As most of you already know, my wife and I are currently in a battle royale over a malicious, and possibly politically-motivated, “child neglect” complaint filed with our local Child and Family Services folks. The following is a conpendium of items about this subject, most submitted by readers who have some experience themselves, almost all bad, dealing with child welfare bureaucrats.
WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG FLASHLIGHT
“It’s enraging to have someone turn a person in who is trying to be a good parent. Thank you for shining a light on these concerns.”
- N&V reader Debra Banuche
BUREAUCRATIC PREDATORS
“If you live in Africa and have children, you have to know to guard them from crocs, lions and leopards. If you live in the U.S. and have children, you have to know to guard them from other sorts of predators, perhaps including CFS.”
- N&V reader Gary Marbut
PARENTING WHILE CONSERVATIVE
“I have seen what is happening to you happen to too many conservative political activists in Minnesota. Not being married and not having children is the safest way to be a politically active conservative in Minnesota.”
- N&V reader Warren Nelson
GESTAPO TACTICS
“No one should have to be subjected to ‘Gestapo tactics’ as you described. To ensure that your good name is protected and any misinformation is purged from the local/state office files, we should not allow those in the service of the public to harass and intimidate, simply because we challenge a ruling/report. Take the battle to them and go forth confidently!”
- N&V reader Thomas H. Seigo
UNDUE HARASSMENT
“I agree that plenty of parents do not protect their children’s best interests. However, we all have the Constitutional guarantees to assure that government intervention into our family’s child rearing is with merit and without undue harassment by individuals too cowardly to confirm the complaints they may make against us. This is bullsh*t!”
- N&V reader Mark Schoenfeld
WHAT WE LEARNED IN CPS HELL
“What my husband and I learned from our 10+ years of CPS hell is that you should never let an untruth stand. The abuses of CPS/CFS are nationwide. The system needs major change to protect the rights of the innocent.”
- N&V reader Pat Miller
BEWARE OF CPS AMBUSHES
“Your letter to CPS was great. However, by it, you declared war on CPS—from their perspective. CPS will attempt to ambush you at every turn. Never let your guard down. Document everything to the Nth degree. Never get angry. Constantly state in a very calm manner. I am not angry; I just disagree with your position. CPS loves to write in their communications logs that you were angry, belligerent, or hostile. They will use any excuse to do so. Once identified as angry, they will automatically enroll you into their ‘anger management’ and ‘parenting skills’ programs, for which they get additional funding. If you refuse to attend then they identify you as ‘uncooperative.’”
- N&V reader Jerry McHugh
OUT OF CONTROL
“The initial reaction of CPS is ALWAYS that the reports are confidential. They know this is not true when it comes to the parents of the children in question – in other words they outright lie, and they know that they are doing so. You must be persistent. You must document everything. CPS thinks they can just wear you down or bully you or if they ignore you, you will go away. CPS in this country is out of control! You are fighting the exact same battle that we fought in Indiana. And like you, we fought it on philosophical grounds in behalf of all families pushed around by CPS.”
- N&V reader Jerry McHugh
ACCOUNTABLE TO NO ONE
“As a Peace Officer in Alaska, I have had to deal with these boneheads at DFYS - Division of Family and Youth Services. Don’t get me wrong we need people that can protect the kid in danger. The problem is most DFYS workers are trained by our liberal colleges and universities. I have seen people singled out for the wrath of DFYS because of their religious beliefs, political beliefs, upset neighbor motivated complaints, and even for home schooling their kids. My experience has been AK-DFYS is out or control with accountability to no one.”
- N&V reader “Marvin”
ROGUE SOCIAL WORKERS
“State social workers and supervisors in the Hardin County (Ky.) region lied in court, falsified records about child abuse and neglect cases and mistreated parents and children, a state investigation has found. . . . The investigation was triggered by a report by advocates a year ago that found families in that region believed they were treated badly by the system, that their rights were ignored and social workers hastily sought removal of children from homes for so-called ‘quick trigger adoptions.’
