Editorial: Hiding foster care records won't safeguard Ohioans' rightsor toddlers' lives

Editorial: Hiding foster care records won't safeguard Ohioans' rights or
toddlers' lives
Tuesday, October 09, 2007

http://www.cleveland.com/politics/pl...050.xml&coll=2

Almost 47 years ago, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that public records
are the people's records. Since December 1960, the only thing that has
changed about that is Ohio has a governor who seemingly bridles at that
maxim.

Democrat Ted Strickland is the first Ohioan since 1928 to have reached
the Governor's Mansion without previously having been elected to a local
or state office. And, particularly as to the Open Records Act, that shows.

Today, the Republican-led Ohio House of Representatives, with
Strickland's approval, may try to close Ohio foster-care records. A gag
could be folded into House-proposed reforms in the state's foster-care laws.

A hideous death last year in suburban Cincinnati helped inspire the
overall reform bill. Marcus Fiesel, age 3, a ward of Butler County, died
when his "caregivers" wrapped him in a blanket bound with packing tape
and left him in a closet so that they could attend a family reunion
without him. When they returned from Kentucky, Marcus was dead, so they
burned his body and reported him missing.

The likely House foster-care amendment would let state and local
agencies hide from the public foster-parent records compiled - for the
public - by county welfare departments and children's services boards.

A Strickland spokeswoman confirmed Monday that the governor supports the
record-closing amendment, reasoning that an abusive parent could track
down and harm an abused child legally taken from that parent.

In reality, the only people served by secret foster-care records are the
bureaucrats (and state contractors) who consign the Marcus Fiesels of
the world to tax-financed hells. If Marcus Fiesel's death demands
accountability, closing public records is a perverse way to achieve that
goal. Legal details aside, Marcus Fiesel was a ward of all Ohioans. And
Ohio failed him.

The irony is that Strickland might not be governor - and his fellow
Democrats might not be attorney general, secretary of state and state
treasurer - if newspapers hadn't used the Open Records Act to help
expose corruption in the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Having betrayed Marcus Fiesel once, Ohio - as represented by Strickland,
Speaker Jon Husted and Husted's House Republicans - now runs the risk of
betraying his memory. That, too, would be outrageous.





CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
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.


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...