Friday, June 20, 2008

SCOTUS Ratifies CPS Childnapping and Blackmail

Taking the children out of the picture: This FLDS couple was able to rescue their children from State-funded kidnappers in Texas. Thanks to the Supreme Court's refusal to hear a case in Illinois, other parents across the nation won't be so fortunate.


James Redlin, a high school teacher from Illinois, will never know the name of the conscientious citizen who disrupted and nearly destroyed his family. All he knows is that when he came home from a brief trip on a train with his six-year-old son his wife Susan, told him that an official from the Department of Child and Family Services had paid a visit.


Using the threat of seizing the son and sending him into foster care, the DCFS official had
extracted from Mrs. Redlin an agreement to sign a family "safety plan." The plan required that James be subject to 24-hour supervision of all contact with his son. A typical household would be hard-pressed to meet that demand. The Redlins confronted the additional difficulty posed by the fact that Mrs. Redlin was confined to a wheelchair.


Mr. Redlin's supposed "offense" was tickling his son during a train ride.


The child "protection" worker determined that the Redlin home was unsafe through the use of a 15-point checklist called the Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP).
Checking a box next to any of the 15 "safety factors" is considered sufficient justification for state intervention in the home. No tangible or objective evidence is necessary in order for that threshold to be reached: The subjective and self-ratifying perceptions of a child "protector" are sufficient.


Once a home has been deemed unsafe, the investigator now has the option of imposing a "safety plan" on the household. This can be done through an ex parte communication with a family member who is not a suspected abuser, as was the case when DCFS extracted a "safety plan" agreement with Mrs. Redlin.


And as the Redlin case demonstrates, the preferred method of securing parental agreement is blackmail. The standard "safety plan" document contains language stating that "failure to agree to a plan or to carry out the plan may result in a reassessment of my home and possible protective custody and/or referral to the State's Attorney's Office for a court order to remove my children from my home." (Emphasis added.)


This form of intervention can be triggered by an anonymous hotline call involving either parent, any child residing in a home, or any resident relative or non-relative. Not surprisingly, nearly every parent or caretaker confronted with a "safety plan" backed by the threat of kidnapping the children ends up signing the agreement. To the child "protectors," it is of little moment that more than two-thirds of all investigations conducted in this fashion are determined to be unfounded -- something akin to a miracle, given the expansive and capricious definitions of "abuse" and "evidence" employed by child-snatchers across the country.


It's common for "safety plans" to continue, along with the threat to remove the children from their homes, even after the accused abuser is cleared of all charges. And of course, even when normalcy is restored, parents are left with the formidable task of reconstituting a family that has been torn asunder through state violence -- even when the children are permitted to stay.


Stacey DeLaFont didn't have her children seized by the state, nor was anybody in her household charged with abuse. Instead, the child "protectors" ordered Mrs. DeLaFont to evict her husband Stacey, a pre-school teacher, because he had been anonymously accused of abusing children at school.


Although the DeLaFont children were not taken away, the teenage son (who was never charged with a crime) was initially required to stay outside the home. After being exiled from his home for a few weeks, the son was permitted to return as long as he had no
"unsupervised" contact with the younger children.


This meant, among other things, that Mrs. DeLaFont remain awake all night long to "supervise" her son until he left for school.

How the child-nappers see themselves: A 19th Century illustration depicts a stern but kindly caseworker sheltering a shattered child from his deranged termagant of a mother. The sex roles may have changed, but the conceit remains consistent. For the reality, see the Waco photos below.



Tactics of this kind are familiar to even the most casual students of the ongoing child "protection" atrocity in Texas involving the FLDS Church. But it must be understood that incidents of this kind happen across the country every week, probably every day.


With their children under the threat of being kidnapped and -- perhaps permanently -- sent into foster care, parents are compelled to sign documents that ratify the abduction, legitimize continued state control over the children, and amount to an admission of abuse by the parents. And this is done before a formal investigation of the charges begins; not only are the parents in such situations not guilty of any crimes, they're not even formal suspects.


A week ago, shortly after a divided Supreme Court issued a flawed but necessary decision recognizing the indispensability of the habeas corpus guarantee, the High Court to use the familiar awe-encrusted expression we're expected to apply to that body of unremarkable lawyers) refused to hear an appeal in the case of Dupuy v McEwen, a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of thousands of parents whose children had been kidnapped and used as blackmail leverage by child "protection" officials in Illinois.(.pdf)


This means that the Court left unmolested, as a controlling precedent, a Seventh Circuit Court ruling written by former federal Judge Richard Posner, a reliable exponent of totalitarian State power.


