From Child Protection to State-sponsored Child Kidnapping: How Did we Get Here?

When most people today hear of a terrible child abuse case, their immediate reaction is to call on the government to protect the child and bring justice to bear on the situation. This reliance upon government to enforce child protection, rather than families, churches or non-profit groups, is a relatively new concept in history. As American government has grown ever larger in response to society’s expectations that it should be all children’s protector, Americans have discovered these good intentions have created a system that is becoming more and more intrusive, demanding and corrupt. Parents’ protests, state hearings and local media attention are gradually bringing the public’s attention to a Child Protective Services (CPS) system that has the power to rip children from their parents – and do it without any of the civil rights and protections ALL American citizens are guaranteed. How did a government service meant to protect children become something entirely different? How and when did CPS start – and why are Americans facing its growing power without even basic civil rights?

Shocked Arizona Mother Finds GoFundMe Page for Medical Needs of Daughter Medically Kidnapped

We have previously covered the medical kidnapping story of Leanna Smith, who had her two daughters removed from her family and eventually adopted out due to allegations of "medical abuse" and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Leanna has been fighting in court for several years now to seek justice, and earlier this year her case was heard in the 9th Circuit Court. This week, Leanna found a GoFundMe page put up by the foster parents of her youngest child requesting funds for medical needs and to move out of their home which was infested with mold. Leanna wonders if CPS and the State of Arizona did any investigations with the foster parents as they have publicly admitted that her youngest daughter now has DRESS syndrome, severe rashes, and "serious damage to her liver." Leanna, who has had no contact with her daughter in several years, states: "I fear for my daughter's life. She may need a liver transplant. Every day now I read the obituaries looking for her name."

Houston Couple Gagged and Told to Fire CPS-fighting Attorney in Order to See Medically-Kidnapped Child

Earlier this year, in May of 2015, we reported on the story of the Giwa family in Houston, who had their 19 month old son medically kidnapped by Texas CPS. Randy Wallace of Fox News Houston broke the story. Ahmed Giwa, the father of 19-month old Ali, contacted Health Impact News and MedicalKidnap.com at that time about publishing their full story. This was the last statement we received from him by email in May 2015: "Currently waiting for the Police outside the hospital where they have our son because CPS said they should not allow us in. Let us schedule next week outside Monday please. The Police (are) here now." Multiple attempts to contact Ahmed and follow up after this email was received were unsuccessful, and we suspected that a gag order had been placed on the parents in an attempt to stop the media and the public from learning any more about their story. Both Ahmed and his wife Olubunmi have now contacted Health Impact News, and they want the world to know their story. Not only were they issued a gag order and told not to talk to the media, they were told they had to fire their attorney if they wanted to see their son again. The family had retained the services of Attorney Julie Ketterman in Houston, who has a history of fighting back against CPS and standing up for family rights. She has publicly stated: "CPS profits every time they place a child outside the home for adoption. It has stopped being a resource for families in need and has instead turned into an adoption mill." Will the people of Houston and Texas continue to allow these gross abuses of Constitutional rights to continue in their state?

Child Protection Services is Out of Control – What Ordinary Citizens Can Do About It

Children yanked from loving homes over and over again for the flimsiest of reasons. Parents desperately seeking to bring them home as their rights are trampled, their homes overrun, their lives disrupted, their reputations smeared, their savings bankrupted. Foster care and adoptions ramrodded through the system despite willing extended family members to take them in. And worst, children are lost for years within the foster system, over-drugged, abused, even trafficked into horrible situations. All of these have been documented by MedicalKidnap.com, as well as many others. How has Child Protective Services fallen into what appears to be, in too many cases around the nation, legal kidnapping? Try $6.8 billion dollars – that’s billion with a “B” -- in federal funding that is projected for CPS fostering and adopting out children in 2015.

Kentucky Baby Medically Kidnapped Along with Siblings and Forced on to Formula

Cody and Ashley Miller of Kentucky took their sick 5-month old baby Easton to the Emergency Room of Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee late Saturday evening, September 26, 2015. When Vanderbilt made allegations of abuse against these concerned parents, they could barely comprehend what was happening. Ashley painfully recalled that moment when Shell Peters, the CPS worker (or DCBS in Kentucky) entered the hospital room with 2 officers, and uttered those 2 words: "We’re taking…" Ashley painfully recalls, "My world crumbled when I heard those 2 words. I was nursing Easton one moment, and then they walked in, and then I was balling my eyes out hysterically. He can’t be on formula – I’m breastfeeding!"

