Reported Child Abuse Claims Often Difficult to Prove:
Note: And that's why only liar's and Psychic wannabees are hired by DCYF. They must steal the child any way they can! And they don't have to worry about the Judges, or should I say the DCYF Puppet's who ALWAYS rule in favor of DCYF. Fraud, perjury, slander, you name it, NH Family Court's are well known for railroading innocent families.
"Newswise — DURHAM, N.H. – Only a quarter of all reported cases of child abuse are found to have sufficient evidence to take action, with higher-income children in rural areas more likely than their urban counterparts to have a report of child abuse substantiated, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire."
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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
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
NH and Ct. DCYF Wannabee Psychic's Predict "Neglect in the Future" to Steal Children
DCYF Wannabee Psychics, in both New Hampshire and Connecticut, steal children on the pretext of anticipated "Neglect in the Future".
In Connecticut, children are taken from their parents for "Predictive Neglect"; see:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/rpt/2012-R-0103.htm
The courts have ruled that predictive neglect exists when a child is in danger of being harmed in the future, even if no harm has presently occurred. The Connecticut Appellate Court has stated that Connecticut's statutes “clearly and explicitly recognize the state's authority to act before harm occurs to protect children whose health and welfare may be adversely affected and not just children whose welfare has been affected. The [person filing the neglect petition] need not show, but simply allege, that there is a potential for harm to occur” (In re Michael D., 58 Conn. App. 119, 123-24 (2000)). Courts also have ruled that under the doctrine, a child can be considered neglected without ever having been under the custody of a parent (In re Jermaine S., 86 Conn. App. 819, 829 (2005)).
In New Hampshire, children are taken from their parent's for "Neglect in the Future".
http://www.childabusestories.
In Connecticut, children are taken from their parents for "Predictive Neglect"; see:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/rpt/2012-R-0103.htm
The courts have ruled that predictive neglect exists when a child is in danger of being harmed in the future, even if no harm has presently occurred. The Connecticut Appellate Court has stated that Connecticut's statutes “clearly and explicitly recognize the state's authority to act before harm occurs to protect children whose health and welfare may be adversely affected and not just children whose welfare has been affected. The [person filing the neglect petition] need not show, but simply allege, that there is a potential for harm to occur” (In re Michael D., 58 Conn. App. 119, 123-24 (2000)). Courts also have ruled that under the doctrine, a child can be considered neglected without ever having been under the custody of a parent (In re Jermaine S., 86 Conn. App. 819, 829 (2005)).
In New Hampshire, children are taken from their parent's for "Neglect in the Future".
http://www.childabusestories.
Neglect - Citation: Rev. Stat. § 169-C:3
'Neglected child' means a child:
'Neglected child' means a child:
- Who is without proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law, or other care or control necessary for his or her physical, mental, or emotional health, when it is established that his or her health has suffered or is very likely to suffer serious impairment, and the deprivation is not due primarily to the lack of financial means of the parents, guardian, or custodian
Even the Court's go along with this witch hunt. Anything to make money right?
It's time for our State Legislator's to put a stop to this nonsense. No-one can predict the future. Especially NOT DCYF. The only prediction they ever make that comes true, is when they tell you you'll never get your children back, because they already know there is a bias against ALL families in Family Court!
University of Southampton decides to stop teaching social work
University of Southampton decides to stop teaching social work - Toronto Social Issues | Examiner.com:
Every single day hundreds of additional documents, affidavits, reports, news articles, videos, social media postings along with comments are added to the internet's archive. These uploads seem to continually expose social services, child protection services (CPS), social workers incompetence and testify to much evidence of abuse perpetually practiced against children, their families and individuals targeted for profit, through questionable means.
Today, if we enter the term CPS fraud or a similar request into our search engine, we are likely to receive anywhere between 4 to 13 million webpages on the subject. This is an unprecedented amount of information against any given discipline.
Read More:
Every single day hundreds of additional documents, affidavits, reports, news articles, videos, social media postings along with comments are added to the internet's archive. These uploads seem to continually expose social services, child protection services (CPS), social workers incompetence and testify to much evidence of abuse perpetually practiced against children, their families and individuals targeted for profit, through questionable means.
