● “They literally took her off my breast in the hallway with her screaming at the court hearing,” says Kristen Clark-Hassell, of the day her newborn was taken.
It’s bad enough that Clark-Hassell had her daughter and other children taken by Georgia’s family police agency for reasons that sure sound like the confusion of poverty with neglect. It’s worse that she was subjected to constant drug testing even though there was no allegation of drug abuse. Worse still, The Current reports, when test results conflicted, the family police ignored the ones where results came out negative and relied on positive results from a company with a questionable track record for accuracy.
They kept using the company even when they knew about the questions. And, according to the story, the agency
failed to notify the thousands of parents whose tests may have been faulty, nor sought to learn how tests processed by the company impacted custody decisions about their children.
● Family police agencies are only supposed to take away a child on the spot in an emergency. Even rushing to a judge without giving the family a chance to defend itself is supposed to be reserved for emergencies. But guess who decides if it’s an “emergency.” That’s why it’s so important that, at the very least, a full-scale hearing be held within days of children being torn, from their parents and thrown into foster care. But as the Boston Globe reports in this story, with comment from NCCPR, that often doesn’t happen either.
● I doubt I will ever again agree with the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. But in his recent State of the Judiciary address, he got the part about termination of children’s rights to their parents right. You can find his remarks, and a video link, in this NCCPR Blog post.
● The Chief Justice also praised new Texas laws curbing the power of the state’s family police agency. As KSAT-TV reports, contrary to the fearmongering when the laws were passed, the evidence shows child safety continues to improve.
● When I saw The Imprint had published an op-ed by a former foster parent and former member of the board of the local “child advocacy center” – this wasn’t what I was expecting.
● Last week’s round-up noted progress toward making a state version of the Indian Child Welfare Act permanent in Montana. But KUER Public Radio reports there’s been no such progress in Utah.
