DCFS OUT OF CONTROL
by Jeanne Burnett
I got a tip about a big happening being brought about by a group of Utah people who claim the government is stealing our unalienable rights and kidnapping our children one by one. Interested, I went out and made contact with the group. I expected to find either some right wing wackos or escapees from the X-files. They talked to me for a while and gave me some papers to read.
The more I read the papers, the more nasty questions came up.
Down in Nevada is a little known court which is part of our legal system. This court is called The Superior Common Law Court for the Nevada republic. Recently the Common Law Court rendered a judgment for and in behalf of one Utah Mother. A judgment against various officials of the State of Utah, the President of the United States, Utah DCFS Social Workers, and various other people. A judgment for $400 million.
It seems that Amanda Marie Simons had a near tragedy which the DCFS folks turned into a bonafide tragedy.
On September 8, her little 3 year old got up in the middle of the night and decided to go swimming in her little wading pool. Ms. Simons knew the little girl wandered in the middle of the night. Ms. Simons had asked her doctor for help because the child slept for 4 hours then played for 4 hours then slept for another 4 hours. The doctor said there was nothing that could be done. But, try to alter the child's sleeping habits and keep an eye on her. Ms. Simons did a bed check every time she got up. This night, Ms. Simons got a drink and did a bed check. The child was not there so a search ensued. The child was found face down in the wading pool. Ms. Simons revived the girl and she ended up at Primary Children's Hospital.
An "investigation" ensued. Had the police in the Scott Peterson case done such a poor investigation, Scott would be a free man today. The papers I saw of this supposed investigation are filled with lies, ludicrous statements, and a host of mistakes.
There is a declaration in the investigation stating the investigation was based upon a talk with Ms. Simons' father. That would be a very interesting event, since the man has been dead since May 12, 1992. So now DCFS workers are channeling the dead. When this was pointed out, the remark from DCFS was: "We'll fix it later." This statement opens up one of those ugly questions I would like answered.
Fix what later?
Change the name of the person supposedly talked to?
Change the date to before the man died?
If the investigation was as thorough as documents lead one to believe, who is the man Katherine Kair, Psychologist, thinks is Ms Simons's father?
If the case psychologist does not know who she is talking to, how can the investigation be correct?
Did she invent the interview, or is she wrong?
The State and DCFS have a history of fixing problems.
There are two children in the family. Both children were put in so called protective custody. The summons issued on Sept 10, 2004 was not signed by a judge and had no case number. One document says the children were removed on September 10 another document says the children were removed on the 13th. Child 2, who was never in the pool and was never in "imminent danger", was picked up before the judge signed the order for the pickup. This is improper according to law. When asked about removing a child without a court order, the Grandfather was told "It works out better for us that way." and "We don't worry if we pick up a child before the judge signs the order as long as it's signed on the same day." So what happens if the judge doesn't sign the order and you already have the child in state custody?
This summons required Ms. Simons to appear in court in less than 24 hours to defend herself against a "Verified Petition". This Verified Petition has undergone a series of alterations. More fixes by the State. The State deemed the modifications necessary to correct the errors. A child was removed from her home based on an unsigned document filled with errors which were later "fixed."
An investigation of the Florida Department of Children and Families revealed that Ms. Simons case is far from unique; some caseworkers there failed to visit foster care children monthly as required. It was found they also falsified records to cover it up and knowingly placed children in abusive foster homes.
Federal Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer ordered the Illinois Department of Family Services to redesign their entire program because their investigations of child abuse and neglect had too many false accusations. She judged the system to be unconstitutional because they threatened people with removal of their children unless the parents cooperate with every whim issued by DCFS. Judge Pallmeyer said this tactic was extortion, which is a felony. Utah uses exactly the same tactics.
Ms. Simons challenged the constitutionality of the DCFS to remove children from their home. The state did not answer the charges, they merely quoted the law that Ms. Simons claimed to be unconstitutional. I've read the Utah State Constitution and I don't see where this authority is granted.
The initial reason for removal of the children from the Simons' household was that they were being medically treated too many times and the State claimed that Ms. Simons had Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy.
It is interesting to note that the Irish Examiner, in a story on Wednesday, January 21, 2004, titled, "Theory puts ‘5,000' in care," had this to say about Muchausen's Syndrome by Proxy and Professor Meadow who created the Syndrome.
"It is estimated that 5,000 British children may have been taken into care over the past 15 years as a result of Professor Meadow's theory of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy. The theory that some mothers harm their children to draw attention to themselves has been largely discredited as a result of a series of high-profile court cases.
