The Patriots

 by Terri LaPoint
Health Impact News

A baby’s first year is crucial to a baby’s emotional and cognitive development. It is in the earliest months of life that the foundations for basic trust, security, and relationships are laid. The parent-child relationship is the environment in which that is designed to happen.

Yet the majority of children who enter foster care are taken within their first year of life, depriving them of critical bonding time and causing permanent trauma and damage to the babies’ ability to trust. More children in this age group are not returned home and are later adopted out than any other age group.

Human babies are born with an innate emotional and psychological need for their biological parents. When the child cannot or does not receive the love and acceptance of their own mother and father, he or she is left with a gaping hole deep inside that they may struggle the rest of their lives to fill even if they are loved, wanted, and cherished by a substitute parent.

The rationale behind the existence of Child Protective Services is that the state works for “the best interest of the child,” removing children from homes that the state decides are not good for the child.

Social workers and judges alike argue that they would rather be “on the safe side” and “err on the side of the child” by removing children to prevent the chance of them being harmed by their family. Countless social worker court reports of families whose stories we have covered contain references to the “possibility of future harm” without any evidence of actual harm having taken place.

While parents battle social workers, doctors, attorneys, and judges for their children, the children are often in the care of someone else besides their parents. Aside from the fact that they are more likely to be abused in foster care than in their own home, there is real harm that comes to the children simply from being separated from their parents.

The Bible talks about this connection. Psalm 22:9 says:

Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. (NIV)

The word for “trust” in the original Hebrew language is “batach” (982 Strongs). It literally means to attach oneself, to trust, feel safe, secure, or be confident. In the King James Version, the word is “hope.” The basic idea of this is firmness or solidity.

It is learned at the mother’s breast and through skin-to-skin contact.

The Hebrew word batach is linked to the New Testament Greek word for hope – elpis/elpizo (1679/1680 Strongs).  The literal definition of this Greek word is:

the desire of something good with the expectation of receiving it.

Every single time the word hope is used in the King James Version, it is this word, as in Hebrews 11:1 –

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is this trust, this hope, the Psalmist says that is learned at the mother’s breast.

Science and Scripture confirm what psychologists tell us: Babies are born with the innate need to bond with their mothers and fathers.

What harm are we doing to babies when social workers are allowed to literally snatch 1 and 2 day old infants from their mothers’ breasts?

Dr. Jay Gordon is a pediatrician who values babies and specializes in breastfeeding. His philosophy on his website is:

No one knows your child better than you do.

He believes that even a hospital separation causes harm. In “What Babies Want,” Dr. Gordon says:

My medical intuition would tell me that there are lasting consequences to being hurt when you’r a newborn baby or to being separated from your parents when you’re a newborn baby. It really is a big deal.

The statistics on the failures of the foster care system bear out the devastating effects of this separation. Children in foster care have higher rates of PTSD, more teen pregnancies, higher risk of being a victim of sex trafficking, more eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, more chance of being incarcerated or homeless, and are more likely to wind up on death row than children who were not in foster care.

Repeated studies show that they are safer in their own homes than in foster care even if that home is a troubled home. They are at least 6 times more likely to be molested, raped, abused, or killed in foster care than if they had remained home.

Those who cannot remain with their parents should be placed with relatives as a priority over strangers so that they can maintain some connection to their own identity and history.

It is a big deal that happens in hospitals all across America. Health Impact News has covered several stories of medical kidnappings of 1 and 2-day-old newborns, and we regularly hear from readers whose newborns were taken.

The numbers from the Department of Health and Human Services tell us that most of these newborns and babies under a year old who are taken by social workers will not be returned quickly, or at all.

Newborns are frequently taken from mothers who have previously had a child taken for any reason, whether the allegations were substantiated or not, and whether or not the previous case was based on false allegations.

There is a significant market for babies of people who want to adopt. There are more people wanting to adopt than there are babies available. It is a multi-billion dollar industry with children as the commodity.

Arizona Poised to Steal More Babies

The conclusions reached by those who truly understand the needs of babies for their biological family vary drastically from those of social workers and the governor of Arizona, the state which takes more children than any other state.

