http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080428/COL04/804280375

If you watch much television, you've probably heard of a product
called Mike's Hard Lemonade.

And if you ask Christopher Ratte and his wife how they lost custody of
their 7-year-old son, the short version is that nobody in the Ratte
family watches much television.

The way police and child protection workers figure it, Ratte should
have known that what a Comerica Park vendor handed over when Ratte
ordered a lemonade for his boy three Saturdays ago contained alcohol,
and Ratte's ignorance justified placing young Leo in foster care until
his dad got up to speed on the commercial beverage industry.

Even if, in hindsight, that decision seems a bit, um, idiotic.

Ratte is a tenured professor of classical archaeology at the
University of Michigan, which means that, on a given day, he's more
likely to be excavating ancient burial sites in Turkey than watching
"Dancing with the Stars" -- or even the History Channel, for that
matter.

The 47-year-old academic says he wasn't even aware alcoholic lemonade
existed when he and Leo stopped at a concession stand on the way to
their seats in Section 114.

"I'd never drunk it, never purchased it, never heard of it," Ratte of
Ann Arbor told me sheepishly last week. "And it's certainly not what I
expected when I ordered a lemonade for my 7-year-old."

But it wasn't until the top of the ninth inning that a Comerica Park
security guard noticed the bottle in young Leo's hand.

"You know this is an alcoholic beverage?" the guard asked the
professor.

"You've got to be kidding," Ratte replied. He asked for the bottle,
but the security guard snatched it before Ratte could examine the
label.

Mistake or child neglect?
An hour later, Ratte was being interviewed by a Detroit police officer
at Children's Hospital, where a physician at the Comerica Park clinic
had dispatched Leo -- by ambulance! -- after a cursory exam.

Leo betrayed no symptoms of inebriation. But the physician and a
police officer from the Comerica substation suggested the ER visit
after the boy admitted he was feeling a little nauseated.

The Comerica cop estimated that Leo had drunk about 12 ounces of the
hard lemonade, which is 5% alcohol. But an ER resident who drew Leo's
blood less than 90 minutes after he and his father were escorted from
their seats detected no trace of alcohol.

"Completely normal appearing," the resident wrote in his report, "...
he is cleared to go home."

But it would be two days before the state of Michigan allowed Ratte's
wife, U-M architecture professor Claire Zimmerman, to take their son
home, and nearly a week before Ratte was permitted to move back into
his own house.

And if you think nothing so ludicrous could happen to your family,
maybe you should pay a little less attention to who's getting booted
from "Dancing with the Stars" and a little more to how the state
agency responsible for protecting Michigan's children is going about
its work.

Doing their duty
Almost everyone Chris Ratte met the night they took Leo away conceded
the state was probably overreacting.

The sympathetic cop who interviewed Ratte and his son at the hospital
said she was convinced what happened had been an accident, but that
her supervisor was insisting the matter be referred to Child
Protective Services.

And Ratte thought the two child protection workers who came to take
Leo away seemed more annoyed with the police than with him. "This is
so unnecessary," one told Ratte before driving away with his son.

But there was really nothing any of them could do, they all said. They
were just adhering to protocol, following orders.

And so what had begun as an outing to the ballpark ended with Leo
crying himself to sleep in front of a television inside the Child
Protective Services building, and Ratte and his wife standing on the
sidewalk outside, wondering when they'd see their little boy again.

A vain rescue mission
Child Protective Services is the unit of the Michigan Department of
Human Services responsible for intervening when someone suspects a
child is being abused, neglected or endangered. Its powers include the
authority to remove children from their homes and transfer them to
foster parents who answer only to the state.

By law, CPS officials are forbidden to discuss the particulars of any
investigation.

But Mike Patterson, Child and Family Services director for the Wayne
County district that includes Comerica Park, said that in general his
agency's discretion is limited once police obtain a court order to
remove a child from the parental home -- usually authorized, as in
Leo's case, by a juvenile court referee responding to a police
officer's recommendation.

"Once the court has authorized a child's removal," Patterson told me,
"we cannot return the child to the parental custody" until the court
has OK'd it.

But that doesn't explain why CPS refused to release Leo to the custody
of two aunts -- one a social worker and licensed foster parent -- who
drove all night from New England to take custody of their nephew.

Chris Ratte's sisters, Catherine Miller and Felicity Ratte, left
Massachusetts at 10:30 the night of the fateful lemonade purchase
after the police officer who'd reluctantly requested a removal order
told Ratte the state would likely jump at the chance to place Leo with
responsible relatives. But when the two women arrived at the CPS
office early Sunday, a caseworker explained they would not be allowed
to see Leo until they had secured a hotel room.

