Please check out the link I've provided. The lies in this report will make your stomache turn.
I attended a Children and Family Law Committee meeting in NH, where I had to listen to the lies in this report being read by the one and only Maggie Bishop, the head of the corrupt DCYF in NH. It took everything I had to keep my composure. I wanted to scream,"Lies, Nothing but Lies!" But if I did, I would be no better than the DCYF hypocrites.
I thought reports by the state were supposed to be non-fiction! The proof I and others have in our possession would blow this report right out of the water.
If any of you believe this report, I have a bridge to sell you!
http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/NR/rdonlyres/egfagxhdhphe6g2zs7kgxq7xevjneihiqrnw7rbkhpip2dgbubasmog5qusjm6c4euwbfdgp3xdbykh27j2eoq5dtwc/plan.pdf
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
Saturday, May 8, 2010
A Discussion about Permanency for Older Adolescents
A Discussion about Permanency for Older Adolescents
(Archived NRCPFC Webcast)
This free webcast offered by the National Resource Center for
Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC) on March 24, 2010 has been
archived on the NRCPFC website. Effective models that empower and
support youth in achieving permanency must be multidimensional. Such
models include recruiting and training appropriate foster and adoptive
families, many of whom were previously known by the young person prior
to their adoption. Effective strategies also include connecting youth
to caring adults; mentoring and building connections with extended
families; and strategies to effectively address the emotional and mental
health issues experienced by youth, including grief and loss.
Strategies can also include community connections, family search and
engagement, family connections, and caseworker and supervisor support
in assessing and supporting a range of permanency options early and
often in their work with youth. View this webcast in which Gerald P.
Mallon, NRCPFC Executive Director, and Pat O’Brien, Founder and
Executive Director of Youth Gotta Believe! The Older Child Adoption
& Permanency Movement, discuss strategies for permanency for older
adolescents. Click on the link below to visit the Archive of Past
NRCPFC Webcasts, where you can view webcasts and download the handouts
for each event.
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/webcasts/index.html
(Archived NRCPFC Webcast)
This free webcast offered by the National Resource Center for
Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC) on March 24, 2010 has been
archived on the NRCPFC website. Effective models that empower and
support youth in achieving permanency must be multidimensional. Such
models include recruiting and training appropriate foster and adoptive
families, many of whom were previously known by the young person prior
to their adoption. Effective strategies also include connecting youth
to caring adults; mentoring and building connections with extended
families; and strategies to effectively address the emotional and mental
health issues experienced by youth, including grief and loss.
Strategies can also include community connections, family search and
engagement, family connections, and caseworker and supervisor support
in assessing and supporting a range of permanency options early and
often in their work with youth. View this webcast in which Gerald P.
Mallon, NRCPFC Executive Director, and Pat O’Brien, Founder and
Executive Director of Youth Gotta Believe! The Older Child Adoption
& Permanency Movement, discuss strategies for permanency for older
adolescents. Click on the link below to visit the Archive of Past
NRCPFC Webcasts, where you can view webcasts and download the handouts
for each event.
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/webcasts/index.html
Friday, May 7, 2010
2 politicians seek answers from DHS over abortion-pressure allegations
2 politicians seek answers from DHS over abortion-pressure allegations
By REGINA MEDINA
Philadelphia Daily News
medinar@phillynews.com 215-854-5985
NOTE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN CORRECTED.
Two Philadelphia-area politicians want the city's Department of Human Services to answer some questions following allegations published this week in the Daily News that a caseworker pressured a teen in foster care into having an abortion.
The day the story appeared, Concilio, the provider agency contracted with DHS, removed the teen and three other children from the home of the foster mother, who spoke out about the case.
“Equally troubling is the notion that the DHS would engage in retaliatory behavior by removing the remaining children in the foster parent’s care because of her willingness to disclose unethical practices of the agency,” state Sen. LeAnna Washington wrote in a letter sent to DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose. Washington’s district covers parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County.
Washington, a Democrat, chairwoman of the Senate Aging & Youth Committee, said she plans to investigate the allegations, first published Monday.
"I remained both troubled and concerned that the allegations may prove accurate and of the possibility that an investigation may reveal a systemic practice by DHS of forcing children into unwanted abortions," Washington wrote.
During a City Council meeting yesterday, Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell called for hearings before the Committee on Public Health and Human Services to look into DHS' policies concerning adoption and foster care.
DHS spokeswoman Alicia Taylor declined to comment on the hearing or investigation.
"We need to talk about DHS," Blackwell said, noting that constituents who visit her office with DHS stories tell her staffers that they feel "threatened" by the agency. "This isn't the first time where people don't know what's happening [with the agency]. We would ask the parents or people who heard of these cases to testify."
She said she expects the hearings to begin at the end of next week.
The teen's birth mother, Deborah M., said last night that she still hadn't been notified by DHS officials that her daughter had been removed from her foster home.
