New Kids On The Block Make Some Noise in PA

The internet's on fire with the new piece written by an independent Wilkes-Barre/Scranton newspaper. Have you read it yet? If not, you should.

http://wilkesbarrescrantonig.com/2014/01/27/custody-cash-plea-help-place-else-turn/

Also stop by the blog here. Leave a comment and show your support for the NEPA community!

http://wakeupwilkesbarre.blogspot.com/2014/01/custody-for-cash-now.html?m=1

Together, we can stop the corrupt and make positive changes for families in Pennsylvania.

Wendy Murphy Writes a Book About The Truth About Family Court

Read this before you enter a family courtroom and understand the truth about what is really going on!

http://wendymurphylaw.com/before-you-step-one-foot-into-family-court-read-this/

Berks County Sheriff Discharges Gun In Service Center; Gets 5 day suspension Months Later

This event happened in November. For this, John T. Stanton got a 5 day suspension in January. Authorities in Berks  refuse to comment on details, but blame "personal issues" for the whole episode.

http://readingeagle.com/article/20140116/NEWS/140119903/1030#.UthE3BBdUfU

Ironically, yesterday in Berks, a man was arrested by the same sheriffs department. His crime? Making verbal threats to government caseworkers at the same government building where the sheriff purposely discharged his air gun.


http://readingeagle.com/Section/SplashMobile?page=http://readingeagle.com/article/20140115/NEWS/301159964/t=M?fb_action_ids=10202227750549415

Family Court Judge Speaks Out: Decisions Really Are Just About Money

http://www.stopdhrcorruption.com/blog/family-court-judge-speaks-out-against-being-a-circus/

Berks County CYS Slammed AGAIN In Superior Court Decision

In October, our staff wrote about how Superior Court had overturned a ruling made by a Berks County judge. In their opinion, the higher court slammed the court in Berks County.

http://www.berkscountynewsnetwork.blogspot.ca/2013/10/berks-county-slammed-in-superior-court.html

Sadly, BCCYS was not content to accept the Superior Court's ruling. Instead, they filed for a re-consideration. It is ironic that the agency, which doesn't allow any sort of reconsideration for the decisions that it has made, demands that others reconsider their decisions.

Yesterday, the Superior Court ruled against BCCYS AGAIN! Yes, the Superior Court refused to reconsider the decision it had made previously against Berks County.

Our staff once again extends congratulations to the Morganti family who have successfully fought for their rights against a very biased and vengeful government agency. Congratulations!!!!!

Berks County Blogger Breaks Story About Corruption, Waste And Fraud Rampant Amongst Berks County Government Employees

http://mattheckman.net/?p=1614

Hot Potato Hot Potato!

Kids all over the world play the game "hot potato" or some variation thereof. The goal is to not get caught with the hot potato--ie to quickly pass it off to someone else before you get burnt.  Pennsylvania politicians(or all politicians for that matter) play this game very well.

Yes, yes we care. BUT....but alas I can't do anything about THAT. You see, it isn't my potato. Here is a letter from a Pennsylvania Senator that states just that. Yes, we have a problem with child abuse agencies not doing their job in Pennsylvania. But oh dear, that isn't my problem.

Here is the letter, written in response to a letter written by a blogger in Pennsylvania.

Thank you for taking the time to contact Senator Casey about child protective services in Pennsylvania. He appreciates hearing from all Pennsylvanians about the issues that matter most to them.
Child protective services are administered at the county level in the state of Pennsylvania. The Department of Public Welfare’s Office of Children, Youth and Families serves in an oversight capacity to monitor the county agencies and ensure their compliance with state laws. The states have traditionally exercised jurisdiction over litigation and other matters involving child custody, based on the premise that state courts are best able to evaluate all parties and ultimately render decisions in the best interests of a child.
As a federal official, Senator Casey is unable to take direct action on matters relating to these agencies. If you have any questions about a specific issue regarding Child Protective Services, I urge you to contact your State Representative or State Senator for assistance.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with our office. Please do not hesitate to contact us in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.
Bonnie Seaman
Director of Constituent Services
Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.
22 S. Third Street, Suite 6A
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101
717-231-7540
717-231-7542 (fax)
http://casey.senate.gov/

You can call the office and express concern. Exactly whose jurisdiction it is in Pennsylvania? Who is the local CYS accountable to????

Berks County Judge Awards Custody to Abuser

E’s problems all began the day 2 of his children went to school and told their teacher that their mommy was hurting them at home. Then, authorities in Berks County found E’s son D wandering blocks from their home while E’s ex wife was supposedly watching the children. She was found asleep.

Shortly after, a caseworker from BCCYS showed up at E’s door with the police to check on the children. They returned with paperwork addressed to E’s brother in law. The authorities claimed that this false order allowed them to take custody of E’s children. E's wife was told she needed to leave the home until the investigation was complete. 

The children were split up and sent to foster care; the judge said “there are too many children here for one man to take care of”. One child, who had special needs was sent to a foster care home which was unable to deal with her special medical needs. Her siblings made efforts to give her the medicine she needed. E and his wife separated due to the stress and strain. Eventually, they would divorce.

