Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
CPS ignored clear warnings & left to kids in danger now 2 kids are dead
Two Tyler children have died in less than a month, and court records reveal that both families were subjects of Child Protective Services investigations detailing neglect - and in one case a threat to kill the child.
Court records obtained by the Tyler Morning Telegraph Thursday indicate the Texas Department of Family Health CPS case workers were aware of threats made by Catherine Stevens toward her son, William, and also had documented abuse at the home of Jose Luis Aguilar
William Stevens
Mrs. Stevens remains in the Smith County Jail on a $1 million bond for allegedly strangling 2-year-old William to death earlier this month.
THREATS AND MENTAL ILLNESS
A court document filed by a Tyler CPS investigator in May 2006 said the agency went to investigate allegations of abuse of William at the hands of Mrs. Stevens.
When the investigator arrived at the home on Memory Lane in Tyler, she discovered Mrs. Stevens was in the Rusk State Hospital for treatment for "depression with psychosis."
According to the document, "The report alleges that Mrs. Stevens was scheduled for release on May 19, 2006, but she made threats that if she was to return home, William would drown, suffocate or something else. The report states that Mr. Stevens has visited the hospital trying to get his wife released, because he doesn't want to take care of the baby himself."
CPS officials said the report was not substantiated.
"The comments reported came from an anonymous tip and could not be confirmed," Shari Pulliam, CPS public information officer, told the newspaper in an interview Thursday night.
The document further stated that the case worker was verbally abused by Mickey Stevens, the child's father, who told the investigator he worked for the agency until 1997 and was familiar with CPS procedures and would not be bullied.
Mickey Steves
"Throughout my contacts with Mr. Stevens, I observed him shaking. It appeared as if he was shaking from anger and had difficulty controlling his impulses due to his passive aggressive behavior ordering me out of the home, then allowing me to return," the document states.
Stevens remains in the Smith County Jail after allegedly assaulting a public servant in the district attorney's office earlier this week.
When asked to enter into a Safety Plan with the agency concerning his child's safety, Stevens replied, "I am the father, I will make sure he is safe. There is your safety plan."
However, the documents filed in the 321st District Court in 2006 included a petition to the court in aid of investigation. The request from CPS stated the agency was afraid William would be removed from the state before the conclusion of any investigation.
But the investigation was suddenly halted.
Ms. Pulliam said mental health professionals later told CPS that Mrs. Stevens was not a danger to herself or her child and the investigation was concluded.
Catherine Stevens
"We had no further contact with the family and the case was closed 14 months ago because there was family support both inside and outside of the home," she said. "At the case closure the mother was not to have unsupervised contact with the child."
William was found dead, with Mrs. Stevens hovering over his body earlier this month. She told authorities she strangled her son.
BROKEN PACT WITH CPS
A fatal car crash on West Gentry Parkway the night of July 20 claimed the life of Jose Aguilar and sent his step-father to jail only hours after a CPS investigator visited the family's home.
CPS and court records indicate that the agency had been dealing with Jaime Patrescio and Bobbie Aguilar, Jose's mother, for several years and the couple had entered into a safety plan with the agency to keep the children from being put into foster care.
Jamie Oscar Patrescio
The reports of abuse and neglect stated that Jose was found wandering blocks away from his home in March of this year and that the children had been placed with family members with the parents having no unsupervised visitation and no visits if the parents were under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The documents also state Tyler Police officers found Jose blocks away from his home in 2006 and that a CPS investigator heard Ms. Aguilar slap the child. The investigator also learned the family was going between the homes of family members and a local motel.
In November 2006 CPS received unconfirmed reports that Ms. Aguilar was abusing methamphetamines.
Documents dating back to 2004 indicate the agency investigated claims of Bobbie Aguilar shaking the baby and injuring him, but the report was ruled out.
Ms. Pulliam said Aguilar's parents broke the pact with her agency which resulted in Jose's death.
She added that the family was active in many of the agency's services and were being supervised with daily visits.
"The family was seen that day and a removal was not initiated in this case due to the many immediate and extensive family members who were willing to provide supervision and care to this child," she said.
But Patrescio allegedly put Jose in the front seat of his vehicle and then ran a stop sign and was struck by another vehicle.
"Anytime a child dies it is tragic, and I can see where the community would be outraged at these two deaths, but we rely on the family being truthful and the community calling us when they see anything that indicates abuse," Ms. Pulliam said. "We need new safeguards."
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN
Concern and thoughts of how to better protect children spurred State District Judge Carole Clark to hold a meeting Thursday to address the inadequacies of the system.
"When I read the two reports on these children I was very concerned and thought, what can I do and what can our community do to better protect our children?" she said.
Her answer was to call a meeting with representatives from the district attorney's office, judges, attorneys, CPS investigators and other agencies to find a solution.
"We needed to get everyone together to learn what we could do to help this problem and we came up with one solution," she said.
Ms. Pulliam agreed new policies are needed and that the stress of the job often takes a toll on caseworkers leaving the agency with a shortage of investigators.
"Removing children from the home is always a last resort," she said. "The law requires that CPS has made reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need to remove the child from the home."
The results of Thursday's meeting brought the court into a new role when dealing with CPS cases. She said a more open line of communication between all involved agencies is needed.
New procedures were enacted to safeguard children who are 3 years old and younger and whose parents are drug addicts.
"There will now be court ordered protection where the children will be immediately housed with family members or in the worst cases placed into a foster care situation if there is no safe family member," Judge Clark said.
The judge said dealing with parents suffering from mental illnesses was a more complex issue that needed additional study before the problem could be solved.
"Mental health issues are a lot more complicated and we are trying to put our heads together to come up with ideas. We just do not have the mental health resources that we need at our disposal," she said.
Judge Clark was pleased with the meeting Thursday and said she felt confident children would be the beneficiaries of collaboration.
"Will we protect 100 percent of the children? No, because things will happen, but at least we can build-in all the safeguards we can put in place," she said.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
please help end the corrupt way child protective services operates
To all Gods children that he took back home to stop their suffering,
We have failed you.
When the people that are suppose to shield you from pain is the one causing your suffering,
We have failed you.
When you are cold, hungry and in pain and the government knows and does nothing.
We have failed you.
When we see your bruises, we cover our eyes, when we hear your cry, we cover our ears, when we should tell of your pain, we cover our mouths.
We have failed you.
The angels have flown back home, because we have failed them.
You have your wings angels. Ours are broken.
Copy this code to your website to display this banner!
I am a Chicago mom of two that after the tragic C.P.S. failing of 13 yr old Shavon Miles I stood up & demanded change within a system gone bad children keep dying & they continue to keep their jobs while families remain destroyed children ripped from loving homes for the almighty dollar yet because they are so over burdened children really abused are left to die CPS is not a form of population control children are human beings when one takes a life they are held accountable why is CPS untouchable CPS =can't protect shit.
I had a dream I was kneeling, at fifteen crosses on the hill
Not a whisper from the trees, everything was still,
I felt a sadness in my heart, an empty kind of pain,
Fifteen souls had gone away, only memories remained.
I tried to cry out to ease my grief,
Lifted my hands to heaven, prayed God's relief.
Not a sound or a word, emptiness abounds,
My sorrow overcoming, I began to drown.
Such bitter suffocation, I wish someone could hear,
Why we let this happen , in my dream nothing was clear.
I shook my fist to heaven and begged for reasons why,
But only silence spoke, offering no reply.
No sound came from my lips even as I screamed,
I prayed it's just a nightmare, an awful kind of dream.
Then I heard a choir of angels beckoning from above.
"The world is reaping hatred,"
"Because the world's not sowing love.
"
"You should embrace each other's differences no matter what they may be,"
"And enlighten each other with the hope of peace and unity.
"
When the angel finished speaking, she ended with a sigh,
Gazing down at fifteen crosses of fifteen souls who said goodbye.
Then the heavens opened up, the angels giving way,
up to the gates of heaven, Amazing grace began to play.
And as they left this Earthly realm the angels were downhearted looking
back at fifteen crosses of the recently departed.
A soft rain began falling, but no cloud was in the sky,
Then Jesus whispered to me, "This is how the angels cry.
"
State paid & protected for now that is I will never give up until my law is passed and they are held accountable please help me do that be their voice 4 children a day die what will you do ?
Online petition - Reform child protective services
We have failed you.
When the people that are suppose to shield you from pain is the one causing your suffering,
We have failed you.
When you are cold, hungry and in pain and the government knows and does nothing.
We have failed you.
When we see your bruises, we cover our eyes, when we hear your cry, we cover our ears, when we should tell of your pain, we cover our mouths.
We have failed you.
The angels have flown back home, because we have failed them.
You have your wings angels. Ours are broken.