Writing of people confronting demands made by people who can kill to enforce their demands, Posner blithely dismisses the idea that parents given an ultimatum to sign a "safety plan" or lose their children are subject to coercion. In either feigned ignorance or genuine dishonesty -- in his case, it's difficult to tell which of those traits is on display -- Posner professes puzzlement that "giving people more options" is seen to make them worse off:


"We can't see how parents are made worse off by being given the option of accepting the offer of a safety plan. It is rare to be disadvantaged by having more rather than fewer options. If you tell a guest that you will mix him either a Martini or a Manhattan, how is he worse off than if you tell him you'll mix him a Martini?"


How easily disingenuousness degenerates into depraved dishonesty.



A victim of child "protection" zealotry:
These are the charred remains of a two-year-old who died on Mt. Carmel, April 19, 1993 (see below, left).





A genuine host doesn't obtain a "guest" at gunpoint, as the state does when its agents thrust themselves into a home and confront the parents with a "safety plan" ultimatum.



A "guest" isn't forced to select between alcoholic beverages at gunpoint; every demand made by those employed by the state, on the other hand, is accompanied by the threat of lethal force. And of course, it would be a singularly unsuitable host who would compel a teetotaler to choose an alcoholic libation in the first place.


It is the state, not the parents, that has the advantage of "more rather than fewer options" where blackmail is used to extract a "safety plan." This should be obvious to any mind not polluted with incurable dishonesty or irretrievably hostage to statist assumptions.


Posner is regarded by many to be in possession of a subtle legal mind. I've yet to encounter any evidence that he is better educated, or more persuasive, than an unexceptional high school debater. He is the author of a recently published assault on reason entitled Not a Suicide Pact, in which he sets out a doctrine of wartime presidential dictatorship that is, in some ways, more ambitious than that pronounced by the Bush Regime.


Reduced to its evil essence, Posner's view of government power is that the state draws its legitimate authority from necessity -- as perceived by those who execute that power -- rather than the Constitution. Under Posner's variety of positivism, whatever action a government official deems "necessary" must therefore be legitimate.


Posner has written that the president "can do anything if the emergency is dire enough." The Bushi'ites have extended that principle to include the sexual torture of children in order to coerce the parents into confessing terrorism-related crimes, or providing intelligence about the same.


(One imagines Posner protesting that characterization: "How is it `coercing' the parents in that scenario to be offering them more options? They can either confess or inform on their friends, rather than simply refusing to cooperate and thus enduring the anguished screams of their child as his testicles are crushed.")


Under the reign of an administration that claims the power to torture children in order to secure the cooperation of his parents, the use of actual or threatened child abduction to compel parents to surrender their parental rights is hardly a surprising development.


If there is something you value, or someone you love, the State's agents can and will use it, or him, as a hostage against you.


This is particularly true for those who are engaged in the singular adventure of raising a family. For parents, the endeavor is in many ways an unguided tour through the dismal landscape of their personal inadequacies -- a venture laden with those awkward and embarrassing displays of poor judgment and inexperience we can, with sufficient time and distance, recall as "learning experiences."


It's never too early for parents to learn that the State will seize their children on the basis of a single anonymous tip and blackmail them into admitting something as a price of getting them back.


A personal note...


My family just returned from a business trip to Los Angeles that turned into something of an unscheduled vacation: We took a tour of the Eastern Sierra mountains on the way home. Please excuse my lengthy absence, and be sure to check in for new essays over the weekend.



On sale now!











Dum spiro, pugno!

14 comments:

Al Newberry said...

I know I feel safer that our benevolent leaders are out there protecting us from the child-ticklers. I'll bet at least two thirds of parents would have their children taken away if all incidents of child-tickling were reported.

Vulture said...

I'd feel so much better about the future if even ONE branch of government was on the level. But the 3 branches of the Federal Government are aligned against us, the state governments are aligned against us (particularly in my home state of Maryland), and many local municipalities have their own little fascists-in-training at work tearing away at the rights of you and I.

