Parenting while poor? You might lose your kids
Posted by: Rich Shipe on November 26th, 2007
Tag(s): CPS • parental rights • stories • The Threat • violations
Tag(s): CPS • parental rights • stories • The Threat • violations
If this doesn’t make your blood boil nothing will. A mom lost one of her kids because she was poor. When she appealed, CPS retaliated by taking her other kids and then briefly removing children from her extended family! When she finally got a lawyer they took the lawyer’s kids too! Should the government be restricted to recognizing the fundamental rights of parents? Or should we just allow the government to determine what is in the “best interest of the child”? Watch the video and then encourage your friends to sign the Parental Rights Amendment petition:
This video is just heart wrenching. You can never give back the mother and kids those 11 months that they were raised by strangers.
I talked to Gov. Huckabee today on a conference call and asked him about the parental rights amendment. He said that he had not heard of a movement to add one to the constitution, but would gladly look into it. He also reiterated that he is very much oposed to the UN Rights of the Child Convention.
Nov 26 at 10:46 pm
The Attorney General investigation (mentioned at the end of the video clip) was released a few months ago. A copy of it can be found at http://elusivejustice.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/finaloigmasterreport011007.doc.
If anyone is in Kentucky, Women in Transition (WIT) is having a Poverty Summit on December 8th. To register you can call Khalilah at 636-0160 or kvcollins@witky.com. There are 6 CEUs available for Social Workers.
(I promise not to shamelessly post comments “advertising” events, but since this blog post specifically had to do with both Kentucky AND poverty, it seemed approprate).
Nov 27 at 6:19 pm
Hmm. My link didn’t work.
Try http://elusivejustice.wordpress.com/2007/02/17/improving-child-protection-in-kentucky-part-5/#comments
and click on
For those wanting to see the full report:
Report by the Office of Inspector General
Nov 27 at 6:25 pm
It is just sickening and heart breaking. I can’t believe the Social Services manager who says that there was no retaliation when her other 3 kids were taken, plus extended families’ kids and the lawyer’s child!
What a corrupt system:-(.
Nov 28 at 9:10 pm
As an adoptive mom who has had 2 of my 3 adopted kids placed in foster care, only to get one home when she turned 18 yrs. old, I can tell you they make your life hell. My 18 year old is nothing like she was before she was taken, and won’t talk about what life was like in foster care. She suffers from serious depression now. My 14 year old has been in foster care for 18 months now. I get to talk to her once a week by phone for 1 hour, with someone supervising the call to make sure she doesn’t tell me anything. The reason, I am poor, and can’t afford an attorney to bring her home. I have not been charged, tried, convicted of anything. DHS does not have to follow the laws that other law enforcement follow. Until you have been throught this mess, you can’t really understand how it destroys families. I cry every night.
Dec 1 at 7:00 pm
[…] see the full report on Vanessa Shanks’ story, see this report done by Channel 32 News, Louisville, […]
Dec 5 at 7:05 pm
[…] To see the full report on Vanessa Shanks’ story, see this report done by Channel 32 News, Louisville, Kentucky: http://www.parentalrights.org/blog/true-stories/parenting-while-poor-you-might-lose-your-kids […]
Jan 17 at 10:17 am
i know i had the same social worker
Feb 17 at 1:01 am