Ruling goes against adoptive mother (As it Should!)

Published: July 2, 2010
Updated: 3:41 p.m.
Ruling goes against adoptive mother
By GREG HARDESTY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ORANGE – An adoptive mother lost a key battle Friday in a long-running child-custody fight with her daughter's biological father, and was ordered to part soon with the 2-year-old girl she has raised since birth.
Orange County Judge Michael J. Naughton ruled that officials in the father's home — Montgomery County, in Ohio — have jurisdiction over the ongoing case. As a result, Vanessa Doss, 2, is expected to be placed in foster care there by July 16. After that, officials there will sort out if Vanessa will eventually return to the Rancho Santa Margarita home of Stacey Doss, her adoptive mother since birth, or stay in the custody of her biological father, Benjamin Mills Jr., 39.

Stacey Doss of Rancho Santa Margarita gets a smooch from her adopted daughter Vanessa, 2. The single mom is caught up in an interstate custody battle after Vanessa's dad emerged and now wants his daughter back. Doss has launched an online "Operation Vanessa" campaign to win support for her side.

Mills in 2005 served time for domestic battery, and child services officials in Ohio reportedly are investigating the status of Mills' four other biological children.
Doss, 45, adopted Vanessa two years ago under the belief that Mills was not expected to be part of the baby's life.
"I was shaking like a leaf during the hearing– now I need to lie down. I'm in shock," Doss said in an interview after the hearing.
"I am now certain that there is no one in this entire judicial process, either in Ohio or California, who has any regard for Vanessa's well being."
Officials in Ohio wanted Vanessa to be returned there immediately, but Doss' attorneys successfully argued that an emergency custody order still in place is valid.
Naughton agreed to give Doss until July 16 to try to successfully appeal the ruling and keep Vanessa in Orange County.
If the appeal fails, Vanessa will be placed in foster care, with Mills getting night visits, according to Doss. Eventually, Doss said Naughton indicated, the child likely will be placed with the birth grandmother.
The proceedings were not open to the media or public.
Doss said she plans to continue fighting for custody of Vanessa even if her appeal fails.
A hearing set for July 29 in Ohio will address whether Mills acted as the "presumed father" during the pregnancy. If it is deemed he did not, Doss may have more legal ammunition to get her daughter back, although it is unclear how much since laws regarding child-custody issues differ among states.
Mills served time for domestic violence in 2005 in an incident involving Vanessa's birth mother, according to court records.
Mills' attorney, Elizabeth Gorman of Legal Aid of Western Ohio, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Friday's hearing attracted about 25 sign-waving supporters of Doss' online "Operation Vanessa" campaign as well as a bank of television camera crews.
Neither side in the dispute argued that Mills was Vanessa's biological father, or that Doss adopted Vanessa two years ago believing that Mills wasn't part of the child's life.
Doss, a public relations consultant and single mother, believes Mills shouldn't get custody because Vanessa is the only mother she has known – and that separating Vanessa from her will have a devastating effect on the child.
"I actually don't have any plans to give her to anybody," Doss said.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mills-256103-vanessa-ohio.html

LA County child abuse investigator arrested on suspicion of having sex with teen

CRIME & COURTS

LA County child abuse investigator arrested on suspicion of having sex with teen
Published July 01, 2010 | Associated Press

LOS ANGELES
A Los Angeles County child abuse investigator has been arrested on suspicion of having sex with a 15-year-old girl.

San Bernardino police say 45-year-old Rod Carter was arrested Sunday for investigation of statutory rape and was released on bail.

Lt. Dan Keil says police officers found Carter and the girl having sex in a parked car and are trying to determine whether she was a prostitute.

The county Department of Children and Family Services says Carter wasn't on duty and the girl wasn't involved with the child welfare system.

Carter on Thursday declined to discuss the arrest but says he's going to be fired and won't challenge his termination, calling it appropriate because of the nature of the allegations.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/01/la-county-child-abuse-investigator-arrested-suspicion-having-sex-teen/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+foxnews/national+(Text+-+National)&utm_content=Google+Reader

California Judge Issues Injunction Against Orange County CPS Workers

California Judge Issues Injunction Against Orange County CPS Workers




RE: FOGARTY-HARDWICK v. COUNTY OF ORANGE, ET AL.

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF ORANGE

Case No. 01CC02379 (Trial before Hon. Ronald L. Bauer, Dept. CX103)

On May 14, 2007, Orange County Superior Court Judge, Ronald Bauer (Dept.

