mntleo2
mntleo2's JournalCPS is beyond corrupt and few know about it
...you know the saddest thing about this knowledge? Sadly it is mostly the Conservatives who are on to this issue and working against it. But I see this issue as something that actually unites us because who does not want our families to be supported, not destroyed? Besides that, as a low income advocate, I have been able to teach these folks (who hate the poor for the most part) that a safety net is important. That low income kids are being used as "canaries in the mine" to set legal precedence, and that low income people do not "choose" poverty. I teach them that poverty is an institution which is not being recognized as such and because of the continuing austerity cuts that has been going oin since the mid-90s has been creating damage that is seeping upwards and hurting the middle class as well.
As a Democrat whose mama taught me to never eveh trust a Republican, it has been interesting to be working on this issue with Tea Partiers, Libertarians, conservative-leaning independents and the like. We have a state senator here who is a complete gun nut and radical Republican who I have come to love. As a matter of fact my very Progressive state senator loves her too and works closely with her on CPS issues. I do not agree with this radical Republican (and few of her followers) in much else, but still I have learned to respect their take and find many of them quite charming ~ and they are intelligent, fierce "pro bono" adversaries in court, they know their rights, they know the law and they are not afraid to exercise them. My "Progressive" representative on the other hand, is a CPS tool ~ but she used to be a CASA and those (mostly) childless women are beyond clueless about the kids they represent.
The exception is Conservative Christians making tons of money from government funding for taking kids and putting them in a "better" place. Like that Idaho Shopping Network woman and millionaire nut whose "non-profit" and "Christian" adoption agency was taken to task for kidnapping 3rd world kids from their country, their homes and families. This dummass should be facing the same for low income American kids. Michelle Bachman is a prime example of that bunch and they are beyond disgusting. In NYC I know a Muslim family whose child was legally kidnapped by these people. They saw nothing wrong with placing this child in a wingnut "Christian" family who immediately began to violate this family's most sacred beliefs ~ feeding him pork, forcing him to go to their church, and teaching him his faith was "from the devil". When the horrified falsely accused birth family asked that, at the very least, this child be placed with a Muslim family, CPS ignored it, indeed then they tried to say in court that the birth family were "terrorists". As a Christian who respects other people's faith, indeed my own faith is strengthened from spiritual shaing with people of other faiths, I work to ensure this kind of crap stops, and I wish I were making this up ...
It is time to speak up. In your state of CA there are some awesome family preservation groups who have lived through much of the same nightmares for which you speak. As you may know, CA is the state from which other DCS agencies in other states model their CPS programs. But in the 9th Circuit Court findings in the case Humphreys vs County of Los Angeles the justices in this case say that this oft modeled System is not trustworthy and that they cannot believe many of these CPS allegations because of the many deep flaws in this System.
This case was about a couple who had been falsely accused and that was cleared, but they sued LA County because they discovered that they were still on a state-wide (and actually nation-wide) publicly accessed list CPS keeps (and this happens in all states). This list for "founded" allegations goes with any "founded" accused for the rest of their lives ~ with less than 25 days for the accused to refute these allegations or this list will keep these accused on it forever. This is bad enough, but the "unfounded" accused will also still stay on that list for 7 years. This list is not only on the same list as sex offenders, it can be accessed by landlords, employers, anyone, thus blocking the falsely accused from housing, work and labeling them with their communities where they live.
But the court addressed other issues related to this case as well. For one thing, this case specifically covered the false allegations the Humphreys had endured. CPS has a supposed "checks and balanced" system in place to investigate these false allegations made by their agency. However their "checks and balances" consists of them "checking and balancing themselves" with nobody independent looking into these cases that do not have any CPS bones in the game. In truth it ewas shown in this case that CPS "investigators" are the foxes watching the chicken coop ~ and although in they themselves admitted that even in this situation, over 70% of their allegations are false.
The courts told this "model" DCS that without anyone independent of CPS looking into these things, they frankly found that they had a hard time believing even those abysmal admissions of 70-80% error rates. These judges saw that not enough was being done about these "investigations" that put people on this public list I mentioned above, which includes convicted sex offenders alongside these CPS admitted falsely accused. The court saw a problem that these CPS accusers think it is enough to be "investigating" themselves about their own accusations that puts people on this list for the rest of their lives. This is ridiculous, especially with the lack of turnaround time for anyone to protest these allegations ~ IMO it is a travesty that the court thinks that 20 freaking days is enough time to respond against these allegations or you are on a list that can prevent you from work, housing, and a career for the rest of your life.