“…The inspector general’s report lists a number of recommendations to improve the system and reduce the possibility of abuses. But its primary recommendation is for the state to eliminate the secrecy that surrounds the child welfare system and court proceedings involving child abuse and neglect.
“…Alleged violations cited in the report include: Workers falsified records showing they had conducted home visits of families under investigation. Also, supervisors sometimes ordered social workers to conduct home visits when no one was home to make it appear families were not cooperative. Workers added or omitted information in case files to mislead judges who must decide whether to terminate parents’ rights. Some workers also gave false testimony in court about cases. . . Supervisors sometimes created their own policies, and arbitrarily tried to remove children from homes.
“…The report does not state a motive for the alleged wrongdoing but cited a ‘culture’ among some workers ‘which thrived on the power of controlling certain families.’ (David Richart, director of the National Institute on Children, Youth and Families) said that is consistent with what the advocates found through interviews with families and workers in the Hardin County region. ‘There are people who are power hungry working cases,’ he said.”
- The Courier-Journal, 1/12/07
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE NO RIGHTS
“When I was in the State legislature in Utah I chaired the Child Welfare Oversight Panel. This committee oversaw all agencies that were involved with child welfare, to include the Division of child Protective Services, or DCFS.
“Your story is pretty typical. Someone makes an anonymous complaint and the government shows up. It is actually quite normal in most states that they do not even have to get a warrant! The reason for this is that child protective services are not handled in criminal court but civil. The difference between criminal and civil is significant and something that cannot be overlooked.
“At one point I had my legislative attorney compare the rights of someone accused of murder and someone accused of child abuse. My attorney started by identifying 17 Constitutional rights that the murder suspect enjoys: Warrant, confront accuser, speedy trial, evidentiary rules, etc.
“In comparing the rights of one accused of child abuse or neglect it is startling. Of the 17 rights 6 were outright stripped. And of the remaining 11 all could be suspended if the civil court judge deemed it in the best interest of ‘the child.’ I wish more people knew about what goes on here. It is HORRENDOUS!”
- Former Utah state Sen. Matt Throckmorton
WHOSE CHILDREN ARE THEY?
“DSS (Department of Social Service) doesn’t seem to know the difference between actual abuse and minor harm, and takes thousands of children every year from families who have not abused them. Spanking, arguing, accidents, even praying, are now considered to be abuse or neglect.
“…A parents’ right to direct the upbringing of their children was never questioned until recently. Now, the state sees itself as the parent, and they let you have temporary custody of your own child, unless and until you do something the state doesn’t like - then the child goes back to its true parent - the state.
“Are you getting this? The state now owns your children, and entrusts you with them, until you do something politically incorrect, like home school them, spank them, pray with them, or otherwise try to keep them out of the hands of those who want to make them into obedient world citizens.
“…It may sound cynical to be so critical of the Department of Social Services. But I have wept with too many good parents who have lost their children, to not be cynical. Frankly, the system is evil and corrupt. The courts are helpless in the face of DSS power, or they affirm it because they believe in the DSS philosophy.”
- Massachusetts attorney Gregory A. Hession
BAD FRIDAY
“May I ask if this happened on a Friday evening? That’s standard operating procedure with CPS. Go “investigate” on a Friday so they can take your kids over the weekend when you can’t get a judge or attorney to help. They then work backwards and get a court order easily stamped on Monday by the judges who never give good oversight to this “service”. Therefore the kids spend a weekend in “state” care…ie $$$ for CPS. It’s truly sickening.
“I’m sure the department actually has a valid cause at times. But their Gestapo like practices give the barely high-school-educated case workers a power complex. They don’t like to be told ‘no…period. And they have lawyers, judges, and politicians on their side. When and how did Americans EVER decide giving up their sovereignty over their children to government was a smart idea?”
