FINAL REMARKS
On my desk are scores of cases of exhausted families and troubled children. It has been beyond me to turn my back on these suffering, crying, and sometimes beaten down individuals. We are mistreating the most innocent. Child Protective Services have become adult centered to the detriment of children. No longer is judgment based on what the child needs or who the child wants to be with or what is really best for the whole family; it is some adult or bureaucrat who makes the decisions, based often on just hearsay, without ever consulting a family member, or just what is convenient, profitable, or less troublesome for a director of DFCS.
I have witnessed such injustice and harm brought to these families that I am not sure if I even believe reform of the system is possible! The system cannot be trusted. It does not serve the people. It obliterates families and children simply because it has the power to do so.
Children deserve better. Families deserve better. It’s time to pull back the curtain and set our children and families free.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and the needy” Proverbs 31:8-9
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Call for an Independent audit of the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) to expose corruption and fraud.
- Activate immediate change. Every day that passes means more families and children are subject to being held hostage.
- End the financial incentives that separate families.
- Grant to parents their rights in writing.
- Mandate a search for family members to be given the opportunity to adopt their own relatives.
- Mandate a jury trial where every piece of evidence is presented before removing a child from his or her parents.
- Require a warrant or a positive emergency circumstance before removing children from their parents. (Judge Arthur G. Christean, Utah Bar Journal, January, 1997 reported that “except in emergency circumstances, including the need for immediate medical care, require warrants upon affidavits of probable cause before entry upon private property is permitted for the forcible removal of children from their parents.”)
- Uphold the laws when someone fabricates or presents false evidence. If a parent alleges fraud, hold a hearing with the right to discovery of all evidence.
Senator Nancy Schaefer
50th District of Georgia
What will follow in the next two installments will be Senator Schaefer’s exhibits.
Pick up a copy of my published works here:
By Peter Weiss
and
Fiction Outtakes: The Second Hundred coming very soon now on Amazon
