CPS reform - Where do the candidates fit in?

[dusred]

As some of us here know our nations Child Protective Services division needs some major reform.

A Bill was signed by Bill Clinton called "The Adoption and Safe Families Act" which was signed in 1997. This seems to be where the corrosion began.

The Adoption and Safe Families Act, set in motion by President Bill Clinton, offered cash “bonuses” to the states for every child they adopted out of foster care. The legislation also would provide cash bonuses to states that increase their adoptions, giving them $4,000 for each child adopted above the previous year's number and $6,000 for each adoption of a child who is older or has some physical or emotional disability.

A $4000 bonus sounds like a good incentive for CPS to get the foster care system cleaned out, but it has proven to cause more harm than good. The CPS go way overboard in their jobs of protecting children. The foster care system is a total joke. Anyone can apply for foster care, there are no extensive background checks for foster parents.

The Web is full of accounts from grief-stricken parents of how CPS has ripped their families apart and ruined their lives. Many of them charge that much of the reason for the determination of the CPS to retain children in state custody is financial. Among those making this charge is Nancy Schaefer, state senator from Georgia, who is conducting a vigorous campaign for CPS reform.

The Department of Child Protective Services, known as the Department of Family and Children Service (DFCS) in Georgia and other titles in other states, has become a "protected empire" built on taking children and separating families. This is not to say that there are not those children who do need to be removed from wretched situations and need protection. This report is concerned with the children and parents caught up in "legal kidnapping," ineffective policies, and DFCS who do does not remove a child or children when a child is enduring torment and abuse.

That is one quote from the site: http://kidjacked.com/family/schaefer.asp

I encourage anyone who wants to know more about the CPS to go to the site and read up as I have. There are some stories in there that will rip the heart out of any parent with children.

Sources:http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f...58260h ... acked.com/

Of course there is a place for the CPS but it seems that they are a little out of control. Let's discuss what can be done in reforming the CPS and our Nations foster care system.

[audtatious]

CPS is a place for liberal non-parents (mostly) to work and give their opinion of what raising a child means. It's kinda like a weekend mechanic telling NASA how to fix the space shuttle.

While involved with the Cub Scouts I had the pleasure(?) to deal with some children of social workers and they were the most obstinate and snotty kids I ever had to deal with.