$525,000 Victory!!!
My search for commonsense replaced by a whole lot of nonsense led me to Broward County Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF). Once you begin researching children abused and neglected, raped and molested, due to the actions of OUR government, it does not take long to realize that Florida’s DCF agency is one of the most notorious offenders. Some of you will remember 5-year-old Rilya Wilson who just vanished in thin air, while in the care of Florida’s DCF agency. Rilya simply disappeared from her foster care provider’s home and from DCF’s radar completely! It would be over a year before DCF would recognize her disappearance, if you can believe that! Rilya’s story is one that I will talk about at a later time.
Which brings me to the case of little John Jones, the name assigned to him for legal and privacy reasons, who entered Florida’s foster care system at the age of six. John and his siblings were taken from their biological parents “for their protection.” Interestingly enough, I was unable to find the ‘exact’ charges or allegations against John’s parents. If anyone in cyber land is familiar with this case, please let me know what the allegations were. My personal experience with juvenile ‘justice’ leads me to believe that the allegations were so obscure or completely fabricated which possibly led to all charges eventually being dropped or the case completely dismissed. After all, if John’s parents had been homeless drug addicts, the information would be readily available.
Before being placed with his foster “parents,” to whom I will refer to as foster family X, DCF had received numerous complaints about the family; It was reported that they were both physically and verbally abusive to other children in their home, and failed to provide them with adequate medical care. They were also said to be “hostile” towards both children and DCF employees. The Dad, Mr. X, had even previously been arrested for “stalking his girlfriend.” Also in the home of family X was a 13-year-old foster child “who had a history of sexual abuse, both as a victim and possibly a perpetrator.” In addition to these allegations and ‘issues,’ and most disturbingly, was a report that four foster children had been sexually abused by two of the adopted children of family X. Although these extremely serious complaints had been filed against family X, DCF made the decision to place John and his three siblings in their home with the recommendation that Mrs. X should “keep the boys as separate as possible.” Needless to say, the 13-year-old sexual predator would later admit to “repeatedly sexually abusing John Jones.”
Commonsense would have led any rational person to the conclusion that placing John and his siblings with family X would be the proverbial equivalent to taking the children, whom we are to ‘believe’ were abused and neglected at home, out of the ‘pot’ and throwing them into the ‘fire!’ I would like to know what the foster “parents” culpability in this case was; although they were not ‘directly’ responsible for the child’s abuse and the perpetrator was an under aged child, one would think they would also be held accountable for their role in this crime, as well as being held responsible for the behavior of their under aged legally adopted child. As a result of DCFs inability to foresee the obvious, a law suit was filed on John’s behalf, who has now been diagnosed with both “post traumatic stress and explosive disorders.” The law suit was filed by Broward County Children’s Advocate and attorney Howard Talenfeld. Ironically enough, DCF was represented in court by a lawyer from the attorney general’s office which is the same office that I was instructed to file a complaint with, when attempting to report the criminal actions of several employees of child 'protective' services in my state. During the proceedings, DCF officials pretended that they were unfamiliar with the details of the case according to Leslie Mann, a spokeswoman for DCF. After a two year court battle, a $525,000 settlement was reached in John’s favor. The attorney, Mr. Talenfeld, would later make the assertion that the $525,000 settlement amount equals “… $10,000 for each of the 50 times the boy was molested;” As if ANY amount of money could compensate this child for what he has and will continue to live with for the rest of his life! I personally am outraged that he was only given $525,000! When you deduct what the government, who is responsible for his torture, will get back in taxes … and what the attorney will get in fees … AND the long-term cost for his physical and mental healthcare needs, what is left for John? So I hardly see the need to celebrate his “victory.” The hidden tragedy behind so many of these cases of children raped, molested, and beaten to a pulp while in the states care is that very few are able to recover money for their future needs; and they are not given the help, support, and assistance they need from the state.
