In an effort to raise awareness about child abuse fatalities, Every Child Matters is hosting a rally today, October 21, at 11am on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building. They will be joined by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Senator Bob Casey, pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, the Law and Order SVU team of Tamara Tunie, Dan Florek, and B.D. Wong, leaders from Capitol Hill and members of the child care community.
The most important thing that Every Child Matters will not tell you today is that more children are abused and die in foster care and under the care of Child Protective Services than they are with their own family.* Check out Bill Bowen's documentary Innocence Destroyed if you think that Child Protective Services does a good job protecting children.
As Richard Wexler points out in his blog today, Every Child Matters will also not tell you that they are using bad statistics to back up spurious claims about child abuse. For example, Every Child Matters continues to make the claim that three million child abuse reports are made every year. But Every Child Matters does not say that more than 2/3 of those reports are unfounded.
Here are three more things you will not learn at the Every Child Matters rally today, according to Wexler.
"ECM proposes taking $3 billion to $5 billion that could be used for real prevention and family preservation and using it for a huge expansion of the agencies that investigate families and take away their children. Not only will this traumatize even more children who never were abused, it will further divert workers' attention from finding the children in real danger who really must be taken from their homes.
At a time when 77 percent of child abuse allegations already turn out to be false, and many more are cases in which poverty is confused with "neglect," ECM wants to burden child welfare agencies with more false leads by starting still another campaign to urge every American to turn in her or his neighbor based on the slightest suspicion of maltreatment. In at least one American city half of all children have endured the trauma of a child abuse investigation by age 10. Does ECM really think that percentage is too low?
Though it is not a formal recommendation, the report also appears to call for ending all screening of calls to child abuse hotlines – meaning that even the most absurd, frivolous or vindictive allegations would have to be investigated."
Wexler, who is the head of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, has a lot more to say about what you won't learn at the rally today. I will not quote the rest of it here, because you should go to his blog and read the entire entry. Wexler's blog is one of the most important CPS Reform blogs on the internet.
Every child does matter but the solutions proposed by Every Child Matters for ending child abuse will only result in more children taken from their parents and abused by the foster care system.
*"There are more than half a million children and youth in the U.S. foster care system today. Studies reveal that children are 11 times more likely to be abused in state care than they are in their own homes, and 7 times more likely to die as a result of abuse in the foster care system." The John Walsh Show April 16, 2003.
Comments
Another great, informative report! I'm glad to see that you have an eye on the agency that we all fear as much as the IRS, who, by the way, WON'T take your children from you!!
cpsasysstemoutofcontrol.blogspot.com is my blog. It deals with the corruption of CPS and the foster care system. Mr. Weaver is a godsend to us biological parents who are fighting or who have fought CPS for custody of our children. Finally someone is telling it just like it is. You should read a post written by an adoptive foster mom about how much she hates her 2 oldest children. It's shocking in her outrage at these kids. A friend of mine is sending Mr. Weaver a copy of her words and I hope he will use them. She epitomizes my worst fears for my daughters.
I think that we have all heard the stories of the false accusations and unfounded reports, while those cases that involve real abuse fall through the cracks and sometimes end with tragic results. There are some children, who would benefit through intervention, who have been abused most of their lives. No system is perfect, but it is unfortunate that it seems that there is either a witch hunt or total apathy when it comes to child abuse.
Quite frankly people should start boycotting shows like Law &Order SVU that aligns themselves with anyone who supports what these people are proposing.I myself am going to write to the creators of the show and if necessary the agents of these particular actors to let them know I do not approve of what they are doing.
I wonder how many people turned out for that event & how much media coverage it recieved? I've been to 2 Family Rights rallies in DC & both did NOT get adequate coverage. Funny how the illuminazi media focus on all the wrong stories!
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!