Your Rights in Foster Care

The rights for youth in foster care may be different in each state. Ask your caseworker about your rights in your state. If your rights are being violated, contact a caseworker, attorney, CASA or foster parent immediately.

As a youth in foster care, you have the right:*

1. To know your rights in foster care, to receive a list of those rights in written form and to know how to file a complaint if your rights are being violated.
   
2. To be told why you came into foster care and why you are still in foster care.
   
3. To live in a safe and healthy home where treated with respect, with your own place to store your things and where you receive healthy food, adequate clothing, and appropriate personal hygiene products.
   
4. To have personal belongings secure and transported with you.
   
5. To have caring foster parents or caretakers who are properly trained, have received background checks and screenings, and who receive adequate support form the Agency to help ensure stability in the placement.
   
6. To be placed in a home with your brothers and sisters when possible, and to maintain regular and unrestricted contact with siblings when separated (including help with transportation), unless ordered by the court.
   
7. To attend school and participate in extracurricular, cultural, and personal enrichment activities.
   
8. To have your privacy protected. You can expect confidentiality from the adults involved in your case.
   
9. To be protected from physical, sexual, emotional or other abuse, including corporal punishment (hitting or spanking as a punishment) and being locked in a room (unless you are in a treatment facility).
   
10. To receive medical, dental, vision and mental health services.
    
11. To refuse to take medications, vitamins or herbs, unless prescribed by a doctor.
    
12. To have an immediate visit after placement and have regular visits ongoing with biological parents and other relatives unless prohibited by court or unless you don't want to.
    
13. To make and receive confidential telephone calls and send and receive unopened mail, unless prohibited by court order.
    
14. To have regular contact from and unrestricted access to social workers, attorneys, and advocates and to be allowed to have confidential conversations with such individuals.
    
15. To be told by your social worker and your attorney about any changes in your case plan or placement and receive honest information about the decisions the Agency is making that affect your life.
    
16. To attend religious services and activities of your choice and to preserve your cultural heritage. If possible your placement should be with a family member or someone from your community with similar religion, culture and/or heritage.
    
17. To be represented by an attorney at law in administrative or judicial proceedings with access to fair hearing and court review of decisions, so that your best interest are safeguarded.
    
18. To be involved, where appropriate, in the development of your case plan and to object to any of the provisions of the case plan during case reviews, court hearings and case planning conferences.
    
19. To attend court and speak to a judge (at a certain age, usually 12) about what you want to have happen in your case.
    
20. To have a plan for your future, including an emancipation plan if appropriate (for leaving foster care when you become an adult), and to be provided services to help you prepare to become a successful adult.
    

*Unless restricted by law or otherwise restricted by the court. This post isnot intended to provide legal notice, it is advised that you consult with an attorney for direction concerning legal rights in your specific situation.

Resources:

Arizona revised Statute, Relating to child welfare and placement, HB2105 – 441R – S Ver., Bill of Rights for Children in Foster Care, National Foster Parents Association

Florida Statute 39.4085 Legislative findings and declaration of intent for goals for dependent children.National Center for Youth Law, California Foster Youth— your rights. (November 2002)

Casey National Center, Bill of Rights for Children in Foster Care,(August 2002) Answers, Maine Youth Advisory Team. http://www.ylat.org/publications/answers.pdf New Jersey Revised Statute 9:6B-4, Rights for Children placed outside the home. Your Rights in Foster Care, Lawyers for Children, New York. South Carolina Foster Child's Bill of Rights, GOALL Youth Advisory Council.

The Real Deal, The National Youth in Care Network.Your Rights as a person placed with Growing Homes, Growing Home

What is Senate Bill 6?

Senate Bill 6 amends the Education Code, Family Code, Government Code, Human Resources Code, Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and Texas Probate Code to make a number of reforms to the children's protective services and adult protective services programs, certain related guardianship issues, and other family law matters. It requires the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to adopt a transition plan for the privatization of certain child welfare functions by March 1, 2006, and requires that all substitute care and case management services for children in DFPS managing conservatorship be provided by child-care institutions and child-placing agencies by September 2011.

It also requires enhanced training and reduced caseloads for child protective services caseworkers. The children's protective services reforms in the bill include provisions relating to tuition and fee exemptions for foster and adopted children, continuing education and other requirements for attorneys ad litem, medical assistance under the Medicaid program for children adopted out of DFPS conservatorship, criminal penalties for certain false reports of child abuse or neglect, response time requirements for certain reported cases based on immediacy and severity of harm to a child, a system for screening less serious cases of abuse or neglect without investigation, the exchange of information with other states, a Texas foster grandparent mentors initiative, funding for various community-based services and programs, facility and agency foster home inspection procedures, conditions under which an application for a license to operate a nonresidential child-care facility may be denied, a caseworker replacement program, requirements for providing certain informational materials, including the development of a child placement resources form, requirements relating to the family service plan, and requirements that the DFPS employ child safety specialists, colocate with local law enforcement agencies that investigate child abuse, and encourage the establishment of a children's advocacy center in certain counties.

Senate Bill 6 sets out requirements for medical care and educational services for children in foster care, including provisions relating to consent for medical care, parental notification of significant medical conditions, the provision of care in emergency situations, and the development of health and educational passports. The bill directs DFPS to develop and deliver cultural awareness competency training, expand court-appointed volunteer advocacy programs, develop a relative and other designated caregiver placement program, improve quality of investigations, eliminate delays, and establish a drug-endangered child initiative.

The bill requires DFPS to license and register child-placing agency administrators and to enforce related regulations and includes several provisions relating to licensing procedures, requirements, and penalties for administrators and facilities. In addition, the executive director of HHSC is required to establish an investigations division to oversee and direct children's protective services investigations. The bill also includes several conditions and restrictions related to employment at certain residential facilities, requires a criminal history background check for a prospective employee, and requires facilities to establish a drug-testing policy for facility employees.

Among the provisions relating to the privatization of substitute care, Senate Bill 6 includes regional implementation requirements and a transition plan and goals to be achieved through privatization. The bill transfers certain duties from DFPS staff to independent administrators and requires hiring preference to be given to DFPS employees whose positions are eliminated as a result of the privatization of services. The bill authorizes the DFPS to continue to provide substitute care and case management services beyond the deadline for privatization in certain emergency cases.

The adult protective services reforms in the bill include provisions relating to coordination between DFPS and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board regarding the development of curriculum and degree programs in fields relating to adult protective services, a statewide public awareness campaign designed to educate the public about the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of the elderly and disabled persons, and the use of technology to improve the effectiveness of the adult protective services program. The bill requires DFPS to maintain an investigation unit for adult protective services, develop and implement a training program and continuing education program for newly hired or newly assigned adult protective services workers and a case management training program for supervisors, develop and implement a quality assurance program, and develop procedures for investigating complex cases.

