PUT A STOP TO CPS

Deaths highlight child protection flaws

PAST.CPS — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:44:38 +0000

Child protection services have again been criticised for failing to protect Victoria’s most vulnerable children following a review of 16 deaths on the state’s watch.

An annual report by the Victorian Child Death Review Committee shows 16 children known to protective services died in the 12 months to March 2010.

Three died of non-accidental trauma and four committed suicide.

Five died from illness and four from sudden infant death syndrome.

Eleven of the children were aged under three, including infants aged one month and six months and a two-year-old toddler, all of whom died from non-accidental injuries.

Domestic violence and substance use was a factor in most cases, while there were also high rates of parental mental illness and homelessness.

The report blamed staffing shortfalls and an inexperienced workforce for compromised care.

“Overall the case reviews paint a picture of the corrosive effect of chronic staffing shortages and workload pressures,” the report said.

It highlighted a breakdown in information gathering and sharing between agencies and failures in building a historical profile of problem families.

Too often direct contact between child protection workers and clients was insufficient and relied on “announced visits”.

The report said safety must be given greater weight in making decisions about a child’s welfare, warning that failure to do so “can have immediate and life threatening outcomes for children.”

“When responding to possible physical abuse, assessment and decision making are time critical and must clarify issues regarding the safety of the child as the most urgent priority,” the report said.

In 2009, 26 children known to protective services died.

The Victorian government last September announced a $77 million package to employ an extra 200 child protection staff, including 101 frontline workers.

But the crisis deepened two months later when an ombudsman’s report lifted the lid on a system in crisis, revealing more than 2000 at-risk children, or one in five, were without a case worker.

Community Services Minister Lisa Neville said that number had since been reduced from 24 per cent to 15 per cent.

“Since October last year we’ve recruited over 400 new child protection workers to the system, that has filled all the vacancies and is also filling the additional positions that we’ve funded,” she said.

“I think we can keep doing more and more and that’s what we’re focused on doing.”

Opposition community services spokeswoman Mary Wooldridge said the report was further evidence the government had failed to protect abused and neglected children.

“What we know is that more and more children are dying who are known to child protection,” Ms Wooldridge said.

German bureaucrats take children from abused U.S. mom Call for help costs American citizen her rights to kids, maybe permanently

PAST.CPS — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:17:20 +0000

Help Philecia Jackson

THEIR GOVERNMENT AT WORK

German bureaucrats take children from abused U.S. mom

Call for help costs American citizen her rights to kids, maybe permanently

Posted: June 12, 2010
9:10 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

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for (var i=0; i A new YouTube video and website are publicizing the plight of an American woman who lost her children to a state social services agency – perhaps permanently – essentially because she called police asking for help during an episode of alleged domestic violence.

Phelicia Jackson’s story is told on the HelpforPhilecia.com website as well in an online video:

Her battle, according to the website, is against the German Jugendamt, the government youth welfare office. The agency has been at the center of a number of cases in which homeschooling families have clashed with a law dating back to the days of Hitler that bans parents from educating their own children.

Here’s the explanation to “How Evil Works,” from the WND SuperStore.

The Germany embassy in Washington was closed during business hours and officials could not be reached by WND for comment.

But Pastor Phil Jackson, Phelicia’s father and minister to a nondenominational church in the Phoenix, Ariz., area, discussed with WND the attack on his daughter by the German government.

He explained his daughter had married a man with citizenship ties to Germany, and they lived in the United States for several years and had two children. Ultimately, the marriage broke down because of his alleged violence and abuse, and when Phelicia’s husband was scheduled to appear in court on the allegations, he traveled to Germany instead.

(Story continues below)

After months, the husband resumed contact with Philecia, according to her father. She ultimately decided to travel to Germany with her children to try to restore the family.

But it wasn’t long before she called her father, telling him of new incidents of abuse.

“I told her quickly to call the embassy,” Pastor Jackson told WND.

His daughter needed help leaving Germany, he said, because her children’s passports had disappeared.

