An Im****tant Win for Fathers, Children in Nebraska Supreme Court
http://www.bloggernews.net/116039
Posted on June 4th, 2008
by Glenn Sacks in Nebraska News
Read 224 times.
We’ve often discussed anti-father bias in Child Protective Services
cases. Fathers are frequently marginalized and deprived of custody of
their children when their wives/ex-wives/ex-girlfriends abuse their
children. This terrible Nebraska case detailed below is another example.
In the case, a mother abused her daughter and child protective services
took the girl. There were no accusations of abuse against the father.
Nevertheless, they deceived and manipulated the father into
relinqui****ng custody of his daughter.
The girl was left fatherless — can anyone guess what’s going to happen
to her?
Surprise, surprise — without her father, the girl’s life, in the words
of the Nebraska Supreme Court, “spun out of control.” She lived the
life
that so many fatherless girls live — doing drugs, running away from
home, getting pregnant at a young age, etc.
Justice in these types of cases is rarely done. In this one, justice
came, but it came too late.
An im****tant finding for fathers
The Nebraska Supreme Court said the girl had been “deprived of her right
to a relation****p with her father.” One attorney noted:
“The ruling reinforces the principle that children have a right to a
relation****p with their parents, as well as parents having rights to
their children.”
In other words, the Nebraska Supreme Court has agreed with the central
argument we put forward — absent parental unfitness, children have a
right to a relation****p with both their parents.
The story is below–thanks to Les Veskrna, MD, Executive Director of the
Children’s Rights Council of Nebraska, for sending it.
Court says state erred in family meddling
BY MARTHA STODDARD
Omaha World Herald, 5/24/08
LINCOLN — A child welfare worker who wrongfully talked a Kimball, Neb.,
man into giving up his daughter for adoption must pay damages to the
girl, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The high court agreed with the Kimball County District Court that Kelly
Case, a caseworker for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human
Services, deprived the girl of her right to a relation****p with her
father without due process.
As a result, the high court said, the girl’s life “spun out of
control.”
The girl, identified only as Amanda C., began doing drugs, ran away from
her grandparents’ home, gave birth to a child out of wedlock and
struggled financially.
“The evidence shows that the relinquishment that Case wrongfully
orchestrated was a substantial factor in Amanda’s downward social
spiral,” the Supreme Court said.
The high court upheld an award of $150,000 in damages and $64,697 in
legal and other costs to Amanda.
Case was defended in the matter by the Attorney General’s Office and an
HHS attorney. The state likely will pay the award.
The ruling reinforces the principle that children have a right to a
relation****p with their parents, as well as parents having rights to
their children, said Monte Neilan of Scottsbluff, Amanda’s attorney.
He said the case would help other families who are involved with the
child welfare system, because it says state employees cannot simply take
people’s children and refuse to be accountable for their actions.
“It shows that the law has some teeth,” Neilan said. “It’s a case
that I
would anticipate would be cited for years to come”…
Amanda’s father, Gary Richmond, filed the lawsuit on her behalf in 2004.
Richmond had settled a similar case with the state worker less than a
year earlier, a lawsuit regarding his relinquishment of parental rights.
In that suit, a jury found that Case abused her authority as a state
employee by engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
Trial evidence showed that she repeatedly told Richmond he could still
visit his daughter if he willingly gave up his parental rights but that
he risked losing visitation if a court terminated his rights.
Case appealed the jury verdict but agreed to settle before the appeal
was heard. In the settlement, she agreed to pay $130,000, including
$40,991 in damages. Neilan said the state paid the award for Case.
According to Friday’s ruling, Case was assigned to Amanda five years
after the state took her from her parents. The girl had been removed at
about age 5 because of alleged abuse by her mother.
There were no allegations against her father. Yet three years later, the
Kimball County attorney filed a petition to terminate Richmond’s
parental rights. Richmond signed the relinquishment papers in 1998. He
filed his suit in 1999.
Neilan said Richmond and Amanda reconnected following the settlement in
Richmond’s case and were able to spend time together. He also said
Amanda has straightened her life around and has a steady job and a car.
But she lost her father for good last year. Richmond, who suffered from
heart problems, died at age 62 in October.
Glenn Sacks, www.GlennSacks.com
An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and
the Child Protection "INDUSTRY"
Child Protective Services Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of CPS.
every parent should read the free handbook from
connecticut dcf watch...
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 Wa****ngton. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59
***ual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13
Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12
Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological 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 ***ual 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.
THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST
Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally
guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other
agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central
intelligence agency wiretaping programs…
THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia
http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/articles.php?filter=6
This is Child Protection?
By Gregory A. Hession, J.D.
http://www.jbs.org/node/4632
Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-callahan16oct16,0,5019944.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILURE:. A Brief Analysis of the Casey
Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler
http://www.nccpr.org/re****ts/cfpanalysis.doc
HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN
http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html
Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families
By Nev Moore Massachusetts News
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:
30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
2% receive a college degree
50% were unemployed
Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children
not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems,
including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and
impaired social relation****ps. Some experts estimate that about 30% of
the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various
studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care
tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school
compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their
education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment
than the general population.
*Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Sup****t
80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.
The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn
of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child
psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should
just be blown up.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991
Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s
foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent
housing.
This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would
have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in
the first place.
Front-page story in USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-foster-study_N.htm?csp=34#Close
Read the studies online.
Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Care: Findings from the
Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study,"
www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm
MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects
of Foster Care,"
www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf
Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" re****ts:
www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren
The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system
for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than
walking wreckage...
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY
GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER
AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS....
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLI****NG 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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