Criticism of Child Protective Services consists of critiques of the governmental agency in many states of the United States that responds to reports of child abuse or neglect.
The National Coalition for Child Protection Reform argues that CPS is flawed in that workers are not free to comment on cases that have been made public by others; that calls accepted by CPS hotlines are accepted even when the caller is anonymous or have not demonstrated reasonable suspicion of maltreatment; that people are listed on registries of child abusers without the allegations having been substantiated by clear and convincing evidence; that unfounded reports are not promptly expunged; and that interviews with CPS caseworkers are not always audiotaped or videotaped.[1]
Brenda Scott, in her 1994 book Out of Control: Who's Watching Our Child Protection Agencies, criticizes CPS, stating, "Child Protective Services is out of control. The system, as it operates today, should be scrapped. If children are to be protected in their homes and in the system, radical new guidelines must be adopted. At the core of the problem is the antifamily mindset of CPS. Removal is the first resort, not the last. With insufficient checks and balances, the system that was designed to protect children has become the greatest perpetrator of harm."[2]
Texas
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had itself been an object of reports of unusual numbers of poisonings, death, rapes and pregnancies of children under its care since 2004. The Texas Family and Protective Services Crisis Management Team was created by executive order after the critical report Forgotten Children of 2004.
Texas Child Protective Services was hit with a rare if not unprecedented legal sanction for a "groundless cause of action" and ordered to pay $32,000 of the Spring family's attorney fees. Judge Schneider wrote in a 13-page order, "The offensive conduct by (CPS) has significantly interfered with the legitimate exercise of the traditional core functions of this court."[3]
2008 Raid of YFZ Ranch
In April 2008, the largest child protection action in American history raised questions as the CPS in Texas removed hundreds of minor children, infants, and women incorrectly believed to be children from the YFZ Ranch polygamist community, with the assistance of heavily armed police with an armored personnel carrier. Investigators, including supervisor Angie Voss convinced a judge that all of the children were at risk of child abuse because they were all being groomed for under-age marriage. The state supreme court disagreed, releasing most children back to their families. Investigations would result in criminal charges against some men in the community.
Gene Grounds of Victim Relief Ministries commended CPS workers in the Texas operation as exhibiting compassion, professionalism and caring concern.[4] However, CPS performance was questioned by workers from the Hill Country Community Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center. One wrote "I have never seen women and children treated this poorly, not to mention their civil rights being disregarded in this manner" after assisting at the emergency shelter. Others who were previously forbidden to discuss conditions working with CPS later produced unsigned written reports expressed anger at the CPS traumatizing the children, and disregarding rights of mothers who appeared to be good parents of healthy, well-behaved children. CPS threatened some MHMR workers with arrest, and the entire mental health support was dismissed the second week due to being "too compassionate." Workers believed poor sanitary conditions at the shelter allowed respiratory infections and chicken pox to spread.[5]
CPS problem reports
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, as with other states, had itself been an object of reports of unusual numbers of poisonings, death, rapes and pregnancies of children under its care since 2004. The Texas Family and Protective Services Crisis Management Team was created by executive order after the critical report Forgotten Children[6] of 2004. Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn made a statement in 2006 about the Texas foster care system.[7] In Fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively 30, 38 and 48 foster children died in the state's care. The number of foster children in the state's care increased 24 percent to 32,474 in Fiscal 2005, while the number of deaths increased 60 percent. Compared to the general population, a child is four times more likely to die in the Texas foster care system. In 2004, about 100 children were treated for poisoning from medications; 63 were treated for rape that occurred while under state care including four-year old twin boys, and 142 children gave birth, though others believe Ms. Strayhorn's report was not scientifically researched, and that major reforms need to be put in place to assure that children in the conservatorship of the state get as much attention as those at risk in their homes.
Disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system
In the United States, data suggests that a disproportionate number of minority children, particularly African American and Native American children, enter the foster care system.[8] National data in the United States provides evidence that disproportionality may vary throughout the course of a child's involvement with the child welfare system. Differing rates of disproportionality are seen at key decision points including the reporting of abuse, substantiation of abuse, and placement into foster care.[9] Additionally, once they enter foster care, research suggests that they are likely to remain in care longer.[10] Research has shown that there is no difference in the rate of abuse and neglect among minority populations when compared to Caucasian children that would account for the disparity.[11] The Juvenile Justice system has also been challenged by disproportionate negative contact of minority children.[12] Because of the overlap in these systems, it is likely that this phenomenon within multiple systems may be related.