So people in your state are working on this corruption and though it may be painful to raise up these issues again, your story could be important to show how long standing and damaging these people have been to your family to show the damage that has been done to you and your loved ones. Also it is important that we Progressives speak up because the political division is causing any Progressives with clout to hear these "Tea Baggers" who are for the most part, right on the money about this issue, even if they are not about other issues. It is also important to teach these folks a safety net is important for anyone who needs it, that most people needing it do not "chose" poverty, they are caught in an institution that is nearly possible to escape, and that this safety net keeps us all better off because it does not allow anyone to be disenfranchised. What comes for them, WILL come for the rest of us if we do not stop it.
This posting is meant to be a pep talk, to let you know there are others near you who are also dealing with this crap right this minute because it continues to damage so many. An attorney in CA who is taking on this System in a class action law suit told me he has also seen this harvesting of children in low income complexes as well as other places. It has only gotten worse because of the lack of voices speaking up against it.
If you are interested, PM me and I will give you some contacts if are you are up to it. I do understand however if you are not able to do this from the trauma for life it causes, not to mention other issues such as work, health and a lack of resources in our lives preventing us from doing much. And if you just want to talk, I am here.
Love and in solidarity, Cat in Seattle
This is because they think our states are "saving the little baybees" ....
...when it fact it is a racket.
Nobody, including family preservationists like me, would want children in true danger to remain in their homes. We all know from studies being done that about 15% of these kids are truly abused. But the experts also acknowledge that a majority of these kids if left in the home with services means these kids have a better chance of becoming successful adults ~ and this is even true of family members with drug and alcohol issues that were given services.
I was just in a meeting last month with DSHS "suits" and a group of "stakeholders" wanting to get waivers of Title IV so they can use the money to assist birth families. But to me, the saddest part about this meeting was hearing from all these people having a stake in the destruction of families. It was all about the fear it would work too well (and they know it will) because then that funding would dwindle and they would lose their money. So which is worse ~ traumatizing for life and taking 85 kids at the drop of a hat when there has never been any abuse simply because ONE kid *might* slip through the cracks? There wouldn't BE so much "slippage" if this funding was used to actually do their jobs and truly investigate the situation instead of pursuing the wrongly accused and having to "win" these cases in order to keep their jobs and get those bonuses!
The way the laws and policies are now, a CPS worker can merely point their accusing finger and then in court it automatically becomes "fact" without having to prove anything. No such thing there as "due process" where accusing someone of a crime has to be proved. It IS a crime to abuse a child but it is never put into actual criminal courts because then they would have to prove their allegations. In these "quasi-courts" they simply use "imminent danger" which means in essence that even if nothing has ever happened, it MIGHT happen in the future. Therefore in these courts even though it never has happened, it WILL happen, even though there is no indication it ever has. So for everyone BUT the family it means a big juicy CA-CHING!
Confusing I know ~ but this is the way it is designed to be. The intimidation of anyone to bear witness to the truth for fear CPS will come after them, including lawyers to defend these accused fearing their own children will be taken is beyond scary in a legal and "rights" sense(and CPS does go after lawyers, I know of several cases, one former lawyer who is here on DU whose entire career was killed thanks to false and conflated allegations who at least still has his kids thanks to his knowledge of the law, but it was devastating for all).
But the most tragic is the consequences with these kids, left hung out to dry in a System rife with greed, love of power, as well as these people behaving as if they are morally superior when in fact many if not most of them and their System are beyond corrupt. These kids are hurt deeply every day. In order to cover up the crimes committed against them they are lied to as to why they are taken, often being told their families do not want them. Can you imagine what that is like to live with as a child, to be told in essence you are nothing but a piece of garbage to be bought and sold like chattel (indeed in the law they ARE "chattel" as if they are slaves to be bought and sold)?
In fact many family members do want these kids, but have been bamboozled in the courts and with CPS workers ~ and placing kids with relatives does not bring in the cash like placing them with strangers. Who can prove something will *never* happen in the future when nobody knows the future? If you are a grandparent and want to take them, you have *no* rights, while foster parents have all the rights ~ even if they never intend adopting these kids themselves. Nobody BUT the the foster parents and CPS (and all their "experts"
has the right to tell these kids the truth that their family wants them~ and most of these "experts" will never do that.