CX-103) issued an injunction against the Orange County Social Services Agency requiring the agency to obtain "reasonable and articulable evidence" prior to initiating dependency proceedings alleging abuse, neglect or abandonment of a child.

The injunction follows on the heels of an earlier and unprecedented jury verdict of $4.9 million against Orange County and two of its social workers Marcia Vreeken and Helen Dwojak for violating the parental rights of Deanna Fogarty, as guaranteed under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

This case was brought by Deanna Fogarty against the County of Orange, Marcia Vreeken, Elaine Wilkins, and their supervisor Helen Dwojak to recover damages arising from Defendants alleged violations of Ms. Fogarty's constitutional rights to raise and associate with her children, free from governmental interference.

On March 23, 2007, an Orange County Jury found against Orange County, social worker Marcia Vreeken, and social worker supervisor Helen Dwojak and awarded monetary damages of $4.9 million. A third social worker, Elaine Wilkins was found not liable.

In addition to seeking damages, Ms. Fogarty also sought to enjoin the Orange County Social Services Agency from continuing its allegedly unlawful practice of making allegations of wrong doing against parents in dependency proceedings without supporting evidence.

Lead trial attorney Shawn A. McMillan states: "Ms. Fogarty is very pleased with Judge Bauer's decision to issue the injunction. This is a very important issue to my client, and the court's decision today clearly demonstrates that sufficient evidence was presented to convince the court that the customs, policies and practices of the agency were unlawful. This injunction is expected to have incalculable and far reaching effects for a great many families presently experiencing the vagaries of the Social Service system in Orange County, and perhaps throughout the state. The injunction will force a change that is long overdue."

An electronic copy of the permanent injunction are available at:

Orange County CPS Injunction

San Diego Lawyer Shawn A. McMillan, of the Law Offices of Shawn A. McMillan, was trial counsel in the case.

For additional information, contact:

Shawn A. McMillan, Esq.

THE LAW OFFICES OF SHAWN A. McMILLAN, A.P.C.

4955 Via Lapiz

San Diego, California 92122

Telephone: (858) 646-0069

Facsimile: (206) 600-4582

Website: www.mcmillan-law.com

E-Mail: attyshawn @ netscape.net

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Scott McMillan
RESULT ORIENTED MARKETING, INC.

http://fereals.com/naja/m92o9211535651io19/rt535607844

FOSTER MOTHER CHARGED WITH ALLEGED ASSAULT ON 8-YEAR-OLD

FOSTER MOTHER CHARGED WITH ALLEGED ASSAULT ON 8-YEAR-OLD
Is this how CPS/DCYF protects our Children?

Story Published: Jul 2, 2010 at 8:22 AM EDT
Story Updated: Jul 2, 2010 at 2:02 PM EDT
An 8-year-old is in critical condition at a Syracuse hospital and her foster mother is charged with assault and is being held in Jefferson County Jail on $75,000 bail.
Zoraida Figueroa-Norse, 33, of Bristol, VT, was charged early Friday morning with second degree assault, a felony.
The investigation was initiated a week ago after the child was taken to Samaritan Medial Center by private vehicle. Police said that the child had severe head and abdominal injuries.
The incident took place while Figueroa-Norse was visiting relatives just outside of Watertown.
The child, also from Vermont, is listed as in critical condition at a Syracuse Hospital.
The investigation is continuing.
While Figueroa-Norse is a fister mother, she is not part of Jefferson County's foster parent program, according to Department of Social Services officials.



http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/97658584.html

Psychotropic Drug Abuse in Foster Care Costs Government Billions

Psychotropic Drug Abuse in Foster Care Costs Government Billions
Reposted from: http://www.infowars.com/psychotropic-drug-abuse-in-foster-care-costs-government-billions/
June 22, 2010 @ 3:02 pm
Politics Daily | According to a number of foster care experts, children in foster care, who are typically concurrently enrolled in Medicaid, are three or four more times as likely to be on psychotropic medications than other children on Medicaid.

http://truthiscontagious.com/2010/06/22/psychotropic-drug-abuse-in-foster-care-costs-government-billions-2

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Joshua
Posted under residential weight loss by admin on Sunday 27 June 2010
Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Joshua

I took my video camera to a Foster Care Alumni meeting and asked seven foster kids to tell me about there experiences in Child Protective Services while wards of the state.

