August 28, 2003
Dear Mr. Tokasz,
After reading your article “Failing the Children” printed August 24, 2003. It is very apparent that you have only punched a single hole in a vast can of worms. I am appalled by the apathy and total lack of concern for the children and families of Erie County.
How unbelievable that three children are dead at the hands of the very people entrusted to protect them, Erie County Child Protective Services. How mortifying that Erie County Districts Attorney is so naive to believe he needed to wait until the third child was dead before it caught his attention. Why were the lives of the first and second children so unimportant? What kind of thought, if any goes into such a statement? “When you have three in one year – one you can understand…” No, I can not understand. Is there a shred of humanity is the man?
Where are the advocates for children and families being destroyed by Child Protection services? Why aren’t the people employed by the county ever held accountable for the devastation they cause. Why doesn’t family court enforce the rights of citizens as stated in the constitution? Why is the accepted? Why don’t family court judges ever questions the actions of Child Protection workers, lawyers, and law guardians.
As for the case workers unbearable load of cases; they have created a self-perpetuating business. They create causes and label everyday parenting as neglect. They kidnap children from their homes and the schools based on anonymous opinions. Their investigation techniques are non existent. If they want there to be a case, there will be a case. Fact has no place in a family court room. Have you ever attended a family court session? If you do, get ready to leave your constitution rights outside of the court room door. They won’t be needed there.
I can barely contain my anger and disgust at the state of Social Services in Erie County. Perhaps, Debra Merrifield, commissioner of Social Services should be put to task. Does she have any clue of what is happening? How does she explain that a person can call a social worker every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for nine weeks and never have a call returned? How does she justify the constant and unending destruction of Erie Counties’ families by the very organization designed to provide services to enhance our lives.
The real question here is, what risk are you willing to take to truly expose the horrendous acts of the Erie County Department of Social Services? If you have children, you may want to turn a blind eye. You wouldn’t be the first. You see, they have already inflected unspeakable harm upon my three children. My oldest will never be able to go to the office at school without an overwhelming fear of being kidnapped again. My youngest will never understand why they can’t have a Mommy at home. Yet, my three year struggle with Child Protective Services continues. They have torture and terrorized my children, my family, and me for three long years, with no end in site. Due process?
I offer you this; there are thousands of families in Erie County suffering at the hands of Child Protective Services. If you are really interested in understanding what is happening in family court and Child Protective Services, talk to the people most affected by their inhuman tactics, the parents and the children.
I am a lifelong resident of Erie County. I used to be proud to say I was born, raised and educated here in Buffalo. This no longer applies. I an ashamed and appalled at a local government too concerned with casinos instead of families, children, and education; elected officials who have no ability to plan for the future, who continue to be penny smart and dollar stupid. What you have tapped into is just a small part of a larger picture. You see, Erie County is destroying itself from within, one family at a time – with Child Protective Services leading the way. Without our children, we surely have no future.
I implore you to speak to the people in the heart of the matter. As a member of VOCAL (Victims of Child Abuse Laws), I can put you in contact with many families trying to survive the attacks of social services. VOCAL will be holding monthly meetings at the Gloria Parks Community Center on Main Street in Buffalo beginning today and continuing on the forth Thursday of each month. You are welcome to stop by and speak with the people most affected. The meeting will be held from 6:30 – 8:30.
Jessica Vitale-Elgie
Dear Jay Tokasz;
I am writing concerning your article entitled: 'Failing the children'. Why such a mild title? I would have titled it 'Children Die, Child Protective Services responsible'. You were way to kind to the agency.
We the people have given this agency money and power to seize children and still children die. In too many cases they remove children needlessly; 'When in doubt take the children out' is the phylosophy and still children die. Families are destroyed and children psychologically damaged because of this agency. Are we as a society really improving things for our children and families or are we just making this agency wealthy, powerful, and perpetuating jobs for people in a system that is doing more harm than good!
Check the statistics. Do more kids die in foster care or at the hands of their parents? NCCANS Statistics show that children are ten times more likely to be abused in foster care than at the hands of their natural parents. Yet, across the United States, we place more and more children in foster care every year.
I for one am appalled at the District Attorney, Frank Clark's remark that 'in one year, one you can understand'. If it was your child, or grandchild, or sibling could you understand it? When children are removed and placed in foster care for 'the best interest of the child' are any deaths expected? If so, no child should ever be removed. The medical society's ethic of 'if you can not do any good, then do no harm' should apply here as well. It is not just Erie County. This is a nation wide problem. Please, do the research and serve the people and make them aware of what is going on. Reform is needed and has been needed for many years. Repeal CAPTA, reform the family court system and make CPS workers accountable for their actions. This system needs to be policed. Throwing more money and case workers at the problem, will that really do it or cause more chaos?
What is needed is stricter guidelines for defining abuse, less children in foster care, and more concentration and better efforts on the real abuse cases. Take abuse cases out of family courts. Child
abuse is a crime and should be tried as such in a criminal court of law ensuring constitutional rights and protections to the accused and due process of law.
If Deborah Merrifield is not commenting on the specifics of Child Protective Services investigations into these deaths, why? The public is entitled to know! We demand to know! It is about time we know!
Sincerely,
Mary Jo Marceau-Hawthorne, Vice President of Victims of Child Abuse Laws in NY (VOCAL NY)
My concern is the recent signing of the Adoption Promotion Act. For some children who are languishing in foster care and being bounced from foster home to foster home, this could be a good thing but for many more it could be a horrible nightmare. The area of my concern is what is to stop the misuse of this money and protect children from being pawns in the game of 'when in doubt take them out'?
So what is the problem? Pennsylvania State Congressman Joseph Pitts claims there are 542,000 children in foster care. Why do we have so many children in foster care?