Copy this code to your website to display this banner!
I am a Chicago mom of two that after the tragic C.P.S. failing of 13 yr old Shavon Miles I stood up & demanded change within a system gone bad children keep dying & they continue to keep their jobs while families remain destroyed children ripped from loving homes for the almighty dollar yet because they are so over burdened children really abused are left to die CPS is not a form of population control children are human beings when one takes a life they are held accountable why is CPS untouchable CPS =can't protect shit.
I had a dream I was kneeling, at fifteen crosses on the hill
Not a whisper from the trees, everything was still,
I felt a sadness in my heart, an empty kind of pain,
Fifteen souls had gone away, only memories remained.
I tried to cry out to ease my grief,
Lifted my hands to heaven, prayed God's relief.
Not a sound or a word, emptiness abounds,
My sorrow overcoming, I began to drown.
Such bitter suffocation, I wish someone could hear,
Why we let this happen , in my dream nothing was clear.
I shook my fist to heaven and begged for reasons why,
But only silence spoke, offering no reply.
No sound came from my lips even as I screamed,
I prayed it's just a nightmare, an awful kind of dream.
Then I heard a choir of angels beckoning from above.
"The world is reaping hatred,"
"Because the world's not sowing love.
"
"You should embrace each other's differences no matter what they may be,"
"And enlighten each other with the hope of peace and unity.
"
When the angel finished speaking, she ended with a sigh,
Gazing down at fifteen crosses of fifteen souls who said goodbye.
Then the heavens opened up, the angels giving way,
up to the gates of heaven, Amazing grace began to play.
And as they left this Earthly realm the angels were downhearted looking
back at fifteen crosses of the recently departed.
A soft rain began falling, but no cloud was in the sky,
Then Jesus whispered to me, "This is how the angels cry.
"
State paid & protected for now that is I will never give up until my law is passed and they are held accountable please help me do that be their voice 4 children a day die what will you do ?
Online petition - Reform child protective services
Cindy Graupmann the killer caseworker rot in hell
former CPS worker Cindy Graupmann the killer caseworker
this animal also goes under the sign-on in2hens2: on the Tuscon Citizen newspaper blog site and violated a gag order to bash & attack Jamie the mommy of Ariana & Tyler Payne also she had a sidekick Christopher Payne's sister what an animal where is her loyalty to her niece & nephew 2 innocent children her brother brutally murdered & abused for months and she defends him brother or not my brother did that I would end his miserable ass myself I cannot imagine what Jamie feels or goes through but I know she has my support 100 %and her children forever have my heart & fight for their justice and change in the very system that took their lives
this animal also goes under the sign-on in2hens2: on the Tuscon Citizen newspaper blog site and violated a gag order to bash & attack Jamie the mommy of Ariana & Tyler Payne also she had a sidekick Christopher Payne's sister what an animal where is her loyalty to her niece & nephew 2 innocent children her brother brutally murdered & abused for months and she defends him brother or not my brother did that I would end his miserable ass myself I cannot imagine what Jamie feels or goes through but I know she has my support 100 %and her children forever have my heart & fight for their justice and change in the very system that took their lives
Justice Bureau statistics on CPS
Survey Shows Dramatic Increase
in Child Abuse and Neglect, 1986-1993
Excerpts from HHS Release, September 18, 1996
Link to Full HHS Release
The Department of Health and Human Services released a survey estimating that child abuse and neglect in the United States nearly doubled during the seven years between 1986 and 1993.
According to the HHS study, the number of total child maltreatment instances that were investigated by state agencies remained constant from 1986 to 1993; however, the percentage of cases investigated declined dramatically.
"It is shameful and startling to see that so many more children are in danger and that proportionately fewer incidents are investigated," HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala said. "Now states, schools, health care professionals -- all of us -- must commit ourselves to investigating and preventing child abuse with far greater effectiveness than we have seen in the past."
The report estimated the number of abused and neglected children increased from 1.4 million in 1986, to over 2.8 million in 1993. The number of children who were seriously injured quadrupled from about 143,000 to nearly 570,000.
Schools identified the largest number of children at risk, yet state services investigated only 16 percent of these children. For the cases identified in the study, less than 50 percent of children identified as maltreated by any source (except law enforcement) were investigated by child protective services.
Shalala said, "We are giving states more flexibility, demanding more accountability and focusing on the only bottom line that matters: results."
In regard to sexual victimization, the NIS survey concluded:
Girls are sexually abused three times more often than boys;
Boys have greater risk of emotional neglect & serious injury than girls.
The NIS is funded by HHS National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect and mandated by Congress. Previous NIS studies were released in 1981 and 1988.
in Child Abuse and Neglect, 1986-1993
Excerpts from HHS Release, September 18, 1996
Link to Full HHS Release
The Department of Health and Human Services released a survey estimating that child abuse and neglect in the United States nearly doubled during the seven years between 1986 and 1993.
According to the HHS study, the number of total child maltreatment instances that were investigated by state agencies remained constant from 1986 to 1993; however, the percentage of cases investigated declined dramatically.
"It is shameful and startling to see that so many more children are in danger and that proportionately fewer incidents are investigated," HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala said. "Now states, schools, health care professionals -- all of us -- must commit ourselves to investigating and preventing child abuse with far greater effectiveness than we have seen in the past."
The report estimated the number of abused and neglected children increased from 1.4 million in 1986, to over 2.8 million in 1993. The number of children who were seriously injured quadrupled from about 143,000 to nearly 570,000.
Schools identified the largest number of children at risk, yet state services investigated only 16 percent of these children. For the cases identified in the study, less than 50 percent of children identified as maltreated by any source (except law enforcement) were investigated by child protective services.
Shalala said, "We are giving states more flexibility, demanding more accountability and focusing on the only bottom line that matters: results."
In regard to sexual victimization, the NIS survey concluded:
Girls are sexually abused three times more often than boys;
Boys have greater risk of emotional neglect & serious injury than girls.
The NIS is funded by HHS National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect and mandated by Congress. Previous NIS studies were released in 1981 and 1988.
we must all stand up for the children
To all Gods children that he took back home to stop their suffering,
We have failed you.
When the people that are suppose to shield you from pain is the one causing your suffering,
We have failed you.
When you are cold, hungry and in pain and the government knows and does nothing.
We have failed you.
When we see your bruises, we cover our eyes, when we hear your cry, we cover our ears, when we should tell of your pain, we cover our mouths.
We have failed you.
The angels have flown back home, because we have failed them.
You have your wings angels. Ours are broken.
Caseworker of Tyler & Ariana Payne violates gag order to bash mom in a blog
A
prosecutor's questions about confidential child welfare reports and a
former caseworker's comments on a Tucson Citizen blog interrupted
Christopher Mathew Payne's capital murder trial Thursday.
Former
Arizona Child Protective Services caseworker Cindy Graupmann had just
taken the stand late Thursday afternoon when Deputy County Attorney
Susan Eazer lodged an objection.
After
the jury was dismissed, Eazer told Pima County Superior Court Judge
Richard S. Fields that the defense hadn't disclosed that it had
unredacted CPS records it shouldn't have had.
Fields
told attorneys to come back earlier than usual Friday to continue
discussing the matter as well as an earlier situation involving
Graupmann and blog comments.
Graupmann
admitted to Eazer that she had made comments on the Tucson Citizen's
trial blog that disparaged Jamie Hallam, the mother of Ariana and Tyler
Payne and Payne's ex-wife.
"The
saddest part is that Jamie Hallam is responsible just as much as
Christopher Payne," Graupmann, who is unemployed, wrote March 3 under a
fictitious name.
Eazer wants to use Graupmann's comments to impeach her testimony.
"Aside
from the bias the witness brings into the courtroom, as a CPS worker,
one of the things that she blogged about contained information about a
subsequent case that clearly she learned about while still working for
CPS that was totally confidential," Eazer said.
"She
is breaking every rule known to CPS, that CPS has out there, which is
exactly what she and her supervisor did March 9," Eazer said.
Eazer
was referring to the 2006 incident in which Graupmann and her
supervisor Christy Tarpley advised police to allow Payne to keep his
children despite a signed court order giving custody to Hallam. Hallam
had complained to police in 2006 that Payne had taken the children for
a visit and refused to return them. She called police, who went to
Payne's house and then called CPS.
"I never told the officer to do that," Tarpley testified Thursday. "I told him if he had the court paper, that was the answer."
Tarpley
said she remembered talking to Officer William Nutt, who testified
previously that Tarpley told him to leave the children with Payne,
because she "laughed about his name."
Despite a CPS letter dated March 1, 2006, that cleared Hallam of an unsubstantiated.. charge, Tarpley said the case wasn't closed then.
