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When CPS Kidnaps Children For Money

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The following article was published in “The New American.” There have been many stories, recently, about the atrocities of bureaucratic government overreach, in to the lives of families, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s the dirtiest little secret of our time, and needs to be exposed. Please read, and Share!

“If I have it my way, you’ll never see your mommy and daddy again.” These cruel words were reportedly uttered to eight-year-old Jaxon Adams by a Missouri doctor working closely with Child Protective Services. While we don’t know if this statement will prove prophetic, the fact is that some children will never see their parents again — or, at least, not for a very long time — because of CPS.

And it has been alleged that many of these youngsters are essentially kidnapped — for money.

The New American reported Thursday on the plight of Cleave and Erica May Rengo, a young Washington State couple whose three children were, many say, seized from them unjustly. And far from being alone, the Rengos have now joined a legion of parents whose kids have been abducted by the state.

But these are all abused children, correct? Virtually always. There is a question, however, as to who their abusers are. Is it the parents?

Or the state?

Or both?

This clearly varies on a case by case basis, but there is one constant of which many are unaware:

Every time CPS seizes a child, it gets money from the federal government.

Lots of money.

And critics have warned that this has a corruptive effect. As New York Times best-selling author Dr. Joseph Mercola wrote in 2011:

[D]id you know that the money funneled to states and child protective services actually encourages them to accuse you of child abuse and even murder, and to take your children, even if you’re not guilty, and even though they have absolutely no proof that you harmed your child?

Horrendous as it sounds, it’s true: child abuse has become a business — an industry of sorts — that actually pays states to legally abduct your children and put them up for adoption!

Mercola then quotes a source informing about a California politician who pledged to expose this practice:

“Most people are not aware of how much profit many of these services provide the county,” John Van Doorn told a San Diego newspaper. “These profits are hard to ignore and even more difficult to pass up.”

Counties can bring in thousands of dollars in excess revenue for each child in foster care, Van Doorn said — which means they have more incentive to remove children from their families than to keep families intact. “As such … our county government is a major factor in the dismantling of families and/or destruction of children’s lives,” he said.

No one has to tell this to Michael Minkoff, a father who alleges that his children were unjustly taken by CPS. Likening many American local governments to the Chinese regime — which has been accused of stealing children to profit from selling them for adoption — he levels a serious charge: CPS standards for seizing children aren’t just governed by whether they’re abused, but also whether they’re “marketable.” He writes:

While we were in LA fighting to get our children back, a little black boy was beaten to death by his step-father. Neighbors had called CPS six times over the course of a few months. No one ever showed up.

Do you know how many calls it took for someone to show up and take our beautiful white baby twin girls? One call. And CPS took them on the basis of one person’s testimony. And we were assumed guilty from the start. Three months later, the case was dismissed and not a single claim was upheld, yet LA County got three months worth of Federal money out of our kids, and so far, they got it with impunity. In fact, if it hadn’t been for God’s grace and good lawyers, we might have been fighting for much longer to no avail.

While we can’t know if profit was the motivation in the earlier-mentioned Rengo children’s seizure, they certainly fit the profile of “adoptable” kids. They’re white, young (all under a year old), seem attractive and, except for some eczema suffered by the eldest, are apparently healthy.

And many would say Cleave and Erica May Rengo fit the profile of persecuted parents. Having home-birthed their last two children, being believing Christians, and preferring alternative medicine to the conventional variety, they likely wouldn’t have been in favor with notoriously liberal CPS social workers. And part of the justification for seizing their kids also raises suspicion: CPS viewed as neglect the Rengos’ refusal to treat their eldest child’s eczema with steroidal medication. Eczema is a skin condition that can cause itching but is not life-threatening, and the parents were treating it with natural remedies.