There's only one way for this story to end, and it'll be WAY worse than the falls of Greece and Rome, just because the entity taking the place of the US as the big dog of the planet will either be the Chinese or Radical Islam.

Anonymous said...

Being a Caribbean Jew, Malcolm Little's mother would not feed her fatherless children rabbit despite their poverty. Reason enough for a loving social worker to wrest the children from their mother and from one another. Louise Little spent the remainder of her days in an insane asylum.

Lakotah people I know out here on the lone prairie were tormented, raped, and beaten as little children by priests, nuns & other 'christian' folk providing foster and boarding care for the confiscated indigenous child.

These acts of evil were mostly hidden in times past.

Now, evil has grown so bold it enters through the rose covered cottage gate at noonday.

jk said...

Will, welcome back my friend! Given the early hour of your post, I must admit to being a bit surprised at the lack of commentary. This may possibly be attributed to outrage too pronounced to allow for the operation of a keyboard.
How does one fight this type of tyrannical behavior? Sadly, those who know the answer are long dead and quite dizzy from all the spinning they have been doing in their graves.

Anonymous said...

A little off subject, but I too just returned from a little vacation to the west/southwest US. It has been 25 years since my last trip in that area. 25 years ago, I did not take notice of any federal detention centers or prisons. Now, they are scattered all over the place. Not sure what has changed.

I noticed a new razor wire lined "building of interest" being built a few weeks ago in a town not too far from where I live. It is now complete...no signs to explain it's existence, no one knows what it is for, and no one has offered any details...uhmmmm....

zach said...

Will, you talked of safety plans in this piece. You'll enjoy reading about "safety checks" as well:
http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_9641991?source=rss

Anonymous said...

Guess it's time to walk around the house "packing" to keep the rif-raf out. We continue to hang separately. It's time to re-read Solzenitzen. It's time to revitalize the state militias.
Louis

Anonymous said...

Do you think stealing someone's soul can be considered cruelty,sounds crazy but it's true.

Anonymous said...

Not everything can be put into a mathematical financial equation; for example CPS and children. Posner was working under the assumption that CPS must be offering the parents something of value for the parents to return something of value.

However, innocent parents are not getting anything of value that they don't already legally have; there is no quid pro quo in signing the protection plans.

I am appalled at the Supreme Court refusing to take this case. One would think the rights of American's to raise their own children to be greater than that of non citizens held in Guantonomo.

Anonymous said...

Well, we too are entangled in the DSS nightmare. Only for us, the school and courts are right in there too. Our grandkids were taken under false charges against me of assault and battery. The children suffer from severe emotional disorders (RAD, ODD, etc.) We tried everything to get help when our funds ran out. They did, it was really quite easy to give us ample help. Fake a crime, railroad the entire family, and send the kids out of state for someone else to deal with. BTW: Average cost per month for these disorders (caused by severe abuse and neglect in the early years) is about $1500 per month. Times that by 3 and you have a small fortune that I am sure a top 10% bracket family could not meet for long. Oh yea, that used to be us too...

Nevertheless, DSS actually said before the judge that they needed to close the case and transfer the kids within 30 days or loose federal funding! No kidding, there was absolutely no subtly here. Blatent and out there for all to hear. What I found more interesting was that no one in the court room but us was surprised to hear that!

Anonymous said...

Since we have POTUS and SCOTUS, what about the third branch, LOOTUS (legislative offices of the united states) - rather appropriate, don't you think? Louis

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure where you would find it at, but someone said that losing your children to CPS is a civil 'sentence' akin to a criminal death sentence. It's sentencing a family to die, in short. I believe it was a judge, but I have slept since I read it, so I am not sure.
Great article, by the way.

osoluckyme said...

Has anyone ever noticed how our Government is doing nothing about CPS? Think about it. Clinton was a social worker. He made the laws. CPS brings in alot of Federal dollars for the state. Could this be why our politicians are closing their eyes?

Then take a look at their "non-profit" financials at:
www.guidestar.com

See all the money? Then take a look at who's on the accounts and the picture should be crystal clear. STEALING KIDS IS VERY PROFITABLE FOR EVERYONE - except families and children.

Kathleen

Anonymous said...

I accidentally ran across this while looking for something, I haven't read the entire post, just yet but would like to know your entire views on CPS/DCFS, you can message me through http://amiablyme.wordpress.com
Sandra Ami

Your response would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.