"The button was not pushed," Tarpley said, explaining that the unit issuing the letter was "a mess" at that time.
Prosecutors
say Payne kept the children after Hallam left them for the visit
because he didn't want to pay child support. When his girlfriend, Reina
Irene Gonzales, complained of caring for them, Payne shut them in a
closet and starved them to death over a period of months in 2006.
Ariana's body was found in February 2007. Tyler's body has never been found.
Defense
attorneys say Gonzales abused and starved the children. Payne faces the
death penalty if he's convicted on either of two first-degree murder
charges.
Hallam settled a lawsuit against CPS, Graupmann and Tarpley for $1 million. A suit against Tucson police is pending.
Earlier, Tarpley questioned why she was even called to testify for the defense.
"I didn't look at any of this and I really don't care," Christy Tarpley said, when shown reports on the case.
"I
was shocked when I got a subpoena yesterday and I'm just trying to
figure out what I'm doing here," said Tarpley, who now works for the
Pascua Yaqui tribe.
"Just another CPS nightmare," she said, shrugging.
prosecutor's questions about confidential child welfare reports and a
former caseworker's comments on a Tucson Citizen blog interrupted
Christopher Mathew Payne's capital murder trial Thursday.
Former
Arizona Child Protective Services caseworker Cindy Graupmann had just
taken the stand late Thursday afternoon when Deputy County Attorney
Susan Eazer lodged an objection.
After
the jury was dismissed, Eazer told Pima County Superior Court Judge
Richard S. Fields that the defense hadn't disclosed that it had
unredacted CPS records it shouldn't have had.
Fields
told attorneys to come back earlier than usual Friday to continue
discussing the matter as well as an earlier situation involving
Graupmann and blog comments.
Graupmann
admitted to Eazer that she had made comments on the Tucson Citizen's
trial blog that disparaged Jamie Hallam, the mother of Ariana and Tyler
Payne and Payne's ex-wife.
"The
saddest part is that Jamie Hallam is responsible just as much as
Christopher Payne," Graupmann, who is unemployed, wrote March 3 under a
fictitious name.
Eazer wants to use Graupmann's comments to impeach her testimony.
"Aside
from the bias the witness brings into the courtroom, as a CPS worker,
one of the things that she blogged about contained information about a
subsequent case that clearly she learned about while still working for
CPS that was totally confidential," Eazer said.
"She
is breaking every rule known to CPS, that CPS has out there, which is
exactly what she and her supervisor did March 9," Eazer said.
Eazer
was referring to the 2006 incident in which Graupmann and her
supervisor Christy Tarpley advised police to allow Payne to keep his
children despite a signed court order giving custody to Hallam. Hallam
had complained to police in 2006 that Payne had taken the children for
a visit and refused to return them. She called police, who went to
Payne's house and then called CPS.
"I never told the officer to do that," Tarpley testified Thursday. "I told him if he had the court paper, that was the answer."
Tarpley
said she remembered talking to Officer William Nutt, who testified
previously that Tarpley told him to leave the children with Payne,
because she "laughed about his name."
Despite a CPS letter dated March 1, 2006, that cleared Hallam of an unsubstantiated.. charge, Tarpley said the case wasn't closed then.
"The button was not pushed," Tarpley said, explaining that the unit issuing the letter was "a mess" at that time.
Prosecutors
say Payne kept the children after Hallam left them for the visit
because he didn't want to pay child support. When his girlfriend, Reina
Irene Gonzales, complained of caring for them, Payne shut them in a
closet and starved them to death over a period of months in 2006.
Ariana's body was found in February 2007. Tyler's body has never been found.
Defense
attorneys say Gonzales abused and starved the children. Payne faces the
death penalty if he's convicted on either of two first-degree murder
charges.
Hallam settled a lawsuit against CPS, Graupmann and Tarpley for $1 million. A suit against Tucson police is pending.
Earlier, Tarpley questioned why she was even called to testify for the defense.
"I didn't look at any of this and I really don't care," Christy Tarpley said, when shown reports on the case.
"I
was shocked when I got a subpoena yesterday and I'm just trying to
figure out what I'm doing here," said Tarpley, who now works for the
Pascua Yaqui tribe.
"Just another CPS nightmare," she said, shrugging.
I am a caseworker a poem by me
I am a caseworker I will never take blame
when I fail to protect children I never feel shame
I blame the families or others involved
even when I saw bruises ,burns or scars
I rip families apart and have no shame
to me ripping families apart is my favorite sick game
to me the almighty dollar comes first the cries of the children
simply overlooked I am a caseworker I lie & fail families
and rip them apart Federal funding is what I am about
children don't matter to me I cash my check every week
and sleep like a baby no one cares that I am downright lazy
I get paid by the system & families I destroy I am a caseworker
need I say more
when I fail to protect children I never feel shame
I blame the families or others involved
even when I saw bruises ,burns or scars
I rip families apart and have no shame
to me ripping families apart is my favorite sick game
to me the almighty dollar comes first the cries of the children
simply overlooked I am a caseworker I lie & fail families
and rip them apart Federal funding is what I am about
children don't matter to me I cash my check every week
and sleep like a baby no one cares that I am downright lazy
I get paid by the system & families I destroy I am a caseworker
need I say more
CPS clears mom of Payne children of negelct & drug use so give her back her baby
By bringing the CPS worker in charge of the neglect claim against
Jamie Hallam to the stand, the defense has proven a point it couldn't
have intended to make: that Hallam was a fit parent.
Hallam's ex-husband, Christopher Mathew Payne, in on trial on
charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of his children, Ariana
and Tyler.
One of the defense theories as to broken bones that Ariana Payne
suffered was that they came before she and her brother came to live
with their father.
Former CPS caseworker Cindy Graupmann testified that she saw Ariana
and Tyler Payne twice over a five-month span and they appeared to be
healthy and well-cared for.
In fact, she indicted on a case note that the second time she saw
the children on a surprise visit, they were snuggled up with their
grandfather.
Graupmann asked Hallam to do a test for illegal substances in October 2005, which proved she was clean.
On Feb. 14, 2006, Graupmann talked to Hallam's ex-husband, Chris
Payne. Payne told Graupmann that he knew Hallam was cooperating with
the CPS investgation and wasn't doing drugs, Graupmann testified.
But despite the fact that Hallam kept in touch with CPS and complied
with the drug test, Graupmann told Payne Hallam wasn't cooperating and
Graupmann still suspected illegal drug use.
The only thing mentioned in Graupmann's case notes on visits with
Hallam that she based the fact on were sores on Hallam's face, which
could have been acne, prosecutor Sue Eazer said.
Presumably, Graupmann was also talking to an anonymous source who
said Hallam was using drugs, but the jury won't be hearing testimony
about anonymous tips.
When Graupmann talked to Payne on Feb. 6, 2006, she suggested he
seek custody of the children. At the time, Graupmann testified, she
didn't know that Payne had had nothing to do with his children for the
past three years and had been keeping them despite Hallam's attempts to
get them back.
It wasn't until Graupmann talked to Hallam on Feb. 14, 2006, that she learned Payne had been a deadbeat dad, she testified.
On Feb. 17, 2005, Hallam called Graupmann, concerned that she
couldn't reach Payne and that she wanted her children back. Hallam had
feared that CPS had taken the children, which Graupmann assured her it
had not.
"You didn't try to help her find the kids or tell her the defendant had moved to change custody, did you?" Eazer asked.
"I don't have that in my case note," Graupmann said.
"Do you think if you told her that might or might not be included in the case note?"
"I don't recall," said Graupmann, who worked for CPS from April 2004 to September 2008, when she retired.
"But you did note that you told her to drop?" Eazer said, meaning submit to a drug test.
"That's correct."
Graupmann's testimony was interrupted by the lunch break. She's expected back on the stand shortly after 1 p.m.
Graupmann admitted yesterday outside the courtroom that she had been
making disparaging comments about Hallam on the Citizen's trial blog.
In addition, one of Payne's sisters also has been commenting.
In response, Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields ruled
today that witnesses were being restricted in the courtroom and being
told not to make comments about the case while the trial is going on.
Jamie Hallam to the stand, the defense has proven a point it couldn't
have intended to make: that Hallam was a fit parent.
Hallam's ex-husband, Christopher Mathew Payne, in on trial on
charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of his children, Ariana
and Tyler.
One of the defense theories as to broken bones that Ariana Payne
suffered was that they came before she and her brother came to live
with their father.
Former CPS caseworker Cindy Graupmann testified that she saw Ariana
and Tyler Payne twice over a five-month span and they appeared to be
healthy and well-cared for.
In fact, she indicted on a case note that the second time she saw
the children on a surprise visit, they were snuggled up with their
grandfather.
