FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

What: Press Conference: DCFS-Give Us Back Our Children!

When: Thursday, August 20, 12:30PM

Where: Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court, 201 Centre Plaza Dr., Monterey Park 91754

Who: DCFS-Give Us Back Our Children!; Richard Wexler, Executive Director, National Coalition for Child Protection Reform

Contact: 323 646 1269, Margaret Prescod or Yolanda James

 

Families Demand their Children Back From LA County Control

In an unprecedented and hopeful coming together, mothers, some fathers, other family members and supporters are launching a campaign entitled “DCFS-Give Us Back Our Children” to get back children unjustly and often illegally taken by the Department of Children and Family Services and to stop other abuse within the system.  They are all sickened by the recent deaths of children under County care and are very worried that, despite what is best for the children, the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services and the County Board of Supervisors will use these recent tragic deaths of children to unreasonably take even more children away from their families and place them in foster care or even put them up for adoption.

They are also concerned that new policies will make it even more difficult to reunite children with their families after placement in foster care. The group will be joined by Richard Wexler, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, L. Wallace Pate, a pioneer in the field of personal injury litigation arising form foster care,  supporters from the religious community and others at a press conference to be held outside Edelman Children’s Court on Thursday August 20^th at 12:30 pm.

 

“DCFS-Give Us Back Our Children!” is a new Southern California-based self-help multi-racial support and action group of mothers, other family members and supporters that grew out of a Community Dialogue held in South LA at the end of May 2009.  They aim to fight individual cases, build public and especially media awareness, work to change unjust policies and practices, and challenge sexism, racism and prejudices in every branch of the system. They are part of a growing national movement with a sister group in Philadelphia and a growing network in other parts of the country.  They say that while children in real danger are not being protected, DCFS is quick to recklessly remove children from caring homes and put them in foster care, especially children of color, causing unbearable pain and ruining young lives.

 

The group is outraged that instead of assisting families in economic crisis with housing and other resources, there seems to be a policy of confusing poverty with neglect and therefore removing children from homes social services deem "unfit".  The Department of Children and Family Services and other County officials say they have an obligation to prioritize in practice the protection and reunification of families and to recognize that, except under extreme conditions, children are overwhelmingly safer and better off in their own home.  But this is not the experience of thousands of families. And there are financial incentives for the county to place children into foster care or to swiftly move them through the system of fast track adoptions.

 

Removing children from their homes and the fast-track adoption process are not only tearing families apart and keeping them apart, but the impact on children is alarming: the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform found that foster care "alumni" had twice the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder of Gulf War Veterans and only 20 percent could be said to be "doing well."

 

Racism in the system is rampant; one measure is the racial disparity in the current system: Black children are more likely to be taken from their homes, to stay in protective custody longer and never return to their parents (Cincinnati Post).  A Black mother in DCSF-Give Us Back Our Children! is still desperately seeking information on the whereabouts of her daughter who was taken away from her over ten years ago and placed in fast-track adoption. And one study found that when toddlers have similar injuries, they were 3 times more likely to be reported to Children and Family Services if the family was Black or Latino (Philadelphia Children’s Hospital press release).

 

Meanwhile, as children suffer being dragged from foster home to foster home where they may be abused, broken-hearted parents, mothers in particular, are mandated to take class after class, creating jobs for “professionals”.  They are mandated to meet housing requirements that they may not have the resources for.  And even after meeting all requirements, there is no guarantee they will get their children back.  Court dates and hearings stretch over months, sometimes years, and children are either completely isolated from loving families or limited visitation rights are granted, often monitored in intimidating settings.  Even when there are willing family members nearby, DCFS has kept children in foster care rather than release the children to them. One member of DCFS-Give Us Back Our Children! related the story of her niece, with whom she is only allowed 1-hour weekly visits: "She cried at first and wanted to come home with me and though she's doing okay, she does not seem happy at all."

 

Beyond the trauma of having been removed from their homes and being placed with strangers, children placed in foster care are at risk of being wrongfully put on psychotropic medication. A recent Florida study found that ``Psychotherapeutic medications are often being used to help parents, teachers and other child workers quiet and manage, rather than treat, children." The study was performed after the suicide death of a 7-year-old boy who was being heavily medicated while in foster care. The study found that children in foster care are more than twice as likely to be placed on psychotropic drugs. The financial incentive for foster parents is that higher payments are given for caring for "special needs" children.  