In contrast to the Rengo children, eight-year-old Jaxon Adams has been a sickly little boy, having been diagnosed with epilepsy and a number of food allergies, among other things. According to Terri LaPoint at MedicalKidnap.com, however, these health issues paled in comparison to what the Adamses would suffer at the hands of Dr. Amber Hoffman of Children’s Mercy Hospital and her CPS allies.

After being told by hospital doctors that Jaxon’s problems were all psychosomatic, his parents wanted a second opinion.

They were told they were “not allowed to do so,” reports LaPoint.

Furthermore, they were informed that they wouldn’t be allowed to change pediatricians, either.

The Adamses were being accused of abuse. To be precise, “medical abuse, medical neglect, lack of nutrition, lack of supervision … and psychological abuse,” wrote LaPoint. The lack of supervision charge was, LaPoint tells us, based on Jaxon’s falling off a scooter upon fainting and was issued even though his mother, Tiffany, was with him when the accident occurred.

LaPoint quotes a therapist who told Tiffany, after learning of the impending CPS child seizure, “I cannot believe this. You guys are GOOD parents.” And of the day (Sept. 17) CPS showed up to take Jaxon, LaPoint writes, “The investigator had tears in her eyes when she admitted that she did not want to take Jaxon, ‘but they’re making me.’ It came down to one statement, with no charges being filed, and CPS admitting that they had not reviewed the medical records. Dr. Hoffman had called CPS immediately after the meeting with the Adams[es] where they asked for a second opinion.”

But who were the real abusers? As LaPoint tells us about what transpired when Jaxon was taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital by CPS:

Dr. Hoffman came into the child’s room when he was crying his heart out missing his family. She told him to suck it up and stop crying. Her words that she told him were cruel beyond belief, as he later confided to his sister:

“If I have it my way, you’ll never see your mommy and daddy again.”

Because Jaxon tried to call his parents, the staff took the phone out of his hospital room.

A couple of times, he got out of his room heading for the stairwell, in a vain attempt to escape.

There were signs on his door saying, “Under CPS custody,” and “Parents Not Allowed In.” As his mother says, “He can read.”

And Jaxon’s and the Rengo children’s stories are just two of a multitude we can read at MedicalKidnap.com and elsewhere.

Of course, it’s said there are three sides to every story: his, hers, and the Truth. Moreover, a site such as MedicalKidnap.com obviously has a tacitly acknowledged bias (note that a “bias” isn’t by definition negative), and logic dictates that not every parent claiming CPS overreach has clean hands. But what of the CPS’s bias? And is it reasonable to believe it’s untainted by money when there’s so much of it to be had? As former Oregon prosecutor Robert Weidner put it on a 2008 edition of the show “On Second Thought”:

It’s a viper pit when you go into that courtroom…. And they pounce on you, and it’s all driven by money, all of the taking of the children that is going on right now…. They get $85,000 from the federal government every time they take one of those little ones and put them up for adoption. So everyone’s feeding off of this federal money that is coming in, and all they’re focused on is getting the money — they talk about keeping their numbers up.

How many good parents have found their number was up because of this mercenary motivation?

Family Court Abuse

Court Appointed Guardianship Abuses Run Rampant in American Courts

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Along with all the other issues that are eroding our culture and our republic this is, what I consider to be, the most destructive aspect to America, today. Family courts, and the huge bureaucracy that has become “family service” type departments, (Children and Family Services, Child Protective Agencies, Guardians Ad Litem, etc.) are cutting the American family off at the knees by intervening, often times against the will of the family, in the care and oversight of children and adults, when extended family is available and willing to take responsibility. When you read this post, that appeared in Rebel Pundit, understand that is NOT an isolated incident. It’s happening all over the country, in every state and county, right under your nose. H/T to MF for sending this to me.

Following multiple RebelPundit reports on guardianship abuse, our latest investigation reveals this problem is widespread across the country and there is top to bottom corruption in court appointed guardianship in Harris County, Texas.

