Revisions clarify law on false claims of child abuse

Revisions clarify law on false claims of child abuse | MailTribune.com

Local experts played a key role in rewriting a bill introduced by State Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford, which originally was viewed with alarm by those who work to protect children.

The bill, recently signed into law and designed to discourage punitive or vindictive reporting of child abuse, underwent significant changes as it made its way to the governor's desk. The changes were necessary to protect children and to assure the public that reporting suspected abuse is not only the right thing to do, it is safe for them to do so, experts say.

Head Butts For CPS Agents - The Baby LK Report For August 7th 2011

HB 1680 - 2011-12 Washington state

HB 1680 - 2011-12: "Concerning child abuse investigations and proceedings."

HB 1680 - 2011-12 (What is this?)

Concerning child abuse investigations and proceedings.

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History of Bill
as of Sunday, August 7, 2011 6:03 PM

Sponsors: Representatives Eddy, Anderson, Carlyle, Morris, Kagi, Takko, Maxwell, Clibborn

2011 REGULAR SESSION
Jan 28 First reading, referred to Judiciary. (View Original Bill)
Feb 9 Public hearing in the House Committee on Judiciary at 8:00 AM. (Committee Materials)
Feb 17 Executive session scheduled, but no action was taken in the House Committee on Judiciary at 10:00 AM. (Committee Materials)
2011 1ST SPECIAL SESSION
Apr 26 By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.

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Available Documents
Bill Documents Bill Digests Bill Reports
Original Bill
Bill Digest
House Bill Analysis 2011



Fiscal Note (Available)
Get Fiscal Note

National Study of Protective, Preventive and Reunification Services Delivered to Children and Their Families - Table of Contents

National Study of Protective, Preventive and Reunification Services Delivered to Children and Their Families - Table of Contents


TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1 Child Welfare Services Before 1980
1.2 Purpose and Provisions of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-272)
1.3 Child Welfare Services After 1980
1.4 Trends in State and Local Child Welfare Service Delivery

1.4.1 Development of Family Preservation and Home-Based Service Programs
1.4.2 Movement Towards Culturally-Appropriate Casework
1.4.3 Expansion and Formalization of Kinship Foster Care Arrangements

1.5 Summary

2. METHODOLOGY

2.1 Study Design
2.2 Sample Design

3. PROFILE OF THE 1994 CHILD WELFARE POPULATION USING POINT IN TIME DATA

3.1 Characteristics of Children and Their Primary Caretakers
3.2 Case History Characteristics
3.3 Presenting Problems and Services Received
3.4 Summary

4. COMPARISON BETWEEN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SERVED IN 1977 AND 1994 USING POINT IN TIME DATA

4.1 General Characteristics of Children and Families Served in the Child Welfare System
4.2 Characteristics of Children at the Time of Entry into the Child Welfare System
4.3 Characteristics of Children's Service Experience
4.4 Summary

5. FACTORS RELATED TO THE LENGTH OF TIME CASES RECEIVED SERVICES

5.1 Case Flow
5.2 Characteristics Related to Length of Time Cases are Served

5.2.1 Child Demographic and Case History Characteristics
5.2.2 Household Characteristics
5.2.3 Caretaker and Child Problems
5.2.4 Services Offered by Caseworkers

5.3 Summary

6. EXAMINATION OF CHARACTERISTICS RELATED TO RECEIPT OF IN-HOME SERVICES VERSUS FOSTER CARE PLACEMENT

6.1 Child, Household, and Case History Characteristics

6.1.1 Demographic Characteristics
6.1.2 Household Characteristics
6.1.3 Case History Characteristics
6.1.4 Child and Family Problems
6.2 Services Offered and Provided to Children and Primary Caretakers
6.3 Kinship Foster Care Placement
6.4 Summary

7. RACE/ETHNICITY AS A FACTOR IN SERVICE DELIVERY AND CHILD OUTCOMES

7.1 Child, Household, and Case History Characteristics

7.1.1 Demographic Characteristics
7.1.2 Household Characteristics
7.1.3 Case History Characteristics
7.2 Child and Household Problems
7.3 Services Offered and Provided to Children and Primary Caretakers with Problems
7.4 Racial Differences in Foster Care Placement
7.5 Summary

8. CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

LIST OF APPENDICES

Annual Data Frequencies

Table 1. Percentage distribution of children by selected characteristics

Table 2. Percentage distribution of children by selected household characteristics

