Sunday, October 21, 2007

Not that I'm opinionated *BUT* :: Alabama's DHR..

If other states are looking to Alabama's Department of Human Resources (DHR) for how they run their own family and children's services divisions, advocates and self-advocates need to be seriously concerned..

Having been involved on the fringes of one particular and very recent case of theirs, I witnessed them take a child away when the case ultimately boiled down to that the child did not like the parents' choice in britches.. The child exhibited physical violence towards family members, and, for such, received (state paid for..???) trips to highend department stores for punishment..

With respect to family counseling, lessons in clothes folding were offered or at least mentioned at some point, but not once, not once, NOT ONCE was there indepth follow-through with respect to mental health counseling..

The even deeper history to the case..? Physical violence witnessed by the child as a youngster that was never addressed.. Would take a glimpse at the case history to see if they would even allow it to be admitted for consideration towards the child's current history of behavior..

Also of interest to these fingertips was the one office's bias regarding the freedom of religious choice provided by our country.. The child's papers physical reflect..? Unwitnessed by these fingertips, but verbally stated as a written recorded statement of:

"claims to be Christian"

The statement of "claims to be Christian" was reported to have been placed on file after a member or members of the family were repeatedly asked about their religious convictions.. For what it's worth in rumorable materials, these fingertips have been personally privy to that this is not the only case of religious bias shown by Alabama DHR, either..

WHOOPS..... Forgot to include the link that started this rant:

Now.. Why should this be of any immediate interest to a blog expressing personal opinions concerning disability self-advocacy rights..?

Because these fingertips are also privy to what remains at best a rumor that a grandmother was put through an absolute ringer over custody of her grandchildren because of her weight.. Reportedly, hear me again, reportedly, as in Rumor has it, the grandmother went through invasive operational procedures for weight removal only to continue to have custody rights to her grandchildren still be denied afterwards.. Granted, I know nothing, nothing of the specifics of this case, but it is not an isolated reported instance of this type.. Surely, surely, surely there is a creative press-type reporter out there who can dig deep down into the nitty gritty of the same..

Yup, jim dandy to know other states will be leaning on Alabama's DHR for the how-tos of getting involved in guiding our family units.. Can't wait to see it reflected in the overall health of our local communities as a whole as Time goes on..

Cyber hugs..

9 comments:

Bev Gardner said...

DHR is not doing what it is supposed to do for families. I know first hand how families are not getting the services they need to keep their families together or to reunify with thier children.

Unknown said...

Hi, bev..

Thank you so much for coming by.. I truly hear you.. Firsthand from what I've seen, change can and does occur, but it is rough on the family or families that come out about things and get involved..

Just in the last couple of days, I've purely by accident met with a new local group that hears us, too.. Will be sharing them soon once I get a better feel for their services, etc..

Children and their families who are put through the ringer, who are swept into the system because the children are adoptable or will bring more money to the state, who never receive the correct services for individual circumstances create a ripple that runs right out into our communities..

Warmest cyber hugs..

fowler08 said...

How on earth are foster children bringing money to the State? Just like everyone in prison is innocent, all the families involved with DHR are being singled out because DHR "doesn't like them" or whatever. Take responsiblities for your own actions.

Unknown said...

Sorry about the spam.. It's been removed.. Apparently this blog hit their radar a few months ago.. :)

Hope you are doing well..

Peace and best wishes.. :)

Anonymous said...

thank you for this insight into the situation. Grandparents and Great grandparents clear across the country and wondering what it the world motivates DHR to say that a child that needed two days of crisis care while his parent was hospitalized could not be released to relatives and now it will "take a year to return the child because of our new computer system." Is it "just because we can" or what?

FreeMyChildNow said...

I was so happy to find your blog Cindi. My child and I are 2 more innocent victims of DHR's. It is astounding to me that any state in this country would want to use this "state as a role model"? They should have interviewed a few parents first before they put that in the newspaper. Then, they might not have published the article.

They have left my child in a residence where felony abuse and neglec are just a few of the things that happened and have been ongoing that DHR refuse to take action on. When it was reported to the caseworker. just because my child wasn't being assaulted when they went to visit, the worker said my child was lieing. Even more has been reported since that time but they insist my child is just fine.

They have "nothing on me" whatsoever. Not even remotely similar as in being guilty of felony child abuse that they present custodian is. Couldn't even get the truth out about my child or me in court.

The "ringer" you mentioned that DHR puts families through is putting it mildly. "A living hell on earth" is what it is and no matter what I've done, still can't get my child back. I can't see my child yet anybody that assaults my child, won't provide food, clothes, etc has total control. Unbelievable.

They also don't protect kids as well as what one person stated on here "they do not provide families with the assistance they need for reunification". What is the main reason this agency exist? Oh yeah - "protect children and reunify families". My child should have home 2 years ago.

Thanks for allowing me to post on your site. The more DHR is exposed for "who they are", hopefully their incompetence and evil doings will end one day.

Anonymous said...

To the person who asked how foster children are bringing in money to the state, here is your answer...DHR doesn't get much money from the federal government to keep children in their homes (family services, parenting classes, etc.), but gets a ton of money for taking them into foster care. There isn't any incentive, i.e. federal dollars, to keep families together, so they put the kids in foster care. The state receives anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 per year per child in foster care. The foster parents receive (and this is only for the most severely disabled child) $13,000 per year. The foster parents then have to fight tooth and nail to get equipment and therapy for these kids. Foster parents aren't allowed to set up the services themselves and have to depend on the social workers to do it. Foster parents are trusted to raise the children, but are not trusted enough to find services for the children. Go figure. The low end of the scale for board payments for foster children is $5,208 per year. I did not say that there are not abusive parents, but I know for a fact that there are children taken when they shouldn't be. There are also children taken, and given to someone with money (which is slavery I do believe and has been illegal for a long time) and never reunited with the parents no matter how many hoops they jump through to get them back. The bad parents that stay bad shouldn't get the kids. The bad parents that do what they are supposed to do (get off of drugs, clean up their houses, and take classes to learn how to parent), should be given the opportunity to raise their children. We need social workers with TRAINING to know the difference between permanently bad parents and temporarily bad parenting.

Anonymous said...

I found a website today to use to model the one I am going to do. Since nothing I have is "libel" since it was legally reported as in the truth my child stated regarding the abuse, I will indeed follow suit. what are they going to do, draw more negative spotlight to them when the truth is presented since I can't get this in court.

I also found out that at least the State of Georgia has one senator who is diligently fighting the corruption in that state. Her name is Senator Nancy Schaefer. It would be such a prayer answer if just one senator in Alabama would follow suit since so many have been contacted not to mention numerous members of the House of Representatives.

People value their Jobs more then the welfare of children and not just in Alabama but across the nation.

Anonymous said...

Better yet is the case where DHR removes a child from her grandparents who raised her for over 5 years to reunite with drug addict parents;Then we get 1 hour supervised visit a week.Please tell me the reasoning behind this!!!