Governor Doug Ducey just signed Senate Bill 1473 into law. According to the City Journal, the bill gives “foster families the same legal standing as blood relatives when it comes to adopting kids under age three.”

The author of the article acknowledges the importance of infancy and early childhood, but fails to recognize the deep need that babies have for their own parents. They criticize policies, such as the one in the recent Family First law signed by President Trump, which aim to keep children with their own relatives. The author closes with a statement that is baffling in its self-contradiction:

Given the importance of the first three years for babies’ emotional and intellectual development, it’s hard to understand how child-welfare workers can justify their family policies [of placing children with family before strangers].

See stories of newborns taken from their parents, many from breastfeeding mothers:

Alabama Child Protective Services Steals New-born Breast-feeding Baby from Rape Victim While Still at the Hospital

Florida Mom Seeks 2nd Opinion on Dying Newborn After Car Accident – Loses Custody of All Three Children and Baby Dies in State Care

1-Hour Old Newborn Baby Kidnapped at Kentucky Hospital because Parents Refused to Take Parenting Classes

Tennessee Children with Brittle Bones Suffer in State Care as Mom Charged with SBS

Alabama Newborn Baby Kidnapped at Hospital with No Warrant, No Court Order, No Emergency Circumstances

Breastfeeding 2-day Old Newborn Seized From Parents Because Mother Has Disability

Medical Kidnapping in Los Angeles: 2 Day Old Infant Seized at Hospital From Mother

Alabama DHR Seizes Newborn Baby with No Court Order, No Trial, and No Evidence

Homebirthed Newborn Medically Kidnapped at Illinois Children’s Hospital

Missouri Hospital Refuses Transfer of Sick Baby – Kidnaps Kansas Couple’s Newborn Child

Newborn Baby Kidnapped from Alabama Hospital After Parents Decline Birth Certificate and SSN

Enraged Idaho Community Acts to Help Young Couple Who Refused Vaccine for Newborn – Baby Back Home for Now

California Mom Fights to Get Child Back Removed from Hospital at Birth

by Terri LaPoint  (Health Impact News)

Ashley Bradley had just put her little boy down for a nap on Wednesday afternoon when there was an unexpected knock at her door. The mom from New York wasn’t expecting any visitors, which is why the woman on her doorstep caught her off guard.

But when she opened the door, this stranger announced that she was from Child Protective Services and was there to take Bradley’s 9-month-old son away.

Bradley describes her reaction on Facebook:

At first I was so mad and hurt I wasn’t thinking right but the[n] I realized that she 1. Didn’t have a state issued badge, 2. My son’s name was spelled wrong on the folder she had in her hand and 3. I have no cps cases so they would not have been coming to my house.

She wisely demanded proof of the woman’s identity, but the social worker impersonator refused. Bradley called the police, and the woman disappeared.

At first glance, the clues that this was an impersonator appear legitimate. However, the behavior of the criminal at Ms. Bradley’s door is no different from the behavior of Child Protective Services social workers all over America.

Many parents have reported to Health Impact News that the social workers who take their children refuse to give their names or show their badges. Some have a badge that is turned around backwards.

It is not at all uncommon for children’s names to be misspelled on the folder or in documents. In fact, social worker documents and even medical records are routinely filled with inaccuracies.

Perhaps the most disturbing similarity of this case to hundreds of thousands of real CPS cases in the United States and other countries is this statement by Ashley Bradley:

I have no cps cases so they would not have been coming to my house.

This is true for many parents whose children are taken by the state. Sometimes their first contact with the system is the time that a social worker shows up on their doorstep, unannounced, out of the blue, even when the parents are innocent of any wrongdoing.

The reality is that only 17% of allegations against parents are even substantiated (Source). The majority of children seized by Child Protective Services should never have been taken. Innocent parents lose their children to the state every single day.

Parents who have done nothing wrong often think that there obviously must be a mistake. If they let the social worker in and show them everything is fine, many parents naively believe that it will all get sorted out and be ok.

