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Birth and Death in Romania
Unfortunately, however, the rapid expansion of the Romanian steel industry occurred at a time when established Western iron and steel industries were sharply cutting their production and the international steel market was collapsing. As a result, today Romania is suffering from an imbalance between its capacity to produce steel and its ability to make use of it. A newcomer has a hard time finding out a place for itself on the market when even old-timers are over-producing. To do so successfully, there is not much choice: one either relies on technology to improve the quality of the product or one relies on economic measures to bring about a substantial reduction in price. Thus it was hardly surprising to see Romanian producers being accused of dumping steel on the market, and the American market at that. The Romanian iron and steel industry went right on producing mountains of steel that its domestic industries were unable to digest and that the international market did not seem keen to acquire.
When one speaks of civil rights in the West, one is usually thinking of freedom of speech or freedom of assembly, and not the right to keep oneself warm. Nevertheless, particularly during the winter, the right to keep warm becomes the obsession of most Romanians—the point where all the other rights invoked during the rest of the year tend to become forgotten. Thousands of people deprived of the right of free expression seem utterly indifferent to the fact. Very few remain indifferent about losing their right to keep warm.
Romania has a longstanding tradition of urban landscaping and Romanians have always taken pride in their public spaces. On winter nights, however, under the cover of darkness, people have taken to attacking the large trees that line the cities' streets, cutting off huge branches, and dragging them back to their icy homes on their children's sleds. Such behavior suggests they actually have some means for burning the wood—a store or furnace—which is more than most people have.
The story I was told about Grigore Hagiu, a prominent poet, and his wife Gabriela Cressin, a well-known statistician, is illuminating here. Both were in their forties. They were at home on one of the unbearable January days in the winter of 1985 when the temperature sank to minus thirty degrees centigrade by the window thermometers and minus twenty degrees by the radio. After midnight a thin stream of gas appeared in the kitchen. The couple sat down by the stove and tried to get warm. They fell asleep. Some time in the night as they slept the gas went off and came back on again. The couple went on sleeping. They never woke up.
The director of the Museum of Romanian literature, Alexandru Oprea, also died in this way—and so, I am told, did many others. "No Gulag, no death squads, no torture or arrests," one of my friends said. "They died in a state of liberty and in peace, dreaming of a summer they would never see. The human rights organizations remain frozen on the issue of warmth: it isn't the right itself but its suppression that turns death into a political act."
The story of Gheorghe Emil Ursu was quite different. The descendant of one of the leaders of the peasant revolts in the eighteenth century in Transylvania, a friend of many poets, he was also an engineer, and he was nearing sixty when, during the heatless winter of 1985, he was called in by the police for questioning about his writings. It was a strange interrogation. The first phase lasted from January to August. Every evening he would show up for questioning; the rest of the time he was at liberty, making his living by day. Then, at the beginning of August, the authorities let him go; whereupon he resumed his former habit of returning home at night and going to bed. On September 21 this idyll came to an end when Ursu disappeared mysteriously. The telephone call informing his family that Ursu was ill and in prison arrived in November. A second, announcing his death, came that same day.
To be thrown in prison for what one has put on paper and die there mysteriously has become a banal fate in many parts of the world today. Ursu's story had an unexpected twist. When the police, on January 3, 1985, confiscated something he had written, it was not a manifesto inciting the people to revolt, or an iconoclastic roman à clef, but a private journal. Can one, in this case, still say that Ursu died for expressing his opinions? Ursu's crime apparently consisted not of having expressed his opinions but simply of having had them.
More than anything else my friends wanted me to write about birth and death. In 1966 the new regime in Romania adopted somewhat Draconian methods for bringing about a sharp and sudden increase in a birthrate that, by European standards, was already reasonably high. Before long virtually all measures for birth control were banned. At their workplace many women have to submit to a monthly examination to see if they are pregnant or not. If they are, they know they must have a baby within nine months or risk prosecution. Such measures were the first sign that the scope of Romania's new policies for preserving its independence and standing up to the USSR had widened so as to include the most intimate experiences of private life. The clear and persuasive rhetoric of the new program did its job; equally effective was the minute description of the heavy penalties reserved for those who refused to take part in it. According to the statistics, the number of infants rose from 273,687 in 1966 to 527,764 in 1967. (Under Romanian law, incidentally, no abortion can be performed unless an official from the ministry of justice is present to certify that the abortion was spontaneous and not induced. The word of the doctor is not enough. But the official, not trusting his own competence, may not show up. Even if the woman is having a hemorrhage the doctor may not act alone and in some cases the woman may die. This even happened, I was told, to the assistant of the man responsible for the law, the minister of health.)
That such policies were not a response to any demographic crisis in Romania is suggested by the available statistics. In 1965, the natural rate of increase in population per one thousand people was 6 in Romania, as opposed to 2.4 in Hungary, for example, and 3 in East Germany. It took nine months to double the number of newborn babies: but more than six years to double the number of gynecologists, obstetricians, pediatricians, and wet-nurses to care for them (leaving aside the availability of maternity wards, day-care centers, and pediatric hospitals, housing, and schools; or the production of powdered milk, baby clothes, and medical supplies.) In the ten years before the program was started the number of babies born each year rarely rose above 250,000. Some people I talked to believed—and of course there is no way of confirming their view—that of the 500,000 women who became mothers in 1967, over half did so against their will. But beyond such statistical questions, it seems that a kind of underground battle between the regime and the female population has been going on.
The government recently opened a new offensive in this battle. In order to prevent statistics on the subject from being used to stir up trouble, such data are no longer being released. It is understandable that Romania should designate as state secrets the number of women who have died, been made invalids for life, or been thrown into prison because they have had abortions, usually performed by quacks. The following poem, however, which may be puzzling to Westerners, has been widely circulated:
An entire people not yet on earth
Condemned to march along from birth
Foetuses from left to right
Devoid of hearing and of sight,
Foetuses on every hand
Who cannot even understand.
All march towards the tomb
Torn from some suffering mother's womb
Condemned to bear, condemned to die,
And not allowed to question why.
Published in the student magazine Amfiteatru in December 1984, along with two other poems in a similar vein, this depressing verse was signed by Ana Blandiana, a highly admired female poet. Within a very short time, thousands of copies of the poems, either Xeroxed or copied out by hand, were available everywhere—the work of a curious and widespread popular samizdat, according to the official press—and were in the hands of a good many families.
They could have been expected to understand what was being said. The offices that issue birth certificates, for example, ask parents of newborn children to return in a month. One might say that the infants find themselves face to face with a state that, after having forced them to be born, now refuses to accept them. Notwithstanding the fact that the child cries or behaves well, clamors for food or rejects it, gains weight rapidly or too slowly—despite, that is, the fact that it becomes the center of its family's life—for the state, it continues to be nonexistent for a month. Why does the state consign the infant population to oblivion, creating a clandestine army of perhaps 400,000 newborn babies every year?
The answer, so I was told, is to be found in the officially published statistics for 1966 and 1967, which show unequivocally that the explosive rise in the number of births (up 92.8 percent) was surpassed by the infant mortality rate (145.6 percent). One can force women to bring unwanted children into the world; one cannot force those children to stay there. Too many of the new arrivals depart: hence the secrecy. Without a birth certificate, no birth has officially taken place. And where no birth has officially taken place, technically there can be no death. Thus, by not issuing the certificate for the period of a month, the state avoids recognizing any deaths that have occurred in that month. The infant who has never been born in the sight of the law cannot die.
Still, while the official infant mortality rate continues to increase, the mortality rate among old people continues to become lower, as it does throughout the rest of Europe. The authorities see this as putting a heavy burden on the economy, since most old people receive pensions from the state. To relieve this burden (without modifying the law) certain adjustments have been made: the value of the average pension, for instance, was substantially reduced. That helped a bit, since it reduced the overall amount of money paid out, in pensions each month. It did not, however, lessen the number of months those reduced pensions had to be paid out, and from a budgetary standpoint, the average number of monthly checks cashed by pensioners was far too high. The only solution was to try to curtail the average period of a person's retirement—by either delaying its start or hastening its end.
The amount allocated as pensions to each district was greatly reduced. But there was no suggestion of changing or breaking the law. Someone who had attained the specified age was legally eligible to retire, and this remained true: at sixty he could apply for permission to retire. Within five years' time he might well have obtained it. That shortened the length of time a pension had to be paid for those beginning retirement; but there was still something to be done about those who were coming to the end of it. Medical assistance, for instance. Let's say some member of the family suffers a heart attack. At once a call is put through to the local health center or to a hospital. Either way, one of the questions on the other end of the phone will invariably concern the patient's age. For someone over seventy, an ambulance or a doctor will seldom be available. Physicians, I was told, have strict instructions to cut down on prescription drugs in general but especially among the aged. In each health center, doctors are watched closely to see that in prescribing a treatment they take due account of a patient's age.