Senate Bill 6 requires the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to develop risk assessment criteria to determine whether an elderly or disabled person is in a state of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, to develop and implement, subject to the availability of funds, a caseload management reduction plan that provides specific annual reduction targets, and to create a pilot program for monitoring unlicensed and illegally operating long-term care facilities. In addition, the bill authorizes DFPS, subject to the availability of funds, to contract with protective services agencies for the provision of services particularly to elderly or disabled persons in certain rural or remote areas. It also includes provisions relating to the filing of a petition to a court for an emergency protective order based on certain physical and psychological health assessments performed at the direction of the department.

Senate Bill 6 amends the Government Code, Human Resources Code, and the Texas Probate Code to transfer the powers, duties, functions, programs, and funds of the Department of Family and Protective Services relating to guardianship services to the Department of Aging and Disability Services. The bill includes provisions relating to the specific conditions that must be met for an individual to be referred for guardianship, procedures relating to court-initiated guardianship, and the creation of the guardianship certification board to provide for the certification and regulation of guardians.

Finally, Senate Bill 6 amends the Family Code and Penal Code to clarify provisions of the law relating to the offense of bigamy and to increase the penalty for the offense from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony of the third, second, or first degree depending on the age of the person to whom an actor purports to marry or with whom the actor lives under the appearance of marriage.

Child Care Licensing Inspects Random Sample of Agency Foster Homes

Original Article Here

eSenate Bill 6, passed during the 79th regular legislative session amended the Texas Human Resource Code (HRC) 42.044(e) to require Child-Care Licensing (CCL) to inspect a random sample of agency foster homes. Information gained during these inspections must be used to determine a child-placing agency’s (CPA) compliance with the licensing law, rules and minimum standards.

In preparation to meet this requirement, CCL conducted focus group and feedback meetings with representatives from the foster care community** to gain insight into the concerns that foster parents and child-placing agencies may have regarding these inspections. Input from these meetings was used in developing CCL staff training, creating inspection procedures and forms, and identifying the best ways to share information with CPA’s and foster homes.

**Why with the foster care community? To find out what they're afraid of and how they can comply without exposing the truth? Why don't they consult with the members of the community that are affected by this - ie the natural birth parents of the children affected by CPS?

Are there minutes of those meetings and Are those minutes available for public review. If not, why not? What do we need to do in order to obtain those?

Why isn't there feedback and inspections from 3rd party objective members of community? From former foster children?

DFPS statisticians pull a random sample list of homes from the DFPS database on a quarterly basis. From this sample, CCL staff plan and conduct their inspections. Additional homes are selected as a part of each sample to compensate for homes that have closed or have changed operating status. Foster homes that are not inspected during the sample period may be selected again in a future sample. Since inspections are conducted to evaluate how well a CPA is doing, foster homes that move from one CPA to another may be selected and inspected again with each subsequent move.

Minimum standard Section 749.2489 requires a CPA submit information about a foster home’s verification status to CCL within two working days of a change. This can easily be done by completing an Agency Home Report available in the CCL on-line provider section of our DFPS website. Up to date information on a foster home helps CCL staff better prepare for an inspection and avoids unnecessary contact with foster parents in inactive or closed status.

Foster Home Inspection Protocol

CCL mailed a pre-inspection notice to each foster home selected in the random sampling process. In most circumstances, CCL staff will announce their inspections to ensure that an adult caregiver is present during the inspection**. Once an inspection is scheduled, we encourage foster parents to explain about the CCL visit to their foster children and other persons in the home. CCL staff will have a picture ID card to present upon arrival at the foster home.

**Yeah sure they inform them ahead of time - how nice.... do they inform natural birth parents ahead of time that they're coming by to check the homes of the children??? They do this to ensure an adult caregiver is present during the inspection? Um.... its a foster home with children in it, don't you think an adult caregiver SHOULD ALWAYS BE PRESENT ANYWAY? What about suprise inspections? This is no way to "reform" how foster homes are run... this is a way to look good on paper but skirt the real issues...

CCL staff must use a foster home sampling guide to conduct their inspection. This ensures consistency in the type of information that is gathered about each foster home. During the inspection, CCL staff will interview foster parents and verbal children who are present, walk through the home both indoors and out, and review paperwork on file in the home, to determine how well the CPA is doing its job in verifying and monitoring their foster homes.

At the end of the inspection, any areas of concern are discussed with the foster parent or adult caregiver during an exit interview. CCL staff will leave a brief report, identifying concerns and discussion points. A summary letter outlining the minimum standards related to these concerns is sent to the CPA within 10 days. The CPA is responsible for following-up with the home to ensure concerns are addressed. If immediate hazards are found during an inspection, CCL staff will contact the CPA within 24 hours of the inspection.

and then what do they do??? they don't remove the children from that home as if they would to a parent???

Before leaving the home, CCL staff will also provide a feedback form with a postage paid return envelope. This form gives the foster parent an opportunity to tell CCL about the inspection experience and share suggestions for improvement.

Foster parents who have questions or concerns regarding an inspection should contact** their CPA. CPAs that have questions or concerns regarding the sampling program or a sampling report should contact their DFPS Licensing Representative or Licensing Supervisor.

**I think that I will contact them as they suggest the foster parent to do. We'll see what response I get.

No, i'm not a foster parent, I'm a birth parent. And in December 2004 my son arrived at a visit black and blue beaten up with a black eye and blood covered his shirt and was still dried in his nose and on his little body. I requested records of the agency he was placed at, and received, after many many many months of persistence in order to even GET THEM, incidents of many things, but not anything with regard to MY child's black eye and bloody appearance. If you go to my profile and click on the audio link, you'll hear a recording from that visit where I was shocked to see his condition, and he tells me what happened, but i have yet to find an incident report on that. Matter of fact, in the months prior to that incident, my son was abused terribly and for some reason in my case files, those months' reports are missing, and the caseworker has since left and so there is a note by the following caseworker that she is unable to go back and fill in those incidents because the original caseworker left no notes of that time. Isn't that called backdating?

The truth about these facilities are amazingly disgusting.... and I vow to tell as much truth as I can to you, because even with my obsessive persistence and passionate desire to seek it out, I have a hard time finding it, its buried very deep behind corporate veils.

Still, I'm doing it for the children - as THEY purport themselves to be doing.... then prove it CPS - prove it!!