Prof Meadow's theory has been discredited as a result of three cases in which he gave evidence of women who were wrongly accused of killing their children.
Prof Meadow is now facing an inquiry by the General Medical Council into allegations of serious professional misconduct.
The attorney general Lord Goldsmith is now examining a further 250 criminal cases involving Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy to see if more mothers may have been wrongly convicted."
The favorite malady that Utah DCFS uses to take away children has been discredited and the Doctor that created the problem is losing his license. But they don't care, because it's not about the children, it's about money.
Ms Simons' children have been to the emergency room many times in the past 8 months, while in Foster care. The children have been treated by medical authorities many times since being placed into protective custody. Just how many is a matter of dispute since Ms. Simons may be charged with medical neglect for the injury Child 1 received at the hands of the nurses at Primary Children's Medical Center.
On September 10, 2004 Child 1 was being bathed up at Primary Children's Medical Center and pulled the hair dryer down on her face bloodying her nose. On or about December 13, 2004, Child 1 allegedly pulled a heavy candle stick down on her forehead and as a result, she is now disfigured with two staples put into her forehead. The Grandfather who the child reported her abuse to is now barred from visiting the children because the child whispered to him.
On or about October 19, 2004 Child 2 sustained a concussion from allegedly falling while roller skating. One week later she fell forward off her bike and received a second concussion. Ms. Simons found out about these injuries when the Doctor called to inquire about Child 2's progress. He had no phone number to call either the foster mother or a case worker. A third concussion occurred at an unknown date allegedly while jumping on the bed. During this episode the child was rendered unconscious and was taken to nighttime pediatrics.
Child 2 appeared at the mother's once a week hour long visit with a bloody lip. The foster parent claimed the injury was not an actual injury. The child purportedly chewed her lip after a dentist's visit, and injured herself. Another bruised and bloody nose was explained away with the statement that "she fell on the hand of a Social Worker." On a visit on March 24, Child 2 was bleeding from her ear. Ms. Simons asked about the injury. Lucy Kelly reported the child still suffers from an ear infection first diagnosed on January 12. None of these injuries have been reported to the court. Even though the children have both received more medical care in the short 8 months in State care than they have ever received in any other similar length of time while Ms. Simons had custody. Nobody is calling the foster parent an unfit mother.
Child 1 has had strep throat for virtually the same length of time that Child 2 has had her ear infection.
Is the State of Utah guilty of medical neglect because they cannot take care of problems that most parents would have cured in a matter of a few days.
While staying in state care both children appeared at a parental visit with bloody noses. Luci Kelly inquired as to the cause and Child 2 reported, "They always hit me and head butt me but grown ups shouldn't do that."
Both children have confirmed to have been molested. They were removed from the foster home of Melissa, whose natural child is under investigation for molesting the girls. The four year old now draws pictures of male anatomy.
Ms. Record complained to the doctor that the younger child does not sleep at night. The exact complaint Lucy Kelly said was proof that Ms. Simons was unfit to care for her children. Kristina F. Hindert, MD, on January 5, 2005 prescribed 50 mg of a drug called Trazadone for a four year old child. Trazadone hydrochloride is the generic name for the anti-depressant Desyrel. Desyrel is used for a major depressive disorder and is sometimes used as a sleeping agent for insomnia. Trazadone (Desyrel) is classified pharmacologically as a triazolopyridine and inhibits serotonin reuptake.
Upon reading the pharmacology report of the drug it is interesting to note that Trazadone, as specifically stated in at least two different places, is not to be given to children under age 18. This drug is being given to a four year old under state supervision at the request of the Foster mother because the child roams the house at night. Again, exactly the complaint Ms. Simons took to her doctor.
Desyrel is not currently indicated for generalized anxiety disorders as some of the other anti-depressants are. Desyrel can sometimes cause cardiac abnormalities. Desyrel should be used cautiously in those patients with pre-existing cardiac disorders.
Taking this medication may make you more sensitivity to sunlight. Side effects for Trazadone include aggressiveness, agitation, constipation, death, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth, which if not treated correctly will lead to gum disease and tooth decay with fungal infections, gran mal seizures, hallucinations, headache, jaundice, liver damage, nausea, orthostatic hypotension, sexual dysfunction, sleepiness, and weight gain or weight loss. Ms Simons has served a petition on the court to have them stop giving to drug, but the petition has been ignored.
The question has been asked," Why would DCFS go to all this effort to harass Ms. Simons?"
The answer is simple. Money.
