After the fall of the Berlin Wall, former communist economies were embarrassed by factories that operated so poorly that the raw materials that entered the factories were worth more than the finished goods produced from those materials. This was not just bad quality. These factories actually caused a net reduction in value to society. They were called value subtractors.
Contemplating the Texas CPS Gates Advisory over the weekend, I am wondering if CPS — as currently conceived — is just such a value subtractor. This is not to denigrate the efforts of many sincerely motivated people who work at CPS or as CASA volunteers. But I wonder whether they have been given a job that may be literally impossible to do because there are some things that government just cannot and should not do.
When you think about it, why should we trust government to determine who should or should not stay together as families? The complexity and delicacy of the decision-making process required by the Gates Advisory seem light years above the pay grade, to borrow a line from Barack Obama, of the CPS personnel who are being asked to implement it.
One recent comment on I Perceive — by someone who, based on apparent knowledge, could be a CPS worker but claims not to be — reinforces this idea. Here’s an excerpt:
I would advise that, before you sit from your position and judge CPS , you obtain a bachelor’s degree. From there, get a job that requires 45+ hours a week of very emotionally, physically, and mentally demanding work. Make sure you work nights and weekends in a dangerous environment with no way to defend yourself. Add in a bureaucracy where your individual voice is not heard, where your days are determined by a state legislature who has never done your job. Then turn on the news every night and hear yourself being criticized daily by the media and others who have no idea what they are talking about. Make sure your workload is very high and growing every day. Make sure you absolutely do not have enough time to get your job done, and no one is helping you. Finally, make sure you do this for only 30,000 dollars a year.
This comment highlights several major problems created by the legislature in concert with special interests that — unlike the average CPS worker bee — get fame, power or money (or all three) — from pretending to be child advocates.
The biggest legislative lie of all is the notion that any government agency could ever be capable of saving all children who really are at risk without destroying children and families who are not. A pastor or rabbi with a PhD in psychology who is paid $200K per year will err on one side or the other now and then, removing too many kids or not enough.
But when you ask severely overworked $30K-per-year B.S.-holders (no pun intended) to make such decisions under the thumb of bureaucrats and managers who hang out with the special-interest money-grubbers, it’s a recipe for disaster. One AAL suggested that they’re making the errors on the tails — removing too many kids who don’t need removal AND leaving too many kids in danger who should be removed. If true, it seems an indication of sheer incompetence from top to bottom. The result is lots of pain on all sides and lots of political pressure on the agency, exacerbating its worst behavior in all directions.
The Gates case is one obvious “false positive” example. Another, involving Betty Lou Gaines, was settled for $300,000 just a few days ago, as reported by the Austin Chronicle. Gaines’ story raises questions about whether CPS workers, on average, have what it takes to exercise the delicate judgment the Gates Advisory requires:
On Wednesday, Aug. 13, exactly four years after officials with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services raided the primitive therapeutic camp in Smithville known as Woodside Trails and removed nearly 40 boys, camp administrator Betty Lou “Bebe” Gaines settled a federal lawsuit against nine DFPS employees. . .
The first Gaines ever knew that she was being considered a possible “perpetrator” of abuse was when she received the Aug. 25 letter. None of the DFPS investigators bothered to tell her she was the subject of an investigation (as is required by DFPS policy, Gaines’ lawyer Susan Henricks pointed out in court). Gaines was never even formally interviewed about the allegations against her until Aug. 26, the day after the “reason to believe” letter was delivered.
Moreover, in concluding that the teen had been abused, DFPS investigator Darla Jean Shaw did not mention any of the teen’s conduct that might contradict the agency’s finding that abuse had occurred. For example, Shaw did not note that he’d been assigned to an extreme intervention known as the “permission to lie” program, reserved for children who lie so frequently that nothing they said could be believed without independent corroboration, or that he’d previously threatened to falsely accuse the same camp counselor. That information, Shaw told the court last week, wasn’t important enough to report. It would be impossible to “include every tiny piece of information,” she testified.
