An Open Letter To President Bush

Mr. President:

All across our great nation there are millions of grieving parents — they have lost their children and our government, in what was an original effort to help children, is stealing them for money! Unfortunately, this all revolves around the "Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008" — S.3038. We are asking that S.3038 be allowed to sunset and that the Departments of Social Services across the nation be thoroughly reviewed and reformed. We are the people and we are hurting.

The problem is readily apparent in the title of this act. As this act currently stands it stresses adoption and minimizes helping families in need. Because it is more economically feasible for DSS to adopt (and thus receive federal funding), than it is to maintain a family that is either under severe stress or simply has problems that can be easily remedied with proper interventions. Unfortunately, the act provides little, or substantially less, financial support to the states to help sustain the family.

What is more unfortunate is that most of the families suffering are not affluent or well spoken, exist from paycheck to paycheck, are usually not well educated, and are easily victimized by an All-Powerful Department of Social Services. They are trusting families who understand that Social Services are "there to help" are "honest and caring", only to find out that frequently they are guilty as soon as DSS knocks on their door and, because they are "guilty", DSS "needs" to adopt out their child[ren] as soon as possible.

They come from many diverse areas of this country, from the cities, suburbs, and rural areas, but one thing they all have in common is the unfailing love they have for their children. Perfect they are not, but loving, caring parents they are.

There are of course real cases of abuse and some of those require foster care and adoption. However, the American Public Welfare Association (APWA) conducted a special survey of child welfare agencies in 1986 and "actual percentage of 'founded' cases was 26 percent." That means one in four cases actually result in a 'conviction' of some sort. Considering that for a 'founded' case, the only thing required for a 'conviction' is a 'preponderance of evidence'. Simply put; there is a bruise, someone put it there, it can't be easily and readily explained as caused by anything else, so it is [substantiated] abuse."

Even when the child is an actual victim of abuse, according to a study highlighted by the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, "many children ... in foster care would be far better off if they remained with their own families even if those families got only the typical help ... commonly offered by child welfare agencies."

Please, we need you to help us to save our children. We are imploring you to call for and appoint a commission to hear from the people and review the practices of DSS. The impact of the wrongs of the IRS is nothing compared to the impact of a society where legalized kidnapping for money ruins families and children. This was highlighted by Georgia State Senator, Nancy Schaefer, in her address to the Senate on December 5, 2006.

Feel free to peruse Kidjacked.com for some very heartbreaking stories. Child abuse is real, but with the incentives this bill provides, real child abuse will never be prevented. Recent news stories are replete with stories of children dying from the lack of DSS action. Yet, our children are being taken and the funding is unlimited to keep them and adopt them out.

One recent post to kidjacked put it very well.

"In this county [in Arizona] social workers get $10,000 bonus for every adopted child, so instead of reunification, they push adoption, with a 90% adoption rate in the whole court, 100% in our courtroom. Another judge ordered that we could see our children and speak to them as often as we wanted, however the social worker again has threaten to remove the children for [another] reason if we [try] to see them."

All I am asking is that you help us to help ourselves, please, help us to save our children and the integrity of the family.

C. Hampton,
Manassas, VA

Labels: adoption, APWA, DSS, foster care, Kidjacked, NCCPR, President Bush, S. 3038, Senator Nancy Schaefer

Misguided Shield for a Witch Hunt

In re: "Misguided shield for abusive parents" opinion by Darin Strauss, July 26, 2008

I would like to open my response to your opinion piece, which is egregious in so many ways, with the worst of your statements, "shouldn't the law be slanted toward the protection of the child?"

I shouldn't need to remind anyone what happened in New England in 1692 which ushered in the witch hunts for "the protection of the child[ren]". Before it was all over, nineteen men and women were convicted of practicing witchcraft and hanged. One man was crushed to death under heavy stones for refusing to go to trial for being a witch. Many more were thrown in prisons for months without trials, and there were hundreds of other people who were accused of being witches.

Again, I shouldn't need to remind anyone in Boston of the terrible witch-hunts. Or do I? Your remark, "slanted toward the protection of the children," calls to mind the same practices of the late 17th century which are going on today; only today instead of Puritans they are called "Child Protective Services" (or a similar euphemism).