After speaking to victims, lawyers, and activists, the investigation reveals that the probate court in Harris County works much like a good ole boys club where judges receive campaign contributions from lawyers who then receive favorable rulings. In a court with little oversight, several victims suffered physical and mental abuse and were left to effectively be euthanized.

Guardianship is a court created power to take decisions of healthcare and finances away from those the court has deemed incapacitated and unable to make those decisions for themselves.

Initially started to protect the elderly and mentally challenged from being taken advantage of, it has often been corrupted, having the opposite effect. Those perfectly healthy who are effectively jailed and held against their wills, often end up in nursing homes away from their families.

Sherry Johnston told RebelPundit her mother was one of those victims. Her mother died in September 2014, weighing less than thirty pounds her normal weight. She provided Rebel Pundit with a series of photos which showed bruising, bed sores, and she made a You Tube video of doctors and guardianship professionals refusing to provide her mother with treatment, instead choosing to send her to hospice care to die.

Johnston said her ordeal started when a family dispute led to an order placing her mother, Willie Jo Mills, in guardianship. Rather than choosing a family member to be her guardian, Judge Christine Butts, appointed David Dexel to be the guardian.

The judge also appointed a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) and an Attorney ad Litem to oversee the case, all at the expense of the estate. Rather than allowing Mills to live with Johnston, as both wanted, Dexel placed Mills in the Silverado Nursing Home in Kingwood, Texas, in the spring 2009.

The estate was charged $7,000 a month for the care.

“At Sliverado she was abused, isolated and neglected,” Johnston told RebelPundit.

Dexel, whose name came up repeatedly in the investigation, is out of the office until December, according to his law office, and didn’t respond with a statement on this and other cases.

According to campaign finance records, Dexel contributed $1,000 to Butts’ campaign while the GAL in the case, Howard Reiner, contributed $2,500 to Butts campaign in 2013.

Reiner didn’t return a phone message left at his law office.

Butts was re-elected in November 2014.

Johnston said her mother’s estate has been charged nearly $300,000 in total fees by court professionals, including lawyers like Dexel and Reiner who charged between $250-300 per hour for their services.

Debbie Valdez, President of Guardianship Reform Advocates for the Disabled and Elderly (GRADE) is not surprised and said poorly thought out legislation has led to problems in the State of Texas and Harris County.

She told Rebel Pundit that her group has received complaints against three of the four elected probate judges in Harris County.

The most notorious judge is Mike Woodwho has been featured in a number of exposes in Houstonarea media. Valdez said in 2005, Woods was one of several judges to testify in front of the Texas legislature to argue for more ambitious guardianship laws, claiming elderly would be victimized without them.

The result was bill SB 6, which Valdez told RebelPundit has done the opposite, leading to far more corruption and abuse.

One problem is that the law turned Texas into a court initiated guardianship state. By this Valdez explained, once any report is made of an individual to probate court, they are immediately put into the guardianship system even before its determined, if in fact, the ward is incapacitated.

“We see court initiated guardianship as very dangerous.”

Read the rest of the story on Rebel Pundit.

Family Court Abuse, Judicial Reform

What Would You Do If The Government Took Your Child? …

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… And there were no allegations of  abuse, educational or physical neglect. Stories like this one fly under the radar of main stream America, but in reality are more common that you think.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM186PrmUTU]

Here is another story of a family who is suffering at the dismantling of their family at the hands of government.

As the year during which Chloe was forced into the state DCFS system wore on, she was placed in mental health wards –where state money naturally followed her internment — even though there was never any determination that she had mental problems, she was given birth control pills by planned parenthood against her religious parent’s desires, she was sexually exploited by the 20-year-old male friend of a “foster parent” — and was raped three times by this man who lived in the same apartment complex as the foster family — and finally, after getting out of the system, left state custody pregnant.

