Anita, please hotlink this and tell me how it's done!

http://members.aa.net/~nw-fact/captahx.html

Thanks!

-- Pig (don't@think.so), May 08, 2000

Answers

This is a cut and paste from the above link, but the whole thing is worth the read. -- Pig

One can charitably surmise that the framers of CAPTA considered only the most critical cases deserving of radical intervention. The resultant creation of a vast bureaucracy of children's aid agencies, supported by contradictory and poorly written laws, has instead motivated case workers to strive for outplacement at the expense of reconciliation. The amounts of direct and indirect moneys that states receive from the federal government as a result of CAPTA are substantial.

In addition to Title IV-E funds, Social Services Medicare/Medicaid funds (Title XX) are available for flexible disbursement. These two pots constitute the bulk of federal money flowing into the state child welfare coffers. The state of Oregon in 1992, by way of example, with less than 700,000 total families, receives about $80 million (direct) per biennium in federal matching funds - or approximately 40% of the total child welfare budget. Most states are much more aggressive in qualifying their programs, receiving 80% or more budget reimbursment from the federal government.

Social Service Agencies

As the burden of mandated child protection has shifted from the parent(s) to the government, a continuous redefinition of what constitutes abuse has occurred. The lines between physical abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse have been blurred, even though the causes and cures for these problems are vastly different.

Child welfare agencies over the last 20 years have re-shaped their original charter of child protection to one of punitive response. Quoting from The Oregon Child Protective Services Performance Study of 1992, "Part of the reason for this change is the increasing disparity between what counts as abuse or neglect from a legal and [mental health] professional point of view and what is imagined by the public when the words "abuse and neglect" are used. The former is a far broader concept than the latter, and in fact the majority of abuse and neglect complaints do not involve any assault, either physical or sexual, upon the child, which is the public's image of abuse. Indeed, most reports do not involve even an incident which the agency can verify occurred at all."

From the agency's point of view, however, these changes are sensible, since they contribute to sustained department funding and continuance of existing programs, and provide for increased power, responsibility, and job security. The ultimate well being of the family unit in general or child in particular is usually not of concern.

There remains a significant problem with the redistribution of responsibility from the parent to the government. It requires only an anonymous phone call to start an investigation, in which the first response is to remove the child. Poverty places single mothers in a predicament where they cannot refrain from acts that fall under the new definition of neglect. Case histories abound of good mothers who ran to the corner store for milk, only to have the child removed for years, often life, because of a few minutes of "abandonment." Government funding to provide services which help the indigent mother are rejected in favor of services which provide federal reimbursement.

Discipline in some states has been defined to be abusive if it includes any form of coercion, such as requiring a child to take a time-out when they don't want to. Raising one's voice over a screaming teenager to request quiet can be and has been defined as emotional abuse. Adolescents are taught that they are "violated" if a parent enters their room, even after knocking, without express permission.

Corporeal punishment has been banned in most states for the last decade, and affection in the form of a hug or squeeze from an opposite sex parent is readily defined as sexual abuse by super vigilant social workers. Children are warned to watch for affection as evidence of potential pedophilia in classrooms all around the nation. This is in spite of the famous studies completed in the 1960's that specifically linked childhood development and intelligence to physical touch and holding.

Day care workers must now tell children to hug each other since they as adults are prevented by law from providing what all previous human history had defined as proper nuture of children. Not suprisingly, social workers and psychologists have defined a new form of sexual abuse among children, and are seeking to label even pre-school children as sexual predators.

Different cultures are also suspect as exampled in Washington, where two pre-school children were removed from their Swedish parents when the weekly family saunas were uncovered in a "good touch - bad touch" training session at the children's pre-school. The children were unaware of their peril in responding affirmatively to the question "Has anybody seen their parents without clothing?" In this case the children were severely traumatized by the mandated immediate removal and multi-week separation from their parents. Ultimately the family fled back to their native Sweden to prevent further repercussions.

Children are becoming increasingly aware of their power over parents; they learn from peers and schools just exactly what they do and don't have to do. In many states, Florida, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon being key examples, children cannot be required by their parents to do anything, from washing dishes to going to school.

Testimony offered before the 1993 session of the Oregon legislature documented a sharply increasing number of cases where teenagers made false reports on their parents, simply because they were angry about a parental restriction. In every case known to the author, the teenagers were removed from their families, sometimes permanently, and to their great sorrow. It is not possible to reference by name or case the families affected, due to the potential for repercussions against them by the Children Services Division.

Noted child psychiatrist Dr. Richard Gardener of Columbia University addressed this problem of punitive agency response in several national articles. He notes that proper training of case workers to administer their increased responsibility (and vastly superior enforcement advantage) in governmental family control is almost criminally lacking.

