their jobs.
She must not have read that the tests on Osborne came back negative. In other words she was NOT under the influence when she let that poor couple’s baby DIE in sweltering heat in the back of her car. This foster care cult woman actually sympathises with this murderer, and condemns the poor parents who did nothing to warrant the loss of their child to the midday burning heat.
There’s nothing that can be done to change the mind of those born in the CULT of foster care and kidnapping. They have their beliefs, there’s no point in arguing. Just stay the hell away from my kids, is all I can say to the freak woman who posted above.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!!
A CULT?!
You tell me that I need to do my homework but it sounds like you need to do yours. Yes there are bad foster parents out there. Yes there are bad power-tripped CPS workers. But to be honest that is not the norm.
My story started when I was 3 months old. My bio mother was asleep in the bedroom and had my 11 yr old sister watch me and my 1 yr old brother. She had me in the swing by the window and we had a mental disturbed man that lived above us. He came down the stairs swing a hammer and it accidently came thru the window and hit me in the head. My bio mom never came out of her room the whole time the police and ambulance was there. I spent the next 3 yrs at Riley Hospital. All us kids were taken from the home but she fought to get the other two back. She left me in the hospital by myself. She got them back but signed her rights away on me.
20 yrs later I found them but the grace of God. I am so glad she did not fight for me. My life was so much better than the others. I grew up with a family that loved me. My brother was shot 7 different times and stabbed 13 different times over the years by our bio mother. He was in and out of the system because she always fought to get him back. They are not productive citizens.
Do you really believe that I would have been better off staying with my mother?
To show how laws make things hard for some CPS workers. . .
In the state of Indiana CPS by law cannot just come into your home without setting up an appointment with you unless escorted by the police. If the problem is the fact that the children are living in filth and malnutritioned, then the parents have plenty of warning to clean the house and put food in the house. There is nothing they can do if they don’t see it.
According to you, it is better that the children stay with their bio parents. I remember 2 times (out of the 150+ children we had in and out of our home) that the children were sent back to their bio parents and ended up dead within a yr. So are you saying that it is better for the child to die a horrible early death than to live in a loving home that has no blood connection to them?
Do you really believe that I would have been better off staying with my mother?
Possibly, depending on how her case was handled. You haven’t given nearly enough info - like, for example, the reason for her negligence.
Do you still live in Indianapolis? What county? Were these cases reported in the papers? I’m curious to know more - especially about how the cases played out.
So are you saying that it is better for the child to die a horrible early death than to live in a loving home that has no blood connection to them?
Funny, but I can’t see that statement anywhere in Joey’s comment.
Me, I don’t have a high opinion of people who will lie about parents, who will twist financial difficulties into unfit parenting (MI, among many examples), who will quibble about things such as having a sinkful of dirty dishes or giving a toddler a pacifier (Washington state), who will take children because the mother saw a shrink years ago (UK), who will twist playground injuries (CA) or congenital diseases (Washington D.C.) into signs of abuse, who will refuse to tell a mother details when her child has broken bones while in foster care (NYC), who will take an infant on vague claims of “failure to bond” (GA), and so on, and so forth.
So are you saying that it is better for the child to die a horrible early death than to live in a loving home that has no blood connection to them?
Yep, I was right on when I stated accurately that you are a brainwashed member of the Foster Care Cult. Evidence of this is in the fact that you stoop to irrational levels of thought to justify WHO YOU ARE — a product of the state foster care system.
People raised in an environment will often defend their benefactors — the ones who gave them food to eat, etc., a form of Stockholm syndrom if you will. You defend the system, you know the one that kidnaps children and such and manages the handling of them — for a fee. There was a price over your head from the beginning. Why do you think it was so tough for your mom to fight for her children over what was clearly an accident. Was she abusive before this ordeal? Did the state succeed in breaking her? Did she become alcoholic after her little tryst with state kidnapping and battling with the state in court?
