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Legacy of Roska case is child welfare system reform: Child ProtectiveServices routinely took children from their parents with no due process.



 
 
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Old July 7th 07, 05:24 PM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
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Default Legacy of Roska case is child welfare system reform: Child ProtectiveServices routinely took children from their parents with no due process.

Legacy of Roska case is child welfare system reform
By Kirsten Stewart
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 07/06/2007 05:46:35 PM MDT

http://origin.sltrib.com/news/ci_6315558


Posted: 5:48 PM- The biggest stunner of the Roska family's trial last
week wasn't their jury award: $2 in damages.
Nor was it the emotional testimony of Connie and James Roska, who
sued three Utah child welfare caseworkers for taking custody of their
12-year-old son in 1999 without a hearing or warrant, violating the
Davis County couple's constitutional rights.
It was the revelation that, in the late '90s, Utah caseworkers
routinely took children from their parents with no due process.
Child welfare officials say the practice has changed; they now
credit the Roska case. The eight-year lawsuit gave rise to legislation
in 2006 that requires caseworkers to get a court order or warrant before
removing a child from a home, except for emergencies.
This new way of doing business safeguards parents' civil rights,
said Duane Betournay, director of Utah's Division of Child and Family
Services (DCFS). It may also have contributed to a drop in removals -
from 3 per 1,000 Utah children in 1999 to 1 per 1,000 kids in 2006 -
even as complaints of child abuse grew in number.
"We're protecting children from within the context of the family,"
Betournay said. "It's a better way, because it means longterm protection
and avoids the trauma of removal."
Struggles with reform. For 14 years, another prominent child


welfare case - David C. vs. Leavitt - drove reform of the state's child
welfare system. In agreeing to dismiss the lawsuit in late June,
attorneys for the National Center for Youth Law said Utah's foster care
system, once rife with negligence, is now a "national model."
The lawsuit alleged some children languished in foster care while
others remained in abusive homes with no help from the state.
The state's critics say the David C. lawsuit drove caseworkers to
pursue abuse investigations more aggressively; to bully parents in order
to look good on paper.
Leecia Welch, a senior attorney at the Center for Youth Law,
acknowledged, the "Roska [case] happened at a time when the system was
struggling with reform."
The David C. lawsuit had initially been settled in 1994, but
changes lagged, and the child welfare system was placed under court
supervision in 1999.
Caseworkers took Rusty Roska from his Layton home on May 28, 1999,
saying they feared he was a victim of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy, a
condition in which a parent acts as if a child is ill or even causes the
child's illness.
The removal occurred despite a call from the boy's doctor that same
day, corroborating the Roskas' explanation that he had a disorder
related to his gallbladder and kidneys.
Welch stressed isolated cases like the Roskas prove nothing. She
said she doubts large scores of parents were ever falsely accused of
harming their kids.
No questions asked. But according to testimony during the Roska
trial, unconstitutional removals were commonplace.
Back then, Utah law didn't require warrants to take custody of a
child, said Mark May, chief of the Utah Attorney General's child
protection division. May testified that when caseworkers did seek
orders, some juvenile judges would say, 'You don't need my authority to
do that; that's your responsibility.'
No one - not defense attorneys, judges nor caseworkers - questioned
the practice until 2002, when a federal court determined caseworkers had
violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by taking Rusty
without a hearing.
Taking the boy was the state's strategy for building a case, argued
the Roskas' lawyer, Steven Russell. "If Rusty got better while in foster
care, that proved Munchausen's."
The Roskas' caseworker, Shirley Morrison, who worked at DCFS for
one year, later condemned the division's "Gestapo-style" tactics. In a
taped phone conversation with Russell, she initially agreed to be a
witness for the family, but changed her mind when they sued her personally.
But the fact that caseworkers were doing as they were trained
probably persuaded a jury "they shouldn't be punished" by paying
damages, said their lawyer, assistant Utah attorney general Matthew Bates.
Connie Roska retorts that if no one is held accountable, the state
could continue to abuse its power.
Case closed. Missteps in at least one other case around that same
time resulted in a Salt Lake City woman losing two of her four children.
In 2000, social workers took Lisa Bierly's diabetic son, alleging
she wasn't providing proper medical care. A younger child was
subsequently deemed at risk and removed.
But in 2004, an audit found DCFS made procedural mistakes. It said
the question of whether there had been support for taking the children
could not be "definitely concluded."
In the meantime, Bierly's parental rights had been terminated
because she did not complete a service plan and was uncooperative. Her
children were placed for adoption.
Connie Roska, whose character came under attack during the trial,
said she is quitting her advocacy work on behalf of falsely accused
parents. She spearheaded an organization, Utah Families, that helps
parents navigate the system.
"I've been humiliated. It's time for me to heal my family, move on
and enjoy my grandkids," she said on Thursday.
Attorneys for the state say Connie Roska got what she wanted: reform.
And the caseworkers she sued?
Knowing what they know now, all three testified they still would
have taken Rusty into protective custody - though with a court order.
They believe the removal and daily supervision of the family by DCFS
helped the boy to recover and resume a normal life.







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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