Monday, August 26, 2013

"They Kidnapped Our Child": Why CPS Needs Transparency

Do closely check out this video. In the first 3 minutes, all of us should know the story of "Baby Sammy"..
But after that hear the short clips starting with Assemblyman Donnelly and then those in the agency, with comments from victims of CPS.

Ask yourself, is this Alleged Confidentiality for the Protection of the Children and/or those involved...
OR is it for those Agents of the Child Protective agency who even gained their power to:

  1. Protect Child;
  2. Strengthen Families.
Myself and many of my Affiliates have shared stories for over 15 years with Parents, Relatives, and Care Givers, who have been involved with the agency. I can only say have these hundreds of people been lying about the tactics used by the agency????

Many thanks to Reason.tv for sharing this video, and the text provided below this video.
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May you find Strength in Your Higher Power
Granpa Chuck
My Affiliation

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Published on Aug 13, 2013
In April 2013, police officers and a social worker from Sacramento County's Child Protective Services entered the home of Anna and Alex Nikolayev and took their baby, Sammy, away from them. They had no warrant.

"What they'd done was, basically, kidnapped our child with the help of police," says Alex Nikolayev. The young, first-time parents were not notified of where Sammy was being taken and wouldn't find out for a full 24 hours. According to the Nikolayevs, the dispute stemmed from the parents' desire to obtain a second medical opinion before subjecting Sammy to major heart surgery.

The Nikolayev's story made national headlines thanks to footage from a camcorder Anna Nikolayev set up on the kitchen table. It also caught the attention of California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, who spearheaded an audit of the agency.
"The secrecy by which CPS operates is a massive problem. Because when you have secrecy and unchecked power, you have a recipe for corruption and abuse," says Donnelly.

The secrecy surrounding CPS stems from the nature of California's juvenile dependency courts, which only allow limited press access and seal all court records. While media and other interested parties can petition the court to open the records, this can be a lengthy process and by no means guarantees results. ReasonTV petitioned the court to open the records in the Nikolayev's case and, almost two months later, we have still not received a ruling from the judge.

The issue of funding is one that many critics of CPS are quick to raise, most prominently and frequently by the late Georgia state senator Nancy Schaefer. While the funding incentives for any government agency are complicated and seemingly impossible to divine, Orange County Social Services Agency Director Michael Riley, who oversees Orange County CPS, testified in a deposition related to Hardwick's case that putting more children into the foster system can boost the agency's budget.

"Let's say you spend ten dollars a year. So, then, for the following year, your base then would be ten dollars," says Riley. The lawyer questioning Riley then points out that failure to use the entire base would result in a lowering of the base for the next year. He then asks Riley if the funding stream is tied to how many children they bring into Orange County's children's home, Orangewood.

"It's tied to the number of children we have in the foster system," says Riley.

We reached out to both Sacramento County and Orange County Social Services Agencies in the production of this story, and representatives with both were happy to talk with us. However, because of the closed dependency courts, neither representative could comment on details of specific cases. The absurdity of this charade reached such heights that Sherri Heller, who runs Sacramento County's Health and Human Services, told us that she could not even confirm nor deny that Sacramento County CPS was even involved in the Nikolayev case, despite widespread reporting and video evidence that it was. It's not just parents and children who suffer from the secrecy. CPS workers and their managers say they are not happy about this situation either and feel that more openness and transparency would help them to communicate their side of the story clearly.

"Most of us in this field are eager for the public to understand what happened and why," says Heller. "It is a source of great dismay to us when we are accused of hiding behind the confidentiality law."

In the immediate wake of the Nikolayev case, parents gathered in Sacramento to support the audit and testify in front of the audit committee. The audit is set to proceed in the next few months, and the auditor will choose three county agencies to examine. But for parents like Deanna Hardwick, who's experienced the power of this agency first-hand, a state-level audit is just the beginning of a broader movement towards transparency and accountability.

"Once the American people are able to be made aware that this is going on, I think that will be a real step forward towards making sure that there's accountability and making sure that the agency is working towards keeping families together rather than separating them," says Hardwick.

About 10 minutes.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Paul Detrick, Tracy Oppenheimer, and Weissmueller.

Visit http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/08/12... for full text, supporting links, and downloadable versions. And subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube Channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

BEWARE of Legal Mythology!!!

Many today are angry at our justice system.
  • Many have good cause to be angry!
  • Some, however, are too angry!
  • Their anger will hurt you!
  • They are blinded by their anger!
You'll recognize them by the anger. They are not your friend! Their "legal theories" fail. They are blinded by rage. Believe them at your peril.
  1. An angry person called insisting she had "copyrighted" her name so the courts couldn't use her name on official papers. To think one can prevent others from using one's name by "copyrighting" it is utter nonsense. Anger twists the mind in strange ways!
  2. Some are convinced our courts are "admiralty courts" and cannot rule in common law or statute, all because there is a yellow fringe on the courtroom flag. This lie has been promoted for years by angry people that don't know (or don't want to make any effort to know) the truth.
  3. Some claim to be "patriots", yet do all they can to evade the Rule of Law and refuse to do anything toward learning the principles of due process so many gave their lives to protect in past and present wars!
  4. Thousands hover around the radio to hear commentators tell them how horrible things are, yet only a handful of talk show hosts encourage us to make things better by exercising our God-given "law power" in court!
I know people are hurting. We've helped tens of thousands of hurting people to get justice in the courts since 1997 when we launched Jurisdictionary on the web.

Know how to honor the sacrifices of millions who died to give us "law power" we need to overcome corruption?
Are you ready to begin?
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May you find Strength in Your Higher Power,
 GranPa Chuck
    Defend Yourself>>