14 year old makes threats to remain in foster care (NEWS DAILY ITEM)

Daily Item:
News - 14-year-old who made threats to remain in foster care http://www.dailyitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704130311



Visit DailyItem.com today!

2 YEAR OLD BATTERED IN CPS CARE - SEE THIS VIDEO

Watch This Video

Posted 3/16/07BAKERSFIELD -

A Tehachapi family is outraged Friday night after finding bruises on their little girl when she was returned to them from a foster home.
The 2-year-old toddler was placed with her grandmother earlier this week after Child Protective Services found bruising on the girl during a foster home visit last week.
The grandmother said the toddler was emaciated, bruised, her head shaved bald, and possibly sexually abused.
We want to warn you, some of the pictures may be graphic.
“I couldn’t even think,” said Heather Yeck, the toddler’s mother. “I was in shock. I couldn’t even cry. I was just sick.”
Yeck is talking about her reaction after seeing these pictures of her daughter taken by her grandmother, bruised from head-to-toe and also in areas we can’t show you.
“She was totally black and blue,” said Cynthia Miller, grandmother. “Underneath her diaper and her ankles and her legs were covered with bruises.”
Her grandmother said the 2-year-old should not have been taken away in the first place. A Tehachapi Sheriff’s detective took the toddler away from her parents in late January and placed her in the hands of Child Protective Services when a thin fracture in the leg was found after she tripped over a wire—an indication of abuse in the past, but not so anymore. She reads a report from a county doctor.
“This is a very common accidental fracture in toddlers, and may occur even with an apparently minor fall and twist of the tibia,” the report stated.
The girl is staying with her grandmother now, and even though it has been a few days, you can still see remnants of her bruising but it’s nothing compared to the condition she came in with that Tuesday afternoon.
Her parents are furious.
“These people say they’re supposed to be Child Protective Services? And they take away my little girl because she falls on a little carpet strip and get a little spiral fracture which is really common,” said Sonny Wright, stepfather. “But they try to say we’re dangerous, we’re neglecting our kids, yet when we get her back, she’s not even the same little girl.”
“All I want to say is I want justice for my baby,” said Yeck, mother. “I want someone to suffer for this just as she has.”
We tried to get CPS’ side of the story, but they declined an on-camera interview and a statement, citing that they were prohibited by national laws from discussing the case. They did say over the phone a social worker checked on Savannah weekly, CPS discovered and reported the injuries during a visit last Thursday and acted immediately when injuries were discovered, and they are conducting their own investigation into what occurred at the foster home.
Bakersfield Police are also investigating the case.
The foster home was local.

These sad stories are nothing new... (click and see this video)

Action Alert

We, the Undersigned, endorse the following petition:

We are asking For: Victims of Child Welfare Memorial Day

Target: George W. Bush & Richard B. Cheney, President & Vice President, The White House
Sponsor: Suncana Sesic Alvarado, Voice For Children

• Signatures: 877
• Goal: 5,000
• Deadline: Ongoing...

• See Full Petition
• Email this Petition

To: OUR Government and Child Protective Services - Our kids need us. Ever notice that a human child doesn't walk until it's tall enough to reach a parent's hand? -

"We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but the worst crime is abandoning children and therefore neglecting the foundation of life. Many of the things we need, can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer, Tomorrow. His name is Today."

Government agencies, Social workers, judges they all make decisions on what is in the BEST interest of Children ... decisions which often determine their destiny.

Sadly, when the wrong decisions are made - Children are murdered!

They are beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered.

Who is responsible? The One making the decisions!

WE are asking for justice ... for Help!


Help never came for Angellika Nicole Arndt , Isaac Lethbridge,Daniel Jack Matthews, Ricky Holland, Christopher Michael, Sirita Sotelo, Nicholas Contreras, Sarah Angelina Chavez, Martin Lee Anderson,Ebony Smith,Kayla Allen,Candice Raynor......
and sadly many, many more but perhaps one day justice will come for them all. For these children, it's too late to turn back the hands of time. May the spirits of those lost rest in peace and may we never forget or ignore what happened to them.



In The Name of Those Children
We are asking For
October 22nd as Victims of Child Welfare Memorial Day to remember those who have died as a result of Child Welfare in their lives. -
In Memory of.....

The mistakes that are made when dealing with a child's life are inexcusable. With a "Victims of Child Welfare Memorial Day", increased attention and care with decisions concerning a child's disposition may come about." John King

Data shows that while the number of foster children in our state's care increased 24 percent from 26,133 in Fiscal 2003 to 32,474 in Fiscal 2005, the number of deaths increased 60 percent.
Read more....

A Child advocate in Chicago said: "an infant in a paper bag on the freeway at rush hour is safer than a child in protective custody there."
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the United States. These numbers come from The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) in Washington.
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
________________________________________________

Physical Abuse: CPS= 160 - Parents = 59

___________________________________________

Sexual Abuse : CPS = 112 - Parents = 13

____________________________________________

Neglect: CPS = 410 - Parents = 241

_____________________________________________

Medical Neglect: CPS = 14 - Parents = 12

_____________________________________________

Fatalities: CPS = 6,4 - Parents = 1,5

_____________________________________________

Sadistic and criminal aren't words usually associated with social workers. But they come to mind while reading the results of a yearlong investigation into a child-protection bureaucracy that was allowed to go rogue. Social workers gave each other nicknames like "The Queen of Removal" and "Terminator" and laughed as they stripped children from their parents!
Too Young and Too Innocent to Die
This page is in memory of children died of neglect or abuse while under the care of the social service agencies : In Memory of.....

We must find a way to stop the “system” from allowing this to happen. How many more children will be sacrificed before we do?"Unfortunately, for many people who haven't learned first hand it is hard to conceive that the very agency entrusted with protecting children would ever turn into the abuser. When my children were taken a long time acquaintance of my father stated "They must have found 'something'. CPS don't take kids away for no reason.". Until they've experienced it themselves, many people don't understand 'the whim complex'." -Rev. Dr. William W. Joslin

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter."

Martin Luther King, Jr.


Please Light a Candle

.........that their light always shine.
Click here

It is very sad to know there are children like these suffering today at the hands of Government Welfare Workers . This must stop before is too late, don't wait for new name on this page.

In Memory of.....

Make every letter a special delivery and send message out with Real U.S. Postage + Postage Pal -"In Memory of Foster Children" -
Please stand up for what is right !
Send message Out Now! Actions speak louder than words !
PLEASE KEEP YOUR MESSAGE SHORT!
keep it short, simple and straightforward.

STOP DRUGGING OUR CHILDREN!

