I just got an email from Cindy (last name withheld) who subscribed by email to this site’s blog postings. She read my last post - the one about parents and drugs, and had this question, “…Don’t you think it is time that we mandate random drug screening for all CPS workers and contractors?”

That’s so true, Cindy. It is LONG past time. And I believe we can do something about this.

CPS caseworkers and social workers DO need to be tested for drugs. They also need psychological testing. They need to be screened for past legal offenses. They also need to be licensed.

Who agrees with that?

So here’s what we can do. Let’s go to work writing letters to our state legislators asking them to introduce legislation requiring that all CPS employees having any contact with children be investigated for past legal problems, psychologically tested, drug tested regularly, and licensed.

Let’s tell our state legislators that we’ve been victims of bad social workers who should be screened out if they have psychological or drug problems. Any social worker or caseworker that lies in a report to the court is obviously mentally unstable. These people should be weeded out of the social services jobs, just as we wouldn’t want unstable people getting law enforcement jobs.

Tell your state legislators to read the comments on the guestbook pages here on Fight CPS so they can see what a huge problem false accusations are. Nobody tells it better than the hundreds of people who come to this site due to victimization by bad social services agents.

Any suggestions or comments on this writing campaign are welcome.

If you write a letter to your state legislators, you’re welcome to post a copy of it here in the comments section.

Keep it brief and to the point. Your legislators are more likely to read a short letter than one that is many pages long.

LET’S KEEP THE HEAT ON THEM until something is done about this travesty of unstable and incompetent social services caseworkers. Only our state legislators can help us on this one. I’ll remember to bring it up from time to time and hope that many of you will get positive responses from your state legislators that you can share with us.

Is there anyone here capable of drafting sample legislation that we can send to our legislators for consideration? If so, email me at the webmaster link at the bottom of this page.

To find out who your state legislators are, see the Write To Your Legislators page here at Fight CPS. And remember, we’re targeting STATE legislators, not federal.

Write letters - hand written letters will be fine, or type them. Don’t send emails as they are too easily deleted.

Thanks to everyone who takes part in this letter writing campaign.

P.S. - THANKS, CINDY, for the great idea!

…
Written by Linda Martin for Fight CPS.

We have two months before the next election. Do you know who’s running for public office in your state?

The only way to get bad child welfare laws changed is to get better legislators in Washington DC. We need to know how our legislators voted on child welfare issues in the past, and to either contact them for clarification of their opinions on our issues, or use their voting record to show that they’re either for or against families.

After we verify their stance on child welfare issues, we need to take this information to the public. There are thousands of people in your area who have been harmed by CPS agencies, who would like to know who not to vote for. It is up to us, each individually, to campaign for or against the people we want in office.

Find out who is running for office, and tell them what you need as a commitment for family preservation in order to vote for them. Attend meetings, town halls, and campaign functions where you can speak out about the dangers of child welfare. Write letters to editors of papers in your state telling people who to vote for if they are tired of worrying about CPS showing up at their doors and snatching their children.

It is really up to us to do this. I’m hoping that people with other ideas along these lines will brainstorm with me in the comment area. What can we do to get the right people into public office?

Spokane City Councilman Bob Apple launched an outspoken attack on a CPS social worker he claimed submitted false court documents in a child welfare case involving a former employee and campaign volunteer, Daniel Morgan. The City Councilman stated that CPS kidnapped a 2-year-old child, and that the assistant attorney general should be jailed.

From the article:

“It’s a sham… If this is how the court system operates, then it’s broken.” - Bob Apple

Of course CPS said that the charges were “ridiculous” because they go to court and state that the child is “at risk of imminent harm”.

In this case the ex-husband of Morgan’s wife has made accusations against Morgan in a custody dispute.

From the article:

Since 2002, the state agency has received a “number of referrals related to parental neglect of the children and alleged physical abuse of the children by Mr. Morgan,” according to the court documents. A state spokeswoman said she could not disclose how many of the complaints were made by Allen…..The Morgans said Allen has used the referrals “as payback” and to gain custody of the two children he had with Robin Morgan.

Now, this next part hits home with me:

“Unfortunately, in this field, when the custody of children is involved, everyone involved is willing to lie,” said Dave Wood, a lobbyist for Washington Families United, a nonprofit group seeking reforms to the child-welfare system. “You don’t know what the truth is. Something has to change.”

I find that so true - that too many people are willing to lie to get custody. That includes social workers, ex-spouses, girlfriends of ex-spouses, etc. And I plead with each one of you that if you’re in this situation, stay with the truth. Lies lead only to confusion. If you tell the truth, at least when it is all over, you still have your integrity.

