Since last week, Brandi and Thomas Everson have been fighting to regain custody of their son Bubby in Washington State. CPS made allegations of medical abuse against the Eversons and removed their medically fragile child after he gained national media attention for a special birthday wish. The Eversons have a court hearing at 1:30 p.m. today (June 1, 2015) in their fight to get their son back.
On Wednesday June 3, 2015 at 8:00 a.m. the Arizona Medical Board will review the complaint against the State of Arizona’s expert witness on child abuse cases, Kathryn Coffman, M.D. The meeting will take place at 9535 E. Doubletree Ranch Road, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Coffman is named a defendant in a federal lawsuit currently pending in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court by Leanna Smith, who has sued the State of Arizona, CPS, and doctors in the medical kidnapping of her two daughters. Leanna Smith had her daughters removed from her custody based on the testimony of doctors who accused her of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, but what Leanna Smith claims was an attempt to cover up medical malpractice. Dr. Coffman was the lead doctor and expert on "child abuse" involved in the case. The public will apparently have 3 minutes to make comments in the case against Dr. Kathryn Coffman in her hearing before the Arizona Medical Board. Parent advocates are encouraging any other parents who may have become victims to medical kidnappings in Arizona due to the testimony of Dr. Coffman to attend the hearings.
Teenagers leaving the foster care system in Colorado are more likely to go to jail than get a high school diploma. A Rocky Mountain PBS I-News analysis of data provided by the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) revealed that only 28.7 percent of foster youth will graduate from high school on time, but at least 38 percent will have been incarcerated between ages 16 and 19. The national data show that 43 percent of women and 74 percent of men who emancipated from foster care will have been incarcerated at least once in their lives. By age 19, foster youth who were never placed in a permanent home are more likely to have a criminal record than a high school diploma.
In 2015, Health Impact News published an article from Nehemiah Flynt, a former foster parent who left the foster care system after seeing how corrupt it was. Nehemiah exposed how CPS often takes children away from loving parents. He noticed that almost all of the foster children were drugged. Nehemiah left the foster care system, and became part of a ministry that worked with troubled youth without using drugs or mental health services. It was a highly successful program, but soon CPS came knocking on his door, and effectively shut down the program, since it was not using "approved" drugs and mental health services. Is this the state of "Child Protection Services" in the United States today? Have we as a society allowed the government and their social services programs to redefine "abuse" and "health"? Is "abuse" and "mental health" now defined as the absence of psychiatric drugs? Who are the true abusers of today's troubled youth? I asked Nehemiah Flynt to describe the former program he worked in that was so successful, that it became a threat to CPS and the psychiatric drug industry.
Maryanne Godboldo is back in the news again. Detroit prosecutor Kym Worthy, after losing in court four times, has filed a fifth case against her. This time, Maryanne is striking back with her own lawsuit, as she sues CPS.
December 21st, 2014 Rebecca Wanosik was blessed with her 5th child. A beautiful baby girl was born in her home in Lebanon, Missouri. It was an uncomplicated home birth, and she was assisted by her midwife. But soon their family was completely torn apart when CPS came in and took all 5 of their children away, after the baby was found with fractured bones. Being now listed as "child abusers," Rebecca would later learn that she had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, with low vitamin D levels for both her and her baby. The quiet house is hard to deal with, and Rebecca talks about the memories she holds onto. The quiet house is hard to deal with, and Rebecca talks about the memories she holds onto. From the screams of excitement when she picked her children up from school, to the snuggles and wet kisses, and all the joys and hardship of motherhood, she is now left with a broken heart. Now as their visits are supervised in an unnatural setting, she talks about medical kidnapping. “Many people think that medical kidnapping is made up and think it doesn’t happen, the truth is that it is very real.” Rebecca wants people to know this has been a life altering, traumatic experience. She wants people to know this is a long road that no parent should have to travel.
California is one of the few states in the U.S. that has passed legislation to try and pierce through the cloak of secrecy surrounding Child Protection Social Service agencies. In 2008 California passed Senate Bill 39, which gave the public a chance to review how well — or poorly — child protective services did its job prior to a child’s death while in foster care. Columnist Lois Henry of The Bakersfield Californian reported how "the State Department of Social Services planned to sneak a measure into a budget trailer bill that would have increased secrecy regarding the deaths of children who die of abuse or neglect" while in the care of CPS. Lois Henry does a good job explaining how CPS is all about hiding their practices and protecting themselves, instead of protecting children.