Texas State Comptroller
"They are everybody's children, and nobody's children
.They are the forgotten children in the Texas foster care system.

This report gives these children a voice."

2002 - 44 kids in DPRS care died
2003 - 30 kids in DPRS care died
2005 - 48 kids in DPRS care died

Former Pharmaceutical Rep talks about overmedication in foster care.

Many foster children have psychological problems and are being treated with an array of medications to manage their symptoms.

**EVEN FUNDAMENTALLY NORMAL CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM THEIR HOMES AND FAMILIES CAN BECOME AGGRESSIVE AND "EMOTIONALLY REACTIVE" DUE TO A LOST SENSE OF TRUST**

Their conditions are only worsened by multiple placements and frequent caseworker turnover. Government misuses anti-psychotics on our foster children in the system

.

Take the Chemical Straightjackets off our children!

The Supreme Court has clearly established that to constitute a compelling interest, state interference with a parent's right to raise his or her child must be for the purpose of protecting the child's health or welfare.Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 230 (1972)

In addition to recognizing as a fundamental
liberty interest the right of parents to raise their children, the Supreme Court has also established that the Constitution's guarantee to fundamental privacy rights also embodies a fundamental right to parental autonomy in child rearing.

The Court acknowledged a "private realm of family life which the state cannot
enter." Prince v. Massachusetts, 3210 U.S. 158, 166 (1944); Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431-U.S. 494 (1977)

Without doubt, it denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized at common law as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399 (1923).

It's Almost Tuesday (Conclusion)

I told Mommy that each time I go home from a visit I just scream at my foster Mom.
"Because each time she walks in, its not you, Mommy"
So I scream. I scream and I scream.
Really I wish I didn't cause I only makes things worse, and making this foster mom mad is bad news. I try but I can't help it, I'm only 8 and screaming helps me when I hurt so bad I feel like I will blow up. . One of my foster sisters told me at another place this girl would cut herself; I guess that's how she let it out… I just scream, even though I know what it gets me.
"SHUT UP, BOY!" Mom yells.
"SHUT UP THAT SCREAMING!"
I shut up.
I shut up when I felt the sting of her ruler across my side, but not before I tore the towel rack off the wall in the bathroom.
I never did that at my real home, I don't know why I do it now.

"I want my Mommy!!!"
"I want my Mommy and my name's not Boy!"

Visit Day on Tuesday is the best day of my life but Visit Day night is almost as horrible as Visit Day morning was fantastic. I think I'd be as quiet as a mouse if it mattered, but it doesn't. It doesn't matter what we do, we always do something wrong to Mom and Dad… I feel like I'm only here for them to get me to do things for them that they don't want to do, and to cuss at. I hate it that they make us call them Mom and Dad.

Yesterday, my foster brother tried to break my neck. He's the oldest. There are 3 other foster brothers. 4 foster sisters too. In my old life, I would've yelled for help, but not here. I learned that the first week. I yelled for help and they helped all right – helped choke me… and hold me down. Even Lil' Sis sat on me, but I know why and I'm not mad at her. She's afraid of them too, like me. But she knows I won't hurt her later, so she sits on me, but not hard. Sometimes I see her looking at me and I can almost hear her saying she's sorry with her eyes.

I wonder if she hears me wishing she was Wonder Woman and could save me.

I'd become that green guy with all the muscles and save her if I could; I'd save all the children, even the mean ones. I think sometimes the other kids are mean because they're mad they are here. Maybe they learned that screaming doesn't do any good but I bet they didn't used to be mean in their old life. Like me, and the towel rack; I know in my old life I never saw some of the things that happened in foster care... its making me a different kid... we are all changing now that we are here.

I gave Lil' Sis my white shirt when she came in, because she didn't have any shirts that fit.

I try to protect her as much as I can, even from Mom. Especially now, ever since the night I call the "cord night".

I could still feel the stinging on my side and butt from the ruler the night before. "It's almost Tuesday, it's almost Tuesday" I kept telling myself as I try to ignore the stinging and get ready to go to sleep. Dad was in the bathroom fixing the towel rack when it happened. Mom was mad too and got madder as Dad was calling me bad names for breaking the rack last night. He kept saying that they didn't get paid enough money for the things that are broken by the "brats". I don't know who Dad gets paid by, but he's always yelling, "It's not enough to take care of you brats". What is a brat? My mom didn't call me names and I don't think anybody paid her to take care of me.

Dad used to be in the army and he's really fussy about things being just right. When Dad yells (which is a lot) he never uses our names. He even makes us wear army clothes sometimes. In my old life, I dressed like that for Halloween once. I won't now, if I ever get to go back home. When Dad wasn't around, we used to pretend we're in the army and yell each other's last names like he does, until he caught us, luckily it wasn't me. We never knew what Dad did to the boy he caught, cuz I think the boy was too scared to ever tell anyone. He never did tell anyway. That was the last time we played that game, once Dad caught us.

So anyway, Mom got the computer cord out from her desk drawer. I wish I'd looked at the clock and reminded Lil' Sis of the time but with Dad cussing and all that, I forgot. I jumped on top of Mom without thinking about how mad she'd get (she didn't feed me for at least 4 days afterward). But I had to save Lil' Sis!

Mom was choking Lil' Sis, she couldn't even get her fingers under the cord, but she was trying to so she could breathe. Her fingers are small too… she's only 5.

Mom wasn't stopping this time, not even when Lil' Sis turned blue. Usually she stops way before, but lately she gets so mad and that night, I don't think she even noticed Lil' Sis turning so blue. It was really scary!!
Maybe Mom needs some of those pills she says I have to take because I scream on Tuesday nights.

"STOP!!!!! YOU'RE KILLING HER!!!"

I hit Mom with my GI Joe car to make her stop choking Lil' Sis. Mom quit choking Lil' Sis and started hitting me. I didn't see My Mommy next Visit Day though. Mom said it was punishment, but mostly it was because of my eye. It had blood in it, and was all different colors - black and purple mostly, and I couldn't open it from the swelling. I didn't dare complain though or ask for a doctor. I imagine that maybe a doctor will get lost and accidentally knock on our door. Maybe the doctor would see my eyebrow was bleeding and stitch it. Dad said a butterfly band-aid was what they would put on it in the army and that would fix it… but it still bled for days. He made me go outside because I was bleeding and he said he didn't want me to make more messes.

I dug a hole and kept warm under the leaves and grass and stuff. I couldn't sleep, but I curled up into a little ball when I got scared. I pretended I was camping like I did when I was three years old and that my Mommy and Daddy were gonna be right back with marshmallows and graham crackers and lots and lots of chocolate.

