Free Republic

By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune reporter August 3, 2011 When Pat Schlesser's marriage ended 16 years ago, it was an opportunity to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a foster parent — a mission her former husband had not shared. A lifelong Roman Catholic, she turned to Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Joliet. But the agency turned her away, advising her not to take on foster children so soon after a divorce. Now she realizes the agency's qualms paid off for her two daughters and the 14 foster children who have since lived in her Wheaton home. "I suppose...

Is it time for an OctoAgent? OctoMom Nadya Suleman is pimping out her eight babies without proper consideration of their interests, a new lawsuit in Orange County, Calif., claims. Gloria Allred, the celeb lawyer behind the suit, said Monday that the babies deserve a court-appointed guardian - and a separate theatrical agent - to make sure their options are fully "explored" and that they get their fair share of any booty generated by their fame. "Rather than choosing to provide her children with a normal life," Allred said, "Nadya Suleman, has chosen instead to commercially exploit them, and it appears...

Memphis, TN -- A new undercover videotape shows staff at a Tennessee Planned Parenthood abortion clinic urging a client to lie about her potential sexual abuse so she could get an abortion. A girl who said she is 14 and sexually abused by a 31-year-old man was told to hide the information from a judge. The staff members at the nation's largest abortion business told the young woman to conceal the information so a judge would approve her request for an abortion without parental involvement, which is require by state law except in emergency cases. "Don't mention it. Just say...

On the surface, a Winnipeg mother who risks losing her two children to the state because of her neo-Nazi beliefs might not seem to have much in common with Omar Khadr, the Canadian who has spent nearly six years at Guantanamo Bay after being captured on an Afghanistan battlefield. But both cases essentially are about the indoctrination of young people into despicable, fascistic ideologies, and the question of how our society treats them. Let us start with the Winnipeg family, whose identity remains undisclosed in the media. The mother drew a swastika on her seven-year-old daughter's arm be-fore sending her...

State troopers have sealed off a secretive West Texas religious outpost built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs so child welfare investigators can interview children to see if they're safe, officials said Friday. Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the Texas Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement helped investigators gain access to the complex near Eldorado. She said CPS is "investigating whether any children are in danger" but said no decisions had been made on whether to remove any children. DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said CPS was responding to a complaint but could not say whether the complaint...

Appeals Court Asked To Hold State Responsible for Illegally Strip Searching Children MILWAUKEE, WI, August 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Today Liberty Counsel filed a brief at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving a state worker who made two elementary children undress without parental consent. The case is Michael C. v. Gresbach. The eight-year-old boy, his nine-year-old sister and their parents are represented by Stephen Crampton, Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel for Liberty Counsel, and Wisconsin attorney Michael D. Dean. The case involves Dana Gresbach, a social worker from the Bureau of Milwaukee Child...

Children's Aid Has No Duty to Families, Only Child: Supreme Court of Canada By John Jalsevac OTTAWA, Ontario, August 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada has some pro-family groups concerned, after the Court argued that child welfare services have no duty to the families of children, but only exclusively to the child. The Court made the ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by the parents of a girl who was removed from her home over a decade ago. Known only as R.D., the girl was taken from her home in January of...

As we await the sentencing phase of the trial of John Couey, the brutal murderer of Jessica Lunsford, we should ponder how on earth Couey was able to commit this vile crime. He was able to do it because, despite a 25 year long criminal history, he was free and out on the streets to commit more crime. Why? Because of Liberal policies on crime and punishment. He had twice before been convicted of sex crimes and had twice been allowed back out on the street. If he had been executed after his first sex assault Jessica Lunsford would be...

AMBER ALERT 08/31/06, BUCKS CO., BLK HISP F, 3 YOA, 39” 35 LBS, BLK HR, BRN EYES, PINK SHIRT PINK PANTS, NO SHOES, ABDUCTED APPROX. 0911 BLK MALE, 19 YOA, 6’5” 170 LBS., BRN EYES, BLK HAIR, NO SHIRT, BLUE JEANS, 1997 RED BUICK SDN, PA REG FXY9677 The Pennsylvania State Police has issued an Amber Child Abduction Alert for the Bensalem Police Department, Bucks County. Bensalem Police are searching for Jiane FITZPATRICK, a black hispanic female, age 3, 39” tall, 35 pounds, black hair with pink barrettes, brown eyes, wearing a pink shirt and pink long pants, no footwear....

There stands Planned Parenthood, right behind Senate Democrat leaders, whispering seductively in their collective ear the promise of lots of votes and lots of cash. That's an interesting looking wallet Planned Parenthood has. Oh, baby skin. Of course. The addiction to power is arguably the most powerful addiction. This is obviously what's behind the Democrats' obstruction to the Child Custody Protection Act, which would stop non-parents from trafficking minor girls for abortions from states with parental notification laws to states without them. CCPA would also rescue girls from incestuous households by eliminating the loophole around state parental notification laws that...