Graupmann asked Hallam to do a test for illegal substances in October 2005, which proved she was clean.
On Feb. 14, 2006, Graupmann talked to Hallam's ex-husband, Chris
Payne. Payne told Graupmann that he knew Hallam was cooperating with
the CPS investgation and wasn't doing drugs, Graupmann testified.
But despite the fact that Hallam kept in touch with CPS and complied
with the drug test, Graupmann told Payne Hallam wasn't cooperating and
Graupmann still suspected illegal drug use.
The only thing mentioned in Graupmann's case notes on visits with
Hallam that she based the fact on were sores on Hallam's face, which
could have been acne, prosecutor Sue Eazer said.
Presumably, Graupmann was also talking to an anonymous source who
said Hallam was using drugs, but the jury won't be hearing testimony
about anonymous tips.
When Graupmann talked to Payne on Feb. 6, 2006, she suggested he
seek custody of the children. At the time, Graupmann testified, she
didn't know that Payne had had nothing to do with his children for the
past three years and had been keeping them despite Hallam's attempts to
get them back.
It wasn't until Graupmann talked to Hallam on Feb. 14, 2006, that she learned Payne had been a deadbeat dad, she testified.
On Feb. 17, 2005, Hallam called Graupmann, concerned that she
couldn't reach Payne and that she wanted her children back. Hallam had
feared that CPS had taken the children, which Graupmann assured her it
had not.
"You didn't try to help her find the kids or tell her the defendant had moved to change custody, did you?" Eazer asked.
"I don't have that in my case note," Graupmann said.
"Do you think if you told her that might or might not be included in the case note?"
"I don't recall," said Graupmann, who worked for CPS from April 2004 to September 2008, when she retired.
"But you did note that you told her to drop?" Eazer said, meaning submit to a drug test.
"That's correct."
Graupmann's testimony was interrupted by the lunch break. She's expected back on the stand shortly after 1 p.m.
Graupmann admitted yesterday outside the courtroom that she had been
making disparaging comments about Hallam on the Citizen's trial blog.
In addition, one of Payne's sisters also has been commenting.
In response, Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields ruled
today that witnesses were being restricted in the courtroom and being
told not to make comments about the case while the trial is going on.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
How Tyler & Ariana's mommy remembers them RIP angels
Ariana and Tyler when they were alive
Everyone always asks me what Ariana and Tyler were like.
Here is how I remember them.
I would love to tell you about Ariana and Tyler. They were the most wonderful children that any mother could have. Ariana and Tyler were 11 months apart. They were so close in age, and I think that is what made their bond so much closer. After leaving my ex-husband when Ariana was only 4 weeks old, we moved into our own place. There were not a lot of other kids around, so they mostly played with each other. It was always the 3 of us. I didn’t want to send them to daycare. On our days at home, they played like most normal kids do. Tyler loved to play outside in the backyard with his trucks and his cars.
Ariana would play with her dolls. Her favorite activity most of all was coloring. She had a little bag that she would carry everywhere. Before we went anywhere, she would make sure that it was stocked up with her paper and her crayons and coloring pencils. She would put pens, markers, and even chalk in that little bag–anything that she could color with.
She just loved all the different colors. She would fall asleep coloring on most nights. I cannot forget to tell you that she would sometimes extend her artwork from paper to the walls or dressers. LOL.Tyler loved Scooby-Doo. He had Scooby-Doo bedsheets, and t-shirts, and every video possible that had Scooby-Doo.
He liked to ride his bike (with training wheels, of course). Ariana never got the chance to learn how to ride a bike.Every day we would have what I called “Quality Time”–that is when I turned off the TV and shut off the phone and didn’t answer the door. Because for that one hour every day, it was about us being together. I would let them choose what activity that we were going to do. Usually it was making cookies. Tyler LOVED to cook! Or we would do arts and crafts because that was Ariana’s favorite. I remember how I bought one of those toy kitchen sets for Ariana, and Tyler would fight her to play with it. I had to go out and buy another one so they each had one.
Every time Tyler would get a little money, he would ask if we could go to the store so he could buy plastic food for his kitchen set. LOL.
They were the most amazing children. They loved each other so much and had a bond that was inseparable. They were like night and day, though. Ariana would go to bed early; Tyler liked to stay up late. He would wake Ariana up if she was sleeping and he was awake. She loved milk with her food; he drank juice. He was particular in what he ate. Ariana loved to eat.
She would eat everything on her plate then move into Tyler’s seat and eat the rest of his meal. Their personalities were so sweet and gentle. Tyler was a true momma’s boy. He liked to be everywhere I was.
Ariana was more independent. She would play by herself and be comfortable with it, but she was very cuddly. She would sit on my lap for hours and didn’t move. I can still hear her little voice in my head saying “I LOOVVE YOUU.” It was such a sweet gentle voice.Okay, this is getting harder to write.
I think that I am going to stop now because I can barely see the keyboard. My heart is broken, and no one can fix it. The pain that I feel is immense. I have no earthly words to explain what I am going through. It feels as though my heart has been ripped out of my chest while it was still beating and I am left to survive with this big gaping hole where it once was.
If I could do that day over again, I would. I would trade places with them if I could. There is nothing in this world that could compare to a mother’s grief. I am extremely saddened by everything that they had to go through.
Carolina toddler dead DSS failure
SHELBY - A 2-year-old boy is dead and his mother and stepfather have been charged with murder and child abuse, according to a Cleveland County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies charged Kathy Lynn Swafford, 20, and Dwight Stacy Justice, 42, both of 867-30 E. Zion Church Road, Shelby, with one count each of felony child abuse and felony murder.
The couple is being held in the Cleveland County Detention Center, with no bond.
Cleveland County EMS responded to the home Friday at 1:20 p.m. after a caller said the child had been sick for a couple days, according to a sheriff's official. The caller also stated the boy had a knot on his head and had been throwing up blood, deputies said.
"When EMS got there, they knew it was something more and contacted us," said Cleveland County Sheriff's Capt. Bobby Steen.
Steen said they are not sure where the call came from at this time.
EMS took the 2-year-old boy to Cleveland Regional Medical Center for treatment before being airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. He died Saturday at 3:18 p.m.
"It appears that he died of trauma injuries to head and body," Steen said.
"When it is a child involved, everyone gets into that extra gear," he said. "We want to solve it quick.
"We have feelings too," he said. "No one likes to see a child hurt.
"
T2sister's Comment
The family called DSS several times expressing their concerns for this little boy's safety but nothing was done and now he's dead. This child's story is very much like Chris' story. For more information go to the Shelby Star. There are several articles about this case at that web site.
Leave a comment tell your state representatives you want DSS to do their job!
These children already left to die in 09 by social service workers
Three children died after a catalog of errors by social workers, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
In cases that echo the mistakes made during the short life of Baby P, the children were left in danger despite clear warning signs that they were at risk.
Repeated opportunities were missed to intervene to save the children, whose families were regularly visited by social workers, police and health workers.
Despite the blunders, no measures were taken to discipline any of the professionals involved.
Critics said the official reports into the cases, uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph, showed that the current child protection system was not working.
The three serious case reviews disclose:
A three-year-old girl died after taking her mother's drugs. Just three weeks earlier social workers had considered ? and then decided against ? putting her into care
A 14-month-old baby was killed by a cocktail of drugs, months after social workers were warned her mother was taking crack cocaine and heroin
A baby of seven months died in bed with her mother, whose alcohol intake contributed to the death. Social workers who previously found the mother drunk in bed with the infant had asked her to sign an agreement to tackle her drinking, which she signed after consuming eight cans of beer.
In the case of the three-year-old, who was on the child protection register in Reading, just 25 of 84 attempts by social workers to visit her family were successful.
Despite her parents' refusal to co-operate with social services, action was not taken to protect Trae-Bleu Layne, who died of a methadone overdose.
Even when her parents took her on a violent raid on local shops - which ended with a high-speed chase by police, who found the child in the back of a car next to drug-taking paraphernalia - authorities failed to step in to protect the infant.
The investigation demonstrates that the critical errors made by social services in the case of Baby P, whose abuse and death was not prevented by 60 visits from Haringey's social workers, are being replicated across the country.
The cases raise fundamental questions about the competence of front line staff working in child protection, and the leadership of those running services.
Michael Gove, the shadow children's secretary, described the cases as "appalling" evidence that the current child protection system had failed.
He said: "These particular cases seem quite appalling: they raise profound questions about the Government's claim that we have got the right systems in place."
The NSPCC warned that countless more children would die as a result of abuse if lessons from investigations into the deaths were not heeded.
