June 20, 2018

Stealing Children From Their Parents - Where Is The Outrage Over Thousands Of American Children Stolen By The State?

In 2012, Amy's abuser, Terrance, kidnapped their four-year-old son from daycare and broke into Amy's rental home in Texas, where he assaulted her. Two weeks after the kidnapping, a stranger dropped Amy's son back off at daycare with a burn on his face. To this day, Amy has no idea who returned her child. Terrance was arrested and later convicted of domestic violence assault, burglary, and violation of a criminal no-contact order. The Texan court hearing the case granted Amy full custody and cut Terrance off any access to his son, which is rare even in situations where domestic violence is present. But for Amy and her son, the terror wasn't over.



Later that year, Amy and her son moved to Washington state for safety. Both of them were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), andpartially because Terrance failed to pay any child supportAmy struggled to find affordable health-care coverage. In desperation, Amy reached out to Washington's Department of Social and Health Services for help. Her son's severe PTSD, caused by his father, was manifesting in violent outbursts, and Amy knew that he needed trauma-informed treatment. DSHS didn't provide any support; instead, it took her son away and placed him in foster care for almost 18 months.



Amy's story is one of hundreds of cases across the country where children are removed from the custody of a parent who has suffered from domestic abuse at the hands of a partner. The logic follows that parents who are moving through the trauma of abusewhether it's the abuse itself, or the subsequent recoveryare somehow neglecting their children and failing to protect them from the circumstances of the abuse itself. Despite being victims, parents are further victimized by the systems that are supposed to protect them.

While at Kaiser Permanente, the police showed up at the request of Sutter. The police told the parents that staff at Sutter had told them that the child was in such a bad state that, as Anna put it, they thought that this baby is dying on our arms.



After the police saw that baby Sammy was fine and examined medical records that clearly stated that Sammy was clinically safe to go home, they left.



The attending doctor at Kaiser said, I do not have concern for the safety of the child at home with his parents.



The next day, police came to Alex and Annas home.



Alex met them outside and was slammed against the wall and pushed to the ground.



His keys to the home were forcibly removed from him and the police entered the house to take the baby.



Annas home video of the incident shows police entering the home.



Im going to grab your baby, and dont resist, and dont fight me ok? a Sacramento police officer is heard saying in the video.

Nearly a week after receiving the state's stamp of approval, Harris received a phone call from Child Protective Services (CPS) enquiring as to the whereabouts of her children, and why they hadn't shown up to school for nearly two weeks. After explaining the situation to CPS, Harris then offered to provide legal documents for CPS directors to review. "I told them that my kids were homeschooled now and that I could furnish the documents if they need to see them," said Harris.



CPS seemed satisfied with Harris' responses to their questions and ended the conversation, leaving Harris to think that everything was resolved favorably.



Nearly a month went by without incident. Then, on January 13, 2017, a large group of CPS case workers and police officers descended on Harris' home, informing her that they had a court order to remove her children from her custody due to "educational neglect."



At this point, Harris demanded they produce warrants or other legal documents justifying such severe action. The police and the CPS agents refused that request and Harris accordingly refused to hand over her children.



In response, the police officers arrested Harris, impounded her car, and forcibly removed her children from her home.



More than a month has passed since Harris has been allowed to see her children and neither CPS nor the police department has provided adequate legal justification for seizing her children and placing them in the foster care system.

It appears to this court that the family service workers were absolutely immune from liability in filing the juvenile abuse petition, due to their quasi-prosecutorial function in the initiation of child abuse proceedings.

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