FEDS PROMOTE ABUSE

Kidnapping: The unlawful removal of a human being by force and against his or her will.

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." - Anais Nin

PROTECT? PROTECT FROM WHAT?

"SAN ANGELO, Texas (CNN) -- The state of Texas should not have removed the more than 460 children it took from a polygamist sect's ranch, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

The state's Department of Family and Protective Services "did not present any evidence of danger to the physical health or safety of any male children or any female children who had not reached puberty," the judges ruled. "
CNN.COM, http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/22/flds.ruling/

27-YEAR-OLD MINOR NOT MINOR

"SAN ANGELO, Texas) — Child welfare officials have said… that at least eight mothers once held in state custody as minors were actually adults. One is 27.

The disclosures… brings the number of underage mothers in state custody to 23, eroding statistics state officials have cited to bolster their claims of widespread abuse. Other reclassifications are likely to follow...

The FLDS children were removed en masse from the ranch during an April 3 raid that began after someone called a domestic abuse hot line claiming to be a pregnant abused teenage wife. Authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.

The judges have not allowed much discussion of the validity of the decision to take the children…"
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1808325,00.html

ABUSIVE JUDGE JUDGED ABUSE

"Delivering a rebuke to Texas child-welfare officials, an Austin appeals court ruled Thursday that state workers improperly removed children from a West Texas polygamist sect's ranch…

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which includes Child Protective Services, failed to prove that children at the Yearning For Zion Ranch were in imminent danger and needed to be separated from parents for their protection, the 3rd Court of Appeals ruled.

The appellate court also ruled that District Judge Barbara Walther abused her discretion by failing to return the children during mid-April child-custody hearings. "Evidence that children raised in this particular environment may someday have their physical health and safety threatened is not evidence that the danger is imminent enough to warrant invoking the extreme measure of immediate removal," the appeals court said in its ruling"

Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman, Friday, May 23, 2008
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/05/23/0523raid.html

Mission Statement-Texas Department of Family and Protective Services

"...the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is charged with ensuring the safety and well-being of the children, elderly and disabled in the state of Texas…“Our mission is protecting the unprotected,” said Shirley Scott, IT operations manager for DFPS…

http://www.citrix.com/English/aboutCitrix/caseStudies/caseStudy.asp?storyID=165626

OH, GIVE ME A BED, A BLANKET, A PILLOW...

"Travis County judges are ordering a stop to what has become an increasingly common practice in Texas: foster children sleeping in state offices when there is nowhere else for them to go.

The agency has been overwhelmed by a rapidly growing number of foster children, and at a time when the number of foster homes available has not kept pace.

The judges wrote that "such placement is not in the best interest of children (and) is not appropriate for meeting the child's needs."

Since January, when the state began keeping track, 474 children, including six from Travis County, have stayed at a state office, department officials said. That came at a cost of more than $300,000 — about $345 per child per night — which mostly went to pay overtime to state workers watching the children around the clock, officials said.

About 20,000 children are in foster care in Texas, an increase of about 45 percent since 2001"

By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN,Saturday, June 23, 2007

I am searching for the logic in this situation.

Does anyone honestly believe that 460 children are better protected by the State of Texas than they are by their own loving parents?

Does anyone honestly believe that 460 children were "at risk" on April 3, 2008?

Does anyone honestly believe that 460 children should have been kidnapped by Child Protective Services on the basis of an anonymous phonecall?

Does anyone honestly believe that the number of children in foster care in Texas increased 45 percent because the number of abusive parents increased that much?

Does Common Sense not hint that maybe, just possibly, a 45% increase from 2001 to June, 2007 might indicate an overly enthusiastic enforcement problem?

Does Common Sense not hint that maybe, just possibly, with $345 per child per night at stake (i.e $158,700 per night), there may be at least one other motive for separating children from parents?

Does Common Sense not hint that maybe, just possibly, someone was jumping to conclusions?

Who protects unprotected citizens and taxpayers from abusive and overzealous bureaucrats?
- 2q(Jim)

FYI The Feds finance most of the Texas Child Protective Services budget.

"Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing." - Ralph Waldo Emerson