Back in 2012, Governor LePage signed the truth and reconciliation omission into law. This gave the states native's the right to examine and make recommendations on cultural issues in child welfare.
Now they have apparently come to come conclusion are are recommending reform of the states child welfare system. Especially in regards to how it handles cases that involve the Wabanaki people.
It was called a "mandate and beyond: recommendations of the Maine wabanaki-state child welfare".
I have not read anything further about this decision as of yet and I look forward to reading their conclusions and more specific recommendations, as this is the first thing I've seen about it.
What I do know is that Maine's child welfare system has been engaging in cultural genocide of the Wabanaki people over the years. This continues today. They want it to stop.
A sense of frustration was heavy in the air as parents, teachers and school board members packed into the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee room last week to protest state and federally mandated school reforms and over-testing of students.
Maine lawmakers and parents are planning to gather at the Statehouse to lobby for a bill that would create a special state unit dedicated to investigating unsolved homicides.
That growing number of kids in need are CPS victims. Just a few short years ago, they were working hard to lower that need. Now they apparently need a cash cow to fall back on or something. Or maybe the current powers that be just like taking kids. I don't know.
Either way it's a sad state of affairs when DHHS would rather snatch kids than help the families keep the kids safe while in the home.
But Maine hospitals say they face federal penalties if they allow patients, including children, to use nonsmokable forms of medical marijuana prescribed by their doctors.
Sooner or later all of these fuddy-duddies who are still swayed to paranoia by the Refer Madness culture will die off. Then common sense will prevail.
If a doctor prescribes a long term medication to a child, that child should not be cut off from the medication just because they went into the hospital. They should be gradually taken off of it so as not to come down crashing and causing more problems.
Nearly 2,000 children are living in Maine’s foster care system, far outpacing the number of approved foster and adoptive families. While the Office of Child and Family Services issued a plea last month for more families to open their homes to children in foster care, we must do more to end this tragedy and ensure our children grow up in safe, loving homes.
Eight of our colleagues in the Legislature are standing beside us to respond to this urgent need, sponsoring legislation that mobilizes the local community to prevent abuse and neglect by supporting families in crisis and helping them stay together. Our bill, LD 1065, the Strengthening Families Act, empowers parents or guardians to provide for the short-term care of a child when life circumstances prevent them from doing so. Our goal is to protect families and their rights while giving them the courage to ask for help before the challenges they face spiral out of control.
Two misguided Fox News pundits — one lesbian and one “feminist” — sat across from Elisabeth Hasselbeck this week to criticize a Kittery, Maine school for reading a book about a transgender girl to kindergarteners, comparing transgender children to children who think they are dogs.
Now see the kind of nonsensical attention this school has brought upon itself? And all for shoving one groups social issues down the throats of very young children, many of whose parents didn't approve.
Parents have lost control of what their kids are being taught. That is the problem. This is no longer a LGBT issue. Of course they'll continue to try to make it that way.
Here we go again. Maine Gov. Paul LePage is the latest to push for harsher limits on what foods people can buy with food stamps. Because it's not enough that people have tiny food budgets and periodic humiliation in the grocery checkout line, we need laws that stigmatize people's eating habits, too.
Such a shame. Take candy from a baby just because mom is on welfare. My God! If only they tried to make quality affordable daycare available so there would be something left from her McDonalds paycheck every week, it would be worth it to work.
Here we go! Leave it to DHHS and WGME to start the conversation about criminalizing parents for letting their kids walk to school or letting their kids play outside. Yes, this is where it's headed as that's what happened recently to a couple of parents in Maryland.
You gotta get a kick out of the blond helicopter parent in the video though. She obviously watches too much TV.
A family in Portland says they're taking on what's called a free range parenting style to give their daughter more independence growing up. While some say the style gives kids too much freedom, Sarah Cushman and Robert Levin say it's simply going back to how they grew up. Their daughter, eight year old Cedar Levin walks to her elementary school in Portland without them.
FYI, by the time I was 10, I had covered every inch of Old Orchard Beach on my bicycle and there were tons of strangers from all over the US and Canada all over town, all summer long. I never got killed, molested, dragged into some sicko's car or anything. Granted that was more than 30 years ago and the world changes but my God people! Maine is a great place to raise your kids. And if it isn't then the police need to start doing their jobs! That's what us taxpayers pay them for.
