NH families are requesting an audit of NH DHHS/DCYF. A list of points has been put together by NH families to show how much an audit is duly warranted in this state.
1) thorough investigation of skillset/mindset/educational backgrounds/experience of the NH DCYF caseworkers, supervisors, Lawyers and subcontracted staff, to determine if NH DCYF staff (and subcontracted staff) are capable of the determinations that they make for children taken into NH DCYF custody and of the decisions regarding the families of those children
2) indepth investigation of the actions of NH DCYF caseworkers,supervisors and subcontracted staff upon taking children away from their families and placing the children into "protective custody," and proof that the child in NH DCYF custody is kept safe and that all actions of NH DCYF are soley in the best interest of the child, instead of in the best interest of NH DCYF staff.
3) an in-depth investigation to study the damages that NH DCYF has caused to children and their families, resulting from NH DCYF allegations of parents and families of the children/youth in "protective custody"
4) an in-depth investigation to study NH DCYF's failure to ensure continued proper assessment and medical/mental health treatment of the children in the system
5) an in-depth investigation to study NH DCYF's failure to place children with relatives prior to placing children in foster homes
6) an in-depth investigation to study NH DCYF's actions to abuse their authority within the NH judicial. legal, healthcare, medical and school system (this includes and is not limited to: stalling court ordered testing of a child in NH DCYF custody, stalling homestudies, stalling homestudy results and incomplete home studies in order to keep a child in NH DCYF custody, gaining further power via abusing exparte hearings to make false allegations against a parent/family of a child taken into NH DCYF custody, abusing their authority to access medical and healthcare records of a child (or of the child's family) prior to being taken into NH DCYF custody, NH DCYF caseworkers influencing healthcare and medical professionals in order to obtain a slanted 2nd opinion or what should have been a neutral professional opinion, NH DCYF abusing their power to cover up a child's special needs in order to create a false picture that the child is making progress while in NH DCYF custody when in fact the child is not making progress, delaying the child's IEP testing, etc ) and medicating foster children with psychiatric medication for violent behavior, without the parents consent. Behavior the child never experienced until taken from his/her family.
6A) an indepth investigation as to actions and influence of NH DYCF regarding the result/finding of homestudies and the decision/denial of homestudy appeals filed by families to the Administrative Appeals Unit.
7) an in-depth investigation to study NH DCYF's actions that failed to follow court orders. IE: court ordered visitation, acting within the timeframes as required by law for any and all actions and decisions regarding children in the system as well as the families of those children
8) an in-depth investigation to study allegations made by NH DCYF's staff to schools, medical professionals, health care professionals, relatives, etc about parents/families of children in NH DCYF custody
9) an in-depth investigation to study NH DCYF's falsifying any type of document and withholding evidence that might be a contradiction of such NH DCYF false allegations and might clear the parent/family of the false allegations made by NH DCYF: This includes and is not limited to: falsifying information on birth certificates in order to promote adoption of a child in NH DCYF custody, false statements and manipulation of facts in order to take a child into NH DCYF custody, false statements in order to obtain social security monies, false statements in order to gain further federal or state monies and false statements to Judges without proof od allegations in order to remove a child from their parents.
