criminalization of the poor. What is criminal is the lack of housing and services for poor parents and their children.

I'm an attorney who has represented an indigent mother for 2-1/2 years pro bono (free). She was living in poverty with her husband and 5 children. She called the police when he strangled her. (She was a victim of domestic violence.) Her husband was arrested; there was a restraining order against him. He convinced her to drop the RO and the police contacted Child Protection.

CP came to their house. There were open bags of garbage and stuff in boxes, etc. It was obvious this family needed help. Instead, CP removed the children and did everything to make sure they would get adopted. The way the program is supposed to work is CP gets social services to help the family with finding employment, training in parenting and keeping a clean home, protection again domestic violence, etc. They didn't do that at all.

My colleague and I did all that. We rehabilitated our client, got her therapy, job training, and got her a new life. We *just* got the kids returned by the court after 3-1/2 years in foster care and 5 minutes away from adoption. (BTW, she left her husband and divorced him. Client and kids all live in another state.)

All because she was poor and not worth salvaging.

It's one of those use it or lose it deals. So if their "need" goes down so does their resources. So they really like to get children adopted. White children with special needs are suppose to be like bonus bucks. This is what I have been told and the very little I have seen does fit with that evaluation.

I don't know how much of it is true, but it is clear to me that they have forgotten anything about helping if you are poor. If you have money for an attorney, they will back off, but the poor are being terrorized by them.

get financially rewarded for adoption. And multiply the joy by five in our case.

The foster parents and Child Protection denied contact between our client and her children as much as possible, made sure the kids didn't get "reunification therapy" (to prepare them to be returned to their mother), and even got the kids to outright tell their mother that they wanted to be adopted right before their "bonding evaluation" with CP's expert.

Plus CP uses its "success" in "saving" children to get money from the State for their funding for the next year.

it costs big bucks to adopt with the federal credit not coming close to covering the costs.

...Title IV is the mega-sugar daddy for all adoption money. This is Social Security money that is being used to take kids and adopt them to strangers. There is no such money to help the low income woman for whom the lawyer above speaks about ~ but plenty of money for foster care and adoption.

Anyone affiliated with this allocation of funds knows full well leaving kids in the home is far more successful than foster care or adopting them out. Admitted by DSHS themselves who benefit from this money, "legally kidnapped" kids are 5-7 X more likely to be abused after being taken from their families. They are more likely to drop out of school, become homeless, become mentally ill, go to jail, be unemployed, become teen parents, AND become sexually abused (any or all of these scenarios) than if they had been left in the home even if the birth parents are chemically dependent.

Ignorant people are all into the "child saver" mode when in fact they are more willing to pay everyone else in the world to raise kids rather than support the family. These idiots actually believe that the trauma of being removed from a low income home and put into a middle or upper class home is SO much better for the kid when in fact it only causes this child more trauma. Ooooo! Now they live in a suburban split level with a new car in the driveway! Who gives a damn about what is going on behind those designer curtains covering that perfect picture window? Plenty is going on and after the kid is taken even when they try to tell supposed CPS workers what is going on, they are ignored. Who cares if they miss their real mom, long to see their real dad and will never see their family again, just so long as they live in that fancy (and quite well subsidized) middle class home!

All you have to do is go to your nearest city center where you see that pack of homeless teens hanging around, ask them how many have been taken from their parents, and you will get the shock of your life. The BIGGER shock you will get is when they tell you about the molestations and rapes, the starvation, the lack of love, and the hideous treatment they have gotten from their "forever" homes whose only consideration is whether or not this "forever home" has a brand new bedroom set in the kid's room (in spite of the dog and pony show DSHS puts on to decide placement, which is subjective at best) .

Many adoptive homes receive lots of goodies, including a Social Security check every month for "being so nice" as to take the kid. No low income birth parent could dream of such support.

My 2 cents

Cat in Seattle

I know foster parents get money but I have never heard of adoptive parents getting aid unless the family qualified for aid in the first place.

They received a neglect report on their mother , and proceeded to remove them from the state of Nebraska (at gunpoint, and they were no longer in their mother's care). Put them in separate foster care homes and started the adoption process almost immediately. 2 years now we've been fighting to get them back. We just filed a suit against Iowa in the US supreme court, and they failed to reply by the deadline. We may get them back yet!