DHS policy, Taylor said, directs the agency to notify a birth parent "within one working day" of removal. A reporter informed Deborah M. on Tuesday that her daughter had been removed.
She said she'd spoken with her daughter on Tuesday but still didn't have the details of her whereabouts.
CORRECTION:
In Friday’s story about investigations into recent actions by the Department of Human Services, the Daily News incorrectly quoted paraphrased information in a press release issued by state Sen. LeAnna Washington. Her correct quote in a letter to DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose is: “Equally troubling is the notion that the DHS would engage in retaliatory behavior by removing the remaining children in the foster parent’s care because of her willingness to disclose unethical practices of the agency."
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20100507_2_politicians_seek_answers_from_DHS_over_abortion-pressure_allegations.html
By REGINA MEDINA
Philadelphia Daily News
medinar@phillynews.com 215-854-5985
NOTE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN CORRECTED.
Two Philadelphia-area politicians want the city's Department of Human Services to answer some questions following allegations published this week in the Daily News that a caseworker pressured a teen in foster care into having an abortion.
The day the story appeared, Concilio, the provider agency contracted with DHS, removed the teen and three other children from the home of the foster mother, who spoke out about the case.
“Equally troubling is the notion that the DHS would engage in retaliatory behavior by removing the remaining children in the foster parent’s care because of her willingness to disclose unethical practices of the agency,” state Sen. LeAnna Washington wrote in a letter sent to DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose. Washington’s district covers parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County.
Washington, a Democrat, chairwoman of the Senate Aging & Youth Committee, said she plans to investigate the allegations, first published Monday.
"I remained both troubled and concerned that the allegations may prove accurate and of the possibility that an investigation may reveal a systemic practice by DHS of forcing children into unwanted abortions," Washington wrote.
During a City Council meeting yesterday, Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell called for hearings before the Committee on Public Health and Human Services to look into DHS' policies concerning adoption and foster care.
DHS spokeswoman Alicia Taylor declined to comment on the hearing or investigation.
"We need to talk about DHS," Blackwell said, noting that constituents who visit her office with DHS stories tell her staffers that they feel "threatened" by the agency. "This isn't the first time where people don't know what's happening [with the agency]. We would ask the parents or people who heard of these cases to testify."
She said she expects the hearings to begin at the end of next week.
The teen's birth mother, Deborah M., said last night that she still hadn't been notified by DHS officials that her daughter had been removed from her foster home.
DHS policy, Taylor said, directs the agency to notify a birth parent "within one working day" of removal. A reporter informed Deborah M. on Tuesday that her daughter had been removed.
She said she'd spoken with her daughter on Tuesday but still didn't have the details of her whereabouts.
CORRECTION:
In Friday’s story about investigations into recent actions by the Department of Human Services, the Daily News incorrectly quoted paraphrased information in a press release issued by state Sen. LeAnna Washington. Her correct quote in a letter to DHS Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose is: “Equally troubling is the notion that the DHS would engage in retaliatory behavior by removing the remaining children in the foster parent’s care because of her willingness to disclose unethical practices of the agency."
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20100507_2_politicians_seek_answers_from_DHS_over_abortion-pressure_allegations.html
Girl's 'forced' abortion blamed on government 'death panel'
MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
unhappygrammy-This young girl was threatened by CPS. Thats nothing new. They threaten parents all the time, telling them if they don't sign case plans, they'll never see their children again.They believe they're above the law. And yes, caseworkers make up their own laws and enforce them. Our government has given them too much power and the Judges are going right along with the wants and whims of CPS, working against all children and families.
Girl's 'forced' abortion blamed on government 'death panel'
'This is what happens in China. Girls are taken kicking and screaming'
Posted: May 06, 2010
12:19 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
A longtime veteran of the battle against abortion in the United States says the case of a Philadelphia teen who reportedly was coerced into a late-term abortion by a social services agency can be blamed on government's so-called "death panels."
The issue of "death panels" came up during debate over the Democrats' health-care reform law. Critics said the plan, signed into law in March, included government boards that would approve or refuse certain medical services for some patients.
"Obamacare" supporters denied that such panels existed or would exist, but Troy Newman, president of the pro-life Operation Rescue organization, said the Philadelphia case is evidence they already exist and are operating.
The Philadelphia Daily News apparently was the first to document the case in which social workers took a teen for an abortion even though the teen had been looking forward to having the little boy and even had picked out a name.
Further, the teen's mother had opposed the abortion, as had the foster mother with whom the teen was staying. The newspaper even reported that one social worker, Marisol Rivera, who said she didn't want to take the teen for an abortion, later was dismissed by the social services agency.
"This is what happens in China," Newman told WND. "Girls are taken from their homes, kicking and screaming, thrown in a van, taken to abortionists and they undergo a forced abortion."
