Back in 1989 when my infant daughter was taken out of the hospital by a CPS social worker, I was aware of at least one person in that department that had a criminal record. He had been convicted of vehicular manslaughter in the death of his wife while he was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, and spent a few years in prison. When they let him out he was hired by the county as a welfare caseworker, then promoted to be a CPS social worker. But back in 1989 there wasn’t much said about social workers with criminal records.

Times have changed!

This week the Sacramento Bee published an exposé about CPS caseworkers and social workers with criminal records. The convictions and arrests (with some cases pending) include drug possession, spousal abuse, gang membership, assault with a deadly weapon, and drunk driving. One CPS employee in Sacramento County is a registered sex offender. Last August one family service worker was arrested for stealing gasoline.

Fine people to be deciding which families to decimate!

FIRE THEM ALL… that’s the best thing that could happen!!!

As much as I don’t like the depression, I’m thrilled when I hear of CPS caseworkers losing their jobs. I want families to be safe again.

The Sacramento Bee article: Dozens in CPS have criminal records by Marjie Lundstrom and Sam Stanton, published March 22, 2009.

…
Thanks to tommixx for posting this link in the FightCPS Message Board Forum, and to ‘cps victim’ who sent it to me in email.

Have you seen Cheryl’s comment on the chat room thread? She says 159 Arizona CPS caseworkers are being laid off due to the economic downturn. Now caseworkers there will be limited to following up only on cases where children are truly being harmed. Hopefully all these trivial cases of discretionary, subjective family wrecking will end. I would love to see this happen in every state!

Please, counties and states, put me out of business… I would love to be able to close this site because it is no longer needed!

I’m going to give you a suggestion and hope with all my heart that you will act on this. Please print out this article and send it to your county’s District Attorney with a suggestion that he investigates your local CPS agency.

Prosecutor alleges ‘pattern of misconduct’ at DSHS

I could not be more excited! This article shows how the Stevens County prosecutor, Tim Rasmussen, spent months investigating CPS in North-East Washington state. He uncovered multiple incidents of severe corruption including:

1. Social workers giving a morphine drip to a baby that was not originally drug addicted.

2. Social workers subjecting children to sexual forensic exams when there were no allegations of molestation or abuse of any kind.

3. Social workers removing multiple children from their homes on very trivial and questionable charges.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Tim Rasmussen! Thank you for taking the time to investigate the complaints of traumatized parents. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul.

Do you know how many years I’ve been waiting for this to start happening?

…
Thanks to dear Marina, one of the moderators at our FightCPS Message Board Forum, for posting the link to this article. You truly brightened my day!

Recently a grandparent contacted me and recommended this Yahoo group: Virginia Grands. I know there are other groups and websites I’ve seen over the years, intended for grandparents of children in CPS cases. You’re welcome to post links to them in the comment section of this post.

Virginia Grands seems to be getting several hundred messages per month and has over fifty members. I wonder if they allow members from other states to participate. (They probably do.)

California residents:

I received this in email this morning, and reviewed the letter. You may be able to help parents undergoing termination of parental rights hearings:

If you are a California resident, please email me at:
aleo966 at yahoo.com

A Petition for Review is being sent to the CA Supreme Court. This is part of a legal process and therefore they are required to read it. It is not an online petition. If they grant this review there could be new case law that will help anyone in dependency proceedings in California or anyone who enters it in the future.

You will be asked to sign a letter which I will email to you. You must provide your name and address below the signature. The letter will be mailed to the CA Supreme Court and 5 copies will go to: the Appeals court, the superior court, county counsel, and others.

This letter must be signed and mailed in the next 30 days or so. The sooner you respond to me the better. I cannot post this letter online because I don’t want just anyone to send it or rewrite it. That could cause more harm than good.

So please email me ASAP and I will forward you the letter.

Thanks,
aleo966 at yahoo.com

I cannot believe how fortunate we are to have a high-energy, experienced and committed advocate like Nancy Schaefer of Georgia on our side. (Also Senator Pamela Roach of Washington!)

Here’s a recent speech given by Nancy Schaefer about CPS:

Here’s the link to the video where you can leave comments: Nancy Schaefer.
This is a link for a recent alert from her office: Alert from Nancy Schaefer re: David Ogden.
Thanks to Marlene Jones for sending this to FightCPS.

This law professor and a police officer will tell you everything you need to know about talking to the police. Good information… you never know when you might need it.