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IS it normal for your mum to hit you with a belt? Is it normal to bleed?" These are just two of the heartbreaking questions Gabriel Fernandez asked his teacher in the months before he was beaten to death by his own mother and her partner. The eight-year-old boy was brutally tortured over eight months by Pearl Fernandez and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre - but despite making several brave pleas for help, he was left to die in the evil pair's home. New Netflix series The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez has now shed light on the harrowing case, with the...

According the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), which published an LGBT glossary of more than 250 terms, the belief that there are only two genders — male and female — should be treated as "genderism." The guide, which was published as part of the DCF’s Safe Harbors Project and was last updated July 7, defines "genderism" as: "The system of belief that there are only two genders (men and women) and that gender is inherently tied to one’s sex assigned at birth. It holds cisgender people as superior to transgender people, and punishes or excludes those who don’t...

Complete Headline: The tragic life of 'Baby Doe' Bella Bond laid bare: Conceived in a tent at Occupy Boston, kept secret from her addict mom's family and 'punched until she died by a step-dad convinced she was possessed' Bella Bond was punched in the stomach by her mother's boyfriend until she died, her mother has told investigators, claiming the man thought the two-year-old was 'possessed by demons'. Rachelle Bond, 40, of the Boston neighborhood Mattapan made the allegations against 35-year-old Michael McCarthy as she spoke to investigators about the murder case involving her daughter who became known as 'Baby Doe'...

The drug-addled mother of Bella Bond watched her boyfriend swath the tot's lifeless body in a garbage bag and stuff her in their refrigerator before the Dorchester couple went on a days-long heroin binge, a prosecutor said today. "She was a demon and this was her time to die," Michael P. McCarthy, 35, and a fanatic of the occult, told Rachelle D. Bond, 40, one terrible day in May as he stood over Bella in the 2 1/2-year-old child's bedroom, according to assistant Suffolk District Attorney David Deakin. McCarthy, his long blond hair spilling over his shoulders, was held without...

Neglect and abandonment landed the girl in foster care. But it’s what happened next, she said, that nearly destroyed her. In a hushed courtroom in Miami’s gleaming new downtown Children’s Courthouse, a teenage foster child inventoried the traumas she had endured at the hands of those who were assigned to protect her: She had been starved and beaten, molested and forced to fight during her two years in foster homes and group care. As a runaway, she was trafficked into prostitution. And, just as her life appeared to be mending, the girl was raped by a driver in whose care...

HARTFORD — The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a Windsor Locks teen is not legally mature enough to decide against life-saving chemotherapy. The unanimous decision, after a 75-minute hearing, upheld a lower court ruling that the state can force treatment for Hodgkin´s lymphoma on the girl, identified as Cassandra C. The state Department of Children and Families had been awarded custody of the child, who is "doing well" with chemotherapy at Connecticut Children´s Medical Center, a lawyer for the state told the justices. The court Thursday heard arguments from lawyers for Cassandra and her mother, Jackie Fortin, who supports

--SNIP-- And union leaders are continuing to advocate safety improvements for workers in the Department of Children and Families (DCF) across the state, who say they work in extremely dangerous conditions, and who had threatened to stay home this week if things did not improve. Last month, armed guards were removed from offices throughout New Jersey

juvenile court judge has ordered the Massachusetts Department of Children and Family to return Justina Pelletier to her parents, according to the Boston Globe. The Globe reports: “I find that the parties have shown by credible evidence that circumstances have changed since the adjudication on Dec. 20, 2013, that Justina is a child in need of care and protection pursuant to G.L. c. 199, 24-26.,” Judge Joseph Johnston wrote in the ruling. “Effective Wednesday, June 18, 2014, this care and protection petition is dismissed and custody of Justina is returned to her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier.” Pelletier was placed...

A juvenile court has ordered the Massachusetts Department of Children and Family to return Justina Pelletier to her parents, the Boston Globe reports. “I find that the parties have shown by credible evidence that circumstances have changed since the adjudication on Dec. 20, 2013, that Justina is a child in need of care and protection pursuant to G.L. c. 199, 24-26.,” Judge Joseph Johnston wrote in the ruling, according to the Globe. “Effective Wednesday, June 18, 2014, this care and protection petition is dismissed and custody of Justina is returned to her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier.”

The fate of a 16-year-old Connecticut girl at the center of a major medical custody dispute is in the hands of a Massachusetts judge, now that Bay State children's advocates have conceded Justina Pelletier should be returned to her family. In a controversial move, Pelletier was placed in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families more than a year ago, after two reputable Boston hospitals sparred in their diagnosis of the girl. snip In what Justina's attorneys are calling a "dramatic reversal," the Massachusetts DCF filed a motion agreeing that the teenager should be returned to her...