One thing they all had in common was massive over drugging with psychiatric drugs.

Child placement agencies, foster parents, RTCs (Residential Treatment Centers) and Therapeutic Foster Homes get paid a certain amount of money each day for taking care of a foster child. The amount of money they get paid depends on a level of care system. The more difficult the child or the more problems that child has, the more money you get.

A child at the basic level of care is worth about 17 dollars a day where as a child in the highest level of care could be worth as much as a 1000 dollars a day. This puts the incentive on diagnosing children with behavior problems to justify raising their level of care. A child on psychiatric drugs is worth more than a child without problems.

It is not uncommon for a foster child to be placed on many different psychotropic drugs at the same time. Some investigations have found children on as many as 13 mind altering drugs prescribed by a psychiatrists at one time.

These drugs include all categories of psychiatric drugs; antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications, anticonvulsants medications, etc.

The SSRI drugs are commons such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc. Also a number of these children described taking Risperdal, Zyprexa, Geodon and other new generation antipsychotics which have been linked to weight gain, obesity and diabetes.

Visit the website for the Foster Care Alumni of America.

http://www.fostercarealumni.org/

This video was produced by psychetruth.

http://www.youtube.com/psychetruth

http://www.myspace.com/psychtruth

http://www.livevideo.com/psychetruth

The video may be copied, publicly displayed or used for any strictly non-commercial use provided it remain in it’s full unedited form. Alteration or commercial use is stickily prohibited. Copyright 2007 Zoe Sofia.



http://weightlossspasite.com/1241/psychiatry-drugs-foster-care-children-joshua/

A Dark View Of Foster Care

THURSDAY, JULY 01, 2010
A Dark View Of Foster Care
Panel is given a dark view of foster care


Many of the most troubled end up far from home, lawmakers are told

By TERRI LANGFORD

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

AUSTIN — Many of the most troubled foster children in Texas, some of them depressed and suicidal, are shipped hundreds of miles from home to residential treatments centers in Houston - where they have no family, no visitors and little hope of leaving state care.


These children are so afflicted with mental and emotional issues that caseworkers have little choice but to place them in the most restrictive of foster care centers, known as RTCs, one stop short of a psychiatric hospital, Anne Heiligenstein, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services commissioner, told members of the House Human Services Committee Wednesday.

Half of the RTCs in the state are in the Houston area. At least 1,600 children live in RTCs in Texas, representing 10 percent of the state's foster care children.

"What they don't understand and they will never forgive us for is why they can't be with their siblings," Heiligenstein said. "To separate siblings is another wound to children besides taking them from their own home that they really don't get over."

Six of 10 children who live in 33 Houston area RTCs, aren't from the Houston area.

By shipping children hundreds of miles from their families, the goal of eventually releasing them from state care becomes more elusive. Visits to siblings or non-abusive family members becomes too expensive, transportation-wise.

Press reports cited

Heiligenstein said one 17-year-old girl, placed in an RTC after she had been sexually abused, was transferred from one center to another because she was difficult to control, physically aggressive, suicidal and often engaged in self-mutilation.

"That means 26 times we had to remove her from her caregiver," she said.

Another child has had 50 placements.

Heiligenstein discussed the problems of RTC care as she fielded questions from members of the House Human Services Committee over conditions at the facilities, and outlined her plans to redesign the foster care system, untouched since 1991.

The care of children inside RTC's led the committee agenda as lawmakers questioned agency staff about steps that have been taken since a Chronicle/Texas Tribune report detailed 250 confirmed abuse incidents - from physical beatings to humiliating punishments - that have occurred in centers in the past two years.

In one 2008 case, staff at the Manvel-based Daystar Residential Inc. encouraged seven developmentally disabled girls to fight one another, rewarding the winners with snacks. In another incident at Houston's Serenity RTC, staffers forced residents to strip down to their underwear and take off their shoes so they wouldn't run away.

"Why did members of the Legislature have to initially find out about this problem, this issue, through the press?" asked Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin. "We need to know about these things."

Though Heiligenstein said the information was publicly available, she also conceded that lawmakers "have every right to be frustrated when you get caught by surprise."

Since the Chronicle/ Tribune report last month, the Department of Family and Protective Services has suspended placements at Daystar and hired an on-site monitor to help with training and check on conditions for Austin.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7088843.html


What About Our Sons? We Must Save Our Sons and Daughters