STOP the State Sponsored Killings!

You have stepped into one of our country's most sacred cows here.  Child Welfare Services (by whatever name it goes by in each jurisdiction) is probably second only to the medical profession in our willingness to overlook the blatant facts. 

The job they do is considered so important in our eyes that how the do the job ceases to matter.  Any negative news about them is considered an attack and is not tolerated in the least.

CPS in Texas explains away those tragic facts by asserting that the kids who make up those statistics came from terrible situations.  The kids are in foster care, so it is easy for the rest of us to accept that as fact.  However, has there ever been any kind of investigation or study done?  If there hasn't, how can CPS or the geneal public come to any kind of conclusion, much less one that CPS simply states.

If McDonald's, Philip Morris, or the U.S. Military simply stated "it was the conditions these people had before...  that led to the deaths," would we simply shrug it off and accept it blindly?  Would the press?  Would Child Protective Services?

The fact is, while I'd guess that most foster parents are well meaning, loving people who really do want to make a difference, no organization is without their bottom feeders.  Every other situation set up for kids attracts abusive adults, so why wouldn't the foster care system?

Good on you, and Carole Keeton Strayhorn for daring to take on a societal sacred cow!!!!

The CPS director objects to the findings, claiming that it was the conditions these children had before entering foster care, not the foster care, that led to the deaths.

Headline - California: Charles Manson claims The Tates and LaBiancas were almost dead when he had them killed.  Due to the State not taking care of them from birth.

Makes as much sense.  You have a real arse wipe down there.

I have a slight problem with some of the things you say here.

For the most part, I agree with your stance on the CPS and the foster care system as a whole.  Yes, there are good people who will care for the kids in the system they way they deserve to be cared for, and yes, there are people who will use the kids for their own perverse means. 

The issue I have it with the number of children overdosing on meds or getting pregnant, because I read it as you attributing those things to the foster parents.  Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but if I'm not.....well, I think that it's wrong.  These kids have been through situations that have maimed them psychologically; they're statistically more likely to drink, use drugs and/or alcohol and be promiscuous....which would result in more overdoses and more pregnancies and probably in more rapes too.  I just don't think that you can attribute these occurences to the foster parents (if that's what you're doing).

Just my 2 cents worth.

It's sad when we see foster homes being worse to children than their real homes.

Arthur
www.wewerethecoolkids.blogspot.com/

The issue I have it with the number of children overdosing on meds or getting pregnant, because I read it as you attributing those things to the foster parents.

They are overdosing on medications the state prescribed for them to control their behaviour, dharma. I have already documented the fact that in the 1980's, Foster children were used as guinea pigs for untested AIDS drugs, and empirical data would indicate that that is the tip of the iceberg. As for the pregnancies, well, if children are getting raped in these foster homes, there WOULD seem to be a correlation, wouldn't there?

One of the most glaring problems with CPS is that they refuse to allow OUTSIDE investigation into their practices. Even their "review boards are carefully controlled kangaroo courts of CPS cheerleaders who would NEVER fix blame on CPS' own policies and procedures.

Here's what I can say, from what I know, dharma:

--CPS is made up of individuals
--individuals make mistakes. CPS case workers and investigators are no exceptions.

The problem here is that because CPS is allowed to operate without any OBJECTIVE ovbersight, these things can go on and we'd never know it. Although I advocate for the complete elimination of CPS, I will readily admit things could be made VASTLY better if CPS knew that its actions in a given case would be subject to scrutiny. They wouldn't remove children so hastily, they would offer better oversight over the foster homes where the children were placed, and they would follow up on complaints so that when these problems DO arise, they can at least say they've been handled to some degree.

NO other government agency is allowed to operate as completely independent of outside oversight than CPS. None. If the nationa media put as much scrutiny on CPS as they do on the NSA, there'd be a few less dead kids, and a lot less screwed up ones.

