Thomas James Ball Self-Immolated in Protest of the “Justice” System - Free Keene
“I have 21 years of Army service going back to the Vietnam War. My loyalty to the government should be a given. It is gone. I am certain it will never return regardless of how long I might have lived.”
-Thomas James Ball in his “last statement” before he self-immolated in front of the courthouse that was integral in destroying his life.
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
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
The inner workings of DCF
The Day - The inner workings of DCF | News from southeastern Connecticut
The workings of the state's juvenile courts and Department of Children and Families are a mystery to many, in part because much of what they do is kept confidential to protect children. (So they say!)
The workings of the state's juvenile courts and Department of Children and Families are a mystery to many, in part because much of what they do is kept confidential to protect children. (So they say!)
Definition of an Adoption Home Study -A Lesson for Nashua, NH DCYF
The Nuts and Bolts of an Adoption Home Study -
The Nuts and Bolts of an Adoption Home Study
There is no set format that adoption agencies use to conduct home studies. They must follow the general regulations of their State, but they have the freedom to develop their own application packet, policies, and procedures within those regulations. Some agencies will have prospective parents attend one or several group orientation sessions or a series of training classes before they complete an application. Others will have their social worker start by meeting with family members individually and then ask that they attend educational meetings later on. Usually agency staff members are glad to answer any questions and to guide applicants through the process.
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The home study itself is a written report of the findings of the social worker who has met with the applicants on several occasions, both individually and together, usually at the social worker's office. At least one meeting will occur in the applicant's home. If there are other people living in the home, they also will be interviewed by the social worker.
On average the home study process takes three to six months to complete, but it can take longer through public agencies or less time through non-licensed facilitators. The home study process, the contents of the written home study report, and the time it will take to complete vary from State to State and from agency to agency. In general, the following information is included in the home study:
Personal and family background-including upbringing, siblings, key events, and what was learned from them
Significant people in the lives of the applicants
Marriage and family relationships
Motivation to adopt
Expectations for the child
Feelings about infertility (if this is an issue)
Parenting and integration of the child into the family
Family environment
Physical and health history of the applicants
Education, employment and finances-including insurance coverage and child care plans if needed
References and criminal background clearances
Summary and social worker's recommendation.
The following sections will describe typical information or activities that will be required of families who want to adopt.
The Nuts and Bolts of an Adoption Home Study
There is no set format that adoption agencies use to conduct home studies. They must follow the general regulations of their State, but they have the freedom to develop their own application packet, policies, and procedures within those regulations. Some agencies will have prospective parents attend one or several group orientation sessions or a series of training classes before they complete an application. Others will have their social worker start by meeting with family members individually and then ask that they attend educational meetings later on. Usually agency staff members are glad to answer any questions and to guide applicants through the process.
advertisement
The home study itself is a written report of the findings of the social worker who has met with the applicants on several occasions, both individually and together, usually at the social worker's office. At least one meeting will occur in the applicant's home. If there are other people living in the home, they also will be interviewed by the social worker.
On average the home study process takes three to six months to complete, but it can take longer through public agencies or less time through non-licensed facilitators. The home study process, the contents of the written home study report, and the time it will take to complete vary from State to State and from agency to agency. In general, the following information is included in the home study:
Personal and family background-including upbringing, siblings, key events, and what was learned from them
Significant people in the lives of the applicants
Marriage and family relationships
Motivation to adopt
Expectations for the child
Feelings about infertility (if this is an issue)
Parenting and integration of the child into the family
Family environment
Physical and health history of the applicants
Education, employment and finances-including insurance coverage and child care plans if needed
References and criminal background clearances
Summary and social worker's recommendation.
The following sections will describe typical information or activities that will be required of families who want to adopt.
Definition of Reunification, for Nashua, NH DCYF
Reunification - Adoption Encyclopedia -
Reunification
A currently prevailing concept in child social welfare that dictates caseworkers should do whatever is necessary to return a child to the biological home when the child or children were removed by the state due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.
It is presumed that the biological home is the best home for a child and that the biological parents can and should be rehabilitated from whatever caused them to abuse, neglect or abandon the child, whether causal factors were drug or alcohol abuse, psychiatric problems, homelessness or a combination of these and other factors.