Too many parents have learned the hard way that they could not be more wrong.

If the real CPS shows up on the doorstep, the social worker has a reason. They have received a report, whether true, false, or completely made up by someone with a vendetta, and the social worker is there to investigate.

If they had substantial reason to believe the grounds were legitimate, then they could have obtained a warrant. Most don’t. Many of the investigations amount to little more than “fishing expeditions.” Once the investigation opens and the social worker gets a foot in the door, they frequently “find” something – anything – to try to legitimize their case against the parents.

One attorney described the allegations thus:

They throw everything they can think up at the wall and hope that something sticks.

New York Incident Not an Isolated Event

SimpleMost reports other similar incidents to the one in New York:

Unfortunately, this is not the first case of its kind. Shortly after Bradley’s call to police, Delaware State Police began searching for three people accused of posing as caseworkers from Child Protective Services in the town of Dover. The suspects told a woman they had to check on the welfare of her children. Again, they could not provide credentials or any other proof of identification.

In Texas, a stranger also posing as a caseworker told a father to hand over his three children. That father was armed and able to get his family to safety.

In 2017, police in Milton, Pennsylvania, say a woman tried to barge into a home and take a child without any explanation. When she was asked to provide identification, she ran away.

The police officer who came to Ashley Bradley’s home in response to her call told her that the attempted kidnapping could be linked to child trafficking. She wrote:

He said people come from different countries and states kidnap kids and traffic them it does not matter what the age.

While it is true that children can be snatched by strangers or people posing as social workers in order to traffic them, the overwhelming majority of children rescued from child sex trafficking come from the foster care system.

The evidence is undeniable that children in the Child Protective system are at a much higher risk for being sexually trafficked than other children. Sometimes CPS workers are directly involved in the trafficking.

See:

by Brian Silhavy

This past week (April 2018) a group of Minnesota parents filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing Dakota County and the State of Minnesota for kidnapping their children and placing them unnecessarily into foster care.

Dwight D. Mitchell (center at podium) is the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit of parents suing the State of Minnesota for kidnapping their children via Child Protection Services. Image courtesy kaaltv.com.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is Dwight D. Mitchell, who founded an association of parents called Stop Child Protection Services From Legally Kidnapping, which has about 250 members in Minnesota. Mr. Mitchell and several parents held a press conference at the State Capital last week, and Mr. Mitchell was interviewed by several local media sources. Mr. Mitchell explains how he had his three children removed from his home because a family babysitter reported him to CPS for a “bottom spanking” with one of his children. It took him almost 2 years to get his son back home.

According to the Star Tribune:

“It was every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Mitchell, 57, a management consultant. “My children were legally kidnapped for a bottom spanking that was done out of love, because I want my children to grow up to be hardworking members of society.”

The child, Xander Mitchell, was kept in state custody for 22 months, during which time his father was refused all contact. Mitchell’s other child was removed for five months, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

Mitchell said his involvement with child protection began on the night of Feb. 16, 2014, when he and his wife went to dinner and a movie and left their children in the care of their longtime babysitter. A day earlier, Xander had received a “bottom spanking” from his father for stealing and other acts of disobedience, including failing to do his homework and playing video games when he should have been sleeping.

When the babysitter called to report the alleged maltreatment of the child, police were dispatched to Mitchell’s residence and his three children were taken to the police station for questioning, he said. Days later, Dakota County filed a court petition seeking protection for Mitchell’s children, who were removed from his home and placed in foster care while the county investigated.

Mitchell said his son Xander, now 15, has never been the same since. The once-gregarious and athletic child, who loved soccer and skiing, has become increasingly introverted and now spends most of his time indoors, he said. “The abduction by child protection services ruined my son’s life and changed it forever,” Mitchell said. “Can you imagine if you thought that your father abandoned you?”

In Minnesota it is reportedly illegal to use corporal punishment with one’s own children, but not in schools where it is allowed by teachers. 