E’s  ex-wife plead guilty to child endangerment charges. She refused to appear at court and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. She fled to another county in Pennsylvania where she was again brought up on child neglect charges. Eventually, the authorities caught up with her and she was arrested and jailed. She bailed out of jail and moved to another county with a boyfriend.

E was forced to undergo domestic violence classes as well as anger management classes even though he had done nothing wrong. A safety plan was created for his family and his children were placed in foster care with his mother in another county. After one of his children ran away from the home because she wanted to be with her dad, things went from bad to worse.

Judge Keller placed the child in an orphanage located in the county. The child was allegedly beaten by other children in the home and the staff covered over the bruises with makeup to hide them from the parents during visits.

 E was forced to pay child support for the children and CYS sued him for child support because the children were in foster care. Eventually, his child was released from the orphanage and sent home to live with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend.

Some time later, the child was allegedly beaten by her mother’s boyfriend and ran away to her father for help. Although the child sustained bruises and marks, no charges were pressed against her mother’s boyfriend.  Instead, the teenager was sent away, this time to a juvenile detention facility. During all of this, E was able to see his children for one hour a week, supervised.

E fought to get his daughter released from the facility in court proceedings. Originally, Judge Keller said that he had no problem returning the child to her father. However, he reversed himself and said that the child needed to go home to her mother and her mother’s boyfriend even though the District Attorney's office is still investigating the child abuse allegations. When questioned about the reversal, the judge said that he could not be held accountable for the statements he uttered in court previously. The judge released E's other children from foster care and also sent them home to the mother.

According to Judge Keller, this is now a custody matter and the father must sue for custody of his children. Some of the children are living with the mother who has been formally charged, arrested and found guilty of child endangerment; the other child still remains in a juvenile detention facility for her “crime” of asking for help when abused. Right now, E gets several hours of “unsupervised” visitation with his children at his mother’s house in another county.

The reality is that a judge in Berks County willfully and knowingly placed children with an individual who has been found guilty of child endangerment charges. In addition, he placed another child in a juvenile detention facility for speaking out when she was abused and he allowed her abuser to walk free.

Investigation Into Guardian Ad Litems Shows Corruption and Bias

A guardian ad litem is appointed by the court to "protect the best interests of the children" in court. Does this happen? An investigative reporter in one area says no.

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/22258017/investigation-exposes-little-oversight-of-child-advocates

Georgia Protest Outs Biased Evaluators

Today in Georgia, Safe Kids and The Advocacy Center have organized a protest  against Judge Groger, who has refused to listen to testimony about abuse from the children in a case who have requested to speak to him.

Here are some signs calling out not only the judge, but the evaluators who wrote fake reports as well as the child advocates.

Also present was an advocate from Berks County talking about a recent case where a judge awarded custody to a parent with a known child abuse record.

Penn State To Pay $60 Million To Victims

It's costly--both financially and emotionally. Penn State has agreed to pay almost $60 million dollars to abuse victims in exchange for them not pressing further charges against the university.

There were 26 victims in the Penn State scandal. How many people have been victimized in Berks County over the years and ignored? Many.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-to-pay-59-7-million-to-26-sandusky-victims.html?_r=1&

No More Berks County

Berks County News Network is proud to be a part of the NoMORE campaign which seeks to bring awareness to the issues of abuse and domestic violence.

In Berks County, many people, men, women and children are victimized. Yet the culture in the county seeks to blame the victim and try to make the problem go away rather than deal with it.

You can personally participate in this campaign by uploading your photo and YOUR STORY! Follow this link for information

 http://nomore.org/gallery/

Say NO MORE BERKS COUNTY!!!!

Ways and Means SubCommittee Holds Hearings On Foster Care

In Washington DC, hearings were held by the Ways and Means Subcommittee to address the problems with the foster care system. Specifically the committee was interested in hearing from human trafficking victims who had been foster care youths. The caucus is looking at ways to address the issues in the Child Welfare system in response to the Trafficking Act in order to prevent exploitation to foster care children.

A former foster care child Withelma Ortiz Walker Petigrew gave a testimony about her experience in the foster care system. She also spoke to MSNBC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DvFSpwwq7M

In response, a number of pieces of new legislation were introduced to Congress.

Go here to let your opinions be known as well as your experiences with foster care in Berks County! This is SO important!!!!!!!
http://fosteryouthcaucus-karenbass.house.gov/



Also, go here to like this facebook page and let your opinions be known on the issue of foster care, especially the system in Berks County!

https://www.facebook.com/fosteryouthcaucus

On October 22nd, a bill was passed to encourage adoption of foster care youth. You can see this here

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d113:h.r.3205:

The legislation accomplishes this according to those in the know:

In addition to reauthorizing the Adoption Incentives program for three years, this legislation:

• revises awards to focus on increasing adoption rates in order to encourage states to continue placing foster children in permanent homes even as foster care caseloads continue to decline;
• focuses more resources on increasing adoptions of older children;
• creates a new award category for increases in the rate of children leaving foster care for legal guardianship with loving and stable relatives;
• extends the Family Connection Grants program designed to help foster children reconnect with family members; and
• requires states to focus on post-adoption services, helping children and families even after adoptions have been finalized.