They are overdosing on medications the state prescribed for them to control their behaviour, dharma. I have already documented the fact that in the 1980's, Foster children were used as guinea pigs for untested AIDS drugs, and empirical data would indicate that that is the tip of the iceberg. As for the pregnancies, well, if children are getting raped in these foster homes, there WOULD seem to be a correlation, w

Yeah, but you seem to be totally ignoring the fact that these kids have been traumatized and are more likely to be promiscuous and use drugs and alcohol.  It's not all CPS's fault, Gid.  Yes, they make mistakes and yes, some foster homes are worse than the children's actual homes.  Yes, the CPS and the foster system in this country is corrupt in places, and yes, an investigation by an outside agency is warranted.  However, you seem to forget that the children in the system are individuals and are psychologically scarred...and will in all likelihood have some resulting behaviour problems.  I'd like to see the stats on the med overdoses to see  what the kids overdosed on because I'm having a hard time believing that it was ALL forced upon them and not taken inbtentionally by themselves, and I'd also like to see a sampling of the pregnancy stats to see how many of the pregnant girls claimed they were raped by their foster parents before I lay the blame soley at the feet of CPS and the foster parents involved.  Do you see what I'm getting at here?  I sure hope so. 

"Yeah, but you seem to be totally ignoring the fact that these kids have been traumatized and are more likely to be promiscuous and use drugs and alcohol. "

Traumatized by who? Has that fact been established in a criminal court of law? If not... why not? If a child's parents are criminals the child should have the comfort of knowing they were protected from criminals. It is the rare case that the parent has faced criminal charges and had their rights respected in a court of law.

The CPS is evil; the 'gestapo lite' as far as I am concerned and should be abolished completely. Crimes should be investigated by the police, who have to abide by our consitutional rights. If children have been abused the parents need to be in jail, and only then should the children be moved to a new home by an agency that has no power to take parental rights away.

Children living with the knowledge that their parents are living somewhere, kept from them by an evil state system of child snatching is the real trauma. The foster parents in question are paid by the authorities to keep these children safe. As such, they are still the responsibility of the kidnappers who took them from their families to begin with.

So, whatever happens to kids in the foster care system is blood on the hands of CPS. They take it upon themselves to remove these children, and they should not be able to dump that responsibility on someone else just by cutting them a check once a month.

Got to disagree with you here Dharma... only from my own experience though.

I hung out with the "burnouts" in high school. The kids who were the drug abusers, promiscuous and all that. Among my friends, many of them were in foster homes... many were abused.. a few of us had ranaway from home at least once.

20+ years after graduation we see the results. Us, "high risk" kids didn't fair (as a group) any worse or better than the rest of the school. Really, the only difference between us and the rest was we did our stupid stuff openly.

As an Army NCO, Paramedic and Youth Group Counselor at church, I've spent most my adult life with people much younger than myself. I talk to them about their high school years, their goals, their dreams... and even the things they did along the way...

My experience is, kids are kids are kids. Whether they come from a broken home, abusive situation or were raised by Ward and June Cleaver, whether they get into "high risk" behavior or not has a lot more to do with them than their home life.

Yeah, but you seem to be totally ignoring the fact that these kids have been traumatized and are more likely to be promiscuous and use drugs and alcohol.

Really, dharma? I have repeatedly shown that 97% of these parents have not even been CHARGED in a criminal court of law...these children are removed based on ALLEGATIONS, many of them lodged through anonymous complaints. Much of these kids' trauma stems from the fact that they lived with loving but imperfect parents until one day a lady came to their house with a clipboard, took them by the hand away from the homes they had known their whole lives, told them their parents were evil, then traded them around like chattel until at 18 they were sent out to fend for themselves after being raised in a caring, unfeeling environment. You can speculate all you want about life inside foster care, dharma, but I was THERE. I KNOW.

It's not all CPS's fault, Gid. Yes, they make mistakes and yes, some foster homes are worse than the children's actual homes. Yes, the CPS and the foster system in this country is corrupt in places, and yes, an investigation by an outside agency is warranted.