The U.S. embassy told her to call German police, and they responded, taking her and the children to a battered women’s shelter. The next day, social services workers from the Jugendamt arrived to scoop up her children and place them in foster care. A day later, a Sunday, Phelicia Jackson was called to a court hearing where, she explained, she essentially lost her parental rights.

Since then, she’s remained in Germany, battling the power of the Jugendamt to regain custody of her children.

“Her whole life is in her children,” Phil Jackson said. “She’s just absolutely depressed. It takes a tremendous amount of energy, emotion, to endure [this.]”

He reported she has been told by her counselors in Germany that regaining full custody of her children appears unlikely, but she remains hopeful an agreement will be worked out.

Officials with the U.S. State Department did not respond to a WND request for comment on the Jugendamt and its power over Americans visiting Germany.

The same agency appeared in in a recent story by Dale Hurd of Christian Broadcasting Network.

In that case, a 7-year-old named Dan Schulz was taken by police and Jugendamt officers.

A video of the state-sponsor abduction shows the child screaming, “I don’t want to go,” with an official responding, “Mom can’t help you.”

“He was screaming so much. ‘Hold me tight.’ I couldn’t do anything,” his mother, Heidi Schulz, recalled.

The mother eventually was reunited with her son, but even now there are whispers that his residency at his own home may not be allowed to continue, the report said.

The Jugendamt has played a role in the alienation of a large number of homeschool families who have fled Germany. Because of the nation’s law banning homeschooling, and the court’s determination that homeschooling is a form of child abuse, child welfare agencies often intervene against homeschooling families.

“Ms. Jackson is not alone in having to face the Jugendamt in Germany,” said Michael Donnelly, a staff attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association, the HSLDA

The HSLDA is the world’s biggest advocacy organization for homeschooling families and works worldwide to help parents who object to public schooling systems because of religious or other reasons.

“Homeschooling families in Germany have been pursued by this instrument of the German state in a number of cases. Among the most infamous is of the long-time homeschooling family Gorber whose minor children were taken in a harrowing and dramatic raid in January 2008,” Donnelly said.

“The children were returned after 10 months only when the parents agreed to put them in public school. The family has since left Germany. It appears increasingly that these so-called ‘social welfare’ institutions like the Jugendamt in Germany and the Socialnamnden of Sweden have become instruments of persecution used against families where there isn’t any harm being done to children,” Donnelly said.

WND has reported when homeschooling parents in Germany decided to appeal their prison terms, when other parents have lost their children over homeschooling, when a teen girl was taken from her home and sent to a psychiatric ward because she was being homeschooled, when families have fled Germany because of the threats from the Jugendamt over homeschooling, when homeschool families have been fined thousands of dollars as well as other cases.

The heavy hand of the Jugendamt and other German government agencies appeared especially in the recent case of the Romeike family of Tennessee.

The family fled to the U.S. from Germany to escape the Jugendamt and other agencies in Germany, and sought asylum in the U.S.

Judge Lawrence Burman’s granted the request for Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and their family, stating, “We can’t expect every country to follow our Constitution. The world might be a better place if it did.

“However, the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate,” he said.

The parents wanted to provide their children’s education because of content in modern German textbooks that violates the family’s religious beliefs. The family said the objectionable material includes explicit lessons on sex, the promotion of the occult and witchcraft and an effort to teach children to disrespect authority figures.

The HSLDA estimates there are some 400 homeschool families in Germany. Virtually all of them are either forced into hiding or facing court actions.

Wolfgang Drautz, consul general for the Federal Republic of Germany, previously wrote on the issue in a blog, explaining the German government “has a legitimate interest in countering the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion.”

As WND reported, the German government believes schooling is critical to socialization, as evident in its response to another family that objected to police officers picking up their child at home and delivering him to a public school.

“The minister of education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling,” said a government letter. “… You complain about the forced school escort of primary school children by the responsible local police officers. … In order to avoid this in future, the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement.”

The cases that have developed in Germany, and more recently in Sweden, where a 7-year-old named Domenick Johansson was taken by police from a jet while his family waiting to move to India, are a warning to the U.S., officials have said.

That’s why a Parental Rights.org website has been assembled to promote a constitutional amendment in the U.S. recognizing parental rights.

