35. CPS is beyond corrupt and few know about it

...you know the saddest thing about this knowledge? Sadly it is mostly the Conservatives who are on to this issue and working against it. But I see this issue as something that actually unites us because who does not want our families to be supported, not destroyed? Besides that, as a low income advocate, I have been able to teach these folks (who hate the poor for the most part) that a safety net is important. That low income kids are being used as "canaries in the mine" to set legal precedence, and that low income people do not "choose" poverty. I teach them that poverty is an institution which is not being recognized as such and because of the continuing austerity cuts that has been going oin since the mid-90s has been creating damage that is seeping upwards and hurting the middle class as well.

As a Democrat whose mama taught me to never eveh trust a Republican, it has been interesting to be working on this issue with Tea Partiers, Libertarians, conservative-leaning independents and the like. We have a state senator here who is a complete gun nut and radical Republican who I have come to love. As a matter of fact my very Progressive state senator loves her too and works closely with her on CPS issues. I do not agree with this radical Republican (and few of her followers) in much else, but still I have learned to respect their take and find many of them quite charming ~ and they are intelligent, fierce "pro bono" adversaries in court, they know their rights, they know the law and they are not afraid to exercise them. My "Progressive" representative on the other hand, is a CPS tool ~ but she used to be a CASA and those (mostly) childless women are beyond clueless about the kids they represent.

The exception is Conservative Christians making tons of money from government funding for taking kids and putting them in a "better" place. Like that Idaho Shopping Network woman and millionaire nut whose "non-profit" and "Christian" adoption agency was taken to task for kidnapping 3rd world kids from their country, their homes and families. This dummass should be facing the same for low income American kids. Michelle Bachman is a prime example of that bunch and they are beyond disgusting. In NYC I know a Muslim family whose child was legally kidnapped by these people. They saw nothing wrong with placing this child in a wingnut "Christian" family who immediately began to violate this family's most sacred beliefs ~ feeding him pork, forcing him to go to their church, and teaching him his faith was "from the devil". When the horrified falsely accused birth family asked that, at the very least, this child be placed with a Muslim family, CPS ignored it, indeed then they tried to say in court that the birth family were "terrorists". As a Christian who respects other people's faith, indeed my own faith is strengthened from spiritual shaing with people of other faiths, I work to ensure this kind of crap stops, and I wish I were making this up ...

It is time to speak up. In your state of CA there are some awesome family preservation groups who have lived through much of the same nightmares for which you speak. As you may know, CA is the state from which other DCS agencies in other states model their CPS programs. But in the 9th Circuit Court findings in the case Humphreys vs County of Los Angeles the justices in this case say that this oft modeled System is not trustworthy and that they cannot believe many of these CPS allegations because of the many deep flaws in this System.

This case was about a couple who had been falsely accused and that was cleared, but they sued LA County because they discovered that they were still on a state-wide (and actually nation-wide) publicly accessed list CPS keeps (and this happens in all states). This list for "founded" allegations goes with any "founded" accused for the rest of their lives ~ with less than 25 days for the accused to refute these allegations or this list will keep these accused on it forever. This is bad enough, but the "unfounded" accused will also still stay on that list for 7 years. This list is not only on the same list as sex offenders, it can be accessed by landlords, employers, anyone, thus blocking the falsely accused from housing, work and labeling them with their communities where they live.

But the court addressed other issues related to this case as well. For one thing, this case specifically covered the false allegations the Humphreys had endured. CPS has a supposed "checks and balanced" system in place to investigate these false allegations made by their agency. However their "checks and balances" consists of them "checking and balancing themselves" with nobody independent looking into these cases that do not have any CPS bones in the game. In truth it ewas shown in this case that CPS "investigators" are the foxes watching the chicken coop ~ and although in they themselves admitted that even in this situation, over 70% of their allegations are false.

The courts told this "model" DCS that without anyone independent of CPS looking into these things, they frankly found that they had a hard time believing even those abysmal admissions of 70-80% error rates. These judges saw that not enough was being done about these "investigations" that put people on this public list I mentioned above, which includes convicted sex offenders alongside these CPS admitted falsely accused. The court saw a problem that these CPS accusers think it is enough to be "investigating" themselves about their own accusations that puts people on this list for the rest of their lives. This is ridiculous, especially with the lack of turnaround time for anyone to protest these allegations ~ IMO it is a travesty that the court thinks that 20 freaking days is enough time to respond against these allegations or you are on a list that can prevent you from work, housing, and a career for the rest of your life.

So people in your state are working on this corruption and though it may be painful to raise up these issues again, your story could be important to show how long standing and damaging these people have been to your family to show the damage that has been done to you and your loved ones. Also it is important that we Progressives speak up because the political division is causing any Progressives with clout to hear these "Tea Baggers" who are for the most part, right on the money about this issue, even if they are not about other issues. It is also important to teach these folks a safety net is important for anyone who needs it, that most people needing it do not "chose" poverty, they are caught in an institution that is nearly possible to escape, and that this safety net keeps us all better off because it does not allow anyone to be disenfranchised. What comes for them, WILL come for the rest of us if we do not stop it.

This posting is meant to be a pep talk, to let you know there are others near you who are also dealing with this crap right this minute because it continues to damage so many. An attorney in CA who is taking on this System in a class action law suit told me he has also seen this harvesting of children in low income complexes as well as other places. It has only gotten worse because of the lack of voices speaking up against it.

If you are interested, PM me and I will give you some contacts if are you are up to it. I do understand however if you are not able to do this from the trauma for life it causes, not to mention other issues such as work, health and a lack of resources in our lives preventing us from doing much. And if you just want to talk, I am here.