Choosing Foster Parents over Fathers: a San Diego father and daughterwere needlessly separated by the foster care system for over a decade.

Choosing Foster Parents over Fathers
Jeffrey M. Leving and Glenn Sacks
July 27, 2007

http://www.americanchronicle.com/art...rticleID=33511

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. Yet a recent Urban Institute study found that the Smith
case typifies the way the foster care system harms children by
disregarding the loving bonds they share with their fathers.

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.

Unfortunately, the Smith case is no aberration. 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 in
the report What About the Dads? Child Welfare Agencies’ Efforts to
Identify, Locate, and Involve Nonresident Fathers, the Urban Institute
presents 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 only 15% of the time.

Fathers can offer their children a sense of permanence, security and
emotional support that a foster family (or a succession of foster care
placements) cannot provide. Many foster children are pushed out of their
homes and into a tenuous existence when they turn 18 and the foster
parents no longer receive state subsidies. Fathers could be a valuable
source of long-term resources and sponsorship for these young adults.

Child welfare agencies often operate on the assumption that the fathers
of the children they’ve taken away from their mothers are, like the
mothers, unfit or uninterested in parenting. Yet many of these men are
loving fathers who have been forced out of their children’s lives by
mothers who denied visitation, moved away and/or hid the children, or
employed spurious abuse charges.

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. Just as with Thomas Smith, 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.

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.

This column first appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune (7/11/07).

Jeffery M. Leving is one of America's most prominent family law
attorneys. His website is www.dadsrights.com.

Glenn Sacks' columns on men's and fathers' issues have appeared in
dozens of America's largest newspapers. Glenn can be reached via his
website at www.GlennSacks.com or via email at .





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...

They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't win.
Or more to the point the agency didn't lose in court.

On Jul 28, 1:02 am, fx wrote:
Choosing Foster Parents over Fathers
Jeffrey M. Leving and Glenn Sacks
July 27, 2007

http://www.americanchronicle.com/art...sp?articleID=3...

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. Yet a recent Urban Institute study found that the Smith
case typifies the way the foster care system harms children by
disregarding the loving bonds they share with their fathers.

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.

Unfortunately, the Smith case is no aberration. 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 in
the report What About the Dads? Child Welfare Agencies' Efforts to
Identify, Locate, and Involve Nonresident Fathers, the Urban Institute
presents 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 only 15% of the time.

Fathers can offer their children a sense of permanence, security and
emotional support that a foster family (or a succession of foster care
placements) cannot provide. Many foster children are pushed out of their
homes and into a tenuous existence when they turn 18 and the foster
parents no longer receive state subsidies. Fathers could be a valuable
source of long-term resources and sponsorship for these young adults.

Child welfare agencies often operate on the assumption that the fathers
of the children they've taken away from their mothers are, like the
mothers, unfit or uninterested in parenting. Yet many of these men are
loving fathers who have been forced out of their children's lives by
mothers who denied visitation, moved away and/or hid the children, or
employed spurious abuse charges.

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. Just as with Thomas Smith, 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.

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.

This column first appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune (7/11/07).

Jeffery M. Leving is one of America's most prominent family law
attorneys. His website is

http://www.dadsrights.com

Glenn Sacks' columns on men's and fathers' issues have appeared in
dozens of America's largest newspapers. Glenn can be reached via his
website atwww.GlennSacks.comor via email at .

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...

On Jul 29, 11:40 pm, Greegor wrote:

They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't win.

I don't think Kane would say that.

I think he'd say the system failed the family.

On Jul 30, 7:20 am, Dan Sullivan wrote:
On Jul 29, 11:40 pm, Greegor wrote:



They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't win.

I don't think Kane would say that.

I think he'd say the system failed the family.

What Nursing Home did they move him to, Dan?

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:40:23 -0700, Greegor
wrote:

On Jul 30, 7:20 am, Dan Sullivan wrote:
On Jul 29, 11:40 pm, Greegor wrote:



They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't win.

