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FRONTLINE failure to protect; The Caseworker Files; Maine's child-protection caseworkers
FRONTLINE ^ | 2/6/2003 | Rachel Dretzin, Barak Goodman, Muriel Soenens

Posted on 02/06/2003 11:23:25 PM PST by quietolong

In January 2001, five-year-old Logan Marr was found dead in the basement of her foster mother's home in Chelsea, Maine. The foster mother, Sally Schofield, was a highly respected former caseworker for Maine's Department of Human Services. FRONTLINE examines the girl's short, troubled life and asks a series of tough questions: Why was a little girl who had never been abused taken from her birth mother? Was her mother given a real opportunity to regain custody? And did the state miss significant clues that she was in danger? Through extensive interviews with key figures involved in the case -- including exclusive access to Schofield herself -- FRONTLINE rewinds the story to look closely at the events that led up to Logan's death: from the state's decision to remove her from her birth mother's home to her troubled decline and eventual death in foster care.

The Caseworker Files The removal of a child from an abusive or neglectful parent is one of the most drastic actions a government undertakes; and yet it does so with little or no public scrutiny. In 2001, the state of Maine gave FRONTLINE unprecedented access to observe the daily lives of its child protection caseworkers, with whom the decision to remove children begins. In a companion presentation to "Failure to Protect: The Taking of Logan Marr," FRONTLINE cameras follow a small set of caseworkers in one office as they interact with families and each other, dealing with the excruciating dilemmas and heartbreaking choices that confront them every day. "Failure to Protect: The Caseworker Files" is both moving and probing, asking such questions as when should a child be removed? How much damage do we do to children in the name of helping them? And when should parents lose the right to raise their own child? Following the documentary, FRONTLINE will air "Failure to Protect: A National Dialogue -- a one-hour discussion on America's child welfare policies co-presented by the Fred Friendly Seminars and moderated by NBC's John Hockenberry.

Link to web sight

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fostercare/

(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: childprotection; childwelfaresystem
The Caseworker Files

A show on the arrogance of an Government agencies run amuck! Think the way we say you should think... Or we WILL! take your kids. None of the examples on the show needed the children taken from there home. In the Dialogue that followed the show in response to a question on cost U.S. Representative George Miller (D-Calif.) Let lose with I think a little slip. He said: It is cheaper to remove the kids from there home and place them to GET THE FEDERAL DOLLARS FLOWING An agency to big to powerful to much money. How did we survive all these years without the government in our homes. It is time to stop doing “ It’s for the children “ Some times bad thing happen But you can’t rip up the Constitution.

In a related story

Need for a search warrant trips social workers

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/837684/posts

1 posted on 02/06/2003 11:23:25 PM PST by quietolong
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To: quietolong
None of the examples on the show needed the children taken from there home.

I disagree. The 10-year old boy who was beaten by an alcoholic father, his only parent, is a classic case of what we pay state DHS agencies for: protecting children from abuse and neglect.

The other two cases are marginal. I have some sympathy for the case workers in the last one, where a live-in boyfriend was accused of molesting a teenage daughter, but I think it's arrogance at its worst to expect the mother to say she believes her daughter when she doesn't.

Another example of what feminism has wrought - single women raising children minus any male influence. What do you get? By and large, aggressive teenage boys, promiscuous teenage girls. Thanks, NOW. Thanks, libs and lib media. Women are finally "free".

2 posted on 02/07/2003 3:58:18 AM PST by WarEagle
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To: WarEagle
The 10-year old boy who was beaten by an alcoholic father

When was this ever shown. It was guilty tell proven innocent. At no time was it proven that the event happened like was told to us. It could have been just like the father said. The kid was trying to run off and he grabbed his shirt. Give your kid a swat on the butt when they misbehaves. See what they try to do to you.
Some time when going in to the teen years kids need to be checked to get there attention. And if you think I’m wrong. Read the news or visit some large school. It’s full of out of control kids the product of “ Ooo let’s have a time out and talk about it “

And then to keep the kid tied up and drugged for weeks at a hospital... Is abuse

On a related story

Rape suspect Tuley freed - pleaded guilty of raping 12 YO girl; girl admits she lied



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3 posted on 02/08/2003 1:12:14 AM PST by quietolong
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