"Dear God, please let me go home."

I wiped the blood with my shirt. It mixed with the dirt and leaves and made my brow throb.
It hurts so bad.
I'm cold.
I wonder if Mommy's gonna cry too, like me… cuz I didn't get to see her that next Tuesday. I wonder what they told her.

I make myself into a tighter ball. I imagine that I'm at a circus and that I'm a red ball being bounced off a seal's nose. I imagine bouncing from one seal to another seal and the seals clap and make that seal noise. I can almost hear the crowd cheer because I'm the smallest, tightest ball ever and I fly way high up into the circus tent … over the trapeze ropes even. I guess that's when I fell asleep. The last thing I remember was everything turning white around me.

"God, Is that you? I prayed. Did you hear me? Am I dead? What day is it?"
"Please God don't let me die until after Tuesday, I want to see my Mommy and tell her goodbye! I want to hug her again cuz I can't smell her Tuesday perfume on my shirt anymore 'cuz its too dirty!"

I can usually smell my Mommy for almost 5 days after a visit on my shirt. I try on the 6th day even though I know its probably faded by then. Still, I try. Since I gave Lil' Sis my white shirt, they took all my stuff away. This is the only shirt I have left. It'll be harder to smell Mommy from now on.

They even took my little rock Mommy gave me that has that bible verse on it about everything having its own time… like a time to live and a time to die. I don't want to die yet.

"Is it really time for me to die, God? Not 'til Tuesday, God, please…"

"Wake Up! Wake Up! It's Tuesday!" I can open my eye again. That's not God telling me to wake up though, it sounds like Lil' Sis…

I squint as the sun is starting to come down and is so bright. I don't know how long I've been sleeping. I thought I was dead.

"Its Tuesday? Really?"

Lil' Sis was shaking me, I was still in the hole, curled up in a ball, but we had to hurry, before she got caught outside. I know I'll get to see Mommy today. They won't hide me for two Tuesdays. No way!

I tell Lil' Sis that it'll all be okay once my Mommy sees my shirt. We'll be saved. My Mommy isn't Wonder Woman for real, but to me she is.
She'll save us.
Then Mom walks in… she looks at me for a moment because she sees me smiling. Then she says "No Visit Today Boy. Your Mommy didn't show up. I told you she doesn't love you, that's why you're here…" I didn't believe her really, but in foster care, you never really know what's true, they lie to us so much.

I shouldn't have let Mom see me smile. I think that's why Mom said my Mommy didn't show up. To take my smile away.

I think that on that Tuesday night, I screamed louder than ever! I screamed so loud that I got to see Mommy on Wednesday! The very next morning! When I fell asleep I dreamed that my Mommy screamed too, like me, and together we were so loud that the whole world could hear us. Then I found out that they were going to let us have a Wednesday Visit Day. I couldn't wait to see Mommy and I did see her on the best Wednesday of my entire life, but I think for Mommy it wasn't, she got really scared when she saw what's left of my black eye and all the blood on my shirt. I'll never forget it the rest of my life.

Mommy told me that she did go on Tuesday. The caseworker lied to her and told her I forgot to go to the visit but she knew that I would never forget.

Maybe my Mommy did scream like me.

I think they let me go home because of my shirt and my eye. Or maybe they realized my Mommy wasn't really bad. The first thing I wanted to do when I got out was go to a circus and see if there were seals there.

I hug Mommy all the time now, 100 times a day it seems … I love to hug her so I can smell her perfume and I don't care what day it is…I just want to smell her again…
and again
and again…

I still wake up from nightmares and Mommy always rushes in to comfort me right away. I don't think she sleeps very well listening for my cries. I was so scared of waking Mom or Dad that I learned how to cry very softly at night. I know I'm not in foster care anymore, but I still try to be quiet as a mouse, even in my sleep. I don't think Tuesday nights will ever be the same for me again, even if I'm not screaming anymore…
I will never go more than a week without wondering how many kids are screaming on Tuesday nights.

Or cutting themselves

Or turning mean.

When nobody is around, I imagine all the foster kids, even the ones I've never met, that are out there. They aren't like my imaginary friends in my old life though. They're real. They were my brothers and sisters for 18 months, and as long as there are foster homes like the one I had to live in, I know they're being punished for something a grownup did wrong. I still can't figure out why all those grownups don't know better at their age. I used to think maybe it was because they weren't as smart as me, but I'm not the only kid who understood. We all knew it, so it has to be something more than just being smart. I still don't know why they really put me in there. Maybe God put me there so I could save Lil' Sis that night from Mom. Maybe there isn't really a God and that's why there are foster homes to begin with. I don't know. I'm just a kid.

I wish all the grownups in the world knew how it felt to be treated "worse than a pile of dirt", I felt like I would die if I didn't have next Tuesday. If they really truly knew how it felt, then there wouldn't be any bad homes.
I know that's true, because when I grow up, I'm going back. I am – so I can save a foster kid whose being hurt like I was, because it's not fair for kids' wishes not to come true.

My Mommy explained that the kids, who turned mean, didn't have a day like my Tuesday Visit Days. Visit Days there are like resting days, like landing on free parking in monopoly.

Yeah, my mean foster brothers didn't have Mommy's to hug them and leave perfume on their shirts. That's why they were mean, because they didn't understand the first 6 days because everyday is the same as the day before. And on the 6th day, they didn't hope for one more sweet-smelling whiff because they didn't have a Mommy to visit tomorrow. Nobody tells kids like me what I'd have to do to survive when they put me in there, or that I would have to protect Lil' Sis, especially on the cord night. I wish she could've come home with me. I'd protect her forever even though I'm not green and covered with muscles, but to her I was.

I tell God thank you every night for letting me go home, I don't care if he really is real or not, because to me, he is.

Then it happened… I screamed again… I screamed just like I did in foster care.

My Mommy had never heard me scream since my new life, but one night I heard on TV… on the news… that they found her and she was dead. They said she was tucked away for bed, and wearing a white shirt. It was Lil' Sis, and she was wearing the same shirt I gave her. They said she was holding a rock with a bible verse on it.

The news people said the foster parents were in shock and had no idea what happened. They said she had tried to run away the night before but they had found her and brought her home and when no one was looking, she drank some kind of poison.

No!!

No!!

I never thought I would scream again after I got home and my Mommy just grabbed me and hugged me and pulled me close to her. It was the first time I was held while I screamed, and it felt weird at first but then it felt better. When I stopped screaming, I told Mommy that Lil' Sis was running away to find me. Mommy believed me even though I didn't tell her how I knew; I guess it was my screams. I didn't have to tell her that I didn't think she drank the poison herself, or that her death was an accident. That night I wanted to tell Mommy everything, but I didn't.