Many states require case workers only to have a high school education which is supplemented with a two week course in completing forms. This may explain why two of the compelling indicators of pedophilia the state of Washington Child Protective Services applied to the father of four year old Alica Wade was that he was in the Navy and he was overweight. This in spite of the fact that the police actually apprehended and prosecuted the prowler who did molest Alicia in her bedroom. It took 4 and 1/2 years and a federal court order before the Wades were allowed to see their daughter again.

-- Pig (don't@think.so), May 08, 2000.

Further into the same article is this statistic -- (I told Hawk the number was 75%, but I was wrong)...90% FALSE accusation rate. -- Pig

An argument in favor the current system would be acceptable if child protection were truly engendered. Douglas Besherov, the first director of the National Center for the Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (established as a result of CAPTA), has reported otherwise. In the late 1970's the center stated that the ratio of false reports (of child abuse or neglect) to true was about 50%. By the mid 1980's the probability of correct reporting had declined to 1 out of 3, and by the 1990's Mr. Besherov has stated that there are approximately 9 false reports for every true one.

-- Pig (don't@think.so), May 08, 2000.

It's no wonder that society is going to hell in a handbag when the basic comforts of human touch are being banned from our daily experiences! I wish the government would stop trying to save us from ourselves. Jeez.....(muttering under my breath, shaking my head in disgust and bewilderment)

-- LunaC (LunaC@LunaC.com), May 08, 2000.

Pig:

Happy to link your article from/directed towards the members of aa.net.

Members of aa.net article

If I may comment on this article, the concentration is on the State of Oregon and extends to the U.S. as a whole. HOWEVER, what I've seen in this article [as well as on the news in court cases, as well as in a few discussions with other parents] is a change of attitude wherein the kid's claim is honored where it never was before. This is NOT to be confused with your original premise, Pig, wherein you stated that ANY anonymous caller could make a claim and have the Department of Family Services on one's back for NO reason.

If I may, I'll relate a few things regarding a personal conversation I had with my SO's sister-in-law. First off, SO's brother has a kid who shoplifts. They know this about her. One of my own daughters knows this about her, as she was present when the girl showed her a book from a bookstore hidden beneath her jacket on a group shopping trip. The girl has been taken into custody once or twice over shop- lifting, but for the most she gets away with it.

This shoplifter has a girlfriend. I met her once myself, as my daughter hung with SO's niece and this girl on two separate occasions. My daughter chose not to associate with EITHER of these girls after those two occasions. She simply said, "They lie and they steal." I discussed this with SO's sister-in-law, and she said that she'd talked to the mother of the other girl and they both felt defenseless. The OTHER girl stated quite clearly to her mother, "If you say anything about ME, I'll claim child-abuse." Since I haven't seen SO's sister-in-law do anything about HER daughter's shop- lifting, I must assume she has the same fear.

I'll grant you the statistics mentioned in this "for members of" article, Pig, but WHY weren't these parents proactive in their childrens' lives before it got to this point?

My daughters were caught shoplifting on their first attempt [accompanied by two neighborhood girls.] I'm guilty of cloning bumbling fools who were as inept at shoplifting as I, myself, at their age. *I* was so scared that I didn't even LOOK at what I was stealing until I was safely out of the store. It was a St. Patrick's day pin. The one *I* stole said, "St. Christopher pray for us." I threw it down and ran like hell. My daughters and their friends tried to steal makeup. When I got the call, I said, "Keep them for a few hours."

Once they were home, we all sat down at the kitchen table and discussed what they'd done. The mother of the two other girls picked up her kids immediately and stated that MY kids were a bad influence. I accused the other girls of nothing. MY girls did it. They lost my trust. They lost my respect. It took them YEARS to gain my trust and respect again, even though I understood that the early teen years are a time when these things are tested.

My POINT, Pig, is that there's SOMETHING wrong in a home wherein a child feels he can get an advantage on a parent by claiming child- abuse.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), May 08, 2000.

Anita:

I do enjoy your personal experiences, at age 14 my now 21 yr old was caught shoplifting at grocery store, seems he stole candy to 'sell' it at school.

When the store called I said "take him to the detention center" I was told if I did not come to the store and pick him up, they would come get me??????????????? No kidding....

I was soooo angry when I got there I had to go up a huge flight of steps to the security room. I walked him down the stairs.... I will say this, THAT WALK was an experience he STILL remembers to this very day.

Needless to say, he never did that again.

My 16 yr old played the 'I'll call 696-kids " number on me also.

To wit I replied, "Go ahead, I'm still kicking your a$$ but, I'll bond out of jail, you will be in a foster home, here's the phone"

I havent heard that again. Back in 'the day' we could do that.

Today, my sons respect me. I do not believe in the time out crap, I remember when the gov. stayed out of family lives. Now, I dont advocate serious abuse, but a good hand out at times helps.