Yes, it IS all CPS' fault, dharma. They removed these children from their homes on the premise that the parents were incapable of parenting, and that THEY could do a better job. All too often, they place these children in homes that were worse than the ones they left. Read my article on "revisiting the foster farm" and TELL me that is in any way acceptable.

When I began researching CPS, dharma, I believed as you apparently do, that there were a few bad apples, but for the most part the good the agency does outweighs the bad. When I began to arm myself with FACTS; however, I discovered that is NOT the case; that the agency is corrupt from top to bottom, and the children who are supposed to be all important in the work they do do not matter. They are simply a means of maintaining funding.

Now, the SOCIAL WORKERS are another matter. It is my firmly held conviction that the majority of people working for CPS are doing so because they care and want to make a positive impact in society. I have seen countless stories of social workers who have been just as destroyed by this corrupt system, and who have shared stories about life inside of CPS, and I won't hang the evil CPS does on the social workers themselves. But it could also be said of Nazis that there were many people who had homes, families, and who were simply working for the Nazi regime because of conscription or a sense of duty to the Fatherland. But that didn't make the actions they performed any less evil.

You may think my comparison to Nazism is harsh, but ask any young mother with an empty crib because she simply wasn't able to pay the electric bill because the mechanic doesn't take payments, and she'll think if anything the comparison is soft.

However, you seem to forget that the children in the system are individuals and are psychologically scarred...and will in all likelihood have some resulting behaviour problems.

I DON'T forget who the children in the system are. I KNOW them. I WAS one of them.

And WHY are they psychologically scarred, dharma? They are psychologically scarred because they were ripped away from their parents and told their parents didn't love them anymore, didn't want them anymore. Everytime a parent doesn't show up for a hearing that that parent was NEVER TOLD ABOUT, it only reinforces the assertions of the "system" that those parents don't care for them, because they didn't take the time to make the meetings. In short, they are psychologically scarred BECAUSE of the system that was supposed to protect them.

I'd like to see the stats on the med overdoses to see what the kids overdosed on because I'm having a hard time believing that it was ALL forced upon them and not taken inbtentionally by themselves, and I'd also like to see a sampling of the pregnancy stats to see how many of the pregnant girls claimed they were raped by their foster parents before I lay the blame soley at the feet of CPS and the foster parents involved. Do you see what I'm getting at here? I sure hope so.

Did I lay the blame solely at CPS' feet, or those of the foster parents? I did not. Did Carole Keeton Strayhorn? She did not. I a simply asking for access to the books, which CPS closely guards the books.

I find an interesting double standard here, dharma. When I refuse to allow a government agent to enter my home, you accuse me of hiding something, despite the fact that I am only asserting rights that I have as an American citizen. Yet when I ask to see the records of that agency, you defend them and their actions. I have put forth a MOUNTAIN of evidence against the actions of CPS, and have given links to much more, yet the fact that I dare QUESTION these "noble guardians" of our children is somehow wrong or inappropriate. Questions need to be asked, and a lot of action taken against the horrible, routine atrocities of this agency, ironically enough, for the very children they purport to be acting in the "best interests" of.

Do I hold CPS to a higher standard than parents in the general population? I DO. Reason? They claim to be the parenting "experts". Any time a parent doesn't perform to their standards, they refer the parent to parenting courses that MUST be vetted and approved by them. The parent is NOT allowed to choose their own parenting courses if it doesn't have the rubber stamp of CPS. If they are the experts they claim to be, then, yes, I expect a MUCH higher standard from them from the general population.

The fact is, the statistics on foster child deaths are actually LOWER than they should be from all the evidence I have read. This is because CPS has doctors on the payroll who will give the "benefit of the doubt" to CPS when the cause of death is suspicious or questionable, and because most parents affected by CPS action don't press for a full investigation, dharma. The truth is, two deaths in my family are DIRECTLY attributable to CPS, yet neither one resulted in culpability by the agency. Since I KNOW of two deaths for which they bear full responsibility, I am inclined to believe there are many more.