10) an in-depth investigation to study how monies were obtained by NH DCYF from the families of the children in protective custody and an audit to the penny of all monies spent by NH DCYF/NH DHHS
11) an in-depth investigation to study the extent of NH DCYF's "double billing" to gain additional funding from the Government, from the State and from families of children in NH DCYF custody
12) an in-depth investigation for a complete audit that will include how every penny of foster care monies was spent on each child in NH DCYF custody
13) an in-depth investigation for determination of financial damages caused by NH
DCYF to the families of those children taken fraudalently by NH DCYF
14) an in-depth investigation for determination of physical, social, psychological, emotional damages caused to the children and to the families of children in NH DCYF custody
15) an in-depth investigation for determination of the extent that NH DCYF has alienated children from their families, including the extent that NH DCYF has alienated the parent from the child in NH DCYF custody
16) an in-depth investigation to study NH DCYF's actions as abuse and neglect of children in NH DCYF's custody (IE: as those children were and are entitled to freedom to practice the same religion that they practiced prior to being taken into NH DCYF custody, children who were not considered to be placed with relatives instead of being placed into foster care, children who were denied the right to prompt IEP testing within the allotted timeframe from the moment that IEP testing was requested of NH DCYF in writing by the guardian or parent of the child in NH DCYF custody, prompt and proper evaluation and treatment of mental, physical and psychiatric illness of the children in NH DCYF custody, and an indepth review of the medications that were given to the children in NH DCYF custody with a full explanation as to the reason for each medication given, the right of the child to spend time with their family, the social and emotional and physical trauma or injury caused to the child as a direct result of the child being taken into NH DCYF custody: this includes and is not limited to: children placed in foster care or in other settings, any bruises, open skin areas, broken bones, fall/accidents, hospitalizations, broken teeth, signs/symptoms of anxiety or depression including suicide attempts of each and every child during the time that the child is in NH DCYF custody)
17) an indepth investigation to determine if NH DCYF has acted on behalf or in violation of our constitution
18) an indepth look at NH DCYF's actions to determine whether NH DCYF has followed or violated their own mission statement: including determination of how NH DCYF has "reunified families" in a timely manner and in the least traumatic way for the children, youth and families that they are supposed to be servicing
18A) an indepth investigation as to how many families have been reunified by NH DCYF within the last five years
18B) an indepth investigation as to how many parent's rights were terminated in NH within a five year period and how many TPRs were filed by NH DCYF within that five year period
18C) an indepth investigation to determine if NH DCYF has violated federal law via the manner in which NH DCYF takes children into the system, via the manner in which NH DCYF gains further legal power through the use of exparte hearings, via tampering with documents, via falsifying documents, illegally gaining access to information such as medical and health information without full consent and full knowledge of the child's parent/guardian during the time that NH DCYF doesn't have full custody, via stalling documents and testing in order to stall for time within the legal system in order to keep a child in NH DCYF custody
19) an in-depth investigation to study NH DCYF's actions to determine what extent NH DCYF has acted outside of the scope of their usual practice or their Administrative Rules (IE: slandering any families of children in the system, practicing medicine without a license, stalking families, delaying testing/evaluations of the children in NH DCYF custody, tampering/manipulating evidence and truths in order to obtain physical custody of a child, denial of family homestudies of children in NH DCYF custody in order to keep the child in foster care instead of relative placement, tampering with birth certificates as a means to adopt a child to different family, terminating parental rights without just cause, denying families their parental rights when the parental rights have not been terminated, dating family members/having romantic relationships with families of children in the system, and forceful separations of married couples, etc).
20) an indepth investigation as to financial costs to the people of NH for each NH DCYF allegation (which includes court costs, transportation costs) and to the financial gains that NH DCYF/NH DHHS makes for each child that they take into NH DCYF custody.
And request that there be specific requirements for NH DCYF caseworkers and staff who directly work with children in NH DCYF custody and their families (to include parent aids) as there are for doctors, nurses, health aids.
These specific requirements are to include a professional conduct code for each level of staff, specific levels of education for each level of staff (including ongoing training to work with children youth and families), professional licensure codes and professional and licensure accountability of biased or falsified information for all NH DCYF staff and all NH DCYF subcontracted staff who have direct or indirect contact/work with the children in NH DCYF custody or their families (this would include parent aids also).
Request that NH DCYF be made to correct their wrongdoings, return children promptly to the family as soon as there is evidence that contradicts the allegations made by NH DCYF staff, that NH DCYF be required to financially compensate each child/youth/family whom NH DCYF has traumatized, injured, abused, neglected, slandered. NH DCYF must be required to compensate each parent for the loss of job, loss of home, all physical and emotional insults and injuries caused by NH DCYF staff for practicing outside of the scope of their practice, for obtaining privately protected health and medical information without the consent of the child's parent/guardian, for each false statement made about a family member, for each failure to keep the child in safe environment that is most appropriate for the child's needs, financial compensation for failure to ensure that a child in NH DCYF custody be allowed their Constitutional rights, financial compensation for failure to promptly assess, and ensure appropriate diagnosis and treatment of a child in NH DCYF custody.
Please Reply to:parentassist@yahoo.com
We are putting together as many letter's from families as possible and will deliver to the proper authorities in order to make our voices heard. An audit of NH DCYF is urgently needed. Our childrens lives are at stake and the corruption and abuse aimed at our families needs to cease. Please join us in our fight for ALL families!
Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Problem of Parental Alienation
The Problem of Parental Alienation
What Is Parental Alienation?
Parental alienation occurs any time that a parent, relative or friend speaks badly about another parent so that a child can hear what is being said. Alienating behavior may be mild, moderate or severe. All parents are likely to "lose it" and be inappropriate with their words around children, however, when there is a predominance of negative messages being communicated to a child, these messages can seriously erode the child’s psychological well-being. In severe cases of parental alienation, children are manipulated and brainwashed (programmed) into such states of confusion that their perception of events and people around them are severely distorted.
Parental alienation in its most severe form is a heinous form of child abuse and neglect. It is a dangerous manipulation of children’s minds to alter their perception of reality about another parent. The purpose of marginalizing this parent is that he or she has no means to be an effective parent or to cut that parent out of a child’s life entirely, called a parentectomy.
The Tragic Result
Severe cases of parental alienation have the characteristics of being complicated in two ways. Combative parents duel with conflicting stories of "he said / she said," and make it very difficult to determine who is telling the truth. Brainwashed children often support the side of the offending parent with dramatic stories of how they have been abused by the target parent. As target parents argue their position, they often seem defensive even when they are telling the truth. Programmed children lose their own sense of reason and their ability to express their own choice in the matter. If the alienator is not contained, these manipulations of the child’s mind become the incubator of their own future psychological problems. These children have an altered perception of reality that is not in their best interest or in the best interest of society.
Unfortunately, in many cases, fully capable parents and their extended family and friends who love the child and would provide a nurturing and healthy family life are eliminated. Once the cutting out of a parent has occurred the child is left under the full care of the most disturbed and dysfunctional parent. These tragedies are played out in our family law courts daily.
Target parents find that normal methods of handling parental conflict such as mediation and therapy do not work. They are forced to appeal to a judge to make a decision that will enable them to continue to see their children. This is often an expensive and perilous path that rarely results in a satisfying outcome as few people, including judges, attorneys and therapists understand the nature of the problem.
For more information about Stop Parental Alienation of Children (SPAC) go to "Become Informed".
If you are reorganizing your family there is considerable amount of help available to you. One of the first places to start is by taking a parent education course that is offered at www.breakthroughparentingonline.com.
http://www.stopparentalalienation.org/
What Is Parental Alienation?
Parental alienation occurs any time that a parent, relative or friend speaks badly about another parent so that a child can hear what is being said. Alienating behavior may be mild, moderate or severe. All parents are likely to "lose it" and be inappropriate with their words around children, however, when there is a predominance of negative messages being communicated to a child, these messages can seriously erode the child’s psychological well-being. In severe cases of parental alienation, children are manipulated and brainwashed (programmed) into such states of confusion that their perception of events and people around them are severely distorted.
Parental alienation in its most severe form is a heinous form of child abuse and neglect. It is a dangerous manipulation of children’s minds to alter their perception of reality about another parent. The purpose of marginalizing this parent is that he or she has no means to be an effective parent or to cut that parent out of a child’s life entirely, called a parentectomy.
The Tragic Result
Severe cases of parental alienation have the characteristics of being complicated in two ways. Combative parents duel with conflicting stories of "he said / she said," and make it very difficult to determine who is telling the truth. Brainwashed children often support the side of the offending parent with dramatic stories of how they have been abused by the target parent. As target parents argue their position, they often seem defensive even when they are telling the truth. Programmed children lose their own sense of reason and their ability to express their own choice in the matter. If the alienator is not contained, these manipulations of the child’s mind become the incubator of their own future psychological problems. These children have an altered perception of reality that is not in their best interest or in the best interest of society.
Unfortunately, in many cases, fully capable parents and their extended family and friends who love the child and would provide a nurturing and healthy family life are eliminated. Once the cutting out of a parent has occurred the child is left under the full care of the most disturbed and dysfunctional parent. These tragedies are played out in our family law courts daily.
Target parents find that normal methods of handling parental conflict such as mediation and therapy do not work. They are forced to appeal to a judge to make a decision that will enable them to continue to see their children. This is often an expensive and perilous path that rarely results in a satisfying outcome as few people, including judges, attorneys and therapists understand the nature of the problem.