"CPS and our Family Courts - A Criminal Consortium?" When does abuse of power cross the line into flat out criminal behavior? With precedent setting court cases challenging this criminal enterprise under such statutes as RICO (criminal racketeering), Misfeasance (wrongful exercise of lawful authority) and Malfeasance (legally unjustified/harmful act by a public official) succeeding, and the exposure of Child Trafficking and Abuse by these same agencies, it is very clear who the real criminals are. More frighteningly, they are still operating flagrantly and for the most part without any penalty at all. In this show we speak with Melissa Deigel, a mother desperate to save her medically kidnapped children who instead, has been threatened and silenced and stripped of her rights, Advocate Malinda Sherwyn, who has both witnessed and stood up for many such parents facing criminal abuses and Advocate and Author Eugenea Couture, whose compelling experience as a child abused in this system gives her a unique insight as to what really happens when CPS steps in to 'protect' children from loving parents.
It is ironic that the State Flag of the Commonwealth of Kentucky reads, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.” Families are being divided. Kentucky is falling apart. It’s time for families in Kentucky (and all across America) to wake up and demand that the corruption of CPS be investigated and criminal social workers be prosecuted. It’s time to stop CPS from stealing our children and selling them to foster families for federal funds. It’s time to demand that our local sheriffs and law enforcement stop being the strong arm of CPS. It’s time to require that law enforcement follow the Constitution regarding criminal allegations of abuse and neglect, and that Due Process be followed, and to stop treating allegations made against parents as “guilty until proven innocent.” The following stories reveal corruption, scandals, lies, and money that even Hollywood couldn’t make up.
I became a foster parent with the intentions of putting a roof over the heads of orphaned children. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. By the time I completed the training process, I understood that the majority of the children that would be entering my home were not orphans. I was brainwashed into believing the children had come from abusive and neglectful homes. I was told the state had rescued them from horrible living environments and that I was somewhat of a hero for taking them in. They were all lies. It took several years for me to truly see what I had become a part of.
A woman accused of faking her credentials to counsel children in custody cases with the Department of Human Resources has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of deceiving the public. Up until last fall, Gieske was an approved Medicaid vendor to work with DHR custody cases in 6 counties. She collected more than $864,000 in Medicaid funds, and cashed in the most money and had the most cases in Lauderdale and Colbert Counties.
Just three hours after a Native American mother got home from the hospital after a suspected heart attack, Child Protective Services (known in Alabama as DHR, Department of Human Resources) showed up on her doorstep and took away her two autistic sons. Now, her two sons are living in a foster home in Mobile, almost 250 miles away from their Sylacauga home, and their mother says that they are being abused in foster care and that their culture is being trampled by the social workers and foster parents. Dawn "Adaleha" ("my sunshine" in Cherokee) Cullins was appointed as the Alabama Ambassador for the Sokoki tribe, and in 2003, was recognized for "acts of compassion and kindness" and awarded the Civic Recognition Award in her community. She holds a degree in Paralegal studies and is very active in tribal activities. Her record is squeaky clean, without so much as a traffic ticket. DHR got involved with her family after one of her autistic sons wandered away from home and was reported to DHR by neighbors. The charges against her were "a messy house and dirty children." Today, Dawn claims her children are beaten in foster care, and are given multiple drugs to keep them compliant without her approval. She calls it "genocidal kidnapping," and reports that when she told DHR that her children were Native American, the social workers told her that she would never get her kids back.
We reported last year how local media in Phoenix was reporting that Arizona social services are removing so many children from their families that they do not have enough foster homes to place in, so many children end up sleeping in the social services offices. (See: Arizona’s Exploding Foster Care Intake: Kids sleeping in State Office Buildings.) KPHO in Phoenix is reporting that the situation has not improved here in 2015, but actually has become even worse.
Melissa Diegel has until Monday (May 18th) to turn over all the contact information, including phone numbers and emails, of every single person that she has communicated with about her daughters, or an Arizona judge says she will go to jail. Does an Arizona court have a right to your name, address, phone number, and email, if you communicated with Melissa Diegel? If you are one of the many parents going through a similar situation, and you reached out to Mrs. Diegel as an understanding ear, are you willing for her to give all of your contact information to a judge? Will this order have a chilling effect on the public's Constitutional Freedom of Speech?
