Record Number of Children Seized by Arizona CPS Sleeping in Offices

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.

Arizona Mother Facing Jail Time for Speaking out Against Medical Kidnapping

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?

Illinois Gags Grandmother from Exposing Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital in Medical Kidnapping

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.

Medical Kidnapping in the U.S. – Kidnapping Children for Drug Trials

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!"

Feds Pay for Drug Fraud: 92 Percent of Foster Care Kids Prescribed Antipsychotics for Unaccepted Uses

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.

Stanley Family Gets Custody Back of 4 Youngest Children – 3 Older Children Still in State Custody

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."

Foster Care Children are Worse Off than Children in Troubled Homes – The Child Trafficking Business

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?

Native American Children in Maine Five Times as Likely to be Placed in Foster Care as non-Native 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.

6-month-old Baby Taken Away from Mother by Force Dies in CPS Custody

She says a CPS caseworker called her on Monday and told her to come to Texas Children's Hospital. “All they told me was there was a little accident,” Hernandez said. “I get here and they told me my daughter had head trauma and severe brain damage.” Hernandez says CPS entered her life after the police were called to her home in 2014. Her youngest son who was one at the time had marks on him. He and his older brother were taken into protective custody by CPS. The youngest boy's father CPS says was convicted of abusing the boy. Hernandez was not suspected of harming the child. Still after her baby girl was born CPS swooped in. “She was removed from my arms at only 3 days old and put into foster care with the same home,” said Hernandez. Hernandez says she begged CPS to place her children with family members. If that would have happened the grieving mother says her baby daughter would be alive today.

Mother’s Day – Anything But Happy For Some

It's that day again - Mother's Day. Only, for some, there is nothing "happy" about it. It is supposed to be that sappy, heart-warming day where mothers are celebrated, and all is flowers and sunshine. But for too many of our readers, Mothers Day is a very tough day. For some, it may be the hardest holiday of all. This is for you.