The recent CBN report noted the Jugendamt dominates Germany’s family court system and it appears to take children “when it wants, from perfectly normal families.”

Heidi Schulz told the CBN reporters, “My experience with the Jugendamt has been terrible. They destroy families; they torture people, and make money out of it.”

The CBN report cited opponents of the institutionalization of children who accused the Jugendamt of being, essentially, a child-trafficking network that uses normal children to generate the business to support its foster home and other facilies.

“There is a system of persons, of social workers, of teachers, psychotherapists, who live on children being taken out of the family,” German psychologist Carola Storm-Knirsch told CBN.

The report suggested some 80 children per day are taken from their parents.

CBN reported the case of the German 7-year-old generated $8,000 a month for the state foster agency to which he was delivered.

The situation has developed to the point that not only are concerns being raised by those caught by the German system, outside agencies such as the French-language CEED-Europe website are taking note.

The organization did the work of posting Phelicia Jackson’s story on YouTube,

The website set up to generate support for Phelicia and her children, Cam’ron and India, described her encounter with the German town of Guterslogh as “parentel abduction with the assistant of the German government.”

The site quotes Isaiah 59:14-15. “And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.”

The website said Philecia’s husband reportedly targeted her with false accusations about using drugs, but even though she passed a drug screening, she was not restored custody of her children.

CEED also has posted a longer video about the Jackson case and others:

Government is daring to keep kids on drugs

PAST.CPS — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:42:56 +0000

Lyons: Government is daring to keep kids on drugs

By Tom Lyons

Published: Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 7:32 p.m.

( page 1 of 3 )

Apparently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had at least heard about the suicide of Gabriel Myers.

Myers’ death by hanging happened in a Florida foster home last year, but that wasn’t the main reason it triggered a major reaction at Florida’s Department of Children and Families.

The real reason: He was 7 years old.

Whatever else might have helped lead such a young child toward ending his life, one detail was impossible to ignore: The boy was being treated with three different psychotropic medications.

Medications of that sort make some people more depressed or even suicidal, and their effects when combined are harder to predict, especially in children.

So DCF did a quick check on how many foster children were being given such drugs. Troubling facts emerged.

Not only was the percentage high, it was not really known. And, in more than a third of known cases, required approval permission documents were missing.

DCF Secretary George Sheldon quickly acknowledged the problem and started a study group to learn more and give advice. And a year later, the picture is at least more clear. Very few files lack required documentation now. And when I asked for the most current numbers, they were available, and somewhat lower. In the Sarasota-Manatee-DeSoto county region, 11 percent of foster children are given psychotropic meds. Statewide, it is 13 percent.

Some critics insist too many foster parents, lacking the skill or patience to work with troubled children who arrive as strangers, are still too quick to see medication as the way to curb problem behavior or just keep foster children quiet, no matter the side effects.

But whatever the truth of that, the study group recommended some good changes, and one made sense immediately, I thought: Ban the use of foster kids in drug trials.

Drugs helpful to some adults can react differently in children, who may suffer more extreme and unintended side effects. And so, clinical trials on children are needed, but it it is a scary field of study. The most alert and caring parents are key for monitoring the children during such trials, I would think.

So I was surprised at the FDA’s response when Sheldon wrote to ask how many Florida foster children were involved in drug studies as they bounce from foster family to foster family.

Jill Hartzler, an associate FDA commissioner, responded that the FDA — which oversees the studies to make sure children’s involvement is approved and understood by parents or guardians — didn’t have an exact number. Or even an estimate. The FDA, in fact, doesn’t have the slightest idea how many Florida foster kids are or have been involved in its drug studies.

But that wasn’t the weirdest part. Hartzler and the FDA also urged that Florida not bar foster kids from drug trials, arguing that benefits can outweigh risks.

I’m happy to say Sheldon is not taking that advice. But as he explains his reasoning more tactfully than does Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, I’ll quote Wexler, who says the FDA’s position is absurd.

“I would love to ask Associate Commissioner Hartzler,” Wexler said, “if she’d care to let a total stranger decide if her children should be enrolled in a trial for a potentially dangerous drug.”