The sisters quickly complied. But by the time they returned to CPS
around 10:30 a.m., their nephew had been taken to an undisclosed
foster home, where he would remain until a preliminary court hearing
the following afternoon.

By that Monday, April 7, when Ratte and his wife returned for a
meeting with Latricia Jones, the CPS caseworker assigned to their
case, no one in the family had been able to talk to Leo for a day and
a half.

More investigation needed
At a hearing later that day, Jones recommended that Leo remain in
foster care until she had completed her investigation, a process she
estimated would take several days. It was only after the assistant
attorney general who represented CPS admitted that the state was not
interested in pursuing the case aggressively that juvenile referee
Leslie Graves agreed to release Leo to his mother -- on the condition
that Ratte himself relocate to a hotel.

Finally, at a second hearing three days later, Graves dismissed the
complaint and permitted Ratte to move home.

Don Duquette, a U-M law professor who directs the university's Child
Advocacy Law Clinic, represented Ratte and his wife. He notes
sardonically that the most remarkable thing about the couple's case
may be the relative speed with which they were reunited with Leo.

Duquette says the emergency removal powers of CPS, though "well-
intentioned" are "out of control and partly responsible for the large
numbers of kids in the foster care system," which is almost
universally acknowledged to be badly overburdened.

Ratte and his wife have filed a formal complaint with the CPS
ombudsman's office.

"I have apologized to Leo from the bottom of my heart for the silly
mistake that got him into this mess," Ratte wrote in the complaint.
"But I have also told him that what happened afterward was an even
bigger error, and I would like to be able to say to him that
institutions, like people, can learn from their mistakes."

I have had my own experience with Wayne County DHS.  These people are
a treat.  What angers me even more is the article claims that CPS
workers were actually annoyed by having to take the child, but stated
they were just following protocol.

I can guarantee you I know the Michigan child protection law better
than any of those people involved in that case, and they had many,
many outs.  What I would bet actually happened is that a CPS
supervisor had a brief summary of what happend (most likely "Parents
were serving child alcohol") and made a snap decision, ordered his/her
worker bees to collect the child and bring him back to the hive,
completely disregarding what those on the scene were saying.

This is far too common place among Michigan CPS.  It goes both ways.
I have seen so many uniformed decisions by CPS management that have
not only led to unnecessary removals, but also leaving children in
dangerous situations where several eventually died.

This needs to change, but no real effort is underway.  Please don't
think that Children's Rights lawsuit is going to make a difference,
They will condem foster care to no end while praising CPS.  Apparently
they believe only one half of the system in Michigan is broken...
that would be odd indeed.

It looks like this turned out OK, and rather quickly (although one day
separated form your child by the state is an eternity), but mark my
words, not so much as a slap on the wrist will be handed out to anyone
involved.

Who is REALLY behind those law suits anyway?
Who is REALLY behind the group filing?

DS > Which suits specifically?

http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/516655/lawsuit_filed_again...

DS > So you believe the same as greg, that
DS > this suit is more beneficial TO the system?

G > Who is REALLY behind those law suits anyway?

DS > Which suits specifically?

http://www.childrensrights.org/pdfs/OK_complaint.pdf

G > Who is REALLY behind the group filing?

DS > Which suits specifically?

http://www.childrensrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cases

The smoking gun here is the ACLU.
ACLU has rarely ever championed the rights of
the intact family.

The ACLU has pulled for more MONEY for
Foster Care contractors, to supposedly provide
better services, as if that takes MONEY rather
than responsibility.

ACLU seems to focus on the individual rights OF
the child as in state care, emancipation, and
combatting parental authority.
Politically LIBERAL, they seem to be very much
supportive of caseworkers and the Child Protective
Services agencies and their POLITICAL AGENDA.

It's not the same but in some ways like the way
that pedophiles want more kids emancipated
and empowered to make their own choices,
sexual or otherwise, unfettered by parental restraint.

Tell me what YOU think, Dan?

http://www.childrensrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aboutus

Children’s Rights is one of the country’s leading child advocacy
organizations, an independent watchdog holding state-run child welfare
agencies accountable for providing quality services to endangered
children. We use legal advocacy, research and analysis to ensure
improved policies and practices, and public education to promote and
protect children’s rights.

Our work has improved the lives of many thousands of children. We
won’t rest until every state in the U.S. lives up to its
constitutional and statutory obligation to provide basic services,
care and protection to abused and neglected children. The degree to
which we succeed is a measure of our humanity.

Founded by Marcia Robinson Lowry, a nationally recognized expert in
child welfare reform, Children’s Rights began as a project of the
American Civil Liberties Union. It became an independent non-profit
organization in 1995.

THE MISSION
The mission of Children’s Rights is to promote and protect the rights
of children who are abused and neglected by creating meaningful and
lasting reforms in government systems so that all children remain safe
and secure and have the opportunity to grow up in loving families.

