Parents in Action Recommended System Changes
We consider the present changes of ACS to be very positive, but we consider them only as the First Phase:
These changes need to be solidified and fully implemented. We see 2 major areas that are still
lacking. The Division of Legal Services (DLS) and the Children Protective Services (CPS)
Division are still resisting the changes:
a) Force the Division of Legal Services (DLS) to implement the changes that Commissioner Mattingly
envisions; namely do not keep Children away from their Parents unneccesarily.
b) Educate the CPS Division about the Amendments to the Constitution, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the Tenenbaum Decision, the Nicholson Decision, the Doe v. Heck Decision, and other
important Court Decisions.
We have 3 specific proposals for future changes in ACS (this will be the Second Phase):
1. Close down the Children Protective Services Division of ACS. Use those resources for Preventive
Services and the Neighborhood Networks. Let the services be voluntary. Let Parents come looking
for Services instead of ACS chasing them. The intrusive nature of the CPS Division causes more
damages, including psychological ones, to the Children and their Families, than any posible
benefit. Forced State Intervention in the Life of the Family causes destruction of the Family.
2. In the next 6 months return to the Parents 90% of the 18,000 Children in Foster Care. Keep the
10% of those considered most at risk for longer. Give services to the Parents if they really need
them. Of course this includes returning ALL Foster Care Children in Clinical Trials or Treatments
to their Parents. Let Parents decide what type of treatment they will give their Children.
3. Stop the Forced and Illegal Adoptions Scam. There are 8,000 Children whose Parent's Rights
have been terminated by a crooked Family Court Judge at the request of a crooked ACS attorney
with the backing of a crooked so-called Law Guardian. No-one wants these Children, except
for their Parents who desperately want them back. To push for these adoptions, the State offers
thousand of dollars to the adoptive parents as an incentive. In spite of the financial rewards,
many of them are returned to the State. In the last 5 years, 24,000 Children from Foster Care
have been adopted.This is a public relations scheme, a numbers game to artificially lower
the number of Children in Foster Care and thus look good. On top of that, these forced and
illegal Adoptions are Auctions of Black and Latinos Slave Children. This Cruel Human
Trafficking must cease.
We recognize Commissioner Mattingly best intentions to revamp ACS, but due to the fact that the
present Child Welfare System is based on false premises, it will eventually be extremelly
difficult to keep improving the system if other players in this system do not also change. We
need to have significant changes in the Law Guardians, and the Family Court.
At present, Law Guardians are the Children's Worst Nightmare. The only thing they "Guard" is the
business interests of the Foster Care Industry. They make everything in their power to keep
Children away from their Parents, for as long as possible, and the Judges always listen to them,
except in the rare cases when they recommend giving the Children back to their Parents. In general
they are even more aggressive than ACS in trying to keep Children away from their Parents and
pushing for termination of Parental Rights. They claim that ACS is too soft on Parents
Parents should have the right to provide counsel to their Children up to the point when the Court
finds them Abusive or Neglectful, never before that. There should be a presumption of
innocence.
At present, Family Court is an Institutionalized System of Injustice with the only function to
"legalize" this racketeering enterprise. They will approve everything against the Parents said
(and usually based on hearsay and without any evidence) by ACS, the Foster Care agency, or the
so-called Law Guardians.
In Family Court there should be Jury and Due Process, something vital lacking at present in NYC
Family Court. Also Family Court Judges should be elected, not appointed by the Mayor, that
way they will be answerable to the people. We fully support Assembly Bill 1338, introduced by
Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz to abolish Family Court as it is at present and absorb it
into the Supreme Court of New York State, thus allowing Jury Trials in Family proccedings as
already allowed in 13 States.
Everyone is afraid of the Family Court Judges, but we think is due time that those who want
a better Child Welfare System need to deal with the fact that at present New York City Family
Court is an Institutionalized System of Injustice and that they will block any significant
change, since of all the players, they are the ones who hold the most power. All they need
to hear is that one of the 3 players against the Parents (ACS attorneys, Foster Care agency,
and Law Guardians) says something against the Parents and they will take it as factual truth
and use it against the Parents, even if the other 2 players say the opposite. All the Judge
needs is one excuse. They are the most corrupt members of this scheme.
The Best Interest of the Child is for that Child to Be with his/her Parents
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