Posted on 10/17/2005 12:14:30 PM PDT by Carry_Okie
Interested Parents,
Tuesday, October 18th at the Biltmore Hotel & Conference Center – 7:00 – 8:30pm, we are holding a meeting to inform, educate, and rally the public around the egregious abuse of power by the Santa Clara Social Services, Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) – Child Protective Services (CPS) as they attempt to rip my family, and many others apart. The Biltmore is located just south of Montague Expressway, east of highway 101 at 2151 Laurelwood Rd, Santa.
At issue are three key points that will be of interest to you as a parent:
Because we are home schoolers, we initially consulted the HSLDA who advised us not to allow CPS into our home or to interview our children unsupervised. We were further advised to seek the services of a local attorney to ensure that our rights as parents were not violated as we work to clear our names related to the allegations of child abuse, which we did.
The DFCS, as a result of our refusal to allow them to interrogate our young children without supervision, together with the fact that we home school and therefore they are unable to gain access to our children without our permission (as is commonly done when children attend school outside of the home), went to court and swore out a Protective Custody Warrant to force themselves into our home, to have their way with our children, and to remove my oldest son into their protective custody. Today, my wife and children are in hiding to protect our family, in a location not even know to me, while I have been engaged in a very distressing and disruptive court battle in an effort to have the Protective Custody Warrant quashed, a request that was denied last Friday.
To date, no one at DFCS has been interested in understanding our unique parenting needs, the resources we have used and the third parties who can speak to quality of our parenting, and love that we have for of all of our children. Their action, based on our stance of “tell us what you are concerned about so we can give you reasonable access to our family to resolve them”, has been to take the child and ask questions later. They have leveraged the courts in this effort.
Since DFCS has no interest, nor apparent requirements to ascertain the facts before they have ripped our family apart, we’ve decided to share them with you. Perhaps when you speak out someone in the agency will finally listen to how they are about to destroy yet another family in an effort to “protect” a child that does not need protection and initiate policy based changes. This is why I urge you to come out Tuesday evening! This is a completely free event paid for out of my paycheck.
Thank you for your support,
Mark I. Johnson
"If on the other hand, I was told something after the proceedings that was a breach of that confidentiality, if I divulged it to you, then I would be providing evidence of that misdemeanor and implicating the person who told me."
I'm sorry, but that is simply a gratuitous slam on the APA, that because they get paid by the hour, they're not interested in cures.
My mom is bipolar, we had her involuntarily committed 7 years ago, and her doctors worked hard to get her out of the "loony bin" and back home (where she is now and doing quite well thank you very much).
I guess our perspectives are simply different.
Very interesting information on RAD "alternative therapies" at this web site:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/at.html
How would anyone know whether your child was safe if you hide them from everyone?
Cures are not in the interest of "attachment disorder therapists" either. These people charge lots of money for their "therapy", though I wouldn't be surprised if many of them also sponsor no-charge initial "screenings" and (most importantly to getting their potential paying clients on board) free "support" groups, where the not-yet-paying parents can mingle with parents who ARE paying and who are enthusiastically recommending the therapy. After sinking thousands or tens of thousands of dollars into something like this, many people have a hard time facing up to the fact that it was all scam, and try to push away their doubt by becoming ever stronger and louder advocates.
Do you KNOW that this family is relying only on "charities and volunteer groups", and not paying therapists? Do you KNOW what therapist or therapists they're using, and have you googled the names of those therapists or otherwise objectively researched them (or are the parents declining to share the names?)? Are you SURE that even though your direct contact with the parents reassures you that they only have their child's best interests in mind, that they haven't been taken in by someone who doesn't?
I really think you should dig up all the facts before jumping on board to support and defend these people. If not, you risk finding out after the fact, that you were energetically pushing for something which would have allowed horrible child abuse to continue.
Parents of troubled children are often desperate, and there's a big industry of scammers who are well-organized to take advantage of their desperation. One of the biggest scams is the Scientologists, who (while never identifying themselves as Scientologists until a family has already been sucked in very deep), push their "no drug" therapies for ADD/ADHD symptoms. The Scientologists have been greatly aided in their scam by the widespread and legitimate concern that ADD/ADHD diagnoses are often hasty and incorrect, and that drugs are being prescribed for thousands of young children, with only the flimsiest of evidence that they are needed or even beneficial. Nearly all the parents who get sucked into Scientology this way, start out with nothing but genuine desire to help their children, and a desire to avoid having their children swept up in an epidemic of incorrect ADD/ADHD diagnoses. But that doesn't make the Scientology-affiliated alternative groups they turn to, anything but evil and dangerous.
Therein lies the problem.
Or (unless I am mistaken), the parent.
I urge you, if you know of such things going on, to report it to the CPS. If you do not know about such things, then that's fine. But there's far too much secrecy around this whole thing.
I do not know if such things are going on or to what degree. The parents report that his condition has markedly improved in the last year. I will be asking for specifics.
As I understand the case, the parents have not refused to allow CPS to interview the child. They have refused to allow CPS to interview the child without consulting them first.
It is a membership organization and part of the member benefits is legal council regarding family law.
I wish it were really BS, but we know a good, decent family going thru almost the exact same thing with their adopted kids. Most of their kids have physical and/or mental disabilities and are home schooled, which is what probably gave CPS even more reason to take the kids without even talking to the parents. All it took was for one of the girls (diagnosed with RAD & attends weekly psychotherapy), to tell one of her friends that she's already had sex....with Michael Jackson. And President Bush. And a bunch of other famous people too. The friend told her mother and soon after the CPS was on their doorstep to take all of the kids. They are still fighting to get their kids back. Unfortunately, there are many families being torn apart just like this.
