The quotes page from above

"(There is a) high base rate of false positives in the child abuse system as currently structured. If the accusation is false a citizen has a heavy and dangerous burden to overcome, that is, the assumption that anybody accused is guilty. Potential dangers may also extend to spouses and children. Innocent spouses are threatened with termination of parental rights (Patton, 1990) and children are placed in foster care, often for years with many moves from placement to placement.  - famed child abuse researcher Ralph Underwager, April 29, 1999.

"(America's Foster Care system is a) quagmire that is spawning a generation of forgotten and forsaken children. Thousands are being neglected, abused, even murdered under what is ostensibly government protection." - TIME magazine, November 13, 2000.

"I would be the first to agree with you that there are many bullies in this field.  I have come across many workers who dispense their own form of abuse by ripping families apart.  There is a lot of power that comes in being a CPS worker and there are people who get off on that power.  But you must remember:  These bullies are in every field -- doctors, lawyers, judges, police officers, teachers, etc.  What separates CPS workers from these other professions is that these other professions have a strict criteria that must be met before you can become a doctor, lawyer, judge, etc.  Do you know what it takes to become a CPS Specialist in Texas?  All that one needs is a four-year degree.  That means that the people who are ripping these families apart are more likely to have their education and training in fields like, oh say, drama, philosophy, music, etc.  I find it insulting that they are considered as qualified to assess risk or trauma as a trained, licensed social worker." - Texas caseworker (with a Master's Degree in Social Work).

"Kids taken into foster care often end up in the State Penitentiary.  They get separated from their parents at an early age, then bounce around in foster care for years.  There's no permanency.  They end up unable to really connect with people.  That makes it very easy to rob or kill others.  And by the way....what your group said about caseworkers is so true.  People drawn to that line of work have very interesting personalities." - long-time Oregon teacher and former Children's Services volunteer.

"You've gotta understand about social workers.  Through my work in the community, I've gotten to know four of them.  Each one of them is about as screwed up as you can get.  I wouldn't leave my dog with them.  But, they're the personality type that's drawn into that line of work.  That's just the way it is." - Colorado businessman

"The good caseworkers don't last long.  They're driven out by the nature of the work.  What's mostly left are those who were abused themselves as children, or those who enjoy the power." - Corvallis, Oregon family attorney

"I have worked with the system for many years now and have grown to believe our SCF system needs to be terminated completely. I am and have been chaplain of our city police department since 1988. Prior to pastoring, my wife and I operated a crisis center and worked with the old CSD." - experienced Oregon pastor

"These people (SCF) are just like the Nazis.  They do evil, with a clear conscience." - Joseph, an 85 year-old Nazi concentration camp survivor now residing in Corvallis, Oregon.

"Mommy, Mommy, They're raping me!" Then click and a dial tone. - a 2:30 am. call to Alma Kidd. Her 14-year, old daughter, Norma "Hope" Robbins, was trapped in a Washington state foster-care home. Kidd immediately reported the incident to police.   Police said, "Ms. Kidd, you're in Washington State now.  They can chain her 24 hours, seven days a week, and there is nothing you can do about it." Reported in InsightMagazine, November 24,1997

"Is there a problem with the state wrongly prosecuting parents who spank?   Yes, absolutely.  My office alone gets ten to twenty cases per year of Criminal Mistreatment 1.  Most of these are loving parents with good families." – top Portland area criminal defense attorney.

"The system clearly hates spanking.  It wants spanking eliminated from the face of the earth." - Corvallis family counselor.

"Oh, all kids, or nearly all of them, ask to be taken home. Of course, we just can't allow that.  I deal with it by not asking that sort of question..." Idaho Guardian Ad Litem, a person supposed to purely consider the best interest of the child in all court proceedings.

"Take this little boy I was telling you about. His mother is basically a nice person, she just has men who beat him. We've had him since he was three, he's five now. He's a real handful. He kicks, he screams, he curses up a storm... Uhm, well, no, he wasn't like that when we took him." - Idaho Guardian Ad Litem.

"I got my kids back 22 months after being acquitted on a wrongful charge of child abuse.  That only happened because I spent tens of thousands of dollars with attorneys, and was able to obtain videotape which  showed my children living in squalor.  The kids I got back weren't the kids who left, let me tell you.   Children's Services has no interest in preserving families.  It roams the halls of justice like a lion, seeking families to devour" - a Pennsylvania father of three.