You say she literally stabbed your brother numerous times — but somehow avoided jail. I think someone’s pulling your leg. I think you’re a little brainwashed. As I said, stay in your cult. But whatever you do, when you become a professional kidnapping social worker, following the path of those who raised you, please stay in Indiana.
By the way, I’m sorry you were injured as a baby.
Wow Joey your mother must have brainwashed you as well to believe that all people in the state foster care system are cult like. She teach you to hate blacks, mexicans, and any other person not of your race as well? As for me I’ve not been in the system and have loving bio parents, but I agree with the one who was a part of the system. Not all foster parents are bad and some have wonderful loving experiences. All the crap that has happened to kids in the system can happen to them out of the system with the bio parents. Some social workers are there to help and some not just with any parent. Some good some bad, sounds like you had a bad one to raise you to discriminate. Who are you to tell someone that what happened to them did or did not, you’re not everywhere and thank god for that b/c you seem like a nutjob racist.
WHO YOU ARE is someone that lives in a tiny world that thinks they have it all figured out, boy will you be sorry when you don’t and hopefully no one you’re close to has to pay the price for it. But lets not forget karma…..
R- If you look at the message Joey wrote after me, you will see that he is saying that!!
Yea Taylin!!!!!!! Its about time someone who has some sense writes in!!!!!!!
No one said that my mother did not do jail time. She did do some but postpardom is a bitch!!!!!! She was a worthless piece of crap. I made that decision all on my known. Actually my mom knew my bio mother yet never told me anything about her. I had to find out on my own.
I never said that I was only taking one side. That is where I am ticked off because no one else is seeing both sides. That includes you. Yes I grew up in a foster home but adopted as one of their own with other foster children in and out of our own. My mother always worked in some department with the government. We were upper middle class. Now I am a single mother of a special needs 2 yr old. I am a stay at home mom who lives in the projects. I’m on TANF, foodstamp, SSI, and Medicaid. I’m now in the poverty level. According to others who have commented here, all of these are grounds for CPS to come in and take my child from me. Yet there is not even a hint of them bothering me, I am highly respected in my community, and very active in ever part of my son’s life including the background things (such as policy councils)
I can’t believe that you honestly believe that a child should go thru a long painful death than to be safe. As long as blood is with blood!!!!
Now who is the sick one?
It was not in Indy. But I have seen my hospital records that states my injuries.
Well, D’Lee, you never addressed the question of whether you and your siblings were wrongfully removed in the first place…
I was removed because of my head injury and on that instance the other two were removed because of neglect. My bio mother left a 11 yr old to raise a 1 yr old and 3 month old . The 11 yr old neglected us prior to the incident but it was the mothers fault. How could she expect her to take care of two infants when she still needed to be taken care of
Was the 11 year old caring for you when the head injury occurred? How long was the 11 year old left to care for the two infants?
What I’m seeing is a case of stacking the deck by CPS to achieve their goal, which often is to take children from their mothers.
How can you sit there and say that it is CPS’s fault that my bio mother was too lazy to get her ass out of bed and watch her own children?!
The 11 yr old was always in charge of us. When a parent had no other choice but to step in (like going to the store or to the doctors) was the only time our bio mother had anything to do with us!!!!!!
Matter fact, she was in her room and refused to come out the whole time that the police and ambulance was there. I suppose that that was CPS’s fault as well.
You are what is wrong with this world. Too many people refuse to take blame for their own problems. They are just too quick to blame someone. At some time in our lives we have to grow up and say yea I messed up and this is what I need to do to make things better. My bio mother was a lazy self centered woman who I thank God everyday of my life that I was taken from. You are one of the sickest people I know because of the fact that you believe that it is ok for a child to die a long painful death when there are things that could be different.
We have to make decisions everyday that affect many people. It is what we do in our lives that makes our life experience good or bad. If we chose to beat our children or starve them or bring people into our homes that abuse them or even abuse them ourselves, then we have to take responsibilty for the conciquences that come from those actions.
That’s uncalled for. I never suggested I believe that it’s “ok for a child to die a long painful death.”