“Every tiny piece of information?” The Gates Advisory expects this kind of person — who can’t be bothered to interview an investigation target or pass along basic information obviously impeaching the source of abuse allegations — to exercise extraordinarily enlightened judgment in deciding whether to run off with somebody else’s children. If Shaw is representative of CPS or DFPS or [insert your acronym], what good is the Gates Advisory?
Restated, how can we expect knuckleheads too busy or too stupid to inform an investigation target that she is being investigated (when it is already agency policy to do so) to perform the detailed balancing tests required by the Advisory which, after all, is just another agency policy?
What would happen, instead, if we dramatically reconfigured CPS so that it’s mission is limited to post-abuse triage only in cases already being investigated by regular law enforcement?
Before you AALs and CASAs start screaming, please offer some balanced data to justify CPS in its current enforcement-in-anticipation-of-abuse role. In that role, it swings eratically from too much to too little with narry a pause in between. Who is to say that society would not be better off, as a whole, if we expected parents, religion and other charitable organizations to do a better job of helping families do what, ultimately, only families can?
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“CC0508 { 08.27.08 at 11:11 am } and also, Jeny, thank you for confirming my suspicion that many of you hate CPS so much because you have had CPS involvement yourselves. a good tip to not having to worry about having your children removed would be don’t abuse or neglect them”
Big hint to you, CC: Don’t ASS-U-ME things.
You are making a *HUGE* leap off a tall building when you state that *I* have been personally involved with CPS. Not true.
I have never been reported (else, I would have had a visit from them and that has never happened). I have never been investigated by CPS. There has never been a file opened on me or my family by CPS. Anywhere in this country.
Since you seem to have difficulty with reading comprehension, I will re-state this again and type slower. Maybe you’ll understand this time around.
I was THREATENED WITH A FALSE REPORT TO CPS by a crazy former mother in law and her son the drunk.
I have never abused, neglected or mistreated my children. EVER. Same cannot be said of her son who hasn’t seen or had any contact with my/our children in more than a year. He fails to support them financially or to provide them health care coverage or other basic necessities of life. He is $10k+ in arrears on child support payments and looking for a way out of this obligation. He even once filed bankruptcy thinking it would wipe out his arrearage (it didn’t).
If you don’t think crazy ex husbands and their mothers don’t use the CPS hotline as a tool of revenge against the mother of the children/grandchildren after a divorce (or even threaten it), then you are very naieve. It happens every day of the year all across this country.
Feel free to go on believing whatever you want about me. You are nobody important to me and I don’t fear you.
I know the truth. The truth about me, my children and the threats made against me–and as a result, I did a *lot* of research and learned the truth about you and CPS.
Sorry you don’t like that I am an educated parent who knows her rights. I do….and Iwouldn’t let you set foot on my property without a warrant spelling out exactly what you were looking for.
Best,
Jeny
“You are making a *HUGE* leap off a tall building when you state that *I* have been personally involved with CPS. Not true.” kind of the way you are assuming i work for CPS? please point out the difference in the two assumptions here, because i see no difference whatsoever. should i say, as you said to me, “i see right through you, sweetie.”
“educated parent who knows her rights.” that is great. everyone should be aware of their rights. i sure as heck wouldn’t let CPS on my property without a warrant, either. but i don’t think the radical BS you are spewing is educated in any sense of the term. as for your research, there is a lot of very false information (eg this blog) that can be found when you type “CPS” in a google search box. it is also very easy to pick and choose radical books to read, which it appears is what you are doing.
as for the FLDS case, i will admit that i do not know what exactly happened in that case. i know the same amount you all do, and i have formed an opinion based on what i know. i would guess that the majority of the country is in agreement with me, so i am surprised that you all are so shocked by what i have to say. i also know that a case can be non-suited because of a legal technicality, because of mistakes that CPS made in affidavits, etc. i do not believe that the fact that those cases are being non-suited means a darn thing about whether or not those kids were having sex with their “husbands.” why is warren jeffs in prison for life again? even if CPS did have a lack of evidence, that may not be because nothing occurred, but because no one would tell the truth about it.
jeny, i am aware that there are many low life people who call child welfare agencies on their ex-spouses. if your children are well taken care of and you know your rights, you probably don’t have much to worry about. you do seem to have a lot of anger toward your ex husband, his mother, and pretty much everyone, so you might consider addressing that with a professional.