THE GOAL
The goal of Children’s Rights is to ensure that government child
welfare systems uphold the rights of children who are abused and
neglected in order that they:

Remain safe from abuse and neglect;

Live in appropriate family settings whenever possible while in
government custody;

Receive adequate medical, mental health and educational services; and

Return quickly to their families whenever possible or, through the
adoption process, find a new permanent loving family.

ACTION AGENDA
Expose what happens to children who are abused and neglected;

Utilize the power of the courts to compel government systems to
fulfill their legal obligations to children;

Educate the public on why child welfare systems fail and how they can
be fixed;

Research issues that have a direct impact on the lives of children to
find practical solutions to the most pressing problems facing child
welfare systems; and

Collaborate with child welfare advocates, professionals and
policymakers to advance a common agenda and improve the lives of
vulnerable children.

http://www.childrensrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=staff

Meet our Executive Director
Marcia Robinson Lowry
Mae Ackerman-Brimberg, paralegal
Anita Anthony Estling, executive assistant
Sara Bartosz, senior staff attorney
click here for bio
Laurie Bensky, senior policy analyst
click here for bio
Emmy Curet, administrative assistant
click here for bio
Julian Darwall, paralegal
Amy Driver, director of finance
click here for bio
Julie Farber, director of policy
click here for bio
Jeremiah Frei-Pearson, staff attorney
click here for bio
Elissa Gelber, staff attorney
click here for bio
Yasmin Grewal-Kok, staff attorney
click here for bio
Brooks Halliday, public relations manager
click here for bio
Daniel Holt, staff attorney
click here for bio
Chris Iseli, director of communications
Bill Kapell, senior staff attorney
click here for bio
Talia Kraemer, paralegal
Click here for bio
Susan Lambiase, associate director
click here for bio
Katie Linehan, paralegal
Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director and founder
click here for bio
Katie Linehan, paralegal
Ira Lustbader, associate director
click here for bio
Jethro Miller, director of development
click here for bio
Nelida Mulero, bookkeeper
click here for bio
Shirim Nothenberg, staff attorney
click here for bio
Rachel Podolsky, foundation relations manager
Jessica Polansky, staff attorney
click here for bio
Samantha Rudolph, administrative assistant
click here for bio
Megan Spence, development coordinator
Aaron Sussman, paralegal
Eric Thompson, senior staff attorney
click here for bio
Sally Weissman, director of administration
click here for bio
Gena Wiltsek, staff attorney
click here for bio

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Stuart H. Coleman, Esq.
Managing Partner
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

Robin L. Dahlberg, Esq.
Attorney
ACLU

Lynn M. Edens

Richard D. Emery, Esq.
Senior Partner
Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP

Lawrence J. Fox, Esq.
Partner and former Managing Partner
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Daniel Galpern
Executive Vice President
CurtCo Media Labs

Jeffrey Gracer, Esq.
Partner
Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.

Marcia Robinson Lowry, Esq.
Executive Director
Children's Rights

Howard Maisel
Former Partner, McDonald and Company Investment Bankers
Former Vice President and Board Director, Burmah Castrol Limited UK

Alan C. Myers, Esq., Co-Chair
Partner
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, LLP

Alice Rosenwald, Co-Chair
American Securities Holdings Co.

Melissa Salten, Esq.
Attorney
Expert in Taxation and Estate Planning

Anne Strickland Squadron
President
Theater Unlimited, Inc.

http://www.childrensrights.org/site/PageNavigator/Bio_Lowry

Marcia Robinson Lowry
Founder and Executive Director, Children's Rights

Under Ms. Lowry's direction, Children's Rights currently supervises
the monitoring of landmark child welfare reform court orders in
Connecticut; the District of Columbia; Fulton and DeKalb counties in
Georgia; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Mississippi; New Jersey and Tennessee.
She is also leading active litigation to reform failing child welfare
systems in Michigan, Rhode Island and Oklahoma, with several other
states under investigation.

Her work at Children's Rights, which she founded in 1995, uses the
power of the courts, combined with policy initiatives, to develop
realistic, long-term solutions to improve the lives of abused and
neglected children.  These efforts have created concrete changes in
child welfare systems such as more funding and resources, improved
management and better outcomes for children.

Formerly director of the Children's Rights Projects of the New York
Civil Liberties Union (1973-1979) and of the American Civil Liberties
Union (1979-1995), Ms. Lowry has a long history of working to improve
services for abused and neglected children. She pioneered the first
body of law to protect kids dependent on child welfare systems,
bringing increased attention and public scrutiny to systems that were
all but ignored.

She received her B.S. from Northwestern University and began her
career as a journalist. She earned her J.D. from the New York
University School of Law.

Please post the evidence of that.