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Idaho Lawmaker Wants to Rein in Abuse of Power by Child Protection Services

Idaho Representative Heather Scott is apparently getting too many calls from her constituents regarding the abuses of Idaho Child Protection social workers in the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. She has proposed legislation that would require every social worker visiting someone's home to provide a print-out of parents Constitutional rights, which seem to be routinely violated by social workers and local law enforcement. As is to be expected, she experienced strong push back on her bill from those in Government profiting from the trafficking of children through Child Welfare and the Foster Care System. She took her case to the public recently via a video she posted on Facebook, as she is proposing other bills now as well, such as requiring that social workers receive training on parents' Constitutional rights. Representative Scott is also encouraging parents to visit IdahoCPS.org to learn more.

Wisconsin Child Abuse Pediatrician Loses Job After Complaints – Becomes Medical Director in Alaska for Child Abuse

Reporter Dee J. Hall has published an article in The Cap Times of Madison, Wisconsin, regarding Dr. Barbara Knox, formerly head of the Child Protection Program at American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison. According to Hall, Dr. Knox was considered "a national expert on child abuse who testifies as an expert for prosecutors around the country." The University of Wisconsin reportedly put Dr. Knox on paid leave in 2019 "after colleagues inside and outside of the hospital accused her of intimidation or retaliation." According to Hall,  "Knox now works as the medical director of Alaska CARES, a child abuse response and evaluation program based at the Children’s Hospital at Providence in Anchorage." Hall's article also documents cases where Dr. Knox allegedly falsely accused parents of child abuse.  It is good to see more and more local media sources exposing the practices of these Child Abuse Pediatricians, who have to find child abuse from injuries in order to justify their position.

Medical Kidnapping: When Doctors of Children Become Sex Abusers – How Well do You Know Your Child’s Doctor?

Since starting MedicalKidnap.com in 2014, we have documented frequently how doctors, especially Child Abuse Pediatricians, participate in medically kidnapping children. We have also frequently reported how the U.S. Foster Care system is known as the main pipeline for Child Sex Trafficking. Shockingly, two stories in the mainstream news today show that some doctors with access to children are sexually abusing those children. How common is this? Doctors are revered as trustworthy members of our society here in the U.S., but these two stories, one about a dentist and one about a pediatrician, highlight that our trust in doctors may often be misplaced.

Forbidden Parenting: Removing Children from Good Parents Based on Societal Norms – NOT Abuse

The government sometimes arrests parents for giving kids responsibility. In South Carolina, mom Deborah Harrell was jailed for letting her 9-year-old daughter play in a park for the day. A police interrogator lectured Harrell: "You can't leave a child who is nine years old in the park by herself. What would you do if some sex offender came by?" Yet despite media scare stories, kidnappings are extremely rare and are way down. But the state wasn't okay with Deborah's parenting. Not only was she arrested, but Regina was taken away from her for weeks Deborah was charged with "willful abandonment of a child," which carries up to a 10-year jail sentence. Fortunately, attorney Robert Phillips heard about her case and found it so outrageous he took it for free.

Father Defies Gag Order To Tell the World How His 14 Year Old Daughter’s Life is “Destroyed and Sterilized” Due to Court-ordered Testosterone Injections Against Parental Consent

For the past 11 months, Robert Hoogland, a father in Surrey, British Columbia, has been forced to watch as his 14 year-old daughter was “destroyed and sterilized” by court-ordered testosterone injections. After losing his legal appeal to stop the process in January, Rob is making a desperate attempt to bring his case into the courts of public opinion, even though it breaks a court order demanding his silence about the case. Rob felt that at the age of 14—when the courts judged his daughter competent to take testosterone without parental consent—she simply did not have the foresight necessary to understand such consequences. “Sometimes I just want to scream so that other parents and people will… jump in, understand what’s going on,” Rob said. “There’s a child—and not only mine, but in my case, my child out there having her life ruined,” and yet, Rob felt, “people don’t [even] know.” Rob’s efforts to raise awareness of his daughter’s plight have come at a high cost. The last time he granted an interview to The Federalist, he was convicted of “family violence” by the BC Supreme Court for his “expressions of rejection of [his daughter’s] gender identity.” He was also placed under threat of immediate arrest if he was caught referring to his daughter as a girl again.

