WEST VIRGINIA FAMILIES-SUBMIT INFO FOR INVESTIGATION OF WV DHHR CPS
family_rights_wv
West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Child Protective
Services (WV DHHR CPS) due to the freezing death of newborn Jonathan
Coffman in December 2004.
This notice is to strongly encourage West Virginia Families to submit
information concerning the wrongdoings of WV DHHR CPS workers in their
cases occurring in West Virginia to:
House Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh
Office of the Speaker,
Room M-228, Building 1,
Capitol Complex, Charleston,WV 25305
e-mail: cas...@mail.wvnet.edu
phone: (304) 340-3210
For more information join family_rights_wv support group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/family_rights_wv
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITIONS AND FORWARD TO OTHERS. WE WILL BE COLLECTING
SIGNATURES PAST THE DEADLINE DATES LISTED ON THE PETITIONS:
Request for Congressional Inquiry of HHS Child Protective Services in
All States
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/253404476?ltl=1115088045
HELP MOTHERS FALSELY ACCUSED OF CHILD ABUSE AND/OR NEGLECT- HELP THEM
PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/512966888
------BACKGROUND INFORMATION------------
NEWBORN FREEZES - COFFMAN FAMILY WAS UNDER CPS SUPERVISION, CPS HAD
DUTY TO SUPERVISE THE FAMILY PROPERLY AND MAKE CERTAIN BASIC NEEDS WERE
MET, CPS FAILED TO HAVE HEAT TURNED ON FOR FAMILY, NEWBORN FREEZES DUE
TO COMPLICATIONS FROM HYPOTHERMIA, DHHR 'LIED'
MORE INFORMATION:
MERCURYNEWS.COM FORUMS
COST TO TAXPAYERS FOR CPS SEIZING KIDS
http://forums.mercurynews.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=kr-mercurynews&msg=1038.49&ctx=256
HELP INVESGTIGATE NEWBORN FREEZING DEATH
http://forums.mercurynews.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=kr-mercurynews&msg=1658.1&ctx=256
Newborn freezes to death in home
By Jessica Farrish/Register-Herald Reporter
A 5-day-old baby boy died Wednesday of hypothermia after spending his
short life in a house with little heat, authorities said.
The baby's mother, 28-year-old Sherry Coffman of Stanaford, is severely
mentally challenged and under the supervision of the Department of
Health and Human Resources, Child Protective Services and several other
state welfare agencies, Raleigh County sheriff's Lt. Steve Tanner said
Friday.
"The mother did not have the mental faculties to appreciate the
seriousness of the situation," Tanner said. "She's a very dear and
loving mother who was well beyond her mental capacity to provide care."
According to Tanner, Coffman awoke around 6 a.m. Wednesday and
discovered that her newborn infant was "unresponsive."
She immediately called her mother, Tanner added.
The mother notified Coffman's neighbor, who contacted 911 and performed
CPR on the child, he said.
The neighbor was able to revive the baby, who was transported to
Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital and then flown to Charleston Area
Medical Center, where he died later Wednesday of complications arising
from hypothermia, Tanner said.
Criminal charges will not be filed against Coffman, who is also the
mother of a 2-year-old daughter, Tanner said.
He added Coffman could not identify either child's father.
The house temperature was in the lower 40s when the incident occurred,
he added. Outside, temperatures plunged to 9 degrees Tuesday night.
Tanner said no single agency or individual is to blame.
It appeared, he added, that each agency believed that another was
responsible for ensuring that Coffman and her children had heat.
"It's ... a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is
doing," he added.
He said he had contacted DHHR officials, who promised they would work
to establish better interagency communication and provide an avenue for
reporting similar incidents.
DHHR spokesman John Law called the baby's death "extremely unfortunate"
and said an investigation would be conducted.
"I wish they would've turned the heat on a long time ago, when they
said they were going to, before I had my baby," Coffman said Friday.
She did not have heat during her pregnancy or when she brought her son
home from the hospital after his Dec. 9 birth, despite repeated
attempts to get assistance from welfare agencies, she added.
Coffman was on the waiting list for the Community Action Winterization
Program, according to a neighbor.
Coffman said she was using three electric heaters for warmth when her
baby died. She said the baby slept with her and the toddler - who is
currently in state custody - the first two nights. She moved the baby
to a crib located in her bedroom Tuesday night because she was afraid
one of them would accidentally roll on him.
"I love that little girl, and I loved my son, too," she said. "I did
everything I could to protect them. I did my best."
