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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Official's comments fuel debate over childcustody reports



 
 
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Old June 10th 08, 04:21 AM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
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Default WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Official's comments fuel debate over childcustody reports

Official's comments fuel debate over child custody reports

http://www.hdnews.net/wirestories/k1...nts-06-08-0980

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Comments made by the head of the state's child
welfare agency earlier this year are fueling accusations that reports
used to remove children from homes have included false information.

During a March 18 meeting in Topeka with family advocacy group Citizens
for Change, Don Jordan, secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and
Rehabilitation Services, was recorded telling the members that Sedgwick
County prosecutors have "bullied" social workers into including
information they don't agree with in their affidavits.

Those affidavits are presented to judges who, based on the information,
determine whether children are returned to their families or kept in
protective custody.

Sedgwick County prosecutors deny pressuring social workers and three
Sedgwick County judges who oversaw the cases said they haven't seen
evidence of wrongful acts.

But the comments have provided critics of the state's child welfare
system ammunition for their claims that the affidavits are of
questionable validity.

"I was so floored at what he said, that this man acknowledged ... he was
aware of what was going on," said Marlene Jones, 69, of Wichita, who
attended the meeting and whose family has had custody battles with the
state. "I believe that SRS is a necessity. They just have to get it right."

The affidavits are usually three or four pages long and are based on
social workers' interviews with parents, teachers, relatives and the
children themselves.

The social workers detail the results of their child abuse and neglect
investigations, which prosecutors can use in their petitions to argue
that a child remain in temporary custody.

"But in Sedgwick County oftentimes we end up writing things because it's
what our social workers get bullied by the District Attorney's Office
into writing," Jordan was recorded as saying to Citizens for Change in
March. "So they really have no belief in what it says."

Later in the meeting, he added: "I am working on our staff that we do
our assessments properly and we do not get bullied into writing things
we don't believe. But then the reality comes down to, you send a
25-year-old social worker into a room with a 15-year county ADA
(assistant district attorney) who is willing to yell at them, cuss at
them, scream at them and threaten them, you know."

Jordan has confirmed making the comments but said he shouldn't have used
the word "bullied."

"I don't think they intend to bully our staff," he told The Wichita
Eagle in Sunday's editions. "It was a poor choice of words ... I don't
believe anybody's asked to perjure themselves or lie."

He also said social workers should be independent of prosecutors.

"I think they (the affidavits) should reflect, without intervention of
the DA's office, the professional judgment of the social worker," he said.

Vickie Burris, president of the group that Jordan made the comments to,
said his answers should make people question the validity of the
affidavits and allow families to challenge court decisions based on
those affidavits.

"The courts are only going to be as good as the information they
receive," Burris said.

Burris said she's had suspicions, based on complaints from families,
that some of the affidavits contained false information. But attorneys
typically advise families not to challenge the information for fear of
angering the department, prosecutors or the judge.

She added that a person who was not a member of Citizens for Change but
attended the meeting recorded Jordan's comments and that she didn't know
about the recording until afterward.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston called Jordan's comments
at the meeting "outrageous."

"That was just so disappointing to have something like that said by an
agency head," Foulston said. "You can't un-ring the bell. He's left the
impression with citizens and individuals in the community that the
District Attorney's Office is doing something that we shouldn't be doing."

Deputy District Attorney Ron Paschal, who oversees juvenile cases, said
his attorneys review the affidavits and have the legal authority to
order that relevant information be included. But he said his staff
doesn't improperly pressure social workers to include certain
information in their reports and the social workers don't have to sign
affidavits if they don't agree.

"We have a job to do, and they have a job to do, and if they come to our
office and have not done it, we're not going to hesitate to ask them to
follow up," he said. "We're the ones who have to prove the matter in court."

Sedgwick County District Judge Tim Henderson said that while he believes
the speed required in some cases does lead to inaccuracies, he doesn't
believe anyone is being dishonest.

"I am very comfortable in the integrity of the DA's office and the (SRS)
workers ... because I am constantly asking them if they believe it is
appropriate," he said.

State Rep. Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, is chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee. He said Jordan's comments at least raise the question of
whether the affidavits reflect the judgment of the caseworkers, although
that doesn't necessarily make the information in them wrong.

"I applaud him for recognizing (a concern) and saying we need to do
something about it," O'Neal said.

------

Information from: The Wichita Eagle, http://www.kansas.com




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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