Table 3.Percentage distribution of children by selected case history characteristics

Table 4. Percentage distribution of children by selected problems

LIST OF TABLES

3-1 Children's living arrangements

3-2 Disabling and health conditions of children

3-3 Child's relationship to primary caretaker

3-4 Age of primary caretaker

3-5 Primary caretaker's educational attainment

3-6 Employment status of primary caretakers and their partner/spouse and enrollment status in government programs

3-7 Documented number of abuse or neglect allegations

3-8 Types of documented substantiated maltreatment

3-9 Presenting problems of children

3-10 Presenting problems of primary caretakers

3-11 Household housing or neighborhood problems

3-12 Services that children and families received directly from caseworker

3-13 Services provided to children

3-14 Services provided to primary caretakers

3-15 Reasons why agencies did not provide service(s) to children and primary caretakers

4-1 Children receiving in-home services versus out-of-home services on April 1, 1977 and March 1, 1994 by race/ethnicity

4-2 The age children entered the child welfare system for cases open on April 1, 1977 and March 1, 1994 by race/ethnicity

4-3 The source of referrals to child welfare agencies for cases open April 1977 versus March 1994

4-4 Age entered foster care for cases open on April 1, 1977 and March 1, 1994 by race/ethnicity

4-5 The number of caseworkers assigned to children in 1977 and 1994

5-1 The number of cases entering and exiting the child welfare system over a one-year period

5-2 Length of time children in admission cohort were served: in-home services versus foster care placement

5-3 Duration groups for children in the child welfare system

5-4 Duration group by children's demographic characteristics

5-5 Duration group by children's case characteristics

5-6 Duration group by children's household characteristics

5-7 Duration group by caretakers' problems

5-8 Duration group by children's problems

5-9 Duration group by services provided by caseworkers to children and their families

5-10 Duration group by selective diagnostic or preventive services offered to children and their families

6-1 Children who received in-home services versus children placed in foster care

6-2 Length of time between case opening and child's placement into foster care

6-3 In-home services versus foster care placement by children's household characteristics

6-4 In-home services versus foster care placement by children's case history characteristics

6-5 In-home services versus foster care placement by selected problems

6-6 In-home services versus foster care placement by children who were offered health screenings and psychological assessments

6-7 Children in kinship foster care versus other foster care placements, by number of foster care placement settings

6-8 Children in kinship foster care versus other types of foster care placement, by number of foster care episodes

7-1 Selected household characteristics by race/ethnicity for children in the child welfare system

7-2 Selected case history characteristics by race/ethnicity

7-3 Selected problems by race/ethnicity

7-4 Type of placement and race/ethnicity by selected characteristics



LIST OF FIGURES

3-1 Children's age on March 1, 1994

3-2 Race/ethnicity of children in 1994 National Study and 1994 U.S. Population

3-3 Substance abuse treatment for primary caretakers with substance abuse problems

3-4 Parenting services for primary caretakers with inadequate parenting skills

3-5 Mental health services for primary caretakers with mental health problems

3-6 Educational services for primary caretakers not having a high school diploma

3-7 Housing services for caretakers who are homeless or experiencing a housing problem

4-1 Children served on April 1, 1977, and on March 1, 1994

4-2 Children receiving services by race/ethnicity in 1977 and 1994

4-3 Sources of income in 1977 and 1994

4-4 Age at entry into the child welfare system for children in the system on April 1, 1977 and March 1, 1994

4-5 Median length of time cases had been open in the child welfare system for all children and for children by race/ethnicity who were in the system on April 1, 1977 and March 1, 1994

4-6 Age entered foster care for cases open on April 1, 1977 and March 1, 1994

4-7 Median length of stay in foster care for all children and for children by race/ethnicity who were in care on April 1, 1977 and March 1, 1994

4-8 Living arrangements of children in foster care on April 1, 1977 and March 1, 1994

5-1 Children's length of stay in the child welfare system

5-2 Duration group by urbanicity

6-1 In-home services versus foster care placement by children's race/ethnicity

6-2 Racial/ethnic distribution of children in foster care placement

6-3 In-home services versus foster care placement by age children entered the child welfare system

6-4 In-home services versus foster care placement for caretakers with substance abuse problems by substance abuse services offered and provided

6-5 In-home services versus foster care placement for families with housing problems by housing services offered and provided

6-6 Children in placement by race/ethnicity

7-1 Racial/ethnic distribution of children served by the child welfare system during a one-year period (March 1, 1993-February 28, 1994)

