This morning I found a comment on this site from a future child protective services social worker, and was amused when this person got to the point of telling me my time would be better spent by trying to get more money for child welfare!
“Perhaps you could direct your energies into encouraging more funding to go towards our child welfare systems (not just CPS), which are currently grossly underfunded . . . .” — Future CPS Worker
Sounds like good work for a socialist. (I’m not in favor of more funding for child welfare programs, especially if they are run by the government.)
Well, everyone has a calling. My calling is to help parents get through their child protective services (CPS) cases and hopefully get their children back. I’ve learned through twenty years of anti-CPS activism and advocacy that I cannot do everything. So I definitely believe that one site isn’t enough.
There are 1001 different things this site could do to focus on fixing the child welfare disaster, but I’ve found I can focus on only one thing, and that is to help parents prepare for court. The courts are heavily weighted against the parents. Constitutional rights aren’t honored. Parents usually have no experience or training with court cases. And worst of all, their court appointed attorneys aren’t doing an honest and motivated job of helping parents fight their child protective services cases.
Because I can’t do it all, I’m asking YOU, the victims of child protective services, to start your own family rights websites. You are welcome to link to them from this site. I have a special place for your links:
Your Favorites: Websites, Blogs, MySpace, Facebook, YouTubes, etc.
If you don’t know how to start a website, please check out my suggestions on this page I wrote for writers needing websites: Creating an Impressive Writing Website. I used to work as a web designer and put all my ideas for creating a professional-looking site on that page. (I’m also a writer/novelist in my spare time so that’s why the slant went to writing.)
I don’t want to have the ONLY site like this, or even the best. At this point in my life I’d take great joy in seeing dozens of such sites pop up to help people. A fact: I probably won’t always be here! We don’t want the family rights movement to disappear just because some old-timers die off. It really is up to you newbies to create your own activity in the family rights movement, to learn from those who were here before you, to choose your own specialty and to excel at it so you can help others.
I started FightCPS by providing links to helpful information all over the web. The site grew as I trained myself and learned more. I’d already had paralegal training and decided to provide sample legal documents. I have been totally blessed by the help of some outstanding advocates with a similar passion, who have filled the message board forum here with helpful legal information. I see this site as often the first place someone will find when looking for help with a CPS case. Hopefully these people will either join us here on the message board, or find links to other sites that will become their web-home while they’re dealing with CPS.
I diverted myself into collecting news stories that showed that children are not safe in foster homes. That need was later filled by Suncanaa’s stellar website: In Memory of Children Who Died in State Custody – a great example of a site that specializes in exposing ONE ASPECT of the child welfare nightmare…. and because it specializes in one aspect, the site owner can focus and do an expert presentation on that issue. Now instead of posting everytime I see that a child was injured or killed while in foster care, I can just link to Suncanaa’s site and there’s the information. Case closed! It is obvious that children are not safe in state custody foster homes.
Another site that focuses on just one thing is ParentalRights.Org – a site that is working toward the passage of a Constitutional amendment that will protect families. By focusing on that one aspect they are making great strides toward an end to the child welfare nightmare.
I hope by examining these two sites you’ll see what I mean by specializing. If you try to do it all, you’re less likely to do anything perfectly. But if you choose one aspect, you can create a real opportunity for change.