Wes Cuell, the charity's director of children's services, said: "There are many children who are alive today who will die in equally tragic circumstances if we continue to fail to learn the lessons from these cases."
He said serious case reviews by agencies responsible for child protection raised the same problems repeatedly: poor judgment by front line staff in health, police and social work; and weak supervision by managers in charge of child protection.
Samauri Mayes
2-year-old
January 2, 2009
Greenville,South Carolina
Lucas Isaac Polanco
2-year-old
January 4,2009
Milton-Freewater,Oregon
Seth Ireland
10-year-old
January 6, 2009
Fresno,California
Alexis "Lexie" Glover
13-year-old
January 7,2009
Manassas,Virginia
Tatina Riveria
8-month-old
January 9,2009
Omaha,Nebraska
Alex Angulo
4-year-old
January 11,2009
Chicago,Illinois
Foster Girl
4-year-old
January 13,2009
Edmonton,Canada
Ania Duncan
6-month-old
January 14,2009
Cleveland, Ohio
Karina Moore
2-year-old
January 16, 2009
Post Falls,Idaho
Guadalupe Correa
3-year-old
January 20, 2009
Stockton,California
Joseph M.Schoolfield
3-year-old
January 24,2009
Carlyle, Illinois
Iven Carlos
2-month-old
January 27,2009
Chicago,Illinois
Darcey Freeman
4-year-old
January 29,2009
Melbourne,Australia
February
Hope Richard
9-year-old
February 3,2009
Manitoba,Canada
Miraculious Fuentes
Manriquez
3-year-old
February 3,2009
Amarillo,Texas
Aquan Lewis
10-year-old
February 4,2009
Evanston,Illinois
Angel DeHerrera
4-year-old
February 6, 2009
Colorado Springs,CO
Esmond Ross
7-year-old
February 7, 2009
Kansas City,Missouri
Foster Girl
10-year-old
February 7,2009
Rockhampton, Australia
Abigail Johnson
4-month-old
February 9, 2009
Evansville,Indiana
Tendral Meytok
Gurung
9-month-old
February 10, 2009
Virginia Beach,Florida
Kaylan Broumley
3-year-old
February 12,2009
Nacogdoches,Texas
Thomas Joel Villa
7-month-old
February 12,2009
Canyon,Texas
Isiah Martin
2-year-old
February 13,2008
Detroit,Michigan
Jeremiah Ray Swafford
2-year-old
February 13,2009
Shelby,North Carolina
Joshua Pinckney
2-year-old
February 13,2009
Cumming,Georgia
Jyhiem Adam Bacon
2-month-old
February 14, 2009
Salisbury,North Carolina
Darlene Diles
35-day-old
February 17,2009
Dallas,Texas
CPS corruption x13
..
The Central Index functions as a blacklist of parents. Each state has their
own version of the list and once a name is added parents have found it nearly
impossible to have their name removed. These lists have been declared unconstitutional
in a recently ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Too many people have been listed -- not on the basis of what they have done
to bring harm to children, but simply on the basis of CPS caseworker opinions.
Most people listed on the Central Index have never been criminally charged,
have never been informed that their name appears on the list, neither have
they been convicted of any kind of child abuse or neglect.
Yet, having your name appear on the list can and has led to individuals losing
jobs, future employment opportunities and can follow them the rest of their lives
causing irreparable harm for themselves and their families.
The Gates couple who appear in this video said they became foster-adoptive parents so
they could help needy children. The Gary & Melissa Gates have spent the past 8-years
and $175,000.00 trying to get their names removed from the Central Registry list in
Texas. Each state has their own lists but they are shared from state to state, making
it nearly impossible to lead a normal life once your name has been added.
The Gates have founded a non-profit organization — The Texas Center for Family Rights,
after they saw the need for families to be protected from invasive investigations by CPS,
which can be started by one malicious phone call.
Federal appeals court finds CPS tactic unconstitutional
Sacramento, CA — As families gather for the holidays, a recent ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals offers hope to hundreds of thousands of parents haunted by the nightmare of unproven child abuse allegations.
For years, attorneys with Pacific Justice Institute have warned parents that, once CPS decides to investigate them for child abuse — sometimes based on anonymous tips from neighbors or vindictive ex-spouses — their names can end up on California's Child Abuse Central Index (CACI). Parents are listed on the CACI even when CPS eventually deems the charges "inconclusive" and closes its files. The CACI listing shows up on background checks for years to come and prevents parents from obtaining jobs or state licenses.
Central Index Blacklist
The Central Index functions as a blacklist of parents. Each state has their own version of the list and once a name is added parents have found it nearly impossible to have their name removed. These lists have been declared unconstitutional in a recently ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Too many people have been listed -- not on the basis of what they have done to bring harm to children, but simply on the basis of CPS caseworker opinions. Most people listed on the Central Index have never been criminally charged, have never been informed that their name appears on the list, neither have they been convicted of any kind of child abuse or neglect.
Yet, having your name appear on the list can and has led to individuals losing jobs, future employment opportunities and can follow them the rest of their lives causing irreparable harm for themselves and their families.
The Gates couple who appear in this video said they became foster-adoptive parents so they could help needy children. The Gary & Melissa Gates have spent the past 8-years and $175,000.00 trying to get their names removed from the Central Registry list in Texas. Each state has their own lists but they are shared from state to state, making it nearly impossible to lead a normal life once your name has been added.
The Gates have founded a non-profit organization — The Texas Center for Family Rights, after they saw the need for families to be protected from invasive investigations by CPS, which can be started by one malicious phone call.
In Humphries v. County of Los Angeles, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sharply criticized the ease with which people are listed on the CACI and the obstacles which prevent their names from being removed. The court was also troubled by a study indicating that as many as half of the more than 800,000 individuals listed on the CACI "may have a legitimate basis for expungement." Calling the list "the reverse of the presumption of innocence in our criminal justice system," the court ordered the state to enact greater procedural safeguards.
PJI President Brad Dacus commented, "It is gratifying that the Ninth Circuit has acknowledged what we have been saying for years — that treating parents as criminals when they are never convicted of a crime is unjust. We call on the legislature to finally fix this broken system in a way that honors basic constitutional rights."
Karen Milam, who directs PJI's Southern California office, stated, "Every year, PJI is inundated with hundreds of calls from desperate parents who do not understand how they could be labeled as child abusers based solely on unproven suspicions. This ruling is an important step toward keeping CPS honest."
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Example of the abuse of power within our Government
* Born: 2 April 1965
* Birthplace: Sacramento, California
* Best Known As: The motorist whose beating set off the 1992 L.A. riots
Rodney Glen King was the black motorist whose beating by white police officers ultimately sparked widespread rioting in Los Angeles in 1992. In the early hours of 3 March 1991, King was pulled over by the cops for driving recklessly. A witness, George Holliday, videotaped the end of King's encounter with police from his apartment balcony. The video shows the officers severely beating King in the presence of other L.A. cops -- all told, nearly 20 seconds of whacking and kicking as King tries to rise from the ground. Aired repeatedly all over the U.S., the footage shocked viewers and charges were brought against four cops: Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Stacey Koon. On 29 April 1992 a jury acquitted three of the officers and deadlocked on the charges against Powell. Predominantly African American areas of the city erupted in violence, and after six days there were more than 50 fatalities, thousands of arrests and an estimated billion dollars in property damage. At one point King appeared before cameras in a plea that has since been boiled down to simply, "Can we all get along here? Can we all get along?" King was awarded $3.8 million after a civil suit against the city (and others).
Powell and Koon were convicted in federal court of violating King's civil rights and were sentenced to 30 months in prison... King still occasionally makes headlines over minor run-ins with the law.The 1991 beating of Rodney G. King by Los Angeles, California, police led to state and federal criminal prosecution of the law enforcement officers involved in the assault, a civil jury award of $3.8 million to King for his injuries, and major reforms in the Los Angeles police department. In addition, the April 1992 acquittal of the white police officers for the beating of King, an African American, touched off riots in Los Angeles that rank as the worst in U.S. history. The controversy surrounding each of these actions raised the issues of race, racism, and police brutality in communities throughout the United States.
On the evening of March 3, 1991, Rodney King was driving his automobile when a highway police officer signaled him to pull over to the side of the road. King, who had been drinking, fled, later testifying that he was afraid he would be returned to prison for violating his parole. A high-speed chase ensued with a number of Los Angeles police officers and vehicles involved. The police eventually pulled King over. After King got out of his car, four officers — Stacey C. Koon, Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind, and Theodore J. Briseno— kicked King and hit him with their batons more than fifty times while he struggled on the ground.
Unbeknownst to the officers, an amateur photographer, George Holliday, videotaped eighty-one seconds of the beating. The videotape was shown repeatedly on national television and became a symbol of complaints about police brutality.