Now I live in a decent neighborhood in Portland and there are kids running around all over the place. It would be a sad place to live if anything were to change that. As a parent, I'd go nuts if I couldn't let the kids outside to work off all of that energy. Kids need to be allowed to do that, otherwise they'll just sit around playing video games and getting fat.
Such a group of pathetic paranoid idiots you all are. Learn to mind your own business. Helicopter parenting is much worse than you know. And if we are to go that rout, then I would have to report about 30 parents on my street alone.
That would keep DHHS busy, now wouldn't it? Flood the system with calls about kids playing outside. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!
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FMI on the Maryland case that sparked this national debate, Click Here, lots of links to lots of articles on the Free Range Parenting Issue if you scroll down.
This is absolutely ridiculous! Kids in kindergarten do not need to be taught issues of gender and sexuality. They need to be allowed to be kids.
Officials at an elementary school in Maine have come under fire for teaching students about transgender issues without first seeking the approval of parents.
Some parents might not want their young children to worry about such issues at the age of 5 or 6, although I suppose the bleeding-hearts will find some reason to call them insensitive or intolerant for it. It's still their right. They're the kids parents. They can teach them what they want. There's plenty of time for issues of sexuality later.
One unnamed mom was so angry she contacted conservative pundit Sean Hannity after she felt that the school ignored her initial complaint.
'I feel like my thoughts, feelings and beliefs were completely ignored….My right as a parent to allow or not allow this discussion with my child was taken from me. It is very upsetting to me that I didn't have an option at all,' she told Hannity.com.
'When I spoke with the principal he was very cold about it. It's amazing how thoughtless the school has been with this whole thing.'
And there you have it. "Cold and thoughtless." Sounds sort of insensitive don't you think? After all, why should anyone worry about what the parents think?
Unfortunately this is more in line whit a much larger problem. The school's have been overriding parental rights for a long time. Even in Maine.
It is no accident, no coincidence. And it’s not just your imagination. There really is a steady trend by the government and the courts to remove the influence of parents from the public schools.
Bills aimed at lessening tensions between divorcing parents of minor children will be heard Tuesday afternoon before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.
Two bills are up for testimony on April 21, 2015 starting at 1 pm. If you are able to make the date please keep in mind that you will have at least 3 minutes to present your testimony - maybe 4 minutes.
Parents whose children take medical marijuana for a condition are urging lawmakers to pass legislation to help their kids get treatment while attending school.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Sadly some people still can't see this for what it is. Some still believe that Marijuana is the evil demon weed. Too many legislators are old fogies with their heads stuck too far up their asses, probably from listening to Mark Dion or something and LePage will probably veto it.
On Saturday, Tryon accepted donated yarn from the Fiber Marketplace patrons that will be used by the female inmates incarcerated at the Alfred facility to create some blankets and bears. Tryon said they will then give the finished products to the Maine chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse. That group will then distribute them to children in need.
Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald said the poorest children in his city have enough obstacles to overcome in their lives and he hopes state lawmakers will work to make sure lead poisoning is no longer one of them.
Here is another of those feel good bills that would go through the legislature where the state will invite themselves into your home. It sounds really good on paper when you say that we need to protect kids from led poisoning. But they can
boot you out of your home too. Now let me tell you what this involves.
Your kids goes to the doctor and gets their blood test. The led levels come back high. The doctor, who is a "mandated reporter of this" reports your home to the CDC, which is another division within DHHS. Yes the one that shredded the documents.
Then out of the blue, this nurse from the CDC named Susan Lee calls you to notify you that a licensed led inspector will be coming to inspect your home. If you own, you have to let them in. If you rent, they will do so with your landlord. If you refuse they will report you to CPS. If they find anything, the owner is forced to deal with the led, which could involve anything from washing some dust off of a windowsill to full on abatement. They could even condemn your home.
I went through this a while back with my own daughter. Her led levels came back a little high. They send this guy from a Lewiston company called Community Concepts, he comes in with this big testing kit and machine and checked the whole house. Supposedly he finds a tiny bit of dust that contained a little led on one windowsill then wants to come back again and retest the whole house after we washed all the windowsills which the ol' lady does every now and then anyway, but they were just painted two days before he came the first time (I did this the weekend after I found out there was an issue).
The state then sends this big huge package demanding that you clean up the led. Depending on what it is, it could become very expensive if you have to hire professionals.
Meanwhile the CDC continues to monitor your kids blood levels. And yes they have the right to your kids medical records, and your 4th Amendment rights or HIPAA Privacy laws do not apply.
