Kurdish mother was jailed in Plano, and her children – including a 40-day-old baby – were placed in protective custody after she slapped her son on the back for stealing merchandise from a store.

Many had trouble adjusting to American culture, regulations

12:58 AM CDT on Sunday, June 24, 2007

By TOD ROBBERSON and DIANNE SOLIS / The Dallas Morning News
;

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedconten...e.388c6b0.html

Don't expect an easy transition. That's the primary advice Dallas-area
Iraqis have for the estimated 7,000 refugees heading to the U.S. this year.

State Department officials say they do not know how many will come to
North Texas, but because the area has an existing Iraqi community and a
good job market, it is likely to be designated a significant
resettlement location.

Some Iraqis who live here said that they had unrealistically rosy
expectations of starting a new life in America and that many
Iraq-related problems have followed them here. A common complaint is
that Iraqi customs and values do not mesh well with American culture.

Many new arrivals have been "simple, rural people," said Amira Matsuda,
an Iraqi and a resident of Plano who volunteers with the International
Rescue Committee, a refugee-assistance group.

The newcomers did not get enough instruction from resettlement
organizations about what to expect and how vastly different American
rules and procedures are from those in Iraq, Ms. Matsuda said. The
consequences have been tragic.

"They did not get enough [instruction] to digest what this country is
all about," she said.

Jeman, an Iraqi Kurd whose refugee family moved to North Texas in 1997,
echoed those concerns based on her personal experiences as well as those
of other Iraqis she knows. She asked that her last name be withheld
because of death threats the family received from Iraq.

Employed as a counselor for immigrants and refugees in Dallas, Jeman
said Iraqis often do not understand that U.S. law applies to their
behavior in the home, including the way they discipline their children.
Even under dictator Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi government rarely
intervened in people's home lives. Practices that were commonly used in
Iraq to keep children in line are treated as prosecutable offenses here.

Child Protective Services intervened when one Iraqi boy informed his
teacher that his mother had hit him at home, Jeman said.

In a separate case, a Kurdish mother who spoke no English was jailed in
Plano, and her children – including a 40-day-old baby – were placed in
protective custody after she slapped her son on the back for stealing
merchandise from a store.

Ms. Matsuda said there are other such examples.

"To us, it is called discipline. But in American culture, it is called a
violation," she said. "In American culture, almost anything is open to
the child."

U.S. authorities need to be aware of the complex emotions that burden
newly arrived families from war zones, said Manuel Balbona, a therapist
who works with refugees in Dallas as director of the Center for
Survivors of Torture. Many, if not most, newcomers will be grappling
with severe postwar stress.

"I'm raising hell about this. A lot of these people are going to have
very recent trauma. It's going to be a big problem," Mr. Balbona said.
Despite offering donated furniture, clothing and supplies, U.S.
authorities and assistance groups tend to abandon refugees with "Welcome
to America. ... Good luck," he said.

In spite of having lived in North Texas for a decade, Jeman said her
family is still coping with the effects of being uprooted.

Her husband, Sayid, was an army general when he refused to serve in
Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. He later helped organize a military
rebellion, and Mr. Hussein ordered the army to kill or capture him. The
U.S. government gave the family asylum in 1996.

Sayid, an electrical engineer, initially had to accept menial jobs in
Dallas and worked night shifts for three years, packing crates and
moving boxes in warehouses. Since 2003, he has been back in Iraq working
as a translator for the U.S. military because, Jeman said, he couldn't
bear to just watch the war on television.

"I have to be with the Americans. They are fighting for me," she quoted
him as saying. " I need to be side by side with them."

But in Baghdad, he was seen as a collaborator. Last year, Sayid phoned
to say he had received an explicit death threat that included his family.

Jeman said she took measures to protect her children, including her
23-year-old daughter. The daughter, now fully "Americanized," she said,
reacted by leaving home, declaring that she never wanted to see the
family again.

"She told me, 'I don't want your culture anymore,' " Jeman said.

A year has passed without a word from her.







CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 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.

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...