(Children Created 'Safe House') MILWAUKEE, WI -- A pregnant woman is in custody after police said they found three of her 14 children taking refuge in an abandoned house in Milwaukee. Police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said the 9-year-old twin boys and 6-year-old boy had scars and bruising to their backs, buttocks and faces. The 35-year-old woman's six oldest children had been previously removed from her home by child welfare officials. The remaining eight have since been removed. The children range in age from 3 to 20. The three were found Thursday night in an abandoned house near 35th and Brown...

<p>ASHVILLE, Ohio -- Police believe a child was raped inside her home last week.</p> <p>Neighbors said they contacted authorities several times about one of their neighbors and the treatment of her 6-year-old daughter. But what they allegedly saw inside the Ashville apartment frightened them, NBC 4's Barbra Flannigan reported.</p>

Police: Woman Left Infant Alone For Three Weeks Baby Is In Fair Condition UPDATED: 4:26 pm EDT October 22, 2005 COVINGTON, Ohio -- Authorities said that a mother left her 7-month-old baby alone in her apartment for three weeks while she stayed with a friend. Ashley Traylor, 20, was arrested Friday in Covington, about 30 miles north of Dayton. Her child is being treated for severe malnourishment and is in fair condition. Traylor is being charged with criminal abuse, NBC4 reported. Police said that the baby was nearly lifeless when he was found. They say he hadn't eaten or had...

Dr. Phil exposed a female DV perp 5/19/05. It's rare for people to admit that women commit their share (if not more) of domestic violence - and even rarer to have live video of female perpetrated DV aired on national TV. Female victims of domestic violence get sympathy from police, courts, media, and plenty of help from shelters. Male victims of domestic violence get laughed at and little or no help from police, courts, or shelters. If the men hit back, they are seen as the perpetrator. If they volunteer too quickly to leave, they lose the house and access...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - Democratic leaders say their party needs to de-emphasize the issue of abortion rights, concerned that Republicans have hurt the Democratic Party by portraying it as an uncompromising champion of abortion. In interviews and public appearances since Election Day, Democratic officials have said that the party should open its doors to abortion opponents and that candidates should make abortion a less central focus of future campaigns. Party leaders said they were not abandoning their fundamental support for abortion rights, but said Democrats should consider accepting some restrictions that enjoy popular support - like parental notification when teenagers...

The four empty beds in Chris tian Turner's house serve as agonizing reminders of the day seven years ago when county social workers took her kids away. They have been foster children ever since. Turner gets to see them for two hours every other week, competing for quiet time with other families in a crowded downtown room provided by Cuyahoga County's Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). From Our Advertiser No one would dispute that theirs was a troubled family. Chris has been prone to depression for years. Augusta, her husband, began a four- year prison term for aggravated...

Girl, 4, Allegedly Tortured, Was 24 PoundsPolice Arrest Both ParentsPOSTED: 7:13 PM EST December 17, 2003UPDATED: 10:56 PM EST December 18, 2003Titusville police arrested a mother and father Wednesday after a 4-year-old girl was found beaten, bruised and so malnourished she only weighed 24 pounds, according to Local 6 News. Investigators said the girl was found "literally tortured," and that the case is one of the worst cases of child abuse they have ever seen, Local 6 News reported. "It is very disturbing what this young girl went through," Titusville police spokesman Todd Hutchinson said. "The child has a lot...

A young girl was "trapped in hell" by a sexual predator while two complaints to Missouri child welfare officials resulted in nothing, a federal prosecutor told a jury Thursday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Wilkerson made the comments in closing arguments in the trial of a St. Louis woman accused of taking pay to provide a molester with access to her daughter years ago. Former neighbor Christina Totten testified in U.S. District Court that she had called the Division of Family Services in May 1995 after the girl, then 8, told her about being molested.

Nearly two years ago, Judith Scruggs of Meriden, Connecticut, suffered a devastating loss when her 12-year-old son Daniel hanged himself in his bedroom closet with a necktie. On October 5, a jury compounded the tragedy by finding Scruggs guilty of "one felony count of putting her child at risk by creating a home environment that was unhealthy and unsafe," reported the New York Times. Scheduled for sentencing on November 20, Scruggs faces up to 10 years in prison. Her crime, contends defense attorney M.H. Reese Norris, was "having a messy house." "In convicting Ms. Scruggs, the jury decided that the...

Athens doctor on case to return baby to mom Guatemalan girl's infant son set for adoption by DHR 09/19/03 By KAY CAMPBELL Times Staff Writer kayc@htimes.com ATHENS - Speak out and get attacked, says Dr. Ernie Hendrix, an Athens family physician who has taken public his fight to see a baby returned to its mother from the custody of the Department of Human Resources. Hendrix, who published a long statement in the Sept. 7 Athens News-Courier detailing his attempts to prevent the adoption of a baby over the objections of its 17-year-old Guatemalan mother, received a subpoena Wednesday afternoon for...

Teen dies in Missouri foster home Authorities investigate Kansan's suicide, out-of-state placement By Dave Ranney, Journal-World Wednesday, September 10, 2003 State officials are investigating reports that a 14-year-old Kansas boy in foster care committed suicide last week. advertisement The boy, who was living in a group home in Kansas City, Mo., had been in foster care about 10 months. "Police are investigating, and we are cooperating with that investigation," said Sandra Hazlett, director of child and family services at Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. The boy, whose mother lives in Ellsworth, had been placed in the out-of-state group...

