From the legislative desk of Senator Nancy Schaefer 50th District of
Georgia
November 16, 2007

THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer
Senator, 50th District

My introduction into child protective service cases was due to a
grandmother in an adjoining state who called me with her tragic
story.
Her two granddaughters had been taken from her daughter who lived in
my district. Her daughter was told wrongly that if she wanted to see
her children again she should sign a paper and give up her children.
Frightened and young, the daughter did. I have since discovered that
parents are often threatened into cooperation of permanent separation
of their children.

The children were taken to another county and placed in foster care.
The foster parents were told wrongly that they could adopt the
children. The grandmother then jumped through every hoop known to man
in order to get her granddaughters. When the case finally came to
court it was made evident by one of the foster parent’s children that
the foster parents had, at any given time, 18 foster children and
that
the foster mother had an inappropriate relationship with the
caseworker.

In the courtroom, the juvenile judge, acted as though she was shocked
and said the two girls would be removed quickly. They were not
removed. Finally, after much pressure being applied to the Department
of Family and Children Services of Georgia (DFCS), the children were
driven to South Georgia to meet their grandmother who gladly drove to
meet them. After being with their grandmother two or three days, the
judge, quite out of the blue, wrote up a new order to send the girls
to their father, who previously had no interest in the case and who
lived on the West Coast. The father was in “adult entertainment”. His
girlfriend worked as an “escort” and his brother, who also worked in
the business, had a sexual charge brought against him.

Within a couple of days the father was knocking on the grandmother’s
door and took the girls kicking and screaming to California.
The father developed an unusual relationship with the former foster
parents and soon moved back to the southeast, and the foster parents
began driving to the father’s residence and picking up the little
girls for visits. The oldest child had told her mother and
grandmother
on two different occasions that the foster father molested her.

To this day after five years, this loving, caring blood relative
grandmother does not even have visitation privileges with the
children. The little girls are in my opinion permanently traumatized
and the young mother of the girls was so traumatized with shock when
the girls were first removed from her that she has not recovered.

Throughout this case and through the process of dealing with multiple
other mismanaged cases of the Department of Family and Children
Services (DFCS), I have worked with other desperate parents and
children across the state because they have no rights and no one with
whom to turn. I have witnessed ruthless behavior from many
caseworkers, social workers, investigators, lawyers, judges,
therapists, and others such as those who “pick up” the children. I
have been stunned by what I have seen and heard from victims all over
the sta te of Georgia.

In this report, I am focusing on the Georgia Department of Family and
Children Services (DFCS). However, I believe Child Protective
Services
nationwide has become corrupt and that the entire system is broken
almost beyond repair. I am convinced parents and families should be
warned of the dangers.

The Department of Child Protective Services, known as the Department
of Family and Children Service (DFCS) in Georgia and other titles in
other states, has become a “protected empire” built on taking
children
and separating families. This is not to say that there are not those
children who do need to be removed from wretched situations and need
protection. This report is concerned with the children and parents
caught up in “legal kidnapping,” ineffective policies, and DFCS who
do
does not remove a child or children when a child is enduring torment
and abuse. (See Exhibit A and Exhibit B)

In one county in my District, I arranged a meeting for thirty-seven
families to speak freely and without fear. These poor parents and
grandparents spoke of their painful, heart wrenching encounters with
DFCS. Their suffering was overwhelming. They wept and cried. Some did
not know where their children were and had not seen them in years. I
had witnessed the “Gestapo” at work and I witnessed the deceitful
conditions under which children were taken in the middle of the
night,
out of hospitals, off of school uses, and out of homes. In one county
a private drug testing business was operating within the DFCS
department that required many, many drug tests from parents and
individuals for profit. In another county children were not removed
when they were enduring the worst possible abuse. Due to being
exposed, several employees in a particular DFCS office were fired.
However, they have now been rehired either in neighboring counties or
in the same county again. According to the calls I am now receiving,
the conditions in that county are returning to the same practices
that
they had before the light was shown on their deeds. Having worked
with
probably 300 cases statewide, I am convinced there is no
responsibility and no accountability in the system.