After months of false leads and dead ends, there have been some promising updates in the case of Connecticut teen Justina Pelletier. The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families took custody of Justina after her parents disputed the diagnosis doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital’s handed down. Boston Children’s Hospital said the then 15-year-old had a psychiatric disorder – not mitochondrial disease, which her parents had been treating her for at the direction of another doctor. Though a Boston juvenile court judge recently awarded permanent custody of Justina to the state DCF, it would appear, based on the letter by Massachusetts...

At the center of the seemingly incomprehensible case of Justina Pelletier lies one very simple, and unanswered, question: What did her mom and dad do to lose custody of their daughter in the first place? Gallons of ink have been poured on this story since last November, when a Connecticut TV station first reported the story of a sick teenager ripped from her family over a medical dispute between two hospitals. But having read every report on the case, including Judge Joseph Johnston’s ruling Tuesday, I can’t find a single claim — substantiated or otherwise — of bad behavior by...

A Massachusetts judge ruled Tuesday that the Connecticut teen in the middle of a contentious custody battle between her parents and the state will remain in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. The Boston Globe reported that Suffolk County juvenile court Judge Joseph Johnson granted “permanent” custody to the state DCF, leaving it up to the agency to decide if and when 15-year-old Justina Pelletier is returned to her parents’ custody. This decision was in response to a motion filed by Linda and Lou Pelletier, Justina’s parents, and her court-lawyer attorney for a “conditional custody” plan....

Investigators are probing the death of a Yarmouth toddler who died while under the watch of state child welfare officials yesterday morning, as the grieving mom told the Herald last night she wants answers. “I want to know how he died,” said the toddler’s birth mother, Jenn Cronin, breaking down in tears. “He was an amazing, amazing kid. He was so sweet, so smart. He had this wicked adorable laugh and smile. My world just crashed down.” The 23-month-old, whom Cronin identified as Lucas Braman, was found unresponsive in his crib in a Yarmouth home and was pronounced dead at...

An 11-year-old autistic Middleboro boy’s claim that he was sexually assaulted by another youth inside his foster home was dismissed as “consensual” sex by child welfare officials charged with protecting him, in a stunning case the boy’s family and school officials charge was plagued by missteps by the embattled Department of Children and Families. According to DCF investigative reports, police reports and letters, the boy — then 11 but with the cognitive ability of a 5- or 6-year-old, his father told police — was allegedly sexually assaulted by another youth in the foster home while the parents slept during the...

In the aftermath of the horrific Barahona child abuse case in Miami, an investigative panel is urging child welfare and education officials to set up an alert system and follow-up inspections whenever an at-risk student is suddenly pulled out of school to be educated at home.

The link has not worked for too many so I will post the abstract below. I hope a freeper can access and if copyrighted, send me the article by freeper email. The train is on track to permanently removing our grandchildren (3 and 1 yr old) from our lives, forever. We suspect that we have an activist judge presiding over our family case and because of the color of different people involved, we may not be able to get a fair and balance outcome. So far the hearings have consistently gone against the biological paternal grandparents, solely based on social...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A spokesman for the Department of Children & Families was arrested Friday on child pornography charges, authorities said. Al Zimmerman was charged with eight counts of using a child in a sexual performance. Zimmerman, who has been with the agency for nearly two years, has been fired, agency officials said. Authorities say Zimmerman, 40, solicited at least two victims between the ages of 16 and 17 to create child pornography. DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth issued a statement asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate whether any child in the state's care had been victimized as...

WARNING! GRAPHIC PICTURES OF CHILD ABUSE! Eleven year old boy burned with cigarettes by DCF foster parents, beaten unmercifully by other kids in the foster home, all because he would not break into a person's house and steal for the foster parents. Child is tortured by being stabbed with pencils and burnt with a lighter while handcuffed. DCF Case managers were notified, but ignored the child's pleas for help. Child had a black eye, numerous injuries, was completely emaciated with his rib cage showing, yet DCF does nothing to the foster parents. The Foster mother was taking pills, smoking dope...

Agency Had 89 Abuse Reports on Schiavo Florida's Department of Children and Families had received nearly 90 allegations that Michael Schiavo had abused his wife in recent years - but a Florida judge ruled yesterday that DCF summaries of those allegations must remain secret. The St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Tribune had filed suit for the release of the abuse summaries, which covered 89 reports - the Times said Friday. Story Continues Below But state Judge George Greer ruled Friday the records belong to DCF, and although Terri Schiavo's husband can have access to the abuse files, the records...