He said it's also not rare in the U.S., citing cases he has witnessed in which girls and women under direct supervision of various governmental agencies, from detention centers to foster care settings, were delivered to abortionists.
"It's something we've been following for years. We've seen forced abortions in prison settings. We've seen these women in chains brought to abortionists. We've seen foster care parents, and the whole system, force teens into abortion," he said.
He said the new health-care law will create a long list of new government oversight boards.
"Once you have these government oversight boards, the Health and Human Services secretary, whomever he or she may be, with a radical pro-eugenicist mindset, all of a sudden the only money available is for abortion. There's no money for prenatal care. Then you have doctors who are not allowed to operate outside the government system," he said.
Much of the impact of "Obamacare" remains to be seen, because even members of Congress admitted they hadn't read the entire bill before the vote.
But Newman said the goal appears to be a "Big Brother utopia" with massive government controls over medical treatments.
And he said there is no question about what the priorities will be under the current HHS secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. She was governor of Kansas, where Operation Rescue has its headquarters, before Obama picked her for the national post. Newman long has documented her intimate ties to the abortion industry, from massive campaign donations she accepted from abortionists to parties she threw in the governor's mansion for abortion practitioners.
Likewise, abortion is rampant for those in the foster care system, Newman said.
"It's draconian. It is one of the most manipulative and oppressive systems," he said.
In many cases, he said, the case worker "makes up the law and enforces the law."
"For all intents and purposes they are above the law," he said. "They do not have the best interests of the children at heart. They have their agenda as the first and foremost issue."
The Daily News reported the pregnant teen was told by a social worker either to get an abortion or have her 1-year-old toddler removed from her care.
The newspaper said the social services agency obtained a court order for the abortion because the girl's birth mother refused to approve the plan. By the time social workers made all the arrangements, they had to take the girl out of state because she was 24 weeks pregnant. In Pennsylvania, abortions are illegal at that stage.
The social worker who had not wanted to accompany the teen to the abortion, Rivera, then told the newspaper she was fired after the March abortion because of her decision.
"They hired me to work in child protection, not to kill children," she told the newspaper.
Department of Human Services officials refused to talk about the case with the newspaper, citing privacy laws.
The social worker who stepped in to follow Rivera, Cynthia Brown, also wouldn't talk about the case.
"Are we living in a culture that no longer feels the sense of urgency and outrage at this in-your-face injustice?" asked Judie Brown, founder of American Life League.
"Scariest to me is the silence – not only from the pro-abortion movement – that's to be expected, but of Americans at large," she said. "When – and more importantly – why did we lose our grip on the concept of human rights? The most basic rights of this girl, of her preborn child, of her mother, of her caregivers have been brutally violated by the state; she's been emotionally coerced and why? Because the state has placed a value on her head and the head of her child. The state has decided they had better work to reduce the 'surplus population.' This is classic eugenicism, folks. This is the philosophy our country has bought into. Welcome to Obamacare."
Donald F. Schwarz, the city's deputy mayor for Health and Opportunity, confirmed 335 minors under DHS care between September 2006 and March of this year became pregnant. Of those cases, 119 resulted in abortions, 54 by judge's order, the report said.
Both state and federal law ban the use of public money for abortions, but Schwarz said while the agency does get that money, it wasn't used for abortions.
Arthur Caplan of the Center of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania said there are questions of ethics that should be answered.
"You can't or shouldn't be threatening to break up a family depending upon whether somebody gets an abortion or not," Caplan told the newspaper. "That is . . . unethical practice, it's not even common sense."
According to LifeNews, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council says he worries the Pennsylvania incident may become more commonplace under the government-run health care plan.
"What can we expect from the new federal health care plan? Well, if this story from Pennsylvania is any indication, a multi-state pro-abortion campaign," he said.
"She was smuggled to New Jersey for the appointment – alone. Because the young mom didn't have the proper paperwork, she had to return a second time for the abortion, this time with a state government worker, who ensured that the baby never came home," Perkins continued.
"As for conscience rights of those involved? Forget it. The girl's original social worker was fired for refusing to participate in the abortion," he said. "And while the state insists it didn't pay for the abortion (the city of Mayfair did), a state worker did accompany her and most likely paid for her transportation."
The American Family Association of Pennsylvania also is calling for a formal investigation of the circumstances.
Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform told the Philadelphia newspaper, "If DHS's behavior is as described, it is shameful and inexcusable."
The foster mother reported the teen was excited about her son and had told her 1-year-old daughter she was going to have a brother. The teen's birth mother, who identified herself to the newspaper as Deborah M., said, "Someone who went to go get an ultrasound, [found] out it's a boy, they give the boy a name, that's somebody who wants to have that baby."
But the foster mother reported Brown had talked about the pregnancy with the teen in her presence. She said Brown told the teen DHS would separate her children if she had the second child.
"She said that if she decided to have the infant she wasn't going to let her have both babies," the foster mother told the newspaper.