I have come to the conclusion:

· that poor parents often times are targeted to lose their children
because they do not have the where-with-all to hire lawyers and fight
the system. Being poor does not mean you are not a good parent or
that
you do not love your child, or that your child should be removed and
placed with strangers;

· that all parents are capable of making mistakes and that making a
mistake does not mean your children are always to be removed from the
home. Even if the home is not perfect, it is home; and that’s where a
child is the safest and where he or she wants to be, with family;

· that parenting classes, anger management classes, counseling
referrals, therapy classes and on and on are demanded of parents with
no compassion by the system even while they are at work and while
their children are separated from them. This can take months or even
years and it emotionally devastates both children and parents.
Parents
are victimized by “the system” that makes a profit for holding
children longer and “bonuses” for not returning children;

· that caseworkers and social workers are oftentimes guilty of fraud.
They withhold evidence. They fabricate evidence and they seek to
terminate parental rights. However, when charges are made against
them, the charges are ignored;

· that the separation of families is growing as a business because
local governments have grown accustomed to having taxpayer dollars to
balance their ever-expanding budgets;

· that Child Protective Service and Juvenile Court can always hide
behind a confidentiality clause in order to protect their decisions
and keep the funds flowing. There should be open records and “court
watches”! Look who is being paid! There are state employees, lawyers,
court investigators, court personnel, and judges. There are
psychologists, and psychiatrists, counselors, caseworkers,
therapists,
foster parents, adoptive parents, and on and on. All are looking to
the children in state custody to provide job security. Parents do not
realize that social workers are the glue that holds “the system”
together that funds the court, the child’s attorney, and the multiple
other jobs including DFCS’s attorney.

· that The Adoption and the Safe Families Act, set in motion by
President Bill Clinton, offered cash “bonuses” to the states for
every
child they adopted out of foster care. In order to receive the
“adoption incentive bonuses” local child protective services need
more
children. They must have merchandise (children) that sell and you
must
have plenty of them so the buyer can choose. Some counties are known
to give a $4,000 bonus for each child adopted and an additional
$2,000
for a “special needs” child. Employees work to keep the federal
dollars flowing;

· that there is double dipping. The funding continues as long as the
child is out of the home. When a child in foster care is placed with
a
new family then “adoption bonus funds” are available. When a child is
placed in a mental health facility and is on 16 drugs per day, like
two children of a constituent of mine, more funds are involved;

· that there are no financial resources and no real drive to unite a
family and help keep them together;

· that the incentive for social workers to return children to their
parents quickly after taking them has disappeared and who in
protective services will step up to the plate and say, “This must
end!
No one, because they are all in the system together and a system with
no leader and no clear policies will always fail the children. Look
at
the waste in government that is forced upon the tax payer;

· that the “Policy Manuel” is considered “the last word” for DFCS.
However, it is too long, too confusing, poorly written and does not
take the law into consideration;

· that if the lives of children were improved by removing them from
their homes, there might be a greater need for protective services,
but today all children are not always safer. Children, of whom I am
aware, have been raped and impregnated in foster care and the head of
a Foster Parents Association in my District was recently arrested
because of child molestation;

· that some parents are even told if they want to see their children
or grandchildren, they must divorce their spouse. Many, who are under
privileged, feeling they have no option, will divorce and then just
continue to live together. This is an anti-family policy, but parents
will do anything to get their children home with them.

· fathers, (non-custodial parents) I must add, are oftentimes treated
as criminals without access to their own children and have child
support payments strangling the very life out of them;

· that the Foster Parents Bill of Rights does not bring out that a
foster parent is there only to care for a child until the child can
be
returned home. Many Foster Parents today use the Foster Parent Bill
of
Rights to hire a lawyer and seek to adopt the child from the real
parents, who are desperately trying to get their child home and out
of
the system;

· that tax dollars are being used to keep this gigantic system
afloat,
yet the victims, parents, grandparents, guardians and especially the
children, are charged for the system’s services.

· that grandparents have called from all over the State of Georgia
trying to get custody of their grandchildren. DFCS claims relatives
are contacted, but there are cases that prove differently.
Grandparents who lose their grandchildren to strangers have lost
their
own flesh and blood. The children lose their family heritage and
grandparents, and parents too, lose all connections to their heirs.

· that The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1998
reported
that six times as many children died in foster care than in the
general public and that once removed to official “safety”, these
children are far more likely to suffer abuse, including sexual
molestation than in the general population.

. That according to the California Little Hoover Commission Report in
2003, 30% to 70% of the children in California group homes do not
belong there and should not have been removed from their homes.

FINAL REMARKS

On my desk are scores of cases of exhausted families and troubled
children. It has been beyond me to turn my back on these suffering,
crying, and sometimes beaten down individuals. We are mistreating the
most innocent. Child Protective Services have become adult centered
to
the detriment of children. No longer is judgment based on what the
child needs or who the child wants to be with or what is really best
for the whole family; it is some adult or bureaucrat who makes the
decisions, based often on just hearsay, without ever consulting a
family member, or just what is convenient, profitable, or less
troublesome for a director of DFCS.

I have witnessed such injustice and harm brought to these families
that I am not sure if I even believe reform of the system is
possible!
The system cannot be trusted. It does not serve the people. It
obliterates families and children simply because it has the power to
do so. Children deserve better. Families deserve better. It’s time to
pull back the curtain and set our children and families free.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights
of
all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and the
needy” Proverbs 31:8-9

Please continue to read:
Recommendations, Exhibit A, Exhibit B

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Call for an independent audit of the Department of Family and
Children’s Services (DFCS) to expose corruption and fraud.
2. Activate immediate change. Every day that passes means more
families and children are subject to being held hostage.
3. End the financial incentives that separate families.
4. Grant to parents their rights in writing.
5. Mandate a search for family members to be given the opportunity to
adopt their own relatives.
6. Mandate a jury trial where every piece of evidence is presented
before removing a child from his or her parents.
7. Require a warrant or a positive emergency circumstance before
removing children from their parents. (Judge Arthur G. Christean,
Utah
Bar Journal, January, 1997 reported that “except in emergency
circumstances, including the need for immediate medical care, require
warrants upon affidavits of probable cause before entry upon private
property is permitted for the forcible removal of children from their
parents.”)
8. Uphold the laws when someone fabricates or presents false
evidence.
If a parent alleges fraud, hold a hearing with the right to discovery
of all evidence.
Senator Nancy Schaefer
50th District of Georgia

EXHIBIT A
December 5, 2006
Jeremy’s Story
( Some names withheld due to future hearings)
As told to Senator Nancy Schaefer by Sandra (XXXX), a foster parent
of
Jeremy for 2 ½ years.
My husband and I received Jeremy when he was 2 weeks old and we have
been the only parents he has really ever known. He lived with us for
27 months. (XXXX) is the grandfather of Jeremy, and he is known for
molesting his own children, for molesting Jeremy and has been court
ordered not to be around Jeremy. (XXXX) is the mother of Jeremy, who
has been diagnosed to be mentally ill, and also is known to have
molested Jeremy. (XXXX) and Jeremy’s uncle is a registered sex
offender and (XXXX) is the biological father, who is a drug addict
and
alcoholic and who continues to be in and out of jail. Having just
described Jeremy’s world, all of these adults are not to be any part
of Jeremy’s life, yet for years DFCS has known that they are. DFCS
had
to test (XXXX) (the grandfather) and his son (XXXX) (the uncle) and
(XXXX) to determine the real father. (XXXX) is the biological father
although any of them might have been. In court, it appeared from the
case study, that everyone involved knew that this little boy had been
molested by family members, even by his own mother, (XXXX). In court,
(XXX), the mother of Jeremy, admitted to having had sex with (XXXX)
(the grandfather) and (XXXX) (her own brother) that morning. Judge
(XXXX) and DFCS gave Jeremy to his grandmother that same day. (XXXX),
the grandmother, is over 300 lbs., is unable to drive, and is unable
to take care of Jeremy due to physical problems. She also has been in
a mental hospital several times due to her behavior. Even though it
was ordered by the court that the grandfather (XXXX), the uncle
(XXXX)
(a convicted sex offender), (XXXX) his mother who molested him and
(XXXX) his biological father, a convicted drug addict, were not to
have anything to do with the child, they all continue to come and go
as they please at (XXXX address), where Jeremy has been “sentenced to
live” for years. This residence has no bathroom and little heat. The
front door and the windows are boarded. (See pictures) This home
should have been condemned years ago. I have been in this home. No
child should ever have to live like this or with such people. Jeremy
was taken from us at age 2 ½ years after (XXXX) obtained attorney
(XXXX), who was the same attorney who represented him in a large
settlement from an auto accident. I am told, that attorney (XXXX), as
grandfather’s attorney, is known to have repeatedly gotten (XXXX) off
of several criminal charges in White County. This is a matter of
record and is known by many in White County. I have copies of some
records. (XXXX grandfather), through (XXXX attorney’s) work, got
(XXXX), the grandmother of Jeremy, legal custody of Jeremy. (XXXX
grandfather) who cannot read or write also got his daughter (XXXX)
and
son (XXXX) diagnosed by government agencies as mentally ill. (XXXX
grandfather), through legal channels, has taken upon himself all
control of the family and is able to take possession of any
government
funding coming to these people.
It was during this time that Jeremy was to have a six-month
transitional period between (XXXX grandmother) and my family as we
were to give him up. The court ordered agreement was to have been 4
days at our house and 3 days at (XXXX grandmother). DFCS stopped the
visits within 2 weeks. The reason given by DFCS was the child was too
traumatized going back and forth. In truth, Jeremy begged us and
screamed never to be taken back to (XXXX his grandmother) house,
which
we have on video. We, as a family, have seen Jeremy in stores time to
time with (XXXX grandmother) and the very people he is not to be
around. At each meeting Jeremy continues to run to us wherever he
sees
us and it is clear he is suffering. This child is in a desperate
situation and this is why I am writing, and begging you Senator
Schaefer, to do something in this child’s behalf. Jeremy can clearly
describe in detail his sexual molestation by every member of this
family and this sexual abuse continues to this day.
When Jeremy was 5 years of age I took him to Dr. (XXXX) of Habersham
County who did indeed agree that Jeremy’s rectum was black and blue
and the physical damage to the child was clearly a case of sexual
molestation.
Early in Jeremy’s life, when he was in such bad physical condition,
we
took him to Egleston Children Hospital where at two months of age
therapy was to begin three times a week. DFCS decided that the (XXXX
grandparent family) should participate in his therapy. However, the
therapist complained over and over that the (XXXX grandparent family)
would not even wash their hands and would cause Jeremy to cry during
these sessions. (XXXX the grandmother), after receiving custody no
longer allowed the therapy because it was an inconvenience. The
therapist reported that this would be a terrible thing to do to this
child. Therapy was stopped and it was detrimental to the health of
Jeremy. During (XXXX grandmother) custody, (XXXX uncle) has shot
Jeremy with a BB gun and there is a report at (XXXX) County Sheriff’s
office. There are several amber alerts at Cornelia Wal-Mart, Commerce
Wal-Mart, and a 911 report from (XXXX) County Sheriff’s Department
when Jeremy was lost. (XXXX grandmother), to teach Jeremy a lesson,
took thorn bush limbs and beat the bottoms of his feet. Jeremy’s feet
got infected and his feet had to be lanced by Dr. (XXXX). Then Judy
called me to pick him up after about 4 days to take back him to the
doctor because of intense pain. I took Jeremy to Dr. (XXXX) in
Gainesville. Dr. (XXXX) said surgery was needed immediately and a
cast
was added. After returning home, (XXXX), his grandfather and (XXXX),
his uncle, took him into the hog lot and allowed him to walk in the
filth.
Jeremy’s feet became so infected for a 2nd time that he was again
taken back to Dr. (XXXX) and the hospital. No one in the hospital
could believe this child’s living conditions. Jeremy is threatened to
keep quiet and not say anything to anyone. I have videos, reports,
arrest records and almost anything you might need to help Jeremy.
Please call my husband, Wendell, or me at any time.
Sandra and (XXXX) husband (XXXX)

