May 10, 2009 in Opinion

Our View: Is it just Colville with child welfare office problems?

The Spokesman-Review

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The job of protecting children who are wards of the state can be confusing, contentious and highly subjective. Are children being properly raised? Are their emotional and physical needs being met? Is discipline needed? Is the choice or degree of discipline appropriate?

These are not easy decisions, but what ought to be obvious to all involved professionals is that the children’s interests are paramount. However, clashes are inevitable when foster families, school officials, health care providers, criminal justice personnel, court-appointed watchdogs and state case workers all have input.

Breakdowns in this coordinated effort are at the heart of the problem with the Washington Division of Children and Family Services regional office in Colville, according to two recently released reviews. One probe was conducted by the Office of the Family and Children’s Ombudsman and another by the Department of Social and Health Services Children’s Administration.

Both found an erosion of confidence between community professionals and the state’s child welfare office. The ombudsman said this contentiousness was putting some children at risk. It hasn’t helped that attitudes became hardened after some infamous cases, chief among them the death of Tyler DeLeon, who succumbed to dehydration after long-term abuse by his adoptive mother.

The ombudsman’s report found instances where DCFS has not complied with state law or its own policies. Both reports highlight what appears to be the larger issue, which is general distrust. The Colville office, in particular, seems to be suffering from a fortress mentality, which has hurt communication and collaboration.

As one medical professional noted: “the level of trust has deteriorated to a level that I hesitate to even get involved with the child welfare system but certainly if the lines of communication were open and more productive, cooperation could certainly begin to happen again.”

Even workers within the Colville office noted difficulties in dealing with their supervisors.

To repair the damage, the ombudsman’s office recommends professional mediation for disputes and a diverse local advisory board to inject impartiality. Those are good starting points for the Colville office, but the state agency ought to consider whether these problems are also plaguing its other operations.

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Comments 02

Two comments on this story so far. Add yours!

Leonard Henderson on May 10 at 10:35 a.m.
Your Opinion piece barely scratches the surface of what has been going on with CPS.

After a previous story about the problems with the Colville office, we left some highly educational comments about the Culture of the Agency. Shortly thereafter, our web log showed multiple entries by the Clarkston CPS office over several days.

Obviously, they weren't visiting for tips on how to improve their practice. They were undoubtedly looking for material to assassinate my character. Which IS what they do, and ALL they do. Happily, I am unimpeachable and my message is backed up with the LAW and recent Court Decisions they are IGNORANT of.

CPS is universally ignorant of ALL LAW-
http://familyrights.us/bin/CPS_violat…
~and~
http://familyrights.us/42usc/671.html#15
~and~
http://familyrights.us/42usc/671.html#19
~and~
Recent Court Decisions-
http://familyrights.us/bin/caselaw/ne…

Almost daily now, there is a story somewhere in the United States of the cover being pulled back on their Organized Criminal operation. In some states, such as Washington and California, they are being laid bare and exposed for exactly the monsters they are.

Most recent is the May 8th, 2009 article at Lawyers and Settlements.com- “Massive Medicaid Fraud Exposed in Psychiatric Drugging of Kids in US”

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/…

The Pharmacaust of CPS declaring kids as “special needs” to be doped out of their skulls for well over $10,000 a month for their “residential treatment” is now clearly exposed.
http://familyrights.us/info/doping_th…

What is not exposed is the obligatory Character Assassination done on the parents in order to Legally Kidnap the kids to harvest the Federal Funding Streams.

Nor does it seem to be recognized that the children who age out of the system are dumped on the streets with NO education, NO life skills, likely brain damaged from the years of DOPE, and certainly psychologically damaged by Entitlement philosophy- The Ultimate Life-Long Consumer of Government Services.

CPS truly destroys every life they touch. They have NO “success stories”.

CPS is more evil than your wildest imagination.

“There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.” — Edmund Burke

While I commend your article, I challenge you to keep digging. You may win a Pulitzer in Journalism. And put a bunch of these Federal Capital Criminals in prison for life.

“He who does not bellow out the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.” —Charles Peguy (1873-1914) French poet, essayist and editor

Leonard Henderson, co-founder
American Family Rights Association
http://familyrights.us
“Until Every Child Comes Home” ©
“The Voice of America's Families” ©

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just_me on August 12 at 11:16 p.m.
“Is it just Colville with child welfare office problems?”

Answer: Most emphatically, NO!

I frequently must work alongside CPS in the human services field in the state of Washington in another county—I work with a population of families who are nearly always CPS involved. My observation is that it all rests in who your CPS worker is—If you are assigned someone who is supportive and wants to work with you, you have a chance at your children and at becoming a thriving family. If you get assigned someone who wants to take and keep your kids, they will find a way to do so, eventually. It won't matter if you are innocent and it won't matter if you do everything they tell you to do. Everybody loses.

Someday there is going to be the most massive class-action suit you can imagine. And if you are a minority, poor, and disadvantaged in some way, you will be at the head of the line.

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