The High Cost of an Abusive United States Foster Care System

DMVC Productions: The High Cost of an Abusive United States Foster Care System:

http://uspolitics.einnews.com/247pr/261786 

"More than 500,000 children in the U.S. reside in some form of foster care. Within one year of their initial placement, at least 15 percent of them will experience neglect, abuse, or other harmful conditions." Ruth C. Stern 

This press release shows why the foster care system in the United States is flawed. To get justice the release suggests the only way to obtain it, is to file a Civil Suit, a costly endeavor no less; this is where you are merely reimbursed with money for the harm done to your family and only if you can get a lawyer to represent you. In NH two of those lawyers were disbarred for pursuing DCYF. As a pro se litigant attending Law School and pursuing a Civil Suit against the State of New Hampshire, I am pretty sure they will try to Bar me there as well. 


Read More:

Press Releases - CACR 26 Would Rein-In Judicial Overreach and Restore the Balance of Power to the People of New Hampshire

NH INSIDER- Your Source for NH Politics - Press Releases - CACR 26 Would Rein-In Judicial Overreach and Restore the Balance of Power to the People of New Hampshire:

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012 AT 09:22AM

BLATANT CASES OF JUDICIAL ABUSE AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL RULES
SIGNAL NEED FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

KEENE, N.H.—Two state representatives and a former police officer are calling attention to the apparent abuse of power by a New Hampshire district court judge and other officials around him in an effort to showcase the need for a constitutional amendment, specifically CACR 26, which is designed to rein-in judicial authority and is now headed for the Senate after the House passed it last week.

Press Release-Iowa Child Protective Services Illegally Removed Child; Mother Invites Public to Join in Her Fight Against Polk County Juvenile Court to Bring Her Home

Iowa Child Protective Services Illegally Removed Child; Mother Invites Public to Join in Her Fight Against Polk County Juvenile Court to Bring Her Home

  Contact Information:  Cyndi Nielsen Cook

                                          515-650-3069

                                          cook.cynthia66@gmail.com

                                                                                                                     

                                       

OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT FOR SALE!

 WE THE PEOPLE WILL NOT BE IGNORED ANYMORE!

 

Description: Public and national family rights supporters join Des Moines mother in her fight against Iowa CPS, the Polk County Attorney, and the Polk County Juvenile Court at her Pre-Trial Conference for the Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) Hearing.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  APRIL 2, 2012

DES MOINES, IA – More than 30 National Family Rights advocates, parents, and grandparents will rally in support of a Des Moines mother, 45 year old Cynthia Cook, at her pre-trial conference hearing to terminate her parental rights to her 6 year old daughter on Friday, April 6^th, 2012 at 2:30 pm, Polk County Courthouse Room 315, 5^th & Mulberry, Des Moines, IA. The child was illegally removed from her mother’s care on March 11, 2011, based on lies, fabrication of evidence, and false sworn statements by conspiring CPS workers, Polk County Attorneys, CASA workers, and others acting under the Color of Law in their individual and official capacities. No reasonable efforts were made as mandated by Federal Law.

After CPS illegally took the child, the Polk County Juvenile Court accepted their statements as fact without proof, denied Cynthia any due process, and appointed her inadequate legal representation, thus violating the Constitutional Rights of both the mother and her child. Because her former attorney refused her numerous previous requests for proof, Cynthia wrote her own Sworn Declaration of Facts, which cited supporting Federal Case Law, and submitted it to the court in February. Both her court appointed attorney and CPS case worker quit right afterward. In spite of this statement, CPS is still trying to terminate her parental rights.  The mother is seeking to have the case dismissed and her daughter returned home to her care immediately.  If the court denies her motion, the rally will continue on April 18^th, 2012 at 8:30 am at the TPR hearing, to be held in the same courtroom.

Iowa CPS and other officials involved in this case have already committed fraud against the US Government in order to earn bonus incentives, funded by Social Security dollars, through Title IV funding for wrongfully placing the child in Foster Care; now they are trying to earn even more bonuses through Federal adoption incentives. This is only one of thousands of cases of CPS corruption and fraud nationwide. For more information on this, contact Leonard Henderson, American Family Rights, at: leonard@familyrights.us

Read the mother’s entire Sworn Declaration of Facts at:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=baec37948e984fc0&resid=BAEC37948E984FC0!140&parid=root

The media is invited to attend this court hearing/event on Friday, April 6, 2012 at 2:30 pm, at the Polk County Courthouse, Room 315, 5^th & Mulberry, Des Moines, IA.

