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Welcome
to Citizens for Parental Rights
Child Protective Services and other government agencies that are supposed to protect children
from neglect and abuse don't always protect. Many times these agencies are the ones that abuse parents at the expense of the
very children they claim they are protecting. Some things need to change and change very soon. We, as citizens of the United
States of America, exercising the rights the Constitution has given us, will do what we can to make these needed changes.
We need your help.
What Child Protective Services
Is Not Telling You
Thank you for taking the time to read this information. The facts and testimonies may be startling,
but they are well documented and true. The situation facing so many Michigan families is the unchecked abusive power wielded
by Child Protection Services (CPS). These families need our immediate attention and response. Too many innocent lives have
been ruined. As free citizens we cannot just stand by and watch as the CPS system rips families apart, for that is exactly
what they are doing. Often, based on an anonymous tip and with unsubstantiated or no evidence whatsoever, this system will
force themselves into private homes without a warrant and without notifying the families of the charges made against them.
Often CPS subjects both parents and children to interrogations, house searches, and they have even subjected children to strip
searches by total strangers without being able to have their parents by them for support. If anything is found that would
constitute either neglect or abuse such as dirty dishes in the sink or a bruise on a toddler's head caused by bumping into
a table, the children can be yanked from the home and placed with total strangers. Meanwhile, the distraught parents must
fight, often spending tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of stress to get their own children
back who they are rarely allowed to see. What is happening to these families is unjust. Help us keep more families from being
ruined by the system.
-Citizens for Parental Rights.
About Citizens for Parental Rights
Citizens
for Parental Rights (CPR) is a non-partisan community organization. We seek legislative reforms of the child welfare industry.
We promote fair and just treatment of parents by Child Protective Services (CPS) and the courts.
Our members are teachers, builders, attorneys, parents and grandparents working
with state and federal legislators.
Problem
Michigan
CPS has failed to comply with Federal regulations.
Social
Service agencies receive bonuses for placing kids up for adoption. They have a financial incentive for removing children from
their parents.
Mission Statement
To make
CPS and the court system accountable and responsive to the people especially as they are related to parents' rights and family
unity.
CPR Goals
To get the same legal
protections for all families that are currently provided to Indian families in Michigan.
To
allow the parents to choose their attorneys and counselors in court proceedings.
To
require increased visitation and flexible appointment schedules to accommodate working parents.
To
eliminate anonymous reporting as the only grounds for CPS intervention. Confidentiality laws are currently being misconstrued
as a means of perverting justice and protecting the system. Anyone accused of child abuse should have the right to face his
accuser. Hearsay evidence has been banned in other civil and criminal courts. It should be banned in juvenile court as well.
Want to help fight for CPS reform?
If you have
a CPS horror story of your own or you want to get involved, please contact: Citizens for Parental Rights and find out how
YOU can make a difference in the lives of families and children in your community and across the nation.
Facts and Statistics
50% of all inmates across the nation
are children that were put through the CPS system (69% in California, 60% in Massachusetts).
*
"Children who received CPS post-investigation services were 50% more likely to be maltreated again; children placed in
foster care were 23% more likely to experience abuse and neglect than children who were not placed [in the system].
"***
For 2001, a national estimate of 1,300 child deaths at a rate of 1.81
children out of every 100,000 children in the population died from abuse or neglect.*** Half of these died under the watchful
eye of CPS.
Funding for CPS is based on how many children
they pull out of the home and place in the System. $7,600 per child from Federal with an equal amount from the State. Total
per child removed from the home: $15,200.
Maryland’s
Foster Care Review Board recommended, "the State's entire Child Protection system should be scrapped.
"*
____________________________
*Information from Brenda Scott’s Book:
"Out of Control: Who's Watching Our Child Protective Agencies?"
**Information from Richard Wexler’s Book: "Wounded
Innocents"
*** Administration for Children & Families Child Maltreatment Report 2001
(See Chapter 3 Child Maltreatment
Recurrence)
What to do if a CPS caseworker comes to Your Door
Never let a CPS caseworker or Police Officer
into your home without a warrant. When you let them into your home you forfeit your Forth Amendment rights. (Even if they
have a warrant, be sure to read it carefully as they are often times quite limited it what they permit).
If your children are outside call them into the house. Do not let them talk
to the children. At most, let them come to the window so that the Worker can see them.
Never
admit to anything or try to explain the situation to the CPS Worker. Anything you say WILL be twisted and used against you.
Best yet, politely tell the CPS Worker that: "you will not discuss anything at this time, if there is anything more to be
discussed it will have be through a lawyer." (Even if you do not have one yet). Then shut the door.
After contact with CPS, immediately pick up your children if they attend a public
school. CPS case workers frequently remove children from school without your knowledge or permission |
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