Idaho lawmakers target child rights treaty - Spokesman.com - Feb. 2, 2011
BOISE — Idaho’s Republican-dominated Legislature is taking aim at a global children’s rights treaty the United States has yet to ratify, backing an amendment to the Constitution to protect parental rights as a buffer against it.
The 20-year-old treaty has been ratified by every United Nations member except the U.S. and Somalia. But Idaho lawmakers are among American critics who are so worried they are supporting an amendment to the Constitution that says parents have a “fundamental right” to raise their children without government interference.
“I think it’s necessary to send a message,” said House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star. “We want them to know that we’re concerned about it.”
Moyle is co-sponsoring a resolution with House Education Committee Chairman Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, to support the parental rights amendment to the Constitution. The resolution says the children’s rights treaty “would drastically alter this fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.”
Nonini introduced the resolution in the House Education Committee, where it passed on a 14-3 vote on Wednesday. It now goes to the full House for consideration.
“This presents an opportunity for us to do something tangible to support the families of Idaho,” Nonini said.
Opponents of the treaty contend it would enable the government and U.N. officials to interfere with parental authority. Supporters view the treaty as a valuable guidepost for children’s basic rights, such as education, health care and protection from abuse, saying the goals are undermined by the refusal of the world’s lone superpower to ratify it.
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a Republican from Michigan, introduced the parental rights amendment last spring and it now has more than 140 co-sponsors in the House, including Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, has introduced it in the Senate, where Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, is among a handful of co-sponsors.
They are still far short of the needed two-thirds support in both chambers of Congress to forward the amendment to the states.
Republican sponsors of the Idaho resolution said it was a pre-emptive move to protect parent’s rights should Congress ratify the treaty. But Minority Caucus Chair Brian Cronin countered that parental rights were already protected under the Constitution and ratification of the treaty in Congress was a long shot.
“We’re reacting to something that might never happen,” said Cronin, D-Boise.
Some Republicans suggested that Idaho should push back even more, saying a constitutional amendment might not be enough to stop the government-led “erosion” of the rights of parents to oversee the upbringing and education of their children.
“I’m telling you there’s interference like you can’t believe from the state government and the federal government,” said Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home. “I don’t see where a constitutional amendment takes care of the problem.”
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
Sunday, February 6, 2011
CPS Being Paid to BreakUp Families? | Gather
CPS Being Paid to BreakUp Families? | Gather
by Marilyn M.
Member since:
February 14, 2007
CPS Being Paid to BreakUp Families?
February 05, 2011 06:56 PM EST (Updated: February 05, 2011 07:05 PM EST)
views: 117 | 9 people recommend this | comments: 17
Do you remember when the politician in California caught media attention talking about the corruption of CPS? He said that if he was elected, he would show how local governments were benefiting - big time - for the "legal" abduction of children.
From: The Child Abuse Laws Which Could Destroy Your Reputation
"Most people are not aware of how much profit many of these services provide the county," John Van Doorn told a San Diego newspaper. "These profits are hard to ignore and even more difficult to pass up.
Counties can bring in thousands of dollars in excess revenue for each child in foster care, Van Doorn said – which means they have more incentive to remove children from their families than to keep families intact. "As such … our county government is a major factor in the dismantling of families and/or destruction of children's lives," he said.
He then cited San Diego CPS for "egregious behaviors" that included accusing parents of child abuse without any evidence.
The ugly truth is that San Diego isn't the only community where false accusations of child abuse occur. Across the nation, the practice has become so blatant that some of the leading experts on child abuse and foster care have started to cry "foul."
Here's only part of the story:
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is the federal law on which almost all state and local legislation and funding for child protective services are based. Enacted in 1988, CAPTA directs the U.S. Health and Human Services' Administration for Children & Families to provide grants to communities for child abuse prevention programs.
As a federal mandate, CAPTA mandates states to implement child abuse laws on their own, so they can align themselves for the massive funding and grants that go along with the law.
In theory as the years went by, if the goal for this law – to reduce child abuse in this country – had been successful, then today we should need less funding for these programs, not more. Success also should have resulted in fewer children in foster care and even fewer being put up for adoption.
But in reality, the opposite happened. Instead of less children in foster care, the numbers went up for nine years after CAPTA was passed. And, layers and layers of state and federal government programs and agencies whose funding depends solely on child abuse occurring were created.
