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CBS NEWS: Lost And Found, Lesley Stahl On Efforts To Place FosterChildren Back With Their Families.....



 
 
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Old June 25th 07, 10:03 PM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
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Default CBS NEWS: Lost And Found, Lesley Stahl On Efforts To Place FosterChildren Back With Their Families.....

CBS NEWS: Lost And Found, Lesley Stahl On Efforts To Place Foster
Children Back With Their Families

They've been called some of the loneliest people on earth: children who
were taken away from their parents due to neglect or abuse, but were
never adopted by new families. Stranded in the child welfare system,
they move from foster homes to group homes. There are tens of thousands
of these children. They have no one – not a single relative to visit on
Christmas or their birthday.

As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, there are now several cities
across the country that are trying something new. It’s called "family
finding." The goal is to track down the families these children were
taken away from in the first place to see if they can go home again.


Thirteen-year-old Samara has been in foster care her whole life and now
lives at "Five Acres," a treatment center for troubled kids. Officials
tell 60 Minutes she does well in school, but that she struggles with
severe depression, despite years of therapy and medication.

Last Christmas, Samara admits she was in pretty bad shape and even tried
to hurt herself. Asked what was going on inside of her, she tells Stahl,
"'Cause the other kids. They used to go on visits with their family and
all, and I was stuck at the house. Like for Christmas, everybody else
was out."

Everyone was out with some relative but her.

"She was very suicidal, very self-harming," Marylou McGuirk, Samara's
therapist, remembers.

"Is your analysis of her case that it was all stemming from the loss of
her mother?" Stahl asks.

"I believe it was the loss of her family," McGuirk explains. "Not having
a support system around her. And that trauma — was there was no healing
process for that."

Kevin Campbell, who created and runs "Family Finding," went to Five
Acres last winter to teach the staff how to find Samara’s family.

"If the situation was so bad that the state had to take a child away
from that home, why under any circumstances would the state put them
back into that home?" Stahl asks Campbell.

"We may not be ever considering placing the child back in that home.
What I’m looking for is 'Does he have an aunt or an uncle or a
great-aunt or uncle who’s safe with their kids and has done a good job
and would be there for them,'" he says.

"What do you do when you find family members who say, 'No, I don’t want
anything to do with him or her?'" Stahl asks.

"What we do is keep moving. You’re not done until you’ve found at least
40 relatives. Don’t stop," Campbell explains. "The minimum first step is
40."

That seemed like a long shot, since Samara was considered a "cold case."
Not a single relative was known.

The search began with just a few details about her mother. "I have her
first name, we think an accurate spelling, a middle initial and a last
name. We think she was in Culver City, Calif. We think that she’s 27
years old," he explains.

That’s all they had. And yet, with the help of a company called "U.S.
Search," they were able to find not only Samara’s mother, but a virtual
family tree.

Within two hours, the search yielded 44 family members.

This is the family Samara knew nothing about, until Family Finding came
into her life. There was a family reunion, with barbecue and music.

But unused to affection and belonging, Samara felt uncomfortable. She
was taken away from her mother when she was only 10 months old on
charges of neglect and now she was meeting the relatives she had yearned
for, as if in a dream.

She met them all, including her great grandmother, grandparents,
cousins, and aunts; for Samara, the hugging was overwhelming.

There were over 40 relatives in all.

"I was really, really scared, ‘cuz I get really scared around a lot of
people. And like when I was walking up the stairs, I almost like threw
up," Samara explains.

Through Family Finding, Samara also met her mother Lakesha. Three months
before the barbecue party, she got a call from Family Finding asking if
she wanted to see Samara.

"And I said, 'Of course. I’m like I’ve been wanting it for years you
know,'" she remembers.


Lakesha says there was no hesitation at all to meet her daughter. She
had Samara when she was just 14 and in foster care herself; she says she
was a rebellious, irresponsible teenager.

"I refused to go to school. I refused to go to counseling. Parenting
classes. I refused to go," she recalls.

One day, she ran away and left Samara behind. She tried to get her back,
but failed to show up for the big court date, was accused of neglect,
and lost her parental rights.

Lakesha says she never physically abused her daughter and admits that
some people think she neglected her child. Asked if in her own eyes she
neglected her daughter, she says, "There’s a lot of things that I could
have done better, as a parent, I think, but I don’t think, I don’t think
I did so much to have lost Samara."

Lakesha says she’s a different person today. She has a full-time job as
a teacher's aid, and is raising three young, healthy children.

After Family Finding called, Lakesha met with Samara’s therapist and
underwent a criminal background check. Only then was she allowed to meet
with Samara.

"At first I was nervous. I couldn’t say anything. Like my mouth was so
dry. So she was just talkin’," Samara recalls.

That was in April at "Five Acres." The last time they had seen each
other, Samara was six years old.

Samara didn't have a photo of her mother and didn't remember her face
but when they met she knew it was her. Samara says she didn't cry during
that encounter. "I was trying to hold it back ‘cause I don’t like people
seeing me cry."

Samara has trouble expressing any emotion, and connecting. When her
mother talked to her, Samara looked away. And yet, when Lakesha told her
she had actually kept her picture all these years, Samara was surprised.

"So it’s evidence that she was thinking about you all this time," Stahl
remarks.

Samara never stopped thinking about Lakesha. Now, eight months later
they’re talking about Samara moving in with Lakesha and her three young
children. But it will be a huge undertaking, given Samara’s behavioral
problems.

"She’s not used to the close physical proximity. Nor the emotional
proximity, says therapist Marylou McGuirk.

