A Letter For Your Neighbors – If They Are Calling CPS (from fightcps.com)

Blogger note:
Thank you Linda from fightcps.com, for all that you do and for helping those trying to keep their families intact while CPS is trying to rip them apart. Thank you for writing this letter to help those who are devastated by the thought of losing their children. You are awesome!
---

Today I heard from a parent who is terrified because her neighbors are calling CPS to make reports about her. I was inspired to write this letter on her behalf. You can download this letter in a printable PDF format to print and give to neighbors in your area, to post on bulletin boards at stores and laundromats, or to send to a specific reporting party if you know who it is. I will modify the letter for other situations if you can give me some ideas on who needs a letter like this. Is it the teachers at the school, the doctor’s office? Who? Let’s educate the public on the dangers of CPS. You can help do that by distributing this letter in your area.

Dear Neighbors – PDF printable format

Dear neighbors,

Someone called CPS. Was it you? Please read this letter before calling CPS again.
I am honestly terrified of losing my children and implore you, if you are the one who made the call, to let me know if I do something you think is wrong regarding my children, and do not call CPS again.

My terror is nothing compared to the trauma my children suffer at the thought of losing me, their home, their friends, their school, their pets, their toys, their grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, and everything else that is part of their world. In the foster care system siblings often even lose each other.

You might think foster care is a better place for children but according to federal statistics children are much more likely to be abused in state custody foster homes. In foster homes many thousands of children have been abused emotionally, physically, and sexually. Many children have died in foster homes – many of whom were beaten to death by foster “parents”.

A professor at MIT did a study on foster children and learned that their long-range outcomes are not good, and that they’re better off left in marginal homes if there’s no extreme abuse going on. Most prison inmates were foster children.

So I ask that even if you don’t like me, please have mercy on my children and do not call CPS. It is a very dangerous government agency and not good for children. You are welcome to come to my house to advise me if you think I’m doing something wrong.

The government is very intrusive these days, and interferes with people for many reasons. We the taxpayers are the ones footing the bill for all these intrusions. The cost of child protective services intrusions, the foster home placements, the “services” forced on parents – are all running up our tax bills. State custody for children is very expensive.

I would prefer a life where we as neighbors can help one another without having to call in government workers for every little thing. Please do not be afraid to contact me if you feel I’m doing something wrong. Do not be afraid to offer to help me. If you’re afraid, show me this letter… let me know that something has to change if that’s how you feel. But please, do not terrorize my children – they are traumatized at the thought of being taken away.

Thank you… from a neighbor.

Written by Linda at http://www.fightcps.com for someone in your neighborhood.

(If you use this but change the wording please do not use my name on your revised letter. I’d prefer that you use the printable PDF version.)

Quinn took 4 months to remove child-welfare chief - Illinois

SPRINGFIELD | Gov. Pat Quinn took four months to remove his director of child welfare after being told state inspectors believed the man had turned a blind eye while a friend ripped off state government, and Quinn kept quiet about problems at the agency even after conducting his own review.

Quinn aides said the governor acted as quickly as possible to determine the truth and then make changes without causing major disruptions at the Department of Children and Family Services. They say state ethics laws barred him from revealing that inspectors were investigating then-Director Erwin McEwen, information that didn't become public until three weeks ago.

The Democratic governor has a long history of calling for more government openness and accountability, first as an outside activist and then as state treasurer and lieutenant governor. Legislators are questioning how he handled the McEwen case, and why it took him so long to remove McEwen.

Two Illinois House committees plan a joint hearing, said Rep. Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat and chairman of the House Human Services Committee.

"There are questions we would like to ask about the decision-making," Harris said Tuesday. "This merits a full discussion."

Rep. Jack Franks, chairman of the State Government Administration Committee, said he was troubled that Quinn did not remove McEwen far more quickly, particularly when the report said McEwen was no longer cooperating with investigators as required by law.

"The first day an employee of mine stopped cooperating would be his last day on the job," Franks said.

McEwen was accused of creating an atmosphere of lax oversight that allowed a friend to take millions of dollars from the state for shoddy or non-existent work. Inspectors recommended legal action against McEwen's friend, George Smith.

Quinn's office got the inspectors' preliminary report on May 25, aides said, and the governor ordered a review that was completed by Aug. 1. McEwen's resignation was announced nearly a month later, and he left the agency in late September.

His departure was portrayed as routine. Quinn said nothing about McEwen's mismanagement or Smith's potential fraud. That came to light when the inspector general's official report was released on Oct. 17.

Spokeswoman Brooke Anderson denied any contradiction between Quinn's calls for openness and his silence when removing McEwen. She said state law barred Quinn from disclosing anything about the inspectors' work, even his own internal review or what convinced him that McEwen had to go.

She said Quinn is satisfied with those restrictions on what he can reveal about his own administration.

"The current law strikes a fair balance between due process and transparency," Anderson said in an email.

The law cited by Quinn's office is part of the act setting up an ethics commission and detailing the duties of inspectors. The section on what information the commission can release says "all investigatory files and reports of the Office of an Executive Inspector General ... are confidential."

Quinn's position got some support Tuesday from author and attorney Scott Turow, the former chairman of the state's Executive Ethics Commission.