In 1999 foster care numbers started dropping – but only because of new laws that encouraged states to move children out of foster care and into adoptive homes.
Of course, that legislation came with funding too, giving CPS a new avenue for making more money and creating more jobs and more programs. The tragedy is what Van Doorn pointed out in his campaign: the financial incentives for rooting out child abuse actually encourage agencies to make false accusations against parents, and to tear families apart for something that did not occur.
How this Law Actually has Increased Child Abuse Reports
What happened in San Diego is not an anomaly, nor is it new. In 1991, the bi-partisan National Commission on Children had already figured out that children were being taken from their families "prematurely or unnecessarily" because federal formulas give states "a strong financial incentive" to do so rather than provide services to keep families together."
As a result, the federal government and a number of states created legislation that was supposed to keep more families together. But as the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (NCCPR) reports, those efforts only disrupted more families, and encouraged more adoptions.
Again, the reason is financial: the new laws give "bounties to states of up to $8,000 or more per child for every adoption they finalize over a baseline number," NCCPR reports. And again, all the help goes to foster and adoptive parents. "About the only parents the federal government won't help indefinitely are birth parents," NCCPR found.
But the injustices don't stop there, because in order to get that money, states have to have children to take away and place – and therein lies the incentive to falsely accuse parents of harming their children and to forcibly remove children even when there is no evidence to do so.
"CPS nationally are doing a job they've never been trained to do," says Kim Hart, a trial strategist and facilitator who has been assisting attorneys in defending persons accused of child abuse for more than 18 years. They're investigating people who have never been charged, and calling them child abusers, and taking kids away, and they get paid to do it.
This mechanism is bigger than what most people know. It goes all the way back to the 1980s with legislation that told states they had to develop registries with mandatory child abuse reporting."
The money that follows a child abuse accusation and subsequent placement of the so-called endangered children into foster care or adoption is the real catalyst for the epidemic of child abuse accusations, Hart said.
"And there is no incentive for any physician or anybody involved to be intellectually honest about this because the law also gives them immunity if they're wrong," she said.
"So what happens is that the minute CPS is involved – or the second the EMTs are called (for example, in sudden infant death or alleged shaken baby cases), parents are already labeled as child abusers."
How are States Spending this Extra Money?
According to NCCPR, in FY 2010 the federal government is expected to spend at least $7 more on foster care and $4 more on adoption for every dollar spent to prevent foster care or speed reunification. This is based on President Obama's $4.681 billion foster care budget for FY2010 – an increase of $21 million over FY2009. The number represents a decrease of 4,300 children a month in foster care.
But this decrease is based on "placement of children in more permanent settings." In other words, states are getting more money to take care of fewer children by placing more of them in adoptive homes.
The law also increases incentives for adoption by paying out $1,000 to $8,000 extra for certain types of children who are placed for adoption.
The twist is that states are not required to put this money back in to keeping families intact or even for preventing child abuse. Instead, by law, they can use it for non-child-related things, such as delivering meals to senior citizens or for transportation services, or a range of other home-based services!
In San Diego, Van Doorn couldn't get a direct answer when he demanded that city officials tell him where their $4,000 per adopted child was going. But a look at any state's budget – from Minnesota to Florida to Connecticut and back to California – can tell you that local governments and states are cutting back or flat-lining children's services and using these extra federal dollars to balance their budgets .
Click above to read more.
This might explain how the family in New Jersey had their children taken from them.
A family needing our prayer and support
Abuse is a serious thing and when CPS takes children from their parents for no reason, they are participating in abuse themselves. Besides, while they're busy concentrating on families that don't need help, they are neglecting the children and families who do need help.
This is why the federal government needs to be reduced, not expanded. This would not be happening if there were not "rewards" being issued by the federal government.
by Marilyn M.
Member since:
February 14, 2007
CPS Being Paid to BreakUp Families?
February 05, 2011 06:56 PM EST (Updated: February 05, 2011 07:05 PM EST)
views: 117 | 9 people recommend this | comments: 17
Do you remember when the politician in California caught media attention talking about the corruption of CPS? He said that if he was elected, he would show how local governments were benefiting - big time - for the "legal" abduction of children.