I would like to see child ‘protective’ service agencies nationwide hit with an automatic one million dollar fine for each child raped, molested, abused and neglected while in their care … AND THEN begin legal proceedings to determine what additional monetary fines should be imposed. As a result, we would immediately see several things happen – First and foremost, the government would get out of the business of “parenting” and leave this responsibility to the people that God has assigned to each child … and that’s their parents! If a child is ‘truly’ orphaned, abandoned, or physically abused, there should be private, independent, agencies set up to handle these cases – the keyword being “independent” of the government. Second, you would see these inexperienced, talent-less, untrained, non empathetic, cold and heartless, social workers in the ‘unemployment line’ where they belong competing for jobs with college graduates who hold ‘real’ degrees like chemist, physicists, engineers, computer programmers, and others who were required to go above college level algebra in order to get a degree! If you are reading this, and have a degree in education or nursing … I also have a lot to say about your “respected” professions, but that will have to wait.
Because no one can articulate the passion and zeal to help “abused” children better than an employee in the field of social work, I will end my rant with a letter written by a person who shall remain nameless: “It is a fun place to work – convenient for my college schedule, the rest of the staff are other young adults so I have lots of new friends! The pay is … well, they would attract better staff if it was higher, but this is a non-profit! We have four kids where I work – three boys ages 12, 9, and 9 and one girl age 9 –guess who needs the most supervision so he or she won’t perpetrate anything on the other kids! There are always two staff members around 24 hours a day, and at least three staff during the day (sometimes four). This is also a transitional residence – these kids typically come straight from the hospital and eventually move into a less restrictive setting after they have been here a while. The kids are usually pretty good now (since they have been here a while), although last weekend I had to carry one up to his room because he refused to go to bed, and another one was getting ready to whack me with a dining room chair (he’s strong for a 9-year-old!).”
Folks, it is time that we put an immediate end to this ‘beyond gross’ injustice and stop allowing the fox to guard the hen house!
T Major
If you believe that foster care should be reserved for children that are orphaned, or have TRULY been abandoned by their parents and ALL extended family members; If you believe that children in foster care should actually be victims of abuse and/or neglect, once proven by a judge and jury NOT a social worker with a God complex; If you believe in the Constitution and civil rights for all, no matter what their economic, social, or cultural group may be – Please sign the petitions referenced at www.squidoo.com/abolishcps/ (scroll down to Get Involved!!!). Thank you in advance for your participation!
Which brings me to the case of little John Jones, the name assigned to him for legal and privacy reasons, who entered Florida’s foster care system at the age of six. John and his siblings were taken from their biological parents “for their protection.” Interestingly enough, I was unable to find the ‘exact’ charges or allegations against John’s parents. If anyone in cyber land is familiar with this case, please let me know what the allegations were. My personal experience with juvenile ‘justice’ leads me to believe that the allegations were so obscure or completely fabricated which possibly led to all charges eventually being dropped or the case completely dismissed. After all, if John’s parents had been homeless drug addicts, the information would be readily available.
Before being placed with his foster “parents,” to whom I will refer to as foster family X, DCF had received numerous complaints about the family; It was reported that they were both physically and verbally abusive to other children in their home, and failed to provide them with adequate medical care. They were also said to be “hostile” towards both children and DCF employees. The Dad, Mr. X, had even previously been arrested for “stalking his girlfriend.” Also in the home of family X was a 13-year-old foster child “who had a history of sexual abuse, both as a victim and possibly a perpetrator.” In addition to these allegations and ‘issues,’ and most disturbingly, was a report that four foster children had been sexually abused by two of the adopted children of family X. Although these extremely serious complaints had been filed against family X, DCF made the decision to place John and his three siblings in their home with the recommendation that Mrs. X should “keep the boys as separate as possible.” Needless to say, the 13-year-old sexual predator would later admit to “repeatedly sexually abusing John Jones.”