The foster mother said the teen was taken without her knowledge for the abortion. She had called the social agency in a panic when the girl didn't return from school that day.
About 8:30 p.m., she arrived home.
According to the Daily News, the foster mother asked, "What happened?"
"The baby is dead," the teen answered.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=150481
unhappygrammy-This young girl was threatened by CPS. Thats nothing new. They threaten parents all the time, telling them if they don't sign case plans, they'll never see their children again.They believe they're above the law. And yes, caseworkers make up their own laws and enforce them. Our government has given them too much power and the Judges are going right along with the wants and whims of CPS, working against all children and families.
Girl's 'forced' abortion blamed on government 'death panel'
'This is what happens in China. Girls are taken kicking and screaming'
Posted: May 06, 2010
12:19 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
A longtime veteran of the battle against abortion in the United States says the case of a Philadelphia teen who reportedly was coerced into a late-term abortion by a social services agency can be blamed on government's so-called "death panels."
The issue of "death panels" came up during debate over the Democrats' health-care reform law. Critics said the plan, signed into law in March, included government boards that would approve or refuse certain medical services for some patients.
"Obamacare" supporters denied that such panels existed or would exist, but Troy Newman, president of the pro-life Operation Rescue organization, said the Philadelphia case is evidence they already exist and are operating.
The Philadelphia Daily News apparently was the first to document the case in which social workers took a teen for an abortion even though the teen had been looking forward to having the little boy and even had picked out a name.
Further, the teen's mother had opposed the abortion, as had the foster mother with whom the teen was staying. The newspaper even reported that one social worker, Marisol Rivera, who said she didn't want to take the teen for an abortion, later was dismissed by the social services agency.
"This is what happens in China," Newman told WND. "Girls are taken from their homes, kicking and screaming, thrown in a van, taken to abortionists and they undergo a forced abortion."
He said it's also not rare in the U.S., citing cases he has witnessed in which girls and women under direct supervision of various governmental agencies, from detention centers to foster care settings, were delivered to abortionists.
"It's something we've been following for years. We've seen forced abortions in prison settings. We've seen these women in chains brought to abortionists. We've seen foster care parents, and the whole system, force teens into abortion," he said.
He said the new health-care law will create a long list of new government oversight boards.
"Once you have these government oversight boards, the Health and Human Services secretary, whomever he or she may be, with a radical pro-eugenicist mindset, all of a sudden the only money available is for abortion. There's no money for prenatal care. Then you have doctors who are not allowed to operate outside the government system," he said.
Much of the impact of "Obamacare" remains to be seen, because even members of Congress admitted they hadn't read the entire bill before the vote.
But Newman said the goal appears to be a "Big Brother utopia" with massive government controls over medical treatments.
And he said there is no question about what the priorities will be under the current HHS secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. She was governor of Kansas, where Operation Rescue has its headquarters, before Obama picked her for the national post. Newman long has documented her intimate ties to the abortion industry, from massive campaign donations she accepted from abortionists to parties she threw in the governor's mansion for abortion practitioners.
Likewise, abortion is rampant for those in the foster care system, Newman said.
"It's draconian. It is one of the most manipulative and oppressive systems," he said.
In many cases, he said, the case worker "makes up the law and enforces the law."
"For all intents and purposes they are above the law," he said. "They do not have the best interests of the children at heart. They have their agenda as the first and foremost issue."
The Daily News reported the pregnant teen was told by a social worker either to get an abortion or have her 1-year-old toddler removed from her care.
The newspaper said the social services agency obtained a court order for the abortion because the girl's birth mother refused to approve the plan. By the time social workers made all the arrangements, they had to take the girl out of state because she was 24 weeks pregnant. In Pennsylvania, abortions are illegal at that stage.
The social worker who had not wanted to accompany the teen to the abortion, Rivera, then told the newspaper she was fired after the March abortion because of her decision.
"They hired me to work in child protection, not to kill children," she told the newspaper.
Department of Human Services officials refused to talk about the case with the newspaper, citing privacy laws.
The social worker who stepped in to follow Rivera, Cynthia Brown, also wouldn't talk about the case.
"Are we living in a culture that no longer feels the sense of urgency and outrage at this in-your-face injustice?" asked Judie Brown, founder of American Life League.
"Scariest to me is the silence – not only from the pro-abortion movement – that's to be expected, but of Americans at large," she said. "When – and more importantly – why did we lose our grip on the concept of human rights? The most basic rights of this girl, of her preborn child, of her mother, of her caregivers have been brutally violated by the state; she's been emotionally coerced and why? Because the state has placed a value on her head and the head of her child. The state has decided they had better work to reduce the 'surplus population.' This is classic eugenicism, folks. This is the philosophy our country has bought into. Welcome to Obamacare."