For more information about Stop Parental Alienation of Children (SPAC) go to "Become Informed".
If you are reorganizing your family there is considerable amount of help available to you. One of the first places to start is by taking a parent education course that is offered at www.breakthroughparentingonline.com.
http://www.stopparentalalienation.org/
Raising Awareness of Parental Alienation and Hostile Aggressive Parenting
PAAO - Raising Awareness of Parental Alienation and
Hostile Aggressive Parenting
Check out our new Public Service Announcements!
Help distribute them to your local Radio stations.
Do your part to get your local community aware of this problem!
Did You Know That...
Parental Alienation is a form of Child Abuse?
Parental alienation (or Hostile Aggressive Parenting) is a group of behaviors that are damaging to children's mental and emotional well-being, and can interfere with a relationship of a child and either parent. These behaviors most often accompany high conflict marriages, separation or divorce.
These behaviors whether verbal or non-verbal, cause a child to be mentally manipulated or bullied into believing a loving parent is the cause of all their problems, and/or the enemy, to be feared, hated, disrespected and/or avoided.
Parental alienation and hostile aggressive parenting deprive children of their right to be loved by and showing love for both of their parents. The destructive actions by an alienating parent or other third person (like another family member, or even a well meaning mental health care worker) can become abusive to the child - as the alienating behaviors are disturbing, confusing and often frightening, to the child, and can rob the child of their sense of security and safety leading to maladaptive emotional or psychiatric reactions.
Most people do not know about Parental Alienation and Hostile Aggressive Parenting until they experience it. Parental Alienation Awareness is put forth to help raise awareness about the growth in the problem of targeting children and their relationship in healthy and loving parent/child bond.
We need your help to protect the innocent, ...the children.
We need your help to educate and make aware to the public the effects of Parental Alienation and Hostile Aggressive Parenting.
If you've been affected by Parental Alienation or know someone who has, or are a past victim of a parent who exhibited Hostile Aggressive Parenting, please write and tell us your story. We will add your story to our letters page for everyone around the world to publish in their local magazines, newspapers, etc. Please remember to keep your story to the telling of the confusion, loss, love, and heartache. Please refrain from excessive anger and verbally assaulting anyone in your letters.
The aim of the Awareness is to make the general public, judges, police officers, mental health care workers, child protection agencies, lawyers, as well as friends and family of the targeted children or their parents become aware of this growing problem.
With awareness comes education and understanding, and the power to stop the abuse of innocent children caught in the crossfire of people they love.
http://www.paawareness.org/
Hostile Aggressive Parenting
Check out our new Public Service Announcements!
Help distribute them to your local Radio stations.
Do your part to get your local community aware of this problem!
Did You Know That...
Parental Alienation is a form of Child Abuse?
Parental alienation (or Hostile Aggressive Parenting) is a group of behaviors that are damaging to children's mental and emotional well-being, and can interfere with a relationship of a child and either parent. These behaviors most often accompany high conflict marriages, separation or divorce.
These behaviors whether verbal or non-verbal, cause a child to be mentally manipulated or bullied into believing a loving parent is the cause of all their problems, and/or the enemy, to be feared, hated, disrespected and/or avoided.
Parental alienation and hostile aggressive parenting deprive children of their right to be loved by and showing love for both of their parents. The destructive actions by an alienating parent or other third person (like another family member, or even a well meaning mental health care worker) can become abusive to the child - as the alienating behaviors are disturbing, confusing and often frightening, to the child, and can rob the child of their sense of security and safety leading to maladaptive emotional or psychiatric reactions.
Most people do not know about Parental Alienation and Hostile Aggressive Parenting until they experience it. Parental Alienation Awareness is put forth to help raise awareness about the growth in the problem of targeting children and their relationship in healthy and loving parent/child bond.
We need your help to protect the innocent, ...the children.
We need your help to educate and make aware to the public the effects of Parental Alienation and Hostile Aggressive Parenting.
If you've been affected by Parental Alienation or know someone who has, or are a past victim of a parent who exhibited Hostile Aggressive Parenting, please write and tell us your story. We will add your story to our letters page for everyone around the world to publish in their local magazines, newspapers, etc. Please remember to keep your story to the telling of the confusion, loss, love, and heartache. Please refrain from excessive anger and verbally assaulting anyone in your letters.
