Legally Kidnapped

Shattering Your Child Welfare Delusions Since 2007


Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Wow, It's not only parents who have a problem with these baby-stealers

I was personally involved in one case where the Department of Human Services removed a child from its motherĂ¢€™s care. What I saw appalled me. DHS claimed that if the mother passed a lie detector test, she would have her child back. She passed, but did not get the child back. She was told that if she passed a second lie detector test, she would get her child back. She passed, but did not get her child back. She was told that if she took parenting classes, she would get her child back. She did so, and did not get her child back.

When I went to graduate school in counseling at the University in Orono, I thought my attitude toward DHS would make me an outsider among the many mental health workers who were upgrading their education. Not so. Almost every one of them had a story at least as appalling as mine. The trouble is, no one could name names because of confidentiality.

In addition, I have heard of many mental health people who were afraid of speaking out because they were concerned about their careers. Also, I have heard of several who were threatened by DHS that their own children might be taken from them if they spoke out against DHS.

There are no checks on the power of DHS to take children from their parents. This needs to change. In addition, the financial incentive for DHS to remove children from their families needs to be changed, so that the incentive is to keep the children with their parents or with close relatives.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:30 AM

    I take it you've had some bad experiences with Child Welfare (as they're calling themselves here in Oregon now). Fortunately, I have a good working relationship with our DHS here, and that goes a long way when I have the unfortunate task to make a report. Sure, I can gripe about things they do now and then. However, in my five years as a school counselor, I've never known them to remove a child unnecessarily or resort to some of the cheap shots you've noted here in your blog.

    I'm not saying it never happens, but perhaps we're more fortunate than most.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:44 PM

    DHHS is trying to shut my daughter up by taking away her
    constitutional right to free speech. They are threatening to keep
    her baby away from her and her fiance for as long as they insist on
    making their voices heard. My daughter has been continually
    harrassed by the department of health and human services for 2
    years. My daughter has 2 other children who are also in state
    custody due to her ex-husband not wanting to pay her child support
    when my daughter told him to take a long walk off a short pier. My
    pervert former son in-law now has the older 2 children living with
    him at his mommy's house in Raymond. He doesn't support those
    children his mother and his step-daddy do with help from the state.
    This so called man was allowed to withhold money from my daughter
    for 8 years and made her and my older 2 grandchildren basically
    starve. He also almost allowed my daughter to die on her livingroom
    floor because he refused to bring her to the hospital when she was
    pregnant with my grandson, my daughter went into kidney failure and
    was hemmorhaging. I was told the story by my daughter as well as her
    sisters so I know it's not a lie! My former son in-law chases after
    15 year old girls online and he's 30 years of age.......and yet my
    daughter is the unfit parent? How fucked up is this state anyway? My
    daughter has this fat bitch for a case worker by the name of Karen
    Ward and an immature asshole for a guardian ad litem by the name of
    Steve Carey.....any of you know of these two bright bulbs? Well my
    daughter has been thrown into debt due to empty promises made by the
    dept and is running the risk of losing everything without help. The
    dept has forced her and her fiance to jump through millions of hoops
    (this is no exaggeration) they even forced her into a group home
    when she was pregnant with my grand-daughter, and when my daughter
    left this so called group home after completing the parenting
    program the dept took custody of my grand-daughter from my daughter
    and her fiance stating that she was in danger of being put into
    harms way. This from a dept that allowed my older grand-daughter to
    be sexually molested at the hands of my daughters ex-husband and his
    step-father. The judge (Judge Powers)that my daughter has had for
    this case always sides with the dept. he never even gave my daughter
    a fair chance. My daughter and her fiance had their own apartment
    which was approved by the dept for my grand-daughter to be returned
    home to and yet it never happened and why? All because one miserable
    incompetent case worker has a personal grudge against my family.
    Steve Carey and Karen Ward are about to find themselves on the
    losing end of a lawsuit by myself and my husband for slander and
    defemation of character due to accusations they are throwing around
    about our family. My daughter and her fiance are also going to be
    suing the dept with help from myself and my husband for violation of
    their civil rights and harrassment. I hope the state of Maine is
    ready to be dragged through the mud! My family will not stop
    fighting until all 3 of my grandbabies come home to their mother
    where they belong. If this harrassment continues I'm gonna start
    naming names so that people can protest outside of my daughter's
    former in-laws places of work as well as their home. The dept and
    that family have pushed myself, my husband and my daughter far
    enough......we're not gonna sit back and take anymore bullshit,
    we're gonna start fighting back and making our voices heard.
    Starting HERE.....Starting NOW! It's time to take back the power and
    take back our families!

    ReplyDelete

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