Lil' Sis was one of the really little foster kids and I wish she could have lived with me but instead she died. Mommy held me all night, and I remembered how Lil' Sis would ask if she could "smell the yummy flowers" on my shirt because she didn't have a real Mommy. I wish she could have met mine.
I curled up as tight as I could in Mommy's arms that night and thought about how Lil' Sis would never know how good it felt to be held by a real Mommy, but at least she knew what a real Mommy smelled like, and it always made her smile.
I loved watching her eyes that were so big when she smiled each time.
I loved being home in my Mommy's arms.
It felt so good and for the first time in my new life, I almost forgot what day it was.

Repulsive mess and Social Services in Kentucky

Repulsive mess in Kentucky

Sadistic and criminal aren't words usually associated with social workers. But they come to mind while reading the results of a yearlong investigation into a Kentucky child-protection bureaucracy that was allowed to go rogue.

Social workers gave each other nicknames like "The Queen of Removal" and "Terminator" and laughed as they stripped children from their parents. More

The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time:
(c) 2007 Lexington Herald-Leader and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

Social services

Kentucky's shortage of child-protection workers usually comes to light when children die. The killing of a social worker brought the problem into focus for Gov. Ernie Fletcher. As he seeks another term, Fletcher is pushing the legislature to put $18 million into hiring more than 300 additional social workers and aides. The problem is that little thought and no real planing have gone into Fletcher's proposal to expand the ranks of social workers and aides in the Department of Community Based Services.

In fact, our Republican governor is doing something for which conservatives like to criticize liberals: throwing money at a broken system. The crisis in child protective services goes much deeper than a shortage of trained social workers, as an inspector general's investigation in the Elizabethtown region made shockingly clear. State social workers who reported abuses and unethical practices by their colleagues were punished while those who permitted them advanced. more

The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time:
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/editorial/16791544.htm
(c) 2007 Lexington Herald-Leader and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

parent-child relationship protected

The Ninth Amendment acknowledged the prior existence of fundamental rights with it: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

• The United States Supreme Court in a long line of decisions, has recognized that matters involving marriage, procreation, and the parent-child relationship are among those fundamental "liberty" interests protected by the Constitution.

• Thus, the decision in Roe v. Wade, as recently described by the Supreme Court as founded on the "Constitutional underpinning of... a recognition that the "liberty" protected by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment includes not only the freedoms explicitly mentioned in the Bill of Rights, but also a freedom of personal choice in certain matters of marriage and family life." While this court has not attempted to define with exactness the liberty thus guaranteed [by the Fourteenth Amendment] ...

• In addition to recognizing as a fundamental liberty interest the right of parents to raise their children, the Supreme Court has also established that the Constitution's guarantee to fundamental privacy rights also embodies a fundamental right to parental autonomy in child rearing. The Court acknowledged a "private realm of family life which the state cannot enter." Prince v. Massachusetts, 3210 U.S. 158, 166 (1944); Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431-U.S. 494 (1977)

• Father enjoys the right to associate with his children which is guaranteed by this amendment (First) as incorporated in Amendment 14, or which is embodied in the concept of "liberty" as that word is used in the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Mabra v. Schmidt, 356 F Supp 620: D.C., WI (1973)

Teen Screen - A Hard Pill To Swallow!

PETITION AGAINST FORCED PSYCHIATRY ON OUR TEENS!!!

Our children are not lab rats!

Ohio Mom on Trial in Foster Son's Death; (Domestic Violence Past Was Unreported)

By TERRY KINNEY AP

BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) - A woman suggested binding her developmentally disabled 3-year-old foster son inside a closet, making her responsible for his death even if she did not intend it, prosecutors said Thursday as her murder trial opened.

A defense attorney, however, argued that Liz Carroll was a wife intimidated into going along with a plan hatched by her husband and his live-in lover. Carroll, 29, is charged with murder because prosecutors say she caused Marcus Fiesel's death by restraining him as she did. She and her husband also are charged with involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, felonious assault and three counts of child endangerment.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Daniel "Woody" Breyer said Carroll suggested wrapping the boy in a blanket and leaving him alone while she and her husband, David Carroll Jr., and Amy Baker, who lived with the couple, went to a weekend family reunion in August. Breyer told jurors that the child was wrapped "much like a cocoon" with only his head and bare feet sticking out, and had been left that way before when the adults ran errands. "

He was confined as effectively as if he had been placed in a straitjacket," Breyer said. The child was dead when the Carrolls and Baker returned two days later. The Carrolls made up a story that he had wandered off or been taken from a park, prompting a massive search by authorities and volunteers. Defense attorney Gregory Cohen told the jury Liz Carroll was a caring person devoted to children and that David Carroll and Baker were responsible for the boy's death. "

I believe the evidence will show somebody else belongs there," Cohen told jurors of the prosecution's argument, pointing to an empty chair by his client at the defense table. In addition to murder, David Carroll, 30, is accused of burning the boy's body and dumping the remains in the Ohio River, and is charged with gross abuse of a corpse.

He is to be tried next month. Baker, 25, has not been charged and is expected to be the main witness against the Carrolls, who also face trial on lesser charges, including perjury and inducing panic, on their claim that the boy disappeared from the park.

The child was placed with the Carrolls three months before he died. The case prompted an independent review that found Butler County Children Services officials were not notified of David Carroll's domestic violence arrest. The detective who issued the report recommended the agency conduct better background checks and communicate more often with police.

A Foster Parent Can Get Paid, Cage Kids & Still Stay Out of Jail

Updated:2007-02-15 22:11:30
Couple Sentenced for Child Endangerment
They Had Adopted Special-Needs Kids Sleep in Cages
By THOMAS J. SHEERAN AP

NORWALK, Ohio (Feb. 15) - A couple who forced some of their 11 adopted, special-needs children to sleep in wire-and-wood cages were sentenced to two years in prison Thursday, after the parents insisted they were only trying to keep the kids safe.
Madalyn Ruggiero, Pool / AP

Michael and Sharen Gravelle said they took on so many needy children because no one else wanted them.

Two of the children, however, said in statements read in court that they were treated harshly while they lived with Sharen and Michael Gravelle.

One wrote that they should be imprisoned "for as long as my siblings had to be in cages."

Sharen Gravelle told the court the children were never confined as punishment but rather to protect them, including a child who wanted to jump out a second-floor window. "Would you prefer that we let them jump? Either way, we'd be here. The difference is they're still alive," she said in a tearful, 26-minute statement.