<p>Information available from the Minnesota Department of Health indicates that, of 504 children currently in need of adoptive homes in the state, 68 percent are children of color (see complete data on page 13). Given the highly disproportionate number of children of color awaiting adoption, in addition to the numbers in long-term foster care, we must wonder how all of these children came to be under state guardianship.</p>

This is the first time I'm posting a thread. Help is needed in Virginia with harassment and child welfare issues. Would appreciate private replies from anyone who has experience with the juvenile court system. The posting on the state message board has produced no results. Time is of the essence. This is a neighbborhood issue right now and has not been printed in the newspaper, on tv or radio.

<p>At least a dozen teenagers assigned to work with police departments as part of the Boy Scouts' Law Enforcement Explorers program have allegedly been sexually abused by officers during the past year. In the past five years, such molestations number at least 25, according to criminologists' research being released Wednesday.</p>

The children, ages 7 and 4, had cereal and, for a time, milk. Frozen TV dinners and corn dogs, too. All the basics, to their mother's mind, to survive the 20 days she planned to be in North Carolina wooing a potential husband she'd met over the Internet. The mother — Janet Hseuh Chen, 31 — tended to the details with meticulous care, authorities said. She unplugged the phone and taped the drapes shut. She lied to school officials, saying she and the children were going out of town. She taught the children how to heat their own meals and...

SALEM, Ore. -- The biological mother of the toddler who vanished this weekend and was later found dead in a nearby creek attacked the state's child protective system in a statement issued Monday. Rebecca Adams, 25, of Keizer said she is concerned about the safety of her 4-year-old daughter, who is living with the same foster family that cared for the toddler. "Am I going to lose another child to this family or to the system?" Adams, 25, said. "My children were supposed to be in a safe family in a safe home. This was never supposed to happen." Neither...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –– The second in command and seven other top officials at the state's beleaguered child welfare agency were ousted Tuesday in a shake-up sparked by the case of a missing Miami girl.

<p>A Williamsburg father and mother accused of leaving their four children home alone for 2 1/2 months while they traveled to Mexico have pleaded innocent to child abandonment charges.</p> <p>Jeffrey Phillips, 40, and Roxan Phillips, 33, pleaded innocent to four felony charges each of abandonment of a minor in Whitley County Circuit Court on Tuesday and were released on bond. They are scheduled for a pretrial conference on Jan. 21 before Whitley Circuit Judge Paul Braden in Williamsburg. They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.</p>

Police: Doctor Allegedly Fixed Tests in Exchange for Sex With 13-Year-Old The Associated PressPublished: Oct 21, 2002 ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) - Police have accused a doctor of falsifying drug tests for a 15-year-old and his father in exchange for sex with the teen's 13-year-old girlfriend. Dr. James Ray Pattillo of Marietta was charged with statutory rape, aggravated child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes, said Sgt. Chris Lagerbloom, spokesman for the Alpharetta Police Department. The victim told police she had sex with Pattillo, 56, on Oct. 2 in the boyfriend's suburban Atlanta home. In exchange for the sex,...

Judge orders estranged parents not to smoke around child By PAUL SINGER The Associated Press 9/12/02 5:28 PM CLEVELAND (AP) -- A judge has ordered estranged parents not to smoke around their 8-year-old daughter in a ruling family law experts say is the only known example of a court raising the issue of secondhand smoke without being asked. Judge William Chinnock's ruling says the child is healthy and makes no mention of any testimony about possible health threats posed by adults smoking in her presence. Instead, he cites in detail dozens of studies on the negative health effects of secondhand...

Human Services Director Susan Chandler says the state child welfare system will fare well in an upcoming federal audit, even though the first 28 states to undergo the review have failed. The federal government funds 39 percent of the state's child welfare and board payments. The review, scheduled to begin next July, will see whether Hawaii meets federally established standards. "We are, I think, very close in almost all of them," Chandler said. The Department of Human Services and the federal Administration for Children and Families sponsored a conference yesterday to share information about the review and to kick off...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Kathleen Kearney brought a lot of hope to the Florida Department of Children & Families when she was appointed secretary in 1999. The department had been troubled for as long as anyone could remember, and Kearney -- a former prosecutor and judge and a "walking encyclopedia of child protection law" -- was one of the state's strongest child welfare advocates and a vocal critic of the department. But now she is the one under fire. The department has come under attack over two recent cases in which department workers allegedly lied about making visits to check up...

Patricia Nell Warren's Left Field While Americans worry about exploding prison populations behind bars (currently over 2 million), they pay little attention to similar explosions in the child-welfare system. Operating under federal authority, Children's Protective Services (CPS) removes more and more children from their families every year—often with help from prosecutors and police—and places them in group homes or foster care. CPS has growing issues with parents over health care. And one of these issues is coercive HIV treatment.Officials insist that CPS acts in the "best interests of the child" to prevent abuse and neglect. Yet they can't even give...