According to neighbors, CPS workers visited the home.
Heat was still not being delivered to the home Friday, Coffman said.
Coffman's mother, Nora Jean Phillips, said although DHHR workers told
the women Coffman's request for heat had been approved, the "gas
company" told them Friday that DHHR had not yet authorized the
arrangement.
Tanner urged those who need heat immediately to contact local churches,
charities and the welfare office.
According to Tanner, Trudy Wardensky - the neighbor who rendered aid to
the baby - is considered a "heroine" by the sheriff's department.
"She did everything she could to save that baby," he said.
Wardensky credited lessons she learned at Daniels Bible Church for
preparing her to respond immediately to the baby's need.
"The belief in my church is that we are to show the love of Christ in
practical ways," she said. "I just feel God directed me and used me for
what needed to be done, and I'm sorry it wasn't enough."
- E-mail:
jfar...@register-herald.com
http://www.register-herald.com/articles/2004/12/17/news/bnewborn18.txt
DHHR 'LIED'
Detective: DHHR 'lied' in baby case
By Jessica Farrish/Register-Herald Reporter
Raleigh County Department of Health and Human Resources officials
"lied" to police last week about providing heat and supervised shelter
to a mentally handicapped woman whose five-day-old son froze to death
in his home, authorities said Monday.
"What they did was prevent us from getting (the mother) help on
Friday," charged Lt. Steve Tanner of the Raleigh Sheriff's department.
"They assured and promised us she was in a shelter and her gas had been
turned back on.
"That's a lie. There is no other way to say it."
Tanner said community churches, businesses, law enforcement, non-profit
organizations and individuals began pulling together Saturday to help
the mother, 28-year-old Sherry Coffman of Stanaford, get shelter and
counseling.
Although DHHR officials, including Raleigh manager Nancy Forsburg,
allegedly told police that the mother's needs had been met Friday,
Tanner said neighbors notified him Saturday that Coffman was still in
the home alone, grieving, and using electric heaters for heat.
Tanner said that he sent a deputy to Coffman's residence Saturday, and
the deputy verified that the residence did not have gas service and
that Coffman was alone.
Although other media outlets reported that Coffman's residence was
receiving heat Friday, Coffman and her mother, Nora Jean Phillips, told
The Register-Herald that "gas company" officials were still waiting on
DHHR approval to resume service to Coffman's home.
Tanner said Coffman awoke around six a.m. last Wednesday and called her
mother when she discovered that her newborn infant was "unresponsive."
Phillips notified Coffman's neighbor, Trudy Wardensky, who called 911
and performed CPR on the baby.
The baby revived briefly but later died at Charleston Area Medical
Center due to complications resulting from hypothermia.
Coffman -- the mother of a nearly-three-year-old girl who is now in
state custody and staying with relatives -- told The Register-Herald
she had been using three electric heaters for warmth this fall and that
DHHR had promised her when she was pregnant that heat would be
delivered to her home.
Phillips said that a DHHR worker stated on Dec. 9 -- the day Coffman
gave birth -- that the heat would "be on" before Coffman brought the
baby home.
Tanner said DHHR officials told him Friday that gas was being delivered
to the residence, that Coffman was in a "warm, safe place" and that the
2-year-old was in CPS custody.
An investigation into the case revealed that DHHR had fallen $1,100
dollars behind in paying Allegheny Power for Coffman's heating bills,
and Coffman's heat had not been delivered in about a year, Tanner said.
He added that her furnace had also been "red-tagged" as unsafe by
Allegheny workers, who could not deliver heat to Coffman's residence
for that reason.
Tanner added that Coffman's water pipes had burst due to the cold
weather, and there was "exposed wiring" in her house.
According to Phillips, Coffman had not had hot water since June and had
been heating water using a microwave.
"(The heat had been turned off) a year before and everybody was aware
of it," charged Tanner. "This was not something done in inclement
weather. The case workers were aware of it."
Tanner said caseworkers told him "they hadn't gotten to it yet" when he
asked them why Coffman did not have heat for a year.
"I don't care how busy you are," he said. "There's no excuse for it."
Officials said despite her handicap status, Coffman was a "dear and
loving mother" who did not intentionally put her children in danger.
"It seems to me that DHHR procedures are no longer in line with their
goals (of helping someone)," said Tanner. "The problem as I see it is
they are too tied up with paperwork to help people."
He said the situation contained "atrocity after atrocity."
DHHR spokesman John Law stated that under DHHR policy, he is unable to
comment specifically on services delivered to clients.