Donald F. Schwarz, the city's deputy mayor for Health and Opportunity, confirmed 335 minors under DHS care between September 2006 and March of this year became pregnant. Of those cases, 119 resulted in abortions, 54 by judge's order, the report said.
Both state and federal law ban the use of public money for abortions, but Schwarz said while the agency does get that money, it wasn't used for abortions.
Arthur Caplan of the Center of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania said there are questions of ethics that should be answered.
"You can't or shouldn't be threatening to break up a family depending upon whether somebody gets an abortion or not," Caplan told the newspaper. "That is . . . unethical practice, it's not even common sense."
According to LifeNews, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council says he worries the Pennsylvania incident may become more commonplace under the government-run health care plan.
"What can we expect from the new federal health care plan? Well, if this story from Pennsylvania is any indication, a multi-state pro-abortion campaign," he said.
"She was smuggled to New Jersey for the appointment – alone. Because the young mom didn't have the proper paperwork, she had to return a second time for the abortion, this time with a state government worker, who ensured that the baby never came home," Perkins continued.
"As for conscience rights of those involved? Forget it. The girl's original social worker was fired for refusing to participate in the abortion," he said. "And while the state insists it didn't pay for the abortion (the city of Mayfair did), a state worker did accompany her and most likely paid for her transportation."
The American Family Association of Pennsylvania also is calling for a formal investigation of the circumstances.
Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform told the Philadelphia newspaper, "If DHS's behavior is as described, it is shameful and inexcusable."
The foster mother reported the teen was excited about her son and had told her 1-year-old daughter she was going to have a brother. The teen's birth mother, who identified herself to the newspaper as Deborah M., said, "Someone who went to go get an ultrasound, [found] out it's a boy, they give the boy a name, that's somebody who wants to have that baby."
But the foster mother reported Brown had talked about the pregnancy with the teen in her presence. She said Brown told the teen DHS would separate her children if she had the second child.
"She said that if she decided to have the infant she wasn't going to let her have both babies," the foster mother told the newspaper.
The foster mother said the teen was taken without her knowledge for the abortion. She had called the social agency in a panic when the girl didn't return from school that day.
About 8:30 p.m., she arrived home.
According to the Daily News, the foster mother asked, "What happened?"
"The baby is dead," the teen answered.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=150481
Thursday, May 6, 2010
In Finland a Familiar Story: Child Welfare Agencies Choose Foster Care over Father Care
In Finland a Familiar Story: Child Welfare Agencies Choose Foster Care over Father Care
unhappygrammy-In NH child welfare agencies choose foster care over kinship care as well as father care!
May 4th, 2010 by Robert Franklin, Esq.
In case anyone thought that fathers have it better somewhere else, consider this article out of Finland (Helsingin Sanomat, 4/30/10). It seems that in that country, fathers are battling child welfare agencies to get custody of their children. They're having to battle because - surprise, surprise - the child welfare agencies prefer foster care to father care. (Where have I seen that phrase before? Oh that's right, I've written it myself countless times.)
Veli-Matti Korhonen is not the only one to be in such a predicament. Helsingin Sanomat has examined the situations of two other fathers.
Although they live in different parts of the country, they share the experience that officials often only listen to the mother. Fathers are ignored. In spite of a joint custody agreement, the children are placed outside the home.
Sound familiar? It should. In this country, studies show that child protective agencies routinely ignore fathers as a placement alternative when children are taken from mothers. Indeed, the Urban Institute has shown that that happens in well over half the cases even though the father is known in 88%. The discrimination aganist fathers by CPS agencies has grown so bad and so pervasive that lawsuits against them are cropping up. One California case found the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the lower court decision that a father could sue the child welfare organization under federal civil rights statutes because it had failed to give him the opportunity at custody.
Apparently dads in Finland have no such recourse. Their situation is actually worse than here.
Many fathers around Finland are fighting to keep children who are in foster care, even though they have joint custody agreements with the mothers.
These kinds of situations arise in divorce cases in which the a joint custody arrangement exists, but the mother suddenly decides that she does not want to let the father keep the children when she is rendered unable to do so.
Such conflicts can last for years. The children in such cases suffer the most, even though everyone involved is ostensibly acting in their best interest. Municipal costs for child protective services have quadrupled in the past decade.
So, even as we've seen so often in the U.S., child welfare agencies bypass dads in favor of foster care. That's at no small cost to the children, to the fathers and to the taxpayers, but they do it anyway.
And it looks like it's all up to the mother. That too looks familiar. The situations in which fathers' rights are placed firmly in the hands of mothers are many, and foster care is one of them. For a mother, the words "I don't know who the father is" go a long way toward deciding whether he gets to see his child or not.
But if the article is accurate, in Finland, if "the mother suddenly decides that she does not want to let the father keep the children" then it's off to foster care for them and off to court for him. Somehow, someone must think some portion of that makes sense, but I can't imagine who or how. Fathers should have enforceable (by fathers) rights to children; children should have enforceable rights to fathers. Public policy and law that recognize those two things would save tax money. The only "downside" is that mothers would have to cease to be the sole arbiters of children's and fathers' rights.
