Too Many Problems to Avoid Open Courts

Ben Baeder: Too Many Problems to Avoid Open Cours | The Chronicle of Social Change:

If the public only knew how messed up things were for foster kids, people would insist on change.

Baby taken away from parents after authorities find LEGAL medical marijuana

Baby taken away from parents after authorities find LEGAL medical marijuana | Mail Online:


The tragic moment a child was taken from his parents because they were deemed unfit for smoking medical marijuana has been captured on tape.

Napa, California, couple Shawnee and Aaron Hillyer are heard in a recording begging to know why authorities had decided to take their 11-month-old child away. 

477 child deaths: How Florida preserved families but lost kids

477 child deaths: How Florida preserved families but lost kids | Local News | Bradenton Herald:


A year-long Miami Herald investigation found that, in the last six years, 477 Florida children have died of abuse or neglect after their families had come to the attention of the Department of Children and Families. Emily Michot/Miami Herald Staff

Check Out The I-Team Investigation Here: http://hrld.us/1gBYpFH

Are we overdosing our children with Ritalin, aka pediatric cocaine?

Are we overdosing our children with Ritalin, aka pediatric cocaine? | Communities Digital News - New:

WYTHE CO., Va., March 16, 2014 — American kids are the most medicated in the world. The increase in use of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs has been nothing short of staggering in its scope.
Read more:

Don't Sue Your Parents - Baby LK Report For March 16th 2013

The Case Against CASA-HOW THE MOST SACRED COW IN CHILD WELFARE HURTS THE CHILDREN IT IS MEANT TO HELP

The Case Against CASA | National Coalition for Child Protection Reform:

HOW THE MOST SACRED COW IN CHILD WELFARE HURTS THE CHILDREN IT IS MEANT TO HELP

For a printable pdf copy of this document, click here.

To see the actual study discussed below, click here.

The trade journal Youth Today aptly summed up the appeal of the Court-Appointed Special Advocates Program, noting that CASA

“couldn’t sound more apple pie, more thousand points of light.  CASAs are a cadre of 74,000 volunteers trained for dozens of hours, then dispatched to conduct independent investigations of child abuse and to represent the children’s interests in courts around the nation. What could be wrong with that?”

Plenty, it turns out; much of it revealed by the most comprehensive evaluation of CASA ever done, an evaluation commissioned by the National CASA Association itself.  As Youth Today noted, the report  “delivers some surprisingly damning numbers.”[1]

●The study found that CASA’s only real accomplishments were to prolong the time children languished in foster care and reduce the chance that the child will be placed with relatives.

●The study found no evidence that having a CASA on the case does anything to improve child safety – so all that extra foster care is for nothing. (The study specifically controlled for CASA’s all purpose excuse for this – the claim that CASAs handle the most difficult cases.)

●The study also found that when a CASA is assigned to a child who is Black, the CASA spends, on average, significantly less time on the case. (The study also found that CASAs don’t spend as much time on cases in general as the organization’s p.r. might lead one to believe. CASA volunteers reported spending an average of only 4.3 hours per month on cases involving white children, and only 2.67 hours per month on cases involving Black children).[2]

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Medical Marijuana Patients Lose Custody Of Baby, Deemed Unfit Parents (Video)

Medical Marijuana Patients Lose Custody Of Baby, Deemed Unfit Parents (Video):

An 11-month-old California boy was taken into protective custody because his parents have legal prescriptions for medical marijuana.