Friday, February 26, 2016

Parents outgunned in child welfare cases

Protecting parental rights:

LANSING – When he was 15, Lamar McGaughy lost his mother to drugs. He lost his siblings to Michigan’s foster care system. Split up after their mother's death, McGaughy and his siblings barely know each other today.The 38-year-old Detroit barber was afraid the same would happen to his son and daughter after their mother got into trouble with Michigan’s Children’s Protective Services. The court wouldn’t place his kids with him because he lacked legal custody over them, though he’d always been a part of their lives.He had reason to be afraid. For most parents fighting CPS in court, "the system is really designed for them to lose,” said Liisa Speaker, a Lansing attorney who represents parents at the Michigan Court of Appeals. Michigan is caring for the nation's 12th-highest rate of kids awaiting adoption because judges terminated their parents' rights to them.

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