Constitutional issues
In May 2007, the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found in Rogers v. County of San Joaquin, No. 05-16071[13] that a CPS social worker who removed children from their natural parents into foster care without obtaining judicial authorization was acting without due process and without exigency (emergency conditions) violated the 14th Amendment and Title 42 United State Code Section 1983. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution says that a state may not make a law that abridges "... the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States" and no state may "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Title 42 United States Code Section 1983[14] states that citizens can sue in federal courts any person who acting under a color of law to deprive the citizens of their civil rights under the pretext of a regulation of a state, See.[15]
In case of Santosky v. Kramer, 455 US 745, Supreme Court reviewed a case when Department of Social Services removed two younger children from their natural parents only because the parents had been previously found negligent toward their oldest daughter.[16] When the third child was only three days old, DSS transferred him to a foster home on the ground that immediate removal was necessary to avoid imminent danger to his life or health. The Supreme Court vacated previous judgment and stated: "Before a State may sever completely and irrevocably the rights of parents in their natural child, due process requires that the State support its allegations by at least clear and convincing evidence. But until the State proves parental unfitness, the child and his parents share a vital interest in preventing erroneous termination of their natural relationship".[16]
A District of Columbia Court of Appeals concluded that the lower trial court erred in rejecting the relative custodial arrangement selected by the natural mother who tried to preserve her relationship with the child.[17] The previous judgment granting the foster mother's adoption petition was reversed, the case remanded to the trial court to vacate the orders granting adoption and denying custody, and to enter an order granting custody to the child's relative.[17]
Notable lawsuits
In 2010 an ex-foster child was awarded $30 million by jury trial in California (Santa Clara County) for sexual abuse damages that happened to him in foster home from 1995 to 1999.[18][19] The foster parent, John Jackson, was licensed by state despite the fact that he abused his own wife and son, overdosed on drugs and was arrested for drunken driving. In 2006, Jackson was convicted in Santa Clara County of nine counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child by force, violence, duress, menace and fear and seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.[18] The sex acts he forced the children in his foster care to perform sent him to prison for 220 years. Later in 2010, Giarretto Institute, the private foster family agency responsible for licensing and monitoring Jackson's foster home and others, also was found to be negligent and liable for 75 percent of the abuse that was inflicted on the victim, and Jackson was liable for the rest.[18]
In 2009 Oregon Department of Human Services has agreed to pay $2 million into a fund for the future care of twins who were allegedly abused by their foster parents; it was the largest such settlement in the agency's history.[20] According to the civil rights suit filed on request of twins' adoptive mother in December 2007 in U.S. Federal Court, kids were kept in makeshift cages—cribs covered with chicken wire secured by duct tape—in a darkened bedroom known as "the dungeon." The brother and sister often went without food, water or human touch. The boy, who had a shunt put into his head at birth to drain fluid, didn't receive medical attention, so when police rescued the twins he was nearly comatose. The same foster family previously took in their care hundreds of other children over nearly four decades.[21] DHS said the foster parents deceived child welfare workers during the checkup visits.[20]
Several lawsuits were brought in 2008 against the Florida Department of Children & Families (DCF), accusing it of mishandling reports that Thomas Ferrara, 79, a foster parent, was molesting girls.[22][23] The suits claimed that though there were records of sexual misconduct allegations against Ferrara in 1992, 1996, and 1999, the DCF continued to place foster children with Ferrara and his then-wife until 2000.[22] Ferrara was arrested in 2001 after a 9-year-old girl told detectives he regularly molested her over two years and threatened to hurt her mother if she told anyone. Records show that Ferrara had as many as 400 children go through his home during his 16 years as a licensed foster parent from 1984 to 2000.[22] Officials stated that the lawsuits over Ferrara end up costing the DCF almost $2.26 million.[23] Similarly, in 2007 Florida's DCF paid $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged DCF ignored complaints that another mentally challenged Immokalee girl was being raped by her foster father, Bonifacio Velazquez, until the 15-year-old gave birth to a child.[24][25][26]
In a class action lawsuit Charlie and Nadine H. v. McGreevey[27] was filed in federal court by "Children’s Rights" New York organization on behalf of children in the custody of the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS).[28][29] The complaint alleged violations of the children's constitutional rights and their rights under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment, 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA).[30] In July 2002, the federal court granted plaintiffs’ experts access to 500 children’s case files, allowing plaintiffs to collect information concerning harm to children in foster care through a case record review.[28] These files revealed numerous cases in which foster children were abused, and DYFS failed to take proper action. On June 9, 2004, the child welfare panel appointed by the parties approved the NJ State’s Reform Plan. The court accepted the plan on June 17, 2004.[29] The same organization filed similar lawsuits against other states in recent years that caused some of the states to start child welfare reforms.[31]
In 2007 Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick obtained a jury verdict against Orange County (California) and two of its social workers for violating her Fourteenth Amendment rights to familial association.[32] The $4.9 million verdict grew to a $9.5 million judgment as the County lost each of its successive appeals.[32] The case finally ended in 2011 when the United States Supreme Court denied Orange County's request to overturn the verdict.[33]
California
In April 2013, Child Protective Services in Sacramento sent in police to forcibly remove a 5-month-old baby from the care of parents.