Commonsense would have led any rational person to the conclusion that placing John and his siblings with family X would be the proverbial equivalent to taking the children, whom we are to ‘believe’ were abused and neglected at home, out of the ‘pot’ and throwing them into the ‘fire!’ I would like to know what the foster “parents” culpability in this case was; although they were not ‘directly’ responsible for the child’s abuse and the perpetrator was an under aged child, one would think they would also be held accountable for their role in this crime, as well as being held responsible for the behavior of their under aged legally adopted child. As a result of DCFs inability to foresee the obvious, a law suit was filed on John’s behalf, who has now been diagnosed with both “post traumatic stress and explosive disorders.” The law suit was filed by Broward County Children’s Advocate and attorney Howard Talenfeld. Ironically enough, DCF was represented in court by a lawyer from the attorney general’s office which is the same office that I was instructed to file a complaint with, when attempting to report the criminal actions of several employees of child 'protective' services in my state. During the proceedings, DCF officials pretended that they were unfamiliar with the details of the case according to Leslie Mann, a spokeswoman for DCF. After a two year court battle, a $525,000 settlement was reached in John’s favor. The attorney, Mr. Talenfeld, would later make the assertion that the $525,000 settlement amount equals “… $10,000 for each of the 50 times the boy was molested;” As if ANY amount of money could compensate this child for what he has and will continue to live with for the rest of his life! I personally am outraged that he was only given $525,000! When you deduct what the government, who is responsible for his torture, will get back in taxes … and what the attorney will get in fees … AND the long-term cost for his physical and mental healthcare needs, what is left for John? So I hardly see the need to celebrate his “victory.” The hidden tragedy behind so many of these cases of children raped, molested, and beaten to a pulp while in the states care is that very few are able to recover money for their future needs; and they are not given the help, support, and assistance they need from the state.
I would like to see child ‘protective’ service agencies nationwide hit with an automatic one million dollar fine for each child raped, molested, abused and neglected while in their care … AND THEN begin legal proceedings to determine what additional monetary fines should be imposed. As a result, we would immediately see several things happen – First and foremost, the government would get out of the business of “parenting” and leave this responsibility to the people that God has assigned to each child … and that’s their parents! If a child is ‘truly’ orphaned, abandoned, or physically abused, there should be private, independent, agencies set up to handle these cases – the keyword being “independent” of the government. Second, you would see these inexperienced, talent-less, untrained, non empathetic, cold and heartless, social workers in the ‘unemployment line’ where they belong competing for jobs with college graduates who hold ‘real’ degrees like chemist, physicists, engineers, computer programmers, and others who were required to go above college level algebra in order to get a degree! If you are reading this, and have a degree in education or nursing … I also have a lot to say about your “respected” professions, but that will have to wait.
Because no one can articulate the passion and zeal to help “abused” children better than an employee in the field of social work, I will end my rant with a letter written by a person who shall remain nameless: “It is a fun place to work – convenient for my college schedule, the rest of the staff are other young adults so I have lots of new friends! The pay is … well, they would attract better staff if it was higher, but this is a non-profit! We have four kids where I work – three boys ages 12, 9, and 9 and one girl age 9 –guess who needs the most supervision so he or she won’t perpetrate anything on the other kids! There are always two staff members around 24 hours a day, and at least three staff during the day (sometimes four). This is also a transitional residence – these kids typically come straight from the hospital and eventually move into a less restrictive setting after they have been here a while. The kids are usually pretty good now (since they have been here a while), although last weekend I had to carry one up to his room because he refused to go to bed, and another one was getting ready to whack me with a dining room chair (he’s strong for a 9-year-old!).”
Folks, it is time that we put an immediate end to this ‘beyond gross’ injustice and stop allowing the fox to guard the hen house!
T Major
If you believe that foster care should be reserved for children that are orphaned, or have TRULY been abandoned by their parents and ALL extended family members; If you believe that children in foster care should actually be victims of abuse and/or neglect, once proven by a judge and jury NOT a social worker with a God complex; If you believe in the Constitution and civil rights for all, no matter what their economic, social, or cultural group may be – Please sign the petitions referenced at www.squidoo.com/abolishcps/ (scroll down to Get Involved!!!). Thank you in advance for your participation!
posted by DCFSvictim | 2:01 PM
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