Another suggestion for how to deal with the problem of older people recently came from the president himself. In his 1985 speech to the Congress of Popular Counsels he showed himself willing to offer whatever assistance might be necessary to enable older members of the urban population to move to the country with a view to taking up "some form of work conducive to physical and spiritual health." To my friends, this seemed a project designed to tear families apart and they feared it would amount to deportation and forced labor.
Before we parted, the tougher-minded of my two companions (who has a tendency to dramatize) said to me by way of farewell: "The bitter fact is that you have no need of us while we have need of you. When you are back in your own country, you might keep us in mind. Don't just screen out the hideous reality of the women and children we have been talking about, and the old and infirm who every day are peaceably being done away with. Repression isn't what you think it is. It's not the Gulag now, and it's not people being thrown in prison: it is the condition of ordinary life. So much for the lesson of present-day Romania."


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Maybe it's because everyone here knows some ultra-secret hip place that no one else knows about, like Video Barn (a film-lover's paradise: foreign, horror, anime, arthouse, etc.) Greenwood Books (new and used works of fiction, art, poetry, philosophy, history, etc.), or Lakeshore Record Exchange, an independently owned record store specializing in alternative, jazz, pop, new wave, and new releases on CD and vinyl, vinyl toys, posters, and more.
Or maybe it's the more well-known experiences we all share together: the culture, food, music, and film that make Rochester truly one-of-a-kind.
behind-the-scenesview of artists at work and an enormous collection of eclectic pieces.
Top Ten Children's Museums in the Country,Strong Museum encourages hands-on discovery.
The City of Rochester and its surrounding neighborhoods offer restaurants specializing in everything from pizza slices to dim sum. Residents and visitors alike never tire of the variety they find in local eateries. If you're in the mood for a few maki rolls, a rack of ribs, or a panini, you won't be disappointed.
Rochester's music scene is highlighted by countless hardcore, hip-hop, metal, and jazz acts. With venues (from basements to arenas) all over the city bringing in area and national artists, there's never a shortage of live shows. The following is a portion of the shows that have just happened or are coming soon:
Filmmakers from every part of the globe come here for visiting director series and film festivals. With the High Falls Film Festival showcasing the work of established and emerging female filmmakers, and the ImageOut Festival bringing films from gay and lesbian directors, the birthplace of film loves film. Here are a few hot spots for film lovers...

subset: commoncrawl


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339. Fred Lorenzen
One of six children, Fred Lorenzen shared his father's interest in carpentry, but he was entranced by speed. At age thirteen, he built a go-kart from a washing machine engine and junk parts. After he terrorized Elmhurst IL for a few days, and outran a local police cruiser, the fuzz appeared on the family's doorstep to confiscate his first hotrod. He earned enough money building homes and furniture with his dad to buy a Plymouth after he got his license. Racing his friends outside town, he managed to roll the Plymouth.
Amateur racing cost money, so Lorenzen pursued a career as a union carpenter. Still dreaming of a NASCAR career, he bought a supercharged Chevy from Tiger Tom Pistone, and headed south, where he entered seven races in the '56 season. Determination didn't bring success against the mighty factory teams. When he blew his only engine at Hillsboro NC, he returned to Elmhurst for regrooving.
In the Chevy, he ran local modified contests, including the Soldier Field races promoted by Andy Granatelli. He placed 10th in all four of his 1957 races. The next year, he drove a Ford and won five of seven races. That included Milwaukee, where he beat another northerner, Ralph Moody. His Ford was sponsored by a pizza shop, where Fred baked pizzas until closing time. Then, he'd work all night on the car. In '59, Fearless Freddie took six of thirteen races, and decided to return to the NASCAR Grand National series.
Lorenzen's '58 and '59 campaigns were successful enough to win USAC crowns, but didn't put money in the bank. Lorenzen found a job at Holman-Moody for the 1960 season, but it wasn't driving racecars. Fred ran ten races in his new Ford, earning three top fives and five top tens, but had to sell his car to finance his next trip home. There, he resumed his carpentry career.
'58 USAC Champ
On Christmas Eve 1960, Ralph Moody called Fred Lorenzen to ask if he would be interested in driving for a new Ford factory team. Ford was returning to racing following the 1957 AMA ban. It wasn't to be a full-time ride, because Ford was only interested in the "big races" of 250 miles or more. With the opening of Daytona in '59, Grand National was changing from a dirt track series to the modern superspeedways. If Fireball Roberts was the first speedway specialist, the "Golden Boy" was the second. While Fireball had only one speed, Freddie wanted to win, even if that meant taking care of his equipment, and out-thinking his opponents late in the race. While Fireball partied, Lorenzen studied the cars with his mentor, Moody, and learned to work as part of the team.
at IRP with Holman & Moody
At a time when NASCAR needed stars to continue rapid growth, Lorenzen was a sponsor's dream. Much is made of the rugged good looks and wavy blonde mane of the eligible bachelor. More importantly, the golden boy was articulate and witty, at a time when Richard Petty was shy and insecure. In his first victory, beating his hero Curtis Turner at Darlington, the rookie demonstrated the courage, determination, and skills that brought him twenty-six victories in one hundred and twelve races as Holman-Moody's ace.
Golden Boy
Off the track, Fastback Freddie showed his real personality. The Elmhurst Express didn't just sign autographs. He took the time to meet people, ask their names, and find out something about them. He particularly enjoyed talking with kids and finding out what they liked about racing. Instead of a scrawled signature, he personalized his autographs, e.g., "Best of Luck, John, Fred Lorenzen 28." Not only was John a person: Fred was just the driver of the #28 team his fans cheered on the track.
In his first season with Holman-Moody, Lorenzen burst on the scene with three wins and six top fives in fifteen starts. His rivals of the era, Petty and David Pearson, took longer to develop. In head-to-head-to-head competition, over the seven seasons Lorenzen drove, part-time, the Elmhurst Express won twenty-six times to Petty's twenty-one, and Pearson's eight.
Lorenzen with Trophy at Rockingham '66
Lorenzen left racing due to ulcers, and his stockbroker's recommendation that he take it easy and enjoy himself. In later days, Lorenzen realized that racing was what he enjoyed, and he regretted retiring. Some said Fireball Roberts' death sapped Fred's spirit, but he earned eight wins after that. Fearless Freddie lived to have regrets.


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The Nintendo DS Turns 10 61
Posted by samzenpus
from the got-to-play-them-all dept.
from the got-to-play-them-all dept.
An anonymous reader writes The Nintendo DS has reached a remarkable milestone: it's turned 10 years old. A new retrospective on one of Nintendo's greatest ever smash hits points out that it's now old enough to become a Pokemon trainer, and looks back at some of the greatest (and possibly overlooked) titles on the platform which has sold 154 million copies in a decade.


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Spinal Fluid Substance May Help Drive Sleep Disorder: Study
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A substance found in spinal fluid could act like a natural sleeping pill and help cause hypersomnia, a condition where people sleep more than 70 hours a week, a small new study suggests.
Despite their excessive sleeping, people with the condition also have difficulty waking up in the morning, the researchers noted, and even when awake their reaction times are comparable to someone who has been sleepless all night. Hypersomnia can greatly interfere with patients' daily lives, and conventional treatments such as stimulants do little to help them.
"These individuals report feeling as if they're walking around in a fog -- physically, but not mentally awake," study lead author Dr. David Rye, professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, in Atlanta, and director of research for Emory Healthcare's Program in Sleep, said in a university news release.
Rye and his colleagues looked at seven hyper-sleepy patients and found that their cerebrospinal fluid contained a substance that enhances the effects of a brain chemical called gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), which is one of the main inhibitory chemicals of the nervous system.
On average, the substance more than doubles GABA receptor function in the patients.
"In some of the more severely affected patients, we estimated the magnitude of the GABA-enhancing effect as nearly equivalent to that expected for someone receiving sedation for outpatient colonoscopy," Rye said. "This is a level of impaired consciousness that many subjects had to combat on almost a daily basis in order to live their usual lives."
"When encountering excessive sleepiness in a patient, we typically think it's caused by an impairment in the brain's wake systems and treat it with stimulant medications," Rye said. "However, in these patients, the situation is more akin to attempting to drive a car with the parking brake engaged. Our thinking needs to shift from pushing the accelerator harder to releasing the brake."
The study was published online Nov. 21 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Merrill Mitler, a program director at the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, commended the study.