The aim of the Awareness is to make the general public, judges, police officers, mental health care workers, child protection agencies, lawyers, as well as friends and family of the targeted children or their parents become aware of this growing problem.
With awareness comes education and understanding, and the power to stop the abuse of innocent children caught in the crossfire of people they love.
http://www.paawareness.org/
Foster teens ready to tell city council how to fix system
Foster teens ready to tell city council how to fix system
By Petula Dvorak
Friday, January 22, 2010
The room the other night was full of teenagers and their teenage habits. There was the eye-roller, the wise-cracker, the slouch-in-the-seater.
They had colorful markers and a dry-erase board for the meeting, and they talked about college applications and jobs and dorms.
And they also talked about the friend who killed someone in self-defense in a group home. And what it's like to pass by your mom on the street when she's homeless and barely recognizes you. And to wonder about your brothers and sisters and whether they even know about you. And how, if you have extra-curricular activities or an after-school job, chances are the kitchen is locked up when you get home late and there is no food for you. The teens are foster kids. Their parents are basically the District's taxpayers.
Most of them grew up in "the system" as they call it, and any hope for adoption or a long-term foster home or reunification with their families is minuscule, so they wait until they age out.
Finding permanent solutions for foster kids has long been difficult across the country and particularly in the District, where 47 percent of the kids in foster care are between 15 and 21 years old.
Many bounce from foster home to foster home, awkward, combative or withdrawn. And often, by the time they are 13, they get put into a group home run by the government.
Between 150 to 200 kids age out of foster care in the District every year. According to a 2008 study. by Child and Family Services, only 14 percent have the resources to support themselves, about 66 percent suffer from mental illness or substance abuse, 34 percent are pregnant or parents, 40 percent have a high school diploma and about 10 percent are enrolled in college.
Nadia Gold-Moritz, executive director of the Young Women's Project, which is working with foster teens, said too many of these youths end up homeless, in jail, hurt or dead.
Trey Jones, who lives in a District group home, doesn't want to be one of them. "I've been in the system since I was 5," the 19-year-old told me. "And I've got family everywhere, in New Jersey, Atlanta, Colorado. I never understood why nobody worked harder to get me with my family."
Trey, who wears a tie, an argyle sweater and a shirt with cuff links, plans on starting classes this fall for computer science. He will get some help from the government because the District is one of the nation's pioneers in changing the age for leaving the system from 18 to 21. It means that Trey will get financial help after high school with housing and tuition.
He and a few other foster teens are planning for a D.C. Council hearing Friday on what they've gone through and how they think the foster-care system can be fixed.
They have been practicing their testimonies at night at the Young Women's Project. With their highlighters and charts, they are breaking down the problems they've experienced and the solutions they propose.
In a rare twist, the kids and advocates don't want more money. The programs for older foster kids are well-funded, they say. But they think the money can be spent better. Life skills training should begin at 15 for these kids, not 20.
Trey's got his cuff links and his composure. He's got descriptions of long court battles and lawyers in his case, and his legal quest to meet the little brother who doesn't know he exists. He is totally together.
It's going to be a little harder for Derek Reid, who's on his third social worker. "When I need a permission slip signed for school or something, I'm calling and calling, and my social worker doesn't answer," he said. "It's like she's supposed to be my mom, she's my guardian, and how you supposed to feel with the one adult who takes care of you never answers the phone?"
Derek, 18, hears from friends about his mentally ill mom, who is haunting their old neighborhood in her dirty robes. He saw her last month just as he was getting on the bus. He tried to tell her that he got a $50,000 scholarship to go to art school. She looked right past him.
He wonders what he's going to do after he graduates. He wants a job in graphic arts, but he knows it's going to tough to be independent once he turns 21.
"I just want to be with someone I trust," he said. Who does he trust? A high school counselor who took an interest in him and helped him get that scholarship.
"There's no one in your life you trust besides a counselor at school?" I asked him.
"Not really," he tells me.