Gravelle blamed social services officials for not helping her and her husband, Michael, control the destructive behavior of some of the youngsters. The children, who suffered from problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome and a disorder that involves eating nonfood items, ranged in age from 1 to 14 when authorities removed them in September 2005 from the Gravelles' home in Wakeman, about 60 miles west of Cleveland. They were placed in foster care in fall 2005 and the couple lost custody last March.

Sharen Gravelle kept her head down taking notes while the judge read the sentences. Michael Gravelle sat back in his chair, holding his face in his left hand. Each could have received up to five years in prison for each of the four felonies they were convicted of in December. They also were convicted of seven misdemeanors.

Michael Gravelle, his face red and his voice rising, told the judge he and his wife "felt we were being led by the Lord" when they decided to bring the first child into their home. He said problems began when they took in a group of siblings with an array of behavior and emotional problems. "What do you do with these kids?" Michael Gravelle asked. "I prayed constantly for the answer."

He said the enclosures resulted from the suggestions of a social workers, who recommended strict rules to improve the children's behavior. "I'm begging you," Michael Gravelle told the judge. "I do not deserve jail."

The two children whose statements were read in court, a girl and a boy, were in the courtroom Thursday. The boy wrote that he was "thankful that part of my life is behind me." He said of his new foster parents, "Because of them I don't have to steal food. I can use the bathroom whenever I want. Never again will I have to sleep in a box."

The girl's statement said Sharen Gravelle treated the children more harshly than her husband did. "Mom, you walked around like you were God, then whenever you did go places you were Mother Teresa taking in the poor black kids that no one wanted," she said. The girl said the Gravelles "are grown adults who know the difference between right and wrong. So I ask that they get as much time in jail for as long as my siblings had to be in cages."

The Gravelles have said they will appeal their convictions. The judge allowed them to remain free on bond pending the appeal. The couple has said they needed to keep some of the children in enclosed beds with alarms to protect them from their own dangerous behavior and stop them from wandering at night. Prosecutors said the Gravelles were cruel.

Witnesses, including the sheriff and some of the children, said the cages were urine-stained and lacked pillows or mattresses, but a social worker and others who testified for the defense said they never witnessed abuse and that the children's behavior improved because of the bright blue and red cages. One Gravelle child testified he was forced to live in a bathroom for 81 days, sleeping in a bathtub because of a bed-wetting problem.

The Gravelles' attorneys said the boy exaggerated the length of his bathroom stay, and an expert for the defense testified that the technique helped the boy.

Notice to Texas Parents Affected By CPS/TDPRS

Committee discussion topics should address the goal of identifying best practices, areas of concern and opportunities for the improvement in outcomes for children and families within the investigative stage of service.

The Committees charge includes reviewing existing investigation policies and to identify and recommend best practices for parental involvement.

I am asking those who have had such problems with CPS to give us written testimony that we may share, since the time for personal testimony will be limited.

I want the committee to hear from parents who have had bad experiences with CPS so that we can ask questions of the department officials and recommend changes to alleviate such problems in the future.

Please give this information to others who might have had such experiences and let us hear from any parents you know who have had a negative experience.

Tim Lambert

Strengthening Investigations - Improved Screening

•41 Screeners have reviewed more than 24,000 reports

•Nearly 25% of these screened reports have been closed resulting in more caseworker time
spent on cases needing attention

New Investigations Structure

•Investigations division in place

•131 Special Investigators, with law enforcement background, hired statewide to assist in complex cases

•7 Law Enforcement Liaisons hired to build partnerships between DFPS and law enforcement in local communities and to assist in hiring special investigators

Child Safety Specialists

•20 Child Safety Specialists hired bringing the total to 43

•Risk assessment training developed and delivered to staff

•Risk and Safety Subcommittee established to better address risk and safety tool
Response Time Reduction

•Began pilot program in Dallas/Ft.Worth region

Joint Investigations and Training

•Joint investigations guidelines in place

•Working with law enforcement at local level to provide joint training

•Contract with Shaken Baby Alliance in place to provide advanced training on abuse/neglect investigations

Parental Notification of Child Transfer

•New policy and form in place

Supporting Quality Casework Hiring

•CPS hired over 2,200 direct delivery staff since September 2005

Staffing and Workload Distribution Plan

•Functional units established and workload measurement tools in place to allocate new staff to regions

Average daily caseloads for investigative caseworkers

•Sept 05 – 38.9

•Sept 06 – 27.8

Average daily caseload for conservatorship caseworkers

•Sep 05 - 42.6

•Sep 06 - 44.2

Technology

•1,794 Tablet PCs were distributed to CPS investigators by October 2006

•An additional 424 will be supplied to new CPS investigative staff by close of the biennium

•Tablet PCs have replaced the desktop computers allowing full computing capability in the field; this includes a wireless service for communication and information access

Drug Related Initiatives

•Drug Endangered Child Protocols and methamphetamine protocols incorporated into training

•9 substance abuse specialists hired statewide

Drug Testing Requirements

• As of January 1, 2006, a residential child care operation must have a drug testing policy and inform DFPS within 24 hours after becoming aware that a person who directly cares for or has access to a child in the operation has abused drugs within the past 7 days.

• DFPS: if a person who directly (as opposed to indirectly?) cares for or has access to a child in the operation (in the operation???) has abused drugs within the past 7 days!!!
  

The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) Parental Advisory Committee's next meeting is scheduled for sometime around the 21st or 28th of March. At that time, the committee will be taking testimony from parents who have concerns or problems related to workers and/or the agency in regard to an investigations of abuse and/or neglect.

This is in keeping with our mission to advise the department on the policies affecting parents and their involvement with the department,including:

(1) Investigations of allegations of abuse or neglect;

(2) Designations of alternate placements for children; and

(3) Standards for persons who investigate reports of abuse or neglect on the state or local level.

"The scope of the DFPS Parental Advisory Committee is to focus on the CPS policies within the investigative stage of service to identify practices to improve parental involvement and to bring to the forefront issues as they evolve in order to improve the outcome for children and families served by CPS."

Child Welfare System Must Grow Up

Tuesday, October 14, 2003
By Wendy McElroy www.foxnews.net/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,99942,00.html

Monday, September 29, 2003 -
Too many children have been unnecessarily placed in foster care because of a “perverse financial incentive” that encourages local governments to earn money by bringing youngsters into the system, a new state report says.