3 Oppressive Texas CPS Agents Receive Felony Indictments

Criminal charges against CPS employees related to their actions in child protective services cases are rare. Indictments were handed down last Thursday to 1 of the 3 Child Protective Services (CPS) subordinates who were charged with Oppression, tampering with evidence, and falsifying and forging documents to conduct illegal searches and seizures, which are third degree felonies, punishable upon conviction by a maximum sentence of from two to 10 years in prison and an optional fine of up to $10,000. 60 year-old Laura Marsh Ard, the former program director for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services office in Rockwall, received one indictment for tampering with physical evidence. Reynolds, of Fate, received three indictments for official oppression, and one indictment for tampering and fabricating physical evidence. All these charges stem from an alleged case where all three conspired to use false documents in an investigation of the mother of a murdered teenager Alicia Moore from Greenville. Thonginh and Reynolds conducted unlawful searches and seizures in association with CPS investigations. The tampering with physical evidence indictments say that all three defendants collaborated together back on November 6th, 2012. “to use a record and/or document to wit: the risk assessment involving Aretha Moore … with knowledge of its falsity and with intent to affect the course or outcome of the investigation.”

Is Kentucky The Most Corrupt State in the Country Trafficking Children Through Child “Protection” Services?

Health Impact News and MedicalKidnap.com has previously reported how the FBI saying that Kentucky is “the most corrupt state in the country,” and urged families to share their stories involving alleged corruption in their dealings with Child Protective Services, or the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS), as it is known in Kentucky. It appears that corruption in Kentucky continues to run deep and wide.

Innocence Destroyed: Case Against Texas Homeschool Family Dismissed as Traumatized Children Try to Rebuild Their Lives

The Rembis family in Texas is rejoicing and giving glory to God. Family court Judge Cyndi Wheless has ruled that the CPS case against them is dismissed. Their children are home, and there are no more "hoops" to jump through to prove that they are good parents for their 11 homeschooled children. Though they are thankful that the case is over, the trauma that the family has experienced is not. The children have reportedly lost some of their innocence. They no longer have the security of the childlike faith that their daddy can protect them from anything, because they saw that, against the monster of Child Protective Services, their strong daddy was powerless. The fears of the children are triggered by simple things like the ringing of the doorbell. They are afraid of the police now. Their parents have taught them that the police are the good guys, but the children no longer trust that. They are fearful that any police officer they see works with CPS and will take them away from their parents. Some of the children have been having nightmares, and cry out in the night from dreams "that I was in the foster home." They come to their parents room in the middle of the night, scared.

California Parents Blamed for SIDS Death – Lose Remaining Children to CPS

Crystal Avenger of El Dorado, California states that 3-month old Alana Jo received a Hepatitis B vaccination in the hospital shortly before her death. Approximately one week prior to her death, in March 2015 they took her back to the hospital for a sick visit and she was diagnosed with a common cold. On the morning of March 18, 2015, Christopher awoke and noticed his daughter, Alana, didn’t look normal. His voice laden with emotion as he recalled, “I picked her up from the bed and her arms went completely limp.” He immediately called 911 and frantically followed the 911 operator’s instructions for CPR on his baby. The other children were watching in horror as Christopher tried desperately to revive Alana. The baby was taken away in an ambulance, and her mother Crystal was not even allowed to go with her. An investigation began, and despite no evidence of abuse with the parents, the remaining four children were removed from the home by force, screaming as they were ripped away from their parents.

Texas Attorney: CPS is Too Powerful – Has Become an “Adoption Mill”

“The role of CPS has changed over the years,” Julie Ketterman of KHA Lawyers, PLLC said. “They have become too powerful and have shifted their focus from offering guidance and support to acting as a punitive force.” Ketterman alleges that CPS frequently oversteps their boundaries, opting to remove children from their homes, placing them outside the home and in to foster-to-adopt homes for monetary advantage. “CPS profits every time they place a child outside the home for adoption,” Ketterman said. “It has stopped being a resource for families in need and has instead turned into an adoption mill.” One victory against CPS corruption is the recent passing of SB 1876, a bill recently signed by Governor Greg Abbott into law on June 19. The law will go into effect on September 1 of this year. “The bill specifies that attorneys ad litem, guardians ad litem and mediators in CPS cases will be appointed on a rotating basis,” Ketterman said. “This prevents corrupt judges from appointing attorneys they have in their pockets.”