Even families with money find that these false accusation and the "concern" for "imminent danger" will break them financially, spending upwards of $50,000 and more just trying to prove their innocence from a future nobody knows. In court the accusers who have all the control for these children, they are the only "truth tellers". Contrary to the Constitutional right to be "innocent until proven guilty", the accused have already been tried and convicted as automatic liars without the accusers ever having to prove anything ~ to keep their continued funding and more bonuses.
Foster kids are further put at risk as adults. After living through the horrors and abuse of foster care, when they become parents, now their own children are being taken. If they reported abuse as children (most often ignored by CPS at the time it was happening), then suddenly their "guilt" becomes "fact" and a matter of "imminent danger" where they are automatically considered at danger of doing the same to their own children.
Recently I was with a former foster child after she gave birth and I watched as the CPS workers came in to get the baby. It was her first child, so no time for proof she had ever done anything YET, according to them. Worse, with these CPS workers was 9 sets of potential adoptive parents swarming the hospital and waving their papers, all standing in line to receive the child literally less than two hours after he had taken his first breath. The nurses at the hospital also get bonuses for "working" with the mother but are in truth there as reporters of anything of "concern" the new mother might have done or not done. But if this child is never adopted (due to any disabilities, race, unfitness of the adopters or whatever), who cares? CPS will receive on the average of $6-8000 a month until this child reaches the age of 18.
I am going to name names here because it is important to say out loud how this actually works and that I am an eye witness: This occurred as it is done in every hospital, at the maternity ward in Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, WA. The CPS workers were from Snohomish county and the nurses are Steven's staff members. They will all get extra money for being "supporters" of the family. In truth, the mother was a low wage worker, on Medicaid. Thanks to any true legal support that neither she or the father could ever afford, this child will never know the joy his parents had at his birth. This baby will never know how wanted he was by either parent ~ or by the paternal grandparents who would have taken him until things could have been straightened out. He will be told that his parents nor did any of his birth family have time for him, when in fact this is most often not true.
CPS could hardly wait to confiscate this newborn child, with them was potentially about $100,000 worth of adoption money from any ONE of these adopters, and of course bonuses for all. And if this does not work out, well there is always that Title IV/TANF/food stamp/housing/Medicaid funding pouring in for the next 18 years...
Oh sure, CPS will go through the motions in court to "prove" the mother and father unfit in order to terminate their rights and sell this child. Meanwhile this baby is not allowed the crucial first year to bond with his mother or be breast fed by her or be with his dad, except in sterile visits at a visitation center where they have to pay for diapers, food and any other things the child will need for the couple hours a week they are allowed. They will be filmed every minute they are with the child so CPS can show to the courts to "prove" these parents are unfit with the lack of bonding and all of the awkwardness a new parent will have. If these parents fight to keep their child, they will pay an exorbitant amount of their small incomes for child support to the state and then it will be used against them for not making enough to afford a home and a middle class life. Any other children the mother has will also suffer the same fate, should she entertain the idea it will be different next time because whether voluntarily give up or not, establishing her unfitness in court is "proof positive" that this mother is unfit to ever be a parent ~ unless she suddenly becomes rich enough to defend herself and prove her worth in court for any other children she wants to keep. The father, if he seeks a different partner will not be in so much danger because he is a man and not held as accountable as mothers are ~ but he will never be able to see this one again once the child is legally kidnapped.
So these "unwanted" kids are for the most part wanted, but the laws and policies now are against the family, they are for anyone else BUT the family. It is the same with so-called "safety net" support where everybody else BUT the parents is paid to raise their kids at literally 1000% MORE than it would be to actually give support to parents to actually BE a parent (I am not making this percentage up, the Casey Foundation actually shows this in studies they've done about Title IV funding, the cost of foster care, and the cost of adoptions). They think being a parent is a hobby, that it is ONLY "doing something" to go out there and work a McJob to make some rich man richer. But it is "not doing anything" (especially for poor families) to parent the next generation to fight in our wars, take care of our infrastructure or care for us when we can no longer do it. Now go ask anyone if they should believe this was true about the President of the United States' low income mother and if she was "doing nothing" while raising him.