"As a matter of policy, I think the governor is probably doing the right thing in not releasing details until the disclosure procedure at the EEC has been complied with," Turow said in an email.

But other government watchdogs questioned Quinn's claim that a governor is legally barred from telling the public why he has removed an agency director.

"Once there's a termination, that cause should be public," said Brian Gladstein, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

McEwen did not return messages left at his home.

State inspectors report Smith billed several government agencies for work done by non-existent employees, submitted fake papers, forged people's signatures, turned in fraudulent expense accounts and falsely claimed he was a psychiatrist. They also found he administered psychotropic drugs to children without permission and without determining the proper dosages.

The report said Smith and his various organizations collected $18 million in state grants from 2008 through 2011. Smith often rebuffed questions from employees at the Department of Children and Family Services by saying he only answered to the director.

"Director McEwen created a situation that was ripe for a vendor such as Dr. Smith to enrich himself and inflate costs by billing for 'ghost' positions and billing various agencies for the same services," said the report, a result of an investigation by the DCFS inspector and the state's executive inspector general.

It's not clear whether any law enforcement agency is considering charges against Smith. The governor's spokeswoman wouldn't say whether Quinn thinks charges are warranted.

"That is for the proper authorities to determine," Anderson said.

Source http://www.nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/quinn-took-months-to-remove-child-welfare-chief/article_66adbf3b-5965-52f2-b4ce-7035e17a6040.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+StatelineorgRss-Illinois+(Stateline.org+RSS+-+Illinois)

Guatemalan Court Order Rattles Foreign Adoption Community

Adam Martin Aug 19, 2011

The story about a young, missing Guatemalan girl whose mother searched for her for five years and eventually found she had been adopted by a couple in Missouri has been floating around for a couple of years now. But the latest news is that the mother, Loyda Rodriguez Morales, has essentially won her case. CNN reported on Monday that the Guatemalan government had ordered the girl returned, and that because it was considered a case of human trafficking, would call Interpol to enforce the order if the adoptive parents didn't comply. According to Erin Seigal, a fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University who's been covering the case closely, that's an unprecedented move in the world of international adoptions.

And as Metafilter noted, the case has been "rocking the adoption world." On forums such as guatadopt.com, members have been debating the case for years. On Thursday, a screed from a user named LauraLyn blasted the way the Monahans had handled the case.

They were offered mediation, and this could have happened in Guatemala or in Liberty. Instead they dug in their heels to hold on to 'their daughter', refused communication, and forced a torturous court process. They claim to want 'to protect' 'Karen Abagail' from 'further trauma'. This is so hard to believe when they have traumatically turned the lives of so many people upside down to keep what does not belong to them. Perhaps other adopted children from Guatemala today are asking: Are my adoptive parents like the Monahans?

But another, Grey, was quick to defend the Monahans' right to privacy and due process.

They have been branded as complicit in fraud, without (to my eyes, at least) facts and evidence. They were faced with a very uncertain situation, and a clear threat (via email) that the little girl they were seeking to adopt could be harmed if they did not continue with the process. Labeling them as accomplices to human trafficking given the nature of their situation is more than unfair; it’s slander.

As an Aug. 12 report in the Houston Chronicle pointed out, "SURVIVORS Foundation, the human rights group representing the birth mother, does not allege the Monahans knew anything about a kidnapping."

On the site Poundpuplegacy, one commenter named Kerry pointed to the power imbalance between birth mother and the adoptive parents.

Let's pretend the mother whose child was kidnapped was a white American. Let's pretend the person who adopted through corrupt adoption facilitators were dark foreigners, and the adoption agency was not affiliated with any agency within the USA. What sort of media attention would this case get, then? What would public outcry sound like after more got news of the story?

Color and economics aside, this is a woman's issue. The adoption industry is slowly but surely pitting woman against woman and as far as I'm concerned educated women who know a thing or two about the plights of (other) women treated like sub-humans need to stand up and NOT TURN THEIR BACKS to the corruption that takes place within the child placement industry.

At the very least, the case seems to be a shocking reminder within the adoption community that while the end goal of adoption is to create loving families, it sometimes begins with tearing other families apart. Unsurprisingly, many comments focused on the benefit the child would have growing up in America, versus returning to Guatemala. Kerry's response was thoughtful: "Have we entered an era where those who support adoption believe no original mother living in a poor region is fit to parent her own child chosen by corrupt child brokers?"

Adoption has been a tumultuous issue for the U.S. and Guatemala over the last few years. Guatemala closed its doors to U.S. adoptions in 2008 because of rampant fraud. They were reopened in 2009, but not without controversy. According to an Aug. 6 Associated Press story, that's what happened with the girl, who was adopted under the name Karen Abigail López García, but whose real name is Anyeli Liseth Hernandez Rodriguez, according to a website set up to help search for her. Her mother claims she was snatched from her arms in 2006. The court ordered the PGN, the Guatemalan equivalent of the attorney general's office, to work with the U.S. embassy on retrieving the girl, who has been living with Timothy and Jennifer Monahan in Missouri since 2007. The Monahans have two months from the July 29 order to return the girl, under the latest order from the Guatemalen court.

Source: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/08/guatemalan-court-order-rattles-foreign-adoption-community/41514/