It should be noted that most children actually wish to be reunited with their biological families, even when they have been abused or neglected. This does not mean such a reunification is in the child's best interest, and caseworkers must make a determination and recommendation to the court, which will make the final decision.
While a child is in foster care, social workers attempt to arrange visits with the biological parent. If the parent appears to show improvement, caseworkers may arrange weekend visitations with the parents, and if these visits appear to go well, the child may be returned to the home. It is likely, however, that a child who enters the foster care system will remain in care for at least several months.
Although social workers are supposed to monitor parental progress to ensure children are not returned to abusive homes, severe errors occur, and sometimes children die at the hands of their abusive parents.
Sometimes it is not clear why a child is not returned to his birthparents, and sometimes it is unclear why he is returned. Experts recommend children be returned to their parents if the parents can properly care for the children; however, there should be clearcut evidence that the parents do have the capability to care for the children and are no longer drug or alcohol dependent or abusive or no longer have the problem that led to the child's removal from the family.
According to experts, the problem with the reunification concept is not the concept itself but the amount of time allowed to elapse before it is determined that reunification cannot occur or is not in the best interests of the child.
A major problem in the 1980s and 1990s was that many children who entered the foster care system were not legally adopted for years. Although two or three years may not seem like much time to an adult, to a six-year-old child this time span represents a significant portion of a child's life.
A child who enters the foster care system as an infant or toddler will usually become attached to the foster parents. It is very painful for the child to leave the people who are his psychological parents and return to his birthparents.
In addition, the older the child becomes, the more difficult it is to place the child in an adoptive home. Also, if the child has been in numerous foster homes, she may also have acquired a host of emotional problems as well, thus making her more difficult to adopt.
Because reunification was seen as the best solution for a foster child, adoption was perceived as the next best solution. "Permanency" is the stated goal for all children, whether through returning to their families or relatives or being placed in an adoptive family. The reality, however, is that thousands of children languish in foster homes and group homes.
Experts argue that these children who are victimized today by repeated moves will become the juvenile delinquents and criminals of tomorrow. As a result of concern over children who were warehoused in the foster care system for years, in 1997 Congress passed the Adoption and Safe Families Act to enable children to be adopted. (See also ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT; ADOPTION ASSISTANCE AND CHILD WELFARE ACT OF 1980; FOSTER CARE; FOSTER PARENTS; PERMANENCY PLANNING; TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS.)
Reunification
A currently prevailing concept in child social welfare that dictates caseworkers should do whatever is necessary to return a child to the biological home when the child or children were removed by the state due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.
It is presumed that the biological home is the best home for a child and that the biological parents can and should be rehabilitated from whatever caused them to abuse, neglect or abandon the child, whether causal factors were drug or alcohol abuse, psychiatric problems, homelessness or a combination of these and other factors.
It should be noted that most children actually wish to be reunited with their biological families, even when they have been abused or neglected. This does not mean such a reunification is in the child's best interest, and caseworkers must make a determination and recommendation to the court, which will make the final decision.
While a child is in foster care, social workers attempt to arrange visits with the biological parent. If the parent appears to show improvement, caseworkers may arrange weekend visitations with the parents, and if these visits appear to go well, the child may be returned to the home. It is likely, however, that a child who enters the foster care system will remain in care for at least several months.
Although social workers are supposed to monitor parental progress to ensure children are not returned to abusive homes, severe errors occur, and sometimes children die at the hands of their abusive parents.
Sometimes it is not clear why a child is not returned to his birthparents, and sometimes it is unclear why he is returned. Experts recommend children be returned to their parents if the parents can properly care for the children; however, there should be clearcut evidence that the parents do have the capability to care for the children and are no longer drug or alcohol dependent or abusive or no longer have the problem that led to the child's removal from the family.
According to experts, the problem with the reunification concept is not the concept itself but the amount of time allowed to elapse before it is determined that reunification cannot occur or is not in the best interests of the child.
A major problem in the 1980s and 1990s was that many children who entered the foster care system were not legally adopted for years. Although two or three years may not seem like much time to an adult, to a six-year-old child this time span represents a significant portion of a child's life.