Princess Clayborne interrupts, as she does many times. She is 17, and a strong, confident, smart young woman who was adopted when she was 5 years old. She recently learned about the status of her little brother because he was featured as a child of the week on television. Occasionally, people who look like her stop her on the street and introduce themselves. They are cousins she had never met.
"These are not sob stories. This is real life. We're not crying about it, and we're not asking you to cry about it," she said. "We just want people to know what we're going through."
E-mail me at dvorakp@washpost.com.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012104508.html?hpid=news-col-blog
By Petula Dvorak
Friday, January 22, 2010
The room the other night was full of teenagers and their teenage habits. There was the eye-roller, the wise-cracker, the slouch-in-the-seater.
They had colorful markers and a dry-erase board for the meeting, and they talked about college applications and jobs and dorms.
And they also talked about the friend who killed someone in self-defense in a group home. And what it's like to pass by your mom on the street when she's homeless and barely recognizes you. And to wonder about your brothers and sisters and whether they even know about you. And how, if you have extra-curricular activities or an after-school job, chances are the kitchen is locked up when you get home late and there is no food for you. The teens are foster kids. Their parents are basically the District's taxpayers.
Most of them grew up in "the system" as they call it, and any hope for adoption or a long-term foster home or reunification with their families is minuscule, so they wait until they age out.
Finding permanent solutions for foster kids has long been difficult across the country and particularly in the District, where 47 percent of the kids in foster care are between 15 and 21 years old.
Many bounce from foster home to foster home, awkward, combative or withdrawn. And often, by the time they are 13, they get put into a group home run by the government.
Between 150 to 200 kids age out of foster care in the District every year. According to a 2008 study. by Child and Family Services, only 14 percent have the resources to support themselves, about 66 percent suffer from mental illness or substance abuse, 34 percent are pregnant or parents, 40 percent have a high school diploma and about 10 percent are enrolled in college.
Nadia Gold-Moritz, executive director of the Young Women's Project, which is working with foster teens, said too many of these youths end up homeless, in jail, hurt or dead.
Trey Jones, who lives in a District group home, doesn't want to be one of them. "I've been in the system since I was 5," the 19-year-old told me. "And I've got family everywhere, in New Jersey, Atlanta, Colorado. I never understood why nobody worked harder to get me with my family."
Trey, who wears a tie, an argyle sweater and a shirt with cuff links, plans on starting classes this fall for computer science. He will get some help from the government because the District is one of the nation's pioneers in changing the age for leaving the system from 18 to 21. It means that Trey will get financial help after high school with housing and tuition.
He and a few other foster teens are planning for a D.C. Council hearing Friday on what they've gone through and how they think the foster-care system can be fixed.
They have been practicing their testimonies at night at the Young Women's Project. With their highlighters and charts, they are breaking down the problems they've experienced and the solutions they propose.
In a rare twist, the kids and advocates don't want more money. The programs for older foster kids are well-funded, they say. But they think the money can be spent better. Life skills training should begin at 15 for these kids, not 20.
Trey's got his cuff links and his composure. He's got descriptions of long court battles and lawyers in his case, and his legal quest to meet the little brother who doesn't know he exists. He is totally together.
It's going to be a little harder for Derek Reid, who's on his third social worker. "When I need a permission slip signed for school or something, I'm calling and calling, and my social worker doesn't answer," he said. "It's like she's supposed to be my mom, she's my guardian, and how you supposed to feel with the one adult who takes care of you never answers the phone?"
Derek, 18, hears from friends about his mentally ill mom, who is haunting their old neighborhood in her dirty robes. He saw her last month just as he was getting on the bus. He tried to tell her that he got a $50,000 scholarship to go to art school. She looked right past him.
He wonders what he's going to do after he graduates. He wants a job in graphic arts, but he knows it's going to tough to be independent once he turns 21.
"I just want to be with someone I trust," he said. Who does he trust? A high school counselor who took an interest in him and helped him get that scholarship.
"There's no one in your life you trust besides a counselor at school?" I asked him.
"Not really," he tells me.
Princess Clayborne interrupts, as she does many times. She is 17, and a strong, confident, smart young woman who was adopted when she was 5 years old. She recently learned about the status of her little brother because he was featured as a child of the week on television. Occasionally, people who look like her stop her on the street and introduce themselves. They are cousins she had never met.