I'm also elated about your progress. DON'T EVER GIVE UP!! You can beat them.

BTW, Child Protection has routinely failed to timely file in all our situations from motions to appeals briefs. Prepare yourself as courts will only see their golden halos and will grant them extensions of time to file their papers.

Please advise your brother to NEVER miss a visitation. (BTW, our client was told not to tell the kids that they would be returning to her. If she did, they would stop her visits.)

but it effectively said if he steps foot in the state (like to visit the boys) he would go to jail. The lawyer who has taken his case pro-bono used to be a dist. attorney for Iowa. He came out of retirement to take the case. He said he's never seen an arrest warrant for that kind of charge, just bench warrants.

All of this with no charges of neglect or abuse, in fact, they left his older daughter with him. She's on the honor roll, swim team, basketball and has several colleges already chasing after her at barely 16. My theory is that she was 'too old' to successfully adopt out

My client is/was indigent. She has an active arrest warrant out for her like your brother but for a different reason:

She owes $30,000+ in back child support to repay the State that paid the foster family to raise her children.

and at gun point? I'm sure that was a healthy experience...there are no words..

but the detail are supposed to stay under wraps for now, until we hear from USSC.

*fingersandtoescrossed*

THIS a product of a Free-Market, For-Profit system...

I work at a local hotel, and I PROMISE you that if there were a federal subsidy to the Hotel Owners for housing the homeless (even as little as 10 bucks a day and no room service) there would BE no homelessness in this country. HOUSELESS-ness, maybe, but HOMELESSNESS, no sir.

Half the hotel rooms in America are empty on a nightly basis anyway. NO REASON not to offer them up to the local Community at a heavy discount, in order to make a perosn feel like they have SOME hope and thay they are in fact "WORTH salvaging."

It's wonderful that you've been able (not to mention willing) to do this for them.

As someone who has dealt with it on this level, what do you see as the best paths toward reforming the system, locally or more broadly?

1) wouldn't have been treated like a criminal when in fact they were poor.
2) wouldn't have been blamed by CP for being a battered wife and hence, being a poor mother.
3) would have had services provided to help them get on their feet:
a) domestic violence counseling for my client
b) the children would have been kept with their mother while she got the DV counseling
c) affordable housing
d) job training
e) food stamps
f) Medicaid
4) wouldn't have been obligated to repay "child support" that the State provided to the foster parents for 3-1/2 years.

Plus, nobody should financially benefit from trying to keep kids in foster care with the sole purpose of getting them adopted: not the caseworker, not the adoptive parents, and the CP program should not use its statistics of how many kids were adopted to get a bigger budget stipend from the State.

That's just for starters.

My client and her kids are finally living in peace in another state, but CP is pursuing an appeal with the children's law guardian (their "attorney&quot . The kids risk being removed again if we don't both win on the appellate level and CP decides to stop appealing. (BTW, I'll let y'all know if/when we're on our way to the U.S. Supreme Court, because I promise you, we're going!

That's... almost as mind-boggling as the rest of it.

Not unsurprisingly, it sounds like a lot of problems are combining to make a bad situation worse instead of better.

More funding for programs like job training and housing and so on should be available to everyone who needs them, but they can be a matter of life or death for victims of domestic violence, many of whom stay in dangerous situations because they don't think they can afford to leave. Maybe that's an avenue through which a push for specific funding increases might have more legs; it's harder to say no to battered spouses and their kids than to "entitlements."

Specific regulations or legislature to prevent anyone from profiting off of removing kids from their homes might be worth writing to lawmakers about, too.

for our primary issue on appeal. We'll go to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. This can't be lumped into divorce and child custody issues.