The four officers were charged with numerous criminal counts, including assault with a deadly weapon, the use of excessive force, and filing a false police report. Because of the extensive publicity surrounding the case, the trial of the four police officers was conducted in Simi Valley, a predominantly white community located in Ventura County, not far from Los Angeles. During the trial the prosecution used the videotape as its principal source of evidence and did not have King testify. The defense also used the videotape, examining it frame by frame to bolster its contention that King was resisting arrest and that the violence was necessary to subdue him. The defense also contended that the videotape distorted the events of that night, because it did not capture what happened before and after the eighty-one seconds of tape recording.
On April 29, 1992, the jury, which included ten whites, one Filipino American, and one Hispanic, but no African Americans, found the four police officers not guilty on ten of the eleven counts and could not come to an agreement on the other count. The acquittals stunned many persons who had seen the videotape. Within two hours riots erupted in the predominantly black South Central section of Los Angeles. The riots lasted seventy hours, leaving 60 people dead, more than 2,100 people injured, and between $800 million and $1 billion in damage in Los Angeles. Order was restored through the combined efforts of the police, more than ten thousand National Guard troops, and thirty-five hundred Army and Marine Corps troops.
In the riot's aftermath, criticism of the Los Angeles police, which had escalated after the King beating, grew stronger. Many believed that the longtime police chief, Daryl F. Gates, had not sufficiently prepared for the possibility of civil unrest and had made poor decisions in the first hours of the riots. These criticisms, coupled with the determination by an independent commission headed by Warren G. Christopher (a distinguished attorney who served in the State Department during the administration of President Jimmy Carter) that Gates should be replaced because of the brutality charges, placed increasing pressure on the police chief. Gates finally resigned in late June 1992.
In August 1992 a federal grand jury indicted the four officers for violating King's civil rights. Koon was charged with depriving King of due process of law by failing to restrain the other officers. The other three officers were charged with violating King's right against unreasonable search and seizure because they had used unreasonable force during the arrest.
At the federal trial, which was held in Los Angeles, the jury was more racially diverse than the one at Simi Valley: two jury members were black, one was Hispanic, and the rest were white. This time King testified about the beating and charged that the officers had used racial epithets. Observers agreed that he was an effective witness. The videotape again was the central piece of evidence for both sides. On April 17, 1993, the jury convicted officers Koon and Powell of violating King's civil rights but acquitted Wind and Briseno. Koon and Powell were sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
King filed a civil lawsuit against the police officers and the city of Los Angeles. After settlement talks broke down, the case went to trial in early 1994. On April 19, 1994, the jury awarded King $3.8 million in compensatory damages. However, the jury refused to award King punitive damages. In July 1994 the city of Los Angeles struck a deal whereby King agreed to drop any plans to appeal the jury's verdict on punitive damages. In return, the city of Los Angeles agreed to expedite payment of King's compensatory damages.
this led to the biggest riots in L.A April29th 1992 and it also led to this tragedy when Reginald Denny was drug from his truck and severally beaten
On April 29, 1992, at 5:39 PM, Denny loaded his red, 14-wheel truck with 27 tons of sand and began driving to a plant in Inglewood where the sand was due. He left the Santa Monica Freeway and took a familiar shortcut across Florence Avenue to get to his destination. His truck had no radio, so he was unaware he was driving into a riot. At 6:46 p.m., after entering the intersection at Normandie, rioters threw rocks at his windows and he heard people shouting for him to stop. Overhead, a news helicopter with reporter Bob Tur aboard captured the events that followed.
Antoine Miller opened the truck door, giving others the chance to pull Denny out. Another man, Henry Keith Watson, then held Denny's head down with his foot. Denny, who had done nothing to provoke the violence, was kicked in the stomach by an unidentifed man. Another unidentified man who had led a liquor store break-in earlier that day hurled a five-pound piece of medical equipment at Denny's head and hit him three times with a claw hammer. Damian Williams then threw a slab of concrete at Denny's head and knocked him unconscious. Williams then did a victory dance over Denny. He then flashed gang signs at news helicopters, which were televising the events live, and pointed and laughed at Denny. Anthony Brown then spat on Denny and left with Williams. Several bystanders took pictures of Denny but did not attempt to help him.
After the beating, various men threw beer bottles at the unconscious Denny. Gary Williams approached Denny and rifled through his pockets. Lance Parker stopped near Denny and attempted to shoot the fuel tank of Denny's truck but missed.
Bobby Green (a truck driver), Titus Murphy, Terri Barnett (boyfriend and girlfriend), and Lei Yuille (a dietitian), who had been watching the events on TV, came to Denny's aid. All four are black. Denny eventually regained consciousness and dragged himself back into the cab, driving away from the scene slowly and erratically;[8]. Green, himself a truck driver, boarded Denny's truck and took over at the wheel, driving him to the hospital. At the time that Green took over, Denny was on the brink of losing consciousness again, and suffered a seizure shortly thereafter.
Paramedics who attended to Denny said he came very close to death. His skull was fractured in 91 places and pushed into the brain. His left eye was so badly dislocated that it would have fallen into his sinus cavity had the surgeons not replaced the crushed bone with a piece of plastic. A permanent crater remains in his head despite efforts to correct it.Reginald Oliver Denny, at the time, was a 33 year old white construction truck driver. On the first day of the rioting, Denny was attacked, pulled from his truck and brutally beaten, sustaining serious head and other injuries. As a result of the injuries he suffered during the attacks, Denny had to undergo years of rehabilitative therapy, and his speech and ability to walk were permanently damaged. After the 1993 trial of his African-American assailants, he appeared on the Phil Donahue show to shake hands with one of the assailants, Henry Keith Watson. Denny largely avoids the media and rarely speaks about his ordeal. As of 2007, he works independently as a boat motor mechanic in Lake Havasu, Arizona, where he moved after an unsuccessful lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles.
The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s challenged racism in America and made the country a more just and humane society for all. Below are a few of its many heroes.Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress, left work and boarded a bus for home. As the bus became crowded, the bus driver ordered Parks to give up her seat to a white passenger. Montgomery's buses were segregated, with the seats in the front reserved for "whites only." Blacks had to sit at the back of the bus. But if the bus was crowded and all the "whites only" seats were filled, black people were expected to give up their seats—a black person sitting while a white person stood would never be tolerated in the racist South. Rosa had had enough of such humiliation, and refused to give up her seat. "I felt I had a right to stay where I was," she said. "I wanted this particular driver to know that we were being treated unfairly as individuals and as a people." The bus driver had her arrested.
Martin Luther King, Jr., heard about Parks's brave defiance and launched a boycott of Montgomery buses. The 17,000 black residents of Montgomery pulled together and kept the boycott going for more than a year. Finally, the Supreme Court intervened and declared segregation on buses unconstitutional. Rosa Parks and the boycotters defeated the racist system, and she became known as "the mother of the civil rights movement."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
It wasn't just that Martin Luther King became the leader of the civil rights movement that made him so extraordinary—it was the way in which he led the movement. King advocated civil disobedience, the non-violent resistance against unjust laws: "Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it." Civil rights activists organized demonstrations, marches, boycotts, strikes, and voter-registration drives, and refused to obey laws that they knew were wrong and unjust.
These peaceful forms of protest were often met with vicious threats, arrests, beatings, and worse. King emphasized how important it was that the civil rights movement did not sink to the level of the racists and hate mongers they fought against: "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred," he urged. "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline." King's philosophy of "tough-mindedness and tenderheartedness" was not only highly effective, but it gave the civil rights movement an inspiring moral authority and grace.
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was a courageous civil rights lawyer during a period when racial segregation was the law of the land. At a time when a large portion of American society refused to extend equality to black people, Marshall astutely realized that one of the best ways to bring about change was through the legal system. Between 1938 and 1961, he presented more than 30 civil rights cases before the Supreme Court. He won 29 of them.
His most important case was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), which ended segregation in public schools. By law, black and white students had to attend separate public schools. As long as schools were "separate but equal"—providing equal education for all races—segregation was considered fair. In reality, segregated schools were shamefully unequal: white schools were far more privileged than black schools, which were largely poor and overcrowded. Marshall challenged the doctrine, pointing out that "separate but equal" was just a myth disguising racism. He argued that if all students were indeed equal, then why was it necessary to separate them? The Supreme Court agreed, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Marshall went on to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in American history.
The Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine, as they later came to be called, were the first black teenagers to attend all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. These remarkable young African-American students challenged segregation in the deep South and won.