He added that any statement from a DHHR agent other than those in his
office are not official DHHR statements.
The chief detective added that he was encouraged by the number of
people who have offered support and help for Coffman.
Wardensky provided CPR to the baby, he said.
Area churches have raised $500 to help offset the cost of the overdue
gas bill, he stated.
"Sheriff Danny Moore offered to pay for a hotel room for her out of his
pocket," said Tanner. "Meadows Heating out of Cool Ridge heard about it
and got their distributors to agree to give them a floor furnace.
"They're putting it in," he added.
Although the Women's Resource Center -- a shelter for abused women --
does not normally accept homeless cases, they made an exception so
Coffman would have a place to stay, he added.
WRC has been providing food, shelter and grief counseling to the
mother, who is mourning the death of her son and separation from her
daughter, Tanner said.
"(WRC) could've said, 'We don't have the funding available,'" he
remarked. "When they go beyond what they're supposed to do ... and they
have no reason other than they are compassionate, decent people,
they're heroes."
-- E-mail:
http://www.register-herald.com/articles/2004/12/17/news/bnewborn18.txt
MANDATED REPORTER SPEAKS OUT AGAINST STRONG ARM TACTICS OF CPS
Our Readers Speak
Sunday, December 5, 2004
CPS is using strong-arm methods to exert control
The time has come for West Virginians to begin to oversee their
government and make it work for the good of the populace. Many
departments of our government are woefully lacking in citizen
oversight.
For example, Child Protective Services is required to investigate child
abuse and neglect and report to the proper authorities. They do this so
that the neglect is stopped and family healing can begin.
CPS is mandated to work within guidelines in order that parents rights
are guarded, children's rights are protected and further abuse is not
inflicted on the child. When confronted, CPS is required to give the
parents a written document that outlines the parents' rights when
dealing with CPS.
The law, as well as common decency, require reporting abuse, informing
the courts and relaying information from various law enforcement bodies
be done with an impeccable yearning for the truth.
In addition, CPS is required to "make every effort to keep the family
together and to promote the healing of the family." Those who think
this is being carried out according to law are are sadly mistaken.
There is considerable evidence that CPS is using strong-arm methods to
control parents, grandparents and foster parents into doing what they
want rather than what is in the best interest of the children.
CPS in Raleigh County is out of control. The number of cases where
parents' and children's rights have and are being violated might
stagger the imagination. If the several cases of which I have become
aware is any indication, the situation is a sad one for the children
under the control of CPS.
So bad is the situation that I, as a medical professional of 28 years,
have serious doubts about the legal requirement of reporting suspected
child abuse.
James E. Lowe
Shady Spring
http://www.register-herald.com/articles/2004/12/04/editorial/92letters.txt
http://www.register-herald.com/articles/2005/01/13/news/bguilty14.txt
'Guilty until you prove yourself innocent'
By Jessica Farrish/Register-Herald Reporter
Editor's Note: Many parents and other concerned adults have contacted
The Register-Herald in recent months to lodge their dissatisfaction
with Child Protective Services. CPS is a division of the state
Department of Health and Human Resources. CPS workers were not able, by
law, to discuss any specific situations. In this story, names of adults
have been changed to protect the juveniles. This
is another in a series of stories on CPS.
If anyone had asked 32-year-old *Liz Abrams her opinion of Child
Protective Services before last June, the former legal secretary said
she would have answered based on the little information she had gleaned
from her middle-class background.
"I never saw CPS as a bad thing until now," the Beckley woman said.
"When they first stepped in, I saw them as helpful.
"But they started lying about me."
Abrams said when her 13-year-old daughter, *Santana, began spending
time last year with a group of friends, Abrams was impressed that *Ray,
the 42-year-old uncle of one of Santana's girlfriends, was so nice to
the children.
Ray's behavior around Abrams never seemed inappropriate, the mother
said, so she was shocked and devastated when she learned May 28, 2004,
that police said they had discovered pornographic pictures of Santana,
Ray's niece and another child on a camera at Ray's home.
Santana was at Ray's house when he was arrested, so police notified a
CPS caseworker. The caseworker accompanied Santana to the police
station where she was questioned for two hours before Abrams was
notified of the situation.
Abrams said when she arrived at the station, the caseworker told her
Santana couldn't return home.
"(Otherwise), he never spoke to me."
By law, CPS workers must present a court order and have an officer
present if a child is taken from parental custody. They must also
present parents with a booklet notifying them of their rights during
the process.