Today, if we enter the term CPS fraud or a similar request into our search engine, we are likely to receive anywhere between 4 to 13 million webpages on the subject. This is an unprecedented amount of information against any given discipline.
Read More:
Mom who chose to take daughter off medication files lawsuit, alleges daughter deprived of prosthesis
Mom who chose to take daughter off medication files lawsuit, alleges daughter deprived of prosthesis:
Read more:
DETROIT - (WXYZ) A local mom chose not to medicate her special needs daughter, so the state took the girl -- and the mom landed in jail. Now she is suing.
Thursday afternoon, Maryanne Godboldo filed a civil rights lawsuit. In it, there are new allegations that her daughter’s prosthetic leg was taken while in state care, to stop the child from trying to get back to her mother.
Read more:
Missing woman's husband given child custody
WSVN-TV - Missing woman's husband given child custody:
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- The estranged husband of a missing South Florida mother will be given back custody of his three children.
Read more:
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- The estranged husband of a missing South Florida mother will be given back custody of his three children.
Read more:
What's next for baby boy left at city hospital?
What's next for baby boy left at city hospital? | SeacoastOnline.com:
Under New Hampshire's safe haven law, the hospital or other entity caring for the child must notify law enforcement and Department of Health and Human Services officials of the situation within 24 hours.
PORTSMOUTH — A newborn baby boy who was left at Portsmouth Regional Hospital over the weekend remained there Tuesday, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Notis said.
Read More:
Note:The Safe Haven Law is a good thing, but when DCYF get's involved, that's a whole different story.
Under New Hampshire's safe haven law, the hospital or other entity caring for the child must notify law enforcement and Department of Health and Human Services officials of the situation within 24 hours.
PORTSMOUTH — A newborn baby boy who was left at Portsmouth Regional Hospital over the weekend remained there Tuesday, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Notis said.
Read More:
Note:The Safe Haven Law is a good thing, but when DCYF get's involved, that's a whole different story.
Maggie Bishop, director of the state Division for Children, Youth & Families, said she could not comment on the specifics of the local case.
"Our role is to provide for the safety of a child in question," she said.
When the baby is released from the hospital, Bishop said, he will most likely be released to the state. Bishop said the state's job in the process is to provide for the baby, while at the same time try to locate his birth parents to help establish future legal guardianship.
"If we were able to find a parent, we would try to work with them to make a long-term legal situation (regarding guardianship)," Bishop said. "If we can't find them, then the baby would go into foster care."
These are the word's of a woman who can NOT be trusted.
These are the word's of a woman who can NOT be trusted.
Bishop said DCYF will look for the baby's parents for six months before the baby is made available for adoption.
Yes indeed, DCYF will look for the parent's to bring charges against them, making sure any children they have in the future are removed. Guardianship is a crock of bull. NH DCYF very seldom, if ever allows Guardianship. Every child they take into their possession, is placed in foster care and then adopted. That's how they make their money. Guardianship in NH? What's that? There's no money to be made in Guardianship.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
“PREDICTIVE NEGLECT” CASES BASED ON PARENT’S MENTAL HEALTH
“PREDICTIVE NEGLECT” CASES BASED ON PARENT’S MENTAL HEALTH:
Location:
CHILD ABUSE; MENTAL HEALTH;
Scope:
Connecticut laws/regulations; Court Cases;
SUMMARY
By law, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) can remove children from their parents' custody and move to terminate parental rights if it believes the children have been neglected. Predictive neglect is a common-law doctrine that the state's child welfare system uses to determine whether neglect has occurred on the basis of conditions that are “injurious to the child's well-being.” Under this doctrine, the child has not been harmed; rather, there is an allegation that the child could be harmed in the future. DCF has regularly relied on the predictive neglect doctrine to both (1) remove children from their parents' custody and (2) terminate parental rights.