I have known of two foster parents (personally and I am sure there are thousands) that became foster parents instead of getting traditional jobs. I guess it is "stay at home work." In TN., the number of deaths and injuries to the "placed children" is quite high. There are over 2000 children in the system that are unaccounted for and many deaths from other than natural causes.
I have an ex-girlfriend whose grandchildren were removed from their parents when they became homeless. It took them years to get these precious children returned. Only after their foster parents were charged with sexually abusing the youngest child were they finally able to get them back (temporarily at first).
If the state had paid the original parents like they did the foster parents, they would have been able to afford a home for their children.
IDK, it is a confusing system/situation. I know that some (probably most) foster parents truly do have the child's best interest at heart. However, others do this as a way to finance their lifestyles and do not treat these children well.
I am not suggesting that the govt. pay parents to raise their children. Possibly, there can be a way to help parents who have fallen on hard times to keep their children.
This is a subject with many pro's and con's and I do not know the answers. It does seem like we could donate more time and common sense to ensure that these precious children are safe and happy.

at least partly, with so-called "family allowances."

It is now a 2 year maximum limited program.

this country no longer invests in people at any stage of life.
The too young and the too old are seen as worthless, and the adults are simply replaceable serfs.
I am amazed that people are putting up with it.

parents get them regardless of income. Since there is no means testing and everyone with children is eligible, receiving a child allowance is not considered "mooching off the taxpayers."

(Incidentally, this is why means testing of Social Security is a BAD idea.)

Ireland gives 130 euros a month per child (even under austerity), and Japan gives about the same. Looking around at various countries, that seems a typical amount.

Of course i no longer consider myself a capitalist. America is not a capitalistic country either. There is no real competition, just a few monopolies with no regulations enforced.
These days, banksters and financiers are the "jobs" that pay the big money. How ridiculous...eom..

As long as there is no intentional abuse, why not leave families intact and give that same money to the people who know the children best? Why create even more problems by separating children from parents? (Rhetorical question)

Of course, when abuse is present, children should be removed to a safe environment. The safety and well-being of those unable to defend themselves is paramount, and fostering/adoption are wonderful options when they are in the best interests of the child, not because wealth(iier) adults want a child and/or additional income.

... it is funny how children aren't removed from abusive middle-class homes and placed into healthy, stable working-class ones ...

That's six people saved. I'm all for CPS - when it works properly. It doesn't always, and it seems some states are worse than others.

I represent a father who hit a rough patch. He and his wife both lost their jobs and became homeless. When Children's Services found out they were homeless, they swooped in and snatched the 12-year-old son away. Now, in a way, this was a good thing because it gave the child a safe place to stay where all his needs would be met, and it allowed him to stay in school. But on the other hand, when you boil it down, my client and his wife lost their child simply for having committed the crime of being poor (something that was not even their fault--they both lost good jobs).

Now we have a situation where Children's Services doesn't want to give the child back. They put a case plan in place, and my client has been following it to the best of his ability. It calls for him to attend various classes and counseling sessions and to regularly drop urine for drug screens (by his own admission, he was a heroine addict, but has been clean for over 5 years now). Here's the problem: they have no car, so when Children's Services tells them to go do something, a lot of times they have no way of getting there. Children's Services is SUPPOSED to give them bus passes so they can get to EVERY appointment, but they have a caseworker with an attitude who takes it as a personal affront every time they ask for a bus pass to get to an appointment (she's even said things to them like, "You know, you can't go through life expecting handouts. Eventually you're going to have to do things on your own." She is REQUIRED BY LAW to provide transportation to people who have no transportation. Because of all of this, Children's Services has now filed for Permanent Custody of the child.

It is going to be a long, uphill battle just to keep this couple from losing their child forever. And all of this simply because they had the audacity to be poor in a country that loves the rich.

Trust me, this stuff happens EVERY DAY.

Oh, and not that I'm fishing for accolades or anything here, but I am court-appointed on this case, so I am representing this father at no cost to him. Just didn't want anyone to think I was actually bleeding a guy of what little money he had (people think we lawyers do that, you know).

Every time my client fulfilled the latest demand for mandated services, the case worker invalidated her efforts. Insulted her.

The worst part of my client being indigent was her husband refused to work and spent every penny of her $100,000 inheritance from her father. She could have had decent counsel but for the fact the money was gone.

I estimate our services since June, 2010 to be $25,000+. (Reminder: we're pro bono, not public defenders.)