From: The Child Abuse Laws Which Could Destroy Your Reputation
"Most people are not aware of how much profit many of these services provide the county," John Van Doorn told a San Diego newspaper. "These profits are hard to ignore and even more difficult to pass up.
Counties can bring in thousands of dollars in excess revenue for each child in foster care, Van Doorn said – which means they have more incentive to remove children from their families than to keep families intact. "As such … our county government is a major factor in the dismantling of families and/or destruction of children's lives," he said.
He then cited San Diego CPS for "egregious behaviors" that included accusing parents of child abuse without any evidence.
The ugly truth is that San Diego isn't the only community where false accusations of child abuse occur. Across the nation, the practice has become so blatant that some of the leading experts on child abuse and foster care have started to cry "foul."
Here's only part of the story:
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is the federal law on which almost all state and local legislation and funding for child protective services are based. Enacted in 1988, CAPTA directs the U.S. Health and Human Services' Administration for Children & Families to provide grants to communities for child abuse prevention programs.
As a federal mandate, CAPTA mandates states to implement child abuse laws on their own, so they can align themselves for the massive funding and grants that go along with the law.
In theory as the years went by, if the goal for this law – to reduce child abuse in this country – had been successful, then today we should need less funding for these programs, not more. Success also should have resulted in fewer children in foster care and even fewer being put up for adoption.
But in reality, the opposite happened. Instead of less children in foster care, the numbers went up for nine years after CAPTA was passed. And, layers and layers of state and federal government programs and agencies whose funding depends solely on child abuse occurring were created.
In 1999 foster care numbers started dropping – but only because of new laws that encouraged states to move children out of foster care and into adoptive homes.
Of course, that legislation came with funding too, giving CPS a new avenue for making more money and creating more jobs and more programs. The tragedy is what Van Doorn pointed out in his campaign: the financial incentives for rooting out child abuse actually encourage agencies to make false accusations against parents, and to tear families apart for something that did not occur.
How this Law Actually has Increased Child Abuse Reports
What happened in San Diego is not an anomaly, nor is it new. In 1991, the bi-partisan National Commission on Children had already figured out that children were being taken from their families "prematurely or unnecessarily" because federal formulas give states "a strong financial incentive" to do so rather than provide services to keep families together."
As a result, the federal government and a number of states created legislation that was supposed to keep more families together. But as the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (NCCPR) reports, those efforts only disrupted more families, and encouraged more adoptions.
Again, the reason is financial: the new laws give "bounties to states of up to $8,000 or more per child for every adoption they finalize over a baseline number," NCCPR reports. And again, all the help goes to foster and adoptive parents. "About the only parents the federal government won't help indefinitely are birth parents," NCCPR found.
But the injustices don't stop there, because in order to get that money, states have to have children to take away and place – and therein lies the incentive to falsely accuse parents of harming their children and to forcibly remove children even when there is no evidence to do so.
"CPS nationally are doing a job they've never been trained to do," says Kim Hart, a trial strategist and facilitator who has been assisting attorneys in defending persons accused of child abuse for more than 18 years. They're investigating people who have never been charged, and calling them child abusers, and taking kids away, and they get paid to do it.
This mechanism is bigger than what most people know. It goes all the way back to the 1980s with legislation that told states they had to develop registries with mandatory child abuse reporting."
The money that follows a child abuse accusation and subsequent placement of the so-called endangered children into foster care or adoption is the real catalyst for the epidemic of child abuse accusations, Hart said.
"And there is no incentive for any physician or anybody involved to be intellectually honest about this because the law also gives them immunity if they're wrong," she said.
"So what happens is that the minute CPS is involved – or the second the EMTs are called (for example, in sudden infant death or alleged shaken baby cases), parents are already labeled as child abusers."
How are States Spending this Extra Money?
According to NCCPR, in FY 2010 the federal government is expected to spend at least $7 more on foster care and $4 more on adoption for every dollar spent to prevent foster care or speed reunification. This is based on President Obama's $4.681 billion foster care budget for FY2010 – an increase of $21 million over FY2009. The number represents a decrease of 4,300 children a month in foster care.
But this decrease is based on "placement of children in more permanent settings." In other words, states are getting more money to take care of fewer children by placing more of them in adoptive homes.
The law also increases incentives for adoption by paying out $1,000 to $8,000 extra for certain types of children who are placed for adoption.
The twist is that states are not required to put this money back in to keeping families intact or even for preventing child abuse. Instead, by law, they can use it for non-child-related things, such as delivering meals to senior citizens or for transportation services, or a range of other home-based services!
In San Diego, Van Doorn couldn't get a direct answer when he demanded that city officials tell him where their $4,000 per adopted child was going. But a look at any state's budget – from Minnesota to Florida to Connecticut and back to California – can tell you that local governments and states are cutting back or flat-lining children's services and using these extra federal dollars to balance their budgets .
Click above to read more.
This might explain how the family in New Jersey had their children taken from them.
A family needing our prayer and support
Abuse is a serious thing and when CPS takes children from their parents for no reason, they are participating in abuse themselves. Besides, while they're busy concentrating on families that don't need help, they are neglecting the children and families who do need help.
This is why the federal government needs to be reduced, not expanded. This would not be happening if there were not "rewards" being issued by the federal government.
The Truth Bites "NH": FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Truth Bites "NH": FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, February 6, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Valentine's Day, Monday February 14, 2011 at 11:00 am, Mothers of Lost Children will hold a press conference in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave SW, Washington DC. They are protesting the enormous expenditure of tax dollars to help ex-prisoners and known abusers connect with their children, and the heartbreak for mothers and children when this funding is misused and misapplied. A vigil and speakout by mothers and chlild victims will be held at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW on Sunday February 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
During the past two decades, mothers have been losing custody of their children (even nursing infants) in increasing numbers to fathers who are convicted or identified batterers, child molesters, drug addicts, gang-bangers and felons. Family courts force children into the custody of abusive fathers at alarming rates, allowing these men to continue controlling and abusing their victims. Research shows that 70% of batterers who ask for custody get it. Safe mothers who left the abusers in order to protect their children are frequently labeled "unfriendly" and are inappropriately ordered to supervised visitation or denied all contact with their children.
"The reason, in part," says Karen Anderson, Executive Director of California Protective Parents Association, "lies in a misguided and dangerous objective of the Fatherhood Initiative to give fathers access to their children regardless of the risk they pose." 'The goal is to have former prisoners paying child support and reconnecting with their children as soon as possible,' (Washington Post June 21, 2010.)
"It's crazy to believe that allowing violent men to care for children is a good idea. Vulnerable children should not be used as guinea pigs to try to rehabilitate criminals," says Anderson.
The National Fatherhood Initiative website states in 15 years it has "ensured that two million more children are living with their fathers". The Leadership Council research indicates 58,000 children are placed with abusers every year. These statistics may be connected.
"Thousands of former prisoners and identified abusers have also discovered that if they get custody, they can receive child support instead of paying it." says Ms. Anderson. "It's a batterers' and molesters' paradise. Federally-funded supervised visitation centers are meant to protect children during visits with potentially dangerous fathers. Instead, family courts order safe mothers to see their children under supervision, which means the children aren't able to tell their mothers about abuse by their fathers. That way the Fatherhood Initiative goals are met to access even more federal funds."
During this time of deep fiscal crisis, when children are hungry and parents are penniless, $500,000,000.00 dollars designated to increase marriage and promote ex-prisoners to reconnect with and often harm children is doubly offensive.
Mothers of Lost Children call for a Congressional investigation into the failure of family courts to protect children and potential fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=im7hdldab&et=1104423551469&s=8941&e=001Af2KIs9iay-xpJMdE7UGgzfXHrlMBgDHZszYhHx3NgMcwB0zp3uAwayu62s5_6tv9NKhWcOftNkmdw4JRoWj399Rp2TXF1WRh6ZlTGVYso0wwDGZeFW6G2u6HYnHHU-wFQX5gp3ESSs=
Sunday, February 6, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Valentine's Day, Monday February 14, 2011 at 11:00 am, Mothers of Lost Children will hold a press conference in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave SW, Washington DC. They are protesting the enormous expenditure of tax dollars to help ex-prisoners and known abusers connect with their children, and the heartbreak for mothers and children when this funding is misused and misapplied. A vigil and speakout by mothers and chlild victims will be held at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW on Sunday February 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
During the past two decades, mothers have been losing custody of their children (even nursing infants) in increasing numbers to fathers who are convicted or identified batterers, child molesters, drug addicts, gang-bangers and felons. Family courts force children into the custody of abusive fathers at alarming rates, allowing these men to continue controlling and abusing their victims. Research shows that 70% of batterers who ask for custody get it. Safe mothers who left the abusers in order to protect their children are frequently labeled "unfriendly" and are inappropriately ordered to supervised visitation or denied all contact with their children.