“The law requires that the parents should be treated even-handedly, but in practice, mothers get support, and fathers are left on their own”, says one father. “A father who cares for his children is in a weak position."
The sense of agony is also something that the men share. “This is hell on earth. A weaker person would have given up already."
Again, as we've seen before, the law may be gender neutral, but if judges and agency personnel want it to be pro-mother, it is. That's why lawsuits can be so effective at accomplishing what laws alone do not. Experience teaches that, while CPS agencies may be staffed by people with an anti-dad mindset, juries seldom are. Dads should quit going hat in hand to agencies that have proven time and again to disdain them.
http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=4775
unhappygrammy-In NH child welfare agencies choose foster care over kinship care as well as father care!
May 4th, 2010 by Robert Franklin, Esq.
In case anyone thought that fathers have it better somewhere else, consider this article out of Finland (Helsingin Sanomat, 4/30/10). It seems that in that country, fathers are battling child welfare agencies to get custody of their children. They're having to battle because - surprise, surprise - the child welfare agencies prefer foster care to father care. (Where have I seen that phrase before? Oh that's right, I've written it myself countless times.)
Veli-Matti Korhonen is not the only one to be in such a predicament. Helsingin Sanomat has examined the situations of two other fathers.
Although they live in different parts of the country, they share the experience that officials often only listen to the mother. Fathers are ignored. In spite of a joint custody agreement, the children are placed outside the home.
Sound familiar? It should. In this country, studies show that child protective agencies routinely ignore fathers as a placement alternative when children are taken from mothers. Indeed, the Urban Institute has shown that that happens in well over half the cases even though the father is known in 88%. The discrimination aganist fathers by CPS agencies has grown so bad and so pervasive that lawsuits against them are cropping up. One California case found the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the lower court decision that a father could sue the child welfare organization under federal civil rights statutes because it had failed to give him the opportunity at custody.
Apparently dads in Finland have no such recourse. Their situation is actually worse than here.
Many fathers around Finland are fighting to keep children who are in foster care, even though they have joint custody agreements with the mothers.
These kinds of situations arise in divorce cases in which the a joint custody arrangement exists, but the mother suddenly decides that she does not want to let the father keep the children when she is rendered unable to do so.
Such conflicts can last for years. The children in such cases suffer the most, even though everyone involved is ostensibly acting in their best interest. Municipal costs for child protective services have quadrupled in the past decade.
So, even as we've seen so often in the U.S., child welfare agencies bypass dads in favor of foster care. That's at no small cost to the children, to the fathers and to the taxpayers, but they do it anyway.
And it looks like it's all up to the mother. That too looks familiar. The situations in which fathers' rights are placed firmly in the hands of mothers are many, and foster care is one of them. For a mother, the words "I don't know who the father is" go a long way toward deciding whether he gets to see his child or not.
But if the article is accurate, in Finland, if "the mother suddenly decides that she does not want to let the father keep the children" then it's off to foster care for them and off to court for him. Somehow, someone must think some portion of that makes sense, but I can't imagine who or how. Fathers should have enforceable (by fathers) rights to children; children should have enforceable rights to fathers. Public policy and law that recognize those two things would save tax money. The only "downside" is that mothers would have to cease to be the sole arbiters of children's and fathers' rights.
“The law requires that the parents should be treated even-handedly, but in practice, mothers get support, and fathers are left on their own”, says one father. “A father who cares for his children is in a weak position."
The sense of agony is also something that the men share. “This is hell on earth. A weaker person would have given up already."
Again, as we've seen before, the law may be gender neutral, but if judges and agency personnel want it to be pro-mother, it is. That's why lawsuits can be so effective at accomplishing what laws alone do not. Experience teaches that, while CPS agencies may be staffed by people with an anti-dad mindset, juries seldom are. Dads should quit going hat in hand to agencies that have proven time and again to disdain them.
http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=4775
ONLY MONEY WILL KEEP THE PREDATORS AWAY FROM THIS CHILD.
ONLY MONEY WILL KEEP THE PREDATORS AWAY FROM THIS CHILD.
Friends and Family
HELP BRING HOME LANDON WEBER
Landon was born at 31 weeks, weighed 3 lbs., 1 oz. His lungs were undeveloped, had reflux problems, and had NEC (infections) several times that almost ended his life. He came home two months later. As he grew, it became apparent that he wasn’t developing normally. He continued to have infections and spent between several days and a week in hospitals.
Throughout, he saw Pulmonologists, Neurologists, Gastroenterologists. Because he didn’t sit up until he was fourteen months and crawl until he was eighteen months, doctors eventually suspected Cerebral Palsy. Through therapy three times a week, he walked with a walker. Because of his reflux, his gastroenterologist requested a G/J tube for supplemental feeding; he was also put on oxygen. Despite his limitations, Landon was a very active energetic boy playing.
