http://donnellyjustice.me/2012/10/27/request-for-grand-jury-investigation-of-butte-county-child-protective-services/
Luckily these people are getting help. And where does that leave the rest of them? To somehow manage to hold on to life and continue fighting to get their kids.
This is why there needs to be a Special Grand Jury set up in the entire STATE (every one of them actually)to deal with JUST issues of CPS abuse IN THE BEGINNING so people's children are not languishing in homes where they possibly ARE being abused
Monday, November 5, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Today a Child Will Die
There is a woman that walks the streets of Sacramento day and night, one of many, of course. But we seem to cross paths daily. Some days she's very animated, smiling, talking (to no one in particular)and is happy to take a cigarette or cup of coffe. Other days she walks with her head down and moves as if she's got to get to where she's going. Sometimes, rarely, she comes and sits on the steps of the Capitol with us. Never speaking or making eye contact, just sitting. It's getting cold, so at night she wears a paper bag over her head and just has a light sweater. I got a heavy jacket from the Salvation Army and sat it next to her on a bench but only saw it on her one day and now it's gone. Her food comes from the trash cans around the city. One morning we crossed paths at about 4am and she refused the coffee and donut I tried to give her. Once the sun came out I saw her sitting on a bench, clearly trying to warm herself from the cold night. She's now moved to a bench that is close to the street, directly in front of us and continues to sit and just soak in the sun. I no longer offer food to her but watch for when she comes to the trashcan near us and put some in there, knowing she'll get to it. For now, I know she'll get to eat at least once a day and hope that something will come about to change her situation before I'm gone.
I have to wonder how she got where she is. I don't know. What I do know is that today a child will be removed from loving parents and thrown into our foster care system. Most likely, that child will be moved around from home to home for years, never really understanding what is happening. He won't get to see his parents though maybe, after awhile, will get to visit with them in a room supervised by someone to "protect" him from these people that love and care for him. He'll change schools, be treated as a paycheck in some homes, possibly go through unspeakable abuse in them. This is his new life, and he may never fully understand why it is the life he has to lead. When he turns 18 he'll be thrown out on the street, only to be replaced with a younger version of himself.
Years go by, he's in and out of jail, living on the streets in some city trying to survive. He has become the woman that I cross paths with every day.
Check the statistics for what happens to our youth in foster care. This agency that is protecting children doesn't seem to have a very good track record for raising children. Maybe if they quit scooping up as many as possible just to get funding, they could focus on the ones that need it and do a better job. As was pointed out in another post, with the amount of funding that goes into this agency? There's absolutely no reason for these children to end up on the streets.
I have to wonder how she got where she is. I don't know. What I do know is that today a child will be removed from loving parents and thrown into our foster care system. Most likely, that child will be moved around from home to home for years, never really understanding what is happening. He won't get to see his parents though maybe, after awhile, will get to visit with them in a room supervised by someone to "protect" him from these people that love and care for him. He'll change schools, be treated as a paycheck in some homes, possibly go through unspeakable abuse in them. This is his new life, and he may never fully understand why it is the life he has to lead. When he turns 18 he'll be thrown out on the street, only to be replaced with a younger version of himself.
Years go by, he's in and out of jail, living on the streets in some city trying to survive. He has become the woman that I cross paths with every day.
Check the statistics for what happens to our youth in foster care. This agency that is protecting children doesn't seem to have a very good track record for raising children. Maybe if they quit scooping up as many as possible just to get funding, they could focus on the ones that need it and do a better job. As was pointed out in another post, with the amount of funding that goes into this agency? There's absolutely no reason for these children to end up on the streets.
Friday, October 26, 2012
The Business of Government in Families
http://www.americanhumane.org/assets/pdfs/children/federal-funding-for-child.pdf
Just take a look at some of these figures and it's easy to see why CPS is scooping up kids faster than they can take care of them. Then again, with these kind of dollars the State's/Counties should be turning out highly degreed professionals.