In this case, as in so many others, the government stepped in and made decisions about a family, their parenting, and a child’s (teenager’s) well-being and unilaterally removed the child from her home. After a couple of years in state care she is raped and pregnant. Tell me again why this is allowed to happen and heads are not rolling? What would you do, if this were your child?

Uncategorized

Are Family Courts Fabricating Evidence To Take Your Children Away?

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An appeals court in California thinks so. A landmark case for parental rights was decided in favor of the the mother in this case, which is almost unheard of. In fact, most Americans don’t really understand what goes on in family courts. Many, who have been entangled in there, across the country, have experienced intrusive and abusive treatment by family court government agencies. Many parents have their children taken away and many have experienced situations where the government agencies have fabricated evidence in order to do so. This case is typical of what many experience in America today. I hope to be able to bring you more good news, like this, in the future, and educate you on what the “system” has worked so hard to conceal.

In its opinion, the Court of Appeal voiced its concerns over what happened to Ms. Fogarty-Hardwick: “Stated plainly, the outcome of this case cannot be dismissed as merely the unfortunate product of a runaway jury. The evidence adduced at trial obviously caused both the jury and the judge to conclude not only that something seriously wrong was done to Fogarty-Hardwick in this case, but also that the wrongful conduct was not an isolated incident. That conclusion is something the County should be taking very seriously.”

 

Judicial Reform

Sunlight May Not Be Enough To Disinfect A Corrupt Missouri Judiciary

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Better Courts for Missouri released a statement, today, outlining a judge’s dereliction of duty as reported by the St Louis Post Dispatch. In the Post’s investigation, they found that Judge, Barbara T. Peebles took a two-week vacation to China, without reassigning her docket, and left her clerks in charge to make judicial decisions. Apparently, this was not the first time something like this has happened in Judge Peebles’ court, and the St. Louis Public Defender was quoted as saying that it was common knowledge the Peebles’ clerks acted on her behalf in the past. At least 350 cases were handled by court clerks in her most recent two-week absence.

What is even more disturbing is that no one, lawyers, clerks, officers of the court system felt the need to report this behavior to the proper authorities of the Missouri Bar Association. It is obvious there is a brotherhood among the judicial network that covers for its own.

Supreme Court rules state: A lawyer who knows that a judge has committed a violation of applicable rules of judicial conduct that raises a substantial question as to the judge’s fitness for office shall inform the appropriate authority.

It looks as if the passing of the buck now begins in the St. Louis Circuit Courts. While its presiding judge blamed Peebles and her lack of management over her own court, what of his own decision to sweep any disciplinary action, in this case, under the rug? While cases such as this should be reported to the Commission of Retirement, Removal and Discipline for investigation, it appears that Ohmer will just reassigned Peebles to another court. Apparently because discipline of this type, not having been administered to another judge in over 30 years, was deemed as too harsh a punishment to do so in this case.

St. Louis Circuit Court Presiding Judge Steven Ohmer called the conduct of both Peebles and her clerks “wrong.” He blamed an “overall lack of management and supervision.” …

… Ohmer said he considered — but decided against — removing Peebles from that division after the full scale of the problem was revealed. It would be the kind of action he said has not happened in 30 years. Next month, she will move to a civil trial division as planned.

Better Courts for Missouri, “a coalition of Missourians from all walks of life, dedicated to fixing the method by which Missouri judges are selected.” as described on their web page, was formed to bring “Openness, Accountability, Independence and Excellence in our Judiciary,” and has worked to inform citizens of the dishonor and corruption in the Missouri Plan, which is the method now used in Missouri to select judges.

At the end of BCfM’s Get Involved page, they state:

The judiciary is too important to leave in the control of unaccountable special interests who stand to gain from picking judges in secret. Please join us as we fight to protect the rule of law.

