Protesters support dad in fight against DHS [Michigan]

Taylor — Protesters picketed outside of the Western Wayne County Children and Family Services office on Friday, in an effort to bring attention to a federal lawsuit filed by a Jordanian American man in January.

Plaintiff Abraham Ben-Abbad filed the suit against the Michigan Department of Human Services claiming that officials have denied him court-ordered visitation rights with his daughter.

He also alleges that the Department has allowed his ex-wife to involve a local church in official decision-making processes, preventing the 13 year old girl from seeing her father and being exposed to her Muslim heritage.

Parents for Children, a group that advocates throughout the state for parents who have been stripped of custody of their children, organized the demonstration.

"We just want to get our message out… to let them know that we're not going away," said Parents for Children founder Dan Wilson.

The group claims to have influenced cases in the past by demonstrating in front of courthouses and offices in several Michigan counties.

Wilson said that Friday's protest was particularly dramatic because it involves "Muslims and Christians marching together for a cause."

"They target minorities because they often have the least resources to fight them with… and they take advantage of cases with divorce issues and domestic discord."

Islam Kayed, the child's stepmother, who picketed in freezing temperatures along with about 25 others from local mosques and Parents for Children, said that they would "do whatever it takes to get the point across."

"Her father loves her so much and we just want her to come home," she said about the girl.

Department of Human Services representatives haven't commented on the protest as of press time. In the past when asked about the lawsuit, a spokesperson has said that though she could not comment on the specifics of the litigation, "any issues of religious preference are taken seriously by the Department and by our Children's Services staff," and that agencies are required to take into account the religions of both parents of a child.

Ben-Abbad and others have also distributed flyers "warning" local Muslims about the involved church, the Dearborn Assembly of God, accusing its lead pastor, Trey Hancock, of engaging in manipulative, overzealous, youth-targeted missionary tactics.

Some at the demonstration gave detailed accounts of the Hancock family and church members "drawing in people in weak positions," and being "sneaky" about their intentions of converting Muslims.

An acquaintance of Hancock who asked to be referred to only as Abu Wadea, defended the church and the Hancock family, saying that though the church conducts outreach programs and was established for the purpose of missionary work, the congregation is not disrespectful toward Islam and involves many Muslims in programs such as English classes without asking anything in return.

He also said that Hancock is not deceitful in his goals, that "he is a pastor and everybody knows it," and that he is upfront about wanting to spread his message.

Abu Wadea, a member of the Arabic Evangelical Alliance Church in Madison Heights, said that he takes offense to some having labeled the Dearborn Assembly of God as anti-Muslim.

"I'm not going to defend whatever the church did in this case but to blanket the whole church or the whole community is a whole different thing."

Attorney Janet Frederick-Wilson, also of Parents for Children, said that the actions of government agents involved in the case were probably more motivated by money than by religious issues. The group claims that grants awarded to agencies and performance bonuses awarded to Children's Protection agents cause them to "twist facts and blow situations out of proportion."

"They target minorities because they often have the least resources to fight them with… and they take advantage of cases with divorce issues and domestic discord."

REPLY:

I do not condone the violence many Arab men heap on their property..err..wives but the article has some real troublesome words for anyone who believes in a strong family.

Under most states the do gooding legislators have turned the schools, doctors, nurses, teachers aides, police, fire and any one else who comes in contact with children into mandated reporters.

To have a child taken away does not necessarily constant overly harsh physical abuse.

They only have to be at what the state calls at risk.

All it takes is say a teachers aide notices a child crying and seeing anything resembling a mark or red spot on the child and a report is filed with Child Protective Services.

CPS can then question the children and if they want to be mean or frivolous can call the police to come and forcibly take the children out of the home and the parents can do nothing but watch as they go out the door.

I despise Kalifornias laws as it has taken any logical reasoning out of dealing with children and parents.

Most parents when the CPS comes do not know their rights under the current law.

Good parents unknowingly let the CPS worker come into the home and why not.

They think that their job as a parent has been a good one.

The child is questioned while playing on the floor with crayons or some other toy and is asked all kinds of leading questions as to how they are punished and the family relationship.

Any thing more than a pat on the butt or a timeout and the children are gone and it's court time for everyone.

My neighbors who are both respected professionals went through this mess and nearly lost their children because they were both spanked on the butt with a ruler.

The two kids ages 7 and 8 got into a hitting fight one morning before school.

The teachers aide saw that the youngest child was crying and had a red spot on his face where the older sister had hit him.

The teachers aide then asked the child why he was crying.

The child did not answer and the aide then said did your father hit you in the face with his fist.

The child still upset would not answer but was clinching his fist.

The aide then called Child Protective Service and filed a report claiming the father had hit the child with his fist.

The CPS came to the house and while investigating the report determined that in the past year the father and mother had spanked the children twice using a 12 inch ruler.

The CPS worker walked out side for a few minutes and then came back into the house and accused the parents of abusing their children because under Kalifornia laws you can only spank the child on the butt using the hand.

Within a few minutes a patrol car pulled into the drive way and 10 minutes later the children were gone.

It took my neighbors nearly two weeks to get the children returned and several thousand dollars in four court appearances.

The younger child is now seeing a Psychiatrist and taking medicine for the trauma received by being forced away from his parents.

The behavior of both children in school has deteriorated since being taken from the home.

The parents saw an attorney to file a civil lawsuit but are still undecided as the law is on the side of who ever makes the report and the CPS.

I do not trust the CPS as they strong arm a lot of parent trying to rack up a quota of children taken out of the home.

There paycheck depends on splitting up families.

Just my lowly Red State Wannabe Opinion.

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