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Houston, TX A failure to protect kids



 
 
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Old July 31st 07, 07:48 AM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
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Default Houston, TX A failure to protect kids

A failure to protect kids

By LISA FALKENBERG
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...g/5012901.html


There were flowers in the waiting room. Valentine decorations on the
walls. A sign above the entrance read, "God bless this home and all who
enter."

In the boys' rooms, plaid comforters sprawled over cozy wooden beds and
posters of cars and soccer players papered the walls. Girls' rooms were
softened by pink rugs and stuffed animals. The children watched the
Discovery Channel and reviewed for tests in small classrooms. They smiled.

From my vantage point, as an outsider touring the halls of the
privately run South Texas facility for unaccompanied immigrant youths,
all seemed well. The children seemed safe.

How wrong I was. During that visit to the facility in the rural town of
Nixon in February, there were no clues about the kind of abuse that
raged behind closed doors.

Looks were deceiving
At the time, I was working on a story for the Houston Chronicle on the
double standard of our government's treatment of undocumented children:
If they come with parents, they could end up in a prison-like
environment, monitored by lasers, forced to wear uniforms and endure
thrice-daily headcounts in the custody of Immigration Customs
Enforcement, the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security.

If they came alone, they are usually sent to child-friendly shelters
like the one in Nixon, which are licensed by the state and governed by
federal regulations requiring special treatment for children. They were
in the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'
Office of Refugee Resettlement, whose director vowed a commitment to
protecting children regardless of their immigration status.

Nixon's 136-bed shelter, Texas Sheltered Care, owned by Away From Home
Inc., contracted with ORR to house about 100 mostly teenage male
undocumented immigrants from Central American countries while they
awaited deportation or reunification with family members.

To an outsider, Nixon seemed like a model facility, a shining example of
how the federal government was doing right by at least some immigrant
children.

Staffer indicted
A few days after my visit, news broke that this supposed shelter from
the storm for immigrant children had become a new kind of hell. These
particularly vulnerable children, many of whom braved a scorching desert
journey to escape poverty, abuse or a parentless existence in their
homelands, were reportedly enduring sexual abuse from their would-be
protector.

Last month, without much fanfare, Belinda Aguilar Leal, a former staffer
at the Nixon facility, was indicted on four counts of sexual assault
involving immigrant youths. According to the indictment, the 41-year-old
Leal performed oral sex on two male youths and fondled the genitals of
two more during various incidents in January and February.

Kevin Lashus, an Austin attorney and former federal prosecutor who
represents more than one of the youths in the indictment, said he
believed Leal's victims numbered more than 20. Leal allegedly abused
certain youths repeatedly, in front of others, luring them with promises
of release, food, video games or alcohol.

Arrest got little attention
Compared with the statewide sex abuse scandal that rocked the Texas
Youth Commission earlier this year, the Nixon cases got little media
attention. Like TYC, the system built to protect them was broken.
Failures in communication, accountability and limitations in federal
jurisdiction delayed and hindered justice.

"My kids were abused by everyone," says Lashus.

Although Nixon youths told counselors about abuse, their allegations
weren't taken seriously until witnesses who hadn't been abused backed up
the victims' claims, Lashus said.

A counselor reported the alleged abuse to Gonzales County law
enforcement, but investigators with the FBI soon took over the case.
Meanwhile, ORR officials complained about not having been notified about
the sex abuse allegations sooner.

To make matters worse, after reviewing the FBI report, U.S. Attorney
Johnny Sutton claimed he didn't have jurisdiction to prosecute and
handed it back to Gonzales County, which began investigating anew. Leal
was indicted, but she won't be subject to federal sentencing guidelines,
which likely would have led to harsher punishment.

As it turned out, ORR, the federal agency charged with protecting the
Nixon youths, had very little power to do so when it came to sexual abuse.

Loophole may be closed
Before 2003, the Department of Justice was the agency responsible for
detaining immigrants, and prosecutors had the power to file criminal
charges against those who abused detainees in the agency's custody. But
when Congress transferred custody to other agencies, including Homeland
Security's ICE and Health and Human Services' ORR, it neglected to
transfer the authority to prosecute sex abuse cases.

The outdated law had created a loophole that left every immigrant man,
woman and child in federal custody without a crucial layer of protection
from sexual abuse.

Finally, last week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., moved to address
the problem by restoring some protection to immigrants in custody. Her
amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which passed the
Senate but awaits a conference panel vote, promises to close the
loophole by ensuring the prosecution of anyone who sexually abuses a
child or adult in federal custody.

It won't help the Nixon youths. But it's a small start in in repairing
the broken system that failed them.






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

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS 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...

 




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