What are the reasons in which the government has the legal authority to take your child?
Presumably, they list two: neglect and abuse. The issue becomes defining what constitutes neglect and what constitutes abuse. Unfortunately, these reasons morph considerably by year, by state, and by law. For example, what was considered normal in years past is now suddenly illegal. According the federal definition, neglect is defined as follows:
Any recent act or failure to act on the part
of a parent or caretaker which results in
death, serious physical or emotional harm,
sexual abuse or exploitation; or
•
An act or failure to act which presents an
imminent risk of serious harm.
We can see that this definition is so broad that it gives the interpreter much latitude in discerning ‘serious harm’. Could serious harm include children playing at a park? Riding their bike alone? Crossing the street? Getting dirty while playing on the sidewalk?
Apparently, that is exactly what recently happened when parents found themselves once again at odds with Social Services because a neighbor reported seeing children at a park without an adult. In that state, because the older child was not yet 13, playing at a park was considered ‘an act which presents an imminent risk’.
Each state defines their own laws in statutes. But this makes reading statutes a necessity in order to know if you are a good or bad parent. So I found the following website that supposedly caters to just this topic:
https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/laws-policies/state/
I clicked on Colorado. I was presented with a page that was so formidable I decided to pick the most, first generic topic. I was rerouted to another page that wanted to route me to another page. And then I was routed to a page that wanted me to do a survey. And then, well I said, “ARGHGGH…”, – pigsbreath. But I went back, said ‘no thanks’, was rerouted two more times and finally came to a page that had nothing to do with child neglect laws and policies in Colorado.
Nothing in government is easy.
Maybe Social Services should simply post an online list that specifically defines neglect… because lately the cases seem to revolve predominantly around medical concerns. AHA, Virginia does exactly that in 44 pages.
While some of the definitions are obvious; stabbing, gunshot wound, asphyxiation, others are as simple as a cut, a bruise, a scrape… If a child fell off a bike and sustained all of these injuries, would that constitute neglect? The answer is – maybe yes, maybe no.
Why is the government so obsessed with parenting our children?
The government acting as parent begins when we voluntarily put our child’s raising into the hands of daycare. Sorry, but it is true. We have thus transferred the responsibility to someone else. But sometimes the over-reaching hand comes into your house. Then what? Those that support the over-reaching arm of government have rarely been witness or victim. And that changes everything. But there are valid reasons too for DPS to take children from their parents. As a daycare owner I had a number of children that were in foster care after abuse issues, but neglect was not the hotbed that it is today.
Neglect has definitely morphed into a sphere of communist control. The Protocol of collective child care. Raised by the state. At issue are children in religious families, children homeschooled, children with bruises and scrapes, children that are given a freedom that is no longer available.
One of the problems is that anyone can make an allegation anonymously, a friend, relative, neighbor, ex, anyone. Doctors are the next level. Doctors have a completely different responsibility. Suppose a doctor sees a child with bruises and makes no allegation? Could that doctor be sued later for failure to respond to a potential abuse? Doctors need to be educated to the various implications of their zealous call. A new study has shown that infant fractures can actually be caused by rickets. Rickets is a condition that is once again finding prominence as a result of our lack of vitamin D – the sun. We have become so conditioned that all sun is bad, we and our children are once again showing the effects of no sun.
This phenomena has been studied and applied by Dr. Ayoub. He is attempting to teach radiologists how to look determine the cause of infant fractures and determine if in fact that were abuse, or rickets.
What he hopes to accomplish is education, helping radiologists make more accurate decisions that will help parents who have been wrongfully charged with a crime they did not commit.
Radiologists Kathy Keller and Patrick Barnes have published a four-case series in the Pediatric Radiology journal, describing what Dr. Ayoub is seeing as well.
One thing lawyers proclaim over and over again – sign nothing, sign nothing, do not in any circumstances sign anything without consulting an advocate. Parental Rights. Be prepared, be proactive, be ready. And NEVER give up.