"The reason, in part," says Karen Anderson, Executive Director of California Protective Parents Association, "lies in a misguided and dangerous objective of the Fatherhood Initiative to give fathers access to their children regardless of the risk they pose." 'The goal is to have former prisoners paying child support and reconnecting with their children as soon as possible,' (Washington Post June 21, 2010.)
"It's crazy to believe that allowing violent men to care for children is a good idea. Vulnerable children should not be used as guinea pigs to try to rehabilitate criminals," says Anderson.
The National Fatherhood Initiative website states in 15 years it has "ensured that two million more children are living with their fathers". The Leadership Council research indicates 58,000 children are placed with abusers every year. These statistics may be connected.
"Thousands of former prisoners and identified abusers have also discovered that if they get custody, they can receive child support instead of paying it." says Ms. Anderson. "It's a batterers' and molesters' paradise. Federally-funded supervised visitation centers are meant to protect children during visits with potentially dangerous fathers. Instead, family courts order safe mothers to see their children under supervision, which means the children aren't able to tell their mothers about abuse by their fathers. That way the Fatherhood Initiative goals are met to access even more federal funds."
During this time of deep fiscal crisis, when children are hungry and parents are penniless, $500,000,000.00 dollars designated to increase marriage and promote ex-prisoners to reconnect with and often harm children is doubly offensive.
Mothers of Lost Children call for a Congressional investigation into the failure of family courts to protect children and potential fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=im7hdldab&et=1104423551469&s=8941&e=001Af2KIs9iay-xpJMdE7UGgzfXHrlMBgDHZszYhHx3NgMcwB0zp3uAwayu62s5_6tv9NKhWcOftNkmdw4JRoWj399Rp2TXF1WRh6ZlTGVYso0wwDGZeFW6G2u6HYnHHU-wFQX5gp3ESSs=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Subject: News from CA Protective Parents Association
Subject: News from CA Protective Parents Association
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Anne Hart 916-715-5243
On Valentine's Day, Monday February 14, 2011 at 11:00 am, Mothers of Lost Children will hold a press conference in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave SW, Washington DC. They are protesting the enormous expenditure of tax dollars to help ex-prisoners and known abusers connect with their children, and the heartbreak for mothers and children when this funding is misused and misapplied. A vigil and speakout by mothers and chlild victims will be held at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW on Sunday February 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
During the past two decades, mothers have been losing custody of their children (even nursing infants) in increasing numbers to fathers who are convicted or identified batterers, child molesters, drug addicts, gang-bangers and felons. Family courts force children into the custody of abusive fathers at alarming rates, allowing these men to continue controlling and abusing their victims. Research shows that 70% of batterers who ask for custody get it. Safe mothers who left the abusers in order to protect their children are frequently labeled "unfriendly" and are inappropriately ordered to supervised visitation or denied all contact with their children.
"The reason, in part," says Karen Anderson, Executive Director of California Protective Parents Association, "lies in a misguided and dangerous objective of the Fatherhood Initiative to give fathers access to their children regardless of the risk they pose." 'The goal is to have former prisoners paying child support and reconnecting with their children as soon as possible,' (Washington Post June 21, 2010.)
"It's crazy to believe that allowing violent men to care for children is a good idea. Vulnerable children should not be used as guinea pigs to try to rehabilitate criminals," says Anderson.
The National Fatherhood Initiative website states in 15 years it has "ensured that two million more children are living with their fathers". The Leadership Council research indicates 58,000 children are placed with abusers every year. These statistics may be connected.
"Thousands of former prisoners and identified abusers have also discovered that if they get custody, they can receive child support instead of paying it." says Ms. Anderson. "It's a batterers' and molesters' paradise. Federally-funded supervised visitation centers are meant to protect children during visits with potentially dangerous fathers. Instead, family courts order safe mothers to see their children under supervision, which means the children aren't able to tell their mothers about abuse by their fathers. That way the Fatherhood Initiative goals are met to access even more federal funds."