DCF policy establishes factors that could constitute predictive neglect. Although the policy does not include a parent's unstable mental health as one such factor, DCF has routinely pointed to such as grounds for removing children from their parents' custody. Likewise, the courts have regularly affirmed these cases and have upheld DCF's removal. In these cases, the courts have insisted that the parties petitioning for removal meet a burden of proof threshold.
CHILD NEGLECT
Definition
The law provides that “[a] child or youth may be found 'neglected' who (A) has been abandoned, (B) is being denied proper care and attention, physically educationally, emotionally or morally, (C) is being permitted to live under conditions, circumstances or associations injurious to the well-being of the child or youth, or (D) has been abused” (CGS § 46b-120(8))
Process
The law allows DCF, among others, to file a neglect petition with the local Superior Court alleging that a child or youth is “neglected.” Often, this filing is accompanied with a Motion for Order of Temporary Custody (OTC). In these cases, if the court determines, based on affidavits provided by DCF, that there is “reasonable cause to believe that (1) the child or youth is suffering from serious physical illness or serious physical injury or is in immediate physical danger from the child's or youth's surroundings, and (2) that as a result of said conditions, the child's or youth's safety is endangered and immediate removal from such surroundings is necessary to ensure the child's or youth's safety,” the court may issue an ex parte order of temporary custody, placing the child or youth with DCF. In emergency cases, DCF also has the power to initiate a 96-hour administrative hold, allowing the department to immediately take custody of a child or youth without court approval. Following this, the agency must go to court as soon as possible to move for an OTC.
Whether the neglect petition is filed on its own or as part of an OTC, parents are entitled to a neglect trial, a full trial to determine whether the child or youth is “neglected” under state law. DCF has the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence in these trials. The court considers any evidence pertinent to the child or youth's living situation and the parent or parents' ability to care for the child or youth. A finding by the court that the child or youth is “neglected” may result in an order of protective supervision, the commitment of the child or youth, a transfer of custody or, in severe cases, termination of parental rights (CGS § 46b-129).
Predictive Neglect
DCF may allege that has a child has been “neglected” based on one or more of the law's four criteria. It is under the third criteria, that the child or youth is “being permitted to live under conditions, circumstances of associations injurious to his or her well-being”, that DCF has invoked, and the courts have recognized, the doctrine of “predictive neglect.”
While state law does not establish the doctrine, the DCF Policy Manual attempts to clarify which situations may qualify as “conditions injurious to the child's well-being” for the purpose of alleging predictive neglect. These include when the child:
1. has witnessed repeated episodes of domestic violence,
2. lives in a home where drug trafficking takes place,
3. is repeatedly exposed to alcohol or substance abuse,
4. is exposed to inappropriate sexual conduct by adult caretakers,
5. is left with inappropriate caretakers,
6. has siblings who have been neglected or abused and the conditions leading to that neglect or abuse have not abated, or
7. is a newborn whose parents are unable to provide adequate care (DCF Policy Manual § 46-3-10)
The courts have ruled that predictive neglect exists when a child is in danger of being harmed in the future, even if no harm has presently occurred. The Connecticut Appellate Court has stated that Connecticut's statutes “clearly and explicitly recognize the state's authority to act before harm occurs to protect children whose health and welfare may be adversely affected and not just children whose welfare has been affected. The [person filing the neglect petition] need not show, but simply allege, that there is a potential for harm to occur” (In re Michael D., 58 Conn. App. 119, 123-24 (2000)). Courts also have ruled that under the doctrine, a child can be considered neglected without ever having been under the custody of a parent (In re Jermaine S., 86 Conn. App. 819, 829 (2005)).
Superior court decisions involving the doctrine of predictive neglect are numerous and have attempted to answer the question as to the “bare minimum of findings” that would be essential to meeting the preponderance of evidence threshold. In the case cited above, the court stated that “[o]ne generalization that emerges from [predictive neglect cases] is that when a parent cohabits with a sexual predator and exposes her children to him, the likelihood is high that a neglect allegation will be sustained. Similarly, a parent who has demonstrated neglectful behavior towards older children will likely raise sufficient alarm to warrant concern about the wellbeing of a newborn. Lastly, chronic abuse of a child, or chronic inability to meet minimal expectations of parenting skills, will sustain a finding that prospective harm to the child of such a parent is predictable” (In re Olivia O., 2007 WL 4239785 (Conn. Super. Ct., Nov. 15, 2007) (internal citations omitted)).