Mom charged in sleeping pill overdose death of son

PAST.CPS — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:51:17 +0000

FORT LAUDERDALE —

After being charged with manslaughter for the death of her only child, bail was set at $21,000 for Raisa Bernabe at her first court appearance Friday.

Bernabe, 44, of Parkland, was ordered by Broward Magistrate Judge John “Jay” Hurley to surrender an expired passport and is not allowed to travel beyond South Florida.

She was arrested by police Thursday after the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that her son Nicholas Odze, 4, died in September, 2009, from an overdose of eszopiclone, a prescription sleep aid sold under the brand name Lunesta.

Toxicology tests conducted as part of the boy’s autopsy also found that shortly before his death he had ingested ibuprofen and the prescription pain substances oxycodone and oxymorphone, according to a medical examiner report.

Police worked closely with Sepracor, the company that manufactures Lunesta, to determine precisely that it was the eszopiclone that killed the child, said Coral Springs Police Sgt. Joe McHugh.

Officials at Sepracor could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

Bernabe had told detectives she gave the boy a Lunesta pill the night of Sept. 9 because he had not been able to stay asleep the previous two nights, police said.

Bernabe was represented in court by criminal defense attorney Sebastian Balliro.

“I’m shocked but not surprised that the state attorney has chosen to file these charges at this time, to charge her how they have,” Balliro said. “Everyone is jumping to conclusions about what was done in that house. She is entitled to a fair examination of the circumstances. This woman has already suffered the loss of her child.”

Nicholas’s father, Allan Odze, found the boy unresponsive in his bed the next morning, police said.

“The family is devastated. This is a tragedy that just doesn’t end,” said Spencer Aronfeld, attorney for the family.

Soon after the death of their son, Bernabe, who at the time worked as an assistant to the Coconut Creek city manager, and Odze, a retired police officer from New York, stopped living together, Aronfeld said.

Bernabe has also struggled with severe emotional issues and was recently hospitalized, he said.

Her lawyer, Balliro, did not know why she had a black eye in her arrest photo.

The Medical Examiner’s Office classified the boy’s death a homicide, based on Bernabe’s statement to police that she deliberately gave her son the Lunesta.

Detectives searched the family’s apartment on Sept. 10 and collected 68 prescription pill bottles, according to court records. Nearly all the medications, including the Lunesta, had been prescribed to Odze.

Bernabe had told police that shortly after giving the Lunesta pill to her son, she found him near several opened prescription pill bottles in her bedroom, according to court records.

It was unclear from the records how many pills he may have ingested in addition to the Lunesta.

Eszopiclone, a hypnotic used to treat insomnia, can lower breathing and metabolism and be lethal if taken in too high of a dosage, according to Sepracor, which is based in Massachusetts. The drug has not been tested in children and is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for pediatric use.

In addition to manslaughter, Bernabe also has been charged with delivery of a controlled substance to a minor and knowing sale or transfer of prescription drug to an unauthorized person, authorities said.

Texas mom tells 911 she used wire to kill children

PAST.CPS — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:21:17 +0000

DALLAS (AP) – A suburban Dallas woman accused of killing her two young children told a 911 operator that she first tried to poison them because they were autistic and she wanted “normal kids,” then choked them with a wire until they stopped moving, according to the recorded call.

Irving police on Wednesday released recordings of the 911 call after Saiqa Akhter was charged with capital murder in the death of her 5-year-old son, Zain Akhter. Police said the children were attacked at the family’s apartment Monday night.

Another capital murder charge is pending in the slaying of her 2-year-old daughter, Faryaal Akhter, who died Tuesday night, police spokesman David Tull said.

In the recording released Wednesday, the woman identified herself as Saiqa Akhter and repeatedly told the operator she killed her two children. At one point, the woman hung up and the dispatcher called her back.

“I killed both of them. I told you,” she told the operator. Later, she explained that both children were lying motionless on the bed in the master bedroom.

“They are not doing anything. They are just blue and they are not taking any breaths and … their heart is not beating,” she said.

She told the operator she initially tried to poison the children with bathroom cleaner but they refused to drink it. When that didn’t work, “I used a wire on their necks,” she said.

