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A Power Thing

July 31, 2009 permalink

Pam Roach comments on Washington state child protection. Social workers in the past have disparaged this kind of criticism by suggesting that the critic needs a psychiatrist, but in this case the critic is a well-informed state senator.

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Lilly Will Cry On Friday....

Lilly will see her grandparents for one hour at Lions Park in Mt. Vernon where her visit will be. This is the same park that the grandmother helped build. She was the Lion's "Member of the Year" for her service.

Toward the end of the "supervised visit" Lilly will start to cry. There is no comfort for these tears. And what a slam to have "supervised" visits for these good people who raised her until age three when the department took her because of a faulty report filed by a person who had promised Lilly to someone else.

Last week, Lilly tried hiding under the swing to keep from having to leave. Lilly wants to go home with her grandparents. She cries when she is forced to leave. "She'll eventually 'get over it'" is how the adults involved in this theft view it. Self preservation will help harden her...the human mind will begin to protect her...she will run out of the ability to feel sad at the loss of her GPs.

In the home study on Lilly's grandparents there was nothing in it that, by law, would give CPS the authority to take Lilly...but they did anyway. The grandparents (the Willards) were told there would be a quick adoption and it would be all over in six weeks. They called me. Their own State Senator refused to help them. I spoke with him personally while we were on the floor of the Senate.

I found out that Lilly had great-grandparents on the father's side and I called them. They are politically influential and wealthy. I knew that they could keep this child from being adopted out. I was right about that. But, they have decided they want the child for themselves.

By the way...CPS should have contacted the GGPs when they decided to take Lilly in the first place but didn't. CPS does not look for relatives when they have someone who wants what they can deliver.

I told Susan Dreyfus that I thought Lilly would do fine with either the GGPs or the GPs. "The question is not where the child would do the best. The question is: Having lacked any legal cause for taking the child, where should she now be placed?"

(Please see previous PRR on "Values Clarification." Sometimes it is called "Situation Ethics." This is a way of making decisions based on moral relativism. Decisions are based on what is believed to be best, not what is legal. Elitists love it!)

Grandma used to say: "Two wrongs don't make a right." Well, I'm a grandma many times over and now I can say it: Lying, taking, wrongly placing...is not corrected by giving this child to anyone other than the mother or the grandparents.

CPS has caused a terrible situation. The GPs have been written off. Lilly will have no contact with the good (though not wealthy or well connected) grandparents who love her and raised her as soon as the placement is complete. The department is working to place with the GGPs.

The GGPs had seen 2 month old Lilly at their grandson's funeral...and according to the GPs only twice after that. They met in a restaurant when Lilly had birthdays. So, the GGPs saw Lilly 3 times in three years. Now the GGPs have befriended the foster woman. So, when they go out of town Lilly stays with the foster woman! It is a winner take all war between relatives for this child. Apparently, there is no desire to ever have the GPs see Lilly again........Is that in the child's best interest? What happens when the GGP's leave Lilly orphaned? So angry are some in CPS that they actually advise that Lilly go with the foster woman instead of the GPs when and if Lilly is a minor when the GGPs die or are incapacitated.

NOTE TO CPS: YOU COULD HAVE A MONTH OF OBAMA BEER MEETINGS AND NEVER FIX THIS MESS YOU HAVE CAUSED BETWEEN GOOD PEOPLE. WHY DOESN'T CPS ADMIT THEIR MISTAKES AND JUST CORRECT THE PROBLEM?

(Answer: It is a power thing. It has nothing to do with fear of being sued. Remember, PRR Reader...the taxpayer pays...they couldn't care less about the costs. It is about the POWER.)

In the case of Lilly the department has never been right about ANYTHING, really.

Because the grandparents are fighting to keep the baby they raised...they are hated by everyone and every entity involved except me and the judge. The judge and I are just trying to do our jobs as we see them. CPS high-ups are trying to cover their posteriors!

I think the new director is really not happy with the way things have been. She is willing to address these situations with adjustments to the law.

Posted by State Senator Pam Roach at 11:27 PM


Friday, July 31, 2009

Lilly With Grandparents...Right Now...As I Write...

In the sunshine, in a public park, in Mt. Vernon, WA...a little girl and her good grandparents are meeting for an hour. Some state worker intrusively looks on to monitor the preschool teacher grandma...as though she is a felon. In seven months...this will be the seventh hour of "visitation" allowed by the state.

Please take a moment to contemplate how it must feel to have the state take a child based on a false report...a report that the department is currently redoing.

Posted by State Senator Pam Roach at 12:48 PM

Source: Pam Roach blog July 30 and 31, 2009

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