HSLDA does a lot of great work. However, they do solicit and collect fees for members to have access to their lawyers when needed, and thus are likely to respond affirmatively to an urgent request for legal assistance whenever they get one. That doesn't mean they've thoroughly checked out the situation first, and will ultimately agree with the family's position.
"I do not know if such things are going on or to what degree. The parents report that his condition has markedly improved in the last year. I will be asking for specifics. "
OK. When you find out the name of the therapist, Google will lead you to information on him/her. I don't expect you to share this information, but it may be instructive.
One thing I have learned: Do not rely solely on the word of an interested party in cases like these. It's not wise. Believe me, I have discovered that through experience.
Verify any information you obtain and do your own research. Not every home-schooler is a stand up person, although most are.
Good for her! Sometimes the best way to win si to play the game.
why does presumption of innocence go out the door when it come to child abuse accusations by uninvolved (i.e. not doctors, therapists, teachers, etc.) third parties
people that are calling this "fishy" don't realize how easy it is to lose your children (and how difficult it is to get them back) once this department has been turned loose on you.
maybe the family did overreact but 'children services' is practically above the law when it comes to investigating and intervening families.
parents need parenting rights when it comes to overzealous case workers. unfortunately they don't exist and the only real option in some cases is "lawyering up" and even hiding.
Maybe you cannot grasp the reality that this is an UNCONSTITUTIONAL search of this persons property by an organmization that is ABOVE the law that does NOT have a search warrant, nor is it required to get one to perform their job. CPS doesn't need no stinkin search warrants to enter your home, just the allegation of a 16 year old.
Should the police be able to enter your home without a search warrant? Then why is it acceptable for CPS?
A lot of very well-intentioned parents get sucked into dangerous "therapies" for their children. That poor little adopted girl in Utah, whose mother was just recently convicted in her death, was subjected to a lot of this "attachment therapy" stuff, until one manifestation of it, "forced water drinking", accompanied by forced exercise, finally killed her. Both parents testified that a therapist told them to do these things to the little girl (who IIRC was 4 years old when she was killed).
Attachment disorder? A child would have to be totally insane to form any kind of attachment to adults who are doing these sorts of things to them, no matter how sincerely the adults may believe they are helping the child. So of course they continue to show signs of not being "attached" to the parents, and the therapists decree that this means more of the therapy is needed (and more of the parents' money of course). These types of alternative psychotherapies often constitute a sort of cult-like abuse, in which leaders claim to have the only right answer to the problem, and the followers are brainwashed into ignoring blatant evidence that the cult leader's "answer" is wrong.
I didn't say that, I was talking about the relative integrity of the APA compared to other alternatives. I am sure that Mr. Johnson is paying a therapist, but there are also volunteer groups involved. So it's both.
Are you SURE that even though your direct contact with the parents reassures you that they only have their child's best interests in mind, that they haven't been taken in by someone who doesn't?
Like the public schools? Look, we disagree on one thing. I don't think it is government's purvey to determine how child rearing should be done in every case, particularly with significant unknown challenges such as FAS.
My wife ran the newborn nursery at Alexian Brothers Hospital. She could rarely get CPS to intervene in the case of poor families with drug and alcohol problems. OTOH, the number of instances where CPS has taken custody of middle and upper class kids for little cause are legion. There is a reason. CPS gets a substantial Federal grant for adopting a child quickly. Middle class kids are easy to adopt.
So, when one considers the balance, collectivist protection of individual children versus individual freedom to succeed or fail in raising a child, as long as there is no sign of physical abuse, I really don't think such constitutes probable cause for collective action.
There are people who think you should never even raise your voice to a dog when training it. OTOH, there are people who believe a pinch collar is more humane than constant struggle to get the dog's attention possibly resulting in an accident when a disobedient dog runs in front of a car. There are quantitiative studies supporting both positions.
Now I'm not saying that kids with deep developmental problems are dogs, but they aren't altogether the same as the rest of us either. It could well be possible that use of force to get their attention might work better. Unless someone succeeds or fails finding that out versus if we all adopt a standard system based upon what WE think is necessary, we'll never know. The ultimate accountability lies with the parents. The APA and the government have no accountability whatsoever.
These are parents who took the risk of adopting that child. We didn't. They are doing what they believe is best for him. Others say they don't have that right. The real question is: who gets to enforce that right. Do you really think it ought to be government? From what I can tell, they aren't doing so hot.
"why does presumption of innocence go out the door when it come to child abuse accusations by uninvolved (i.e. not doctors, therapists, teachers, etc.) third parties"
Flight is considered evidence of guilt. Always has been, always will be.
Actually, as I read the story they asked to enter, were refused, and then went and got a warrant. Therefore, I don't quite get what your point is.
It's good to see one turn out for the best.
Do either of you happen to know if Scientology is involved with any of these "attachment disorder therapy" scams? It would be right up their alley, as they're raking in millions (and making quite a few converts) with their phony ADD/ADHD therapies, and have been quite successful with other "alternative" mental health programs. Since they rarely identify themselves as Scientologists in the various "helping" front groups they set up, it wouldn't surprise me if they're behind some of the attachment disorder stuff too.
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