"Primary hypersomnias are disabling and poorly understood. This study represents a breakthrough in determining a cause for these disorders and devising a rational approach to therapy," Mitler said in the news release. "Further research is required to determine whether or not the results apply to the majority of patients."
Although the study found an association between this particular spinal-fluid substance and hypersomnia, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about hypersomnia.
SOURCE: Emory University, news release, Nov. 21, 2012Related Articles
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Historic Cemeteries and Monuments
Monuments and memorials stand as reminders of our past. Their builders intended them to survive for generations. Although materials such as stone and metal traditionally have been selected to commemorate the people and events most meaningful to us, the inscriptions and details of tombstones, monuments and sculpture can be obscured over time. The survival of so-called permanent materials depends on the type of stone, construction, exposure to weather and degree of maintenance received. With a better understanding of the materials and their processes of deterioration, maintenance efforts can be designed to prolong the time our monuments convey their meaning.
Historic Cemetery Preservation
Cemeteries and burial grounds are complex cultural landscapes. Click here to learn about what issues to consider and steps to take in planning a cemetery preservation project, legal protection for cemeteries and burial grounds; inventory and National Register designation; sources of assistance for documentation and preservation.
Historic Monument Preservation
The Governor's Commission on Maryland Military Monuments was created in 1989 to inventory the approximately 400 military memorials honoring Maryland's veterans, to secure funds for the preservation of those in need, and to develop educational and tourism materials relating to their history. Learn about this ongoing effort to preserve our memorials.
This page updated: July 17, 2014


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| Feb
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Thumbnail: Caroline Jarrett
By Cliff Anderson
Caroline Jarrett is "the forms lady." Though she doesn't "just do forms by any means," they remain her first love. "Forms are the thing I really like to specialize in," she notes. "I think forms are very interesting."
Why forms? "They tend to be really terrible," jokes Caroline, "so there's a good possibility that you'll fairly easily be able to make some major improvements."
Caroline's first exposure to forms came at the Inland Revenue, the income tax arm of the British government. After a degree in mathematics from Oxford and time spent as a software engineer, Caroline found herself working for them as a project manager on an optical character recognition system.
Caroline approached another contractor who was working there, wondering if there was "a way to measure how easy or hard the forms were." He explained usability testing to her, and Caroline has "never looked back."
With very few resources to rely on (back in the early 90s), Caroline was largely self-taught. This is why she is "fairly adamant that do-it-yourself usability is perfectly acceptable – it would be extremely hypocritical of me to say otherwise." Though she "totally understands the point of view" of those with advanced degrees, "I wouldn't want people to be put off getting started by thinking they have to get a higher degree."
In fact, Caroline would like to see the profession become "much broader." She continues: "I would really like to see that everybody thinks about usability, everybody thinks about users, in the same way that the quality profession moved from being the preserve of a few specialists who did inspections at the end of the process to becoming part of everybody's job."
Caroline has continued with her particular interest in tax forms. "They are particularly revolting," jokes Caroline. "Tax forms the world over are much hated forms."
Caroline does have respect for the people who design the forms: "You'll never believe it, but lots of dedicated people work extremely hard on them. They are trying to make them the best they can. They're highly committed to good forms."
One of the problems is that forms are typically designed "under a lot of constraints." For Caroline, though, this is one of their main appeals. "The difference between creative artistry and design," she points out, "is that, in design, you're working within constraints to solve a problem. Something that has loads of constraints is actually very intellectually challenging and interesting."
Another appealing characteristic is the people skills involved. "You do have to have strong nerves to work in tax," warns Caroline. "Originally," she observes, "I was of the mind that when I found there was a problem, I thought everyone would unite with me in trying to fix it up straightaway." Instead, Caroline found that it took "a lot of persuasion and a lot of time studying the clients as users themselves."
Such discoveries have helped her in her work outside of forms, on websites and applications. One of her favorite clients in this area has been the Open University, the "UK's largest university for higher education" and the only one "dedicated to distance learning."
"The university is very committed to usability," states Caroline- "They sell a lot of courses through the web. It's an extremely important medium for them, one that is crucial to their business model."
In addition to helping with their website, Caroline worked there for a time as a tutor in project management and interface design. Her work there also led to her first book, User Interface Design and Evaluation, which she co-authored with three colleagues at the university – "three academics and me."
She is currently working on her second book, with Gerry Gaffney. This book represents a return to her favorite topic: "I was trying to do research on forms and I found that there was very little available." What does she hope to accomplish with the book? "Stopping people asking me when it's going to be finished," she quips. The book will be published by Morgan Kaufman and will come out early next year.
Though "really not a writer," Caroline has actually done quite a bit. In fact, Caroline teaches a course on web editing and also has a regular column, "Caroline's Corner," on the Usability News website. Of the latter, she jokes that "it's nice to have a little forum, if I want to have a little rant about something."
Even more than writing, Caroline enjoys teaching. "There's very little out there to help people with forms," she notes. "They've got no framework to hang it on. It's just bringing it together in a coherent whole for them. They really enjoy it, and I love doing it. It's fun seeing people pick up an idea and run with it, becoming enthusiastic about something that you're enthusiastic with."
Along with teaching, Caroline relishes "actually being with the users." "You think we might have some problems here," she explains, "and there really are. You get that great data from the real people. That's bringing you back to earth. It makes it all worthwhile."
Caroline has done most of her testing and other work through Effortmark, the company she created in 1994. Though she enjoys the freedom and flexibility that comes with being a consultant, she does find that "life as a consultant is pretty much constantly panicking. Either I'm panicking because I don't have enough work coming in and I'm wondering where it's going to come from, or I've got too much and I'm wondering how I'm going to do it all."
About two-thirds of Effortmark's work is in the UK, but "the rest is worldwide." "There's really not that many people who specialize in the usability of forms," Caroline points out. "There's people who do usability, and there's people who do forms, but there aren't many people who do usability of forms."
"It's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy," Caroline observes. "The more I learn about forms, the more I know about them, the more people come to me, the more I find to learn."
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Zebra House Removals is a small family run business based in Warrington, Cheshire. We pride ourselves on having a reliable and punctual small house removals service and providing economy local removals and budget national removals, with a dedicated team prepared to work hard to achieve you requirements.
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Couple Makes $4256.00 Per Month for Adopting Eleven Speical Needs Kids
Child Collecting Foster Adopters Sentenced To Prison
February 16, 2007 11:43 AM EST (Updated: February 16, 2007 12:24 PM EST)
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Some might think a couple who adopted eleven children out of foster care were philanthropists, but when you realize they got adoption subsidy payments of $4256 per month, it is hard to see mere kindness as a motive. And with so many children, a Norwalk, Ohio couple apparently didn't know what to do, like the old lady in the shoe. So they kept some of the kids in cages made of wire and wood.
Last March a judge decided to terminate their rights to all eleven children, ages 2 to 15, after he determined that at least eight of them had been abused in the Gravelle home.
According to an Associated Press article dated February 15, 2007, Michael Gravelle said, "What do you do with these kids?" He said he prayed for an answer and built cages at the suggestion of social workers. His wife, Susan Gravelle, said the children were never confined as punishment. She claimed the cages were there to protect them. She said one of the children wanted to jump from a second-story window.
Two of the eleven children wrote statements that were read in court. A boy wrote about how grateful he was for his new fosterers. "Because of them I don't have to steal food," he said. "I can use the bathroom whenever I want. Never again will I have to sleep in a box."
A girl's statement read, "Mom, you walked around like you were God, then whenever you did go places you were Mother Teresa taking in the poor black kids that no one wanted." She also said that the Gravelles "are grown adults who know the difference between right and wrong. So I ask that they get as much time in jail for as long as my siblings had to be in cages."
A social worker and others testifying for the Gravelles said the children's behavior improved because of the cages, which were painted bright red and blue, but the sheriff said the cages were urine stained and lacked pillows and mattresses. One boy claimed to have lived confined to a bathroom for 81 days, and an expert for the defense claimed this imprisonment helped the child.
In any case, the decision has been made as of February 15, 2007. The Gravelles have been sentenced to two years in prison because they adopted so many "special needs" children, that even with $4256 in adoption subsidy payments every month, they didn't know what to do. Michael Gravelle said when they got into foster-adopting they felt "led by the Lord". Perhaps if they hadn't adopted so many kids, it wouldn't have led to this.
Yes Case Workers Get A Bounty For Taking Children From their Parents
Stage One
Manatee County, Florida has long made a business of stealing children. Families who settle there do not know that, however. They are attracted to the weather, the beauty of the area. If they knew they would never settle anyplace in Florida, which is arguably has the most corrupt CPS system in the nation. The County is run by a Board of Commissioners who meet at this well polished table.
