Special-needs foster family disintegrates....

Special-needs foster family disintegrates

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19768541/

By Josh Brodesky, ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Azstarnet.com
07.15.2007

Tucson, AZ - Karin and Larry Wilson took in the children others didn't want.

They adopted or were foster parents to 26 severely disabled
special-needs kids over the years, caring for as many as 19 children at
one time.

But since spring, Child Protective Services has removed 16 children from
the Wilson home, 14 of them in the wake of a chaotic late-night fight
between the couple in May. The family has been the subject of repeated
CPS investigations over the past 2 1/2 years, Karin Wilson said. CPS
could not confirm how long the family was investigated because of a
court order restricting comments about the case.
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Pima County sheriff's deputies have responded to 10 complaints regarding
the Wilson children, mostly from faculty and staff members with the
Marana Unified School District, who reported abuse suspicions because
the children came to school with frequent injuries.

Karin Wilson, who had moved out of the family's West Ina Road home about
a year before the children were removed, said two children have since
been returned to her, and she is fighting to regain custody of the others.

Before the troubles started, the Wilsons were lauded for their
willingness to take in children who were born without brains or had Down
syndrome, cystic fibrosis or fetal alcohol syndrome. None of the
children were adopted in Arizona. The family was featured in newspapers,
including the Arizona Daily Star, and received national recognition,
even appearing on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" to promote adoption of
special-needs children, particularly those with developmental disabilities.

In interviews with the Star, Karin Wilson said the couple's Memorial Day
fight resulted from a single stressful incident and is no indication of
a violent home. The reports of suspected abuse, she said, came from
well-meaning educators who didn't know that some severely disabled
children hurt themselves easily and regularly.

Larry Wilson, reached by telephone numerous times over the last month,
declined interview requests.

A year of reports

After the Wilsons separated a year ago, they worked out an arrangement
where Karin — a licensed nurse — would go to the home in the mornings to
help the kids get ready for school, then return in the afternoon,
remaining until bedtime.

But on Memorial Day, an in-home nurse failed to return a child she had
taken home for the weekend.

Larry Wilson filed a missing-persons report, and the child was found at
the home of the nurse, who had filed a petition for custody. The child
was brought home.

Karin Wilson was across town at a barbecue while the incident played
out. Larry called her throughout the night, giving her updates, she
said. When she made it to the home at 2 a.m., a fight broke out so
quickly she never took off her motorcycle helmet.

Police reports say Larry pushed Karin out the door and was hitting her
in the head, which was protected by her helmet. When the deputies
arrived, Larry had locked himself inside. Ultimately, deputies kicked
down the front door and tackled Larry, arresting him on suspicion of
assault and disorderly conduct.

A few days later, CPS removed the children.

Karin Wilson said she did not want to trivialize the incident, but
characterized it as a momentary breakdown: "He just lashed out. I think
he had enough. I was the person who was there, and I got it."

Despite the fight, she said she couldn't imagine any child abuse in the
home, citing the number of nurses and attendants there at all hours.

While charges are pending from the fight, none of the other police
reports resulted in any criminal charges. Most of the reports are mired
by conflicting stories between Larry Wilson and his children. Often, the
children changed their stories.

Each time the Sheriff's Department was called out for a suspected abuse
case, CPS was notified.

"The assistant principal also stated things like this happen to the
family a lot, and it always seems that Child Protective Services is
always investigating the Wilsons," one incident report from early May
states.

State concerned about CPS

The Wilson case raises recurring questions about CPS policy, said state
Rep. Jonathan Paton, a Tucson Republican who will be leading legislative
hearings on CPS in August.

One question is why it would remove some kids but not others. Another is
why the agency removed the kids only after a lengthy period of multiple
investigations.

Because of an order issued Tuesday in Pima County Juvenile Court that
prohibits the parties in the case from speaking about it, CPS
spokeswoman Liz Barker Alvarez was unable to respond to those questions.

But in an interview before the court order, Barker Alvarez said CPS
deals with cases on a child-specific basis, and "takes into account the
allegation and the situation for each individual child." The agency will
remove only kids who appear to be in harm's way, she said.

Karin Wilson says school officials were too quick to suspect abuse of
kids who came from troubled backgrounds and were prone to self-injurious
and age-inappropriate behavior. "What has happened is when you have all
of these reports like that, one after another like that, people start to
think where there is smoke, there is fire," she said.

Some special-needs kids are prone to hurting themselves, but only in a
small number of cases, said Ronald C. Hughes, a psychologist and
director of the North American Resource Center for Child Welfare, a
policy-development group.

"Certainly some children with special needs have self-injurious
behaviors or may engage in behaviors who injure other children, but if
that's the case, you don't need 19, 15 or 20 kids in the home," he said.

Goal was to give better care

Karin Wilson began to foster, and then adopt, special-needs kids while
working as a nurse in Alaska roughly 20 years ago because she didn't
like how some of the kids were being cared for, she said.

She moved to North Carolina with her two biological children and one
adopted special-needs child and met Larry. Soon the couple began
adopting more and more special-needs kids, moving from North Carolina to
Georgia and finally to Marana. Larry also had two biological children.

Karin Wilson rejected the idea that the size of her family made it
similar to an institutional setting. "In an institution, the only
permanent thing about it is the building," she said. "At home in a
family, you have parents, siblings."

It's common for nurses, social workers or special-education teachers to
adopt children with extraordinary needs, said Laraine Masters Glidden, a
psychology professor at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Such positions
give prospective parents a sense of confidence and competence, and they
are a benefit when an agency is considering placement, she said.

"Another factor is just familiarity, where many people go through life
not getting to know people with disabilities," she said.

Since her kids have been removed, Karin Wilson said she has visited them
at the group and foster homes where they've been placed.

Even if the kids are returned, however, it's unclear if the Wilsons can
support them.

Not only will they remain separated, but the couple is running into
financial trouble. Supporting so many special-needs kids costs as much
as $10,000 a month, Karin Wilson said. To make ends meet, the couple
relied on subsidies from the various states from which the children were
adopted. They also received Social Security in addition to their own
savings and credit.

But the subsidies have stopped, and Karin Wilson said their home will
soon be for sale.

"It destroyed the family," she said.




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...