When the operator asked the woman why she attacked her children, she said, “They’re both not normal, not normal. They’re autistic. Both are autistic.” Pressed further, she said, “I don’t want my children to be like that. … I want normal kids.”

Later, the dispatcher asked the woman what she was feeling. “Nothing,” she responded.

At one point, water could be heard running in the background and the dispatcher asked what the woman what she was doing. She told the operator she was trying to wash the smell of cleaner off of her hands. The dispatcher then told the woman to go sit on a couch in the living room and wait for police.

At the end of the recording, police can be heard arriving at the home.

Akhter has requested a court-appointed attorney but one hasn’t been assigned to her case yet, an Irving jail official said. If convicted of capital murder, Akhter could face the death penalty, though prosecutors have not said if they will seek that punishment. Otherwise, she could face life in prison without parole.

Saiqa Akhter’s uncle, Wasimul Haque, told The Dallas Morning News his niece had been depressed since moving into a new apartment in Irving. Haque said Zain had autism and a severe speech impediment but had been improving and was in speech therapy.

The children’s father, Rashid Akhter, emigrated from Pakistan in the late 1990s, the newspaper reported. He married Saiqa, who also is from Pakistan, several years later, it said.

Zain was buried Wednesday in Richardson, another Dallas suburb. Faryaal’s funeral is scheduled for Thursday.

City Finds 17 Kids Living In Deplorable Conditions

PAST.CPS — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:17:28 +0000

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —

City inspectors found nearly 20 kids living inside a small home with no electricity.On Thursday, the city of Albuquerque red-tagged a home on Alamo Avenue SE and said it found 17 children and their parents living there in deplorable conditions.”You see so many little kids running and you’re afraid for their safety more than anything,” said neighbor Elvira Soto.Officials with Nuisance Abatement say they’ve red tagged two other homes these people have lived in for similar reasons and referred them to the Children, Youth and Families Department at least three different times.”These situations are harder than most,” Soto said.A spokesperson for CYFD said the agency did look into these cases, but could not do much about the problems.”A crowded situation is not in it of itself is not a reason for the agency to intervene,” said CYFD spokesperson Romaine Serna.Especially because CYFD claims there was no evidence of abuse or neglect, so workers had no grounds to take those children into protective custody.”Poverty is not a reason to remove children from the care of their families,” saidRight now the agency is involved in this most recent case and helping the parents get affordable housing and resources to keep those kids safe, but if their efforts don’t work and those children are at risk they could get taken away.Those parents and kids are staying at a motel.Police said they have been called to their most recent home, 45 times in the last year and those calls have cost taxpayers more than $4,000.

A center offering an intensive approach to autism disorders started by treating two children and has grown by leaps.

PAST.CPS — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:52:02 +0000

Deb Thomas launched autism treatment center Partners in Excellence to help children with autism spectrum disorders after learning of challenges families face

When their son developed a physical disability, Deb and Bruce Thomas created a nonprofit organization to provide education and other services for him and other children with special needs.

As Deb Thomas advocated for those children, she met an increasing number of women with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), including autism and Asperger syndrome, a group of developmental disabilities that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. One of every 110 children nationally has an ASD, according to the CDC.

Deb Thomas took action again, launching Partners in Education, a commercial autism treatment center headquartered in Burnsville. The center uses a type of behavior and communication treatment known as applied behavior analysis (ABA), which the CDC says is widely accepted among health care professionals and is used in many schools and treatment centers and sometimes in homes.

“She had two parents that were struggling with an ABA program in their house,” Bruce Thomas said of how Deb came to start Partners in Education. “Typically, the mom becomes the manager of the program, the needs to get the curriculum, manage the staff and make sure she has coverage for all the therapy. They came to Debby and said, ‘We want this program out of our house and we want you to manage the staff.’”

Partners started with those two children in 2001. Today the center has 125 employees and treats more than 100 children at its 36,000-square-foot building in Burnsville and locations in Edina and North St. Paul. The Thomases are working to find space and professionals to partner with in a potential new location in La Crosse, Wis. Last year’s revenue was close to $6 million.