As far as my own kid goes, she's fine. Her levels have been going down ever since. What bothered me about the whole thing was how rude and forceful they were at the CDC. I mean I'm glad to know that my home is safe for my daughter to live in, but jeez, what a bitch that Susan Lee was.
which talks about Mandated Reporter laws in Maine. While there is some good information here that could potentially save a child's life, I need to point something out. The article states the following...
"Due to the death of an infant in Maine last year who had a previous broken bone and bruising"
LD 1523 was written. This bill became law and mandates reporting to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services if children younger than 6 months or those unable to walk on their own exhibit evidence of a bone fracture, substantial or multiple bruises, subdural hematoma, burns, poisoning or injury resulting in bleeding, swelling or impairment of an organ.
Now, sadly a baby died a tragic death. The media took the direction, "why didn't anybody report this family to CPS?" But at least one person, if not more (they wouldn't tell us), did report this family for something else....
Families members say Ethan’s life might have been saved by a referral to the state Department of Health and Human Services and intervention by the department’s child-protection workers.
The DHHS did receive a complaint that Ethan’s 3-year-old half sister was “covered in bruises” and that he and his twin brother were sick and not getting medical attention, but it’s not clear when that report was received.
They really should stop trying to change the focus to take the accountability away from DHHS, but instead they blame doctors and daycare providers and teachers who because they fear not doing so, will cover their asses and make that call against anybody, reporting every little scrape on the knee or every little disagreement with the parents.
The risk for not reporting a possible abuse includes a potential fine and lawsuit. Mandated reporters are protected by law and cannot be fined or sued for reporting.
Worse than a fine or lawsuit would be the knowledge that failing to take action contributed to a child’s further injury or death.
Now, with all of this said, I do not want to discourage anybody from helping to protect a child when it's necessary, but Maine has literally become a safe haven for lying CPS rats, false accusers, vindictive ex's, or even school staff who feel the need to retaliate against a parent who complains against them. Hell, I was even once reported for having to reschedule a doctors appointment.
There isn't a damn thing you can do about it either. Unless CPS shows up at your door you might not ever even know about it. They'll just keep you on file and they won't tell you.
Such a pathetic group of tattle-tales you all are. I'm ashamed of you all for falling for this scam. If you only knew how much the lawyers, private agencies and service providers were making off these kids, then and only then would you see the light. But you just focus on that one little baby who died while CPS looked the other way and blame everybody who didn't call, when you know damn well that's not the case.
Legislation that would allow staffers of children’s homes or residential care facilities to search the backpacks or travel bags of residents received strong support in committee, according to its sponsor.
I'd say thank goodness that everything turned out alright, but this poor father from Windham now has potential criminal neglect charges hovering over his head and a CPS worker crawling up his butt. God only knows how that will turn out.
Windham police and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services are investigating how a 3-year-old boy, dressed only in pajamas, ended up wandering along Gray Road on Wednesday morning.
At approximately 8:35 a.m., the boy was reunited with his father. His father was interviewed by police before leaving the police station with the DHHS worker and the boy.
Boudreau said the results of the police investigation will be presented to the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office, who will consider whether criminal charges should be filed. Boudreau said police are not going to identify the family.
I personally think that the self-righteous hypocrites who form court of public opinion as well as Maine's DHHS workers and perhaps prosecutors, who have all lost sight of the fact that shit happens, will all jump to conclusions and put this poor guy through the ringer. They're all more than likely acting as if the guy opened the door and pushed the kid outside.
What they don't realize is that kids are smart. Kids are curious. Kids are quick. Eventually they tend to figure things out such as how to open a door.
Of course we don't want things like this to happen. No parent does. Nor does any parent really expect it when it does. It happens quick too. A kid could sneak out the door the minute you turn our back. Sure the kid could get killed or something and thank God that he didn't. If it happens again, perhaps there is a deeper issue, but my God people, we don't need to lock this guy up or snatch his kid for a mistake could happen to anybody.
Just chill out and help your neighbors when stuff like this happens. The world would be a better place.
Update: Now they identify the kid. His name is Carson.
I know from personal experience that Maine's CPS Agents lie and get off on the power trip that they hold over the families. If you don't believe me, ask anybody who has ever experienced a child protective worker crawling up their ass. I'd bet my life that you'd get an earful in regards to how parents get railroaded through a cruel and unjust system. Unless the judge slapped them with a gag order of course.