Children are a commodity for which there is a steady and growing market both in the United States and across the world. Child sex-slaves arrive in Europe and elsewhere from unspecified locations; children taken from homes routinely end up in the porn industry. It has been going on for many years but since it did not impact most of us it was easy to ignore. But as counties across the country have cycled down into bankruptcy the need to pump harder for every buck to be made has become more compelling. Today it is not just the most vulnerable who are targeted but families that would before have been passed over as too well connected. In Manatee County the pumping is in fast forward.
Monday, June 2nd 2008
The two young sons of the Roberts were dropped off at the home of their babysitter, Christina Holbrook, residence11534 57th Street Circle East, Parrish, Florida. Both parents work. Michelle and James Roberts are both veterans of the US Navy who met while in service to their country. Both came from families with long and honorable histories of serving in the military.
Their oldest son, had been disciplined by his father the day before for jumping up and down on his baby brother, a potentially life-threatening activity. Spanking was the kind of discipline James himself experienced as a child growing up in Tennessee. The spanking had left a slight bruise.
CPS arrived at the babysitter's home at 9:30am. They proceeded to strip the two boys and photograph them in the nude, questioning them for an hour. This was a bewildering and frightening experience for the boys.
The first James and Michelle heard of this was when Michelle received a phone call at 3:30pm from Alicia Habib. Habib presented herself as an agent for Child Protective Services, demanding that the couple present themselves for an 'interview'. No criminal complaint was presented. But the process of intimidation and fear was launched.
Here, Michelle and James find out, to their shock, that the kids have been stripped and photographed. Left feeling as if the ground had been cut out from under them they endured with shock the moment when the deputy sheriff read James his Miranda rights. He was not charged; no criminal complaint was served. Michelle is interviewed. They are given orders. Michelle is to be present when James saw their children. CPS is moving towards building paperwork to take the children away from their parents.
During the interview they were shown the photos taken of their naked children by the deputy. The children's faces were frozen in tears. He did not show them all the photos, keeping them under the paperwork. Michelle found his behavior intimidating. As the photos were shown he questioned her about their use of discipline.
Soon Michelle and James will realize that the CPS has no power unless they give it to them. CPS depends on the ignorance of ordinary people. The first phase had begun.
The system ground them out fine; dehumanizing them and working with fine-tuned intention to show them, by its actions, that they had no rights and no recourse. At the end of the week a hearing was set; they were now being launched into the second phase of the process that intended to wrest their children from them. But during those endless days they began to come out of the shock and consider their alternatives. They considered the Constitution and the rights they knew they had both sworn to defend as members of the armed forces of America.
Michelle loaded the two boys in their car and drove them hundreds of miles to the town where James had grown up. There, she left them with their great-grandparents. When you are seven months pregnant no long drive is comfortable, but for her children Michelle would risk anything.
In the car she prayed that she would not miscarry the baby held so close to her heart.
The two young parents are both veterans of the War in Iraq. Each had joined the Navy, after looking forward to serving their country from their early teems. She planned this as her career, since 7th Grade. He, since taking in ROTC in High School.
But they had joined a military that they believed cared for its own and kept its promises; after finding that their small son would be have to be left with someone else while both served in the war zone, they resigned. Their son, Lukas, was born the following October.
Now, they knew what the military is about. To them, they were just bodies to fill slots that civilians could fill at twice the pay. Never previously interested in politics they began to think about how the world was being run.
From the time you join you are told he is your commander and chief. She was not a Bush fan, but you cannot say it without fear of reprisal.
But Florida CPS was not finished with them. Although they did not know it, Habib stood to make nearly $10,000 as her bounty for taking the children, both very adoptable, from their home. They never could have imagined that the elderly great-grand-parents would be threatened with arrest, but that is what happened. They began studying the Constitution; This, they knew was the real law in America. If they understood it they could use it.
Now they understand that they should never have talked to CPS. If they had not, CPS would have had to leave them alone. CPS uses fear and intimidation to force the appearance that there they have entered into a 'contract' with parents. But since a valid contract cannot exist without the elements of disclosure, consent, and equitable exchange this is a fraud. All parents get is bankruptcy, heartbreak, and too often death.
The Case Plan Ploy – Adam Umholtz
Adam comes from a family that lived in a log cabin in Pennsylvania. The cabin was 230 years old. Made of chestnut beams that are from a species that is not extinct the beams were hand hewed and rectangular and criss crossed. Adam's dad was a pastor for the Southern Home Mission Board. Adam's younger brother was born there, in the horseshoe shaped valley that was filled with berry bushes and food they grew themselves.
Adam went to school at the Advanced Training Institute of America, now the ATI. Now he is an entrepreneur, or was until his life and family was hijacked by the CPS. Adam's children were taken from him and his wife on Monday, July 28th, 2007. They were given a case plan that it was impossible to fulfill.
As part of the 72 goals laid out in the plan was one requirement that Adam attend a class for sexual offenders who had served time in prison. This was impossible for Adam to do. Adam is attending a study on successful parents and couples, a study in which he and his wife were invited to participate. Both parents are strong Christians who take their faith seriously. Neither parent has ever been to prison for any cause, much less a sexual offense. The charges were falsified made by a neighbor who was later charged with having committed a sexual offense themselves.
Adam cannot attend the classes available because he has never been to prison and has never been a sexual offender. He is not eligible for the class in any case. So the court told Adam to confess to a crime he did not commit to get his kids back. The court has an agenda. If Adam confesses they have a clear track for severing his parental rights. The lack of justice does not bother the court or the attorney who has urged him to confess to a crime he did not commit. They are all paid through the process that steals children for resale.
Parents are routinely told that to 'complete their case plan' they must fulfill requirements that force them to leave jobs that prevent them from attending classes scheduled from 9 – 5 on work days. They are told they cannot be self employed. Every possible block is put in their paths to complete a 'requirement' that is pointless in any case. The same pattern is reported by parents across the United States. Angelina Alexander, a parent in California was told she must quit her job as a taxi driver because she was self employed. Yet she had taken the job, the only one she could find, to fulfill the requirements to attend classes. In her case the report that took her small son from her home was from a former boyfriend who had never seen the child. Complaints that the charge was false were ignored as her processing continued.
Mainstream Americans are at risk today and have no idea what is coming. In Adam's case the CPS had targeted the kids because they were homeschooling and because they had building materials in the back yard. Then a malicious neighbor, made sexual allegations. The neighbor was later proven to have lied.
But the fact that all the 'charges' were illegal did not stop them from forcing you to undertake the 'Case Plan.' There were no charges but they had already taken their eight children out of the home. If the family had known they would have refused to talk to CPS.
Adam and his wife are now approaching bankruptcy although they are better off than many couples because at least they do not have to hide to keep the child still living with them. Most parents face the same problem. Attempts to fulfill the case plan make it impossible to earn a living or are impossible to fulfill. There are no charges. There have been no charges. There will be no charges. As with most couples, they force the father to leave so that they will have a clear shot at grabbing the children from the mother.
CPS has continuously made false allegations, added their youngest child, born after they took the original eight children, to the present case, and over and over ignored the orders of the court. One of their daughters in foster care is suffering from a wound on her foot, acquired in the foster home, for which she is receiving no treatment. The wound continues to fester and they can do nothing.
Although there are no charges Adam and his wife are allowed to see the kids only two hours a week with supervision. And the court continues to threaten to sever their parental rights. Adam does not intend to let that happen.
Adam and his wife are considering their options now that they understand the fraud that has been perpetrated. Those options are growing, along with their understanding of the Constitution and how the system in place has worked to negate their rights.
Phase Three – Severing Parental Rights
Greg Pound and his wife, Malissa, had their parental rights severed in November of 2007. The incident that brought CPS into their lives was a simple accident. A friend's dog visiting their home bit their baby. It could have happened to anyone; the dog's owner was desperately sorry, the dog had never harmed anyone before. Accidents happen. There was a time when an accident was treated with offers of assistance, not viewed as the means for grabbing children from their parents and their home. But that was before those in power noticed the opportunity PL 105-89 (HR 867) offered them.
For four years the Pounds saw their children for just two hours a month. Looking at the children, across the barriers built by CPS always reduced them to tears.
The last time the Pounds saw their children was at the YMCA in Pinellas County. That 'not for profit' is paid 125 million a year, just for that county, according to Pound who says he has researched the subject exhaustively, to 'babysit' kids as they meet their parents in a stark ten by twelve foot room for the two hours they are allowed to be together for those months when they still hoped to be reunited.