“I never expected Partners in Excellence to grow to the size it is today, but I’m delighted that we’re filling a need in the community and will keep continuing to grow as the needs present themselves to us,” said Deb Thomas, whose entrepreneurial efforts led to her recognition earlier this year as one of Dakota County’s “exceptional businesswomen” by a local business publication.

“The first six years, we grew 30 to 40 percent a year, which is a hard pace to keep up,” Bruce Thomas said. “The challenge was how do you keep growing your staff and insuring that the quality of your program meets or exceeds expectations. We’ve been able to do that because we have a phenomenal staff. People in this industry have a heart for it. It’s allowed us a lot of flexibility to focus on the business component.”

Offers intensive therapy

Partners provides intensive early intervention therapy focusing on social and academic skills for children ages 1 through 10, for up to 40 hours a week for an average of 2 1/2 years, Deb Thomas said. It also provides speech pathology and occupational therapy services at all three of its sites.

Partners works with licensed psychologists to diagnose children and to help with family skills training and individual psychotherapy. Children are referred by school districts, county agencies and psychologists. Only two insurance companies and the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA) plan cover ABA treatment, Deb Thomas said, and she and others are advocating for changes that would increase coverage.

Partners is included in the Autism Society of Minnesota’s resource guide, the content of which is driven by parents, a spokeswoman said.

“Partners has been very successful, we hear from many parents,” said Barbara Luskin, consulting psychologist with the Autism Society of Minnesota.

“They seem to be quite effective. No business, no provider, nobody can satisfy everybody, but they have a solid reputation with parents.”

Prof. Joe Reichle, research director for the Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopment and Related Disabilities (LEND) program at the University of Minnesota, said research studies suggest the ABA form of therapy “has the strongest base of empirical support of any strategy.” Though he has not seen Partners’ application of the therapy, he said the company’s growth appears to be a sign of parental endorsement.

‘Lifesaver for us’

Molly Fliearman, a mother of quadruplets who has had three of her children at Partners, said the center has been “quite the lifesaver for us. And that’s a bit of an understatement.”

With therapy and parent training from Partners, a son who has been severely affected has gone from “10 percent success outside of the home to 90 percent able to go out,” said Fliearman, of Bloomington.

“I’m not going to tell you he was cured or fixed,” she said. “He has his limits, but we can confidently go out with him now, and it’s nice. They’ve helped educate us and give us tools to help cope with it. It’s made a huge difference for him going into school.”

Bruce Sullivan of Apple Valley said he and his wife researched treatments and treatment centers over the six months they had to wait for MCHA coverage.

“We felt very comfortable this would give [our son] the best opportunity to live as independent a life as possible,” said Sullivan, noting that his son had made strides academically and socially since started at Partners in January, when he was 4.

“They matched our passion to make him the best individual he can possibly be, and I see that each and every time I drop him off and pick him up and talk to him before and after.”

Jim Keenan, a licensed psychologist who has his own practice and has supervised Partners’ treatment program since September, said he believed Partners does a good job of incorporating ABA’s strengths, working with children to develop skills and monitor progress, while also building strong relationships with the children.

Partners is one of several treatment centers in the Twin Cities metro area that uses the ABA approach, Keenan said.

“In the community it’s well known and embraced,” Keenan said. “It’s effective and definitely there are results. Even in my short tenure there, you can see kids grow and develop …. They certainly have had their share of great successes.”

Top court blasts DYFS in custody case

PAST.CPS — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:48:37 +0000

The agency is criticized for placing two children without a hearing

BY MARY FUCHS

STATEHOUSE BUREAU

The state Supreme Court yesterday criticized the state Division of Youth and Family Services for ending an investigation of a woman who had “abused and neglected” her two children, saying a full hearing process is needed before determining where children should live.

In a unanimous decision, the justices said DYFS and the trial judge should have decided in court where the children could live, free from harm, instead of awarding custody to the woman’s ex-husband.

“Rather than relying on the wishes of the children, the division should have focused on whether the children could be safely returned to the custody of the mother,” Justice John Wallace Jr. wrote.

