Lawmakers accuse CPS officials of ruthless behavior Imagine that

WASHINGTON -

In August, the Free the Children Coalition
is planning a national rally in D.C. to expose what it says is judicial
fraud in the family court system and the violation of families’ rights
by child protective agencies nationwide.

Among the worst examples coalition leaders cite are these:

- California: Shirley Moore, national director of legislative affairs for the American Family Rights Association, says many Los Angeles
judges who rule on family court cases also sit on the boards of phony
nonprofit organizations created to generate state adoption/foster care
grants via federal funding. California’s 2003 Little Hoover Commission Report said up to 70 percent of children in foster care should never have been removed from their homes.

- Georgia:
State Sen. Nancy Schaefer is calling for an independent audit of her
state’s Department of Family and Children Services: “I have witnessed
ruthless behavior from many caseworkers, social workers, investigators,
lawyers, judges, therapists and others such as those who ‘pick up’ the
children. I have been stunned by what I have seen and heard from
victims all over the state of Georgia.”

- Illinois: A 2006 series in the Belleville News Democrat
found that 53 children in foster care died between 1998 and 2005 after
state child-welfare workers committed serious errors and ignored their
own rules.

- Michigan: Robert and Janet Coleman’s
two daughters, ages 6 and 2, were carried crying and screaming from a
hotel room by police officers and social workers while the family was
on vacation, based on what their parents say were false allegations by
people they knew and tried to help. The Colemans posted evidence of
what they describe as CPS officials “making it up as they go along” on YouTube.

- Missouri: Sonja De Vivo told The Examiner that her parental rights were terminated in 1999 after St. Louis
social workers forced her to undergo months of psychological testing
while her then 3-year-old daughter languished in foster care.

Missouri
CPS officials then used the forced separation as justification to move
the girl into adoption, claiming the mother-child bond had been
severed. The girl, now 14, lives with her single adoptive father and
his three teenage sons — not her own mother, who has never been charged
with either abuse or neglect.
- Wisconsin: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled this month that a social worker violated the constitutional
rights of two young children when she strip-searched them in 2004 at
their private Christian school based on her suspicions that they had
been spanked by their parents. The search yielded no signs of injury to
either child.