7-2 Age at entry into the child welfare system by race/ethnicity

7-3 Age entered foster care by race/ethnicity

7-4 Caretakers with substance abuse problems who were offered substance abuse services by race/ethnicity

7-5 Caretakers with parenting problems who were offered parenting services by race/ethnicity

7-6 Families with housing problems who were offered housing services by race/ethnicity

7-7 Caretakers with mental health problems who were offered mental health services by race/ethnicity

7-8 Mean length of time in foster care

Goal Of DCF's Katz: Get Troubled Children Back Home, Back Into Community

Goal Of DCF's Katz: Get Troubled Children Back Home, Back Into Community - Hartford Courant

The state Department of Children and Families, long under pressure to improve its treatment system for young people, announced last week that it wants to get many of the 1,400 children now in residential facilities back to their families or into foster care.

Commissioner Joette Katz said the effort, which includes stopping the flow of troubled children to out-of-state facilities and developing in-home and neighborhood-based services, will cause some pain during the transition and require a radical shift in the way the agency has operated in the past 20 years.

For example, she said, a some counseling services, psychiatric treatment and other programs now at residential centers would be moved to in-home settings, or to walk-in family clinics. The DCF also might have foster families, instead of private agencies, run group homes with five or six children — at a third of the current rate of $500-per day per-child.

Note: And I thought three hundred dollar's a day per child was bad at the Childrens Home in New Hampshire!
Well at least Connecticut is trying, which is more than I can say for NH!

Morals, Ethics and Adoption

FAMILY PRESERVATION ADVOCACY: Morals, Ethics and Adoption

Morals, Ethics and Adoption
Adoption is parenting the child of another. It is seen as a noble thing to do because of the assumption that every child needs care and adoption provides that care in a loving, nurturing, family setting for a child who is orphaned or has no family willing and able to properly care for him or her. So far, so good.


But is it equally noble or altruistic to take a child as yours KNOWING full well that he or she has a parent who is capable, willing, and LONGS to maintain custody? To take that child and fight to keep him or her from his family of origins, his full siblings because you have "fallen in love" with said child?

Does anything justify such behavior - such as "We have a bigger house, can send the child to better schools" Or how about "We didn't know her mother wanted her" or "We didn't know she's been kidnapped." Do any of these make it OK?

Take this moral / ethics quiz:

1. As you are leaving the store, you count your change and realize that the cashier gives you change for a ten when you gave her a five. What is the RIGHT thing to do? What do you do?

2. You sit down on the bus and discover a briefcase on the seat next to you. You look inside and there is ten thousand dollars in cash and nothing else. Do you report it to the bus company to see if anyone reported loosing it, or keep it? What is the RIGHT thing to do? What would you want someone to do if it was your money?

3. You find a dog with no collar or tag. You take him home, fall in love with the adorable critter who jumps in your lap and laps your face. A week later, you see a LOST DOG sign on a pole. Do you would return the dog or keep it? Which is the RIGHT thing to do? Which would you want someone to do if it was your dog? What if it was a child? YOUR child?!?

4. If you legally adopt a child and then discover the child was kidnapped and her mother is frantic, what do you do? Do you ignore all attempts at mediation and hope that you government will do the same? Is it Ok if those who maintain control of the child because you did not actually steal or kidnap him or her?

5. You want a child and promise the mother you'll let her visit if you can adopt her baby. Once you have the child, you decide not to allow the visits? Is that ethical? Is it fraud?

Do we live a "finders keepers/losers weepers" world?
Or, do we believe in, and practice, the Golden Rule??

Does the end justify the means if the end is a more affluent lifestyle with swimming pools and piano lessons at the loss of all familial ties?

Surely it cannot be OK simply because the child has bonded to his her captors like any kidnap victim would - because if that were true we would not have expected - much less demanded - the return of Jaycee Lee Duggrad, Elizabeth Smart or any other kidnapped child, especially if said child has been snatched from the hospital nursery and was loved and cared for by someone who simply couldn't have a child of their own and now had become the "only parent the child ever knew".