“no one, not Kurt, not myself, nor anyone else is saying that child abuse should never be addressed”
it has, however, been suggested that a). everyone at CPS be hanged b). CPS be abolished c). foster care is a bigger problem than child abuse. i have yet to hear any possible solutions to any of the problems with CPS, just a lot of radical rhetoric-spewing.
i do not believe that the fact that those cases are being non-suited means a darn thing about whether or not those kids were having sex with their “husbands.”
Yes, all the children male and female, infants on through 17 year olds were probably having sex with their husbands. Give me a break.
foster care is a bigger problem than child abuse
Foster care and child abuse are not mutually exclusive.
if any of the children were being allowed to have sex with adults, then based on the texas family code, all of the children were at risk. all of the parents were complacent in child sexual abuse.
that link is propaganda. i think all of you would be better off reading less propaganda. yes, there sometimes is abuse in foster care, and there is also abuse in biological parents’ homes.
WHAT IS YOUR SOLUTION?
//that link is propaganda. //
So? Are there any factual errors? Propaganda doesn’t necessarily imply falsehood.
all of the parents were complacent in child sexual abuse.
Plainly false.
CC–I’ll take your lovely suggestions with a grain of salt and consider the source. You.
Someone who has *yet* to divulge their qualifications here on this blog, in spite of the blog-owner (and other bloggers) multiple requests that you do so.
I think it is safe to assume you are NOT a licensed MD or Psychiatrist, or Psychologist, since you last initimated there was an ESQ at the end of your name.
Given that you apparently have no medical qualifications whatsoever, and the fact that you’ve never met me in person, you have absolutely NO place making the kind of psycholigical “assessment” of me that you just did.
You’re kind of like the school teacher telling the parent their child is ADHD and needs Ritalin. TOTALLY unqualified to make that assessment, that diagnosis or to recommend the treatment plan. It’s called practicing medicine without a license. Something frowned upon in most states in the US.
Conversely, I have no place suggesting you ought to get off your 350lb overweight, morbidly obese backside and go take up an exercise class–oh, and give up donuts too while you’re at it. But I could that to you, just the same as you’ve done to me.
Got it? ROFLMAO.
cc
“as for the FLDS case, i will admit that i do not know what exactly happened in that case. i know the same amount you all do, and i have formed an opinion based on what i know.”
Exactly my point. You are not aquainted with our case, only what you have read in the Media, which is dominated by State government. First you say you know nothing about it, then end up saying “opinion based upon what I know.”
“if your children are well taken care of and you know your rights, you probably don’t have much to worry about.”
We were minding our business, hurting no one, and our children are well taken care of, even admittedly so by CPS. We also know our rights, and they were trampled on in every case by CPS. I think we have a lot to be worried about, which is why CPS needs to be shut down.
CC0508 { 08.27.08 at 1:28 pm }
again, i will ask all of you to come up with some possible solutions to these problems instead of merely criticizing the system as it stands.
Many of us have done exactly that in the many threads on this blog. Either you haven’t read our solutions. Or you just don’t like our solutions.
But make no mistake—many, many solutions have been posted here.
“CC0508 { 08.27.08 at 2:58 pm }
it has, however, been suggested that a). everyone at CPS be hanged b). CPS be abolished c). foster care is a bigger problem than child abuse. i have yet to hear any possible solutions to any of the problems with CPS, just a lot of radical rhetoric-spewing.”
In addition to weight issues–I suspect CC might also have some anger management issues with regards to the bloggers here, and with *any* criticism of CPS in any capacity.
Hmmmm.
i have an undergraduate degree in psychology, among other qualifications, but that doesn’t make me an expert in mental health. you may note if you read a bit more carefully that i said nothing about medications. you did jump at the chance to vent about your ex husband, et. al, so you probably could benefit from talking to someone about those issues. it seems i hurt your feelings a bit with that one?
“well taken care of,” maybe. but being led into sex with grown men? quite likely. i will ask again, why is warren jeffs in prison? and you all want to assume that the people living at the ranch in eldorado didn’t do the same things their prophet did? come on now, no one is stupid enough to believe that.
sweetie, if i had anger management issues, i would be resorting to name calling, as you have been since this discussion began.
the only solutions i have seen are listed above. i didn’t stumble upon this blog until recently. maybe at some point i will look back, but for now all i see is a bunch of radicals spewing propaganda.
“CC0508 { 08.27.08 at 4:01 pm } the only solutions i have seen are listed above. i didn’t stumble upon this blog until recently. maybe at some point i will look back, but for now all i see is a bunch of radicals spewing propaganda.”
Maybe you ought to get busy reading, rather than lambasting the bloggers here and trying to pick fights. You can attract more bees with honey—and you’ve never even *tried* to use honey here.
I am a very reasonable person, and I don’t have “anger” issues, but I won’t be pushed around and bullied by anyone with a bad attitude.
And you’ve copped an attitude against anyone who doesn’t support CPS 1000% since the day you arrived here.
Read. Read. And read some more before you come hammer away on any of us.
Including Kurt–or me.
Why is the prophet in prison? For precisely the same reason they took the children from us. He is FLDS. He was convicted of accomplice to a crime that was never committed. Maybe you need to look at that case a little closer. He was convicted of Accomplice to a rape that was never committed. The one accused is still free, and has never been tried. Utah also admits they don’t have enough evidence to try him on. Elissa Wall won’t testify against him either and she is the supposed “victim”.
Look up the facts. You are too eager to believe only what you hear in the media. You know nothing of the facts, and yet you expect us to take your word as though it is the truth? A psychologist indeed! An expert at making lies look true.
CC0508, CPS gets paid for putting children into foster,it gets paid for getting children adopted,it does not get paid to reunite families. Secondly, I’m not a radical because I think the FLDS have rights and CPS abused their children.
i am not trying to make friends here, sorry. i think that radicals can benefit from an opposing opinion.
it is radical to believe that the FBI is wrong, the state of texas is wrong, the state of utah is wrong, and the court that indicted warren jeffs is wrong. and flds is right? it is radical to believe that it is not wrong to marry children off to grown men. let’s pretend for a moment that those marriages were never consummated (which i do not for a minute believe). it is still wrong to marry children off to grown men. people have a right to their beliefs, but they also have an obligation to uphold the laws of this country. and it is against the law to have sex with children. sorry, mr. jeffs, but this is the united states. perhaps with all the millions of dollars flds has, they should buy an island so they can do what they want there.
mr. ferguson, please provide some proof that CPS gets paid to remove children. foster parents get paid. CPS does not. again, you are spewing radical rhetoric. show proof.
p.s. the mormon church believes flds is radical. i am not alone in that opinion.
The dribble is not worth wasting time to point out all the inaccuracies.
I did want to point out a bit of humor that might have slipped past some reading.