Another family has allegedly been gagged from speaking out about their experiences with Child Protective Services and a hospital they have said is hurting their child. Lakisha Tanna is the legal guardian and grandmother of Baby Malik, hereafter known as "Baby M." She has been ordered by the Cook County, Illinois, Family Court to refrain from media contacts or postings about her grandson. There is great concern for Baby M's safety at present. He is currently being held in Lurie Children's Hospital. His latest return there was not for any medical reason; it was an emergency placement because he was removed from the foster parents' custody. Allegedly, Lurie Children's Hospital is planning to repeat surgery on him soon, one which has been performed twice already, involving resectioning of his intestines. Is the State of Illinois trying to silence the family? Is his how Child Protective Services has gotten away with taking children away from parents for so long, in so many places, without bringing criminal charges against the parents? Where is the transparency when gag orders are issued against the parents, and news reporters are forbidden to obtain or print any records on this cases? The secrecy that shrouds the Family Court System potentially endangers families everywhere, because any alleged corruption is allowed to continue unchecked.
The U.S. federal government has mandated drug research with children. The need for children to participate in drug company research is high, and the temptation to overstep parental rights to force children to participate is great. Researchers publicly admit using money and other rewards to obtain participation of children in their drug trials. Organizations that advocate for the rights of parents to make decisions regarding their children’s healthcare, are finding that foster children in CPS custody are being enrolled in drug experiments without parental approval. State Child Protective Services are enrolling children in drug experiments without parental approval or court orders. In a letter written by Sharon Schuldt to the House committee that examined clinical drug testing on foster children, she gave us a serious warning. She wrote: "There was horrific disregard for humanity that took place in World War II Germany, some of which started out being directed toward the weak and vulnerable, in orphanages and hospitals, but then was directed to millions who lost their lives in the concentration camps. A society does not just lose their regard for human life overnight. It is a step at a time downward and soon that society slips further and faster downward. Many vowed, 'Never Again.' We in the U.S. cannot and should not be allowing access to our children for medical research. There is no argument that justifies it!"
The release in late March of an alarming new report by federal investigators has confirmed in shocking new detail what has been known for years: Poor and foster care kids covered by Medicaid are being prescribed too many dangerous antipsychotic drugs at young ages for far too long -- mostly without any medical justification at all. Medicaid spends about $3.5 billion a year on antipsychotics for all ages, largely for unaccepted uses, with nearly 2 million kids prescribed them. Nationally, about 12 percent of all the nation's 500,000 foster care children have received Medicaid-paid antipsychotics at some point, often because they haven't been offered proven, "trauma-informed" intensive therapies, according to Kamala Allen, director of Child Health Quality for the Center for Health Care Strategies.
A review hearing in Garland County Juvenile Court in Arkansas yesterday resulted in the case being closed for the four younger Stanley children. Their parents now have full custody back of these four children. The three older Stanley children, however, remain in State custody. They are allowed to live at home with 20 hours a week DHS supervision in the home. Hal Stanley, the father, expressed his disappointment that the State was to maintain custody of their 3 older children. "I am really disappointed. I was expecting all the children to be returned to our custody. There's still no charges against us, there's still no reason for the children to be in their custody. We feel as parents we can make decisions (about our children) better than DHS can." Nancy Emmons, a citizen from Arkansas who has been following the Stanley case, stated: "The people of Arkansas, we really need to wake up and listen to what has happened to the Stanleys. Never in our wildest dreams would we have figured that somebody could come in the night and take your children away from you. I want Arkansas to understand – everyone of you need to listen: It could happen to you."
Children whose families are investigated for abuse or neglect are likely to do better in life if they stay with their families than if they go into foster care. Studies show that children from troubled homes who stayed with their families were less likely to become juvenile delinquents or teen mothers and more likely to hold jobs as young adults. Children placed in foster care have arrest, conviction, and imprisonment rates as adults that are three times higher than those of children who remained in troubled homes. These facts are not even in dispute. So why does the current foster care system still exist, when it is clearly destroying the lives of so many children?
A commission has found that Native American children in Maine are five times as likely to be placed in foster care as non-Native children. The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) presented its preliminary findings and recommendations recently at the first in a series of public forums in Maine. TRC Executive Director Charlotte Bacon told a group of a few hundred Maine residents gathered at Husson University in Bangor that the higher rate of foster care for Wabanaki children stems, in part, from racism and cultural differences in childrearing.