I don't think Kane would say that.

I think he'd say the system failed the family.

What Nursing Home did they move him to, Dan?

No one moved me anywhere.

I've had the pleasure of once again smoking out someone pretending to
be Doan.

You missed the nuances of the exchange, Greg.

You know perfectly well it was your sock buddy, and he ran once he was
outed, and his last post was calculated to try to once again place
blame elsewhere, this time on krp. The easiest target.

That wasn't Doan and you knew it. Doan would know better than to post
via anonyremailer, stupid. But your stupid buddy thought he was being
clever to play him. I doubt Doan would approve.

That's why you got the info screwed up. You went with thinking your
buddy had met his goal. He didn't.

Now be a good boy and put your head by up where his last photo came
from.

And stop bothering me. I have bigger fish to fry than a little ****
poor homeless bull****er like you. Yer unemployed again, right?

0:]

On Jul 30, 4:40 pm, Greegor wrote:
On Jul 30, 7:20 am, Dan Sullivan wrote:

On Jul 29, 11:40 pm, Greegor wrote:

They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't win.

I don't think Kane would say that.

I think he'd say the system failed the family.

What Nursing Home did they move him to, Dan?

It's garden time on the west coast, Greg.

G They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't
win.
Dan I don't think Kane would say that.
Dan I think he'd say the system failed the family.
G What Nursing Home did they move him to, Dan?
Dan It's garden time on the west coast, Greg.

Then why did he make comments about leaving for good?
Is he becoming a vegetable?

"Greegor" wrote in message
ps.com...
G They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't
win.
Dan I don't think Kane would say that.
Dan I think he'd say the system failed the family.
G What Nursing Home did they move him to, Dan?
Dan It's garden time on the west coast, Greg.

Then why did he make comments about leaving for good?

I don't know.

On Jul 30, 4:03 pm, "0:-]" wrote:
On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:40:23 -0700, Greegor
wrote:

On Jul 30, 7:20 am, Dan Sullivan wrote:
On Jul 29, 11:40 pm, Greegor wrote:

They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't win.

I don't think Kane would say that.

I think he'd say the system failed the family.

What Nursing Home did they move him to, Dan?

No one moved me anywhere.

I've had the pleasure of once again smoking out someone pretending to
be Doan.

So what does that have to do with your comments about leaving, Kane?

You missed the nuances of the exchange, Greg.

Yeah, the subtleties escaped me.

You know perfectly well it was your sock buddy, and he ran once he was
outed, and his last post was calculated to try to once again place
blame elsewhere, this time on krp. The easiest target.

That wasn't Doan and you knew it. Doan would know better than to post
via anonyremailer, stupid. But your stupid buddy thought he was being
clever to play him. I doubt Doan would approve.

That's why you got the info screwed up. You went with thinking your
buddy had met his goal. He didn't.

You were the one who said it was Doan.
You even threatened to get him fired??
Dennis hasn't been on here in over a year you retard.

Now be a good boy and put your head by up where his last photo came
from.

And stop bothering me. I have bigger fish to fry than a little ****
poor homeless bull****er like you. Yer unemployed again, right?

Goodnight Donald!

On Jul 30, 11:30 pm, Greegor wrote:
On Jul 30, 4:03 pm, "0:-]" wrote:





On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:40:23 -0700, Greegor
wrote:

On Jul 30, 7:20 am, Dan Sullivan wrote:
On Jul 29, 11:40 pm, Greegor wrote:

They settled out of court so now Kane can say the Father didn't win.

I don't think Kane would say that.

I think he'd say the system failed the family.

What Nursing Home did they move him to, Dan?

No one moved me anywhere.

I've had the pleasure of once again smoking out someone pretending to
be Doan.

So what does that have to do with your comments about leaving, Kane?

When did Kane say he was leaving for good?

I know he's working in his garden.