Federal funding budget for 2011 for California. Almost 7 billion to the department of Social Services. Money that would be partially lost should CPS actually have to follow the law and just remove children when they are in imminent danger. Which would also lighten their caseload and actually allow them to care for the children that need it.
http://www.lao.ca.gov/handouts/Health/2011/Overview_Federal_Funding_9_29_11.pdf
Just take a look at some of these figures and it's easy to see why CPS is scooping up kids faster than they can take care of them. Then again, with these kind of dollars the State's/Counties should be turning out highly degreed professionals.
Federal funding budget for 2011 for California. Almost 7 billion to the department of Social Services. Money that would be partially lost should CPS actually have to follow the law and just remove children when they are in imminent danger. Which would also lighten their caseload and actually allow them to care for the children that need it.
http://www.lao.ca.gov/handouts/Health/2011/Overview_Federal_Funding_9_29_11.pdf
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
CPS and the Media
Since I'm on day 15 of the Hunger Strike and the most asked question at this time is "how come I haven't seen this on TV?" I thought I'd give my opinion of why the media isn't going to cover this hunger strike. After all, if UC students go on a hunger strike to protest the rising costs of education that makes it to the news on day 5 (if not day 1!!). But you have to understand that UC students protesting isn't going to cost the Government 100's of millions of dollars. I'll explain.
Whenever you see anything about CPS on the media it's in little blurbs. Like a child that dies because they didn't do their job, hiring sex offenders as social workers and mostly, you hear about children being taken from their parents. Which this is off track but isn't everyone screaming "it has to be kept secret for the best interests of the child!!!". Really? And plastering their parents name all over the news isn't going to let the people that know them have knowledge of what's going on with their children? Anyways, that's as far as the media goes with CPS. Just last month (or maybe a little longer)Channel 10 showed 3 huge dumpsters filled with trash and then filmed inside a home that was nice and clean and told that the woman's children were removed because of the condition of her house. From the sounds of the news report, they took her kids because her house was "messy". If it had been in complete shambles (as I'm sure CPS portrayed it)then I don't think that it could have gotten cleaned up as good as it was in just a day. Anyways....what the news report failed to say is that CPS violated the law and that mother's rights by removing her children. That is, unless there were other reasons they were taken but nothing else was stated in the report.
So in short...people say that the Government controls the media. I've even been told that by an investigative reporter. Now this issue is about CPS violating the law and parents rights on a regular basis. By doing so, they rake in 100's of millions of dollars from the federal government every year. Do you really think that they are going to allow the public to know what's really going on with CPS? Just the people that I've had a chance to talk to at the Capitol are STUNNED to see the statistics and they always take the address of the blog with them to read the personal horror stories. Just what would happen if the media were to put this on the news with the FACTS?
The only reporter that I have seen actually address the root of the problem is in the article written by Lois Henry which is also listed in another post. WHO OVERSEES CPS WHEN CPS TAKES THE KIDS??? The answer she received is basically the same one everyone else does...NO ONE!!!
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/columnists/lois-henry/x1282765845/Lois-Henry-Who-oversees-when-government-takes-the-kids
I am so grateful to have at least one reporter that actually addresses the real issue as well as telling yet another, horror story.
What I'm asking of the Governor is that social workers be required to give a "Calbretta" warning when removing a child from their home. Stating that the child is in imminent danger BECAUSE and have to give the reason and provide EVIDENCE. Last year a man also had all of his children removed because they said the house was filthy. Did they have to provide photo's of this? Of course not. Whatever Social Workers say....goes. Now what kind of justice is that and how can anyone NOT expect corruption when you give a Government Agency that kind of power? What this would do, however, is drop the removal rate of children drastically. Because the majority of the children removed from their homes are NOT in imminent danger. And a drop in removal rate equals drop in dollars. Not something the Government wants to see and certainly not something they want the media reporting on. In addition, accountability has to be provided.
So that's theory #1. #2 would be that they think I'm just some crazy loon and not worth their time. Crazy... hmmmm I am insane by the definition of "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results". Because I continually go from one Politician or Government Agency and expect them to take care of this problem. So absolutely, I'm insane by that definition. But a crazy loon? Well, in order for that to work for them, they've got to say the same about the attorneys suing CPS all the time. So that one doesn't work.
I don't know....maybe my signs aren't pretty enough? Maybe because there aren't enough people here? That one is purposeful. I don't care if it's 1 child or a 100,000 that are violated by this agency. It has to be addressed.
Always, in fairness to the media, I end my explanation to people telling them these are just my opinions and they'd really have to call the media to find out why they aren't covering it:) So certainly, please feel free to call them and ask why they don't feel it's important to cover this:) Maybe they don't want the taxpayers knowing about all their taxpayer's dollars being paid out in lawsuits:)
News stations
(916) 441-2345/ 10
(916) 446-3333/ 3
...
Whenever you see anything about CPS on the media it's in little blurbs. Like a child that dies because they didn't do their job, hiring sex offenders as social workers and mostly, you hear about children being taken from their parents. Which this is off track but isn't everyone screaming "it has to be kept secret for the best interests of the child!!!". Really? And plastering their parents name all over the news isn't going to let the people that know them have knowledge of what's going on with their children? Anyways, that's as far as the media goes with CPS. Just last month (or maybe a little longer)Channel 10 showed 3 huge dumpsters filled with trash and then filmed inside a home that was nice and clean and told that the woman's children were removed because of the condition of her house. From the sounds of the news report, they took her kids because her house was "messy". If it had been in complete shambles (as I'm sure CPS portrayed it)then I don't think that it could have gotten cleaned up as good as it was in just a day. Anyways....what the news report failed to say is that CPS violated the law and that mother's rights by removing her children. That is, unless there were other reasons they were taken but nothing else was stated in the report.
So in short...people say that the Government controls the media. I've even been told that by an investigative reporter. Now this issue is about CPS violating the law and parents rights on a regular basis. By doing so, they rake in 100's of millions of dollars from the federal government every year. Do you really think that they are going to allow the public to know what's really going on with CPS? Just the people that I've had a chance to talk to at the Capitol are STUNNED to see the statistics and they always take the address of the blog with them to read the personal horror stories. Just what would happen if the media were to put this on the news with the FACTS?
The only reporter that I have seen actually address the root of the problem is in the article written by Lois Henry which is also listed in another post. WHO OVERSEES CPS WHEN CPS TAKES THE KIDS??? The answer she received is basically the same one everyone else does...NO ONE!!!
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/columnists/lois-henry/x1282765845/Lois-Henry-Who-oversees-when-government-takes-the-kids
I am so grateful to have at least one reporter that actually addresses the real issue as well as telling yet another, horror story.
What I'm asking of the Governor is that social workers be required to give a "Calbretta" warning when removing a child from their home. Stating that the child is in imminent danger BECAUSE and have to give the reason and provide EVIDENCE. Last year a man also had all of his children removed because they said the house was filthy. Did they have to provide photo's of this? Of course not. Whatever Social Workers say....goes. Now what kind of justice is that and how can anyone NOT expect corruption when you give a Government Agency that kind of power? What this would do, however, is drop the removal rate of children drastically. Because the majority of the children removed from their homes are NOT in imminent danger. And a drop in removal rate equals drop in dollars. Not something the Government wants to see and certainly not something they want the media reporting on. In addition, accountability has to be provided.
So that's theory #1. #2 would be that they think I'm just some crazy loon and not worth their time. Crazy... hmmmm I am insane by the definition of "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results". Because I continually go from one Politician or Government Agency and expect them to take care of this problem. So absolutely, I'm insane by that definition. But a crazy loon? Well, in order for that to work for them, they've got to say the same about the attorneys suing CPS all the time. So that one doesn't work.
I don't know....maybe my signs aren't pretty enough? Maybe because there aren't enough people here? That one is purposeful. I don't care if it's 1 child or a 100,000 that are violated by this agency. It has to be addressed.
Always, in fairness to the media, I end my explanation to people telling them these are just my opinions and they'd really have to call the media to find out why they aren't covering it:) So certainly, please feel free to call them and ask why they don't feel it's important to cover this:) Maybe they don't want the taxpayers knowing about all their taxpayer's dollars being paid out in lawsuits:)
News stations
(916) 441-2345/ 10
(916) 446-3333/ 3
...