Although Brown v. Board of Education outlawed segregation in schools, many racist school systems defied the law by intimidating and threatening black students—Central High School was a notorious example. But the Little Rock Nine were determined to attend the school and receive the same education offered to white students, no matter what. Things grew ugly and frightening right away. On the first day of school, the governor of Arkansas ordered the state's National Guard to block the black students from entering the school. Imagine what it must have been like to be a student confronted by armed soldiers! President Eisenhower had to send in federal troops to protect the students.
But that was only the beginning of their ordeal. Every morning on their way to school angry crowds of whites taunted and insulted the Little Rock Nine—they even received death threats. One of the students, fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Eckford, said "I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob. . . . I looked into the face of an old woman, and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat at me." As scared as they were, the students wouldn't give up, and several went on to graduate from Central High. Nine black teenagers challenged a racist system and defeated it.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
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.
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.
Bureaucrats running down the clock on parents
WASHINGTON -
When
Congress passed the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act, it allowed
states to terminate parental rights after a child has been in foster
care longer than 15 months.
But the law, intended to keep
children from truly abusive homes from languishing in foster care for
years, had unintended consequences. States receive a $4,000 cash bonus
from the federal government for each child adopted, multiplied by the
percentage that the state exceeds its adoption goal.
The system
gives child protective agencies a powerful financial incentive to
terminate parental rights, something that they did more than 79,000
times nationwide in 2006, according to the federal Administration for Children and Families.
And
because infants and toddlers are much easier to place in adoptive
homes, they’re often targeted for removal by overzealous social workers
based on flimsy or anonymous evidence of parental abuse or neglect.
The
15-month clock, which starts ticking as soon as a child goes into
foster care, can easily be run down by months of forced psychological
testing and the filing of legal motions and other delaying tactics.
These
tactics give a clear advantage to child protective service bureaucrats,
who have unlimited time and financial resources to wage what often
amounts to legal warfare against stunned and beleaguered parents who
basically have to prove their own innocence.
If a person commits
murder or robs a bank, prosecutors must prove he or she is guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt. Not so in the Alice-in-Wonderland world of
CPS, where individuals and parents are considered guilty as charged by
anonymous tipsters whose hidden motivations are never brought to light.
Once the 15 months are up, that fact alone can be used as legal
justification to terminate parental rights.
It costs child
protective agencies $20,000 on average to keep a child in foster care,
versus $8,000 for in-home services for troubled families. This means
that a host of lawyers, social workers, therapists, psychologists and
other professionals make a lot more money when families are broken
apart.
And although CPS’ stated goal is family reunification, the
reality is that these agencies reap a second financial windfall when
the forced separation between child and parent becomes permanent.
When
Congress passed the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act, it allowed
states to terminate parental rights after a child has been in foster
care longer than 15 months.
But the law, intended to keep
children from truly abusive homes from languishing in foster care for
years, had unintended consequences. States receive a $4,000 cash bonus
from the federal government for each child adopted, multiplied by the
percentage that the state exceeds its adoption goal.
The system
gives child protective agencies a powerful financial incentive to
terminate parental rights, something that they did more than 79,000
times nationwide in 2006, according to the federal Administration for Children and Families.
And
because infants and toddlers are much easier to place in adoptive
homes, they’re often targeted for removal by overzealous social workers
based on flimsy or anonymous evidence of parental abuse or neglect.
The
15-month clock, which starts ticking as soon as a child goes into
foster care, can easily be run down by months of forced psychological
testing and the filing of legal motions and other delaying tactics.
These
tactics give a clear advantage to child protective service bureaucrats,
who have unlimited time and financial resources to wage what often
amounts to legal warfare against stunned and beleaguered parents who
basically have to prove their own innocence.
If a person commits
murder or robs a bank, prosecutors must prove he or she is guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt. Not so in the Alice-in-Wonderland world of
CPS, where individuals and parents are considered guilty as charged by
anonymous tipsters whose hidden motivations are never brought to light.
Once the 15 months are up, that fact alone can be used as legal
justification to terminate parental rights.
It costs child
protective agencies $20,000 on average to keep a child in foster care,
versus $8,000 for in-home services for troubled families. This means
that a host of lawyers, social workers, therapists, psychologists and
other professionals make a lot more money when families are broken
apart.
And although CPS’ stated goal is family reunification, the
reality is that these agencies reap a second financial windfall when
the forced separation between child and parent becomes permanent.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Child Fatality report in worse than thought
The number of Arizona children who died last year in unexpected and tragic ways rose sharply, according to a new report from the state department of health. Many significant areas, from suicide to drowning, also showed troubling increases.
Child deaths
The report, compiled annually by a team of volunteer doctors, psychologists and cops for the state Department of Health Services, reviewed every death of an Arizona resident under 18 in 2005. The researchers then did their best to determine whether the cause was accidental, medical, or criminal — and quantify whether the death could have been prevented.
As it turns out, the bad news is really bad. There was nearly a 10 percent leap in child fatalities in 2005. Even allowing for population growth, that's alarmingly high. "Preventable" deaths were higher than ever, notching a 25 percent increase from 2004.
The researchers also concluded that 50 children died because of maltreatment. That's the highest number of maltreatment deaths Arizona has ever recorded.
But what makes the deaths particularly tragic is that Child Protective Services had prior contact with almost half of the kids who died because of abuse or neglect, according to the report. And 14 of the 50 kids actually had open cases at the time of their deaths.
That, too, is a state record — albeit one you're never going to see touted in a press release.
Perhaps for that reason, the report has been ignored by just about every media outlet in the state. (The Arizona Republic gave the report so little coverage that its story failed even to mention CPS — much less note that the total number of deaths had increased. But to the paper's credit, other news outlets ignored the report entirely.)
Still, it's gotten the attention of some state legislators. And it's bringing CPS scrutiny its leaders would probably just as soon avoid.
Without context, numbers like the ones in the Department of Health Services report can be deceiving. For example, children drowning: Since 2003, there's been a 25 percent increase.
But researchers like Dr. Michael Durfee, the psychiatrist who serves as the chief consultant for the National Center on Child Fatality Review, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, cautions observers not to take yearly "trends" too far. Any 12-month window, after all, is an artificial construct.
"If I kill two of my kids in December, it isn't necessarily a trend if the number of deaths drops in January," Durfee notes.
Drowning deaths are a good example. Yes, the report shows a striking increase from 2003 to 2005. But a little more information puts the number in perspective. Turns out that the 2003 number represented a significant drop from the years prior — and the 2005 deaths aren't actually out of whack with the general trend. Sure, way too many kids drown for a state without a Great Lake or an ocean. (Pools should be fairly easy to fence; miles and miles of coastline are much less so.) But it's not like 2005 represents a new crisis so much as a longstanding problem.
There's also a question of definition: The fatality rate for Arizona kids is, overall, higher than the national average, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But when it comes to subcategories — how many kids were murdered? how many died from abuse? — it can be a judgment call. Fatality review teams often have different standards from state to state, Durfee says, and what Arizona calls a murder might well be an accident in Nevada, or vice versa.
Still, some numbers in the 2005 report can't be ignored.
There were no cases of kids dying because of a fire (either from smoke inhalation or burns) in either 2003 or 2004. Last year, there were 20 such deaths.
In 2004, six children died because of exposure. Last year, that number rose to 19 — most of them dying during attempts to cross the border during extreme heat.
And Dr. Mary Rimsza, the pediatrician who chairs Arizona's team and also serves as medical director at ASU's Center for Health Information and Research, says she's noticed a troubling rise in suicides.
"We used to get an occasional suicide in the 10-to-14-year-old range, but last year, we had 13," she says. "And it's even occurring now in the 5-to-9-year-old range." (The report shows one suicide in that age group last year.)
But it will likely be the Child Protective Services-related deaths that draw the Arizona Legislature's attention.
In 2003, at Governor Janet Napolitano's urging, the Legislature approved a mammoth funding increase for CPS, and funding has only continued to grow. Last year, the state earmarked $163 million for the Department of Children, Family, and Youth Services, almost double its allocation prior to Napolitano's election.
And though more kids than ever are in foster care, deaths from child abuse and neglect have continued to rise. The 2005 statistic isn't an anomaly, it's part of a steady uptick that began in 2002. (See "Suffer the Children," October 26, 2006.) More than two times the number of kids have died from abuse on Napolitano's watch than in a similar period under Governor Jane Hull.
Part of that, as Durfee cautions, is that the terms have changed. Rimsza, the task force chair, says that her team clarified its definition of "maltreatment" deaths in 2002 to include more cases, and numbers jumped accordingly. But it's also clear that since then, abuse-related deaths have continued to rise.
Even more troubling for the agency, more kids are being killed while their CPS files are still open.
State Senator John Huppenthal, a Chandler Republican, says that the funding increases were supposed to prevent just that. So was putting more kids in foster care.