McGuirk says after Samara first met her mom, she regressed a little.

"You know, breaking some property. Don’t really like this: going to
break something. You know, she was really confused at some point of:
'How do I do this? How do I have a parent now? I don’t know how to do
this,'" she explains.

"Have you had to instruct Lakesha on how to deal with her child?" Stahl
asks.

"Actually not right now, no. The reason why is I think Lakesha has some
good skill sets just from her job. And what she does and works with
special needs children. She has learned the language that you need to
use with children who have been either traumatized or special needs,"
McGuirk replies.

Laskesha seems more worried about providing for her daughter. California
spends up to $60,000 a year on children like Samara. If she moves back
with her mother, after a year and a half, she’ll leave behind all the
benefits, including therapy, tutors, a clothing allowance, piano
lessons, and even help paying for college.

Samara acknowledges she will have to give up certain things and could
stay at the facility while seeing her mother but it's not something she
wants to think about.

If Samara does move in, Lakesha will have a back up team: Samara's
relatives, who try to come up with a Plan B, and C to ensure Samara
never returns to foster care.

This raises the inevitable question, though: where were they in the
first place?

"If they really love this child, why didn’t they come forward?" asks
Kevin Campbell. "It’s a fair question. And when we ask families about
that, what we hear is: 'Well, one of our family’s members talked to a
social worker. They promised us that child would be adopted, and they
told us not to call anymore.'"

Over the past six years, Campbell has trained social workers from 40
different states and so far, they have found relatives for 3,000
children. Of those, only about 25 percent have moved out of foster care
and back home with family. But another 50 percent develop relationships
with a relative.



Family Finding tends to deal with the most troubled kids in the foster
care system. Often it’s the ones prone to violence like Beverly, age 14,
who’s had no one for the last eight years, except for her brother
Melvin, who lives at a group home nearby.

Beverly admits she has been very angry and acting out. "One of the
foster homes that I was in I trashed the place. I threw stuff at them, I
threw glass at them, I threw whatever I could find at them," she recalls.

What was the rage about?

"Well, I felt, like, nobody wanted me, or whatever," she says.

What about her brother Melvin?

"I always had problems in school. And they wasn’t like academically or
nothing. It was just like always fighting. I’d fight anybody. I didn’t
care who it was," he says.

Beverly never stopped yearning for her family. When Family Finding came
into her life, she thought they were taking too long. So she decided on
an end run. Last February, she just got up and ran away and on her own
came to Watts and found her father, Melvin Sr.

It took him four months to pay his daughter a visit at "Five Acres."
Beverly was ecstatic.

It was also the first time Melvin Sr. had seen his son in eight years;
that reunion was far more restrained.

Through Family Finding, Melvin Jr. and Beverly learned that their mother
died of drug abuse, and that since he lost his parental rights after
being charged with neglect, Melvin Sr. has struggled with alcohol, has
been in and out of work, and has 10 other children.

"Melvin Sr., your children have been raised in foster care. They’ve been
shuttled around from house to house. Eight for Beverly, four for Melvin
Jr. Is there anything you want to say to them?" Stahl asks.

"I’m sorry I wasn’t there for y’all like I should have been. But now
that I’m getting back on my feet, I will be here for y’all always. And I
love y’all dearly," he says.

Asked if he has ever said that to them before, Melvin Sr. says, "I
always tell my kids I love them."

But he acknowledges he has never apologized to his children in this way.

He has said he would like his children to come and live with him. He
thinks that is a real possibility and that it is realistic.

Both Beverly and Melvin say they realize, given their father’s problems,
that they can’t move home with him.

Melvin tells Stahl meeting his father still doesn’t feel like a real
relationship. Beverly meanwhile says she is developing a relationship
with her dad.

Melvin acknowledges Melvin Sr. is trying but that he is being defiant as
his father is making advances. "I’m not mad at him. It’s just, I don’t
want … I don’t know. We’ll see over time," he tells Stahl.

But that’s not the end of the story. As part of Family Finding, uncle
Frank, their mom’s brother, comes to visit them every week. Raised in
foster care himself, uncle Frank knows pretty much what they’re going
through.

"Being in the system, and you don’t have nobody visiting you or, or
showing that they care about you. It’s hard. I’m just trying to keep
everybody together because this is all that I have right now," he explains.

Beverly's therapist tells Stahl that she is happier: there are no more
bouts of rage, she is more involved in school activities and dreams
about going to Harvard.

Melvin, a junior in high school, also wants to go to college, hopefully
on a basketball scholarship.

And in the meantime, uncle Frank says even though he can’t take the kids
now, when they leave the system at 18, his door will be open.

"So, when Melvin goes to college, when he gets his basketball
scholarship, and he comes home for Christmas," Stahl asks Frank.

"He’s always welcome. He’s welcome," the uncle replies.

"It’s just this basic need that human beings have to know the truth
about what’s happened to their families," says Kevin Campbell. "That’s
important, that’s essential. How do you grow up without those things?
Well, we know how they do it. We can look at young people in the foster
care system and their struggle and see what happens when you don’t have
those things."

"It breaks them. And they struggle with it. And we can do something
about it," he adds.

As for Samara, there are still lots of problems, including a lot of
adjusting. She isn’t close to being healed.

But in August, she went to court and asked a judge to put her back where
she says she belongs. She asked the judge to reinstatement of parental
rights, paving the return to her mother Lakesha. If all goes as planned,
she should be home by late January.







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...
 




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