The work of BCfM has been to promote openness and accountability in the selection process, which is absent from the current plan. However, there seems to be no mention, on their website, of the provision in the Missouri Constitution, that provides the power and authority of the State Legislature to impeach judges who are derelict in their responsibilities. While sunlight would certainly provide the public with ability to identify the corruption that has been allowed to mutate in the judiciary over the decades, there still seems to be no catalyst to provide discipline to those who have abused their power and authority.

Article 7: Section 1. All elective executive officials of the state, and judges of the supreme court, courts of appeals and circuit courts shall be liable to impeachment for crimes, misconduct, habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office.

Article 7: Section 2. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried before the supreme court, except that the governor or a member of the supreme court shall be tried by a special commission of seven eminent jurists to be elected by the senate. The supreme court or special commission shall take an oath to try impartially the person impeached, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of five-sevenths of the court or special commission.

It would appear that the brotherhood among the judicial network has extended to the legislature since there has been no judge impeached, in Missouri, since the civil war according to the Missouri Court’s website:

Before the commission was created in 1972, an impeachment trial was the only means by which a judge could be removed from office. Since the Civil War era, however, the House has impeached only two Missouri judges – both St. Louis County circuit judges and both in the 1960s. In both cases, the judges resigned from office before the Supreme Court held their trials. While the impeachment mechanism is still available, the commission serves as a more efficient method of ensuring judges adhere to the code of conduct and remain subject to disciplinary review even for ethical lapses that may not rise to the level of impeachable offenses.

Would this be the same commission that is charged with oversight of the St. Louis Circuit Courts? It would also appear that the commission, and any other form of authority, from the circuit court to the legislature, has worked very hard to cover for their own since we all know there is much corruption in the judicial branch of government, and there has been very little, if nothing at all, done to stop its escalation of corruption.

Uncategorized

Oppressive Reporting Legislation S1877 Stalled

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Homeschool Legal Defense issued a statement, late today, in which they reported that S1877 was stalled during the hearing process. In the alert sent on Monday, the HSLDA described the consequences of such a bill as promoting a police state which could potentially create situations making it more difficult to address the needs and identify true abuse.

A link is provided here for you to watch the hearings and see for yourself the arguments made for and against the legislation.

This information was cross posted on HomeschoolingUnited.wordpress.com

Family Court Abuse

U.S. Senate Hearing To Mandate Oppressive Reporting Laws For Child Neglect/Abuse

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We have outlined, here, some of the abuses of courts and government departments that oversee families and domestic issues. Tomorrow, there is a bill that goes on the floor for debate that would require mandatory reporting by all adults of child abuse and neglect. While, of course, anyone should do so who is truly a witness to such bad acts, but a law requiring/mandating such action would absolutely lead to privacy violations within families as well as false allegations of abuse and neglect which would in turn clutter up the system, making it even more difficult to identify those truly at risk. And do we really want to increase the federal government’s roll in social services investigations.

S. 1877  is due for a Senate hearing tomorrow and you are urged to contact your representatives now to discourage this harmful and oppressive legislation.

U.S. Senate

U.S. House of Representatives

Homeschool Legal Defense (HSLA) offers some background on the issue:

Background:
S. 1877 will amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) to require—for the first time ever—every single state that receives federal funding under CAPTA to force every single adult to be a mandatory reporter of child abuse or neglect. Currently, most states only require certain people (e.g., doctors and teachers) to be mandatory reporters. HSLDA opposes this for the following reasons:

  • The federal government should not force the states to make every single adult a mandatory reporter of child abuse and neglect as a condition for receiving certain federal money. This is a violation of the principle of federalism. The federal government has no constitutional authority to force the states to make every adult a mandatory reporter.
  • Forcing the states to make every single adult a mandatory reporter with no exceptions will lead to a police-state environment, where every adult is forced to act as an informer against friends, family, and neighbors, or face possible charges. There are grave threats to liberty and personal privacy that could result from this.
  • Forcing every adult to be a mandatory reporter will likely lead to a massive increase in child abuse and neglect accusations and subsequent investigations. Individuals will likely report suspected child abuse and neglect out of an abundance of caution so they do not face possible charges. Instead of protecting children, this will (1) harm innocent families as they face baseless investigations, and (2) waste the time of social workers on baseless investigations, instead of protecting children who are actually being abused or neglected.