"These are not sob stories. This is real life. We're not crying about it, and we're not asking you to cry about it," she said. "We just want people to know what we're going through."
E-mail me at dvorakp@washpost.com.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012104508.html?hpid=news-col-blog
Picketers ask for child-protective services to be investigated
Picketers ask for child-protective services to be investigated
Times Herald • January 19, 2010
Nearly 20 people are picketing in front of the St. Clair County Courthouse in Port Huron, asking that Child Protective Services be investigated in the Friday death of a 3-year-old Kimball Township girl.
Members of the group are carrying signs, at least one that reads “CPS accessory to murder,” and are handing out pink ribbons with the dates of Prhaze’s birth and death — Feb. 15, 2006 and Jan. 15. 2010.
Former state Rep. Lauren Hager was supporting Prhaze’s family and friends this morning. Hager of Port Huron Township said he has filed a request that the case being investigated by the state Office of Children’s Ombudsman.
Hager's signature piece of legislation as a state representative was Ariana’s Law, which aimed to improve the state's child-protection system.
He introduced the bill after 2-year-old Ariana Swinson of Port Huron Township was beaten and drowned by her parents in January 2000. She was killed after she was removed from her foster family and returned to her biological parents.
“There needs to be an investigation to see if there were any holes in the safety net,” he said regarding Prhaze’s death.
A Kimball Township couple — Joe Galvan, 26, and Jennifer Galvan, 29 — were arraigned Monday on open murder charges stemming from the girl’s death.
A Sunday autopsy showed she died from blunt-force trauma. Officials have said Child Protective Services had been involved with the family, and that there had been a pattern of child abuse with Prhaze.
Joe Galvan is Prhaze’s father and Jennifer Galvan is her stepmother.
Prhaze’s mother, Cassandra Ross, is in jail on a probation violation.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20100119/NEWS05/100119007/1002/NEWS01/Picketers+ask+for+child-protective+services+to+be+investigated
Times Herald • January 19, 2010
Nearly 20 people are picketing in front of the St. Clair County Courthouse in Port Huron, asking that Child Protective Services be investigated in the Friday death of a 3-year-old Kimball Township girl.
Members of the group are carrying signs, at least one that reads “CPS accessory to murder,” and are handing out pink ribbons with the dates of Prhaze’s birth and death — Feb. 15, 2006 and Jan. 15. 2010.
Former state Rep. Lauren Hager was supporting Prhaze’s family and friends this morning. Hager of Port Huron Township said he has filed a request that the case being investigated by the state Office of Children’s Ombudsman.
Hager's signature piece of legislation as a state representative was Ariana’s Law, which aimed to improve the state's child-protection system.
He introduced the bill after 2-year-old Ariana Swinson of Port Huron Township was beaten and drowned by her parents in January 2000. She was killed after she was removed from her foster family and returned to her biological parents.
“There needs to be an investigation to see if there were any holes in the safety net,” he said regarding Prhaze’s death.
A Kimball Township couple — Joe Galvan, 26, and Jennifer Galvan, 29 — were arraigned Monday on open murder charges stemming from the girl’s death.
A Sunday autopsy showed she died from blunt-force trauma. Officials have said Child Protective Services had been involved with the family, and that there had been a pattern of child abuse with Prhaze.
Joe Galvan is Prhaze’s father and Jennifer Galvan is her stepmother.