The system is intended to separate children, a valuable commodity, from their parents. Mandates to reunite children and parents are consistently ignored as children are processed further and further into the system. What then happens to the children varies, but is in all cases appalling.
Along with the system abuse of families parents attempting to work in the system report that FOIA requests on such routine matters as copies of the Oath of Office and bonds, required by the Constitution, for each judge or elected official or law enforcement officer, are not produced, despite repeated requests. Many ask, over and over again, why such requests should be met with silence and hostility. Parents continue to struggle to regain custody of their children and to exact accountability from those who claim sovereign immunity as government employees from the impact of their acts on ordinary Americans. The claim of sovereign immunity for those employed by government is, according to Constitutional experts such as not employed by government entirely without foundation.
The three families whose cases appear here each report that they will never stop fighting. Each family is presently filing a civil rights suit against those involved in their several cases. In light of yesterday's revelation on child-sex rings, operating across the United States but very present in their own areas of Florida, their questions are ever more anguished as they deal with the echoing emptiness of homes that once held the laughter of children.
"My boss rarely cared about anyone's welfare. If there was an empty bed, he complained about lost profits."
Foster Care Abuse Survivors
Child Welfare System Needs Professional Accountability
Apr 29, 2009 Karen Stephenson
Child abuse happens in foster homes and it's mostly the system that fails children and their foster parents. Tighter restrictions are needed to protect children-in-care.
A recent report by Saskatchewan's Children's Advocate concluded that children in Saskatchewan's foster care system are being subjected to many abuses. The report cites abuse is happening because of non-compliance with policy among staff at the Ministry of Social Service. It also cites how children have suffered because of overcrowding in foster homes.
Foster parents have trust in the child welfare system when children are placed in their home. They know the importance of matching an incoming child with everyone who resides in the home. It doesn't take long for some foster families to realize, the system doesn't care about appropriate matching. It's about filling "available" beds and for private agencies – filling beds is profit.
Speaking Out
"AAFG" is a former foster parent. She often caved under pressure in having children she felt were wrong for her home. Two days before AAFG was to attend her father's funeral, she was pressured into having an autistic boy placed in her home with the promise it was only a brief emergency placement. AAFG recalls, "The days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months." She believes, " If they looked at who was best suited for my home instead of profits, there would have been much more success in helping the children." AAFG no longer fosters as her frustration with a failing system was more stress than she could manage.
Marvin Bernstein who authored the Saskatchewan report says that ministry staff would use "manipulative methods" to coerce foster parents into taking another child into their care.
A former case manager in Ontario, Anne W., worked for a privately-run foster care agency. She said her boss would tell her to lie and "pressure" the foster parents into taking a child even though she felt it was setting everyone up for disaster. Anne W. says, "My boss rarely cared about anyone's welfare. If there was an empty bed, he complained about lost profits."
Read more at Suite101: Foster Care Abuse Survivors: Child Welfare System Needs Professional Accountability http://abuse.suite101.com/article.cfm/foster_care_abuse_survivors#ixzz0cB3aewIb
Dorothy's Never Coming Home
Dorothy's Never Coming Home:
New Law Puts Families in Crisis
States Report They are Increasing Efforts to Take Children From Their Homes to Collect Federal Bounty
by TCB CHRONICLES Staff
Child protective agencies nationwide are forcibly removing more children from their homes even when the agencies' own investigations establish that the children have not been abused or neglected, according to reports submitted by state agencies to the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) during 1998. Once in foster care, state agencies further reported, children were much more likely to be maltreated than they are in their own homes.
Family advocates blame financial incentives offered through new federal legislation for the frightening trend that places increasing numbers of families at risk of losing their children and a national watchdog organization has pledged to use NCCAN's statistics to alert parents.
According to statistics published in the recently released government publication, "Child Maltreatment 1998: Reports from the States to the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect," 18% of children placed in foster care were taken from homes with unsubstantiated reports of child maltreatment. Pennsylvania, Kansas and New Jersey led the 16 states reporting in this category. Nearly half (43%) of the foster care placements in those states were taken from families where child protective services (CPS) workers had unsubstantiated reports of child abuse or neglect. A complete breakdown of these statistics by state is shown in Table 1. While many states did not supply specific statistics for this category, there is no evidence to suggest that the percentages are different in non-reporting states.
Child protective agencies' disclosures clearly challenge the public's assumption that children are removed from their homes only under the most extreme of circumstances. However, further examination of the agencies' own records discloses that the cure increasingly utilized by child protective services is worse than the problem.
Children are eleven times more likely to be sexually abused in state care than they are in their own homes, according to NCCAN. While 59 out of 100,000 children in the general population are alleged to be physically abused, 160 — more than twice as much — were physically abused in the foster care population. Neglect? The 32 states submitting data in this category reported that 490 per hundred thousand children were neglected in their homes and 760 per hundred thousand were neglected in state care. Tragically, 6.4 children per 100,000 were killed in foster care in 1998 compared to a rate of 1.5 per hundred thousand in the general population. (See Table 2).
Nationwide, states are reporting to the federal government that children are being abused by the very system mandated to protect them.
Federal law requires that each state submit statistics about its child protective operations to NCCAN, an agency under the umbrella of the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Congress mandated that DHHS oversee state child protective agencies and monitor their conformance to federal guidelines. NCCAN attempts to accomplish this by sending out annual surveys to the states and compiling the results in its national clearinghouse on child abuse and neglect. After spending more than 18 months verifying and organizing the statistics, NCCAN publishes the results in its "Child Maltreatment" series. The 1998 report was just released.
This is the first in a series of articles that will examine and report on the significance of the NCCAN data.
"Our investigators will be reviewing and analyzing every number the states handed over to the federal government, " said Cheryl Barnes, Director of CPS Watch, a national organization of families and professionals that monitors CPS activities. "Our members are going to get this information out to the families that need it. Unlike DHHS, these watchdogs have teeth," she said.
One of the country's highest priorities is supposed to be the safety of its youngest citizens. Parents nationwide agonize over their responsibility to protect their children from the perils that sprout from an increasingly complex and violent society. The biggest peril faced by contemporary children may well be their own government. Yet surprisingly few citizens have voiced their concerns over the threatening DHHS statistics pouring out of the nation's capital.
"With a nationwide budget exceeding that of the National Defense Budget, more than a few eyebrows should be raised," says Susan Jackson, a family advocate and member of CPS Watch. "No one dares risk being politically incorrect, even to save hundreds of thousands of children who are sentenced to a life of disassociation and despair in multiple foster homes, and then, if they are 'lucky,' into an adoptive home, never to see their parents or siblings again."
Federal legislation passed in 1997 appears to have dramatically increased child removals during 1998, even though the states had only partially applied it. The majority of the states were still in the process of drafting state laws to implement new federal guidelines in 1998. CPS Watch members who have reviewed the 1998 data expressed grave concern that the 1999 rates of child incarceration will astound both child welfare experts and the public alike and the foster care population will almost double by the end of this year.
Families who suddenly find themselves subject to CPS investigations are unprepared for the ordeal, parents who have gone through the experience explained. They suggest that parents who harbor the thought that it cannot happen to their family consider the implications of numbers released in NCCAN's report.
If the 1998 rates of governmental intrusion are simply replicated in 2000, children will have a 1 in 25 chance of being subject to a child abuse/neglect investigation this year. On the other hand, the chance of getting a flat tire on the family car this year is 1 in 70 — enough of a possibility for the car industry to equip new vehicles with spare tires. (See Table 3)
"No family has any spare children," says Barnes. "We have to do better. We have to do a better job of warning parents what these statistics mean to their families. We have to get to them before the government knocks on their door."
In the worst states, Alaska, New York, Indiana and Missouri, a family is five times more likely to have a social worker knock on the door than they are to have a flat tire. "The idea that you don't need to be concerned about CPS until they come to your door is about as ridiculous as thinking you don't need a spare tire until you have a flat," Barnes said. "We should protect our children from a government assault just as diligently as we protect against a flat tire or a house fire or any other threat to their well-being."
Government statistics disclose that families are not only more likely to find themselves subject to CPS intrusion each year but that their children are far more likely to be removed after the investigation. States are reporting to NCCAN that they are increasingly choosing to remove children from their families as a solution, even when it appears there is no problem.
The state of Ohio reported to NCCAN that 22% of the children placed in state care were involved in reports that were ruled unfounded by child protective investigators. Ohio records indicated an additional 20% of the incarcerated children were "in need of services", but not victims of substantiated abuse or neglect. An additional 4% were placed in foster care for "other reasons." Ohio's child protective agency said it did not know the reasons why 2% were taken into state care (Table 1).