During this time of deep fiscal crisis, when children are hungry and parents are penniless, $500,000,000.00 dollars designated to increase marriage and promote ex-prisoners to reconnect with and often harm children is doubly offensive.
Mothers of Lost Children call for a Congressional investigation into the failure of family courts to protect children and potential fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
www.mothers-of-lost-children.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Anne Hart 916-715-5243
On Valentine's Day, Monday February 14, 2011 at 11:00 am, Mothers of Lost Children will hold a press conference in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave SW, Washington DC. They are protesting the enormous expenditure of tax dollars to help ex-prisoners and known abusers connect with their children, and the heartbreak for mothers and children when this funding is misused and misapplied. A vigil and speakout by mothers and chlild victims will be held at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW on Sunday February 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
During the past two decades, mothers have been losing custody of their children (even nursing infants) in increasing numbers to fathers who are convicted or identified batterers, child molesters, drug addicts, gang-bangers and felons. Family courts force children into the custody of abusive fathers at alarming rates, allowing these men to continue controlling and abusing their victims. Research shows that 70% of batterers who ask for custody get it. Safe mothers who left the abusers in order to protect their children are frequently labeled "unfriendly" and are inappropriately ordered to supervised visitation or denied all contact with their children.
"The reason, in part," says Karen Anderson, Executive Director of California Protective Parents Association, "lies in a misguided and dangerous objective of the Fatherhood Initiative to give fathers access to their children regardless of the risk they pose." 'The goal is to have former prisoners paying child support and reconnecting with their children as soon as possible,' (Washington Post June 21, 2010.)
"It's crazy to believe that allowing violent men to care for children is a good idea. Vulnerable children should not be used as guinea pigs to try to rehabilitate criminals," says Anderson.
The National Fatherhood Initiative website states in 15 years it has "ensured that two million more children are living with their fathers". The Leadership Council research indicates 58,000 children are placed with abusers every year. These statistics may be connected.
"Thousands of former prisoners and identified abusers have also discovered that if they get custody, they can receive child support instead of paying it." says Ms. Anderson. "It's a batterers' and molesters' paradise. Federally-funded supervised visitation centers are meant to protect children during visits with potentially dangerous fathers. Instead, family courts order safe mothers to see their children under supervision, which means the children aren't able to tell their mothers about abuse by their fathers. That way the Fatherhood Initiative goals are met to access even more federal funds."
During this time of deep fiscal crisis, when children are hungry and parents are penniless, $500,000,000.00 dollars designated to increase marriage and promote ex-prisoners to reconnect with and often harm children is doubly offensive.
Mothers of Lost Children call for a Congressional investigation into the failure of family courts to protect children and potential fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
www.mothers-of-lost-children.com
Child-safety agency is facing the budget ax
Child-safety agency is facing the budget ax - San Antonio Express-News
As lawmakers grappling with a budget crisis consider possible deep cuts to Child Protective Services, the safety net aimed at catching abused and neglected children in Texas, a new report shows child deaths from such maltreatment reached 17 in Bexar County in 2010 — one death shy of the record set in 2005.
Agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said child fatalities from abuse and neglect tend to fluctuate from year to year, often for “inexplicable” reasons. He and others note that statewide, such deaths were down in the last fiscal year from 280 to 227, a sign of improvement.
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Child-safetyagency-isfacing-thebudget-ax-999288.php#ixzz1DDs6VInQ
As lawmakers grappling with a budget crisis consider possible deep cuts to Child Protective Services, the safety net aimed at catching abused and neglected children in Texas, a new report shows child deaths from such maltreatment reached 17 in Bexar County in 2010 — one death shy of the record set in 2005.
Agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said child fatalities from abuse and neglect tend to fluctuate from year to year, often for “inexplicable” reasons. He and others note that statewide, such deaths were down in the last fiscal year from 280 to 227, a sign of improvement.
