IN-DEPTH: THE FIGHT FOR THE CHILDREN - FROM THE FAMILIES TO THE DEPARTMENT CHARGED WITH KEEPING THEM SAFE

IN-DEPTH: THE FIGHT FOR THE CHILDREN - FROM THE FAMILIES TO THE DEPARTMENT CHARGED WITH KEEPING THEM SAFE


By KFBB News Team
Story Published: May 16, 2010 at 11:28 PM MDT
Story Updated: May 16, 2010 at 11:43 PM MDT
In the state of Montana, Child and Family Services is the state agency charged with Child Protective Services. When allegations of child abuse are made, they are the ones to intervene.
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But some families say the department may be doing more harm than good.
The website fightcps.com declares that Child Protective Services have “devastated and destroyed hundreds of thousands of families in America during the last thirty years” – and outlines accounts from families across the nation of alleged mishandling of cases involving their children.
Here in Cascade County, some families say it’s time to put an end to the wrongdoing they have gone through as a result of Child and Family Services.
While at the same time, the department struggles to carry out their mission - what they call walking the fine line between keeping children safe and families strong.
Mike Dunnington… Doug Laverdure... and Nicole Marks.
Their stories are different - yet somehow the same.
“Everyday I think about her. Everyday. There is not a day that goes by,” says Marks.
“It’s just crazy how they can just destroy somebody and just take everything that they love,” comments Laverdure.
“This is local in Montana but it’s happening all over the country,” adds Dunnington.
Mike Dunnington says his nightmare began in the spring of 2008.
That’s when his ex-girlfriend –recently released from rehab for a drug problem – who Dunnington says hadn’t been involved in their lives for years – accused him of molesting their 6 year old daughter.
“It devastated me. I mean, I was in complete shock."
Dunnington says he decided to turn to Child and Family Services for help. But before he had the chance, he says his ex went to the department, claiming the child had disclosed that her father had sexually abused her.
The 6 year old was immediately removed from her father’s care.
“I started noticing right away, from the very first comments of the social worker – rather than using the terms “alleged” and things like that, you know, where she had told me that she just knew I was guilty – that there was very little chance that any of this was going to be fair or unbiased,” he recalls.
When the case later went to court – two interesting pieces of information were uncovered.
Those close to this case say the little girl told her foster parents that her mother had yelled, screamed, pulled her daughter’s hair and threatened to put her in “kiddie jail” if she did not go along with the abuse allegations against her father.
And two – that during forensic interviewing and on several other occasions – the child named her step brother as her abuser. Court records indicate he was recently sentenced with endangering the welfare of another child – and may have more serious charges on the way.
“Department of Family Services took the easy way out with this, without investigating other option. Without paying attention to any outside thing. They were convinced that I’m the dad, I did it and they’re gonna prove that. They manipulated evidence. They ignored evidence to the contrary.”
Since then, Dunnington has been fighting the system.
And he’s not alone.
“DFS has come at me approximately 10, 11, 12 times.”
For the past five years, Doug Laverdure – a father of 12 - has fought what he says are false allegations of abuse against his children.
His case made it as far as the State Supreme Court.
He has beaten those allegations every time.
“Doctors reports plainly states that there was nothing to happen to these children. The detectives I was interviewed by did not pursue any charges because there was no charges to be found.”
Ironically, while Doug’s children were removed from his care, Child and Family Services temporarily placed other children in the home - knowing he was living there.
“If I was such a bad person, why would DFS turn around and put more kids in our care?”
Nicole Marks and her fiancé Shane McClure never had the chance to be parents.
“I wanted that chance to be able to prove to the world that we could be good parents and they just ripped it out from beneath me,” says McClure.
They say Child and Family Services took their baby girl right out of the delivery room - and placed her in foster care.
“They thought she was in danger just because me and my fiancé had mental illnesses. I had not done nothing wrong. I was actually quite straightened out. I had my life together. I go to my therapy sessions as I’m supposed to. I see my psychologist as I’m supposed to. I’ve done everything I’m supposed to,” Marks explains.
Adds McClure, “We did the whole entire treatment plan and more. But when it got to the point of finishing – we got it completely done and then they basically said you have no choice, you need to relinquish or we’ll terminate your rights and you’ll never have children again."
Cory Costello of Child and Family Services says while privacy laws prevent them from discussing individual cases, the mission of their department is to keep children safe and families strong.
“Child and Family Services has a serious responsibility and that responsibility is to do a very thorough investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect. Hindsight is always 20/20 – in anything anybody does anywhere. You can always look back at a case and see that we could have done something differently.”
She says foster numbers are down - and that not returning a child to the home is rare.
“The two things I hear from the community crowd is, ‘why did you remove those kids,’ and right behind that question is ‘why didn’t you remove those kids?’ And so, it’s kind of a no win situation.”
Costello adds, “If I could do anything for the perception of the community and for the families that we get involved with is to not be afraid of us. To work with us. We want to be there to help. We want to make a difference for the family and for the children and that’s our objective.”
Costello also reports that the most recent evaluations for 2002 to 2008 showed “substantial improvements” within the department.

http://www.kfbb.com/news/local/93899614.html