Well, according to Richard Wexler in his book 'Wounded Innocence', "Several studies have found that up to half the children who stay in foster care for more than six months as a result of voluntary placement never go home." And the children that do not get placed voluntarily, what happens to them? According an article by Bill Poovey, an Associated Press writer, in the Tennessee "the average time a child is held in state custody during litigation for alleged abuse or neglect is slightly more than two years.". One poor child, that 15 days old when taken, spent six years in foster care before he was returned to his parents because of a legal oversight and this is not uncommon. "In 1989 the federal government spent more than eight times as much money keeping kids in foster care as it did on programs to keep children out of foster care." according to Richard Wexler. Folks, we are not trying to improve and help families but we are destroying them and building new ones. Scrap the old and move onto the new better improved and engineered family.
For every confirmed allegation of child abuse there are three false allegations. Many cases are just related to poverty. The American Humane Association states that abusive families "tend to be involved in deprivation of necessities or neglect more frequently than any other kid of maltreatment, which is related to their economic status." During the time that allegations are being investigated many children are stripped searched, interrogated by child protective workers, psychiatrists, counselors, psychologists, and lawyers, and taken screaming and terrified from their homes to be placed in foster care, group home facilities, or other institutions. We are abusing three times as many children as we are helping.
It is extremely difficult to prove innocence when accused of allegations of abuse or neglect. That's right, you have to prove your innocence! The family court of law does not have a jury and children are removed based upon the lowest burden of proof, a preponderance of evidence or relaxed standard of evidence and in most cases this amounts to fears and suspicions. The bar to convict is at the lowest level in jurisprudence. We have severly eroded the parent and the child's fourteenth amendment guaranteed right of liberty which can not be taken away without due process of the law." " "In fact to the child savers you are never innocent." says Richard Wexler.
Benjamin Wolf is quoted as saying, "There's a public relations reason why agencies like this remove lots of children who don't have to be removed. They are terrified of the public reaction if they leave one child in his or her home and something goes wrong. But they know that thousands can suffer in foster care and no one will notice". A report by the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children stated, " The main reason for the lack of increased adoptions is that the reimbursement rate is still not high enough... This fee level motivates many agencies....[Agencies] may be forced to compromise the child's interests if the financial viability of the agency itself is threatened". Peter Forsythe, the director of the Clark Foundation's Program for Children confirmed financial incentives as a reason for overuse of foster care." Why should it be any different with adoption incentives? Are we terminating parental rights too soon and abusing the adoption option. More money will only sideline that noble intention, 'the best interests of the child'. Can it be best for a child to be needlessly adopted into another family, told to forget his biological family. Can that be made right by the reasoning Congressman Pitts states when he says that adoptive families make more money than biological families and therefore can better provide? What about the single biological parent traded in for two "normal" parents? Is this better for the child who is emotionally bonded to his or her biological parent?
And what about the four starved but adopted Jackson boys in New Jersey? Is this a sign of what is to come? The safest place for any child is statistically with his or her biological parent. Shouldn't we try to preserve that when we can and not play so fast and loose with children's lives and all for the sake of trying to do what is 'in the best interests of the child'. In the majority of cases the best interest of the child is to be with the biological parents. And if we do the right thing for the majority it should follow easily to do the right thing for the minority of children who do need good foster or adoptive parents because then the cream of the crop, those of real noble purpose, and the money to help support them will be available for them.
I feel one of the strongest arguments I have heard is from Marcia Lowry who said, " The question for Congress, I think is ... are you going to try and attach some strings to this huge amount of federal money that you are giving to the states to damage kids? ... There is a shortage of resources ... but I am telling you that if you put twice as much money into this system tomorrow, you would have twice as many screwed up kids." We need to change the way we do business not the amount it costs.
Mary Jo Marceau-Hawthorne,
Vice President of Victims of Child Abuse Laws in
NY (VOCAL NY)
P.O. Box 94
Fairport, NY 14450-998
1-877-453-7668
On 2/19/2004, members of VOCAL NY met with Senator Mary Lou Rath in Buffalo, NY. Senator Rath is the recent chair of the New York State Senate's Committee on Children and Families.
To recap the main topics:
1) Dual Track legislation proposal by Senator Rath.
2) Accountability and oversight of the child welfare system.
3) Emphasis on declining numbers of children in the foster care system by curbing un-necessary removal of children by the state.
4) Guilty until proven innocent and justice for all.
5) Emphasis on Family Preservation and kinship care.
6) Too many false allegations, for example in one year, 70% reported across the country were unfounded.
7) Punitive penalties for those that knowingly report false allegations.
8) Public defenders are not adequately defending those accused of child abuse. Oversight needed.
9) Parent advocacy groups needed in communities to provide public awareness, advocacy for children and families, and push for needed reforms.
10) In many cases the only family preservation services provided is supervised visits. Child welfare agencies need to make a real commitment to family preservation instead of the emphasis being foster care.
11) A legislative round table meeting in Buffalo and hearings to be held in Dunkirk and Rochester areas.
The Senator and two others from her staff, Barbara Demerest and Christopher A. Cardillo, joined four VOCAL NY representatives, Jessica Vitale, Eula Nailor, Louis Ezee, and Mary Jo Marceau-Hawthorne in a forty-five minute dialog.
The Senator listened as a Eula, a grand mother told the story of how she has lost her grand daughter who was sexually abused while a foster child in the child welfare system. Louis Ezee shared his story of how the justice system failed and sentenced an innocent man to 150 years in prison and the lack of assistance he has received from the state since his release.
The Senator extended a gracious invitation to include representatives from VOCAL NY in the above mentioned hearings.