Nationwide Protest Against Child Protective Services Planned For Next
Month Posted 2007-07-14
Local Mother Planning To Attend
http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.php?AID=11202&CHID=1
By David Reynolds
HARRISONBURG — When Candice Marie Raynor died suddenly after running
away from a foster home in Richmond last fall, her mother Lynn, gave up
one battle and began another.
Since May 2005, Lynn Raynor had struggled to regain custody of her
15-year-old daughter and to get her off the psychoactive medication that
she says state doctors gave Candice.
The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Department of Social Services won’t say why
they took Candice from her mother, citing confidentiality laws, but
Raynor says the removal came after she lost housing.
On Sept. 30, Raynor’s hope of getting Candice back was lost forever when
the former Thomas Harrison Middle School student’s body was found at a
power substation in Richmond. She’d been electrocuted. The state medical
examiner’s office has ruled her death an accident.
But Raynor says she hasn’t given up her fight against the agency she
blames for destroying her family. Next month, she will take her
grievances to Washington, D.C., at a rally next month on The Mall
protesting child-protective service agencies across the nation.
According to rally organizers, the primary grievance is against federal
funding of foster care, which they say provides an incentive to remove
children from the home.
"I hope people will actually be able to get the government to stop and
look at what’s going on," Raynor said. "If social services didn’t get
the federal funding they wouldn’t have the money to take the kids."
***** Randel and Gene Vaught, founders of Children in Peril, a support
group for families in custody disputes with the local social services,
also plan to attend.
"Parents are heard but not listened to," Randel said, citing the need
for the rally. "We plan to notify everyone within our little group
[about the rally] to get this done."
The Rally
DCRally 2007, scheduled for Aug. 18, is a nationwide protest against
foster care’s funding process, which organizers say leads social service
agencies to remove children from their parents unnecessarily.
Ronald Smith of Grand Rapids, Mich., founder of the nonprofit group
Children Need Both Parents, organized the rally.
Smith says that federal funding, which supports children in the foster
care system, has turned child protective services into a business.
"It’s more profitable to keep children in the system than to reunite
them with their families," he said. "It doesn’t make sense to pay
strangers when the same money that they’re using for foster care could
be used to repair families."
Another concern, Smith says, is that many state agencies prescribe
psychoactive medication to the children in their custody.
Earlier this year, Smith’s 20-year-old son Richmond died from liver
cancer. Smith blames the death on Ritalin, a prescription drug
prescribed to treat ADHD.
Smith, who had custody disputes with Richmond’s mother, says he hasn’t
been allowed to see medical records pertaining to his son’s death.
Local Concerns
Randel and Raynor both say that Smith’s complaints about social service
agencies are relevant in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.
Raynor says social services medicated Candice without her consent, and
that she’d filed a federal lawsuit to stop the drugs before her
daughter’s death. Raynor says that after Candice died, the lawsuit
changed but is still pending in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg.
Randel, who says he has worked with 75 families since forming Children
in Peril in 2005, also has other concerns.
DSS sends children with serious drug or alcohol problems for treatment
in Charlottesville, Richmond, or Roanoke, further separating them from
their parents, he said.
Also, Randel says, removal hearings are held in closed courtrooms where
parents have little say.
"For the parents, it’s always you’re guilty, and then you have to prove
your innocence," Randel said. "We want the system to really fully
explain the time and date and what the charges are… They don’t do that."
Some Common Ground
Don Driver, director of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Department of Social
Services, said he wasn’t aware of DCRally, but that he’s interested in
working with concerned parents.
The agency, he says, tries to strike a balance between protecting
children and helping families solve problems.
Taking children from their parents is a last resort, Driver says, and
after taking children, the agency works with parents so children can
return home.
Driver would not answer questions about specific cases because that
would violate privacy rules, he said.
But as for federal funding, he says the money is to serve children in
state custody.
"Foster parents don’t get paid at a rate that is a money-making thing,"
Driver said. "They do it from their heart, but they still need to be
funded for the cost."
He also said he would like more children to receive drug treatment in
local programs, but services for seriously addicted children aren’t
available in Harrisonburg.
Driver also said that social service agencies in Virginia are working
toward improving relations with parents and solving problems without
putting kids in foster homes.
This summer, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham agency is adding two new
positions devoted to keeping families together.
"There’s a lot of common desires and directions," Driver said when told
of the rally organizer’s concerns. "I would like to see us have a
greater capacity to help families resolve problems."
For more information on the DCRally, scheduled for Aug. 18, log on to
www.dcrally2007.com
Contact David Reynolds at 574-6278 or
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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