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Case of Wrongful Removal Caught on Tape Typifies Nationwide Take-The-Child-And-Run Mentality, Child Advocacy Group Says

Aug. 20 | U.S. Newswire

ALEXANDRIA, Va., -- There are only two differences between the case of Christopher Henry, a three-day-old infant in Springfield, Mo. needlessly torn from his mother's arms, and thousands of other such children, according to a national liberal child advocacy organization:

--The violence of the removal.

--The fact that it was caught on videotape.

In every other respect, it is typical of thousands of cases across the United States, according to Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.

"The ethos of most child protective services agencies can be boiled down to a single sentence: Take the child and run," Wexler said. "In this case, that's literally what happened.

"Based on nothing more than questionable drug tests suggesting the parents smoked marijuana and the parents' own efforts to get help with marital problems, police kicked down the door and grabbed the child," Wexler said, citing a front-page story in today's editions of the Springfield, (Missouri) News-Leader.

[Suetaznote: The link above has the full story with pictures.]

"The only time this infant was in danger was when child protective services and the police decided to 'err on the side of the child' and tear him away from his mother. First he was endangered when the door fell on the mother as she was holding the child. And now he is in danger of lifelong emotional harm because he was torn from his mother during the most important days of his life -- his first," Wexler said.

Wexler noted that two years earlier, in the same county, two- year-old Dominic James was taken from his birth parents. "That removal also was unnecessary, and Dominic wound up dead, killed by his foster father.

"But this is not simply a rogue county and this kind of wrongful removal is not an aberration," Wexler said. "On average, 827 children are torn from their parents by U.S child welfare agencies every day. Sometimes, it's the right thing to do. Some children are truly in danger and really must be removed from brutally abusive parents. But far more common are cases in which a family's poverty is confused with 'neglect.'

"Not only do such cases do enormous harm to the children needlessly taken, they overwhelm child welfare agencies, leaving them even less time to find children in real danger."

[Suetaznote: Just like law enforcement wastes time and resources eradicating plants instead of real law enforcement.]

Wexler said a few model child welfare systems have "broken this cycle of destruction and despair. They have embraced safe, proven programs to keep families together. Even as the number of children taken away has declined in these communities, child safety has dramatically improved.

"These few communities have figured out that the only way to err on the side of the child is to err on the side of the family."

Contact: Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, 703-212-2006 or rwexler@nccpr.org, http://www.nccpr.org

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melanotaenia

Based on nothing more than questionable drug tests suggesting the parents smoked marijuana and the parents' own efforts to get help with marital problems, police kicked down the door and grabbed the child,

questionable drug tests? Is this really enough of a motive to bust down a door and take away a baby? Are these monsters or real people who are conducting this "snatch and go" type attitude?

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HeeBGBz

I live in the general area where this happened. Missouri Family Services are already under scrutiny after the death of little Dominic James.

Drug tests at center of child's removal

HappyMan

Do you guys have any idea how many children are raped and/or abused by their parents? Its happening right now, near you.

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HeeBGBz

How about the ones that are taken from families by family services for dubious reasons and placed in someone else's home and that person abuses and kills them? Where's the protection there? Who's watching who? And who needs to be watched?

 

melanotaenia

I agree; it seems the problem goes far deeper than the suspicion of drug use in many families and in many cases where children are taken away from their parents, only to go to another family that may, or may not, treat them with the love and compassion, that I feel, every child deserves.

MickityMike

I think the point is though, if we're going to have a Division of Family Services, where children are removed from potentially abusive or neglectful parents (sometimes at the point of a gun), there's going to inevitably be cases where the removal was unjustified and/or carried out in an extreme manor.

The government certainly isn't perfect, and this is the price we pay when asking the government to watch over us. Abuses will occur.

But I'm not even yet convinced that this was an "abuse." According to the article:

If the test is to be believed, what kind of mother ingests mj while pregnant? I don't care if there's no provable harm to a fetus caused by THC - why take the risk (who cares how small) when you're talking about your baby?

"Hey, did ya ever stop beating your wife?" But at least this POS has learned about his "anger."

Given past history, leaning on the side of intervention on behalf of the kid doesn't strike me as all that bad a position to take.

That's what the cops are thinking. All they know is that this kid is supposed to be removed, because Child Services has told them that the kid is in danger. Then they get there, and this dumbass won't open the door, behaves kinda oddly, etc.

I don't know that I blame the cops for kicking the door down - how many times do cops see the results of child abuse and domestic violence?

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HeeBGBz

It's a tough call. The family history is definitely volatile. Which gives them a record with all the gvment agencies. I just think it sux because that baby is now in the hands of who knows who. Family services has it's own dubious history. It seems like there could have been a less intrusive way to handle things.

MickityMike

It's a tough call.

Exactly. I can't imagine what it's like for the people involved in the decision making process.

And yeah, it definitely sucks. But it could also be for the right reasons - maybe those people actually are irresponsible and abusive. Who knows? Either way, this is the risk we take when we have a Family Services government agency: They do a lot of good, but they can screw up, too.

I don't know if I agree though that there could have been a "less intrusive" way. How can the State not be intrusive when it's taking your child away?

"Hi, this is MoDoBC - Missouri Department of Baby Collection. Yeah, we need you to turn in your baby..."

I don't think there's a nice, non-intrusive way to do that, man.