Ten percent of the children incarcerated in Washington were placed as a result of unsubstantiated complaints of child abuse or neglect, according to NCCAN. An additional 26% placed in state care were cases "closed without a finding" and another 16% were placed for "other" reasons. These "other" reasons are not specifically named, but they were not based on founded charges of child abuse or neglect. In fact, only 48% of the children taken into state custody in 1998 were victims of child abuse or neglect.
New Mexico reported to NCCAN that 24% of the children it placed in state care were subjects of unsubstantiated complaints.
In Kansas, 41% of the children placed in foster care came from families where CPS investigators found complaints of child abuse or neglect to be unfounded. This, coupled with the fact that Kansas had the highest rate of termination of parental rights that year, could indicate a very serious problem in Kansas.
Twenty-five percent of the children placed in foster care in Wyoming came as the result of unsubstantiated complaints, state officials reported to NCCAN. An additional 1% of Wyoming children were incarcerated for "unknown" reasons.
Family advocates say that the reason states incarcerated children instead of providing the services they claim the children needed in their home has to do with money. State agencies do not receive nearly as much federal funding for family preservation as they do for foster care.
"As soon as I take a kid out of a home, I begin to earn federal money for the cost of caring for that child," said Gary Stangler, who resigned as Director of Missouri's Department of Social Services last month. "All of the federal incentives are in the institutional side," Stangler told journalist Bill Moyer (Pellett, 1992).
In 1997, Congress passed the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). To qualify for federal funding, each state had to adopt legislation modifying its child welfare procedures to conform to ASFA's guidelines. The new procedures place a premium on removing children from their homes and, once in foster care, accelerates substantially the time frame for severing their rights to be legally associated with their parents. ASFA provides what it literally refers to as a "bonus" for each child adopted in the state. The act continued the uncapped federal entitlements referred to by Stangler — states receive federal funds for each child held in foster care.
Family advocates claim that all the states have a powerful financial incentive to take children into custody and keep them there.
"These folks are fed by a child abuse industry to the tune of well over 12 billion dollars," Jackson says. "Cash harvested by social workers, diagnosticians, attorneys, foster homes and group homes, to name a few. They are jumping on the abuse hysteria bandwagon like so many fleas to a dog."
Federal funding not only encourages states to remove children from their homes, but provisions in ASFA make it far less likely that their children will ever be able to come home.
Throughout the 1990's, children remained in foster care for an average of 2 1/2 years before being reunited with their families or put up for adoption. ASFA requires states to move to terminate parental rights when a child has been in foster care for 15 out of the previous 22 months. ASFA also authorizes additional money to states that place children with foster caretakers who want to adopt them immediately upon removing them from their families. The foster caretaker then actively participates in CPS meetings where the decision is made whether to return the child to her family.
"Your baby is torn from your arms, even though you have not been accused of abusing or neglecting him," says one parent, "and they put him in a house with strangers. They don't even tell you where he is. You worry yourself sick over how he is being treated. You get to visit him one hour a week in a social services office while you're involved in a custody battle with a stranger who has him 24/7."
"That's child abuse," says the parent, who asked not to be identified because of his/her involvement in an active case.
In 1998, states reported to NCCAN that CPS workers removed an estimated 238,000 children, 34,000 more than the number of children that left the system that year. The foster care population has skyrocketed during the past decade. Currently, more than 550,000 children are in state custody.
Drawing from data submitted by the states, NCCAN estimated that 2,806,453 total reports of child abuse and neglect were phoned in to hotlines across the country in 1998. Thirty-four percent of those (955,186) were immediately judged unfounded and "screened out" of the investigative process. Of the 1,851,267 that were investigated, 295,169 were substantiated for physical or sexual child abuse — about 11% of the 2.8 million reports.
"Can we justify a 4.3 billion dollar budget for 295 thousand cases of abuse," Barnes asks. "This is presuming that all the substantiated cases are actual cases of abuse, which is highly questionable."
States reported to NCCAN that a large percentage of reports phoned into child abuse and neglect hotlines are made by social service workers themselves. Employees of social service agencies, which include the same workers who investigate the claims, make 15 percent of the reports. School teachers and administrators report 15 percent of the cases while police officers phone in 13 percent. Disgruntled neighbors family members and friends are responsible for 17 percent of the reports, NCCAN data shows. (See Chart 1)
The public is generally aware that false allegations of child abuse are often made to gain advantage in acrimous custody disputes.
All 50 states have passed legislation that requires certain professionals to report suspected child abuse and neglect. Mandated reporters face criminal penalties if they fail to report and, like other reporters, are immune from civil liability for falsely reporting innocent parents. Child welfare workers have grown accustomed to "knee jerk" reports from hypersensitive mandated reporters interested in covering themselves and these reports are given low priority in many CPS agencies. Mandated reporters made 53 percent of the reports in 1998.
While the states break down reporters by category in their reports to NCCAN, parents under investigation by state CPS agencies are never told who reported them for mistreating their children. Family advocates point out that it is impossible to defend yourself against false charges made by anonymous people who may be using CPS to pursue a vindictive personal agenda.
Barnes pledges that CPS Watch advocates will continue to probe NCCAN data and report on its ongoing investigation.
Family advocates suggest that citizens who are interested in protecting their families from governmental intrusion learn more about child welfare policy in their state. They say it is important for families who have not encountered CPS workers to be prepared. Citizens can write their Congresspersons and Senators to request they repeal the Adoption and Safe Families Act, the advocates suggested.
Child welfare experts and social workers have expressed concern over the effects of ASFA since it was passed in 1997. NCCAN's 1998 data seems to confirm their worst suspicions.
In her commentary published in "Social Work" (March, 2000), Leslie Doty Hollingsworth warns of the ethical problems social workers face with the passage of ASFA. "Social workers should also advocate for policies that separate adoption incentives from child protection decisions and that are receptive to the well-being of children . . ."
"Because there are strong financial incentives to increase adoptions," the professor of social work at the University of Michigan writes of ASFA, "practitioners may be compromised ethically if required to work for reunification and adoptive placement simultaneously."
Hollingsworth objects to ASFA because the new federal law ignores systemic factors, such as poverty and single female parenthood. "Poor and single-parent families may be disadvantaged, whereas people desiring to adopt may be advantaged," she points out.
"The comparative effects of terminating parental rights on children and their biological families are not addressed" in ASFA, Dr. Hollingsworth wrote. The law gives legal standing to strangers acting as foster caregivers to participate in court hearings and family planning meetings but denies grandparents and other relatives any standing.
ASFA allows state CPS agencies to make exceptions to making "reasonable efforts" to keep a family together. As Dr. Hollingsworth points out, CPS can avoid making any efforts to keep a child in her home "even if the health and safety of the child is not at risk" in her home.
Section 303 of ASFA requires the states to report to federal government any progress made in placing children with relatives — something that government agencies are strangely reluctant to do. Dr. Hollingsworth suggests to members of the social work profession that they abide by that ruling so that the data can be reviewed in the future.
Meanwhile, family advocates say, the child protective agencies continue to destroy families on the way to the bank.
"For every day that a parent has an open case against him or her, these agencies reap in the stipends, so there is no incentive to drop an innocent parent from the abuse registry or to finalize therapeutic intervention," Jackson says.
"Government meddling is arbitrary and never-ending, and often ends up in termination of parental rights, yielding yet another cash windfall for Child Welfare."
Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-89). Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office.
Child Maltreatment 1998: Reports from the states to the National Clearinghouse for Child Abuse and Neglect, (2000). Washington, D.C.: US Department of Health and Human Services. US Government Printing Office.
Hollingworth, Leslie (2000). Adoption policy in the United States: A word of caution. Social Work, 45, (2), pgs. 183-185.
Pellett, Gail, Producer, "Families First." Bill Moyer, Public Broadcasting Service. 1992: Public Affairs Television, Inc.
You can find out what information your state reported to the federal government here.