Alex and Anna Nikolayev took their baby Sammy out of Sutter Memorial Hospital and sought a second opinion at Kaiser Permanente, a competing hospital, for Sammy’s flu-like symptoms.[34] Police arrived at Kaiser and questioned the couple and doctors. Once Sammy had been fully cleared to leave the hospital, the couple went home, but the following day police arrived and took Sammy. On June 25, 2013 the case against the family was dismissed and the family filed a lawsuit against CPS and the Sacramento Police Department.[35]
In Stockton, California, two children were taken away from Vuk and Verica Nastić in June 2010 after the children's naked photos were found on the father's computer. Such photos are common in Serbian culture. Furthermore, parents claim that their ethnic and religious rights have been violated – children are not permitted to speak Serbian, nor to meet with their parents for orthodox Christmas. They can meet only mother once a week. Children have suffered psychological traumas due to their separation from parents. Polygraph showed that father did not abuse children. Trial is set for January 26. Psychologists from Serbia stated that few hours of conversation with children are enough to see whether they have been abused. Children were taken from their family 7 months ago. FBI started an investigation against the CPS.[36][37][38] The children were reunited with their parents in February 2011.[39]
- ^ http://www.nccpr.org/reports/dueprocess.pdf
- ^ Scott, Brenda (1994) Out of Control: Who's Watching Our Child Protection Agencies? p. 179
- ^ State agency hit with rare sanction for taking custody of Spring infants
- ^ KVUE.com, Richardson group: Polygamists' children are OK April 18, 2008 by Janet St. James / WFAA-TV
- ^ Crotea, Roger (10 May 2008). "Mental health workers rip CPS over sect". San Antonio Express-news .
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(help) - ^ Window.state.tx.us
- ^ Comptroller Strayhorn Statement On Foster Care Abuse June 23, 2006
- ^ Hill R.B. (2004) Institutional racism in child welfare. In J. Everett, S. Chipungu & B. Leashore (Eds.) Child welfare revisited (pp. 57-76). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- ^ Hill, R. B (2006) Synthesis of research on disproportionality in child welfare: An update. Casey-CSSP Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare.
- ^ Wulczyn, F. Lery, B., Haight, J., (2006) Entry and Exit Disparities in the Tennessee Foster Care System. Chapin Hall Discussion Paper.
- ^ National Incidence Study (NIS), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families, (1996)
- ^ Pope, C.E. & Feyerherm, W. (1995) Minorities and the Juvenile Justice System Research Symmary. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
- ^ Rogers v. County of San Joaquin, No. 05-16071
- ^ Title 42 United States Code Section 1983
- ^ "Civil Rights Complaint Guide" (PDF).
- ^ a b "Santosky v. Kramer, 455 US 745 – Supreme Court 1982".
- ^ a b "In re TJ, 666 A. 2d 1 – DC: Court of Appeals 1995".
- ^ a b c "South Bay sex-abuse lawsuit: Ex-foster child awarded $30 million".
- ^ "Estey & Bomberger announces Jury Awards $30 Million in San Jose Molestation Case".
- ^ a b "Gresham foster kids abused despite DHS checks". The Oregonian. 2009-04-04.
- ^ "Abuse in children's foster care: State officials call for outside review". The Oregonian. 2009-09-02.
- ^ a b c "Florida Foster Care Child Molestation".
- ^ a b "Foster parent, 79, accused of molesting girls in his care".
- ^ "Child of rape now 9, yet DCF settlement held up".
- ^ "Florida Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 60".
- ^ "Florida Senate – 2010" (PDF).
- ^ Charlie and Nadine H. v. McGreevey
- ^ a b "New Jersey (Charlie and Nadine H. v. Corzine)".
- ^ a b "Charlie and Nadine H. v. Corzine".
- ^ "Legal Documents (Charlie and Nadine H. v. Corzine)".
- ^ "Results of Reform".
- ^ a b "Order Granting Fees Incurred on Appeal".
- ^ "U.S. Supreme Court Denies Orange County's (California) Request".
- ^ "News10 – Couple still unclear why CPS took their baby".
- ^ http://archive.news10.net/news/local/article/248770/476/CPS-case-against-Nikolayev-family-dismissed
- ^ "United States: Serbian Couple Struggles to Get Children Back · Global Voices". Globalvoicesonline.org. 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ^ "News – U.S.: Serbian couple fights to get children back". B92. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ^ "Press Online :: Press Green". Pressonline.rs. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ^ http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society.php?yyyy=2011&mm=02&dd=15&nav_id=72723