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Child-safetyagency-isfacing-thebudget-ax-999288.php#ixzz1DDs6VInQ
New Durham boy was abused for years, say police
Headshots, accidents with Worry | Daily Health Reviews
Leader Correspondent NAMUOUnion CLYNTON
New Durham – A local mother and daughter are accused of forcing a child into a cold stream and a bank of snow naked, starved him and attack the mother for a period of several years.
Peggy Starr, 53, and her daughter, Christina Thomas, 31, are accused of abusing mother and her son, now 7, at their home in New Durham for years. The mother and Thomas were friends.
The situation became increasingly toxic over time, authorities say, leading the state division of youth, children and families to take the boy and the report of alleged abuse of police, who launched an investigation which resulted in several crime indictments delivered last week in Strafford County Superior Court.
“It seems as if there was a turning point in this report and has gone from support to allegedly unfair,” Strafford County Attorney Thomas Velardi said.
Thomas, of 214 Birch Hill Road, was indicted on charges of first-degree assault, accused of starving the boy from August 2006 until April 2010, as well as criminal threatening after she took a knife to the throat of the mother the boy in 2008.It ‘also charged with three counts of crime simple assault for allegedly struck the boy’s mother twice and pushing his face into a cake at times last April.
Starr, of 265 Kings Highway, was charged with second-degree assault after she had hit the boy’s thighs with a spatula so strong that it cut him in December 2009, according to an indictment. She was also charged with two misdemeanors counts of endangering the welfare of a child of two separate incidents last winter, where the boy would sit naked in a snow bank and placed naked in a stream.
“A lot of this stuff I’ve never seen in my 21 years in law enforcement,” Police Chief Shawn Bernier said.
Velardi said prosecutors will show that Thomas and Starr acted either alone or in tandem. He said that others were present during some of the incidents and some have cooperated with the authorities, while others do not.
“Some brave people have stepped forward to do what is right by this young victim,” he said, adding: “The possibility of additional charges remains.”
Velasquez said the boy’s mother will not be charged with any crime.
Bernier said that DCYF officials first notified the Durham police to a new problem in “autumn.”
Neither Thomas Starr, nor has any significant criminal history of the county of Strafford, even if Bernier said he was familiar with the local police.
Mother and daughter are scheduled to protest in Strafford County Superior Court on February 8.
Leader Correspondent NAMUOUnion CLYNTON
New Durham – A local mother and daughter are accused of forcing a child into a cold stream and a bank of snow naked, starved him and attack the mother for a period of several years.
Peggy Starr, 53, and her daughter, Christina Thomas, 31, are accused of abusing mother and her son, now 7, at their home in New Durham for years. The mother and Thomas were friends.
The situation became increasingly toxic over time, authorities say, leading the state division of youth, children and families to take the boy and the report of alleged abuse of police, who launched an investigation which resulted in several crime indictments delivered last week in Strafford County Superior Court.
“It seems as if there was a turning point in this report and has gone from support to allegedly unfair,” Strafford County Attorney Thomas Velardi said.
Thomas, of 214 Birch Hill Road, was indicted on charges of first-degree assault, accused of starving the boy from August 2006 until April 2010, as well as criminal threatening after she took a knife to the throat of the mother the boy in 2008.It ‘also charged with three counts of crime simple assault for allegedly struck the boy’s mother twice and pushing his face into a cake at times last April.
Starr, of 265 Kings Highway, was charged with second-degree assault after she had hit the boy’s thighs with a spatula so strong that it cut him in December 2009, according to an indictment. She was also charged with two misdemeanors counts of endangering the welfare of a child of two separate incidents last winter, where the boy would sit naked in a snow bank and placed naked in a stream.
“A lot of this stuff I’ve never seen in my 21 years in law enforcement,” Police Chief Shawn Bernier said.
Velardi said prosecutors will show that Thomas and Starr acted either alone or in tandem. He said that others were present during some of the incidents and some have cooperated with the authorities, while others do not.
“Some brave people have stepped forward to do what is right by this young victim,” he said, adding: “The possibility of additional charges remains.”
Velasquez said the boy’s mother will not be charged with any crime.
Bernier said that DCYF officials first notified the Durham police to a new problem in “autumn.”
Neither Thomas Starr, nor has any significant criminal history of the county of Strafford, even if Bernier said he was familiar with the local police.
Mother and daughter are scheduled to protest in Strafford County Superior Court on February 8.
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