Have you asked your brother and sister if they would have preferred to be placed in foster care and sever all ties to their mother, and become estranged to her? What did they say?
Do you believe that all children who are cared for by their siblings more than their mothers should be removed from their mothers’ house regardless of imminent danger (which doesn’t include freak accidents, BTW) or what the children want?
you did say that!!!!!! You said that the child is better off with the bio parents even if they are abused to the point that they die as long as the are around blood.
It is hard for a grown adult to take care of 2 infants. A child should not have their childhood robbed just because the parents are too lazy to take care of their own resposibilities. The parents laid down and had those kids not an 11 yr old.
Ok, I’ll take that as a yes. Let CPS know, will ya? And the tax payers too. From now on whenever an 11 year old is spotted caring for her siblings, CPS has a mandate to go in and remove all the children.
As for your claim that I said something, can you please quote me directly instead of paraphrasing what you think I said? Thanks.
Look out families of America, the born and bred child of the state has come to take your children, because only the state knows when a childhood is “robbed.” Better to rob the child then let the childhood get “robbed.” Ridiculous.
So are you saying that it is better for the child to die a horrible early death than to live in a loving home that has no blood connection to them?
Yep
That was your answer to my question.
I still can’t believe that you think that it is ok for a mother who to be too lazy to even come out the room from sleeping when her 3 month old was just hit in the head and make her kid deal with the police and ambulances. How can anyone justify that?
oh by the way, you are so against the system but you are telling me that I need to report an 11 yr old taking care of sibling. Isn’t that contradicting? Either way I would have to. We all have the duty to report a child in danger but I really have to because of the fact that I sit on one policy commity and am the president of another. I would not hesitate reporting someone who is putting their children in danger.
Do you have any children that live with you?
Have you ever had to personally deal with CPS?
Who called the police and ambulances?
For the record, in case it’s not clear, I don’t believe it’s better for a child to “die a horrible death.”
your right it isn’t necessarily putting children in imminent danger but it isn’t healthy. But either way it did put us in imminent danger. She wasn’t properly taking care of us in many ways.
I am with my child everyday all day. I sit on two commities. One meets for 1 hr a month and the other for 6 hrs every 3 months. I sit on these commities because I want my child to be the best he can be. I feel like I can not expect my child to do what he is expected to do without knowing what the world expects from him. There are many laws and rules that I don’t agree with and this gives me the opportunity to voice my opinion on. I care about my son’s future that is why I do what I do.
I do not believe that I know best or that I know it all. I learn new things everyday. My problem with you is that you are so close minded that you are not able to see all sides. I agree there are some bad CPS workers. I agree that there are stupid laws out there. I believe that there are bad foster parents. But the good ones and the lives they have saved are worth it. No matter what you do or how you live there is someone who is the “bad apple”. It is just a way of life.
Oh by the way, I have accomplished some changes because of my position that have actually improved the process and lives for our children. I speciallize in special need children. Being the mother of a special needs child, I understand all too well how much our hands are tied because of certain rules and laws. It is hard enough to do my motherly duties when we are only allowed so much. Anything I can do to make my family’s and others like us life easier I am more than happy to do.
I would like to hear your opinion on something. Truely your opinion with no sarcasim. I have just became aware of a family that lives in the projects with 3 kids, ages 4,3, and 15 months. By laws of the projects once a year they come in our home to do inspections to make sure that we are keeping our homes clean and kept up. Those who do the inspection can come in your home whether you are there or not (in our lease). These people walked into this families house. The smell about knocked them over so he immediatly left the house and went and got the supervisor. When they entered the house completely, they find the walls covered in feces and trash everywhere. They go upstairs to find the children covered in feces. Mind you both time they were there no supervision was present. I was told by neighbors that they NEVER seen the kids outside but they would be banging on the windows at people during the many times mom left the building to go down the street. No one reported it because of their fear of CPS. The children were immediatly removed from the house. The mother was never in jail for any of this and once she cleaned her house her children were returned.