Table One
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
Physical Abuse Sexual Abuse Neglect Medical Neglect Fatalities
Parents 59 13 241 12 1.5
State 160 112 410 14 6.4
Number of Cases per 100,000 Children
Table 1
Table Two
Children Removed from Their Homes
or Indicated Unsubstantiated In Need
of Services Closed Without
a Finding Other Unknown
Pennsylvania 38% 62%
Kansas 59% 41%
New Jersey 74% 26%
Wyoming 74% 25% 1%
New Mexico 74% 24% 2%
Ohio 51% 22% 20% 4% 2%
Connecticut 84% 16%
Virginia 84% 15%
Missouri 71% 14% 12% 3%
Washington 48% 10% 26% 16%
Illinois 89% 10% 1%
Michigan 94% 6%
Minnesota 94% 6%
Oklahoma 87% 6% 6%
Florida 89% 5% 6%
Texas 93% 1% 2% 3%
Percentage of Children Removed
Table 2
Table Three
Children Who Suffered
Government Interference
Number Rate per
Thousand Children
Alaska 15,708 81.7 1 in 12
New York 334,094 74.2 1 in 13
Indiana 110,161 72.6 1 in 14
Missouri 97,197 69.1 1 in 14
Oklahoma 52,586 59.8 1 in 17
West Virginia 22,072 54.6 1 in 18
Idaho 18,717 53.3 1 in 18
Connecticut 41,354 52.3 1 in 19
Washington 76,569 52.0 1 in 19
Michigan 130,132 51.0 1 in 20
Rhode Island 11,920 50.1 1 in 20
Delaware 8,685 48.5 1 in 21
Maine 13,850 47.5 1 in 21
Colorado 46,514 44.7 1 in 22
Arkansas 28,371 43.4 1 in 23
New Mexico 21,479 42.6 1 in 23
Massachusetts 60,786 41.7 1 in 24
New Hampshire 12,392 41.5 1 in 24
Kansas 27,410 39.3 1 in 25
Oregon 31,521 38.2 1 in 26
Florida 125,314 35.4 1 in 28
Georgia 70,580 34.9 1 in 29
Utah 21,740 31.0 1 in 32
Texas 150,863 26.8 1 in 37
Wyoming 3,429 26.5 1 in 38
South Carolina 25,134 26.2 1 in 38
California 124,759 14.0 1 in 71
Total Children 1,683,337 39.9 1 in 25
Table 3
Chart One
CPS Abuse Children and Parents for Federal "Fees"
Abusing Children for Profit
They abuse children and parents for the federal "fees"
There has been a regular controversy on several of the Internet Discussion Lists to which I subscribe about whether or not to report child abuse to Child Protective Services. In reality, there shouldn't be any question about it. If children are being abused, CPS should be called in. But under today's circumstances, there is a very definite question about it. According to Peter Houston on the Witch Hunt List, "There is probably no single institution that commits as much harm to children as the current CPS system. It is often underfunded, understaffed, overworked, overempowered, undermonitored, mistrained, and shielded from the responsibilities for its own actions."
Many people say: "What choice have we? Should we just leave children to be beaten, maimed, sexually abused, and killed in their homes? But my question is this: Should we allow the child protectors to snatch them from their homes and put them into foster homes where they are beaten, maimed, sexually abused and killed? The fact is, according to the child protectors' own figures, more children are apt to be abused in foster homes than in their own homes. So what do we do? CPS is our only option. There is nothing else. So maybe we should look into finding an "else."
But is it an option? Should we allow children to be abused either at their own homes or in foster care? The Child Protection system is not working. It is out of control and routinely victimizes parents and children without cause. It has put numerous people in prison for many years until "wiser heads" prevail and they're found not guilty and released. They routinely accuse parents, and anybody else they can of abuse and sexual abuse without proof. Courts allow the unsupported opinion of a child protection worker to be considered the same as proof. Prosecutors all over the world falsify cases to put people wrongly accused in prison for a long time. And when it is found that they were innocent after spending many long years in prison, do they apologize? Not even. When this happens the prosecutors claim they "got out on a technicality."
They take children on the slightest suspicion of abuse, then they subject them (and their parents) to months, even years of "star-chamber" questioning in order to get them to confess, even when they're clearly not guilty. And after that much questioning of small children particularly, before long they're parroting what the child savers want them to say, just to make it stop.
Calling CPS when children are abused is a "crap shoot" at best. Some CPS workers are good people who just want to help. But all too many are as conditioned as are the rest of the population. They're taught that all parents are "potential" abusers and "where there's smoke, there must be fire." That they should "err on the side of the child" and take the children as a first option and sort it out later. That this is, in itself, child abuse, doesn't seem to bother them.
Professor Susan Sarnoff, assistant professor of social work at Ohio University blithely comments: "Children in foster care are often more difficult to deal with." I wonder why. Could it be that children who are forcibly removed from their loving families and placed with strangers without cause (in a majority of cases) are going to "act out?" When you rip a child from his family he or she is not going to be a "normal child" for a long time afterward. And the longer the children are kept away from their families, the more difficult they will become to handle. You'd think someone who teaches "social work" would know that.
What they're actually doing is manipulating children and parents for money. Each child who is put into foster care brings hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars to the child protectors. Jobs are created and power is gained. "Counselors" go into business with no customers besides the people CPS forces to go to them (Granted, as with the workers themselves, there are those who only want to do good for these children. Unfortunately, they're in the minority). People go into the "foster care business," both as foster parents and as foster parent agencies that hire foster parents (with literally no controls on them). Many foster parents blatantly consider being a foster parent as a lucrative business where they can make thousands of dollars a month. A lot more than they could make working outside the home. Many foster homes care for five to fifteen children at a time. They make more money than most people could ever dream of making.
And when the inevitable happens and a child is abused, sexually abused, or even killed in foster care, they use the old excuse that they "don't have enough money or enough people" to do the job right.
You don't think this is happening? How about a few case histories?
THE PAMELA GASTON CASE in Oregon where it is alleged that foster parents actually took pornographic pictures of their child, Melissa. Where her child has been (at this writing) in no less that seventeen foster homes. Where the courts routinely rule against these parents in writ after writ or dismiss without hearing. Where Ms. Gaston was charged with trespass just for entering the courthouse, which is, in part, her property. Where the police and the courts apparently are engaging in a vendetta against her for having the temerity to actually name a judge in a suit.
THE "JANE DOE" CASE in Aiken, South Carolina, where a child (under 14) was taken from her family on "suspicion" of abuse, only to be abused while in foster care at the "Helping Hands" facility where she had been placed by the South Carolina Department of Social Services. While there, she was, according to her suit against Helping Hands, forced into a closet and repeatedly sexually assaulted by two adolescent boys. The Aiken Department of Public Safety arrested two boys, then ages 14 and 15, and charged them with the crime. The case has not yet been heard in Aiken County Family Court (when this file was received), said Capt. Tom Galardi of the Aiken Department of Public Safety. The girl is asking the court for an unspecified amount of money for mental and physical injuries from the sexual assault and costs for the birth and upbringing of her child, which she claims was conceived as a result of the attack.
ALBUQUERQUE FOSTER CARE MURDER: In February, 1999, Williette Ulmer, a foster mother, was arrested in the death of a baby in her care and another four-year-old was taken from her home, according to an Albuquerque Journal article by Jeff Jones. The foster mother was arrested on suspicion of child abuse resulting in death, according to police Deputy Chief Sal Baragiola. He also noted that the Medical Investigator had determined that the baby, Alexander Ganadonegro, died as a result of blunt trauma that ruptured his stomach. In the criminal complaint it was noted that Ulmer, 29, was "…the only adult caring for Alexander" about the time of his death and that the ruptured stomach was the result of a "forceful blow" that "would have to be done by someone other than a child."
THE "ANDY" CASE: A report in the "Arizona Republic" by Karina Bland on December 3, 1998, "Thirteen-year-old Andy wore two or three pairs of underwear under his jeans and slept fully dressed during the months after he got home from spending half a year in foster care. Now 14, Andy averts his eyes when he talks about what happened to him at that Mesa shelter in late 1996 and 1997. 'Basically,' he says, sinking down in a cushioned chair in his mother's office, 'I was raped.' Andy had been taken from his mother because child welfare officials said their house was too filthy. Now he is in the middle of a battle over how many Arizona children have suffered sexual abuse after being placed in foster care.
"A court-appointed team of Arizona State University researchers has estimated that Andy may be among as many as 210 Arizona children who experienced abuse in foster homes since the mid-1980s. The team was appointed after a lawsuit was filed in Pima County Superior Court by Tucson attorney Larry Berlin in 1994 on behalf of four children reportedly subjected to abuse. "The state maintains that the claim of so many children being abused in foster care is ludicrous. 'The numbers being quoted in that lawsuit are totally outrageous,' says Sally Ordini, spokeswoman for state Child Protective Services. 'Incidents of sexual abuse in foster care are extremely rare.' [Yeah, right. Then why do I get two or three new reports of it every day? Why do I have five megs of case reports on abuse in foster care? -RT]
"So far, no one has specifically identified the 210 children who may have been abused in foster homes. The team of researchers based its estimate on its review of a random sample of 287 CPS cases filed over two six-month periods; 7.3 percent suggested that sexual abuse had occurred while the child was in state custody. The researchers concluded that, based on the random sample and using the same methods, there would be a total of 210 children who had been sexually abused in foster care over a decade. They issued a preliminary report concluding that the state's computer system should be able to identify the children. The state contends that such incidents of abuse occurred before the children lived in foster homes and that it would be almost impossible to review the half-million case files in search of such allegations [They planned it that way. Anybody wonder why they don't keep statistics about children who are abused, sexually abused, and killed in foster care? -RT]. "The researchers were appointed by Pima County Presiding Judge Michael Brown to look into complaints contained in the 1994 lawsuit. Brown is considering whether to declare the case a class action suit, which ultimately could cost the state millions in restitution. Attorneys predict a decision before the end of the year.
"Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe and co-chairwoman of a joint legislative committee studying child welfare reform, worries that kids taken from their parents by the state are being hurt. 'Can the state guarantee the safety of the child?' Knaperek asked. 'I don't know that we can.' Berlin's lawsuit originally asked for compensation for counseling and other services for four children he says were sexually abused while in state care from 1986 through 1994. 'These are children who the state removes from their homes because they say they are not safe there, and they put them in places where much more terrible things happen to them,' Berlin said.
"Andy, for example, was 12 when he was removed from his home and taken to the shelter, which was licensed for boys ages 13 to 18. The next day, he said, a 17-year-old resident shoved a broomstick into his rectum. That boy was arrested and sent to juvenile detention for a year. But, in the months that would follow, another boy would forcibly perform oral sex on Andy. 'I thought the first time would be the only time, but he did it again and again and again,' Andy said. 'I was scared.'
"In the almost six months Andy was in foster care, he said he saw his CPS caseworker face to face just once."
I could go on and on, clipping from the hundreds of files I have, but I think I'd bore you. It is possible to become inured (bored by) to such stories, even considering the violence to the children, just by the sheer numbers of cases of violence and sexual abuse done to them while they're "being protected" in foster care. So I'll let these cases speak for the volumes of files I have from all over the world.
When I set out to help my son get his children back from the "child protectors" so he wouldn't suffer the same fate I did thirty years ago when they snatched my other two sons from my second wife and used every scam and scheme possible to keep from giving them to me I didn't know about the "crawling can of worms" I would be opening. I haven't seen them since. I believed, at the time, that my children and I had been the victims of am adoption ring within the Indianapolis-Marion County social services department. Little did I know that it was more likely an adoption ring run by the social services department to gain the thousands of dollars available from the federal government for each child snatched, for each parent forced to go to "counseling" and "parenting classes," and for every child they can put up for adoption (One of the doctors involved in my son's case has said that it is the worst case of child protector abuse he has ever seen.).
There is such a glut of children in foster care now that they're desperately advertising for adoptive parents. Many of the "cute pictures" I see on the web sites advertising children available for adoption are labeled: "Not yet Available," since they haven't yet been able to terminate parental rights with that particular child. But they'll "do the paperwork" and let you have them as soon as they're "available.
That they do this completely out in the open and no one but people they've victimized notice amazes me. One of the most difficult things to do is to convince someone they have not yet gotten to that they could easily be next, and no amount of "Constitutional rights" will help them. They've got the world so well conditioned that it is all but impossible to do so. But people are beginning to wake up. Many child protection services around the world are beginning to have legal problems from their actions (as witness above, and many other files I have). And this "old warrior" is going to be helping in every way I can, as long as I can, to "pop their balloon" so they can't abuse any more children…or parents. I don't want to do away with what they do, only do away with the way they do it so that children can reallybe protected instead of being further abused "by the system."
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This article is part of the Monstergeddon series.
Mothers, Danzig warned you in general terms about his nefarious intentions. Now find out what he specifically intends.
Makes baby look too appetizing. Also I have my thigh stuck in one and I can't get it off. It's so tight around the skin I can't cut it without risking injury. IT'S A LONG STORY AND IT'S NONE OF YOUR BEESWAX.
Only Christians would write awkward silences in response to jokes into their own fucking movie.
This video-making playset makes it easy to share a two-word greeting, and it's not 'Happy Holidays!'
The darkest, most controversial game since Luigi's Mansion.
The Something Awful front page news tackles anything both off and on the Internet. Mostly "on" though, as we're all incredible nerds.
Monstergeddon is an annual, one-night tournament of monsters competing in various categories -- Best Kill, Most Unnecessary Collateral Damage, Sexiest Victim -- with the top prize being the coveted Killer Cup. The objective of the tournament is killing humans.
Copyright ©2014 Rich "Lowtax" Kyanka & Something Awful LLC.


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The trio, which includes Gosswiller on the piano, Ahn on the violin and soprano Croy, will perform works by Samuel Barber, Robert Mucynski, Chopin, Ravel and Eric Whitacre.
Gosswiller has taught at the MSU School of Music for 11 years and has collaborated with Croy for almost 20 years. The two have traveled the world competing and promoting the art song genre.
In addition to teaching at MSU, Ahn is a member of the acclaimed Ahn Trio which has performed in venues throughout the world. Last year the trio performed at the White House for a state dinner with the presidents and first ladies of the U.S. and South Korea. Since Ahn joined the MSU School of Music faculty three years ago, Ahn and Gosswiller have performed numerous concerts, most recently two triple concerts with the Great Falls Symphony in October.
Tickets to "From America to Paris and Back" are $10 for general admission, $5 for students, and are available at the door.
Reynolds Recital Hall is in Howard Hall, home of the MSU School of Music. It is located across the street from the MSU Duck Ponds.
Whitney Salo (406) 994-4641, firstname.lastname@example.com


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a.) Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), developed by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., combines individual therapy, group skills training and team support for therapists. It is directed at teaching the individual with BPD skills to regulate intense emotional states and diminish self-destructive behaviors. The core of DBT is the concept of mindfulness - which involves awareness and attention to the current situation, and a proper balancing of cognitive and emotional states, resulting in "wise mind", which is a combination of emotional and rational thoughts. In addition to the concept of mindfulness, DBT addresses regulating emotions, distress tolerance skills, and effective interpersonal skills. This therapy's proactive, problem-solving approach readily engages individuals with BPD who are motivated to change. (www.behavioraltech.com)
b.) Schema-focused Therapy, developed by Jeffrey Young, Ph.D., a more recently developed psychotherapy, focuses on lifelong, self-defeating patterns termed early maladaptive schemas. Young identified 18 early maladaptive schemas which are broad pervasive themes or patterns regarding oneself and one's relationship with others, developed during childhood and elaborated throughout one's lifetime, and dysfunctional to a significant degree. (Giesen-Bloo et al. Archives Gen Psychiatry 2006)
c.) Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) is a 20-week cognitive-behavioral, skills training approach adapted by Nancee Blum, LSW, and colleagues. Clients learn specific emotion and behavior management skills centered around eight behavior skills areas. (Blum, N. et al, Comprehensive Psychiatry, 2002)
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Longtime supporter Dow builds in Michigan, commits to tsunami response
"It's not often you have a cause that touches employees all over the world," says Anne Ainsworh, media relations leader for Dow Chemical Company. Its comprehensive partnership with Habitat includes financial support, gifts-in-kind of Dow building products, employee volunteerism and customer engagement through building.
"That's why, 20 years later, we're still involved with Habitat. JCWP is just another example of that partnership," explains Sarah Opperman, global vice president for public affairs at Dow.
The fact that this year's JCWP is in Michigan, which is home to Dow's international headquarters, continues a natural confluence between Dow and Habitat that began in the 1980s and has been growing ever since. Dow is sponsoring homes in Detroit, Bay City, Saginaw and its birthplace and hometown of Midland, Mich., with nearly 400 Dow employees volunteering to build homes.
The cornerstone of Dow's relationship with Habitat is its donation of STYROFOAM insulation. Since the 1980s, Dow has donated more than 13 million board feet to insulate more than 10,000 homes in North America. Since that time, Dow has expanded this gift-in-kind to more than 15 countries where Habitat builds and makes its insulation available free of charge to all Habitat affiliates in North America. Dow is providing building materials for all JCWP houses in the host cities of Benton Harbor and Detroit.
Yesterday, Dow also announced a $700,000 commitment to Habitat for long-term tsunami reconstruction. This support will build 50 homes in each of the tsunami-affected countries of India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. It will also fund Disaster Response Technical Centers in India and Indonesia, which will create building materials such as bricks and doors, as well as provide work opportunities for members of the community.
Dow's mission is to improve what is essential to human progress. Because of this, Opperman observes, Habitat's focus on housing and mission to eliminate substandard housing, "ties in perfectly with Dow's mission."