Lawsuit Claims CPS Removed Kids Out of Spite - Texas

RANDY WALLACE
Investigative Reporter

HOUSTON - If Child Protective Services had its way, 5-year-old Katelynn Allen wouldn't be with her grandmother right now. Neither would her 6-year-old brother Elisha.

CPS wanted them to be adopted by non-relatives.

"I don't even think I can find a word that can summarize what I went through," said the children's grandmother, Houston Minister Teresa Allen.

It was Allen who first contacted CPS back in August of 2009.

She was concerned about her grandkids because of her daughter's alleged drug use.

Three months went by and nothing happened.

In the meantime Allen took the kids to keep them safe.

Then, according to her lawsuit against CPS, a CPS caseworker called.

That case worker stated, "She was in fear of losing her job for missing a deadline to investigate the matter."

Allen complained to the case workers supervisor and anyone else with CPS that would listen.

She wanted action.

"You go all the way to the top and you just can't believe that there was no one in authority that could have stopped, looked and listened and investigated my complaint," Allen said.

"She finally went over the head of the case worker, then over the head of a supervisor to the program director," said Allen's attorney Chris Branson. " She was told in no uncertain terms that that was a bad move on her part and they were going to show her exactly what happens to people who make bad moves."

The next day Branson said CPS took Allen's two young grandkids away from her.

"I did not know what was going on, I did not know why," Allen said.

"The initial taking was illegal," Branson said.

Branson said CPS claimed the kids were in danger that's why they took them with no court order in hand.

"My client did nothing to have CPS take these kids, nothing came out later," Branson said.

For the next 11 months the lawsuit claims CPS workers did everything they could to discredit Allen who was denied access to her grandkids, and was repeatedly told they would be adopted by non relatives and she would never see them again.

"Anger, fear, the rejection, I mean it makes you feel less than a human being," Allen said.

In a hearing the grandmother won the right to get her grandkids back. But she hopes the lawsuit will lead to changes at CPS.

"We believe this is a good case to set a precedent that will send a clear and distinct message to Child Protective Services to clean up their act and do things the right way," Branson said.

Source http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/investigates/111216-child-protective-services-dispute

US officials plan South Dakota summit on Indian foster care

CHET BROKAW Associated Press

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Federal officials are planning a summit in South Dakota in the wake of allegations that the state has violated federal law by removing too many American Indian children from their homes and placing them in foster care with non-Indian families.

Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department's Office of Indian Affairs, told The Associated Press that the agency has created a committee to plan the summit, the date of which has not yet been set.

"We hope it will open up a dialogue between tribes and federal and state agencies," Darling said.

The summit is in response to a National Public Radio series in October that said the state routinely broke the Indian Child Welfare Act and disrupted the lives of hundreds of Native American families each year. Federal law requires that Native American children removed from homes be placed with relatives or put in foster care with other Native American families except in unusual circumstances.

The three-part NPR report said 90 percent of the Native American children removed from their homes in South Dakota each year are sent to foster care in non-Indian homes or group homes. It reported that Native American children are placed in South Dakota's foster care system at a disproportionate rate because only 15 percent of the state's child population is Native American, but half of the children in foster care are Native American.

State officials have criticized the NPR report as inaccurate, unfair and biased.

Kim Malsam-Rysdon, secretary of the state Department of Social Services, said the Interior Department has not notified state officials about the planned summit, but that the state has nothing to hide.

"We are very confident that South Dakota is in compliance with federal law in this area, and we really do welcome the opportunity for the federal government and others to understand just how that federal law is being implemented in our state," Malsam-Rysdon said.

The summit suggestion surfaced in a letter to members of Congress who had called for an investigation. The meeting is meant to give state, federal and tribal officials a way to work together so that all involved agencies comply with the law and make sure American Indian children and their families are protected, wrote Larry Echo Hawk, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian Affairs.

The Interior Department also is considering sending lawyers to South Dakota to help tribes enforce the Indian Child Welfare Act, Echo Hawk wrote.

Malsam-Rysdon, whose agency oversees South Dakota's child welfare system, said people need to understand that the system involves her department, tribes, courts, law-enforcement officers and others. Federal officials should not take any action based on the NPR report, but instead should get the facts about what is happening in South Dakota, she said.

"We're glad the Department of Interior is taking it seriously, that they're evidently interested into looking into and ensuring the federal law is being implemented," she said.

Malsam-Rysdon said it's true that a disproportionate number of Native American children are involved in the child welfare system. The state receives more referrals for alleged abuse and neglect involving Native American children, and that leads to more investigations and removals from homes for those children, she said.

"What really permeates our involvement with the child welfare system is safety of the child," Malsam-Rysdon said. "We're involved in homes where there are proven or foreseeable safety concerns regarding a child."

In a written response to the NPR series, the state has said it uses all available Native American foster placement homes.

The series said the state's motive for removing Native American children from their homes might be financial because the state gets federal financial assistance for each child removed from his or her home. The report said the state gets almost $100 million a year to subsidize foster care programs, but state officials said the budget for the entire Division of Child Protection Services last year was only $59 million, and spending specifically on foster care and foster-care support was just $8 million.

The series also said there was a conflict of interest in Gov. Dennis Daugaard's work for Children's Home Society of South Dakota when he was lieutenant governor. That organization received millions of dollars for housing Native American children under contracts the state awarded without competitive bids.

The governor's office responded that Children's Home Society has had contracts with the state since 1978, long before Daugaard became its chief operating officer in 2002.

State officials also have said the Department of Social Services cannot remove children from homes and place them in protective custody. Only law officers and judges have the legal authority to do so, the state officials said.