Was it wrong to remove these kids?
Was it right that she was not charged?
Was it right that the children were put back into the situation?
By the way this was a bio mom, not a foster mom.
R- If you look at the message Joey wrote after me, you will see that he is saying that!!
No, he isn’t, as he himself has made clear.
I’m on TANF, food stamps, SSI, and Medicaid. I’m now in the poverty level. According to others who have commented here, all of these are grounds for CPS to come in and take my child from me. Yet there is not even a hint of them bothering me,
First of all, I never said that happens to all low-income parents. But it has happened to some. All of those incidents I mentioned were real. A couple in Michigan temporarily decide to put their young son in foster care. But eventually they are ruled unfit parents, and the boy (and, later, his little brother) are adopted out to a woman who kills him. A young woman in the UK, pregnant with her first child, is threatened with having her child taken from her at birth because she was treated for psychological problems as a teenager. She eventually decides to leave the country and moves to Sweden. A couple in Washington had a daughter with drug problems. The daughter’s child was taken from her and given to the grandparents. But later on, the department changes their mind and tries to adopt the child out to another woman. They fill their reports about the grandparents with lies and criticism about insignificant things, such as the fact that the grandparents gave the girl a pacifier. A woman in New York had a son in foster care; the boy got his skull cracked, but she was never notified by caseworkers; it was only by sheer accident that she learned about it happening. When she asked questions about it, she got silence, and she eventually resorted to retaining a lawyer to try to get answers about the boy’s injury.
And CPS workers sometimes seem to display a hive mentality, not wanting to believe that their comrades are capable of doing anything wrong. I have seen one accuse me of “spreading propaganda” when I posted a link about the Logan Marr case (google it) from a Maine newspaper. Another person showed up to defend a foster mother who left a baby to bake in a car, calling her a “responsible person.”
Also, D’lee, you might want to read this whole thread. One poster upthread posted a list of children who have died while in CPS custody, and while a percentage of those seem to be natural deaths, it’s still something you should look at.
Another person showed up to defend a foster mother who left a baby to bake in a car, calling her a “responsible person.”
Actually, that’s also on this thread - see Jennifer on 11-18-08
I’m not saying bad things happen. They do. But there are other things that go bad when the children are returned. There was this woman who made her kid sick to the point where she almost killed her mulitiple time. The child was removed and finally placed with grandmother. Grandmother ended up killing the girl because she had the same disease the mother had. Not too long ago there was a case in Kokomo where CPS had been informed of possible abuse many times at this one families house. Everytime they went they saw no evidence of wrong doing (thanks to the rule of having to make appointments). By the grace of God police were in the same house and found 2 children who were forced to live in closets tied up with little food and water.
The system is not purfect but nothing is.
Like I have said before we had over 150 children in and out of our home as foster children. NONE died in our care but 2 have died because of being returned to an unhealthy environment. There are good and bad that happens. My point is to let others see the other side of things.
There was this woman who made her kid sick to the point where she almost killed her multiple time. The child was removed and finally placed with grandmother. Grandmother ended up killing the girl because she had the same disease the mother had.
What disease did this woman have?
Munchausen syndrome
Look it up
For what it’s worth, I agree that there are lots of sincere foster parents who do great service by taking in children who have no where else to go. But many kids have “no where to go” only because CPS stepped in when they were not, in fact, needed.
Munchausen by proxy like shaken baby syndrome does not exist.
FYI, for the lady above who keeps harping on how natural biological parents always kill their children, she should take note recent reports, e.g. the Strayhorn report in Texas among many others, that point out that children are FOUR TIMES more likely to DIE in foster homes, yes in foster homes, then in non-foster homes.
Ms. D’Lee has annecdotal evidence, whereas we, who have observed the mass kidnapping and abuse of 432 FLDS children by the state of Texas, know the facts.
Blood ties first!! Honor your father and your mother!
Joey, I have read all entries and I don’t see anything about a woman saying that all children die with the bio parents. Where is that and who are you talking about?
