Manns Medium

Talk to any Child Protective Service employee and they will without a doubt proclaim that they are the true protector of America’s children.  They are allowed to proceed into your home based on a single unanimous phone call, snatch your children from the only home that they have ever known, rip up the only security blanket a growing child has and tear apart a family because they are the experts in child development and even though many cases are unfounded or the evidence found would not honestly convict a fly, they remain vigilant in their pursuit of their rights versus all others.  The courts refuse to administer equal justice simply based on the position and title of those representing these agencies and any defense against their sometimes wild and outlandish accusations is the defense you must provide for yourself because those provided by the courts are merely pawns and normally have little to no backbone when it comes to proper and accurate presentation of your side of t...

To say that we all do not make mistakes is an understatement but to listen to those in the child protective trade, you would think that they were so professional in their duties that when they leave the bathrooms and you go after them all you would smell is roses.  Now we all know that following anyone who uses public facilities, that smell is definitely not that of a rose. I call your attention to an article titled “ Documents: Girl, 15, who shot brother, 16, suffered abuse ” written by Jason Dearen for the Associated Press.  In this article it is reported that “A 15-year-old girl who fatally shot her 16-year-old brother suffered years of abuse, including being locked in a room for weeks at a time with only a blanket and a bucket to use the bathroom, according to police reports and interviews.  The shooting at a small white house off a dirt road in rural north Florida happened Monday while the children's parents were away for work. The father, a truck driver, and hi...

Many times, you read an article and think that this kind of stuff only happens to other people.  This allows you to disconnect and not really feel the pain that is the pain of those without resource or a course of action to help them in their situation.  But every once in a while a story crosses your path that reminds you that what you have endured is not exclusive and has happened to others.  You find out that what you thought was only happening to you in your state is happening to others in other states and now you feel their pain. This very thing happened to me when I read an article titled “Couple Brings Sick Baby to ER, the Next Day Police Show Up and Kidnap All of Their Children” by Matt Agorist for The Free Though Project taken from a story by Bridget Bennett for KSFY TV an ABC Affiliate.  In the article Matt and Bridget speak about “Molly Bowling and Michael Becker just spent Christmas without their children after police, acting on behalf of Child Protec...

Far be it for me to cast dispersion on anyone, Lord knows I have plenty of skeletons in my closet but when I hear any story about a child not being allowed to mature and grow because of some idiotic lunatic and their supporters, I cannot sit quietly.  This is the case with what has been reported by one of our local television stations WREX (Rockford, IL). The article is quoted as saying “A 40-year-old Rockford man has been found guilty in the beating death of his girlfriend's three-year-old daughter.  Duran Johnson was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder Wednesday. He was also found guilty of concealing a homicide and intimidation. However, he was found not guilty of aggravated battery toward victim Kaitlyn Head's two surviving sisters. He faces a maximum of 100 years in prison.  Head's mother, Melanie Grant, pleaded guilty earlier this year to beating her daughter but claimed Johnson was the one who ultimately killed her.  A forensic pathologist s...

Late August 2011, my mother was informed by her granddaughter, whom shall remain anonymous and does not reside with her, was reporting being abused at her home.   Now this family, being so tight-knit, was quite surprised at this news.   We automatically began to check out her story to find out if any of it was true.   We soon learned that the incident did not happen but we did learn that there were a few issues we as a family needed to address.   We learned to better spot a call for help by our children and we educated ourselves on what we could do to help them through this phase.   To some, this information would have broken the family but to us, it only served to make us stronger.   That was until the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) got involved.   Early September, my mother received a phone call from an individual saying that she was the supervisor of one of the investigative specialist assigned to this case.   At fi...

On about June 1997, I took in four foster children who also happened to be my nieces and nephews.   What made it a somewhat easy decision was when all of the family was gathered together and the four were dropped off and picked up by completely different foster parents.   The look on their faces when they saw the other was heart-wrenching and it was made even more unbearable when they had to part ways to leave with their assigned guardians after the gathering was over.   I made a promise to myself that if it ever became an opportunity to not let that happen again I would take.   Little did I know what that promise would cost in the end? I was living with my significant other when that opportunity presented itself.   I got a phone call from one of my other sisters and she informed me that the mother of these children had dropped them off at her house the night before and had not returned to get them.   My sister explained that she could no longer watch them ...