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BEGINNING at the BEGINNING
August 17, 2008
Many of the most vocal family rights activists seem to be history buffs to
some degree, as they often cite historical events and leaders, including Rome
and Hitler.
These vocal ‘historians” demonstrate that they understand the importance of
learning from the past, and the ways in which history can be applied to modern
day problems.
With these facts in mind, I am somewhat perplexed at the overall failure of
family rights activists to more closely observe histories tried and true methods
for effecting changes in their governments.
When “fighting for change”, there is an historically proven method that we
are all familiar with; The organization of an army, or a coalition.
Without exception, unity has proven to be the successful formula, yet the
cooperation I have seen among family rights activists could not get people to
stand up for a head count, let alone make a cohesive effort to get things done.
In the short time that I have been “actively” involved in activism, I have
only seen a few real activists. Please don’t misunderstand me, there are
people who keep abreast of laws that affect our cause, and those whose efforts
toward public education is extremely valuable. The websites created for
brainstorming, sharing of ideas and important issues are the bedrock of our
mission.
My issue is with the lack of people who are willing to organize to do the work
that needs to be done from the street level right up to our lobbyists and
governmental representatives.
While I make it my policy to help every person who contacts me, I am limited by
the fact that I can’t go to court with them, or spend the one-on-one time
necessary to do all that can be done.
We need IHNCC Volunteers in every city and county who have been trained to help
CPS victims be less victimized.
We need IHNCC Volunteers who can document violations of people’s civil rights
by CPS, lawyers who are not adequately representing their clients, judges who
abuse the judicial process, and citizens review boards who aren’t doing their
jobs.
With out trained people at individual case level, we cannot substantiate
allegations of wrongdoing by the system, and; IT IS THE PROOF OF THEIR ILLEGAL
ACTIVITIES THAT WILL BE THE FASTEST, MOST EFFECTIVE REMEDY.
If Enron hadn’t been caught, they would still be at it, and without proof of
our allegations against CPS, we are just bad parents who are pissed off because
CPS took our children.
A few hundred CPS cases showing solid evidence of what is really happening is
going to be the only cause for re-opening cases, filing damages, and hopefully,
for criminal charges being brought against all those who deserve to go to jail!
Imagine this:
We do finally get the attention of our legislators and Congress. Do you
really imagine that they will simply say, “Hell yes! We need to abolish
CPS entirely and rebuild it from the ground up!” Do you know what that
would take? How much it would cost? Here we are talking about
ratification, majority votes, and getting the President of the United States
involved. Obama doesn’t strike me as someone who is going to throw down Iraq
and healthcare issues to focus on “bad parents”.
Even if they were to agree that a few laws should be changed, the most we could
hope for is to be placated with half-assed amendments that do little to address
the problem.
If we want to win, we must be impossible to ignore. To achieve that, we
must force the courts to adjudicate hundreds of cases alleging violations of
civil and criminal law by CPS and their affiliates. We must jam up the court
dockets with civil suits seeking damages from the State and Federal governments.
Each win of one of these cases creates a citation for the next, increasing the
chance of winning with each successive case, until they’ll go broke settling
out of court.
On the other hand:
Judges vow to
fix state's foster-care court
JUDGES APPROVE REFORMS - CAN STATE PAY FOR THEM?
By Karen de Sá
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/16/2008 01:30:11 AM PDT
The California courts approved massive reforms on Friday to the state's troubled juvenile dependency courts that would ease the overwhelmed system and ensure fairness for those who are "literally and legally the children of the state."
Finding unconscionable the overloaded dockets that leave only minutes for hearings that determine critical issues for 75,000 California children in foster care, the state Judicial Council approved measures that would include more judges to hear dependency cases and more lawyers to represent impoverished family members.
"Children are our future, and I can't imagine any more effort that's as integral to society and our judicial system," said Chief Justice Ronald George, who led the council in calling for change.
The vote of the Judicial Council - the governing body for the state courts - adopts the recommendations of a statewide commission that George appointed in 2006 to study the problems of the dependency courts, which operate largely in secret and are often treated as the less-prestigious stepchild of the court system.
The measures approved by the council would address many of the critical problems identified in the February Mercury News series "Broken Families, Broken Courts," which revealed an overburdened system that too often poorly serves both the children it is designed to protect, and the parents accused of abuse or neglect.
The series documented a system in which overloaded attorneys routinely meet with clients minutes before their hearings, if at all, and often fail to properly investigate or present their cases.
The next question will be funding changes to the system - the state Legislature is already at an impasse over how to solve its $15.2 billion deficit. As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed one bill last month that sailed through the Legislature in response to the newspaper articles - a measure designed to make sure that children are aware of their hearings and given the chance to attend - he expressed concern over the costs at a time when the state is strapped for money.
But the chief justice Friday said a "golden opportunity" exists to enact the 79 specific measures - many of which do not involve significant costs. Court officials intend to push implementation of the widespread measures both at the state and county levels in the coming months.
Among the 42 members of the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care that drafted the recommendations is newly named Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, who has focused her career on improving the state's foster care system.
Smaller caseloads
The Judicial Council's newly approved list of reforms calls for attorney caseloads of no more than 188 clients, although in some counties, lawyers for children and parents attempt to juggle as many as 600 cases. The council called for all dependency cases to be heard by judges, although in many counties referees and commissioners serve as substitutes for judges. In great swaths of the state, judicial officers are assigned upward of 1,300 families at any given time - hundreds more than the 250 recommended by national experts. The Judicial Council will now seek to lower judicial caseloads, but in return will ask for minimum three-year assignments.
William Vickery, administrative director of the statewide court system, said California became too reliant on lower-level judicial officers in the critical, but low-status dependency courts. For judges, he said, "it's never been on the radar screen. It's something that's been in the back room or the cellar."
In calling for more judges and more reasonable caseloads, blue ribbon commission members told the Judicial Council that it is the only "ethically defensible" position to take, given that "dependency cases represent the most intrusive form of governmental intervention."
Friday's Judicial Council vote embraced the commission's list of proposed reforms, in some cases with strengthened language.
Attorneys' competence
The council is seeking a system to ensure attorney competency and effectiveness, and the appointment of attorneys for all children when their cases are appealed to the higher courts.
The Judicial Council also is seeking action to address the longstanding problem that hearings to remove children from their homes disproportionately involve families of color. The council approved steps to reduce the number of African- American and American Indian children in the system, while increasing the diversity and cultural competence of the courts' workforce.
To highlight the need, Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno pointed to San Francisco, where African-American children are 9 percent of the city's population, and 70 percent of those in foster care, he said.
Central to the reform efforts ahead is a plan to prevent the removal of children from their homes whenever possible, and to call on federal authorities to grant more money for child abuse prevention and reunification services.
But California dependency system reformers believe the courts can do a better job whittling down the number of cases in which children must be removed from homes - which, they say, will lower the costs of caring for children in foster care. Those savings should be reinvested in supports for troubled families before they enter the court system, the commission reported, resulting in a long-term savings "by reducing the number of former foster children who become homeless, dependent on welfare, and incarcerated as adults."
Contact Karen de Sá at kdesa@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5781