According to an article in the Charlotte World by Angie Vineyard, the DCFS receives $4,000 for every child they place in their system. They get even more money if the child can be shown to be Special Needs. Trazadone qualifies both Simons children for special needs and the increase in funding.
An investigation by The LA Daily News found that up to half of the 75,000 children in the California system and adoptive homes were needlessly placed in a system that is often more dangerous than their own homes because of financial incentives in state and federal laws. These laws, according to state documents, encourage counties and their private contractors to earn money by placing and keeping children in foster care. The county receives $30,000 to $150,000 in state and federal revenues annually for each child placed.
It gets uglier though. The Simons children have been sold by the Utah DCFS to Julie and Glen Brookshire, Mayor of Halstad, Minnesota.
The States of Minnesota and Utah both claim that Shawn Simons, the children's father, is a convicted child molester. After a careful examination of the Sex Offender Registry I have not been able to locate him on any list. More lies?
The State of Minnesota forced Amanda Simons to divorce him before she could get custody of her children in Minnesota. This is the same criminal conduct that Federal Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer ruled as unconstitutional.
The foster home where child 2 stayed during the extensive custody dispute in Minnesota is the same home now listed in Utah records as the adoptive parents.
Ms. Simons successfully fought the DCFS in Minnesota. The Judge in Minnesota ruled that the Minnesota DCFS has not proved their case and he then awarded custody of the children to Ms. Simons and she brought them back to Utah where her family is. The judge sealed the records and rebuked the Minnesota DCFS for the way they handled the case. Now, the Minnesota DCFS and the Utah DCFS have conspired to sneak around behind the Minnesota judges' back to remove those same two children and return them to Julie and Glen Brookshire.
The Brookshire's have their own problems. They are in their 60's and are too old to properly cope with overly active children. Glen is suffering from Cancer and Child 2 reported to Ms. Simons that he sexually molested her. This report was properly filed and Minnesota claims it investigated the claim and found no basis for it. Another ugly question. Who investigated the claim, the police who work for the Mayor Glen?
Child 2 points to a small scar by her eye and says, "Julie did that when she hit me with her ring". Julie is Julie Brookshire, the Minnesota foster mother.
Is Mayor Brookshire using the power of his office to retrieve these two Utah children against the orders of the Minnesota judge? Is the state of Utah aiding and abetting this kidnapping? The children's grandfather asked the Minnesota officials if the Brookshires had already bought the kids. Instead of receiving a strong denial, he did not even get an answer to his question.
DCFS has a long history of judgment lapses and scandal. According to Angie Vineyard in the Charlotte World, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has placed so many children for adoption that the US Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson gave them an award for "collaborating with the court system, mental health providers, the General Assembly, churches, business and private citizens and for doubling the number of special needs children adopted from the foster care system in just six years." This all adds up to more money.
Troy Anderson of the LA Daily News reports Anthony Cavuoti, a DCFS social worker for 14 years, said the department does a poor job of protecting children.
"The nominal goal is to protect children, but the real goal is to make money," he said. "A caseworker used to have 80 to 100 cases. If the workers put kids before paperwork and administration, they are going to be forced out or harassed. With such a mentality, children are always in danger."
In Massachusetts, Anderson Consulting and Public Consulting Groups have been hired to "maximize federal revenue". The companies have brought the state an additional 90 million a year. That's 90 million tax dollars awarded for pulling children out of one home and placing them with another.
To date, the city of Wenatchee, in the state of Washington, and Chelan and Douglas counties have either agreed to or been ordered to pay plaintiffs at least $10 million. This year, at least $1.21 million has been paid to settle lawsuits. Though settlements have been reached, about two dozen people are still seeking damages from the government agencies, public defenders and other entities and individuals. Attorneys expect more suits as children who were interrogated and removed from their parents during the probe file their own claims. At least 14 children have already sued.
Utah currently has about 7,000 children living in faster care.
Five DCFS agencies placed six children in a foster home run by 64 year old Mary Bryant. When police searched the house, they came to a bed with something under the cover. Officer Oscar Arteaga found under the cover a three year old little boy with a 10 foot chain wrapped three times around his neck padlocked in place. The foster mother, said he was chained up for stealing food. Mr. Bond was charged with misdemeanor child endangerment while Mary Bryant was charged with felony child endangerment and weapons and drugs charges. Five other kids in the house, ranging from three to eleven, were taken into the custody. The sixth child was left in the home. Cook County Public Guardian Patrick Murphy rebuked DCFS for placing so many children in the home.
