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Removing the Vail, destroying the corruption and helping true victimsof Child abuse
Here are some suggestions that could make DCFS a model for saving and helpingchildren and families.When we remove children from the time tested family system and put them into anyother system, we had better admit it is not the ideal. It is a substitute. We had better notdo it unless the original family setting cannot easily be fixed.
The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal,well-meaning but without understanding.--- Louis D. Brandeis All seems infected that the infected spy, as all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.--- Alexander Pope
Here is a small portion of a a sworn affidavit by Mr. Howard Fishman M.E.D. M.S.W.
Excerpts taken from Child Maltreatment 2002: Key FindingsNational Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect InformationOn the Web at:nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/factsheets/canstats.cfmThe Numbers Tell the Tale . . .or Do They?by Howard Fishman
Readers of the FMSF Newsletter will not be surprised to learn that the data regardingchild maltreatment need to be parsed carefully. They are revealing both in terms of whatis included and what is omitted. Just a few of the most obvious questions raised by thesestatistics [1] will be discussed.It is reported that there were 2.6 million "referrals" to child welfare officials in 2002. Notmentioned is the fact that this number reflects a decrease of 500,000 reports comparedwith the 1997 data. We are not told whether this decrease indicates profoundimprovements in the parenting skills of America’s parents and, if so, who should becredited..What has not changed is the evidence of rampant child abuse hysteria. In 2002 – as in1997 --about 70% of all reports were not deemed worthy of investigation or weredetermined to be "unfounded" or "unsubstantiated." In pragmatic terms, what this meansis that two million innocent individuals or families were falsely accused in 2002. Theemotional and financial costs of these "erroneous" reports are ignored. Also unmentionedis the fact that despite laws sanctioning false reporting, such prosecutions almost never occur.
 
The report notes that "an estimated 896,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect in 2002." Seventy percent of these children were "victims" of neglect. There is no acknowledgment that "neglect" often means nothing more than"poverty" and that a significant majority of these children suffer no inflicted harm. Rather than providing needy families with appropriate social services, the current system seemsto prefer removing children in order to justify an extensive foster care program.Several critically important facts may help us better understand the data and the currentstate of child protection:1. Federal authorities continue to fail to segregate cases involving children who areabused or neglected while under state supervision or in state care. Several hundredchildren in these categories die every year, but it is difficult to obtain hard facts becausestate officials hide behind confidentiality laws. There is no question, however, but that children in state careare at significant risk of severe physical injury, molestation, and death.2. Between forty and sixty percent (depending upon jurisdiction) of children killed bytheir parents or other caregivers were already known to child protection authorities as being "at risk."3. The data reported by federal officials fail to include the ultimate outcomes of so-called"founded" cases. Whether pursued through administrative channels, civil proceedings, or criminal trials, approximately one-third to one-half of these cases result in a finding of noculpability by the alleged offender. Thus, we have an "error rate" (or, more pointedly, afalse accusation rate) of between 80 and 85 percent.4. The data regarding child sex abuse are particularly revealing. Contrary to theimpression created by the media and the sponsors of many professional conferences,sexual abuse is reported in only 10% of all cases. Further, among all parents who werereported to be abusers, less than 3 percent were associated with sexual abuse. .5. In many child protection agencies, the turnover rate among caseworkers is in excess of 30% annually. All too often, those who remain are largely ignorant of the professionalliterature and the hazards associated with leading, suggestive, manipulative, and coercivequestioning. The techniques for implanting memories in children are similar, if notidentical, to those employed by "recovered memory therapists." Another parallel is the belief that certain behaviors and "symptoms" are definitive indicators of sexual abuse,despite the fact that such beliefs have been consistently debunked in the reliable researchliterature. Consequently, the testimony of caseworkers is typically replete with myths and"junk science."Tragically, there is little political will to initiate comprehensive and fundamental reformof this dysfunctional and destructive system. Just as the national associations representingthe mental health professions have generally failed to challenge the unscientific practicesof "recovered memory" practitioners, those who might effect change in the child
 
 protection enterprise have avoided doing so despite blatant evidence of rampant injustice,ineffectiveness, and incompetence.
SO WHAT CAN WE DO
When I left the Senate hearings May 5
th
2006, I and a couple of Representatives met withChild protective services. They admitted that it looked like an injustice had taken place.They said that they would like to get it resolved. I pointed out the overwhelming number of times that DHS used their clout with the court to hide evidence or keep the court fromaccepting exculpatory information. I demonstrated that it was all done purposely. Theysaid that it was the Judge’s fault and that they cannot JUST let her go. The Judge has todo it. This is a trick that I hear done all over the country.The things we need to do are:1.Sever the partnership between the Juvenile court and all those that get paid byTITLE-IV-E money. They all work together as they have in my case andthousands each year, holding children in unsubstantiated cases as long as theycan. Most of the children taken are taken in cases never substantiated.2.Make the Title IV-E money roll able to title IV-B, where DHS will be paid to keepchildren at home. Right now 85% of the money is in taking away children fromtheir parents. Why did no one understand what would happen in a system such asthis?3.Make Child abuse a felony punishable by Jail time.4.Do not allow DHS to do the investigation. They do not investigate, they seek ONLY to validate. Do not allow them to train Law enforcement and stop allowinguntrained case workers to become State police officers without formal training.That just permeates society’s law enforcement with their falsifying methods. The police and State troopers know and understand rules of evidence.5.Mandate DHS to abide by the results of the real investigations performed by our law enforcement officers.6.Child protective Services and Judges are for all practical proposes unaccountableto anyone. Even the rich find it difficult. The poor have little chance. Betweenthese two many never get a chance to submit exculpatory information. Judges inArkansas and all across the nation give overwhelming deference to CPS. Often parents are not allowed to speak.7.The State should be mandated to pay all costs for the poor or others running out of money, to make sure the proceedings are fair. People are loosing everythingacross this nation in righteous loosing causes because they mortgage everything before the long pockets of the State thinks twice about it. If they loose they can bemade to pay everything back later.8.There should be a Citizen rotating commission of new people empowered to look anew from scratch at grievous cases. They should have the power to sanction,recommend sanctions and or empanel a grand Jury. Their aim should be towardCPS and other Government officials that normally cannot be touched because of immunities.
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