I also know from personal experience that half of these social workers couldn't tell the difference between child abuse and a hole in the ground. They often jump to conclusions, harping on a result instead of a cause. For example, if a kid is reported to the child abuse hotline by a teacher for scraping his knee and the reason for the scraped knee is that the kid fell off of his bicycle, you should know that the CPS worker will automatically jump to the conclusion that the parent maliciously pushed him off of the bike and that the poor kid could have (but didn't doesn't matter) cracked his skull. Therefore the parent should be chastised or rather put through a thorough child abuse investigation, have their kids thrown into foster care and be made to suffer at the hands of the Angels of Mercy who protect children from abuse an neglect.
They will come up with all kinds of horrific scenarios such as, "Oh My God! He could have gotten hit by a car," and then accuse the parents of medical neglect for not rushing him to the hospital for x-rays when a Band-Aid and a dab of Neosporin made it all better.
Therefore, I think that we should at least give these parents from Bath Maine the benefit of the doubt and do whatever it takes for the truth to come out. If this guy is innocent and the child has a disorder that makes his bones brittle or soft, then the states involvement should be nothing more than to offer to help the parents insure that the child gets the treatment they need.
For the first time in a year, a judge heard motions Wednesday in the case of Brandon Ross, a Bath man who claims he was falsely accused of child abuse.
Notice that DHHS would do whatever it takes to prevent that information from getting into the hands of somebody who could use it against them including the parents or parents lawyer, as is suggested by this piece from the same article...
Because Ross and his wife, Cynthia, have had their parenting rights suspended, confidentiality laws prevent them from gaining access to Ryder’s medical records.
We see just how ruthlessly they protect their secrets.
I also want to point out that punishing the parents by throwing their kids into foster care was a bad decision because the kids are being punished much worse by not being able to see their parents. Also, chances are that by the time these parents are exonerated and get their parental rights back, the kids probably will have been alienated by a wanna be adoptive parent or won't know mom and dad anymore because it's been so long since they've seen them and DHHS will hold that over their heads too.
My heart goes out to this entire family. Your fight is long from over, but know that you have the support of other CPS victims if you want it... Fight CPS in Maine
And if you need help fighting your case and motivating your lawyer who might be dragging things out for billing purposes, then click here American Family Rights Association
A bill sponsored by an Aroostook County legislator seeks to allow administrators of children’s homes or residential care facilities to search the backpacks or travel bags of the residents.
For the history of this continuing saga Click Here.
Only in Maine would such a laws, as is being advertised by WGME here, be necessary. You would think that common sense would prevail. You would think that licensed daycare's in Maine would be properly vetted so that parents have reason to have faith in the process. You would think that a State Issued Daycare Provider License should give the reasonable assumption that this is a safe place to bring your kids while you work. But no.
A new bill would require DHHS to notify parents in writing of any complaints it's investigating within five days.
Sara Bachelder, a supporter of the legislation, said, “Had this legislation been in place at the time I would've had the information that I needed to make the decision that would have allowed me to protect my children."
Then it continues, and this is the part that concerns me:
Supporters hope this bill creates more transparency with investigations by letting parents know if their children are part of an investigation.
Although it means well and sounds good on the surface, like any other knee jerk legislation that comes out of Augusta, this one is bound to have it's unintended consequences, such as a false accusation or unsubstantiated claim of child abuse causing a total panic with the parents and putting an innocent and totally capable daycare provider out of business after having her name smeared all over the news.
That said, if a CPS Agent from DHHS wants to talk to my kids, I damn well want to know about it and be there for and record any interviews so that CPS doesn't gain the opportunity to interrogate my child about her homelife and invade my privacy and my 4th Amendment rights when there's no basis to do so. (And you're a fool if you believe that this sort of thing would never happen in America or that they wouldn't find some bullshit reason to make your life miserable.)
But like Dr Phil says...
We must keep our kids safe! Even if it puts an innocent person through the ringer.
So to hell with the innocent! Let the witch hunt begin! Just hope and pray that this doesn't lead to the next McMartin Preschool case which set off a hysterical panic all across the land, but I wouldn't put it past them because we all know that pedophiles who haven't been caught yet are great at passing their background checks. Right?
What they should really do is suspend the license of the daycare as soon as they have reason to believe that such claims are true, and help the parents to find alternative quality childcare immediately after so as not to hurt business by destroying a parents ability to work and properly care for their children which they assumed they were doing via the failed licensing and vetting process.
Do you remember back a month and a half ago (Middle of Febuary 2015) when DHHS was bragging about that $1 Million Dollar grant that they got from the Federal Government for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program?
