TEAR's for Family Continuity

Statement of Honorable Joe Baca, a Representative in Congress from the State of California

I would like to thank Chairman Herger and Ranking Member Cardin for having this very important hearing.  The lives of our children and stability of the family are in danger.  While it is important to review state efforts to change this destructive system, we should not do that without first hearing the personal testimony of those families that were ripped apart and destroyed by local child protective services (CPS).

That is why, two months ago, I sponsored a Town Hall Forum on CPS Reform in San Bernardino, California. The forum was held to hear testimony and receive evidence of what many parents, grandparents, and advocacy organizations describe as “a festering cauldron of fraud, corruption, abuse of power and exploitation of children.”

During the eight hours of testimony, impassioned tales of rampant abuses of power, denials of due process protections, violations of civil rights, and accusations of blatant defrauding of the American taxpayer were presented by documentation, video, and prepared statements.  In addition to local and regional activists, Arizona State Representative Ray Barnes and other staff members representing California legislators joined in the forum. Testimonies included documentation of a scheme designed by state counties and service providers to “maximize the federal funding stream” through financial incentives.  While this in itself is not irregular, the focus on revenue at the cost of safety may be putting children and families at risk.

The testimonies continued unabated as parents and extended family members presented the committee with documentation of violations of state and federal statutes, denial of civil rights and predation upon vulnerable children and families by child welfare workers that regularly exceed their authority.

According to testimony, the unwarranted seizure of children from non-neglectful homes has become a national problem of staggering proportions.  At any given time, there are now more than half a million children in custody in the United States. It was reported in the forum that an estimated one out of every twenty children goes into government custody and that CPS routinely violates the constitutional rights of parents and their children in the process of their “intervention.”

Nearly one-and-a-quarter million children now come under government observation each year in America. Witnesses stated that only about three percent of the children who are seized or taken into custody were physically abused. What is even worse they said, is that the children who are taken into state custody have an eight to eleven times greater chance of being abused than those who remain in their own homes.

Although most states have laws requiring a speedy trial to test the flimsy and often anonymous allegations against the parent, evidence was given that showed that often nearly a year passes before the parent even gets a partial chance to tell a judge their side of the story.

According to the forum there is little protection for the family once a court focuses its attention on a parent. Witnesses told stories of courts circumventing such basic rights as burden of proof, presumption of innocence and rules of evidence. They routinely violate due process, and equal protection rights. The system moves into a parent’s life and does nothing to help. As news reports and evidence from the forum has shown, scandals and abuse of power exist within the family and juvenile law industry.

As evidenced by this forum, abuses and errors in judgement are common. Instead of receiving comfort and encouragement, innocent parents and grandparents are often drawn into a system that has a sub-par record of protecting the children entrusted to it.

I am hoping to learn from this hearing what can be done and what has been done to protect our children and their families.  It is a good start to monitor the states and review their practices.  I hope that the result of this will yield concrete steps to protect our children and families from false accusations and destructive policies within the state CPS.

For a list of witnesses, click on the link below.  You"ll find the actual article with the list of witnesses at the bottom of the article.

CPS Hearing with the Ways and Means Commitee - US House of Representatives