City Councilman Bob Apple will advocate for any citizen that contacts him. Perhaps you might want to print out this article and take it to your city councilman (or woman) to see if that person is willing to go to bat for you. I’ve contacted my county supervisor several times, including for an issue involving CPS, and every time she’s been a great help and everything turned out perfectly.

Source: Apple puts spotlight on CPS by Benjamin Shors for the Spokane Spokesman Review, published June 23, 2007

I just found this press release about a Scottish grandparent group. It seems they have the same kinds of problems that we here in the USA do, regarding rights to be with grandchildren and interference by CPS in what should be normal and natural family relationships. - LJM

…

The Campaign For Legal Right Of Contact between Grandparents/grandchildren.

Why grandparents worry about their grandchildren when the one sided unfair family laws of today leave them open to abuse. The social services and NSPCC cannot cope with the rise in child abuse and how grandparents could fill that gap.

Source: Grandparents Apart Self Help Group Scotland

May 27, 2007 09:24:45

(PRLog.Org) – Press release. Immediate. 27th May 2007

As you can imagine this campaign is a very emotional one. If you have not suffered the problem of being cut off from someone you love you cannot envisage the devastation and heartbreak it causes.

I’ve been told “that will never happen to me.” I thought that too, but it did happen; fate can be very cruel when a member of your family unexpectedly dies. It can change family life for ever. Not only is this campaign an emotional one but is a very serious and frightening one for our children. The following are problems for children that the governments of the past have failed to address.

One sided unfair laws that give one resident parent complete legal control over children’s lives. A control that has been proven time and again to be abused, by using children as weapons and to blackmail grandparents into giving money or into buying this or that or you won’t see your grandchildren and the children are told terrible untrue things (called alienation) about their grandparents. Just about everybody knows somebody this has happened to. Is it any wonder children have no respect when they grow up with all the lies and deceit they are taught.

It is estimated that there are 100,000 alcohol and 60,000 drug related homes that children live in. Now a full blown alcoholic or drug addict can be very devious and care little for the real welfare of children. In their desire to satisfy their habit they will readily use the children in blackmail to keep their supplies going. The one sided unfair family laws are on their side, a restraining order can be very easily obtained to ban anyone who is thought to be a threat to their exposure and if no one is allowed contact with the children abuse goes on unnoticed, until it really gets out of hand. Meanwhile the children can be going through hell all this time.

The Social Services.

There are more and more badly abused children being taken into care by social services from the homes I described earlier and grandparents have been banned from. Children that need love and family comfort which grandparents could supply if they were not regarded as irrelevant persons by social services. This service is bursting at the seams to cope and have resorted to treating children as business commodities, giving workers huge bonuses to get children adopted as quickly and as cheaply as possible rather than looking after the children’s real welfare with their grandparents.

This type of treatment only cares for the physical body of a child and does not take into account the child’s emotional, mental or even spiritual side. It is well know that children that go through the social system are underachievers and are often very disruptive because the child as a whole is not considered.

One of our grannies (I cannot name her as the case is ongoing) calls me regularly to keep me up to date, is broken hearted today. A sheriff gave her contact 2 hrs every eight weeks with her 4 year old grandson who is in foster care. On the last visit her grandson was taking her hand and giving her big hugs and kisses and asking “where do you live, is it a house you live in, can I come and see you.” The shock came after her last visit when the SS called her and told her that all contact was stopped. A hearing of the children’s panel had been called and it was by their recommendation.

The reason given by SS was the boy was very disruptive and upset when he left the granny and would not speak to the foster dad or the social worker.

Although the granny had a court order to see him the SS had taken it upon themselves to stop contact with the magic saying, ‘To continue contact is not in the child’s best interest.’

Adoption without consent.

Later I got a phone call to say the social services had adopted this grannies grandson without letting her or her daughter (the child’s mother) know anything about it. She was phoning the social worker to check that her meeting with him the next day was still on when she was told.

The heartbroken Gran said “I knew something was wrong when I got put through right away and didn’t get the usual rubbish, she is not at her desk, or she is not in. I was so shocked at her attitude when she said, Have you not heard the adoption went through 3 weeks ago. I asked her if I was to see him again, the answer was, what do you think, then I don’t think so, he is adopted you know” he is not now a cared for child. How much bonus was paid for ruining that child’s life?.

The granny had just received a letter from the sheriff clerk to tell her she would be getting a court date soon for the hearing to continue her contact with the boy. Even the sheriff court had no idea this has happened and her solicitor is totally shocked.

Grandparents Apart Self Help Group Scotland
22 Alness crescent
Glasgow G52 1 PJ