Congratulations on the good work you do! I'm proud of you.

on where you live. I worked for Children & Youth for a number of years, and the conditions that we were UNABLE to remove children from were often horrendous. Parents were given chance after chance to get things together and often it just never happened. We do have shelters in the area for women and children, so homelessness alone was not often an issue. I don't think I can come up with one example where poverty alone was the deciding factor. Of course, when Mom got thrown out of shelter after shelter for dealing crack in said shelters, THEN there was a problem. I was not a fan of removing children except as a last resort because the foster care system is god-awful, but even as a last resort it was sometimes difficult, if not impossible. Again, I think it depends on where you are. I am in PA. Philadelphia (not where I worked) is notorious for returning kids with tragic results.

you get treated like crap. I saw this in my own family. One of my cousins was facing homelessness she asked her sister could she move into her house for a few months. Fool said no cause she said she wouldn't be able to afford the rent she would charge her and would put her out, and if she let her move in she may not ever move out.Now she has a disabled child.My cousin went to the shelter got help and after a few months she got an apartment. However their relationship is forever damaged.When I heard about it she told me she was in a place already but I can tell she was so outdone by the ordeal. She said she didn't tell people cause she was shamed.Her no good sister went around gossiping about her ordeal. Criminalizing her as if she was a.bad parent. It split the whole family apart.

The longterm cost of breaking up these families must be huge. Jeez. And multiply the stress of being homeless with the fear that if you attempt to find temporary housing through the state, they will take your kids. I cry for this country sometimes, the atrocities we commit.

When the living situation is so squalid that its detrimental.

I frequently receive complaints or allegations of abuse or neglect of students. This comes frequently from younger teachers, fresh faced, newly minted, some still at home but soon to be out on their own. They have never known an empty fridge or had a couch or floor for their only bed.

When I sometime investigate this 'neglect', it stems from a parent that is working minimum wage and having to work 2 jobs to take care of the children's needs. A less than clean uniform may come from the fact that they have one or two school uniforms and have to wait the weekend to get them washed at the laundry or may have to resort to hand washing said uniforms. The kids come to school hungry at the end of the month because they have more month than food stamps.

I frequently have to explain that last time I looked at the law, poverty was not a crime. As long as the parents are doing the best they can and are not abusive, the children would always rather stay with their parents and siblings. Of course, I try to connect them with services to help out-but involving CPS in a case of poverty is out of the question in my mind.

The state would do better to pay the poor working parents what the court cost and foster care costs amount to, in the form of a stipend. But listen to me run my FDR/Johnson Democrat with a capital 'D' mouth off. Children should be placed in sweat shops preforming useful manual work until they are old enough to be cannon fodder.

edited to add: I love to take these teachers with me on a home visit. For many it is truly an eye opener. I am use to seeing it, but they frequently can't handle it. It gives them a renewed appreciation for what the kids go through to get to school every day. For some, school and the free breakfast and lunch are the high points of their day.

common sense, intelligent ideas, and compassion have no place in this discussion.

Really, if I didn't joke around a bit, I would just break down and end up sobbing in a corner somewhere.

One time, things got so bad that I had to leave work early, my BP was shooting up. I swear I could have screamed. My hubby said that maybe I should get my BP meds changed. I told him that I didn't have the problem but that our punitive society did. If you could listen to this mom's story and not be upset and have your blood pressure shoot through the roof, you just didn't have a heart.

I am a therapeutic knitter.

Their experiences were mixed, but some claimed that their foster care situations were worse than their already bad families of origin. One young man said that if he had children, he'd kill them rather than let them be taken into foster care.

I know some fine foster parents, but I think that excessive removal of children is creating a "need," and the "need" is causing CPS agencies to be less than careful about the quality of foster parents. Yet I know someone who successfully raised three children and was turned down because of being "too old," despite neither looking nor acting old.

in this field, there are good foster homes and bad foster homes. There are many factors that affect the foster care quality. I was hesitant (and did not) remove a kid except in the most egregious instances. But the dilemma often is - Do I leave this kid in Mom's crack house or do I condemn him to the crap shoot that is foster care? Not an easy decision -kinda "Pick you poison."

It makes no sense that we have so many empty homes and apartments, along with so many people who need homes or apartments, and somehow, thanks to our economic system, never the twain shall meet.

It is indefensible and we cannot call ourselves 'civilized' while children are homeless on streets filled with empty homes.

There is no logic or justice in this system.

This video is 6 yrs old, but it is a well documented case of corruption in CPS: