6 posts tagged “civil rights”
Truth Commission Findings and Solutions
Fourth Battered Mothers Custody Conference (BMCC IV)
January 13, 2007 Albany, New York
Testimony to the Truth Commission
Truth Commission Members:
Richard Ducote, Esq, Chair; Nancy Erickson, Esq.;Barry Goldstein, Esq.; Eileen King;
Patti Jo Newell; Connie Valentine, M.S.; Gwen Wright; and Joan Zorza, Esq.
Special Thanks to Mo Hannah, Ph.D., Truth Commission Coordinator
Sixteen women testified before the Truth Commission at the Fourth Battered Mothers Custody Conference about their family law cases, which covered eleven states.
The common theme that emerged from the testimony is that there is a widespread problem of abusive parents being granted custody of children and protective parents having their custody limited or denied, and/or being otherwise punished.
There is a crisis in the custody court system, which has resulted in thousands of children being sent to live with abusers while safe, protective parents, primarily mothers, are denied any meaningful relationship with their children. The court system has failed to respond appropriately to domestic violence and child abuse cases involving custody. The Commission found many common errors made by the courts and the professionals they rely upon which contribute to these tragedies. These same mistakes have negatively impacted battered women and children in other cases, with less extreme results.
From these and other case histories, and issues raised by concerned professionals throughout the country, the Commission made the following findings and proposals recommended for further study. Not all members of the Truth Commission agree with every proposed solution, but all members are in agreement that solutions need to be developed to address these findings.
for complete report click here http://www.batteredmotherscustodyconference.org/index.htm
Please share and repost so others may use this information.
By SARAH KARUSH, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 37 minutes ago
The decomposing bodies of four young people were found Wednesday by U.S. marshals delivering an eviction notice, and a woman who answered the door was taken into custody for questioning.
Investigators were trying to determine whether the woman was related to the four victims, who had been dead at least two weeks, authorities said. Her name was not released.
"She was apparently calm throughout," U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Cole Barnhart said.
Mayor Adrian Fenty said the condition of the bodies made it difficult to identify them. "It is going to take scientific tests run by the chief medical examiner's office," he said.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the bodies appeared to be of females ranging in age from 5 to 18. Authorities were investigating how and when they died.
The case may not be ruled a homicide until the medical examiner determines the cause of death, police said. Lanier said there were no signs of forced entry into the home.
The bodies were found upstairs in the southeast Washington apartment, part of a block of virtually identical apartment houses near Bolling Air Force Base in one of this city's poorest areas, authorities said.
Larry Jones, who lives next door, said that a woman and two or three children live at the home but that he had not seen them since the summer. The children appeared healthy at the time, he said.
Jones added that in recent months he had noticed a "strange odor" coming through his vent.
"We thought it was probably dead mice in the vent or something," he said, adding that he had talked to the landlord about it.
D.C. Council member Marion Barry, who represents the neighborhood where the bodies were found, questioned why no one had reported the four missing.
"Somebody should have known that some people were not in school," said Barry, the former mayor.
D.C. schools spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said none of the children thought to be living in the home was currently enrolled in the school system. One child at that address had attended Stuart-Hobson Elementary School but withdrew in 2006 as a fifth-grader, she said.
Mindy Good, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Child and Family Services agency, said it had received one report about a family at that address in April through the city's child abuse and neglect reporting hot line.
"We made several attempts to make contact with these people. We were unable to have any face-to-face contact with them," Good said. "On the last attempt (in early May), it appeared they were no longer living at the address."
Investigators later found a new address for the family in Maryland and alerted county authorities there of the report on the family, Good said. She would not say where the family was believed to be living.
"This is a sickmaking situation. It's a horrible thing," she said.
Area resident Rowand Simpkins said that her neighbors tend to keep to themselves and that she never saw the woman or children.
"It's really a mystery," she said of the youths' deaths. "It's a sad situation."
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Associated Press writers Karen Mahabir and Brett Zongker contributed to this report.
my momma look :)
this was in my local paper, out of the 1200 who were adopted, how many do you think were legal?
Please respond to this, contact the editor at the link I provided. Let them know I am not the only person concerned with this, they will do a story if people get off their butts and let them know there is a problem.
Some recent events in the news that pleased us …
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/dec/22/adoptions-growing-grinch-cuts-trees/
WHAT A CELEBRATION: More than 1,200 children in the state have been moved to permanent homes this year, and 122 were in Knox County, according to the state Department of Children's Services. Ten years ago, only 195 children in state custody were adopted. "Every child deserves to grow up in a family that loves them unconditionally," said Dr. Viola Miller, commissioner of DCS, in a statement. Permanent placements have been a top priority for her.
here is the Editors email addy, jump on this and lets get them to do a story on CPS, we keep missing oppurtunities, it doesnt matter if you dont live here either. Let them know there is a problem, its not so rosy.
Posted: December 26, 2003
Tennessee Governor, Phil Bredesen attempted to deflect blame when he recently requested the resignation of Dept. of Children's Services Commissioner, Michael J. Miller, after contempt of court charges were levied against the state.
The fact that the state was out of compliance with a federal court order was brought to the governor's attention in early January, immediately after he took office, but the Governor refused to act and instead, turned over complaints to the commissioner's office, which also ignored the formal complaints.
Additional Information
However, in a Tennessean article, which ran on November 24, 2003 entitled "DCS problems took Bredesen by surprise," the governor went on the record stating his office wasn't notified about the problem until October of this year.
A petition to U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell states the evidence of contempt is "clear and convincing," citing a recent federal monitor's report showing that the department so far has complied with only 24 of 136 settlement provisions.
Documentation submitted to the governor, the former commissioner, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and Families, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation by a family who's children were illegally removed by caseworkers proves that not only was the governor made aware of the fact that the state was in contempt of court, but this fact was covered up and ignored. This was after court records proved that caseworkers in Davidson County conspired to commit aggravated kidnapping.
DCS and juvenile court documents demonstrate that there has been a concerted and malicious effort on the part of high-ranking officials in Tennessee to cover up their illegal activities and to prevent the custodial parent from retrieving her children.
According to the children's mother, the state has known for over a year that multiple state and federal felonies have been committed in her case, and that officials at several levels have gone to extreme lengths to cover this up. Further, they have refused to press charges of any kind against the alleged perpetrators, despite mounting evidence.
"The state is well aware of what they did wrong, and have refused to acknowledge responsibility or try to correct their mistakes. They are holding my children hostage, because they know once I get them returned to my care, and they are safely out of the clutches of the kidnappers, they're facing another federal lawsuit. The state cannot afford justice in this case, and my children are the victims of their arrogance. None of this has been perpetrated by some faceless autonomy, but by elected judges, court-appointed attorneys, caseworkers and the lies go as high up as Governor Bredesen himself," said the children's mother, in a telephone interview from her home in Iowa.
The mother has asked that her identity remain confidential, because she fears for the safety of her children and expects retaliation.
Contact: Annette M. Hall
Family Advocate
Four-Fourteen Parent's Rights Organization
Phone: (248) 465-1598
FAX: (517) 207-6543
Toll Free: 1-800-639-4295
E-mail: Annette M. Hall
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If you have had your children removed from your home due to false allegations or if you've been similarly treated unfairly by the courts where your children are concerned we need to hear from you. We want to tell the world the truth about how families are being torn apart in this country.
I'd like to share my story!