- N&V reader Martina Webster (EDITOR’S SARCASTIC NOTE: Yes, the CFS worker showed up at our door at 3:00 pm on a Friday afternoon…but I’m sure that was just a coincidence)
KIDNAPPING AND TRAUMATIZING KIDS
“BTW, there are groups who specialize in contesting CFS kidnapping of children. Kidnapping? Yes, that’s a strong word, but there are LOTS of documented cases of CFS operators snatching kids off the streets, at school, or somewhere else a defending parent is not present to protect them. In one case in Montana, the Sheriff’s Department SWAT team was dispatched to retrieve children who had been taken from CFS by their own mother.
“Once in the clutches of CFS, it becomes nearly impossible to get the children back. The courts mostly side with these government workers. While they exhaust you with legal expenses they will smear you publicly and do their best to indoctrinate your children. Meanwhile, the children are traumatized in this battle. So, you may wish to reach out to organizations that have already plowed some of this ground to learn what the state-of-the-art in defense is.”
- N&V reader Gary Marbut
TWISTING WORDS
“I sat on the Arizona CPS oversight committee and I also created the committee to give us as legislators the ability to break the cloak of secrecy, I mean privacy. I was also a victim of a complaint and investigation. With that on file, my son turned 16 and was in an accident in a brand new vehicle of mine and he said to the cop, “My dad is going to kill me.” And because there was this old complaint I was in a full-out war to keep our kids. They said the reason for the intensity was due to this not being our first complaint. As a former Legislator, PLEASE let me plead with you to go to your Legislators and give them copies of all this immediately.”
- Name withheld
WHEN THE “BAD MAN” COMES
“Hi, Chuck. I can say I know just how you feel. Labor Day 1992 I had the same thing happen to my family. CPS showed up at my door. My husband was resting on the couch with my 2 year old son sleeping on his chest. My two daughters (6 and 5) were playing upstairs in our room as I was folding laundry. A short time later there was a knock at the door. I went down to answer and it was CPS.
“My husband came immediately to the door. It was as if someone punched me in the stomach, I felt like I was going to vomit. He said there was a complaint that there were kids screaming and we were beating our children. He said he needed to examine the children.
“He checked them out. He asked the kids if Daddy and Mommy beat them. It was horrible. . . . The next day was my daughters’ first day of school. They did not want to go. They thought the ‘bad’ man was going to take them away. As you know, it is difficult to explain to children that that man is there to protect children.
“A few weeks later a woman shows up. I told her I had a right to know what was in the report. She gave me the address to write for the report. There was a lot blacked out, but from what I could read these people took things they knew about my family and twisted them.
“For example, my husband worked for Port Authority NY/NJ and was in a boiler explosion March 1987. He has major back injuries. I told them my husband’s back was never right after the accident. In the report I was quoted as saying, ‘My husband hasn’t been quite right since the accident.’ To this day, when I think about it, I get that funny feeling in my stomach.”
- N&V reader Joanne DiCarlo of Naples, Florida
CRIMINALIZING PARENTING
“What is not being publicly admitted is the INCREDIBLE power we are giving child welfare authorities, court supervisors, and government over the way parents actually parent their children. The unspoken but ever present premise is that ‘government can do it better’ when you and I know that simply isn’t so.
“As a former Chief Magistrate judge I saw dozens of what I thought were bogus warrant applications on child cases, just like yours…to the point that the department stopped bringing them to me and they quickly found a more sympathetic judge because I was appalled at the misuse of government power. I always asked the warrant applicant, ”Assuming that the conduct you describe is accurate, how would institutionalizing a child, even for a brief period of time, improve the situation?’ The answer was routinely and completely blank stare.
“But God help the judge that does not sign the warrant. A simpering child welfare official will piously point out that if you do NOT sign the warrant, and ANYTHING happens to the child, the judge will be front page news.
“I think that THIS is the type of torture that should be outlawed, not waterboarding. These people are patrolling middle class America, not the projects. They live off rumors from the schools - another government hunting ground - and have become an incredible force in the leverage of government, without any real response from people who have been victimized. They know they better shut up or lose their kids to some institution. Thanks for having the courage to raise the issue. Most wouldn’t.”