A child who enters the foster care system as an infant or toddler will usually become attached to the foster parents. It is very painful for the child to leave the people who are his psychological parents and return to his birthparents.
In addition, the older the child becomes, the more difficult it is to place the child in an adoptive home. Also, if the child has been in numerous foster homes, she may also have acquired a host of emotional problems as well, thus making her more difficult to adopt.
Because reunification was seen as the best solution for a foster child, adoption was perceived as the next best solution. "Permanency" is the stated goal for all children, whether through returning to their families or relatives or being placed in an adoptive family. The reality, however, is that thousands of children languish in foster homes and group homes.
Experts argue that these children who are victimized today by repeated moves will become the juvenile delinquents and criminals of tomorrow. As a result of concern over children who were warehoused in the foster care system for years, in 1997 Congress passed the Adoption and Safe Families Act to enable children to be adopted. (See also ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT; ADOPTION ASSISTANCE AND CHILD WELFARE ACT OF 1980; FOSTER CARE; FOSTER PARENTS; PERMANENCY PLANNING; TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS.)
Local Fish Wrapper Concord Monitor Editorial On Asylums And Witch Hunts
NH INSIDER- Your Source for NH Politics - Richard Olson Jr. - Local Fish Wrapper Concord Monitor Editorial On Asylums And Witch Hunts
JUDGES GONE BAD
A Law Unto
Themselves
When assertions come to the forefront accusing the government and the courts of corruption, misconduct and oppression...and those assertions are made by those who might be well-considered, "conservative," those people are wing nuts...nut jobs, extremists, fascists and, as the Concord Monitor characterizes them, "Witch Hunters."
JUDGES GONE BAD
A Law Unto
Themselves
When assertions come to the forefront accusing the government and the courts of corruption, misconduct and oppression...and those assertions are made by those who might be well-considered, "conservative," those people are wing nuts...nut jobs, extremists, fascists and, as the Concord Monitor characterizes them, "Witch Hunters."
DCYF Rightfully Deserves Our Suspicions
NH INSIDER- Your Source for NH Politics - Richard Olson Jr. - DCYF Rightfully Deserves Our Suspicions
Thursday, October 7, 2010, The New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families went to Concord Hospital and took custody of a newborn baby girl not even 24 hours after its birth. The parents were not afforded the opportunity to be heard by a judge, consult a with a lawyer or confront any evidence against them. As with many other cases, the DCYF makes a bunch of assertions in an affidavit, and a judge signs an order ex parte.
Thursday, October 7, 2010, The New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families went to Concord Hospital and took custody of a newborn baby girl not even 24 hours after its birth. The parents were not afforded the opportunity to be heard by a judge, consult a with a lawyer or confront any evidence against them. As with many other cases, the DCYF makes a bunch of assertions in an affidavit, and a judge signs an order ex parte.
Fathers get a bad rap in the media and the courts
Fathers get a bad rap in the media and the courts | Editorials & Opinions | Fort Worth, Arlin...
Arnold Schwarzenegger. John Edwards. Eliot Spitzer. John Ensign. Mark Sanford. To hear the media tell it, we live in the era of the bad dad.
Stories about famous, successful men who submit to temptation and harm their family lives in the process certainly make great headlines and Internet fodder, as do the divorces that often follow.
Lost in the obsession over this handful of episodes is the fact that research shows that most fathers are heavily invested in their kids' lives and that their presence is vital.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/18/3161507/fathers-get-a-bad-rap-in-the-media.html#ixzz1PlEazQSt
Arnold Schwarzenegger. John Edwards. Eliot Spitzer. John Ensign. Mark Sanford. To hear the media tell it, we live in the era of the bad dad.
Stories about famous, successful men who submit to temptation and harm their family lives in the process certainly make great headlines and Internet fodder, as do the divorces that often follow.
Lost in the obsession over this handful of episodes is the fact that research shows that most fathers are heavily invested in their kids' lives and that their presence is vital.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/18/3161507/fathers-get-a-bad-rap-in-the-media.html#ixzz1PlEazQSt
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