The lawsuit claims that Minnesota unfairly targets Black families and other minorities in removing children from homes. TwinCities.com reports:

“Every night, I went to sleep not knowing where he was,” Mitchell said, describing the experience as traumatic and comparing it to a legal kidnapping.  “The abduction by (child-protective services) ruined my son’s life and changed him forever,” Mitchell said. “Without a doubt, this has been the most horrific experience of our life.”

Mitchell’s lawsuit claims Minnesota laws regarding corporal punishment by parents, such as spanking, are unconstitutionally vague. Child protection can investigate parents for any action that causes pain or mental injury.  Mitchell says state and county officials enforce that and other child-protection laws inconsistently and black families are considerably more likely to end up in the system and lose custody of their children.

State data show black children are three times more likely to be involved in the child-protection system and be taken from their parents. Black parents also are more likely to lose their parental rights than their white neighbors.  The disparity is even higher for multi-racial and American Indian children and their families.

When children of color are removed from their homes, they are often placed in white homes for foster care that some parents feel is culturally inappropriate.

ABC affiliate KaalTV interviewed Dwight Mitchell about the federal civil rights lawsuit for kidnapping children:

Richard Wexler, the executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, wrote an op-ed piece for MINNPOST earlier this month on why Minnesota’s approach to child protection makes children less safe.  Citing statistics that Minnesota takes children away from their families at the sixth highest rate in the country, a rate more than double the national average, Wexler points out that this has been a long-standing problem in Minnesota that has nothing to do with abusive parents on drugs:

No, this is not because of opioids or any other drug plague. Minnesota has been an outlier since at least 1999 and probably far longer.

Everything was made worse by the state’s bungled response to the death of Eric Dean in 2014. The governor promptly named the obligatory task force. Incredibly, the task force concluded that a state which for nearly two decades was among the most extreme in tearing apart families was not extreme enough. The result was predictable: a foster-care panic – a sharp, sudden spike in children torn from their homes.

Of course all of this was done in the name of making children safer. After all, New York City, with its much lower rate of removal, has had horrible cases of deaths of children known to the system so clearly – oh, wait. Minnesota is still seeing such tragedies as well, in spite of taking children at a rate more than six times higher.  In fact, foster-care panics actually make such tragedies more likely. (Source.)

Wexler points out that the main reason children are taken away from their families is not because of abuse, but because of poverty. He cites studies showing that children left in poor, troubled homes, fare far better than the ones taken out of those homes and put into foster care:

Far more common are cases in which family poverty is confused with “neglect.” Other cases fall between the extremes. The problem is compounded by the sort of racial bias cited by the Minneapolis NAACP.

So it’s no wonder that two massive studies involving more than 15,000 typical cases found that children left in their own homes typically fared better even than comparably maltreated children placed in foster care. A University of Minnesota study, using a smaller sample and different methodology, reached the same conclusion. (Source.)

If one wants to find the main cause of child abuse in America today, look no further than foster care homes:

That harm occurs even when the foster home is a good one. The majority are.  But the rate of abuse in foster care is far higher than generally realized and far higher than in the general population. Multiple studies have found abuse in one-quarter to one-third of foster homes. The rate of abuse in group homes and institutions is even worse.  But even that isn’t the worst of it. The more that workers are overwhelmed with false allegations, trivial cases and children who don’t need to be in foster care, the less time they have to find children in real danger. So they make even more mistakes in all directions. That’s almost always the real reason for the horror stories about children left in dangerous homes.

That’s why Minnesota’s longstanding embrace of a take-the-child-and-run approach to child welfare, an approach that’s only worsened in recent years, makes all children less safe. (Source.) 

Related

The U.S. Foster Care System: Modern Day Slavery and Child Trafficking

Child Kidnapping and Trafficking: A Lucrative U.S. Business Funded by Taxpayers

by HealthImpactNewsStaff

Multnomah County Oregon Circuit Court Judge Susan M. Svetkey recently ordered Trisha Delaurent of Vancouver, Washington, to take down a website and Facebook page that chronicled her struggles with Oregon CPS to get her children back. Trisha was charged with “medical neglect” of her oldest son, Max, who is 15.