They took those children because 1st off the parents were breaking the law by having multiple wives and all the underage married people. 2nd they did freak and went to far in this instance but unfortunatly they have to keep public relations on good standings. The public at first wanted those children to be pulled so that definatly had something to do with it.
Munchausen by proxy like shaken baby syndrome does not exist.
Are you serious. Shaken baby syndrome doesn’t exist. People shake their babies to the point that they at the very least cause bruises on their brains from the brain slaming into the skull. At the very most snap their neck. This is medically proven. And I have seen it first hand, not only with the case I mentioned above but one of my clients actually suffer from it. She needs attention so badly that she is constantly making her kids sick so that everyone feels sorry for her and the children. It happens
Kurt- I agree with you. No matter what profession there will always be really good ones, ones just there, and ones that are bad.
I would like to know exactly where that statistic came from that stated that children are 4 times more likely to die in foster care than in biological homes. If this is true then don’t you think the government would step in and do something about that?
No, government don’t care unless it makes them more popular or richer. There are exceptions in all cases. We should ban the words FOSTER and BIOLOGICAL PARENTS. If you are a good parent depends on what you do, NOT on whether you adopt or give birth. All the statistics don’t mean a thing on an individual basis, they can’t prove you’re right or wrong.
This particular “4 times” statistics doesn’t mean a thing.
It compares foster children to normal (average) children.
The proper comparison is between foster children and children with SIMILARLY BAD BIRTH HOME SITUATION who were not removed.
Joey and I had an exchange over this matter, on this blog. Wish I could find that thread.
martie I agree with you it doesn’t matter if you gave birth to a child or not. My mother is a good mom to both her adopted kids and her biological kid.
Seem like alot of entries are now gone. I wonder why
The bad birth homes are usually horrible deaths that is not always the case in foster care. Some of the deaths are due to the homes they came from as well as things that some bad foster homes do.
The more children they have in the system the more money it costs the government so it is not making them richer to take the children from their homes.
Not sure about the death rate, but here’s a study that shows adverse effects and compares among similar homes:
Joseph J. Doyle, an economist with the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T., found that children removed from their parents and taken into foster care, even for a relatively short period, were three times as likely to grow up to be juvenile offenders or have a teenage pregnancy than were children from similarly troubled homes who had been left with their parents.
link
Government thrives on putting children in the system. That’s how CPS bureaucrats can stand up in congress and demand more funding because “look we can’t deal with the workload…all these new kids in the system, etc.”, and then go on to give themselves a raise. Meanwhile CPS workers and Rangers pat themselves on the back and congratulate themselves on their overtime pay and job security.
See this is the kind of ignorance I am talking about. No matter how much they fight for more money, they don’t get it except for when the government raises the cost of living. If you work in a nonprofit organization you are not by law allowed to receive bonuses. For years now they have been so overwhelmed. That is part of the problem. They can’t deal with all the cases they have and there are so little foster homes now compared to even 10 years ago that there is simply just no where to put the kids if they do take them. That is why they try not to take the children unless they have to. I know a couple of families that I believe that the children should be removed from the home because they are in danger but instead CPS works with them to make the situation tolerable for the children.
And the study you mentioned above opens a whole new topic. There are many factors in there that he has not addressed. One in paticular is the fact that the children are many times put on ADHD meds because they think it is a medical reason for the way they act. Many kids are misdiagnosed. NDD is one reason to explain how they are acting. (Nutritional Deficientcy Disorder) Another reason is their upbringing. Did you know that children who take meds for ADHD or ADD are more likely to commit petty crimes, suffer from depression, and have drug or alcohol addictions? Plus you can’t say that they are similar situation because there was probably more in the children who are removed. At the very least it shows the children that there is something wrong in the house when they are removed and they become angry at their parents or the parents put things in their heads to make them angry at CPS. Just like drug dealers will teach their kids that police are bad. Environment has alot to do with things.
All of this is likened to the Guatemala child trafficking ring, using the “good name”