The caseworker did not give Abrams the booklet, so she was unaware of
the required court order, she said.
Abrams said she sent Santana to the home of *Jim Lore, Abrams' father,
in order to accommodate what she believed was an official order.
When the caseworker accompanied Abrams and Santana on a trip to a
hospital the next day, Santana began to cry and attempted to talk to
her mother about the abuse allegedly committed by Ray, Abrams said.
She said the caseworker called her to the side and ordered her not to
talk to Santana about it.
Abrams said the caseworker never asked her about Santana's home life or
medical history, nor did he visit her home.
About two and a half weeks later, however, Abrams received a court
order notifying her that her children were in the custody of the state.
CPS had notified Raleigh prosecutors that Abrams was a "danger" to
Santana, *Matt, 12, and *Erica, 6, because she had "groomed," or known
about and encouraged Ray's alleged abuse of Santana.
"They said I would allow adults to come in and have sex with my kids,"
she said.
Prosecutors -- who are attorneys for CPS under state code -- petitioned
the judge to give custody to CPS.
In shock, Abrams said, she directed Lore to pick up her two younger
children.
According to Abrams, she informed CPS workers she had never known that
Ray was a pedophile, or she wouldn't have let her daughter near him.
One source indicated that Santana told Raleigh Circuit Judge H.L.
Kirkpatrick she'd never told her mother about the alleged abuse because
Ray had threatened to harm her mother if she reported it.
According to Raleigh chief deputy prosecutor Kristen Keller -- who is
serving as prosecutor on Ray's case -- there was never any evidence
that Abrams knew about the alleged abuse.
A State Police trooper said there was no evidence that Abrams knew.
According to Abrams, no CPS worker ever told her why she was under
suspicion. She was not allowed to see official CPS files that would be
presented to prosecuting attorneys, judges and her children's
court-appointed guardian ad litem, an attorney who would recommend to
the judge whether it would be in the children's best interest to return
home.
Abrams said the first breakdown in her CPS process occurred when she
was not given a list of her rights -- enabling CPS workers to illegally
separate her from Santana.
False information presented to the judge while Santana was with Lore
resulted in all three of her children being placed in state custody,
she said.
"CPS is the eyes and ears of the court," Abrams said. "There are so
many of these cases that the judges don't have any choice but to listen
to what CPS says.
"When they lie to the judge, the judge thinks they're telling the
truth, so he signs the order."
Abrams said she spent the next four months "jumping through hoops for
CPS to get my kids back."
She was forced to submit to a psychological test performed by a
DHHR-approved psychiatrist who is paid by DHHR. CPS workers told her
she could not view the results of the test, and the psychiatrist's
office would not release the results to her, she alleged.
She drove to Charleston nearly every day to attend several classes and
counseling sessions as part of her "improvement period" -- a course of
action ordered by CPS workers that can include therapy or counseling.
She also allowed a social worker employed by Kanawha Valley Center -- a
Kansas-based, private foster care provider contracted by the state --
inside her home once a week to take her through exercises that CPS
believed would improve her "coping" and "communication" skills.
"It was a joke," she said.
Although submitting to tests and counseling is considered "voluntary,"
Abrams said, CPS workers may tell judges that accused parents don't
appear interested in "improving" their situation if they refuse the
services.
Grandpa Lore said after DHHR had made all arrangements for the children
to stay with him -- a process that took a few days -- his main concern
was getting counseling for Santana.
"I said we'd put the money up to do it," said Lore, a physician's
assistant. "We'll use someone here locally.
"(CPS) said we had to use this one particular person in Charleston."
His second concern was finding out from Web sources all he could about
the CPS process, he said.
"The more we looked into it, the more I began to see that CPS was
already derelict in their duties," he said.
When a CPS worker visited his home in June, Lore told the worker of the
violations he'd discovered and asked if Santana could visit a local
Christian counselor.
The CPS worker told Lore the counselor's daughter had been possibly
sexually abused by Ray.
"It wasn't even so," said Lore, who taped the meeting. "They just
blurted this out; it was anything to get their way."
In a subsequent recorded meeting with another CPS worker and the
guardian ad litem, the guardian ad litem gave the caseworker permission
to show Lore the pictures of Santana from Ray's camera.
"You have no idea how hard it was to look at those pictures," Lore
said. "I didn't want to see those pictures, they kept insisting ..."
Although the guardian ad litem had never met Abrams, she criticized her
parenting ability to Lore, accused her of "grooming" her two younger
children to have sex with adults and suggested that Santana had been
living with Ray, Lore said.