Lena Cumberbatch, 36, of Jacksonville, Florida pushed a baby's head under water while at least two other children watched her murder the baby. The baby died from drowning and blunt head trauma. Cumberbatch had 8 children in her home, four of whom were foster children and four her own ranging in ages from 2 months to 10 years old.
Rilya Wilson, a Florida foster child was missing for more than a year before anyone noticed in April 2002. She is now presumed dead. Rilya Wilson's caseworker filed false reports of monthly visits, and no supervisor reviewed the case.
The Florida legislature passed a law making the falsification of documents concerning children under state care punishable by up to five years in prison. Death or serious injury to a child resulting from such records fraud is now a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. In Utah the Judge looks the other way when Lucy changes dates on papers to make them fit the story better.
Odelia Baca's two children Miguel, two years and Oswaldo 14 months were placed into foster care. They ended up with Ricky and Evon Haney. Miguel was taken to the hospital on February 1st, 1999 by his foster parents who claimed that he had fallen off the toilet during a potty training session. He died the next day from severe head injuries suffered from a beating. Miguel was in the Haney home several months, while his mother Odelia was allowed visitations. She asked about several bruises on Miguel. Once was told that the marks were from a permanent marker that Miguel been played with. Odelia's complaints to Social Services fell on deaf ears; they never bothered to check them out and both kids were left in the abusive foster home. How could Social Services place her children with a couple who both had arrest records? After Miguel's death it was found that both of the Haneys had arrest records and both of their drivers licenses had been suspended.
When biological parents report suspected incidents of child abuse in foster care as has Ms. Simons report of sexual abuse, there is no investigation even though the classic signs of a 4 year old girl suddenly drawing graphic pictures of male anatomy should be a red flag. The four year old Simons child has learned to draw male anatomy and to swear like a sailor while in the care of this foster home.
Ms. Simons attempted to report child abuse that was reported by one of the children at a regular visit. The DCFS case worker who is charged with investigating these allegations told her that if she ever called again that he would have her arrested.
A Will County judge awarded custody of 11-year-old Nicolas Zavala to Margaret Williams in February 2002, based on a glowing report about the woman, written by a Benton County, Ind., child-welfare worker. He didn't know that the home study hadn't been done by Indiana's Department of Family and Social Services. It was done by an attorney for Margaret Williams. The study said nothing about her being convicted of two child abuse-related misdemeanors in 2000. These findings are part of a report from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' inspector general into Nicolas' case. The boy disappeared in August 2002 in Oxford, Ind., and was found dead in April.
Troy Anderson of the LA Daily News reports that in 2001 in the United States, 1.5 percent of the 1,225 children who died from abuse and neglect were in foster care. County and state systems are so overwhelmed with false allegations of abuse by parents that four out of every five reports of mistreatment are ruled unfounded or inconclusive. And experts say the system is filled with so many children who shouldn't even be in the system, that social workers are failing in their basic mission to protect kids. Nationally, two out of three reports of mistreatment are false.
Across America, thousands of foster children are missing. More than 5,000 are runaways; some have been abducted. And some simply disappear; the state agencies responsible for their care can't find them.
Tennessee 496
Texas 142
Michigan 198
Florida 650
Illinois 362
Los Angeles County 740
These figures count only those missing children not suspected of running away. Any missing foster child between the ages of 14 and 17 is deemed to have run away and is not included in the figures. All children who turn 18 while still listed as missing are simply removed from the list.
There is no national register of missing foster care children. And there is no standard for reporting missing children. Reports surface of foster parents continuing to receive payments for children who are missing of case workers falsifying visits and not even filing reports of death, injury or molestation.
The Utah group claims that the State of Utah exceeded its constitutional bounds when it created the DCFS. Their reasoning, which makes perfect sense, was explained in this way.
They ask the question: "Do you have the right to go into someone's home and take their children?"
Of course the answer is no.
"Do you know anyone who has the right to go into someone's home and take their children?"
Again, the answer is no.
Then they say: "If I go into my neighbor's home and take their child I am guilty of kidnapping. If I get 10 people to go with me we are all guilty of kidnapping. If I could talk a million people into going with me, we would all be guilty of kidnapping. The reason for this is that there isn't anyone anywhere that has the right to go into anyone's home and take their children. The reason is that no one has that right."
You cannot give someone something that you do not have.
I told them that if any of them come into my house to take my children I'll shoot them.
After my in depth investigation I am totally committed to, and fully understand, that the Utah DCFS is unconstitutional because the People of the State of Utah do not have the power, the right, or the authority to grant anyone the right, the power, or the authority to do the things DCFS is doing.
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