KIN Placement not FC in WA, it's happening....Richland DSHS

It started on this Newsgroup toward the end of 2003.

From: Redacted contact by email
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 9:43 PM
Subject: We were heard!

Today was the most glorious day we have had in our fight against the Richland
Department of Children and Family Services since we banded together scarcely
two months ago! When I was called to testify before the Senate Hearing
Committee this morning, Sen. Stevens told me it was a like a prayer being
answered...they said they were just reading the Lewis Co. News article about
the corruption in Richland, and wanted to talk to me, and then I walked through
the door!

They gave me enough time to not only testify, but each committee member asked
intensive questions until they understood the magnitude of the problem. They
accepted the written documents from the other families, and promised to read
them and they assured us they would clean this department up! It was on public
access channel 23 for anyone in Washington State...it should run through the
weekend.

What a ruckus a classified ad can make! And what a ruckus a group of outraged
relatives can make! The Senate Committee was already familiar with our plight
because of the media coverage, and wanted us to tell them, unscripted and in
our own words, our stories and especially the names of the workers who have
illegally adopted our children from us.

They were compassionate, infuriated with Richland and supportive of us...they
said to report any retaliation directly to them, and they would handle it. They
said they HEARD us, and they are focused on helping us, and demanded that the
Representative the State sent in (the one who re-assured them they had
safeguards internally to handle any misconduct on the part of the department)
file a report with them telling how many State Workers had been fired for
misconduct. Sen. Hargrove said to them "I'll bet there isn't one"...it was
awesome to watch.

They also want a report as to why the children weren't being placed with
relatives in the first place...then they dismissed the Representative!

They asked why my cousin hadn't been placed with me nearly 6 months ago. The
committee was stunned when I told them my relative status had been terminated
when Jessica was made legally free, just 24 hours before they promised to make
me a "party to the case"...and they said the department couldn't do that. This
Senate Committee is just awesome, and I will campaign for them to be
re-elected, because these are the kind of Senators we NEED!

I believe we will be able to bring these children home...we are now going after
the Judges and Commissioners...they can be disbarred if we can prove
misconduct, and we feel that we can. Same tactics...dozens of complaints, media
attention, and more complaints...we are filing dozens of civil suits against
the case workers and their supervisors, which will aid us in our class action
suit.

Do you realize it is barely 2 months since the first classified ad was placed
in the TriCity Herald? Can you see the impact a $16.00 ad can make?...Place
your ad, keep in close touch with your contacts, they are what gives you
strength. Start going through the steps and do everything aggressively. And
DON'T let them "Blow you out of the water!"...