Sunday, August 26, 2007

This Is Why People Go All The Way To China To Adopt A Child

Dealing with the foster care system entails a lot of risks. When birthmothers see they are about to lose parental rights, they unleash a steady torrent of allegations about the care their child is getting, and the system investigates. Mau's half-brother is being cared for by his great grandmother. The hearing to terminate parental rights is scheduled for September 26. The case plan is to place her half-brother with us on that date, if parental rights are terminated. Then the danger we will face will come from the criminal thug illegal immigrant who is the father of the little boy. We think the reason great grandmother is continuing to care for him until that date is to protect us from the coke-snorting punk and his fellow illegals. Great-grandmother plans to come out with the caseworker on the 26th. We will always keep her involved in the lives of her great grandchildren. Unfortunately, she is the only one of a whole slew of relatives who can pass the background check of the department.

1 comment:

Meilandru said...

From the Tucson Citizen, 8/27/07

PHOENIX - State lawmakers are likely to propose more transparency and other changes for state Child Protective Services after a rare public hearing on CPS' handling of pending or closed cases in which three children died, allegedly killed by parents.
Look for it, said Rep. Kirk Adams, the Mesa Republican who will wield the gavel during the House Government Committee's Sept. 18 hearing.
"These hearings will not meet my own expectations if we can't identify specific proposals to help CPS better protect children," Adams said. "If we can't find those solutions, it might be a commentary on the complexity of child welfare, but that certainly is my goal."
The two cases that lawmakers will examine involved a total of three Tucson children; Brandon Williams, 5, Ariana Payne, 4, her brother, Tyler Payne, whose body is still missing. A memorial service for the Payne children was held on Saturday.
Though CPS records and hearings carry a presumption of being closed to the public, details on the agency's involvement in the cases were put under a spotlight when media outlets won a court order for release of records.
An underlying issue is the long-standing debate at the Legislature and elsewhere over whether CPS removes some children from homes unnecessarily or is too prone toward lapses that allow children to remain in dangerous situations.
"Are we too quick or are we not quick enough? Clearly in these two cases we were not quick enough," Adams said.
"Any time that you have children that have interacted with CPS and end up losing their lives, it's worthy of our attention to determine if there's something better we can do to prevent that from happening in the future," he said.
CPS officials say the agency's case managers followed procedures and that the agency welcomes the chance to explain itself now that the release of the records lifts much of the required confidentiality.
Gov. Janet Napolitano's administration, with funding provided by the Legislature, has boosted services for troubled families so more children can stay at home safely, but advocates say more needs to be done.
Such services included substance abuse resources, crisis intervention counseling, anger management, parent education, job-readiness training and therapy for married couples, families and children.