By CC:
“i know the same amount you all do”
ROFLMAO!!!!
jeny, do you honestly think that you have a right to lambast an entire state agency in a public forum and no one is going to respond? i understand this is a forum which bounces ideas off each other and fuels each other’s radical opinions; however, it is also the internet so anyone can read it. when the average american reads that “all CPS employees should be hanged,” that warren jeffs is innocent, and that CPS should be eradicated because CPS does more damage than child abusers, you better believe they are to have a strong opinion.
i think it is ironic that all of you want to spout off and admonish others, but can’t deal with it when someone takes notice of the fact that you are doing so without providing any facts.
cc
The true law breakers are government officials who pass laws against the Constitution. The problem is that they don’t have to answer for what they do.
In September 2005, Texas passed a law with FLDS in mind to change the legal age of marriage from 14 to 16, and also to make it a felony to marry or “purportedly” marry illegally.
In other words, they had to change the definition of a child, so they could say marriage was “child abuse” so they could target the FLDS and in David Doran’s words “make it so they can’t practice their religion in Texas.”
P.S.
You must be Bruce Perry the pyscologist who testified against us at the 14 day hearing.
p.s. jeny, you may be a reasonable person IRL, but i am not the only person you have lost your temper with on this message board. in fact, in a previous post you lost your temper with Mr. Schulzke himself.
flds parent, i am all for the state of texas doing whatever it has to do to make sure the men in your sect cannot have sex with children. i also agree that the state of texas should not condone a religious sect that supports grown men marrying children. i respect your right to believe whatever you want to believe, but having sex with a minor is against the law in this country and a grown man should not be able to marry a 14 year old. nothing unconstitutional about it. plenty of states do not allow marriage until older than 14.
kdp, not worth wasting time? or you just don’t like to discuss issues with someone who doesn’t agree with you?
CC
You missed my point again.
“a grown man should not be able to marry a 14 year old”
Marriage is not abuse. Marriage is as old as history as we know it, and was set up as a contract between man and wife that they will not be with others of the opposite sex during their marriage. In other words, it’s a contract and a protection for them against unwanted attention from outsiders. You imply there is sex with “children”, yet have no proof. That is against our religion, and carefully guarded against, unlike the society you come from.
Did you have an abusive marriage? If so, we are free Americans (or used to be), you are free to divorce.
“it is radical to believe that the FBI is wrong, the state of texas is wrong, the state of utah is wrong, and the court that indicted warren jeffs is wrong. and flds is right?
My CC. You’re right. Utah, Texas and the FBI are infallible.
Which explains all the Jim Crow laws passed in Texas. Which explains all the miscegenation laws of Utah. Which explains the wrongful imprisonment of Peter Limone and his friends for 30 YEARS because the FBI was dishonest in a prosecution. None of these entities is infallible. That is clear. They do things WRONG.
it is radical to believe that it is not wrong to marry children off to grown men. let’s pretend for a moment that those marriages were never consummated (which i do not for a minute believe). it is still wrong to marry children off to grown men.”
If you are going to say it’s wrong, please be so good as to demonstrate on moral grounds why this is wrong? I doubt that you can, but if I’m wrong please show me how. To just say “it still wrong” is empty propaganda unless you can’t demonstrate exactly which fixed principle of rightness is being violated.
a). it’s against the law b).children do not have the cognitive capacity to make life-altering decisions c). children do not have the cognitive capacity to understand what marriage means.
and that is all assuming that these marriages were never consummated, which i do not believe. anyone who does is radical and deluded, imo.
yes, the government does things wrong. so do people. you can choose to believe the government, who has nothing to gain by jailing warren jeffs, or you could choose to believe flds followers, who would have to change their entire belief system to admit that it is wrong to have sex with children.
flds parent, you never answered my question….where did all the babies come from? what is the purpose in marrying a child if it is not to procreate? because warren jeffs says so?
cc
Our babies are born the same as those from where you come from, if I’m not misinformed. They all came from Heaven. Where did yours come from? Yes, and the purpose of marriage is to have children. It was one of the first commandments to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden to “multiply and replenish the earth.”
If everyone took your stance on marriage, the world would end up an empty waste. Do you read the Bible? It is the oldest history we have, and the law of God. It worth your reading, and would answer a lot of your questions about our beliefs, and marriage.