I recently attended a city meeting here where i met the clerk of Cleveland Courts, he told me "You know what, the problem is that parents believe they can no longer discipline their children. That is bs, they can, most chose not to for fear".

I believe that wholeheartedly. I stand on what I say. I see the condition of our schools, I should say Zoo's. Anyone here been to their childs school lately? Here we have security guards. Why?

No corporal punishment. Hey I still remember the Asst. Principal Ms. Bowles, she gave me the SWAT to end all swats, after that I begged her to suspend me!!!!!!!!

Why is it that this is no longer acceptable? Because of law-suits.

As for contacting CPS and them 'immediately' getting involved in a parents life, it didnt work that way for me. Since 1992, I had called california to get help for my sister. NOTHING was ever done till she was arrested and my niece had no-where to go but foster home.

Here is the kicker------THEY had ALL my information, phone number, address, etc....did you think they called me? NO. It took along time to get her out of the home.

She hoarded food when she got here (she had been deprived by the foster mom) she hoarded toys, food, and I even found a bottle of shampoo under her pillow.

Nobody is minding the store, someone suggested 'get the media involved" on another thread, yeah RIGHT.... I was threatened to have my niece removed and placed back into foster home if i 'challenged' CPS in anyway, shape or form.

I wouldnt wish ''them'' on my very ''worst'' enemy.

And there are THOSE who need help and are NOT getting it. Very sad indeed.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), May 08, 2000.

Anita, paragraph six in what I copied above supports my contention that ANYONE can make a child abuse allegation. There are ads on television with toll-free numbers to report child abuse. If you follow the links I provide, you'll see this again and again in every state. Even though the specific anecdotes came from cases in Oregon, the CAPTA laws are federal and apply in every state.

From paragraph six above: " It requires only an anonymous phone call to start an investigation, in which the first response is to remove the child. "

Consumer, one of the reasons CPS didn't call you when they finally removed your niece is because they want total control over the child, and families tend to get in the way of decision-making. And you were threatened, right? That's what they do to keep parents in line as well.

Many of the supposedly confirmed cases of child abuse are actually cases where a frightened parent "stipulates" -- admits to abuse or neglect -- in order to have the child returned. The child remains a ward of the state and is still generating federal funding. The parents continue to be harrassed and threatened and forced into whatever "treatment plan" their undereducated and underqualified social worker feels like signing them up for. There is no agency oversight. There is no place to register a complaint. Once a parent stipulates, that parent is a child abuser on paper for the rest of his life.

If the number of false accusations is running from a low estimate of 50% to a high estimate of 90% -- and if a fair percentage of the remaining cases considered to be confirmed are actually the result of stipulation, the number of actual abuse cases is no where near what CPS says it is.

-- Pig (don't@think.so), May 08, 2000.

Pig:

"Anita, paragraph six in what I copied above supports my contention that ANYONE can make a child abuse allegation."

I understand this. I've even seen the ads. If I heard wacking and wailing coming from a neighbor's house and spotted a kid black and blue all over the next day, I'd use the number they give to report this. The days are gone when neighbors turn their backs on abuse.

Parents AND children may prefer to be in an abusive situation than under the thumb of CPS. CPS is certainly not error-free. It hasn't been in existence that long, and the job has few rewards, so doesn't attract the best of the best. Consumer's sister didn't lose control of her daughter until she was arrested, but Consumer already stated that she'd been trying to get her sister help since 1992.

I'm losing track of the topic here. Is it whether REAL abuse actually occurs, or is it the CPS? I'm moving along to the 3rd thread you started.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), May 08, 2000.

Pig:

Correct, they did threaten my sister attempted to terminate parental rights...

Btw, during all this she was given a plan to enter treatment facility, she complied, but also was pregnant at the time.

SW wanted me to 'take' infant moment it was born...I said no way!!

Got one child here now...I challenged them on 'what' grounds to take infant? No response, since I was already involved had whatever of niece, they never DEFINED my role, EVER. Guess possesion is 9/10ths of the law.? Bottom line, they did not take the baby, nowhere to place it.

This is a very serious issue, BTW, pig, did something happen to you that you are so 'into' this topic? If you already posted to this please tell me where as I am most curious.

I did alot of research just last week for a friend of mine..

www.parentalrights.com and man their were some good links there.

If I had the time to delve into the horror stories I would.

But in all reality, what good would it do? Not being a smart alec, I've just seen too much, SW and GAL and TPTB LIE their butts off. SW even used the 'you are stressing too much I'm not sure if this is a good enviorment for -----, so perhaps we should look into placing her elsewhere?

There you have it folks, from the horses mouth, outright intimidation.

Plain and simple.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), May 08, 2000.