Court spanks social workers

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, April 18, 2003 | Ron Strom

[JohnHuang2]

Social workers who entered a private Christian school without a warrant and questioned a 10-year-old boy about corporal punishment violated the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Ruling in favor of parents in Milwaukee, Wis., the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday the government employees – Carla Heck, John Wichman and supervisor Christine Hansen – in probing alleged child abuse at Greendale Baptist Academy, violated both the Fourth and 14th Amendments.

"This is a tremendous victory for parental rights," said Steve Crampton, chief counsel for the Center for Law & Policy, which represented the parents in the case – John and Jane Doe v. Carla Heck, et al.

Crampton told WND, "This decision puts a stake in the ground telling [social workers], 'The law applies to you, too.'"

The case arose, Crampton says, when social workers from the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, which had been taken over by the state of Wisconsin, forced their way into the school over the objections of Principal Troy Bond, seized a 10-year-old boy with police assistance, and interviewed him about the school's policy of administering a "swat" as discipline in certain cases.

Based on the information obtained from the child, the Center for Law & Policy said in a statement, the social workers targeted the parents' disciplinary practices, questioning their own use of corporal punishment. Eventually, the social workers opened files on numerous families in the school and sought to remove the school's accreditation.

The court also held that the social workers violated the rights of parents when they threatened to remove their children from the home even though, in the words of Judge Daniel A. Manion, they "had no reason whatsoever to suspect that Mr. and Mrs. Doe were abusing their children."

Crampton said Mrs. Doe was forced to buy a cell phone so she could quickly contact her husband if the social workers tried to seize her children. He says she put blankets over the windows of her home for fear the social workers would try to stake out the house in search of information.

The appeals court further found that the statute under which the social workers acted is unconstitutional as applied to the parents and school. The Center for Law & Policy is petitioning the court for a more formal prohibition against the type of action taken by the social workers to prevent similar problems in the future.

Crampton explained that prior to the decision, the social workers were "free to run around like Barney Fife" with a loaded gun.

The case went to the appeals panel after the parents lost the first round in a lower court in September 2001.

Although the defendants originally were sued in their individual capacities so that damages could be determined, the court gave the government employees "qualified immunity," preventing any monetary award.

Crampton is fairly confident the government agency will not appeal this week's decision. "I would be shocked if they do," he said.

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, April 18, 2003

Quote of the Day by Despiser of Democrats

[struggle]

Heck, I was spanked in my private school, and I deserved it. Social workers have no place in a private school. If the punishment is not deserved, the parents can pull the kid out abd put him in a pblic school.

[T'wit]

It is well known that social workers eat their young. Yet, we need stronger measures to get rid of them. I have long recommended that we sterilize large batches of social workers and release them to mate with the rest of the social workers. All their matings will be barren and eventually they'll die out.

[quietolong]

PRISONS FOR CHILDREN DISCOVERED IN BAGHDAD

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/894581/posts?page=31#31

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[kcvl]

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, 14 May 2001

Paddling principal upset at state act
Agency labeled him a child abuser without ever interviewing him

By Gretchen Schuldt
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Troy Bond's trip to the rolls of Wisconsin's officially designated child abusers began with a swat the private school principal delivered to a fourth-grade girl in 1998.

Bond, 31, said he didn't realize he had been "substantiated" as a child abuser by the state Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare until about two years after the fact, when he learned of it during depositions in a federal court lawsuit.

"I just couldn't believe this could be happening without ever coming to me about what really took place," Bond said in a recent interview. "It was all based on one or two people's testimony."

More...

The state concedes Bond was not notified before or after he was labeled a child abuser.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

It is child abuse to not discipline children!

[HadEnough]

"The case went to the appeals panel after the parents lost the first round in a lower court in September 2001'

Here is WHY this crap continues, day after day, year in and year out. The Center for Law & Policy, had to FIND a court that understood the meaning of the fourth and fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

Strange that young soldiers must die to free Iraq when we are all held hostage by the corrupt court system here at home.

[asformeandformyhouse]

Yet, we need stronger measures to get rid of them

How about a longer hunting season and an increased bag limit?

[Dark Wing]

FYI

[twigs]

It is child abuse to not discipline children!

Yes it is! Children not disciplined are those who live victimized by their own wills.