Saturday, February 6, 2010

Pam Roach Resets The Stage On Discussion

If you are new to the discussion on CPS please note that you are reading comments on a narrow subject area of a larger discussion. I realize there are terrible situations for children.... We need to do MORE to help them. One child a month dies under the watchful eyes of CPS. That means there is a death hole out there, in our own country, and government has failed to help.
Currently, this blog series is on the other end of the spectrum; taking children from families when they should not be taken.

This blog acknowledges the truth as it comes to us with the government's own statistics, with documented press reports, and my own personal interviews and research. In this discussion I, in no way, have berated the hundreds of foster parents doing a great service to the children of our state. I also appreciate the social workers who do a tough and great job. The problem is that not all is working well. If you disagree with me...please step forward (meaning use your name) and explain how you think everything is going so well. For now, God Bless our children and families, however humble they may be.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My daughter has not seen her 4 year old son since Nov. 30th due to false accusation being made by the father. The local police department has cleared her of any and all wronging over 2 weeks ago… yet the father refuses to let my daughter see her son claiming that there is a “safety plan” in affect yet no one from CPS has contacted my daughter regarding this matter. What does DSHS consider a "timely manner" for notification? My daughter's lawyer has not been able to get the information from my grandson's father attorney. All I know is that it has been over 2 months since my daughter has seen her son and even though we went to court and got a revised parenting plan my grandson's father or his lawyer didn't bother to show up or even at the very least submit a copy of this so called “safety plan”. Now they are claiming they have a safety plan but aren't producing. Last week they did provide the social workers name and when my daughters lawyer call this social worker who was out of the office on JURY DUTY! I guess all her cases are just put on hold until whenever. My daughter has not seen her son since Nov. 30!!! So I contacted CPS and asked what they considered “timely manner” for notification. They did not provide with an answer but did give me social workers supervisor name and phone number. When I tried to contract that person I got a message that she was also out of the office… so while CPS is out of the office… my daughter doesn’t get to see her son. What about my daughter’s rights? What about my grandson’s rights? This is just so unfair!

Rinkevichjm said...

OK from a grand jury (San Diego County, CA) 30-70% of the children in foster care shouldn't have been placed into care.

From the NCCPR, only 3% involve physical abuse, 4% involve sexual abuse, the rest are NEGLECT, with most of them being marginal at best.

MIT Sloan Economics Professor Doyle has done at least two studies on marginal placements indicating that they should probably not be done. (See http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/research.html) The University of Minnesota has confirmed the first study see abstract http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=A33D0C6A4AD3574EEE47EDBBFDEECA83.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=405269).

Anonymous said...

Senator,
Not being willing to change anything on the homestudy is common practice. I went before the court and the district manager to no avail and I had SEVEN PAGES OF REFUTED ITEMS that they wouldn't even look at. There were so many lies and twisted pieces of information that it looked more like fiction. It is not just the department; It is the judiciary who is supporting these practices. If the judge won't even look at the materials and rules against you, there is a serious, serious problem. This is why I say that we must start with the judiciary who created the laws and judicial rules that we are now fighting. We must go to the source of the issue, not just the byproduct of the waste they heaped upon us.
They were willing to change one thing. I complained that they did not put positive things in about my family that was shared and they said they would. (doubt they did that though)What kind of things were shared that they eliminated? Let's see, that I come from a line of genius, my grandfather is responsible for the strains of apples we now eat, my mother was a straight A student who built the foundation of housing programs we now refer people to, my brother scored the second highest score in the naval entrance exam, my sister was genius IQ, and that civil rights was a part of regular dinner time discussion and my mother and stepfather were activists. Think anyone should have read between the lines are those items? Had they of considered all of the above, they might not have lied about me because now, all of the history of these generations, the blood of which flows through my veins are now used to change this system and I will not quit until I do.
Jan Smith

strawberryblonde said...

OLYMPIA, Wash.-- A last-minute vote in the state House has saved a bill some lawmakers believe will save the lives of children and the elderly.

Most legislators thought the bill, which would break apart the state Department of Social and Health Services, didn't stand a chance. And if it hadn't been passed out of a House committee by the end of Friday, it would've been, more or less, dead for the legislative session.

But on Friday afternoon, the House Appropriations Committee passed the bill with a 9-to-6 vote, sending a message to DSHS that time has come for change.

Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, used the findings of a KOMO News investigation to bolster his argument that the department too big to effectively protect vulnerable citizens.

The investigation showed that since 2002, 116 kids - an average of more than one child every month - has died of abuse or neglect while under the state's watch.

It also found that the DSHS Children's Administration tried but failed to get national accreditation. learned two other national reviews showed abuse and neglect on the rise in Washington state with 36 other states doing a better job keeping kid's safe.

Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, co-sponsored the bill.

"I wanted to send a very clear message that DSHS is not working. We have people who are dying. There are children who are dying, they're not doing their jobs," she said.

Both the current secretary of DSHS Susan Dreyfus and Gov. Chris Gregoire's staff members testified against this bill, claiming desegregating the agency would lead to additional problems.

For Armstrong, Friday's passage of the bill, which wasn't expect to make out of committee, was a victory in itself. Now he'll have a chance to lobby the full House membership.

Lovingfitfather said...

RINKEVICHJM this seems to be CPS's mod de emploi insinuate neglect by poverty.
The actuality of Child Protection Services is that ninety five children out of every one hundred in state custody have neither been abused or neglected with only five actually suffering some degree of neglect or abuse.
Please cut, paste and read this telling document by a former New York Social Services employee.

http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHMZ_enUS315US315&aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=CHILDREN+AS+CHATTEL

Anonymous said...

I want to make it perfectly clear in my past statement where I stated that counties are running the state, to amend that statement by saying that "state social workers' CASA, and judges, within the counties, are running the leaders of the Capital of Washington State. They laugh about it, read books in court, do not need to enter evidence to take a child, can coerce, threaten, and make up whatever lies needed to take a child, (behind closed and locked doors), they desire to take. No laws need be followed, i.e., puffing which means: puffing involves expressing opinions, not asserting someting as a fact. With that said, the entire system is puffing to get what they want. These children make a lot of money for the state which is why I can see why the governor going against the bills in that "money" is the issue, not family. We need vote her out along with the people who are doing the puffing. Time means nothing to these people when a mother need see her child. In my order it is stated that I put myself above the sibling visits, when in fact, the CASA kept a restraining order on us. Do you think I would allow a bad social worker to take my child, alone, for a visit with the risk that she could be taken by way of an ice cream cone? Would any of you allow it, if this were your children? I have experienced this trickery and heard it from many other parents and grandparents. We must change our leaders who are not leading.