Source http://m.siouxcityjournal.com/mobile/article_e1ed29d6-1b91-59ab-bfe6-26801493047a.html

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.)

N.J. DYFS is still failing to help troubled families under their supervision, report says

TRENTON — New Jersey’s child welfare system has improved five years into an intense and expensive overhaul, but caseloads are rising again and workers still need to do a better job helping troubled families under their supervision, a report released yesterday concludes.

The Division of Youth and Family Services was praised for providing extensive training to its workforce, licensing a plentiful supply of foster homes and providing timely medical care for abused and neglected children, according to the 10th report issued by Judith Meltzer of the Center for the Study of Social Policy.

But it also noted the caseloads of workers who investigate claims of abuse and neglect have been rising for the past 18 months. Controlling skyrocketing caseloads was one of the most critical changes made in the earliest stages of the reform plan.

The monitoring agency, which is in charge of evaluating a continuing series of court-ordered improvements at DYFS, also cited the need to improved the quality of its investigations.

"We are seeing slow, but steady progress," said Kristen Weber, a senior associate for CSSP.

Meltzer, in the 202-page report, also commended the state for finding mental health treatment facilities in New Jersey for all but a record-low nine children. It said the Department of Children and Families, DYFS’ parent agency, met 24 court-ordered objectives and missed 25 others.

Allison Blake, Children and Families commissioner since 2010, said the report was "fair" and was pleased her department sees "significant progress everyday" in the welfare of the children.

The mixed review comes as the DYFS is fends off public criticism that it had failed to detect trouble in the home of Tierra Morgan-Glover, the 2-year-old Ocean County girl allegedly killed by her father last month.

Over the past year, DYFS investigated Morgan and Tierra’s mother, Imani Benton, on four separate occasions, the last one as late as Nov. 10 — less than two weeks before Tierra’s body, still strapped in her car seat, was found in a stream in Shark River Park in Wall. At issue is whether DYFS took into account Benton’s claims that she was a victim of domestic abuse and whether that put the toddler in danger.

The findings announced yesterday were from 2011 data collected through June. Earlier this month, Blake said her agency will review some guidelines when dealings with claims of abuse, in the wake of Morgan-Glover’s death. She said yesterday the results of that review may be announced in the next few weeks.

Children’s Rights, a national advocacy group whose lawsuit prompted a $1 billion overhaul of New Jersey’s child-welfare system in 2003, offered tempered praise.

"Some reforms simply are not happening quickly enough," said Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director for Children’s Rights. "The state must redouble its efforts to ensure that vulnerable kids receive the best attention and services possible."

The state was praised by the group for recruiting more than twice the number of foster homes needed to serve the 7,200 children removed from their parents. But it criticized the state for failing to assess how safe children were in their homes before closing a case, noting that only 25 percent of families were adequately assessed for safety and 35 percent were adequately assessed for risk of harm. "This performance falls far short of the state’s 98 percent goal,’’ according to Lowry.

While underscoring the importance of thorough investigations amid reports like Morgan-Glover’s death, Chesler said he was pleased with the continued work of DCF and Children’s Rights.

"It’s good to see a cooperative effort to achieve a common goal," Chesler said. "It’s a far cry from many years ago."

Turning to Blake, Chesler added: "Keep plugging away."

By Susan K. Livio and Bob Considine/Star-Ledger Staff

Source http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/dyfs_is_still_failing_to_help.html

Local Mom Files Claim Against County Child Welfare - California

Joanna Swartwood Says Her Children Were Abused At Shelley's Home Day Care

SAN DIEGO -- A local mother says her children were abused at a day care and claims the county's Child Welfare Services did not properly do their jobs.

In April, Joanna Swartwood, who works full-time, started taking her 1-year old daughter Riley and 3-year-old son Dale to Shelley's Home Day Care in Linda Vista after she received a referral from the YMCA.

Within weeks, Swartwood said Riley came home with broken capillaries under her eye.

"At that age, they're falling all the time," said Swartwood. "I didn't think anything of it."

Soon after, Dale started crying when he was headed to day care. Weeks later, Swartwood received a phone call from the daycare.

"I got a call from the day care owner saying Riley had redness on her face," said Swartwood. She said according to the daycare owner, a trampoline accident may have caused the redness and bruising.

But when Swartwood took Riley to a doctor, she was told someone had likely squeezed Riley's face.

"I broke into tears… couldn't believe it," she said. "That's your worst fear."

Letters show the doctor believed Swartwood and reported the day care to the county's Child Welfare Services.

Swartwood took Riley to an emergency room that same night. Another doctor also confirmed the abuse suspicions. The doctor's note also confirmed the parents were not suspected.

But hours later, the Swartwood family that received a late-night knock at the door. After an interview, the children were taken.

"We didn't know when we'd get our children back," said Swartwood. "They are our life. For parents, it's the worst thing that can happen besides death."

After a two-day investigation, the children were returned. A state probe into the day care recently ended with the owners losing their license.

Swartwood said her son is still coping with the effects of the ordeal, including a fear of strangers and separation anxiety. Swartwood has filed a claim against the day care and the county.

"They should have contacted the doctor and day care before taking any of the children away from their parents," said Spencer Busby, Swartwood's attorney. "They should have done their homework before doing something so drastic."

Swartwood added, "Here is the agency that's supposed to be protecting children and instead, they are traumatizing them."

Child Welfare Services declined to comment, saying they do not comment on specific cases.

The Swartwood family said they were told by prosecutors there is not enough evidence to file criminal charges. The day care provider declined an interview and has denied any wrongdoing.

Source http://www.10news.com/news/29991441/detail.html