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.
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.
"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.
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!"
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?
The right of the natural parent to the care and custody of his or her child is considered a fundamental right in the United States. In spite of that, a New York Kings County Supreme Judge in Brooklyn has slammed the door on an American father’s right to parent is own children – solely it seems because he is blind. The judge, in this case, would insert “able” and in particular “sighted” in front of “natural parent.” “No vision, no children” sums up the Court’s decision, upturning decades of civil rights progress and common sense. Somehow the fact that tens of thousands of blind parents raise their children every day without “sighted supervision” was lost to the judge. Christopher G. Roberts has over 23 years of experience in professional theatre. He is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Steppingstone Theatre Company (SSTC), a not-for-profit arts organization. He has an MFA degree in acting from Brooklyn College and a BA degree in theater from the University at Buffalo.
Chris and Kathy Butner of Ohio answered their door one day and found two policemen and Child Protection Services there to take away their 5 children. They asked "why," but no explanation was given. They were told that "everything was going to be just fine." They reportedly complied with everything CPS told them to do, and CPS allegedly told the parents that reunification was the goal. But their children were apparently being told by their foster parents that they were going to be adopted. They were frightened, and their parents told them not to worry, as they would soon be home. Originally accused of Munchausen by Proxy, Kathy says the court later found no evidence of abuse or medical neglect. But apparently that did not matter. Their visits to their children were cut off, and the children were adopted. Chris and Kathy have been told there is nothing that can be done for them now that they have been adopted, and that they should just move on. They ask, "How? Could you just move on?" Kathy still hears her oldest son saying, “I thought you made me a promise?” Those words don't go away for Kathy and her husband. There is no closure for them. Not a day goes by in that home that was once filled with their children’s laughter where the silence continues to take over their minds. Their children have now been led to believe that they have stopped fighting. They want their children to know they have not stopped fighting, and they will not give up.
The Giwa's are not the kind of parents who come to mind when you think Child Protective Services. “They're well educated they are hardworking people the mom actually has a PHD in special education dad works for an energy company here in Houston" says attorney Jon Parchman. The couple says they know their 19-month-old son is not developing like he should but say they've never gotten a medical reason for his developmental delays and say they've never denied him medical treatment. In court documents CPS admits the reason for the boy's developmental delays are not known but still that state agency is accusing the parents of medical neglect. As for the medical neglect the attorney says CPS's only witness in court was a doctor who never saw the boy or talked to the parents. “The most they really got was the hospital room was a little dirty that was the extent of what they proved in court,” Parchman says. “The judge said so you've proven there's a dirty hospital room that doesn't get us to danger in returning the child home.” Still the judge ruled in CPS's favor granting them temporary custody and only allowing the parents to see their son for one hour twice a week. “It's horrible he's never been without us he's my baby the entire family is a mess because of it we can't function,” Giwa said.