CC0508 if a child commits a serious crime, that child is an adult. Then its lack of experience is given no credence. If a child is old enough to be tried as an adult, that child is old enough to have sex and get married.
CC0508: You sure seem to have a lot of time to worry about what the FLDS folks are doing. Please let us know which religion you claim. Then, sit back as we take it apart as the haters and bigots have been doing with the FLDS.
Remember, the FLDS people were just minding their own business and not bothering anyone. They weren’t forcing their ways on anyone and just asked to be left alone.
Then, people of other religions, including many haters and bigots started trumping up phony claims in order to destroy the FLDS.
This would be like having those who don’t like Jews say that Jews mutilate the genitals of their young boys. Should the government step in and take all the boys or should the government listen to Jews themselves for their explanation of circumcision?
It often depends on how things are characterized.
When government butts into religions–any religions–it should do so very carefully, because all religions can be mischaracterized.
where did all the babies come from?
I think you need to take a sex ed class. A woman does not lose her fertility the moment she turns 18. Yes, there were a couple of women who had children while they were underage, but that was not the majority of them.
“CC0508 { 08.27.08 at 4:33 pm } p.s. jeny, you may be a reasonable person IRL, but i am not the only person you have lost your temper with on this message board. in fact, in a previous post you lost your temper with Mr. Schulzke himself.”
Which is between me and Mr. Schulske (we have communicated privately offline), and absolutely NONE of YOUR business.
Anything else, your highness? Or do you really believe you are in charge of everything and everyone?
“CC0508 { 08.27.08 at 5:02 pm } a). it’s against the law b).children do not have the cognitive capacity to make life-altering decisions c). children do not have the cognitive capacity to understand what marriage means.”
Hilarious. Exactly *HOW MANY* children have you given birth to?
Even my 13 year old twins who have grown up in a divorced household have the capacity of understanding “what marriage means”, in fact–I think they are actually very hyper-sensitive about marriage.
They have seen my parents healthy marriage (who by the way married in 1959 at age 16 and 21), and they have seen my sister’s 13 year old healthy marriage since the beginning, when they were the flower girl and ring bearer.
My parents will celebrate 50 years of quite happy marriage next October, God willing. By your standards, my mother was a “child” when she married my father. Are you *really* saying she had no understanding of what she was doing the day she married my father? They are more in love today than they were the day they married.
You are absolutely hopeless, CC.
“FLDS parent { 08.27.08 at 4:32 pm } cc
The true law breakers are government officials who pass laws against the Constitution. The problem is that they don’t have to answer for what they do.
In September 2005, Texas passed a law with FLDS in mind to change the legal age of marriage from 14 to 16, and also to make it a felony to marry or “purportedly” marry illegally.
In other words, they had to change the definition of a child, so they could say marriage was “child abuse” so they could target the FLDS and in David Doran’s words “make it so they can’t practice their religion in Texas.”
P.S.
You must be Bruce Perry the pyscologist who testified against us at the 14 day hearing.”
FLDS Parent—trying to have a lucid conversation with CC is like trying to converse with a brick wall.
I’m not sure why we’re giving this attention hog so much–attention, which is precisely what CC is here craving.
Look at how much he/she/it has stirred the pot since arriving, and what (sincere) contribution has he/she/it made? Other than lobbing bombs, yet more (false) accusations, and insults.
CC is a game player who is obviously has more problems than a mere blog could ever hope to help him/her/it sort out.
Just my very humble opinion, after not getting a single straight answer from the game player, while getting a boatload of insults and (false) accusations.
The game is getting old (to me).
Best to you, FLDS Parent. There are *lots* of American Parents on your side, in spite of the bilge CC spews here.
*****hugs******
Jeny
CC0508 { 08.27.08 at 4:30 pm } jeny, do you honestly think that you have a right to lambast an entire state agency in a public forum and no one is going to respond?