- Name withheld at writer’s request
IT’S NEVER OVER
“Having spent years as a foster parent I have seen the positive and the negative of this agency (Child Protective Services) in a different state. Please do NOT consider this a ‘closed case.’ The CPS agency folks keep the file ‘for future reference’ FOREVER. Sadly, even false claims mar a family forever. And, should you ever choose to be a Foster or Adoptive Parent, rest assured that this file will spring its ugly head.”
- N&V reader Sage Bocock
Posted on November 26th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
OKAY, OKAY, NOW WHAT DO WE DO TO STOP THIS INSANITY? HAVE SEEN SOME OF THE RESPONSES FROM ATTORNEYS, FORMER WORKERS, ETC. NOW WHAT?
Chuck,
Just wanted to let you know we are pulling for you. When I was a child, social services here in Minnesota tried to take me and my siblings away from my parents because we were being homeschooled. They did the same things and allegations of neglect and abuse were tossed around.
Fortunately, my father has never been one to meekly take that kind of abuse of power. We did prevail but it took some time.
My mother is still homeschooling my youngest sister, who is handicapped. We still have occasional trouble with the state and we still don’t take it lying down.
So, yes, we really do understand your troubles. Please withhold my name if anything is posted. The neighborhood around here is small and inbred and I do not want a bullseye painted on my back.
You’ve receied some great support and advice, especially from N&V reader Jerry McHugh. Don’t ever let them see you sweat or get mad!
As an advocate for falsely accused parents in Montana for the past 6 years, I can only say that terrorism of American families is a very real situation. I truly believe this is one of the threatens against America written in the “Communist Manifesto” and the proof that we can be taken over without a shot.
“They” (any agent of government or society) have our children and “they’ are training them to believe in government as God and to turn against all the values we as Americans have stood on forever.
There is NO oversight, no boundries “they” won’t cross to take custody and control our children…”they” need them for job security and the control of our nation. There are no answers within the judicial system because everyone benifits from these cases…why would “they” kill the cash cow. “They” get off on the control issues and “they” attain a sense of ultimate superiority from the destruction of families.
I have yet is see many individuals come forward with any success in battling this demonic system.
The only real way to overcome this evil situation is for the public to be throughly informed and for the people to raise up together and take back our God-given rights to parent our children. Unless this type of action happens this system will be the death knoll of family life in America.
Media needs to pay attention but only those with positions already listened to will ge that attention. Talk show hosts need to be bombarded with the truth of these issues to get the word out. Families are held at bay because they are threatened with their children, most think they are alone, helpless to fight back. Many are so under-educated (dumbed down) about their rights they have no idea what to do, many are low income and cannot afford an attorney, if they can even find one to represent them. The laws are written so that all hearings are “Star Chambers” of secrecy, never allowing the truth to be known. The general public thinks automatically that if your children are taken by CFS then you as the parent MUST have done “something wrong”.
America hasn’t a clue. The people have no knowledge of this system because the truth is withheld under the “best interests” of the children. These very same children may end up being abused within the very system that is supposedly protecting them. Abuse in foster or group homes is kept from the public eye.
The answer again is media involvement, the people need to know the truth about about this 95+ billion dollar taxpayer funded industry of stealing children and destroying families!!!
I have been falsley accused because of my advocacy work and can only ask God to protect my family from further harm because I cannot stop thinking of the children who cry at night for their moms and dads!
These children and parents have been taken into slavery…will you help defend them??? Then speak up and speak loud!!!!
“My people perish for lack of knowledge” Hosea 4:6
Kandi Matthew-Jenkins, Family Advocate, “cpsxposed” Advocacy Network, Montana
Everything said above is true, and double if you happen to be a non-custodial parent: aka deadbeat Dad. In the eyes of the law there is no difference between the two.
Once it is decided that you are a deadb***, err, non-custodial parent ALL 17 rights are stripped from you and more. Including the right to privacy and your paycheck.
The government had no problem taking 100 percent of my paycheck for a year period. I am paying for one child, yet I have five living in my home, apparently the goal is to get them on the goverment dole.