S. 1877 also creates a massive federally funded educational campaign and training program to inform citizens about the new mandatory reporting of child abuse laws in the states. HSLDA opposes this for the following reasons:

  • In a time of federal budget deficits, the federal government should not be spending $5 million to $10 million per year on a program that should be left to the states.
  • Although the program is established in S. 1877 as a federal grant program to the states, the secretary of Health and Human Services is given the authority to “develop and disseminate guidance and information on best practices for” the entire educational campaign and training program. This could easily lead to the federal government mandating to the states the entire reporting campaign.

In conclusion, S. 1877 will lead to a massive increase in child abuse and neglect investigations upon families. The stated purpose of S. 1877’s mandatory reporting expansion, along with the education campaign and training program is to “improve reporting” of child abuse and neglect. The bill will give states new federal grants to set up“experimental, model, and demonstration programs for testing innovative approaches and techniques that may improve reporting of and response to suspected and known incidents of child abuse or neglect by adults to the State child protective service agencies or to law enforcement agencies.”

Not only will S. 1877 require every single adult to be a mandatory reporter, S. 1877 will incentivize states to create untested, “experimental” programs that will increase the number of child abuse and neglect reports to CPS agencies.

HSLDA has seen firsthand how malicious or ignorant child abuse and neglect allegations have destroyed innocent families. A family has few protections against the power of CPS agencies. And even if a CPS investigation is closed as unfounded, the trauma to a young child, to an innocent family as a stranger (albeit maybe a well-intentioned stranger) enters the home and threatens to remove the children, is lasting and profound.

S. 1877 is unnecessary. The states—using federal money under the existing CAPTA statute—are fully capable of protecting children from legitimate abuse and neglect. S. 1877 will create a massive police state of reporting and will lead to unnecessary abuse and neglect investigations.

Elections, Judicial Reform

Bill Randles: Candidate For Governor With A Judicial Reform Platform

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Could it be true? Is there a politician, a lawyer no less, who would actually advocate for judicial reform as part of his campaign platform? Well, it is possible, in Missouri’s 2012 gubernatorial GOP primary race. Bill Randles is traveling the state, trying to gain name recognition, and gather grass roots support his bid for the governor’s office.

What a great way to get the attention of the average voter who has been unlucky enough to be assaulted and abused by the court system! Campaign on Judicial Reform. Randles has a plan to reign in the abuse of authority and corruption that many know is commonplace in the judicial branch of government. Actual deadlines and measures of accountability for judges? Yep. That’s what he is proposing. Can you imagine how black robes across the state are squirming at the thought of actually being required to do their jobs under scrutiny?

Bill Randles is a Harvard Law School graduate who has had successful law practices in St. Louis and Kansas City. He and his wife, Bev, made the decision to leave private practice and run for state wide office sometime in 2008 after his Harvard classmate, Barack Obama, was elected to office. This is his first attempt to run for political office. In the current political climate, some feel not having a political past is a plus. But, a lack of political experience does not mean there isn’t a clear understanding of the process and a vision for the future. Watch the video and see for yourself, how he plans to bring the judicial branch of government back to a reasonable and citizen friendly steward, to serve rather than violate the people.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5yjF7Ev6zk]

You probably haven’t heard much about Randles or his campaign up to this point as it seems the media is trying to keep his name off the radar. The St. Louis Post Dispatch has intentionally kept his name out of news reports even though he is the only officially declared candidate for the GOP nomination to date. Keep your eyes on this guy and an ear to the ground. Randles has several concrete stances on many controversial issues, and unlike most campaigning politicians, he isn’t afraid to put himself and his opinions and ideas out there.