So yeah I am an activist and I have done my homework, but will anybody here listen? Not until they stop believing the CPS System "saves the little baybees" and see what is truly going on; how many children are traumatized for life, how many families utterly destroyed and how much money is being made off their backs. All I have to say is I could never be in that System knowing what I know now. If I were, I could never keep down my lunch.
Cat in Seattle
Activist for low income families here ...
CPS loves them some little baybees since they can sell (adopt) them easily but teens and preteens, not so much. They continue to collect between $6-8000 per month per child, however no matter if that teen is on the streets or not. This is why you see so many "colonies" of runaway foster kids congregating under your bridges and huddling in your doorways. There is no accountability and many of these kids have been in the System for years. CPS and their DFS agencies as well as legislators know that only about 15% of the children they take are truly being abused. They know that if they gave the birth families services instead of taking the kids this has far greater success rates with these children, and they know full well that after putting them into foster care that these kids are 5-7 X more likely to be abused. But CPS also collects between $6-8000 per month per child from Title IV mandated funding alone. They also go in and take about 1/3 of the TANF (welfare), food stamps and Medicaid money on top of that Title IV funding.
TItle IV mandates say, "The more kids you take, the more money you will make. If you return these kids home, you will LOSE all present and future funding..." Also although it is a federal crime worth up to 20 years in prison for a government official to commit perjury in court, family court has been rigged. These case managers and all their contracted minions can go into court and LIE and have complete immunity (including their rubber stamp GALs who are also collecting $Millions in government grants to be "independent" but are not). These social workers stand to collect personal bonuses as well for every kid they take and while it is a federal offense to commit perjury they do it all the time because they are immune and stand to collect those bonuses. Who cares if they falsely accuse someone when there is money to be made? Who cares if the child is further abused since then they can collect even MORE $$$ because now the child is "disabled". And do not get me started on all the $Millions the pharmaceuticals are getting for drugging these kids when they are in grief from being dragged from their homes and cut off from their entire family.
There is more than just a few states doing this, ALL of them are doing it, thanks mostly to Title IV funding. Furthermore harvesting low income kids from their families is a way to get ever dwindling "discretionary' funding in order to keep more funding coming in, their jobs to continue, and those bonuses coming. As services such as childcare, food stamps, energy assistance s cut off, more and more low income families are being destroyed. They've used low income families as "canaries in the mine" to undermine laws and parental rights whenever, so whenever they go after upper income families these relatives are all surprised and put themselves in hawk to defend themselves. These officials and the judges involved (making 6 figure salaries themselves) are well aware that low income families cannot defend themselves adequately. They are "easy pickin's and the easing up of anything formal in these "quasi-courts" simply makes it quite easy to take children and terminate parental rights. As an activist, I have seen entire low income housing complexes cleaned out of children by CPS where the kids are taken and "sold" (more bonuses and adoption fees). And adoptions do not fare much better than foster care as far as abuse is concerned, I work with formerly adopted adults and the stories I have been told give me nightmares.
The issues with these teens are that DFS will continue to collect their Title IV/TANF/food stamps/Medicaid funding whether or not the kid is well cared for ~ or if they are on the streets. While it is illegal in most (if not all) states to take children due to poverty, the conditions of poverty are direct legal definitions of "maltreatment and neglect". Therefore jerking them out of their family homes, leaving these kids to wander the streets, the schools not to be too concerned when kids do not show up, and foster parents get good legal defense if it even occurs to anyone that perhaps THEY were not watching closely enough, unlike extended families such as grandparents who do not get ANY legal defense. Everyone except family to these children are generously funded and let off the hook so nobody has to worry about being held accountable. I would not be surprised to see boys also being pimped, if not molested and raped in their "safe" homes. This is the way it goes ...
Then the media wonders why this happens. People like me can tell them what is going on, but they will not listen ~ and frankly few here will listen either. One solution to this issue is to give families services and no more austerity cuts. If you ever notice your states' budget you will discover, they cut EVERYTHING BUT CPS. After refusing low wage working families any assistance, then comes the harvesting of their kids. Teens and preteens cut off from their families and left to their own devices, is just another money-maker for both legal and illegal predators...
Cat in Seattle
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Member since: 2002Number of posts: 2,535