==========
As a United States CITIZEN and TAXPAYER, it is absolutely MY RIGHT to lambast ANY government funded agency I believe is a) breaking the law b) harming innocent children and parents c) breaking the law d) destroying innocent families e) breaking the law and f) BREAKING THE LAW.
This is not Putin’s Russia. If you don’t like THIS US CITIZEN speaking out against your agency, then DO A BETTER JOB and I (we) won’t have cause to lambast you here–or anywhere else.
Do the job we pay you to do, do it right and don’t break the law while you’re doing it. You won’t have any trouble from your bosses–American Citizens.
End of story.
Looks like the good Marxist CC needs a few lessons in American Civics, US Constitutional Law and the way our Republic fuctions with checks and balances and all.
He/she/it also needs a refresher on the Bill of Rights and needs to identify who “We, The People” are.
Hint: We write our paycheck each payday.
Ooops, that should read:
Hint: We write YOUR paycheck each payday.
c). foster care is a bigger problem than child abuse. i have yet to hear any possible solutions to any of the problems with CPS, just a lot of radical rhetoric-spewing.
Gosh, I feel invisible. I presented some very viable options. Some with proven track records.
CPS = Child Abuse.
How can you, and they, continue to deny the fact that kids are FOUR TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED OR INJURED IN FOSTER CARE? And 2/3 are on mind-altering psych drugs- some not approved for juvenile use.
That means, however terrible the home was, the kids was four times LESS LIKELY TO BE KILLED OR INJURED THAN IN FOSTER CARE.
Can you refute the numbers?
again, i would request proof for the claims made above.
IT IS ILLEGAL FOR A GROWN MAN TO HAVE SEX WITH A CHILD. IT IS CONSIDERED SEXUAL ABUSE. IT IS ILLEGAL FOR A CHILD TO GET MARRIED AT 13.
by blaming CPS, you are barking up the wrong tree.
argue with that, and we will have a worthwhile debate.
jeny, sweetie, dearest, i don’t work for the government. remember what you told me? what does assuming make us?
flds parent, repeating the same lines without addressing what i am saying only makes you look like you are covering something up. for example, grown men sexually abusing children. you know, the reason your prophet is in jail?
MY bible does not condone grown men having sex with children. neither does my church, or many in the world, save yours.
1 in 4 girls is sexually abused in childhood. 1 in 5 boys is sexually abused in childhood. that is 1 million children per year. that’s a pretty big deal, if you ask most people.
CC –
If you don’t work for the government, how and why are you using Texas State government assets to post on this blog?
K
CCo508: Why are you hiding what religion you claim? If you’re going to criticize religions other than you own, you should let people know your own religion so they can factor that in when they read your comments. Come on now, you can do it. You can be honest even though you work for the government and probably part of a CPS internet quick reaction team to sway minds. What is your religion?
jeny, sweetie, dearest, i don’t work for the government. remember what you told me? what does assuming make us?
Hey sweetcakes, Jeny, and others, had “probably cause”. Works for CPS/LE. Get over it already.
BTW, can you provide “evidence” you don’t work for, or collaborate with CPS?
1 in 4 girls is sexually abused in childhood. 1 in 5 boys is sexually abused in childhood. that is 1 million children per year. that’s a pretty big deal, if you ask most people.
Compared to the general population, a child is four times more likely to die in the Texas foster care system. In 2004, about 100 children were treated for poisoning from medications; 63 were treated for rape that occurred while under state care including four-year old twin boys, and 142 children gave birth.
Keep in mind, one of TDFPSs highly esteemed institutions flagged to house 100 kids had numerous violations of mishandling psychotropic drugs. Have a look at Arrow’s record at the state website. Quick, before someone decides it isn’t prudent to leave the info up, and removes it.
The Comptroller’s office also found significant financial problems in a 2005 audit of DFPS.[7]
http://www.window.state.tx.us/news/60623statement.html
Here’s a good read….an analysis of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.