"On a single anonymous tip of physical abuse, SCF and the cops showed up to my brother's house.  When he denied entry, they cuffed him, then took his kids upstairs and strip-searched them.  They found no marks.  They took the kids anyway.  My brother and his wife have no criminal record.  They were never charged with a crime.  His supporters included neighbors and the kids' pediatrician.  It didn't matter.  That was in 1995.  He still doesn't have his kids back.  The system is mad." - Oregon software engineer.  (more on this case)

"I spanked my child in the school parking lot, because I’d told him if he continued his misbehavior at school, that’s just what I’d do. That afternoon SCF and cops showed up at my house. They nearly took my son. They charged me with Assault, then made me attend counseling for nearly a year. I had to pay for this, and I’m not a rich man. My job was constantly in jeopardy. I’d like to help you, Mr. Gilman. But, I’m terrified to get involved with those people again. I don’t think my family could stand it. Good luck." - an individual in this area who had a run-in with SCF.

"In 1989, I answered a knock on the door, only to be thrown on the ground by two police officers who held me at gunpoint, while social workers entered my home and stripped my son naked to see if he had bruises, as my divorcing wife had alleged. He did not have any bruises. My lawyer told me that social workers were immune and there was nothing that I could do. The police were apparently acting at the behest of the social workers and were therefore also immune." -  Stuart Miller, who later became a legislative analyst for American Fathers Coalition.

"I have written about child abuse for many years and have been very zealous in my belief that abusers should be stopped.  One of the reasons I have felt so strongly about this is that I was an abused child.  But recently, I met a family who had their children taken from them by SRS (social rehabilitative services) and after a three-year court battle lost their children forever.   If they had actually been guilty of child abuse, this would have been a good thing.   But I am almost certain that they were not guilty.  The parents were never charged.  They never had a trial."   - Kansas journalist

"The case is full of unbelievable tales of denial of due process, incompetence, and just plain vengeful behavior on the part of social workers, none of whom, predictably, have children of their own. The experience has cost the Dad one job, thousands of dollars, and has left the children emotionally scarred". - California attorney, whose first case with Children's Services gave him the willies.

"Apologize for what? Your wife brought this all on herself by assaulting your daughter and by refusing entry to your home to my deputies. Under identical circumstances, we’d do it the same way again." Chief Lieutenant John Chilcote of Benton County Sheriff’s Department, when asked for an apology to the children for the damage caused by his deputies’ kicking in a family's door without a warrant, roughing up the wife, and making off with daughter Alexandra.

"SCF is willfully blind to incredible damage they cause by separating healthy families.  I’ve had people inside the system say my wife definitely abused our daughter by a hard spanking.   In the next breath, they ask idly how our family is ‘dealing with the separation’.  These individuals are mentally ill, but they are in charge. Frankly, it’s terrifying." – John Gilman

"Daddy, I don't want to go to the doctor about my head.  I'm afraid they'll take me again!" - an injured, fearful Alexandra Gilman pleads against medical care, nearly a year after she was forcefully removed from her home.

"We found out firsthand in our case that the government institutions really do believe that our children belong to them.  We have to be able to protect our families." - Robert Calabretta; father of the California family whose suit against Children's Services resulted in a landmark 9th Circuit decision cracking open the door of caseworker immunity.

"I volunteer at a Child's Crisis Center and see the need for help in truly abusive cases but am appalled at the misuse of power. The CPS workers look like high school kids playing big shot with people's lives." - system volunteer in Nashville, TN

"I have been a social worker for 10 years and have worked with state agencies.  I have known very few good social workers....if people could witness from the inside the incompetence, belief systems, and agendas of those with power, they would be really afraid." - New Jersey social worker, World magazine, August 5th, 2000.

"For example, in one case I'm involved with, the social worker had the mom sign a contract that says she won't spank (or do anything physical) to the children.  The kids, now 5 and 7, have learned that mom has no authority over them. They also have learned how to manipulate the adults around them, how to "tell on" mom whenever she does something they don't like, and how to do things for shock effect on adults in authority. It will be a long slow process to get this mother and two daughters to truly be a family again." - California family advocate with a PhD in Developmental Psychology.

"I rented my house to a Salem SCF caseworker.  She had four kids, obviously from different fathers.  I realized there was a problem when I got a letter from my neighbors, telling me her kids were running wild and breaking things.  She broke the toilet and several windows.  There was food all over the walls.  The basement stank of cat.  They lived like animals.  She was always late in her payments, that's how we finally evicted her."  - Corvallis, Oregon landlord.