I share with you three current cases:

Peri. Carla Moquin was defrauded into surrendering her middle daughter, Peri, into what was purported to be an extensively open adoption. Her finances and marriage were in crisis her husband at the time pressured her into adoption. She was very reluctant until she found a couple online who were very committed to a totally open adoption with ongoing contact. Carla and the adoptive couple, Susan and Demyn, appeared on a Discovery Channel show about their open arrangement. Shortly after the adoption, Susan decided that Carla was like a "relative" and she only saw her relatives annually, not monthly as promised. Had she not known this earlier? It turned out that Susan and Demyn never filed the contact agreement and told the agency now that they never intended to. She was willing to allow annual visits and Carla was not to introduce her other two girls to Peri as her sisters....Long story short, Carla is now working to overturn the adoption on grounds that her relinquishment wsa gained fraudulently with unkept promises of openness.


Is is right to expect promises to be kept? Is it OK to say anything to get a child you really want? Did Susan and Demyn have every right, once they were the legal parents to change whatever they agreed to before?


Abrazo Adoption contributed to Carla's Bring Peri Home legal fund stating: they they encourage other adoption agencies to do so because: "Broken adoption promises hurt everyone."


Full story and links to donate to help bring this child home to her mother and siblings is here. I have sent $100 and ask you to pay it forward and send what you would want someone to send to help YOU if it was YOUR child!

Anyeli Liseth Hernandez Rodriguez was kidnapped right out of mother's arms in Guatemala when the child was 2. The child spent the next two years in the clutches of baby traffickers and eventually wound up - after two name changes and forged papers...she wound up adopted by a US couple, the Monahans of Missouri. Her story is here. KJ Dell Antonia, writing for Slate, believes there is a gray area. In an attempt to justify the Monahan's actions, Antonia says:
As for Anyali, the Guatemalan child now known as Karen Abigail (whose story is far from finished), her adoptive parents have been accused of knowing for years that their daughter was at least suspected of being stolen from her mother. If that's true, it sounds unforgivable. But consider that, according to journalist Erin Siegal, whose forthcoming book Finding Fernanda chronicles another case of a stolen Guatemalan child, Anyali's adoptive mother was told that if she pursued the question of why Anyali's DNA did not match that of the woman she'd been told was Anyali's birth mother, the man who had custody of Anyali might simply "dump the girl 'somewhere where nobody could find her.'" At this moment, Anyali's adoptive mother may be kidnapping her. At that moment, she might have saved her. It wouldn't excuse years of ignoring ugly evidence about Anyali's birth family, but it does suggest that things aren't black and white.

However, a comment to that story claims otherwise;
there is correspondence between the Monahans and their adoption agency in Miami (Celebrate Children International) that they knew pre-adoption that there was not a DNA match between the little girl and the woman giving her for adoption, meaning she had been kidnapped. The Monahans talked with the agency about "burying" the DNA results or having her records falsified to show her as "abandoned" which was done. See
website "findingfernanda" for details.
Tim and Jennifer Monahan are complicit in keeping a kidnapped child and should be prosecuted if they resist returning the child to her birth family.

Vilma Ramirez - an immigrant from El Salvador. Vilma's friend, Blanca Mirarchi was watching Vilma's fourth child and suggested Vilma consider adoption, a decision she now regrets. Mirachi found Kelley Grant and her husband who promised Vilma an open adoption. Vilma signed papers she didn't understand but thought she would maintain visitation as would her other children. The adoption was to be finalized with 45 days. The Grants, however, came and took Vilam's daughter from Mirachi's residence while Vilma was at work, Vilma has been threatened with being deported if she pursues her attempts at overturning the adoption or even seeking visitation.


Where is the morality?

How do you keep a child from a family who wants him or her and is able and willing to provide for them? How do you justify lies in order to steal a child via adoption?

Most importantly, how do we as a nation allow these atrocities to go unpunished?

H.R. 2790, The Child and Family Services Extension and Enhancement Act

H.R. 2790, The Child and Family Services Extension and Enhancement Act

Contact your Congressman and Legislature and let them know you want them to OPPOSE this Bill!

Tell them NO to H.R. 2790

H.R. 2790, The Child and Family Services Extension and Enhancement Act

Introduced August 2, 2011- H.R. 2790 would amend part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to extend the child and family services program through fiscal year 2016.

Tell your Representatives to VOTE NO on H.R. 2790
What People Think About The Child and Family Services Extension and Enhancement Act

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We believe this is one of the "Great Grandmothers" of the Child Abuse Industry that destroys families on the slightest pretence.

We believe this is one of the huge hoses siphoning off money from the Social Security system, and we believe MUCH of the money is going into FRAUD.

Our figures show that anywhere between $300 Billion and One Trillion Dollars a year (or more) is going down this rathole, depending on how much of the downstream damage you include.