Published in the NEW ENGLAND LAW REVIEW, Vol. 36:1, by Richard Wexler, Director of National Coaltion for Child Protection Reform.
http://www.nccpr.org/reports/asfa.pdf
Excerpt from the LAW REVIEW publication:
• In Los Angeles, California, the pipes in a grandmother’s rented house burst, flooding the basement and making the home a health hazard. Instead of helping the grandmother find another place to live, child protective workers take away the granddaughter and place her in foster care. She dies there, allegedly killed by her foster mother. The child welfare agency that would spend nothing to move the family offers $5,000 for the funeral.4
Welcome to child welfare in the age of ASFA, the so-called Adoption and Safe Families Act.5 ASFA is a federal law helping to turn the nation’s child welfare systems into the ultimate middle-class entitlement. Step right up and take a poor person’s child for your very own.
http://www.nccpr.org/reports/asfa.pdf
CC: a). it’s against the law b).children do not have the cognitive capacity to make life-altering decisions c). children do not have the cognitive capacity to understand what marriage means.
If this is true, then why are juvenile offenders certified as adults & then subject to execution for crimes committed when they were CHILDREN?
http://www.nccpr.org/reports/asfa.pdf
“It is extremely difficult to take a swing at “bad mothers” without the blow landing on their children. Therefore, if we really believe all the rhetoric about the needs of the children coming first, we must put those needs before anything – even our anger at their parents. But of course we do not do that. Instead, we have built a child welfare system on a foundation of myths about who is in that system and why. That is why the system is constantly on the verge of collapse, and why the latest effort to fix it – ASFA – is backfiring.”
For me there is a simple fix. The ONLY time CPS should be involved is if there has been a crime commited against a child. I understand that CPS isn’t just about stopping abuse but also preventing but this simply does not work. Where are CLEAR laws in regards to abuse? Where are guidelines that are used to determine abuse? Is it just that ONE worker’s OPINION that matters? Why is CPS allowed to continue on and on with an investigation with no time frames? They come in to investigate on incident, which may or may not be true, then they are allowed to look for ANYTHING they may think is worthy of the lable of abuse. Again where are the GUIDELINES for what constitutes abuse. As far as preventing child abuse, isn’t it possible that every parent is capable of abuse and that all children could possibly be in danger of being of abused? Being grounded could be seen as abuse in the OPINION of the CPS worker. Children should not be at risk of being removed from their home on the basis of an OPINION of someone that has may never even MET them.
I haven’t read all the postings, but, we need some help.
My grandsons were removed from their mothers’ care in July/August of 2008.
My daughter said she conducted a ’sit in” @ the advocacy center in Plano, TX until they told her what/ why her son was taken from the home by eight armed Plano police officers!
CPS told them my grandson was in danger…they lied.
My daughter was then ordered to be admitted to Green Oaks Hospital and then sent to Terrell State Hospital in Terrell, TX.
At the first “round table” meeting, it was mentioned and documented that my daughter has mental problems.
CPS won’t allow us to take our grandsons, they won’t even discuss it with us.
Daughter was ordered to go for psychological/psychiatric evaluations, anger mgmt. classes, parenting classes, etc.
At the last permanancy hearing in Jan. 2009, she was told the children would probably be returned to her in June or July of 2009.
Two weeks ago, she received a letter from her court appointed atty. that the court was seeking termination of parental rights to be final in JUNE!
We tried contacting Paul Stuckle, but, was told his fees would be approx. $20,000…we could maybe scrape together $5000, but, my husband and I together only make about $50,000 at them most.
We, ourselves, are just working our way “back”, as my husband lost his job 4 years ago making over $70K a year, now he makes $14 an hour and I make $11 an hour.
I listed our wedding rings on e-bay this past week to try to come up with some more money..
Who do we go to? Please help us get our grandbabies back!!!
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