CYS Contacts

This is a great post by a Berks County blogger.

http://vickieinrobesonia.blogspot.com/2013/09/useful-info-and-contacts-when-fighting.html

Kids Die Under the "Watchful" Eye of Berks County CYS; No One Seems To Notice

If you have lived in Berks County, you may be shocked to know that CYS does not always protect children. Indeed, you may be shocked to know that kids are abused and that kids even die under the care of the agency.

What is more shocking is that this agency, that has a budget of $50 million dollars, does nothing to fix the issues that created the problems. Even more shocking is that the average citizen has no idea of what is going on.

Our reporter talked with several people on the street in Reading PA and confirmed that the public had no knowledge of these events. Why is this? Why is the news media not covering these stories? Here are just a few cases of the children who have paid the ultimate price: they were betrayed by a system   that was supposed to protect them.


 1. This little boy, only one year old was beaten, drugged, raped and MURDERED while in state care!!! 


http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19971020&id=l0kwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nKYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3585%2C3635646

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19971024&id=m0kwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nKYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1536%2C4994927


2. Here's another child who was murdered in BCCYS care

Here's another child who died under BCCYS' "Watchful Eyes"!! Hey Jen! What say you about this?

http://blackchildrenmurderedbyabuse.blogspot.com/2012/11/amira-brown-12-years-old-beaten-to-death.html

3. And yet another

Here's another one for ya, Jen!! A child died while BCCYS was watching!!! How can you say your "CLIENTS" are doing the right thing..... REALLY???

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=516720

http://m.wfmz.com/Mother-speaks-after-grand-jury-charges-man-for-child-s-death/-/15946050/22499864/-/e7ldgiz/-/index.html

4. Here's more:

http://www.dpw.state.pa.us/ucmprd/groups/webcontent/documents/document/p_034667.pdf

BCCYS Sues Parents For Child Support

http://www.leagle.com/decision/199646735PaDampC4th432_1419

How convenient, they take children and then apply for child support. Was this child even taken for a good reason? And why, out of all of the families that have children in care was this family chosen to pay child support?

Urban Dictionary Defines Reading, PA

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=reading%2C%20pa

Schuylkill County Woman May Lose Custody Of Her Child Due to Epilepsy

Isabel Miller has many medical issues, she is epileptic which dominates her world but she is quite capable of being a good Mother, something that caseworkers in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania disagree with DUE TO HER MEDICAL ISSUES. 

Taken from a piece written by friends:

We, Child Advocates Around the World disagree.  Her son is of an age now that her medical condition should not threaten his safety and well being.  He is intelligent, alert and he wants to be at home with his mother.  He is quite capable of picking up the phone and dialing 911 should the need arise.

Tomorrow, October 21, 2013 Schuylkill County Child Protective Services will atempt to rob this woman of her child.  There is a hearing that will take place in that potentially all parental rights to this child will be terminated.  We think that this is wrong.  The termination of parental rights to any child should be used ONLY as a last resort, when ALL other programs fail, children Dakota's age will likely "age out" in foster care, he will suffer for this and we believe that this too is wrong. 

WE DEMAND THAT THIS COUNTY RETHINK AND REVIEW THIS CASE, WE ARE ASKING THAT TRIALS BECOME A PART OF THE CASE PLAN to include home trials between Dakato and his Mother Isabel Miller.  We are requiring that the caseworkers of this county, Schuylkill County Child Protective Services extinguish all efforts to terminate parental rights and that these same caseworkers initiate a formal case plan of reunification, promptly and with Godspeed.

If this does not happen and parental rights are terminated we, Child Advocates Around the World have every intention of making this a media event, we will push through the red tape and expose this situation to all concerned in the world.

Please sign the petition to help this mother:

https://www.change.org/petitions/schuylkill-county-child-protective-services-and-domestic-courts-relinquish-legal-and-physical-custody-rights-of-dakota-knapp-to-his-biological-mother-isabel-miller-do-not-attempt-to-terminate-her-parental-rights-due-to-illness

PA Man Has Incestuous Relationship With Relatives--No One Says Anything for 20 Years

This incredible story just broke about a man in Western PA. He had a relationship with underage relatives over a period of decades and fathered children with the women--4 to be exact. The women even filed in court for child support of the children! Yet NO ONE did anything to help these women for 20 years.

According to the article, the MAN's identity is being with held "to protect the identity of his victims".

WHERE WAS CYS?????????

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-north/man-faces-charges-of-rape-incest-of-pre-teen-708292/

Act To Protect Children Passes Congress, Commission To Meet

Congress has quietly passed an act to protect American children, perhaps an acknowledgement that current laws do very little to protect children. A commission is being established to assist with the overhaul. Voters who want input into the process are encouraged to contact their federal legislators.  Read more on the bill here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-petit/protect-our-kids-ac_b_2633784.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false