Public defender Yvonne Smith Segars said the precedent-setting decision establishes rules all Family Court judges must now follow.

“When a child is removed by DYFS … the parents will be given a full and fair opportunity to demonstrate to a Family Court judge … that the health, safety and other concerns which led to the removal of the children have been addressed, and that the children can now return,” said Segars.

Lee Moore, a spokesman with the Attorney General’s Office, said the state also supports that ruling.

“We agree with the Supreme Court decision accepting our argument that child protective services litigation may not conclude without the conduct of a full blown custody hearing in which DYFS, the public defender, representing the abusive parent, and the law guardian will participate,” said Moore.

The case involves a custody battle between a Hunterdon County woman and her former husband, who now lives in Florida, over their two children. All of the individuals’ names are protected by the court and none were released.

One night in March 2006, the daughter texted her father, saying she was having an argument with her mother. From Florida, the ex-husband called New Jersey State Police, who came to the woman’s home and allegedly found her drunk. The daughter had scratches on her arm and had become sick after her mother grabbed her and choked her….

In America, do we value freedom over protecting children?

PAST.CPS — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:44:41 +0000

Taking on the issue of regulating the Internet is extremely unpopular. The political left wants a free and unregulated Internet, and the right opposes hard regulation too.

Ever since the Internet was invented, a war has waged about who owns it and who controls it. The inventors, thinking about the value of worldwide access to information and learning – a noble endeavor – never considered in those first few years that their invention would be a global delivery system and facilitator of the largest contagion ever known to mankind — child rape.

This past week, Congress held an oversight hearing and asked hard questions of FCC Chairman Genachowski about his plans, and recent failed attempts, to regulate content on the Internet much the same way he regulates Radio and TV.

The problem is that the government doesn’t own the Internet and lacks the authority to control content being trafficked across its backbone.

So who is responsible for controlling illegal content online?

One brave foreign ISP Provider wanted to measure the traffic of child rape images being accessed on their network in one country (roughly the size of New Jersey). What did they find?

120,000 transactions involving known child pornography in a single day.

Child protection agency blames its own errors in death of foster child

PAST.CPS — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:43:07 +0000

By Marjie Lundstrom
mlundstrom@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Jun. 24, 2010 – 4:51 pm

Last Modified: Thursday, Jun. 24, 2010 – 6:41 pm

A searing internal review of Sacramento County’s Child Protective Services has concluded that judgment errors and bias among agency workers were factors in the 2008 death of a 4 1/2-year-old foster child.

For the first time since Amariana Crenshaw died in January 2008, top agency officials acknowledged a series of CPS mistakes leading up to the girl’s death – and how they plan to fix them.

“For all our good intentions, we were really not on track,” said CPS Director Laura Coulthard, who became tearful at times discussing the case.

Key findings of the review

Amariana was not thriving in foster care. Her medical and mental health care were not adequately monitored.
Once in foster care, no one social worker had a sustained relationship with Amariana.
Case management was not anchored in Amariana�s well being.
Opportunities to fully inquire into Amariana�s well-being were missed because referrals were not investigated in accordance with guidelines and mandates.
Critical thinking errors were a common theme throughout Amariana�s Child Protective Services case.
CPS and partners lacked a cohesive response to Amariana�s death and the concerns uncovered in the aftermath.
Two years after Amariana�s death there continue to be unresolved questions about whether CPS can place a �hold� on a certified foster home. There is no apparent system in place to track concerns for these homes.

“As painful as it is, it’s also just a great call to all of us that we can’t work in silos, we’ve got to come together, we’ve got to be accountable.”

Coulthard said the agency’s internal review was in direct response to a Bee series published in January about Amariana’s death while in foster care. The Bee’s investigation raised numerous questions about the quality of care the little girl received in the crowded and tumultuous foster home of Tracy Dossman, who has since been decertified by the state.

CPS continued to place children in Dossman’s care for more than two years after Amariana’s body was pulled from a burning rental home owned by the foster provider. The case remains unsolved by Sacramento Police, who are investigating the child’s death as a homicide after at least one Molotov cocktail ignited in the room where Amariana allegedly was sleeping.