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Bill seeks to lift liability for child protective services workers
Bill seeks to lift liability for child protective services workers
http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/0..._local04.shtml Lawmakers say it will reduce wrongful child removals. By Jameson Cook Macomb Daily Staff Writer A state bill would remove civil protection for child protective services workers who lie in their job, but it doesn't have the support of the heads of two agencies that try to protect children. The bill, introduced by state Rep. Fulton Sheen, R-Plainwell, and co-sponsored by local Rep. Brian Palmer, R-Romeo, is designed to help stem the tide of children taken from their parents and removed from their homes based on false information, according to its supporters. "Although I don't think the majority (of workers) do lie or falsify documents, because of the immunity, when they do it destroys families by taking children out of their home and saying adults did something they didn't do," Sheen said. "Anybody can be accused of child abuse," and have their children removed based only the word of a social services worker, Palmer said. "There's very little due process," he said, and, "There's no reprimand for an employee who falsifies a report." The proposed law says the worker "is not immune from civil liability if he or she files or produces a false report or false document relating to a Department of Human Services case or commits perjury in a proceeding relating to a case" within his or her job scope. But Jack Kresnak of Michigan's Children and Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform said even though he wants to keep more children with their parents, too, this bill is not needed and would undermine workers. The workers already can be sued civilly for gross negligence, he said. They have protection for mistakes and simple negligence under "qualified immunity" but don't have it for egregious acts, Kresnak said. "I think the legislation is unnecessary because lying or deliberating distorting the facts is gross negligence or public malfeasance, which would negate qualified immunity," Kresnak said. "We can't have child protective services workers being dragged into court if they make a mistake. Sometimes there's a fine line between gross negligence and a mistake. "They have to be free of any kind of worrying or concern that actions taken in good faith come back to haunt them. It's important not to make CPS workers fear what they are doing." The bill, which has 26 co-sponsors, was introduced in March and referred to the Judiciary Committee in April. The issue of children needlessly being taken from their parents gained attention recently when 7-year-old Leo Ratte was taken away from his father, Christopher, after Leo was found drinking a Mike's Hard Lemonade at a Detroit Tigers baseball game at Comerica Park. Christopher Ratte of Ann Arbor said he didn't know the drink contained alcohol. Even though no alcohol was found in his system, the boy spent the night at Wayne County Child Protective Services and the next day and night in foster care until his parents regained custody by a judge's order two days later. Kresnak conceded that sometimes "zealous" CPS workers take away children from their home at times as insurance against something happening to the child. "It's always easier for a DHS (state Department of Human Services) worker to put a child in foster care and let a judge decide, Kresnak said. Wexler agreed that the law is not needed as long as there is qualified immunity. He said CPS workers in many states are "under funded, overworked and overwhelmed," creating "foster care panic" - children are taken away without reason because the worker fears that if he or she doesn't act and a child is injured or dies, the worker will lose his or her job and blamed, Wexler said. But that fear is unfounded, he said. "In the more than 30 years that I've followed child welfare, I've never seen a worker fired, demoted, suspended or even slapped on the wrist for taking away too many children," he said. He said national statistics show that in states where social services workers place more children in foster care creates more danger for children. "The best systems are those that try to keep families together," he said. Palmer contended passing the law also would give prosecutors more ammunition in pursuing a charge against a lying worker. "If you have something specific on the books, you can go a long way to correcting the problem," Palmer said. "The courts like to have a clear path. It also would provide deterrence, he said. "It sends a message that you can't destroy somebody's life and have a loophole to get out of it," Palmer said. Sheen also sponsored a law that requires CPS workers to identify themselves when they visit a home. An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and the Child Protection "INDUSTRY" Child Protective Services Does not protect children... It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of CPS. every parent should read the free handbook from connecticut dcf watch... 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/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59 Sexual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13 Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241 Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12 Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological 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. THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central intelligence agency wiretaping programs… THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/...s.php?filter=6 This is Child Protection? By Gregory A. Hession, J.D. http://www.jbs.org/node/4632 Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...nion-rightrail FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILU. A Brief Analysis of the Casey Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler http://www.nccpr.org/reports/cfpanalysis.doc HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families By Nev Moore Massachusetts News http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/...May/mayds4.htm A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster ca 30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children. 27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated 33% were receiving public assistance 37% had not finished high school 2% receive a college degree 50% were unemployed Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems, including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and impaired social relationships. Some experts estimate that about 30% of the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment than the general population. *Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support 80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system. The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should just be blown up. http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991 Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent housing. This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in the first place. Front-page story in USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...m?csp=34#Close Read the studies online. Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Ca Findings from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study," http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publi...lumniStudy.htm MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fo...arch07_aer.pdf Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" reports: www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than walking wreckage... CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS.... 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... |
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