This is not or never was about the “best interests of the child”. It is, was and always will be about money. And sadly with DCFS, it is also about power.
Chuck you are a sitting target, because you make money, and have a job. You would be a lot less of a prospect if you were un-employed and poor. The state has unlimited resources in thier attack against you.
My advice is to move out of state, and possibly to some remote providence in Canada.
Good luck, and keep us informed.
Dear Chuck, remember that “hurt” goes both ways. If you have any idea who did this, a call to the children services might be i n order. I hate to stoop to the level of your enemies, but sometimes we just have to fight fire with fire. Incidentally, the phrase “hurt goes both ways” comes from the book BOYD, by Robert Corum, a great book about the father of the F-15, f-16, and theA-10, to name only a few of his accomplishments. For this, the Air Force did everything it could to discredit him. Keep up the great work, and don’t give up the fight! Bob Larrowe
Chuck,
You have not even scratched the surface of the injustices.
What do you think would happen if you got divorced…. your wife loses it and KILLS your children?
Yep, that is correct, you would still owe her alimony!
Don’t believe me, read the opinion of the court.
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a5053-05.pdf
“This sad case raises the issue as to whether a change of
circumstances resulting from the wrongful death of a child
caused by an alimony recipient terminates or reduces the alimony
obligation.”
It’s all about the money…
“Christopher certified that Linda was an active and violent alcoholic who abused and assaulted him, at times with a kitchen knife and a hammer.”
Automatic, no brainer, child custody for mother by courts in New Jersey.
Maybe it’s time to seek impeachment of these appellate judges.
To Much Government!! They in gov’t that represent us have nothing to do so they sit there in the State and Federal congresses and dream up new laws to take more and more of our freedom.
The State of California requires teachers, aids, and other school workers to attend chld abuse prevention classes. They are told that if they even suspect abuse to call the cops on the parents. No evidence needed! You just think something is happening! Call the cops!
My wife worked at a school as an aid and came home and told me this after her class. I told her “You WILL NOT call the cops under any circumstances unless you see someone closed fisted punch a kid. You stop and think about it. Our daughter was with Grandma once when she opened the car door herself, fell out and hit her head on the curb. She got a nasty swollen black eye. Stop and think about it - how would you feel if the cops showed up at YOUR door because some dimwit thought you abused your kids because there was a nasty swollen black eye on your kid?”
Just was linked to this site of yours…Rather amusing one comment said it is “never over”…Oh how true,my son now 18 is being held on to for another 6 months. Just long enough for both the state and county agents to get him to a point of high school graduation and “demonstrate” their great works…
Of course he can and many children do,end up getting labeled as “vulnerable adults” and the counties then control their lives indefinately.
The mention of Minnesota being so tight knit in corruption rings true,many with in my state have cases which involve total disregard for civil rights and violations of said things rampant. Children being knowingly placed with sexual abusers,children of abuse by stranger being removed from the home while the perp walks the street…children forced into eval and group home settings where “chemical restraint ” is employed to bolster the “labels” attached to the children allowing for additional grant money and or Medicaid / Medicare fraud………I could go on indefinately myself with what I have learned in the last almost 9 years.
Please visit our website; www.familyrights.us
Dear Sir/Madams,
From car bombs to building blasts, it seems that terrorism is everywhere throughout the world. However, there is a different kind of terrorism, right here in North America. It is psychological terrorism. It is a terrorism born of those who believe themselves psychologically better than the rest of us. It is a terrorism against the poor, for they are the least likely to be able to fight back and stem the tyde of oppression and tyranny.
Like chess experienced players, politicians and bureaucrats are thinking sometimes two and three moves or more ahead, in the game of life. Imagine for a moment, a world of the future, where a license is reguired to procreate and where the essense of, “Family”, no longer exists. Children are taken from parents and raised by the State. Can your mind possibly accept such a social future? If CPS and its’ many facets is permitted to continue on its’ present course, this is exactly the kind of world our children and their children will come to live in.