The study by the California Department of Social Services also says too much emphasis has been placed on investigating whether parents abused or neglected their children while not enough has been done to help families overcome their problems. “Over a period of years, the original vision for supporting and healing families through the child welfare system has deteriorated into an adversarial and coercive approach,” DSS Director Rita Saenz said. David Sanders, who took over in March as head of the troubled Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, said experts have estimated that as many as half of the county’s foster children could have been left in their parents’ care if the appropriate services had been provided.

A study by a child welfare think tank released earlier this year found that the government spends an average of $65,000 to $85,000 a year to house and educate a foster child in a group home. The total costs are staggering, authors of the report wrote, noting that the direct costs of child abuse and neglect nationwide are estimated at $25 billion a year while indirect costs such as juvenile delinquency, adult criminality and lost productivity to society total $95 billion. In response, the Child Welfare Services Stakeholders Group, a body of 60 child-welfare experts formed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2000, has proposed an “ambitious and far-reaching overhaul” of the state’s child-welfare system. Andrew Bridge, managing director of child-welfare reform programs at The Broad Foundation in Los Angeles, said one of the most basic problems with the system is restrictions that provide money only when a child enters foster care.

“The county will only continue to receive funding for the period it keeps the child in its care. You can’t run a system that is based on a buck-a-head for as long as you can keep the child,” Bridge said. The state report said California has 13 percent of the nation’s total child population and 20 percent of its foster children. More than 700,000 children come into contact with the child-welfare system annually statewide. About 77 percent of those in foster care were removed from their homes for neglect. In Los Angeles County, more than 160,000 children came into contact with the system last year.

Nearly 80 percent were involved because of neglect. More than 91,000 children are in foster homes statewide. In the county, the $1.4 billion DCFS budget pays to provide services to 75,000 children in the system or living in adoptive homes. Of those, nearly 30,000 actually live in foster homes. The stakeholders’ report recommends the Department of Social Services seek approval from the federal government for more flexible use of its $3.7 billion annual child-welfare budget so more money can be spent on services to help keep families together. Congress is expected to take up legislation next year dealing with reforms in how the system is funded. The stakeholders also recommended that the state improve its method of contracting with public and private foster care agencies.

Of the county’s 30,000 children in foster homes, an average of 6 percent to 7 percent are abused and neglected, a rate among the highest in the nation.

“The safety issue is such a big one,” Sanders said. “Los Angeles County is way out of line with the rest of the country. You just have kids who are being abused after we have supposedly put them in a safer environment.”

Janis Spire, executive director of the Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles, said the report outlines the “only realistic path toward achieving stable, secure homes for our children.”

“The toughest job is still ahead in terms of providing a step-bystep plan for achieving these goals,” Spire said.

Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985
troy.anderson@dailynews.com

Los Angeles Study: Kids Rushed Into Foster Care

By Troy Anderson Staff Writer
The California child welfare system is such a disaster that even the state’s Department of Social Services admits families are aggressively torn apart and children unnecessarily placed in foster care.

California has announced sweeping reform. But the reform required is for “authorities” to act like adults and take responsibility.

In a September 25 press release, CDSS Director Rita Saenz bluntly assessed why the agency has failed. “The original vision for supporting and healing families through the child welfare system has deteriorated into an adversarial and coercive approach.”

The result: In L.A. County alone, more than 160,000 children “came into contact” with Child Welfare in 2002; 30,000 are in foster homes — only one form of foster care.

David Sanders, head of the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services, reports that as many as half of those foster children could have stayed at home with “appropriate services” rather than removal. Thus, an L.A. Daily News headline declared that children are being “rushed into foster care,” where many remain.

Andrew Bridge of L.A.-based Broad Foundation explained why: money.
“The county will only continue to receive funding for the period it keeps the child in its care.” In various states, including California, there is a “perverse financial incentive” to place and retain children in foster care rather than leave them in the home.

Thus, the first way authorities can take responsibility is to remove the financial incentive to destroy families.

In a 2002 conference on Privatization and Government Reform, Laura Dykes explained how Kansas was reversing that dangerous trend — through privatization. “By giving contractors a lump sum, rather than paying them on a per-day, per-child basis, the perverse incentives are removed.” As a result “adoptions have increased 78 percent since privatization, and the dissolution rate [adoptions that fail] is only 2.4 percent, compared to 12 percent nationally.” (p.30) There is a second way for authorities to become adults.

Those who receive a paycheck from the family court system have another “perverse financial incentive”: to create and extend cases rather than resolve them.

Instead, the family courts should prefer the comparatively private and inexpensive alternative of binding arbitration whenever applicable.
The crisis of child welfare is not confined to isolated states. If it were, the Senate would not be considering a provision in the Welfare Reform Act reauthorization bill to make states accountable for undistributed child support funds. In 2002, almost $660 million in child support payments never reached their intended recipients nor were they returned to payees.

The funds “floated” as parents were “forced to pester the state for every nickel and dime.” Geraldine Jensen, president of the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support declared, “If a bank behaved this way it would go out of business.”

This is my point. State officials and policies should be held to the same standard of accountability — including criminality — as that applied to private businesses and individuals. They should be liable for their gross misconduct, including the filing of false reports.

This may require the repeal of legislation such as the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) that offered federal matching funds to states with compliant child abuse programs. It offered huge financial incentives to uncover abuse while providing no checks to protect the wrongfully accused. CAPTA established the policy of encouraging false accusations while eliminating accountability. It encouraged the leveling of anonymous charges through such mechanisms as hotlines. It extended legal immunity both to child welfare workers and to false accusers whose gross misconduct might deeply injure children.

The solution: Refuse to credit anonymous accusations; hold false accusers responsible for perjury; make “child welfare” workers liable for misconduct on the same level as private individuals. What is the alternative?
In the wake of financial incentives without accountability, the number of children in nationwide foster care has doubled from 270,000 in the mid-1980s to 542,000 in 2001. (That figure does not include children who “graduated” upon turning 18.) Once removed to official “safety,” these children are far more likely to suffer abuse — including sexual molestation — than the general population. According to the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, in 1998 six children per 100,000 population were killed in foster care compared to one per 100,000 in the general population.

For many children, foster care becomes permanent. In 1999, almost one in seven children in foster care nationwide had been there for three to four years; almost one in five had been there for five years or more.
The human cost of rushing children into foster care does not stop when they reach 18 years old. According to CDDS data, among youths who “emancipate” from foster care, 50 percent do not complete high school; 45 percent are unemployed; 33 percent are arrested; 30 percent are on welfare; 25 percent are homeless.

Foster care, as it exists, is often difficult to distinguish from child abuse.

Children deserve better, especially children from troubled homes. They deserve to have adults in charge — adults who take responsibility.