Posted on 03/27/2007 7:06:25 AM PDT by edcoil
A civil jury has awarded $4.9 million to a Seal Beach woman who claimed that the Orange County Department of Social Services violated her parental rights by taking her two pre-teen daughters away in 2000 and placing them in foster care.
Lawyers for Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick contended that two social workers fabricated negative evidence and suppressed positive evidence to support their decision to remove the girls, who were then 6 and 9.
The jury in Superior Court Judge Ronald Bauer's courtroom voted 10-2 that Fogarty-Hardwick's right to raise her children free of governmental interference had been violated, said Shawn A. McMillan, one of her attorneys.
The jury returns to court today to consider punitive damages.
McMillan said the $4.9 million verdict includes approximately $4.5 million in general damages against the county for providing inadequate training and/or supervision to the social workers and for showing deliberate indifference.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Parent to raise there children free from government interference. I am not sure if this will open a can of worms but I like the idea.
It could. I've seen what some parents consider their right to raise their children as they see fit and it is child abuse.
OTOH, the jury was 10-2 so there must be some legitimacy to her claims.
Considering that DSS considers homeschooling a valid reason to harass and snatch kids, I guess, I'd be inclined to side with the mother, sight unseen. I wish there were more details.
Doing what government does best.
WOW! This is huge. Those social workers just do whatever they feel like, and I am glad they got slapped down hard.
Liberal/Socialist/Progressive/Marxist educated college graduates who work at government jobs believe they have the right to do just about anything and not have to pay the piper.
I am guessing the union will keep their jobs and we the taxpayers have to pay. So, they are still unaccountable.
We had a recent case here where I hope the parents sue the heck out of CPS. Their two small girls, (1 and 3?) were taken after the 3 yr old fell and broke her leg. It was a spiral fracture so CPS immediately assumed child abuse and took them. Kids were placed in temp foster care.
Couple of weeks later CPS took them back from foster care. Pics on the news showed a 3 yr old that had been beaten with bruises everywhere and her head completely shaved while in foster care.
Saw on the news the other night that they just cleared the parents and gave the kids back.
The reason this story was of such interest to me is the same weekend this was all over the news my 7 yr old granddaughter fell off her scooter and broke her leg twice, spiral fracture. We received a visit from CPS.
I told my daughter if it was me instead of her I would have told them to get off my property and slammed the door in their face.
I hope the parents here sue the county for every dollar they have!
My wife and I are currently in foster parenting classes and it is horrifying to learn what parents can do to their children. There is so much missing from this story that it is hard to take sides, but I honestly believe that social workers are trying their best to do what's best for the children (for some reason a statement like that will get you ridiculed here on FR). And the one point they stress with us over and over is that the best place for the kids is to be raised by their birth parents. The number one goal is to get the parents and kids help and then have them reunited.
Great! The "gubmint" is punished, the attorney pockets about $3M, and the Life's Lottery Winner gets about $2M, all from the taxpayers (that's US, folks!)....
These lawsuits against "the government" are just another wealth-redistribution scheme, and unless the actual individuals are forced to pay the damages (the government workers and politicians), THIS WILL NEVER END, as the lawyers seek only to attack deep pockets to take THEIR money and put it in the lawyers' own pockets.
What they did:
"fabricated negative evidence and suppressed positive evidence"
What you said:
social workers are trying their best to do what's best for the children
Is it in the best interest of the children to fabricate evidence?
The "fabricated evidence" claim is by the lawyers trying to make a few million dollars, I wouldn't take that without a grain of salt.
I sure hope they are teaching you how to handle kids with FAS/RAD in those classes.
"Parent to raise there children free from government interference."
That's a quaint old idea that most people don't believe in anymore.
"There is so much missing from this story that it is hard to take sides,"
How about this part:
"fabricated negative evidence and ignored positive evidence".
That's pretty strong language.
Haven't talked much about FAS yet but have studied attachment disorders in some detail. Amazing the amount of classroom work (30 hours) along with home study and quite an array of questionnaires, surveys, background checks, references, etc. that has to be accomplished to be a foster parent. I would propose that any mother/father collecting government handouts should also have to go through these classes and exercises.
Have you ever had to contend with any of these government "social worker" nannies?
Cordially,
Don't take a RAD child. ESPECIALLY don't agree to adopt a RAD child, even if they're very young and you already have older children.
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