RICHARD WEXLER: TORTURED LOGIC HARMS KANSAS KIDS

RICHARD WEXLER: TORTURED LOGIC HARMS KANSAS KIDS
BY RICHARD WEXLER

http://www.kansas.com/205/story/248246.html

There is a land where a child can be held in an institution for more
than a week and the bureaucrats who compile data for the state child
welfare agency pretend he doesn't exist. It is a place where holding a
child in foster care can be labeled a way to prevent foster care.

It isn't Oz; it's Kansas.

The National Coalition for Child Protection Reform this week released a
report on Kansas child welfare, available at the Web site www.nccpr.org.
We also asked the federal government to investigate the policy of the
Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services concerning data
gathering.

The policy turns thousands of foster children into what George Orwell
would have called "unpersons." It leaves their internment in
institutions like the Wichita Children's Home out of state statistics
and legally required reports to the federal government.

How do you pretend a child in foster care is not in foster care? Simple.
You slap another label on it.

SRS claims the children are in the "protective custody" of law
enforcement because police physically remove the child -- even when SRS
asks for the removal, licenses the place where the children go, and pays
all costs. Therefore, SRS says, it doesn't have to count the removal if
it ends before the first court hearing.

In Wichita, that hearing was not held for up to eight days, until the
Legislature clarified the law. But it's still three to five days.

If torturing logic were a war crime, SRS would be hauled before an
international tribunal.

The Sedgwick County district attorney's office estimated that before the
law was clarified, fully 80 percent of all child removals ended before
the first hearing -- raising profound questions about whether the
children ever needed to be taken away at all. Not only were these
placements not deemed foster care, in another Orwellian twist, they were
deemed a way to prevent foster care.

Had these "off the books" removals been counted, Sedgwick County might
well have been the child-removal capital of America in 2006.

We don't know if SRS is violating federal regulations for reporting
entries into foster care, or simply has a clever scheme to evade them.
Either way, SRS is doing incalculable damage to children in real life so
the agency can look better on paper.

Richard Wexler is executive director of the National Coalition for Child
Protection Reform, based in Alexandria, Va. He will participate in a
public forum on Kansas child welfare sponsored by Citizens for Change at
1 p.m. Saturday at the Rusty Eck Ford Co


Comments
There is a land where a child can be held in an institution for more
than a week and the bureaucrats who compile data for the state child
welfare agency pretend he doesn't exist. It is a place where holding a
child in foster care can be labeled a way to prevent foster care. It's
Kansas.
Had these "off the books" removals been counted, Sedgwick County might
well have been the child-removal capital of America in 2006.
We also asked the federal government to investigate the policy of the
Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services concerning data
gathering.
It's about time that there is an investigation and all of the
individuals involved need to be prosecuted by federal law for defrauding
the ggovernment and kidnapping children.

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Posted by: Federal Investigation
*
* 12/7/2007 8:05 AM
* 16829.1 Report as Violation



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Average: 5 — Votes: 2
Avg 5.00, 2 votes

I was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, known as the Air Capital of
the world. Then we became known as the Abortion Capital of the world.
Kansas again hit the national chart over the Evolution issues in our
schools. Given the number of children taken into custody in Sedgwick
County in 2007 with numbers of over 1200 reported as recently as
December 2, 2007 - are we working towards the goal of Child Removal
Capital of the world? Wake-up taxpayers it is your monies funding these
removals. It is your families being dismantled.

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Posted by: S. T. Payne
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* 12/7/2007 9:36 AM
* 16829.2 Report as Violation



*
Average: 5 — Votes: 2
Avg 5.00, 2 votes

It is about time that this was brought out into the open.

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Posted by:
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* 12/7/2007 2:57 PM
* 16829.3 Report as Violation



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Average: 0 — Votes: 0
No rating

Why was this article put on the opinion page? Is this a way to hide it
from the public? Why hasn't the Eagle investigated this?

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Posted by:
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* 12/7/2007 2:59 PM
* 16829.4 Report as Violation






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 PROGRAMS....

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...