Mental Illness
Although the DCF Policy Manual's list of examples of predictive neglect does not include mental illness, Connecticut courts have consistently considered a parent's mental health as a factor in neglect petitions. For example, a Connecticut trial court has stated that “even chronic mental illness is not alone a ground to support a neglect adjudication. If, however, that proof is successfully coupled with evidence of the impact such illness has or might have upon the child, a finding of predictive neglect can be justly made” (In re Olivia O., 2007 WL 3261395 (Conn. Super. Ct., Aug. 13, 2007) (internal citations omitted)). In reviewing neglect petitions on this basis, Connecticut trial courts have often quoted a predictive neglect case in which the court stated that “[c]ourts have long been supportive of neglect adjudications which are, in effect, based on the prediction that the parent would neglect the child based on the parent's prior conduct or mental illness and the danger such conduct would present to a child left in her care” (In re Eric A., 1999 WL 1328085 (Conn. Super. Ct., Dec. 28, 1999)).
Case law. We found 74 cases in which a Connecticut court considered whether a child or children had been neglected based on the predictive neglect doctrine. This is not an exhaustive list. In 68 of these cases, the court found the child or children to be neglected. We identified 36 cases in which the court specifically cited a parent's or both parents' mental health as a factor in the court's conclusion that the child would be in danger of neglect if allowed to continue living with the parent. In 15 of the 36 cases, the finding of neglect was coupled with a termination of parental rights. Many of these cases involved a child who had been removed from the custody of their parent or parents immediately after birth.
One Connecticut Appellate Court decision provides a thorough analysis of adjudicating a newborn child under the theory of predictive neglect based on a parent's mental health. There, the court adjudicated predictive neglect based upon evidence of the mother having obsessive thoughts of harming herself since she was seven years old. Also, after her child was born and the mother was still in the hospital, the mother reported to the staff that she had obsessive thoughts about hurting herself and the baby. The mother was also diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, and regularly saw a psychiatrist, who had prescribed for her antidepressant and antipsychotic medications. The record also disclosed that the father had suicidal thoughts himself. The court concluded that there was sufficient evidence, as a matter of law, to find the child neglected on the theory of predictive neglect (In re T.K., 105 Conn. App. 502, 509, (2008)).
In comparison, a trial court case represents a circumstance where a child was not found neglected under predictive neglect even though the mother (1) suffered a sudden, but debilitating, psychiatric breakdown and (2) over a span of about two months, spent a total of several weeks in the hospital. Following the breakdown, DCF brought its petition contending that mother's condition was such that she could not provide care for her daughter. DCF asserted that the child was, therefore, predictably susceptible to harm and required the state to intervene on her behalf. The court determined that there was no suggestion that mother brought her condition upon herself by anything she did, or that she could have anticipated or avoided it. Also, aside from this period of acute crisis, there was no indication that the mother was otherwise deficient in any respect as a parent. The case came down to the question of whether Olivia was in present jeopardy during the mother's incapacitation, or in potential jeopardy on account of the lack of an appropriate plan for her protection during that crisis. Unable to affirm these contentions, the court refused to find the child to be neglected (In re Olivia O., 2007 WL 4239785 (Conn. Super. Ct., Nov. 15, 2007)).
HD/MR:ro
Location:
CHILD ABUSE; MENTAL HEALTH;
Scope:
Connecticut laws/regulations; Court Cases;
| February 15, 2012 | 2012-R-0103 | |
“PREDICTIVE NEGLECT” CASES BASED ON PARENT'S MENTAL HEALTH | ||
By: Hendrik deBoer, Research Fellow Mark Randall, Research Fellow | ||
SUMMARY
By law, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) can remove children from their parents' custody and move to terminate parental rights if it believes the children have been neglected. Predictive neglect is a common-law doctrine that the state's child welfare system uses to determine whether neglect has occurred on the basis of conditions that are “injurious to the child's well-being.” Under this doctrine, the child has not been harmed; rather, there is an allegation that the child could be harmed in the future. DCF has regularly relied on the predictive neglect doctrine to both (1) remove children from their parents' custody and (2) terminate parental rights.