916-374-1301/ 13
(916) 454-4422/ 40
(916) 454-4422/ 40
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Lawsuits Paid Out
A supporter called into Channel 3 News wanting to know why they were not covering the Hunger Strike. She said that she saw a lot of information that her taxpayer dollars were being spent on lawsuits and why wasn't our Representatives paying attention to this. The person that answered the phone told her that "everyone thinks CPS gets sued all the time, that doesn't mean it's true." :):) Well, I just figured I would start a little list especially for Channel 3 news. Will have to add to it frequently but at least it'll save their news investigator (who she said she was going to give the information to) a little time. Not like any of that is going to happen anyways...
http://www.examiner.com/article/couple-sues-orange-county-dss-cps-for-taking-their-children-after-family-was-carjacked
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Protective_Services
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/County-hands-over-1-millon-dollars-to-family-whose-son-was-taken-by-Child-Protective-Services-152111865.html
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2012/01/19/cost-to-county-of-lying-social-workers-10-6-mln/146871/
http://fightcps.com/2007/06/01/new-federal-court-decision-against-san-joaquin-county-california-cps-social-worker/
http://californiaschildren.typepad.com/californias-children/2011/02/4-million-settlement-for-abused-foster-child-in-sf.html
http://www.bendbulletin.com/archive/2012/06/22/highprofile_case_is_settled.html
http://www.examiner.com/article/couple-sues-orange-county-dss-cps-for-taking-their-children-after-family-was-carjacked
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Protective_Services
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/County-hands-over-1-millon-dollars-to-family-whose-son-was-taken-by-Child-Protective-Services-152111865.html
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2012/01/19/cost-to-county-of-lying-social-workers-10-6-mln/146871/
http://fightcps.com/2007/06/01/new-federal-court-decision-against-san-joaquin-county-california-cps-social-worker/
http://californiaschildren.typepad.com/californias-children/2011/02/4-million-settlement-for-abused-foster-child-in-sf.html
http://www.bendbulletin.com/archive/2012/06/22/highprofile_case_is_settled.html
More Information
Here's a couple more links for the day, there's never a shortage.
As I've sat here the past 2 weeks my mind gets to working on a lot of things surrounging this. Since it seems to me that any rational person would expect there would be corruption in any Govt agency that operates in complete secrecy.....why is it that doesn't appear to be the case here (as with the media?). The only logical explanation that I can come up with (and have talked to others about it and they agree)is that the media truly is run, in some part, by the Govt. And there is a lot of money at stake here. I think part of it may also be that it has to do with Children. No one wants to deal with that. Thoughts?
http://protectingourchildrenfrombeingsold.wordpress.com/category/lawsuits-against-cps/
http://cpsracket.blogspot.com/
As I've sat here the past 2 weeks my mind gets to working on a lot of things surrounging this. Since it seems to me that any rational person would expect there would be corruption in any Govt agency that operates in complete secrecy.....why is it that doesn't appear to be the case here (as with the media?). The only logical explanation that I can come up with (and have talked to others about it and they agree)is that the media truly is run, in some part, by the Govt. And there is a lot of money at stake here. I think part of it may also be that it has to do with Children. No one wants to deal with that. Thoughts?
http://protectingourchildrenfrombeingsold.wordpress.com/category/lawsuits-against-cps/
http://cpsracket.blogspot.com/
Friday, October 19, 2012
Call the Governor's Office!!!
News stations
(916) 441-2345/ 10
(916) 446-3333/ 3
...
(916) 441-2345/ 10
(916) 446-3333/ 3
...
916-374-1301/ 13
(916) 454-4422/ 40
Gov's Office/
(916) 445-2841
(916) 454-4422/ 40
Gov's Office/
(916) 445-2841
Call each of these numbers every day PLEASE!! The Politicians can only ignore this problem for so long. And as long as we let them know we aren't going away until it's addressed, they will pay attention!!
Yesterday there was a gathering for after school programs. It was nice to see kids getting real help, not being snatched up and just thrown somewhere!! I got a couple of videos and will post them as soon as I figure out how to transfer them over!!!
Day 10 and counting....
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