###

NCCPR's Richard Wexler Retires

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog: Thanks for the 4,683 gifts:

Below is his last blog post as an Advocate for the Reform of Child Protective Services.

http://www.nccprblog.org/2012/03/thanks-for-4683-gifts.html

Good Luck to Richard Wexler. Thank you for ALL your hard work and don't worry, we will continue the fight!

Social worker, 45, jailed for nine years after subjecting stepchildren to a decade of horror

Social worker, 45, jailed for nine years after subjecting stepchildren to a decade of horror | Mail Online:

 "Victor Lindsay, 45, beat and tortured three children aged five and under
Children were dangled from balcony, jumped on, suffered broken bones, and made to run four miles to school
Judge says actions were an 'extraordinary contradiction' "

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF FOSTER CARE ON EMOTIONAL, INTELLECTUAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Brain-Mind.com:


Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D.
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF FOSTER CARE ON EMOTIONAL, INTELLECTUAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D.
Brain Research Laboratory

Despite the protests of her father, and although there was no evidence of paternal or maternal abuse or neglect, Angela was placed among strangers, i.e. Foster Care, for a period of at least 7 months, during a critical stage of social and emotional development and neurological immaturity.

It is now well established that Foster Care can be profoundly injurious to a child's mental health (Harden, 2004; Pediatrics 2000), and that "children in foster care have more compromised developmental outcomes than children who do not experience placement in foster care (Harden, 2004).

In fact, children in foster care are more likely to develop behavioral, educational, and emotional problems than children who are raised by abusive and high-risk parents (Bass et al., 2004; Harden, 2004; Kortenkamp, K., and Ehrle, 2002; Lawrence et al. 2006 NSCAW 2004). In Angela's case, there was no evidence of abuse in the parental home.

Children in foster care are also more likely to suffer from health problems, even though, ostensibly they have better access to health care (Bass et al., 2004; Horowitz, 2000).

Children between the ages of 1 month to 3 years are particularly susceptible to emotional harm from foster care, as they are the most fragile (Bass et al., 2004; Perry, 2002).

Foster care can injure a child's emotional development and can lead to negative development outcomes due to inconsistent nurturing and maternal contact (Cassidy et al. 1996). When placed in Foster Care, and if maternal care or care provided by the primary caretaker is inconsistent or inadequate, such as in the case of Angela, children become more insecurely attached and develop abnormal attachments (Cassidy & Berlin 1994; Zeanah et al. 2001).

As detailed by Harden (2004) children placed in Foster Care and who received inconsistent nurturing care from the primary caretaker, and who "have disrupted attachments to their caregivers, display overly vigilant or overly compliant behaviors, show indiscriminate connection to every adult, or do not demonstrate attachment behaviors to any adult. Children with insecure, “disordered” or “disorganized” attachments may also have many other adverse outcomes that persist throughout childhood, such as poor peer relationships, behavioral problems, or other mental health difficulties." Similar findings have been presented by other scientists (Carlson 1998, Lyons-Ruth, 1996).

Children placed in Foster Homes also exhibit "elevated levels of cortisol compared to children reared by their biological parents" (Harden, 2004). Cortisol is secreted in response to stress, and cortisol not only effects the brain but can injure the immune system.

As detailed earlier in this report, children who are removed from their mothers also have a tendency to become ill, and even to die. Likewise, according to Harden (2004) "Many studies have pointed to the deleterious impact of foster care on children's physical health, cognitive and academic functioning, and social-emotional wellbeing. In the area of physical health, pediatric and public health scholars have documented that foster children have a higher level of morbidity throughout childhood than do children not involved in the foster care system."