DCF policy establishes factors that could constitute predictive neglect. Although the policy does not include a parent's unstable mental health as one such factor, DCF has routinely pointed to such as grounds for removing children from their parents' custody. Likewise, the courts have regularly affirmed these cases and have upheld DCF's removal. In these cases, the courts have insisted that the parties petitioning for removal meet a burden of proof threshold.
CHILD NEGLECT
Definition
The law provides that “[a] child or youth may be found 'neglected' who (A) has been abandoned, (B) is being denied proper care and attention, physically educationally, emotionally or morally, (C) is being permitted to live under conditions, circumstances or associations injurious to the well-being of the child or youth, or (D) has been abused” (CGS § 46b-120(8))
Process
The law allows DCF, among others, to file a neglect petition with the local Superior Court alleging that a child or youth is “neglected.” Often, this filing is accompanied with a Motion for Order of Temporary Custody (OTC). In these cases, if the court determines, based on affidavits provided by DCF, that there is “reasonable cause to believe that (1) the child or youth is suffering from serious physical illness or serious physical injury or is in immediate physical danger from the child's or youth's surroundings, and (2) that as a result of said conditions, the child's or youth's safety is endangered and immediate removal from such surroundings is necessary to ensure the child's or youth's safety,” the court may issue an ex parte order of temporary custody, placing the child or youth with DCF. In emergency cases, DCF also has the power to initiate a 96-hour administrative hold, allowing the department to immediately take custody of a child or youth without court approval. Following this, the agency must go to court as soon as possible to move for an OTC.
Whether the neglect petition is filed on its own or as part of an OTC, parents are entitled to a neglect trial, a full trial to determine whether the child or youth is “neglected” under state law. DCF has the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence in these trials. The court considers any evidence pertinent to the child or youth's living situation and the parent or parents' ability to care for the child or youth. A finding by the court that the child or youth is “neglected” may result in an order of protective supervision, the commitment of the child or youth, a transfer of custody or, in severe cases, termination of parental rights (CGS § 46b-129).
Predictive Neglect
DCF may allege that has a child has been “neglected” based on one or more of the law's four criteria. It is under the third criteria, that the child or youth is “being permitted to live under conditions, circumstances of associations injurious to his or her well-being”, that DCF has invoked, and the courts have recognized, the doctrine of “predictive neglect.”
While state law does not establish the doctrine, the DCF Policy Manual attempts to clarify which situations may qualify as “conditions injurious to the child's well-being” for the purpose of alleging predictive neglect. These include when the child:
1. has witnessed repeated episodes of domestic violence,
2. lives in a home where drug trafficking takes place,
3. is repeatedly exposed to alcohol or substance abuse,
4. is exposed to inappropriate sexual conduct by adult caretakers,
5. is left with inappropriate caretakers,
6. has siblings who have been neglected or abused and the conditions leading to that neglect or abuse have not abated, or
7. is a newborn whose parents are unable to provide adequate care (DCF Policy Manual § 46-3-10)
The courts have ruled that predictive neglect exists when a child is in danger of being harmed in the future, even if no harm has presently occurred. The Connecticut Appellate Court has stated that Connecticut's statutes “clearly and explicitly recognize the state's authority to act before harm occurs to protect children whose health and welfare may be adversely affected and not just children whose welfare has been affected. The [person filing the neglect petition] need not show, but simply allege, that there is a potential for harm to occur” (In re Michael D., 58 Conn. App. 119, 123-24 (2000)). Courts also have ruled that under the doctrine, a child can be considered neglected without ever having been under the custody of a parent (In re Jermaine S., 86 Conn. App. 819, 829 (2005)).
