New Campaign: Protest Florida DCF's Mistreatment of Loving Fatherin 'Elian Gonzalez II' Case!

New Campaign: Protest Florida DCF's Mistreatment of Loving Father in
'Elian Gonzalez II' Case!

October 15, 2007 at 2:13 am · Filed under Vox Populi

http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/10/15/...zalez-ii-case/

Over the past two months I've called your attention to the outrageous
"Elian Gonzalez II" case in Miami, wherein Rafael Izquierdo, a fit,
loving father, has faced numerous obstacles to reunite with his
5-year-old daughter. From day one of this case, the Florida Department
of Children & Families has done everything in its power to separate
Rafael Izquierdo from his little girl. Today, even though a Florida
court has found that Izquierdo is a fit and committed father, DCF
continues to fight to deny Izquierdo custody.

Fit parents have a fundamental right to raise their own children. I am
partnering with Dr. Ned Holstein and Fathers & Families in a campaign to
ask that Florida DCF allow Izquierdo to assume custody of his daughter
and return home. To email and fax the relevant Florida DCF officials, as
well as court officials and Florida Governor Crist, click here. Please
remember to always be polite, respectful, and to the point.

Our full campaign page is here.

What We Want

Unfortunately, the Izquierdo case is not unique. As the Urban League
recently reported, when a mother and father are divorced or separated
and a child welfare agency removes a child from a custodial parent's
home because of neglect or abuse, rather than allowing the noncustodial
parent to raise his or her own child, officials instead often place the
child in the foster care system. This destructive practice often
separates children from loving noncustodial parents.

We ask that Florida DCF contact Ned Holstein, MD, MS, president of
Fathers & Families, to discuss how procedures can be changed to help
ensure that in future cases, assiduous efforts are made to reunite
children with their fit noncustodial parents. Moreover, such parents
should be afforded the full benefit of the case plans and support
services currently generally only available to custodial parents.

To join our campaign and email and fax relevant Florida officials, click
here. Our full campaign page is here.

The 'Elian Gonzalez II Case'

The "Elian Gonzalez II" case in Miami is a battle over a 5-year-old
Cuban immigrant girl which pits her Cuban father, Rafael Izquierdo,
against wealthy Cuban-American foster parents Joe Cubas, a well-known
sports agent, and his wife Maria. Just as Elian's father, Juan Gonzalez,
faced numerous unfair hurdles to get his son back in 2000, Izquierdo has
been manhandled by the child welfare system, in part because of the
system's anti-father bias.

In 2005, the girl's mother brought the girl to Miami from Cuba. The
Florida Department of Children & Families removed the girl from her
mother's custody in 2006, after an investigation found that the woman's
mental illness rendered her an unfit parent. She was placed with a
foster family, and Izquierdo came to the US to bring his daughter home.

Izquierdo has spent over five months in the US and is still being denied
custody of his daughter--an outrageous violation of parents' rights.
Izquierdo should not have to fight to raise his own child. How and where
to raise his daughter is his decision.

In late September, District 11 (Miami) Judge Jeri B. Cohen ruled that
Rafael Izquierdo is a fit parent who did not abandon his daughter.
According to the girl's court-appointed therapist, Izquierdo has
re-established the loving bonds he shares with his daughter, and the
girl has made a "very telling transition...not only intellectually, but
emotionally" (Miami Herald, 10/4/07). Outrageously, the Florida
Department of Children & Families still is doing everything it can to
malign Izquierdo and wrest custody away from him, spending over a
quarter million dollars to do so.

To join our campaign to get Florida DCF to allow Izquierdo to be
reunited with his daughter, click here. Our full campaign page is here.

Urban League Report Details How the Child Welfare System Disregards
Loving Fathers

It is important to understand that the Elian Gonzalez II case is not an
aberration, but instead reflects widespread practices. In New Report:
Foster Care System Disregards Fathers (Boston Globe, 6/8/06) I explained:

"When a mother and father are divorced or separated, and a child welfare
agency removes the children from the mother's home for abuse or neglect,
an offer of placement to the father, barring unfitness, should be
automatic. Yet according to a new report by the Urban Institute, few
fathers are able to reunite with their children, who are instead pushed
into the foster care system.

"The new report, What About the Dads? Child Welfare Agencies' Efforts to
Identify, Locate, and Involve Nonresident Fathers, examines the foster
care systems of four states. The report contains a shocking finding:
when fathers inform child welfare officials that they would like their
children to live with them, the agencies seek to place the children with
their fathers in only 15% of cases...

"What About the Dads? makes it clear that many child welfare workers
treat fathers as an afterthought. The report found that even when a
caseworker had been in contact with a child's father, the caseworker was
still five times less likely to know basic information about the father
than about the mother. And 20% of the fathers whose identity and
location were known by the child welfare agencies from the opening of
the case were never even contacted."

To join our campaign to get Florida DCF to allow Izquierdo to be
reunited with his daughter, click here. Our full campaign page is here.

How the Child Welfare System Mistreats Loving Fathers--the Melinda Smith
Case

The Melinda Smith case is another example of the way the child welfare
system separates loving fathers and their children. In Choosing Foster
Parents over Fathers (San Diego Union-Tribune, 7/11/07), I explained:

"In the heartbreaking Melinda Smith case, a San Diego father and
daughter were needlessly separated by the foster care system for over a
decade. Last week, Los Angeles County settled a lawsuit over the case
for an undisclosed sum...

"Smith was born to an unwed couple in 1988. Her father, Thomas Marion
Smith, a former Marine and a decorated Vietnam War veteran, saw Melinda
often and paid child support. When the girl was four, her mother
abruptly moved without leaving a forwarding address. Two years later,
Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services found that
Melinda's mother was abusing her. Though the social worker for the case
noted in the file that Thomas was the father, he was never contacted,
and his then 6-year-old daughter was placed in the foster care system.

"Thomas--whose fitness as a father was never impugned nor legally
questioned--continued to receive and pay his child support bills.
Authorities refused to disclose his daughter's whereabouts, and didn't
even inform him that his daughter had been taken by the County. Smith
employed private investigators and attorneys to try to find Melinda and
secure visitation rights, but he eventually ran out of money.

"Rather than allowing Smith to raise his own daughter, the system
shuttled Melinda through seven different foster care placements. An
understandably angry child, her outbursts led authorities to house her
in a residential treatment center alongside older children convicted of
criminal activity--when she was only seven years old.

"Melinda says that during this period she was told that her father was a
'deadbeat dad' who had abandoned her. When Melinda was 16, she told an
investigating social worker that the 'most important thing' for her was
to find her dad. Moved by her story, the social worker began searching
for Melinda's father--and found him in one day. In 2005, Thomas and
Melinda were finally reunited...

"These policies are harmful and misguided. One shudders to think how
many little Melinda Smiths are lost in the foster care system right
now--being raised by strangers, and denied their father's love."


Contact Florida DCF Officials, Governor, Judges

Here are the phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses for Florida
Department of Children and Family Services officials, Florida Governor
Charlie Crist, Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp, the District 11 (Miami) court
where the Elian II case is being decided, and Jeri B. Cohen, the judge
in the case. To fax and email all of them, click here. Our full campaign
page is here.

I suggest campaign supporters call all of the officials listed below. If
the intended party is not available, which will often be the case,
please leave a short, clear message telling them that you want officials
to unite Rafael Izquierdo with his daughter and allow him to return
home. I suggest you leave your name, phone number and email address.
Please remember to always be polite, respectful, and to the point.






CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.


CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...


BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...