"Their solution was, 'Pull out more kids, and the kids will be safer,'" he says. "But we've found there's no correlation between removal rates and safety. None at all. You would hope that, on some level, they would realize that this has failed."
Huppenthal points to one sobering statistic in the report: Nine of the kids who died in 2005 were in foster care at the time of their deaths.
Three were ruled dead from natural causes. But two were accidents, one was a suicide, and two more were murders. (The ninth death is officially "undetermined.")
After reading the report, Huppenthal requested CPS's report on the deaths. He was told there wasn't one.
Indeed, CPS seems more intent on explaining away the numbers than figuring out what's gone wrong. CPS spokeswoman Liz Barker Alvarez downplayed the numerical trends, telling New Times in an e-mail that it's "incorrect and unfair to make a correlation between budget increases to the agency and overall child deaths from maltreatment" because the issues are too complex.
Alvarez was also quick to explain that just because the report noted "CPS involvement" doesn't mean Arizona CPS was involved — it might have been a similar unit from another state, she wrote, or even the protective services workers with jurisdiction over tribal communities. (Alvarez then failed to respond to repeated follow-up requests asking just how many cases weren't connected to her agency.)
The sad thing is that letting out more information might actually help CPS fend off more legislative scrutiny. Last week, Senator Huppenthal met with CPS officials to try to get more answers on the foster care deaths. He feels better after hearing the agency's case-by-case summary. "It's not anything as troubling as I'd thought," he says, noting that some of the deaths were clearly not preventable: Some of the kids had congenital health problems, which is part of the reason they ended up in foster care in the first place. Two other deaths were due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
But information can be hard to come by. Durfee, medical director for the national registry, overall praises the work of Arizona's team. "Mary Rimsza is doing great work," he says. But he's critical of the report's willingness to stop at numbers when it comes to the kids who died from abuse.
The report contains no detail about their deaths other than showing where they fit into broad age ranges. And that's wrong, Durfee argues.
"You should know their age, their race, their gender, and how they died," he says. "If I understood this at a human level — if you can make these children real to me — then I understand that my neighbor's kids are my responsibility. That's what they need to be doing."
Child deaths
The report, compiled annually by a team of volunteer doctors, psychologists and cops for the state Department of Health Services, reviewed every death of an Arizona resident under 18 in 2005. The researchers then did their best to determine whether the cause was accidental, medical, or criminal — and quantify whether the death could have been prevented.
As it turns out, the bad news is really bad. There was nearly a 10 percent leap in child fatalities in 2005. Even allowing for population growth, that's alarmingly high. "Preventable" deaths were higher than ever, notching a 25 percent increase from 2004.
The researchers also concluded that 50 children died because of maltreatment. That's the highest number of maltreatment deaths Arizona has ever recorded.
But what makes the deaths particularly tragic is that Child Protective Services had prior contact with almost half of the kids who died because of abuse or neglect, according to the report. And 14 of the 50 kids actually had open cases at the time of their deaths.
That, too, is a state record — albeit one you're never going to see touted in a press release.
Perhaps for that reason, the report has been ignored by just about every media outlet in the state. (The Arizona Republic gave the report so little coverage that its story failed even to mention CPS — much less note that the total number of deaths had increased. But to the paper's credit, other news outlets ignored the report entirely.)
Still, it's gotten the attention of some state legislators. And it's bringing CPS scrutiny its leaders would probably just as soon avoid.
Without context, numbers like the ones in the Department of Health Services report can be deceiving. For example, children drowning: Since 2003, there's been a 25 percent increase.
But researchers like Dr. Michael Durfee, the psychiatrist who serves as the chief consultant for the National Center on Child Fatality Review, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, cautions observers not to take yearly "trends" too far. Any 12-month window, after all, is an artificial construct.
"If I kill two of my kids in December, it isn't necessarily a trend if the number of deaths drops in January," Durfee notes.
Drowning deaths are a good example. Yes, the report shows a striking increase from 2003 to 2005. But a little more information puts the number in perspective. Turns out that the 2003 number represented a significant drop from the years prior — and the 2005 deaths aren't actually out of whack with the general trend. Sure, way too many kids drown for a state without a Great Lake or an ocean. (Pools should be fairly easy to fence; miles and miles of coastline are much less so.) But it's not like 2005 represents a new crisis so much as a longstanding problem.
There's also a question of definition: The fatality rate for Arizona kids is, overall, higher than the national average, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But when it comes to subcategories — how many kids were murdered? how many died from abuse? — it can be a judgment call. Fatality review teams often have different standards from state to state, Durfee says, and what Arizona calls a murder might well be an accident in Nevada, or vice versa.
Still, some numbers in the 2005 report can't be ignored.
There were no cases of kids dying because of a fire (either from smoke inhalation or burns) in either 2003 or 2004. Last year, there were 20 such deaths.
In 2004, six children died because of exposure. Last year, that number rose to 19 — most of them dying during attempts to cross the border during extreme heat.
And Dr. Mary Rimsza, the pediatrician who chairs Arizona's team and also serves as medical director at ASU's Center for Health Information and Research, says she's noticed a troubling rise in suicides.
"We used to get an occasional suicide in the 10-to-14-year-old range, but last year, we had 13," she says. "And it's even occurring now in the 5-to-9-year-old range." (The report shows one suicide in that age group last year.)
But it will likely be the Child Protective Services-related deaths that draw the Arizona Legislature's attention.
In 2003, at Governor Janet Napolitano's urging, the Legislature approved a mammoth funding increase for CPS, and funding has only continued to grow. Last year, the state earmarked $163 million for the Department of Children, Family, and Youth Services, almost double its allocation prior to Napolitano's election.
And though more kids than ever are in foster care, deaths from child abuse and neglect have continued to rise. The 2005 statistic isn't an anomaly, it's part of a steady uptick that began in 2002. (See "Suffer the Children," October 26, 2006.) More than two times the number of kids have died from abuse on Napolitano's watch than in a similar period under Governor Jane Hull.
Part of that, as Durfee cautions, is that the terms have changed. Rimsza, the task force chair, says that her team clarified its definition of "maltreatment" deaths in 2002 to include more cases, and numbers jumped accordingly. But it's also clear that since then, abuse-related deaths have continued to rise.
Even more troubling for the agency, more kids are being killed while their CPS files are still open.
State Senator John Huppenthal, a Chandler Republican, says that the funding increases were supposed to prevent just that. So was putting more kids in foster care.
"Their solution was, 'Pull out more kids, and the kids will be safer,'" he says. "But we've found there's no correlation between removal rates and safety. None at all. You would hope that, on some level, they would realize that this has failed."
Huppenthal points to one sobering statistic in the report: Nine of the kids who died in 2005 were in foster care at the time of their deaths.
Three were ruled dead from natural causes. But two were accidents, one was a suicide, and two more were murders. (The ninth death is officially "undetermined.")
After reading the report, Huppenthal requested CPS's report on the deaths. He was told there wasn't one.
Indeed, CPS seems more intent on explaining away the numbers than figuring out what's gone wrong. CPS spokeswoman Liz Barker Alvarez downplayed the numerical trends, telling New Times in an e-mail that it's "incorrect and unfair to make a correlation between budget increases to the agency and overall child deaths from maltreatment" because the issues are too complex.
Alvarez was also quick to explain that just because the report noted "CPS involvement" doesn't mean Arizona CPS was involved — it might have been a similar unit from another state, she wrote, or even the protective services workers with jurisdiction over tribal communities. (Alvarez then failed to respond to repeated follow-up requests asking just how many cases weren't connected to her agency.)
The sad thing is that letting out more information might actually help CPS fend off more legislative scrutiny. Last week, Senator Huppenthal met with CPS officials to try to get more answers on the foster care deaths. He feels better after hearing the agency's case-by-case summary. "It's not anything as troubling as I'd thought," he says, noting that some of the deaths were clearly not preventable: Some of the kids had congenital health problems, which is part of the reason they ended up in foster care in the first place. Two other deaths were due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
But information can be hard to come by. Durfee, medical director for the national registry, overall praises the work of Arizona's team. "Mary Rimsza is doing great work," he says. But he's critical of the report's willingness to stop at numbers when it comes to the kids who died from abuse.
The report contains no detail about their deaths other than showing where they fit into broad age ranges. And that's wrong, Durfee argues.
"You should know their age, their race, their gender, and how they died," he says. "If I understood this at a human level — if you can make these children real to me — then I understand that my neighbor's kids are my responsibility. That's what they need to be doing."
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- Momonamission4CPSreform
- I am a mom of 2 children that cannot stand the horror & failings of Americas children child welfare does not just suck in 1 state it's all over the corruption & blood money for these children must be addressed
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