The caseworker asked Lore if he had known that Abrams had planned to
let Ray marry or adopt Santana.
When Lore said his grandchildren always seemed happy and were clean,
the caseworker replied that a mother who was grooming her children for
pedophiles would have an interest in making them attractive, Lore said.
State law mandates that CPS workers must have an order from a judge
before placing siblings in different homes.
The caseworker, however, did not have a court order when he took
Santana, Matt and Erica about five days later, Lore said.
"(The caseworker) and some other worker came up to the house," he
recalled. "(The caseworker) walked in and said, 'OK, kids, come on, I'm
taking you to foster care.'
"These kids went spastic," he added. "Absolutely spastic."
Matt and Erica, placed in separate homes with their fathers, were both
returned to Lore's home after a month.
"CPS never came to our house, never called to see how they were," he
said.
The caseworker took Santana to a foster home in Wyoming County, about
80 minutes away, according to Abrams.
"(Santana) was mad ... She refused to talk to (the caseworker on the
drive to meet the foster mom)," Abrams said. "So he tells the foster
mom, 'Watch this one, she's trouble.'"
Lore said he and Abrams called the guardian ad litem after several
weeks had passed and Santana had still not received counseling.
"She said, 'I didn't know that,'" Lore said. "Well, it's the guardian
ad litem's job to know that."
Under CPS care, Santana was denied counseling for seven weeks, Abrams
said.
Abrams said she reported violations as she learned of them to the
caseworker's supervisors and DHHR officials, but didn't get an
investigation.
She obtained copies of her files only after she threatened legal
action, she said.
Reunification of her family was almost a fluke, she said.
Two days after she sent up a frustrated prayer, she said, she ran into
Keller at a local business and notified the prosecutor of the CPS
allegations.
Keller called an emergency meeting before Kirkpatrick on Sept. 24 and
told Kirkpatrick the charges against Abrams were false, Abrams said.
Abrams' court-appointed attorney was unable to make the meeting, so
Abrams represented herself.
Kirkpatrick ordered the children be returned to Abrams.
"I thank Kristen Keller with all my heart for what she did," Abrams
said. "She is my miracle savior in this because with CPS you are guilty
until you prove yourself innocent."
Abrams said her children have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder
after their "ordeal" with Raleigh CPS.
Since being reunited with her children, Abrams has gained access to her
CPS files.
In the CPS files, she said, she learned the caseworker had written a
false statement concerning Santana's medical history.
Abrams said she has actual medical records that contradict the
statement, but CPS never asked her for medical records.
The caseworker also had noted a mark on Santana's body that her
grandfather had noticed on the pictures.
Santana told her mother and officials that Ray had made the mark as
part of the sexual abuse, Abrams said.
Based on the file, Abrams said, CPS apparently attributed the mark to
Abrams.
"Nobody ever asked me about it," Abrams said. "Why didn't they come to
me and ask me?"
A worker had also written that Santana had been living with Ray -- a
claim Abrams said would have been disproved by a statement from
Santana's school bus driver.
"I think they lied," she said. "They were trying to find anything they
could to justify not letting her go home."
DHHR refused to release the results of a psychiatric report issued on
Abrams as part of her "improvement period."
Keller obtained a court order in December requesting that the
department give the information to Abrams.
Abrams also complained to outgoing DHHR Secretary Paul Nusbaum.
On Dec. 3, Nusbaum responded on behalf of DHHR and issued a statement
to Abrams in which he gave the official version of Abrams' experience
with CPS.
According to Nusbaum, DHHR records indicate the caseworker conducted
"official" interviews at the police department, hospital and Lore's
home.
He added that official records indicate Abrams voluntarily gave the
caseworker permission to place Santana with Lore, and that the
teen-ager was moved into foster care because Lore failed a "home
study."
The placement in Wyoming County was an attempt to protect Santana from
media coverage of Ray's arrest, Nusbaum said.
According to Abrams, Beckley newspapers and broadcasts were available
in Wyoming County.
Nusbaum informed Abrams that signs of "potential abuse" that had
triggered the investigation were Santana's medical history, the mark on
her body and an allegation that she had been "living" with Ray.
"I'm a very lucky case," Abrams said. "Some people will go for years
... and never get their kids back."
* Denotes real name changed.