Like most CPS cases, your opening paragraph mentions a vague instance, while withholding important facts so we are to assume guilt. I have gone on line and found what I believe is a closely related story. It identifies a Seattle doctor that "... is paid for his consultations with CPS through a consulting contract funded by the state and managed by the University of Washington."

Another report shows where several families attempted to sue the same doctor for malpractice for falsely reporting Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP), but because of "mandated reporting" protection laws, they could not.

The dissenting judge issued this statement;

"Dr. Feldman apparently has a penchant for diagnosing (or misdiagnosing) MSBP, notwithstanding its rarity and his questioned qualifications to make that diagnosis." In the last 25 years, this doctor has been involved in more that 100 Munchausen cases. With the worst estimate of 2.5 in 100,000, that would mean either the doctor has seen over 4 million children in that 25-years, or there is something in the water that makes this "syndrome" worse in Seattle (not beyond reason for the Northwest). Needless to say there are "other experts who have reviewed [his] cases and are convinced Feldman's conclusions distorted the evidence..."

Oh, by the way, when the child was returned to the family, did this pattern repeat? Might it have been a simple case of the child sneaking into the medicine cabinet? Or were the "trace chemicals" so trace as to only provide a suspicion so CPS could take the children? Were they even validated tests? Like most CPS reports, you failed to mention that in order to support your case.

You also mention, "Munchausen by Proxy was identified 30-years-ago by the controversial British pediatrician Roy Meadow. (He was knighted for this discovery in 1998)." I can name a couple others who were knighted, Mick Jagger and Elton John. There are a couple of "distinguished knights." Oh, by the way, "The General Medical Council (GMC) struck off Meadow after he was found to have offered "erroneous" and "misleading" evidence in the Sally Clark case." This was overturned because he "didn't understand the statistics" he provided as an "expert" in the conviction. So, as an "expert" he was supporting his assumptions and convincing juries using a tool he didn't understand. With that kind of reasoning I could be a brain surgeon, or a CPS caseworker.

You might be asking why I would be willing to allow a child to die instead of turning them over to foster care and CPS. This is identified in a report by Senator Nancy Schaefer (Georgia), which highlights the malfeasance of CPS and the funding they receive from the federal government for taking children from families. It has turned CPS into a funding mechanism for local governments ($28 million for my county and $1.5 billion for this state last year). But, don't just read my words, read her report "The Corrupt Business of Child Protective Services" or go to Kidjacked.com or www.fightcps.com and read the horror stories of the victims of a CPS witch hunt.

Like you, I am reminded of something -- but not of lepers without bells; I am reminded of witches without justice.

As a footnote from the witch trials and convictions, Reverend Increase Mather, the father of Cotton Mather, argued that it is "better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned." You want to destroy one hundred innocent families with the hope that one of them might harbor a witch.

Matthew Hampton
Manassas, VA

Labels: CPS, FightCPS, foster care, Kidjacked, MSBP, Munchausen by Proxy, Senator Nancy Schaefer

$10,000.00 Adoption Bonus offered to Mohave County, AZ social workers -- Adoption Bonus Must End

I'm looking for someone who can help me with my case. CPS took my children with no desire to ever return them. My husband and myself are still fighting for them.

The social worker lies in court, the judge accepts every word she utters. Even when we proved the social worker was lying, the judge still sided with her and her statements.

The person who has my children agrees that my children should be returned home, and has been threaten repeatedly that the children will be removed if she doesn't lie as well, and back up the social workers lies. Since the children are with family the fear of losing them forever in in place.

In this county social workers get $10,000 bonus for every adopted child, so instead of reunification, they push adoption, with a 90% adoption rate in the whole court, 100% in our courtroom. Another judge ordered that we could see our children and speak to them as often as we wanted, however the social worker again has threaten to remove the children for any other reason if we are to see them.

The childrens attorney said even though the judge made his order, the social worker could make up a reason, and as terrible as ours is, she believes she would.

Our children what to come home, we do speak once a week for 20 minutes, which is not enough but better than nothing, however my children beg to come home they are not happy, they need to be with ther mother and father.

Can you help fight CPS and help bring our children home?

~K.D.

Labels: Arizona, CPS, family court, foster care, judicial misconduct, Mohave County