The most basic and fundamental element of our society is, “Family”. From this microscopic element grow neighborhoods, communities, regions, suburbs, towns/cities, States/Provinces, all forming the molecular structure of our Nations and the essense of our society. Should the present course of CPS be permitted to continue, we will surely see the death nell of the, “Nuclear Family”, and the restructure of our society into something resembling the Bumble Bee Social Order; with autocrats in total control and the rest of our civilization comprised of drones and worker types all enslaved to their will and their will alone.
Since the dawn of time, (before the advent of politics), (before the introduction of religion), Family was the most basic form of social order in our civilization. Since mankind rose from the prime ordial ooze, the essence of family was the primary of social structure. This is still evident in the kingdom of the gorrila and other primates. We must not let any new kind of politics and/or religious sect pervert this social order, nor permit our civilization to fall from the grace that was born of this very basic and necessary social structure.
Man only has those rights he can protect and defend. From divorce to child protection, the rights and freedoms of parents and children are being usurped one by one, leaving chaos and discord in its’ wake. From the man/husband/father who works hard and looses all he has struggled for to the woman/wife/mother, who is seduced, persuaded and coerced into a position against her humanity, her husband and her children, we are seeing the chaos that is resulting from this social discord.
The first right refused, the first liberty suppressed, the first freedom denied forms a like in a chain that will surely enslave us all….
WORDS OF WISDOM… AND… WARNING…
The first time any of our rights, liberties, and freedoms, are curtailed, we are all damaged. Villains sporting black capes, balck top hats and twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who cloak themselves in good deeds, to seduce the masses are much harder to detect. We must be ever viligant, lest we succumb to the temptations of the charismatic…
Sincerely,
THE COMMITTEE
My son and I were both victims of false accusations by Florida CPS.
I provided factual documentation of my innocence against false charges of medical neglect. My son is almost 18 and my parental rights are continually denied though they are legally intact. He was used for psychotropic drug experiments at the age of 3, which caused him great harm. My son was not allowed any visitation or relationships with my relatives etc, for the reason CPS had to coverup what they did to him. Too many people expect the “government” to help. What they do not realize is that the government is the cause of CPS abuses. They initiated them and fund them to include using children for “drug experiments” which are not properly conducted anyhow, but they bring a lot of money for the pharmaceutical companies that a number of employees of the US Government National Institute of Health have stock in. Government control over children is tied to the UN, WHO, UNICEF, World Federation of Mental Health, and it all originates out of Belgium just like the EU. It isn’t only American families that are victimized, but this same government poison is in a number of other countries as well such as Canada, Brazil, Italy, Austria, England, Australia, Sweden, Israel, Germany, Romania, France, Ireland, now Africa, and the list continues to grow. Check out IPSCAN while you are at it.
False Accusations and Legal Abuses are deliberate and start in Washington D.C. and D.C. trained the states to do this..that is a fact not conspiracy theory.
So if you expect your Congress to help forget it. They keep giving CPS more power to abuse your rights as they are already jaded to plan for total Global Control of Families.
Will a new President help ? No. Find one that isn’t “Global”. Even if you had good candidates, the American people are too ignorant about government and world politics to know how to vote, even if the voting process was honest..but that leads to another problem. American people think if they “vote” they did their job. They expect those they voted into office to “take care of everything” while Americans watch mindless t.v. and run the shopping malls. While they play, their rights are being stripped away, and many are already gone but most Americans do not read their laws, watch Congressional Bills, or impeach government officials when they should. Good bye American Families, as through government, public schools, t.v. and “social services, your children are taught to disobey their parents, disrespect them, and “kick them in the rear”. Parents are taught to turn against their children and if they are too lazy to learn about their kids and how to parent them, just turn them over to the state government so the government can use and abuse them.
Americans, I am deeply disappointed in your lack of involvement. Your family or your family’s future generations will be victims of these government abuses if they haven’t already. Don’t think you are “so good” it won’t happen to you” , or that you can get an “attorney” and fight it, or “sue to win”. Your family will be victims at some point.