Prhaze’s mother, Cassandra Ross, is in jail on a probation violation.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20100119/NEWS05/100119007/1002/NEWS01/Picketers+ask+for+child-protective+services+to+be+investigated
Senate bill would give relatives more rights in child welfare cases
Senate bill would give relatives more rights in child welfare cases by SUSANNAH FRAME / KING 5 News Posted on January 21, 2010 at 10:59 PM Updated yesterday at 11:00 PM ****** OLYMPIA, Wash. - A series of stories by the KING 5 Investigators is leading to potential changes in state law, giving relatives more rights in child welfare cases. The "Alexis Stuth Bill" was heard before a senate sub-committee in Olympia Thursday. It stems from a three-year battle between the state and an Enumclaw couple over their granddaughter. "I think it's huge," said AnneMarie Stuth as she and husband Doug walked into the state Capitol with little Alexis in tow. It was a family nearly broken apart forever by the system. "We were going to lose her forever, never see her again. It was the end of the line," said Doug. The bill would give relatives who care for a child the right to be heard in court with an attorney if the state takes the child away from them in favor of foster care -- exactly what happened in the Stuths' case. "Family is all you have. That is the one thing that's a constant. It never changes. You always love them and they're always there and I don't think somebody should have the right to take that from anybody, especially a little one," said AnneMarie. When Alexis was a toddler and a judge was deciding where she should live, the Stuths were criticized in court by state workers. They were accused of lying, making trouble and being unfit to take care of the grandchild they'd raised since birth. They had to sit there and take it. Relatives have no legal standing to speak up and defend themselves. "It was two years of sitting up at night. A lot of money. Tens of thousands of dollars. Not being able to be heard in a court. Made out to look like the worst people in the world," said Doug. The KING 5 Investigators first exposed the Stuths' case in 2008. Alexis had been taken away and in foster care for nearly two years. They were hopeless and beaten down. We continued to show how the state and a judge didn't follow the law by giving priority to relatives. Then, in a sudden shift, the family was re-united one year ago. The Stuths formally adopted Alexis last summer. The Stuths are hoping this landmark legislation will make a lasting change for children like Alexis in Washington state. "I'm really optimistic. I'm really glad it's up in front of the Senate and I pray that it passes so people in the future won't have to go through what we have," said Doug. At the end of the hearing, the committee chairman had encouraging words for the Stuths. He said, so far, there was no official opposition to the proposal and that he didn't see any roadblocks to moving the Alexis Stuth Bill a step closer to becoming law.
http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Investigators-Senate-bill-would-give-relatives-more-rights-in-child-welfare-cases-82338752.html
http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Investigators-Senate-bill-would-give-relatives-more-rights-in-child-welfare-cases-82338752.html
Press warned over family courts
Press warned over family courts
(UKPA) – 12 hours ago
Children may be less willing to discuss sensitive issues during family court proceedings if journalists are given greater access to hearings, research has claimed.
Legislative proposals included in the Children, Schools and Families Bill would allow the press greater access to family court cases.
But according to the report published by the Children's Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, most children involved in family court cases would be unwilling to disclose maltreatment by a parent or other problems if a journalist was present.
This could affect a judge's ability to make difficult decisions in the youngsters' best interests, the investigation warned.
Youngsters involved in the University of Oxford research said they were worried that media reports about their families could lead to embarrassment and bullying.
Sue Berelowitz, deputy Children's Commissioner for England said: "We support the principle of openness but our overriding consideration is to protect the welfare of children.
"If these children and young people's concerns fail to be addressed in the Bill, we could be faced with a situation where they are unwilling to speak out during family court proceedings and this could result in their best interests not being met."
The evidence gained so far by the Children's Commissioner also says children were sceptical at the power of the law to protect their privacy.
The report also urges judges and magistrates to seek children's views before deciding whether to admit the media to a hearing.
The Children's Commissioner's final report will be published in the spring
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5imRFUixJxiQTsy-Rm_BupNcLGlLA
(UKPA) – 12 hours ago
Children may be less willing to discuss sensitive issues during family court proceedings if journalists are given greater access to hearings, research has claimed.
Legislative proposals included in the Children, Schools and Families Bill would allow the press greater access to family court cases.
But according to the report published by the Children's Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, most children involved in family court cases would be unwilling to disclose maltreatment by a parent or other problems if a journalist was present.
This could affect a judge's ability to make difficult decisions in the youngsters' best interests, the investigation warned.
Youngsters involved in the University of Oxford research said they were worried that media reports about their families could lead to embarrassment and bullying.
Sue Berelowitz, deputy Children's Commissioner for England said: "We support the principle of openness but our overriding consideration is to protect the welfare of children.
"If these children and young people's concerns fail to be addressed in the Bill, we could be faced with a situation where they are unwilling to speak out during family court proceedings and this could result in their best interests not being met."
The evidence gained so far by the Children's Commissioner also says children were sceptical at the power of the law to protect their privacy.
The report also urges judges and magistrates to seek children's views before deciding whether to admit the media to a hearing.
The Children's Commissioner's final report will be published in the spring
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5imRFUixJxiQTsy-Rm_BupNcLGlLA
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