He went through numerous tests and it was finally suspected he had a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy called Mitochondrial Disease.
His parents were given a list of 6 specialist around the country in that disease and they chose a doctor in Houston, Texas. She confirmed Mitochondrial Myopathy Complex III. It is a rare disease that most doctors could not diagnose under normal circumstances.
The family moved to Houston to be treated at Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital on July 4, 2008. Between then and July, 2009, Landon and mom Jennifer spent a total of 30 days at home. He had numerous central line infections most happened while inpatient at the hospital, which resulted in surgery to replace them; he was on life support several times when he had sepsis infections. The doctor explained that the disease affects his organs to the point that his body needs oxygen to keep the organs healthy. The parents took turns staying at the hospital with Landon while the other parent stayed at home with their other two boys.
There was always conflict between the specialists and the other staff at the hospital treating him. Several of the Pediatricians and Nurses at the hospital disagreed with Dr. Koenig’s treatment plan. Many times the other Dr.s felt that Dr. Koenig would overstep her boundaries. To make a long story short, someone at the hospital made an anonymous phone call to Child Protective Services saying that Jennifer was causing the line infections and making her son sick (Munchausens by proxy).Despite having all the documents and Physicians backing her up, They removed her from the hospital at the end of September and took her to court. After a three-day hearing, the judge said he wanted grandparents to be foster parents and live with Dad(James)and Mom(Jennifer) while they investigated. The parents were supposed to get a two hour visitation each week, Psychological evaluations (which indicated neither had any disorders); CPS said if the tests were clear, Landon could come home. Landon did come home, for a single full day. They changed their mind the next day and moved him to Texas Children’s Hospital for a complete "re-evaluation" of his condition. Doctors there took him off all medicine and oxygen and ran tests and said they proved he was perfectly healthy - despite not being specialists in the disease he was diagnosed with. At the last court hearing CPS then accused the grandparents of a new term the DA thought up, Medical Child Abuse and removed the grandparents from Landon’s care. In order to reduce the cost of Living, and to help pay for the Legal costs, the family has been living with family and friends . There will be a jury trial in August to remove permanent custody of Landon from his family. As of April, the parents have not seen Landon for more than a day since February.
Fox News Houston has been following this case since September and has uncovered an identical case; there are now 3 identical cases in Houston.
Lobbyists in Austin have been following CPS procedures for several years and it is well known in Houston that CPS removes innocent mothers from chronically ill children so they can place them in foster homes that do not know how to care for the child. The lobbyists have involved the Federal Liberation Defense Society and we now have added Criminal Lawyers and medical experts who will help defend the parents and grandparents.
It will cost $15,000, for the medical expert to testify in August and about $50,000 to take this to the federal courts.
PLEASE, if you can spare just $5.00, $10.00, $20.00 or more, it will help us to get the Expert witness and the Attorneys the help they need to bring our precious son home! You can donate through the paypal account or you can send it directly to our Legal Defense Account. Thank you so much in anything that anyone can do to help us bring home our Little Boy!
Below is the link directly to paypal.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=MPZ5UXJVJUE24
To send Money directly to the Account:
Landon Weber Fund
c/o Chris Branson
5380 West 34th Street #221
Houston, Texas 77092
PEOPLE,
The ONLY way we’re going to stop this wholesale racket that CPS and CASA have going is to take on worthy cases and financially support these innocent parents. A jury is going to decide if he goes home or not, but if the parents can’t level the playing field with the weight of the State of Texas on them, this boy will be in the care and protection of a CPS "Team" that has already buried 4 of the children in their "Care" in less than 2 years.
This effort goes beyond Landon, there are two more boys waiting on the auction block, and with an un-ending supply of new children with this disease being supplied to them by Texas Children’s Hospital on demand, there are going to be more and more deaths until the medical profession at TCH wakes up to its incompetence and failure to protect its patients.
By saving Bryson from the predators, we can save untold numbers of children with this disease, not only in Texas, but around the Nation.
If you have a blog, feel free to post this plea. These folks need our help, and we simply can’t wait for somebody else to have to undergo this abuse by a group of people who wouldn’t know a child, even when they step on them.
Pay pal in convenient, but they charge a fee. If you can, mail your donation to Chris in Houston, and 100% of your donation will go directly into Landon’s Legal Fund.
http://www.flds.ws/2010/05/06/only-money-will-keep-the-predators-away-from-this-child/
Friends and Family
HELP BRING HOME LANDON WEBER
Landon was born at 31 weeks, weighed 3 lbs., 1 oz. His lungs were undeveloped, had reflux problems, and had NEC (infections) several times that almost ended his life. He came home two months later. As he grew, it became apparent that he wasn’t developing normally. He continued to have infections and spent between several days and a week in hospitals.