Justice for Medical Kidnapping! Philadelphia Judge Confesses to Illegally Jailing Parents

In May of 2018 Health Impact News published the story of Philadelphia Family Court Judge Lyris Younge, who was accused of “judicially created parental alienation” by a Pennsylvania state appeals court. The Superior Court of Pennsylvania reversed the termination of parental rights that had been decreed under Judge Lyris Younge of Philadelphia Family Court. According to the ABA Journal, a child referred to as N.M. was taken from her parents after she was found to have two broken ribs. The appellate decision is public record, with the parents and children identified only by their initials.  The baby was taken to the doctor after signs of “increased fussiness.” The pediatrician had the family take the baby to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where they ran a series of x-rays. When two fractured ribs were found, the Child Abuse Team, including Dr. Natalie Stavas, decided that the only explanation was abuse. The Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS) was called on April 7, 2016, and the baby was seized from her parents. DHS refused to place the baby with her grandparents, and she was placed into foster care. The parents’ rights were terminated. It is apparent from the appeals document that there are other medical possibilities for the baby’s injuries that were not considered. The family was not permitted to have other medical experts testify as to other possible diagnoses. Because the parents did not have an explanation, the foregone conclusion at CHOPS was “abuse.” Judge Lyris Younge was later removed from the bench as her trial was pending. Today, (February 19, 2020), Philadelphia media is reporting that Judge Younge has admitted to the allegations to avoid trial.

Pennsylvania Social Worker Charged with Forcing Mother into Prostitution to Get Kids Back from Foster Care

A Sicklerville woman allegedly used her authority over child-welfare decisions to force a woman into prostitution, according to the district attorney's office in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Candace Talley, 27, who managed cases for the county's Office of Children and Youth Services, faces felony charges of human trafficking and prostitution... Talley is accused of exploiting a woman whose children were in foster care, the district attorney's office said. “It is truly horrible, and beyond imagination, that someone who is responsible for ensuring the welfare of children would pressure their mother into acts of prostitution for her own personal enrichment, and with the promise of a favorable custody recommendation, as this defendant is charged with doing," Stollsteimer stated.

California Parents Sue Riverside County $25 Million for Death of Disabled Daughter in Foster Care

Riverside County effectively signed a disabled girl’s death warrant by placing her in a foster home dogged by decades of complaints, charge the parents of “Princess” Diane Ramirez in a lawsuit seeking at least $25 million. Angel Cadena Ramirez and Alberto Ramirez filed suit on Monday, Feb. 10, against the county and foster home operators Michelle Morris and Larry Kerin. They allege wrongful death, breach of duty and violations of child abuse neglect reporting laws. “No parent should have to attend his or her child’s funeral,” the suit said. “Yet, due to the collective, systematic malfeasance and deliberate indifference of (the county and foster home) … plaintiffs will never again have the opportunity to experience the life and vibrancy of their daughter.”

The Hidden Trauma of “Short Stays” in Foster Care – New Mexico Ranks #1 in the Nation

When most Americans think of foster care, they think of children waiting years in homes or institutions to return to their families or to be placed for adoption. But every year, an average of nearly 17,000 children are removed from their families’ custody and placed in foster care only to be reunited within 10 days, according to a Marshall Project analysis of federal Department of Health and Human Services records dating back a decade. Every state allows certain officials—such as police officers, child-services workers or hospital staff—to take a child from her parents without a court order if they believe the child faces imminent danger of physical harm. But this analysis shows that thousands of children taken from their homes without court approval are quickly returned to their families after child-services officials review the evidence. The data was analyzed with assistance from the nonprofit organization Fostering Court Improvement, which maintains a database of federal child-welfare records. “Short stays,” as they are called by child-welfare experts, appear to happen most often in high-poverty areas where law enforcement officials are the only group authorized by state law to remove children without a court order. In 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, Bernalillo County, which includes Albuquerque, recorded a higher rate of short-term removals than any other major area in the country, followed by counties that include Santa Fe, Akron and New Orleans.

Wisconsin Lawmakers Push to Make it Easier to Terminate Parental Rights

Over the last three months, Wisconsin legislators have been debating bills to reshape state laws that have the power to break up some families and create new ones. There have been two public hearings and a contentious Assembly floor session over the measures. But stories of parents like Tara van Wormer and their children have been virtually absent from the debate. The bills, including measures that cover adoption and foster care, grew out of an Assembly task force on adoption commissioned last spring. They were introduced as a package to make Wisconsin “more adoption friendly” in the words of the lawmakers supporting them. In short order, Gov. Tony Evers signed the least-controversial bill after it sailed through the state Assembly and the state Senate: Act 92, which expands who is eligible for financial assistance for adopting children with special needs. Several other bills passed the Assembly Jan. 15 after extensive debate, some on divided roll-call votes. They have yet to be scheduled in the Senate. The proposals share a common goal: In order to make it easier for children to be adopted, they would make it easier to terminate the parental rights of mothers and fathers suspected of abuse or neglect.