EXHIBIT B
Failure of DFCS to remove six desperate children
A brief report regarding six children that Habersham County DFCS
director failed to remove as disclosed to Senator Nancy Schaefer by
Sheriff Deray Fincher of Habersham County.
Sheriff Deray Fincher, Chief of Police Don Ford and Chief
Investigator
Lt. Greg Bowen Chief called me to meet with them immediately, which I
did on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 Sheriff Fincher, after contacting
the
Director of Habersham County DFCS several times to remove six
children
from being horribly abused, finally had to get a court order to
remove
the children himself with the help of two police officers.
The children, four boys and two girls, were not just being abused;
they were being tortured by a monster father.
The six children and a live in girl friend were terrified of this
man,
the abuser. The children never slept in a bed, but always on the
floor. The place where they lived was unfit for human habitation.
The father on one occasion hit one of the boys across his head with a
bat and cut the boy’s head open. The father then proceeded to hold
the
boy down and sew up the child’s head with a needle and red thread.
However, even with beatings and burnings, this is only a fraction of
what the father did to these children and to the live-in girlfriend.
Sheriff Fincher has pictures of the abuse and condition of one of the
boys and at the writing of this report, he has the father in jail in
Habersham County.
It should be noted that when the DFCS director found out that Sheriff
Fincher was going to remove the children, she called the father and
warned him to flee.
This is not the only time this DFCS director failed to remove a child
when she needed to do so. (See Exhibit A)
The egregious acts and abhorrent behavior of officials who are
supposed to protect children can no longer be tolerated.

Senator Nancy Schaefer
50th District of Georgia

When Strayhorn was Comptroller for Texas, she found that
large numbers of kids in Foster care were prescribed
psychotropics like Ritalin by doctors who never
actually laid eyes on the child in question.
This is illegal, yet it was done in large numbers.