Throughout, he saw Pulmonologists, Neurologists, Gastroenterologists. Because he didn’t sit up until he was fourteen months and crawl until he was eighteen months, doctors eventually suspected Cerebral Palsy. Through therapy three times a week, he walked with a walker. Because of his reflux, his gastroenterologist requested a G/J tube for supplemental feeding; he was also put on oxygen. Despite his limitations, Landon was a very active energetic boy playing.
He went through numerous tests and it was finally suspected he had a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy called Mitochondrial Disease.
His parents were given a list of 6 specialist around the country in that disease and they chose a doctor in Houston, Texas. She confirmed Mitochondrial Myopathy Complex III. It is a rare disease that most doctors could not diagnose under normal circumstances.
The family moved to Houston to be treated at Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital on July 4, 2008. Between then and July, 2009, Landon and mom Jennifer spent a total of 30 days at home. He had numerous central line infections most happened while inpatient at the hospital, which resulted in surgery to replace them; he was on life support several times when he had sepsis infections. The doctor explained that the disease affects his organs to the point that his body needs oxygen to keep the organs healthy. The parents took turns staying at the hospital with Landon while the other parent stayed at home with their other two boys.
There was always conflict between the specialists and the other staff at the hospital treating him. Several of the Pediatricians and Nurses at the hospital disagreed with Dr. Koenig’s treatment plan. Many times the other Dr.s felt that Dr. Koenig would overstep her boundaries. To make a long story short, someone at the hospital made an anonymous phone call to Child Protective Services saying that Jennifer was causing the line infections and making her son sick (Munchausens by proxy).Despite having all the documents and Physicians backing her up, They removed her from the hospital at the end of September and took her to court. After a three-day hearing, the judge said he wanted grandparents to be foster parents and live with Dad(James)and Mom(Jennifer) while they investigated. The parents were supposed to get a two hour visitation each week, Psychological evaluations (which indicated neither had any disorders); CPS said if the tests were clear, Landon could come home. Landon did come home, for a single full day. They changed their mind the next day and moved him to Texas Children’s Hospital for a complete "re-evaluation" of his condition. Doctors there took him off all medicine and oxygen and ran tests and said they proved he was perfectly healthy - despite not being specialists in the disease he was diagnosed with. At the last court hearing CPS then accused the grandparents of a new term the DA thought up, Medical Child Abuse and removed the grandparents from Landon’s care. In order to reduce the cost of Living, and to help pay for the Legal costs, the family has been living with family and friends . There will be a jury trial in August to remove permanent custody of Landon from his family. As of April, the parents have not seen Landon for more than a day since February.
Fox News Houston has been following this case since September and has uncovered an identical case; there are now 3 identical cases in Houston.
Lobbyists in Austin have been following CPS procedures for several years and it is well known in Houston that CPS removes innocent mothers from chronically ill children so they can place them in foster homes that do not know how to care for the child. The lobbyists have involved the Federal Liberation Defense Society and we now have added Criminal Lawyers and medical experts who will help defend the parents and grandparents.
It will cost $15,000, for the medical expert to testify in August and about $50,000 to take this to the federal courts.
PLEASE, if you can spare just $5.00, $10.00, $20.00 or more, it will help us to get the Expert witness and the Attorneys the help they need to bring our precious son home! You can donate through the paypal account or you can send it directly to our Legal Defense Account. Thank you so much in anything that anyone can do to help us bring home our Little Boy!
Below is the link directly to paypal.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=MPZ5UXJVJUE24
To send Money directly to the Account:
Landon Weber Fund
c/o Chris Branson
5380 West 34th Street #221
Houston, Texas 77092
PEOPLE,
The ONLY way we’re going to stop this wholesale racket that CPS and CASA have going is to take on worthy cases and financially support these innocent parents. A jury is going to decide if he goes home or not, but if the parents can’t level the playing field with the weight of the State of Texas on them, this boy will be in the care and protection of a CPS "Team" that has already buried 4 of the children in their "Care" in less than 2 years.
This effort goes beyond Landon, there are two more boys waiting on the auction block, and with an un-ending supply of new children with this disease being supplied to them by Texas Children’s Hospital on demand, there are going to be more and more deaths until the medical profession at TCH wakes up to its incompetence and failure to protect its patients.
By saving Bryson from the predators, we can save untold numbers of children with this disease, not only in Texas, but around the Nation.
If you have a blog, feel free to post this plea. These folks need our help, and we simply can’t wait for somebody else to have to undergo this abuse by a group of people who wouldn’t know a child, even when they step on them.
Pay pal in convenient, but they charge a fee. If you can, mail your donation to Chris in Houston, and 100% of your donation will go directly into Landon’s Legal Fund.
http://www.flds.ws/2010/05/06/only-money-will-keep-the-predators-away-from-this-child/
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