Superior court decisions involving the doctrine of predictive neglect are numerous and have attempted to answer the question as to the “bare minimum of findings” that would be essential to meeting the preponderance of evidence threshold. In the case cited above, the court stated that “[o]ne generalization that emerges from [predictive neglect cases] is that when a parent cohabits with a sexual predator and exposes her children to him, the likelihood is high that a neglect allegation will be sustained. Similarly, a parent who has demonstrated neglectful behavior towards older children will likely raise sufficient alarm to warrant concern about the wellbeing of a newborn. Lastly, chronic abuse of a child, or chronic inability to meet minimal expectations of parenting skills, will sustain a finding that prospective harm to the child of such a parent is predictable” (In re Olivia O., 2007 WL 4239785 (Conn. Super. Ct., Nov. 15, 2007) (internal citations omitted)).
Mental Illness
Although the DCF Policy Manual's list of examples of predictive neglect does not include mental illness, Connecticut courts have consistently considered a parent's mental health as a factor in neglect petitions. For example, a Connecticut trial court has stated that “even chronic mental illness is not alone a ground to support a neglect adjudication. If, however, that proof is successfully coupled with evidence of the impact such illness has or might have upon the child, a finding of predictive neglect can be justly made” (In re Olivia O., 2007 WL 3261395 (Conn. Super. Ct., Aug. 13, 2007) (internal citations omitted)). In reviewing neglect petitions on this basis, Connecticut trial courts have often quoted a predictive neglect case in which the court stated that “[c]ourts have long been supportive of neglect adjudications which are, in effect, based on the prediction that the parent would neglect the child based on the parent's prior conduct or mental illness and the danger such conduct would present to a child left in her care” (In re Eric A., 1999 WL 1328085 (Conn. Super. Ct., Dec. 28, 1999)).
Case law. We found 74 cases in which a Connecticut court considered whether a child or children had been neglected based on the predictive neglect doctrine. This is not an exhaustive list. In 68 of these cases, the court found the child or children to be neglected. We identified 36 cases in which the court specifically cited a parent's or both parents' mental health as a factor in the court's conclusion that the child would be in danger of neglect if allowed to continue living with the parent. In 15 of the 36 cases, the finding of neglect was coupled with a termination of parental rights. Many of these cases involved a child who had been removed from the custody of their parent or parents immediately after birth.
One Connecticut Appellate Court decision provides a thorough analysis of adjudicating a newborn child under the theory of predictive neglect based on a parent's mental health. There, the court adjudicated predictive neglect based upon evidence of the mother having obsessive thoughts of harming herself since she was seven years old. Also, after her child was born and the mother was still in the hospital, the mother reported to the staff that she had obsessive thoughts about hurting herself and the baby. The mother was also diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, and regularly saw a psychiatrist, who had prescribed for her antidepressant and antipsychotic medications. The record also disclosed that the father had suicidal thoughts himself. The court concluded that there was sufficient evidence, as a matter of law, to find the child neglected on the theory of predictive neglect (In re T.K., 105 Conn. App. 502, 509, (2008)).
In comparison, a trial court case represents a circumstance where a child was not found neglected under predictive neglect even though the mother (1) suffered a sudden, but debilitating, psychiatric breakdown and (2) over a span of about two months, spent a total of several weeks in the hospital. Following the breakdown, DCF brought its petition contending that mother's condition was such that she could not provide care for her daughter. DCF asserted that the child was, therefore, predictably susceptible to harm and required the state to intervene on her behalf. The court determined that there was no suggestion that mother brought her condition upon herself by anything she did, or that she could have anticipated or avoided it. Also, aside from this period of acute crisis, there was no indication that the mother was otherwise deficient in any respect as a parent. The case came down to the question of whether Olivia was in present jeopardy during the mother's incapacitation, or in potential jeopardy on account of the lack of an appropriate plan for her protection during that crisis. Unable to affirm these contentions, the court refused to find the child to be neglected (In re Olivia O., 2007 WL 4239785 (Conn. Super. Ct., Nov. 15, 2007)).
HD/MR:ro
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