Likewise, according to the NSCAW, a significant proportion of children placed in Foster Care, suffer from compromised cognitive, intellectual, and academic functioning (National survey of child and adolescent well-being NSCAW, 2001). Specifically, the NSCAW found that over 1/3 of infants and toddlers and 1/2 of pre-school age children scored in the delayed range of development. Similar findings have been presented by other scientists (Konekamp & Ehrle, 2002, Pears & Fisher, 2005; Swayer & Dubowitz, 1994).

Children placed in Foster Care have higher rates of depression, abnormal social skills, are more impulsive, become more aggressive, and are more insecurely attached and have insecure and disordered attachment behaviors (Clausen et al., 1998; Stein et al., 1996).

Children placed in Foster Care do more poorly than children who are left in high-risk homes where parents are neglectful or abusive (Lawrence et al. 2006) Likewise, behavior problems are worse as compared to those raised by maltreating care givers(Lawrence et al. 2006). Likewise, according to a NSCAW (2003) study, children placed in Foster Care show more compromised social-emotional functioning than children raised in a high risk environment. However, in this case, Angela was not being abused or neglected by her parents. In this regard, and given these findings and the research reviewed above it is thus clear that Angela developed these problems precisely because was placed in foster care.

In fact, in a study released on April 6, 2005, by the Casey Family Programs, Harvard Medical School, the State of Washington Office of Children’s Administration Research, and the State of Oregon Department of Human Services,it was reported that children raised in Foster Homes are highly likely to develop PTSD and that the rates of PTSD among adults who were formerly placed in foster care was twice as high as among U.S. war veterans.

As detailed in the Casey Family study, in addition to the PTSD, 54.4% of adults formerly in foster care were found to be suffering from depression, social phobia, panic syndrome, and anxiety. Moreover, it was found that 80% of adults who had been placed in Foster Care as children, were doing poorly, with a quarter to one third becoming homeless or living below the poverty level.

ABUSE WHILE IN FOSTER CARE:

In states from California to New York, and in counties and cities from Santa Clara County and San Jose, to New York City and Maryland, it has been reported that over 20% of children placed in Foster Care are sexually and physically abused or suffer from profound neglect while in Foster Care (United States District Court, D. Maryland, L.J. By and Through Darr v. Massinga, decision, Civ. No. JH-84-4409, September 27, 1988. F.Supp. 508 (D.Md. 1988); Testimony of Stephen P. Berzon, Foster Care: Problems and Issues, hearing, Subcommittee on Select Education, Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, September 8, 1976; Casereading conducted by Theodore J. Stein in conjunction with Del A. v. Edwin Edwards, (1988); David Kaplovitz and Louis Genevie, Foster Children in Jackson County, Missouri: A Statistical Analysis of Files Maintained by the Division of Family Services, (1981); Testimony of Marcia Robinson Lowry, Foster Care, Child Welfare, and Adoption Reforms, Joint Hearings before the Subcommittee on Public Assistance and Unemployment Compensation of the Committee on Ways and Means and the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. House of Representatives, April 13 and 28, May 12, 1988; Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County, Bogutz v. Arizona, 2nd amended civil complaint, No. CV94-04159. July 1994.)

In a Maryland study, substantiated allegations of sexual abuse have been reported to be four times higher than found among the general population (Mary I. Benedict and Susan Zuravin, Factors Associated With Child Maltreatment By Family Foster Care Providers (Baltimore: John Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1992).

Likewise, in a study conducted by the National Foster Care Education Project (1986) and the American Civil Liberties Union's Children's Rights Project (1993) it was found that Foster Children are 10 times more likely to be abused than children from the general population (Farber, 1993; Maier, 1997).

Children placed in Foster Care in California are also typically "subjected to inadequate supervision, substandard conditions and inadequate health care and education" (Gunnison, 1996); a conclusion also reached by the Santa Clara County Grand Jury (1993) and by members of the 1998-1999, Santa Clara County Grand Jury.

As concluded by the California-based Little Hoover Commission (1992) regarding children placed in Foster Care: "children can come to harm--and even die--while supposedly under the protection of foster care."

Child abduction: 'My world collapsed' when my boys were taken

BBC News - Child abduction: 'My world collapsed' when my boys were taken:


Increasing numbers of children are getting caught up in international custody battles, with one parent taking their offspring to live a new life abroad - against the wishes of the other parent - a report has said.