-- E-mail:
CPS CASE AGAINST MEMBER OF FAMILY_RIGHTS_WV YAHOO SUPPORT GROUP
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/family_rights_wv DISMISSED, CHILDREN
RETURNED TO PARENTS
http://www.register-herald.com/articles/2004/11/04/news/local_news/23child5.txt
Mother: CPS worker displayed inappropriate pictures of daughter
By Jessica Farrish/REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER
A Raleigh County woman has alleged that a state Child Protective
Services worker displayed photos that were taken of her daughter in a
sexual abuse situation to the girl's grandfather.
The child was in temporary custody of CPS at the time.
A court official said the images were among those taken from the
digital camera of Sam Snead, 42, a former Harper Road massage therapist
who was indicted in September on 73 counts of being a custodian in
possession of material depicting a child in sexually explicit conduct,
74 counts of use of minor in filming or photographing sexually explicit
conduct, seven counts of third-degree sexual abuse by a custodian,
three counts of sexual abuse by a custodian and conspiracy.
CPS intake supervisor Mike Horton said the girl's court-appointed
guardian ad litem published the photos to the grandfather.
The alleged incident occurred in June during a meeting among the
grandfather, CPS worker Hank Hoppe and the ad litem, Colleen McCulloch,
according to the mother, who is not named in order to protect the
identity of the alleged victim.
Snead was under investigation by the West Virginia Massage Therapy
Licensing Board at the time of his May 28 arrest, a board official
stated.
- - -
According to the mother, Hoppe presented several sexually explicit
photos of the girl to the grandfather, who was requesting the girl be
placed in his custody.
The grandfather had not asked to view the photos, which prosecutors had
deemed too explicit to be presented to the grand jurors who indicted
Snead, the mother said.
Responding to the reported incident, Horton, Hoppe's supervisor, told
The Register-Herald that Hoppe did not initiate the display of the
photos during the meeting.
"I didn't think it was Hank as much as it was her (the victim's)
attorney," Horton said. "I don't think he showed every picture of her
you're talking about.
"(There were) hundreds of pictures that were taken over three or four
months," he added. "Other people had seen these pictures."
He added that, generally speaking, Hoppe may have shown the pictures to
persuade the grandfather that the abuse had occurred.
"I don't know if that's true or not, but I can see that happening if
you have a (relative) who doesn't want to believe his (relative) was
abused, and you say, 'We have this evidence' and then he sees the
picture.
"That might have been one of the biggest things turning him around and
letting him see how big the case was."
The mother reported the grandfather had never denied Snead's alleged
abuse of the girl.
McCulloch said she was prohibited from discussing the case because it
involves a minor.
- - -
According to Raleigh legal authorities, most of the pictures were not
shown to grand jurors because they were too explicit.
Some of the pictures were child pornography, but some were "regular"
pictures of the girl, a source added.
The Department of Health and Human Resources had possession of the
photographs, which State Police had confiscated from Snead, an official
source said.
DHHR agents delivered all the pictures to Raleigh Circuit Judge H.L.
Kirkpatrick, who heard the CPS case involving the alleged victim.
After the case was resolved, a county source reported, Kirkpatrick
returned the photographs to DHHR in a sealed envelope for privacy but
did not issue an edict officially sealing the photos from publication.
- E-mail: jfar...@register-herald.com
http://www.register-herald.com/articles/2004/12/11/editorial/85letters.txt
CPS needs to be drastically overhauled
I read with great interest the letter by Mr. Lowe in a recent paper
concerning the strong-arm tactics used by Child Protective Services in
West Virginia.
I absolutely agree with everything he wrote. If CPS is allowed to
continue as they are now, more and more children will be mentally and
emotionally damaged.
CPS removes children on the basis that some harm could come to the
children. This is wrong. Children should only be removed if there is
evidence of abuse, not just because some person with very little mental
health training believes the child will be harmed. Removing a child
because the CPS believes harm may occur is nothing more than guessing
the future - and that should be left up to fortune tellers and other
kooks.
The greatest harm that can come to a child is being ripped from a
loving home and placed in a strange environment. Any first-year
psychology major will tell you that.
And yet, that is exactly what the CPS does every day.
CPS is an agency that receives funding based upon how many children is
in its custody, so in my opinion this is the biggest reason children
are taken from homes. To put it simply, the more children removed, the
more money CPS gets.
This horrible agency needs to be drastically overhauled. And the sooner
the better.
The only thing that will change this state-sponsored child kidnapping
ring will be a class-action lawsuit.
All citizens who truly care for children should take the time to
investigate this matter for themselves. What they will find may truly
shock them.
Stacy Blackburn
Oak Hill