 

But members of DCFS-Give Us Back Our Children! remain determined, they say that they are never giving up, and will fight to get their children back.  “Imagine if someone came to your home and took your children and placed them with perfect strangers for bogus reasons!  What would you do?  There is injustice in the system, but mothers and other family members are coming together to support each other, to fight alongside each other to free our children and be reunited with them.  And there are thousands like us in other cities across this country.   Our children are not objects that the system can make money off of, they are precious and loved and we want them back” says Yolanda James active with the group.  

 

Our Voices Will Be Heard!

From Ms Y: “I am very sorry about the deaths that have happened to the children under the care of DCFS, we want our loved ones home with us not in a body bag, and it is really scary that the County Board of Supervisors and DCFS will use the sad case of these deaths to take children from families that should not be taken.  Also the court system is very closed, they use the excuse of confidentiality not to give us information, they speak in language that we don’t understand and they don’t make a point of explaining what they are talking about and deciding. There's very little explanation”.

 

From Ms C: “I feel like this whole process is wrong, it's emotionally, depressingly wrong for my child and for me and for others like us. There is nothing right about taking a loving child from a loving home, from a parent who loves her. They should remove the abusive parent from the home, not snatch the child and put her with strangers.  How is this best for the child?   All I want to say is that I want to know where my child is.  The pain is unbearable-- my mother is gone, my health is bad, all of this has taken a lot of toll on me, and I have no idea the impact it has had on my daughter. Before she was taken, my daughter was beautiful, fun, loving, we learned a lot from each other. But I never got to experience her growing up, and she never really got to know her mom. I wanted to learn from her, to find out how great it is to be a mom and how much a mom can learn from a child”.

 

From Mr. R: “After taking my child away, DCFS ignored the fact that an aunt lived in the area and instead of placing my 7 year old son with her, they placed him in foster care. I asked him whether the foster parents were nice to him. The foster parents called us and said that my son was too polite, the social workers had to be lying. I asked my son about the social workers and he said they're "stupid, they keep asking me the same questions." My son was in foster care for less than two weeks, and then he was moved to his aunt's house for three weeks until we finished with the court and he was returned to us”.

 

From Ms. E: “I would say to DCFS, that all the stuff they've put us through, they never did what they said they were going to do. They said they would send an inspector, they never did. They told me that I could have visitation. The social worker put us on monitored visitation because I supposedly fed the 7 month old Doritos and they said I was paying more attention to one child than the other. It felt like they were making up reasons for me not to get my kids back. It seemed like the social worker didn't want me to get my kids back.  But now I am worried that because of the deaths that have happened, it will be made more difficult for moms like me who should have their children back not to be able to do so.  This is not fair and not in the best interests of children who rightfully should be with their families”.

 

Ms. S: “Our reunification services were terminated during the time I was performing the assigned tasked that was ordered by the court and DCFS.  Each day that we were apart was a nightmare, only it was in daylight hours and you could see which direction the enemy was coming and yet there was nothing you could do if you couldn’t afford an attorney because the court appointed attorneys only pretended to do an effective job of representing their “clients”. They made me attend classes and do other tasks for me to comply with in order to regain custody of my daughter to bring her home.  Each class that I attended and I brought progress reports thinking that my family was getting closer to being completed, but  was met with skepticism and opposition from county counsel. Often we left the court in tears begging the referee to allow my daughter to come home.”

 

Ms T: “My granddaughter has now been adopted.  She has great grandparents, she will never know; she will never reap the benefits these type of familial relationships offer.  She has cousins her age she will never play with again. I will never see her graduate, play soccer, or the piano; I taught her to sing The Star Spangled Banner when she was three, but I will never hear her sing it again. I will miss her prom. She will never play dress up with the fancy gowns I promised to save for her; But worst of all this little girl is suffering , because this little girl has parents and a family she loves and is very bonded to and has been alienated from. This little girl cries herself to sleep at nights because she misses her father and her family.”