Say the word “CPS” and you’ll likely get some very passionate responses from people. Some of them good, and some of them terribly bad. But why? Why does this one little branch of local Michigan government cause so much rage, and elicit such strong reactions from people. Well, it could be because they have a long history of screwing up. And when the agency tasked with caring for Michigan’s children screws up, the consequences are tragic!
It’s not new. This has been happening for a loooooong time…
In 1990, Brenda Scott, an author with a degree in law enforcement and criminology, wrote a rather frightening book entitled Out of Control: Who’s Watching Our Child Protection Agencies. In it she addressed some very disturbing facts regarding conspiracies and malpractice issues within the very institutions put in place to protect our nation’s children from abuse.
In her book, Scott quoted Justice Louis D. Brandeis, a Supreme Court Justice born in 1856. Brandeis championed progressive social causes, and helped to develop the “right to privacy” concept in law. However, one of his more well known statements is, “the greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” Which often sums up the CPS approach.
And it’s a well known fact – many people have acknowledged it!
According to Senator Nancy Schaefer, a conservative politician who published the controversial 2007 report entitled “The Corrupt Business of Child Protective Services“, in 1998 the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect reported that six times as many children died in foster care than in the general public. She also noted that the agency admitted that once the children were removed to “safety”, they were then far more likely to be abused, physically and sexually, than in the general population.
Schaefer wrote her report because she believed that CPS had reached a point where the system was so poorly regulated, and the case workers were so ruthless, that it had become a “protected empire” which performed “legal kidnappings“. Families needed to be aware of the truth. While Schaefer focused her report on the CPS of her home state, Georgia, she was emphatic that it was no different in the remaining 49 states. And Michigan really is no different!
CPS really is unregulated, and has a long history of ‘cowboying’.
Scott and Schaefer are only a tiny example of the many people who have spoken out against abusive and unregulated child welfare services over the years. But pointing out the issues is very different from addressing these problems, helping parents who are battling these very issues, and demanding that the system be overhauled and fully reformed. So what can be done to fix this broken system? Many people have ideas. Join us next time to look at some of them and discuss their merits.
Until then, if you or a loved one have been accused of abusing or neglecting a child in Michigan, call The Kronzek Firm at 866 766 5245. Our skilled and experienced CPS defense attorneys have spent decades helping the parents of Michigan to protect their children, and their parental rights, from CPS bullying. We are available 24/7 to help you as well.