This book is about many things. It will probably mean many more things to those who read it. For me it is a release for all the anger and frustration, not to mention stress I've come to know since I've been forced to deal with a system I have never understood, and am no closer to understanding now.
It seems odd to me that there doesn't seem to be a place, or person whose job it is to make sure the Oregon State Childrens Services Division (CSD) of the Department of Human Resources stays within some sort of legal framework, if not a moral one.
For those of you who would point to the Citizens Review Board (CRB) and say that's their job, I say Piffle. It may have been what the board was set up for, but, like the CSD itself, it is now corrupt, and seems only to be going through the motions of the duties it was created to do. For all the effect they've had we would do better to buy an air compressor and paper shredder. At least we could stop and air a low tire, or make some confetti if we wanted to.
The CRB seems to be powerless, but maybe that's a good thing, as they seem to be mindless also. All I can see that they have done is listen to everyone and then go with whatever the CSD recommends. Blindly, like a really good Bird Dog would do for its master.
I'm sure I insulted someone with those opening paragraphs. Maybe my manner is rough, and my words cutting, but honesty isn't always nice.
The fact is that if honesty were the only rule the CSD or CRB had to follow it would be a vast improvement over the situation as it stands now.
Just to make sure nobody feels left out, and complains to my editor, I need to mention the three other interrelated agencies involved with the CSD and CRB. It wouldn't do not to be fair and give credit where it's been earned. Those other three are, the Juvenile Department, the Judicial System, and the District Attorneys office.
How many of you think my survival may depend on how fast I can leave the state, and establish an iron clad alias identity Do you think I jest? I hope you're right.
In the pages that follow, you will read of my personal experience with the agencies mentioned above. You will hear a story of deceit and deception. The motives of those involved is sometimes good in intent, but soon becomes corrupted and self seeking out of the survival instinct. For some of the players, that is.
Most of the others involved are despicable excuses for public employees, apparently unable to tell the difference between the truth and their own fabrications.
These are the type of people who are running those five agencies. Most are practiced in the arts of double-speak and have honed their abilities to paraphrase the truth in such a way that it really does sound right when they present it to a third party. That third party is usually a judge or the CRB, who I've learned are not at all willing to take a really close look at what they are told. If they did, they might not like what they found out. The truth as told by the CSD, and the truth as the truth, are not at all similar.
In that last paragraphs I told you the facts, but the truth is this: what the CSD said was the truth was in fact totally false. They lied to the Court. They lied by telling words that were true, but out of context and out of order. CSD's truth has the events of a lifetime compressed into six months, and that's just for starters. The situation gets worse from there, and the Court seems to accept it without question.
Is the judge in question really so blind to what is happening, or complacent. It doesn't matter which it is, he's just as wrong. Either way he isn't doing his job. At least not in this case, and I'm not going to assume this is the only one he's ever heard.
As for the CSD, is this their standard operating procedure? Anybody want to bet. I do.
This is the kind of personnel employed by the agencies involved in, and responsible for, the welfare and care of this societies future. Our children. It seems appalling to me that these same people are more concerned about being right, than the welfare of their charges. The children.
In a somewhat expanded view of the situation I can see that what this family was subjected to by the CSD in cooperation with the CRB, Juvenile, DA, and courts, is really just another symptom of the sicknesses in our society. The apparent apathy of most people to the situation is manifest in the tolerance of these kind of acts on the part of our governments agencies, without a whimper of protest from the general public.
There is, of course the possibility that most of the good citizens have no idea of what is happening. One of the CSD's major weapons is the control of information. If there is no information available except what they want to be available, then they have effectively defeated any possible opposition they might otherwise encounter. If more people would question their methods, and the courts would require proof beyond their word, and the DA would be more interested in truth and justice than winning, and the child were really the most important issue, maybe then the system would work.
But what am I saying? Not one of those positions I just mentioned is filled by a perfect entity, or God. The people who fill those positions are just what I said they were, People. Standard everyday people who, for the most part, reflect what they perceive public opinion to be. Until the public shows them that this is not the proper way to treat a child (children), until an individual child is allowed to be an individual child, without being singled out as wrong, or the family torn apart because they are different, then nothing will change.
That thought, of course, takes me directly to the idea that individuals have the right to be individuals in this society. That, at least, is what our schools teach our children. But, if a child really is a true one-of-a-kind, it is those same schools which can't cope with what they teach. So, when faced with educating one of those kids who really is an individual, and doesn't fit the Norm, what does the school do? Of course, they call CSD and have the child removed!
With that thought in mind, please add some, but not all, school districts to the list of CSD collaborators.
For a society that preaches and teaches tolerance, as a hallmark of our progress, we certainly are intolerant of anything or anyone who doesn't fit our mold or idea of how things should be. There are some schools that will not tolerate the presence of a child who will not fit into the program, even though they give lip service to the idea of Individual Education Program, (an IEP). They will not actually carry out the plan. At least not if someone such as myself is foolish enough not to watch them like the proverbial hawk to make sure they do.
The reason for this doesn't actually lie with the individual teachers involved, but rather is motivated by the financial burden involved with implementing an IEP within the financial constraints under which our school districts operate. Large inequities exist in the support of our schools even when all the children are able to conform and cope with a standard education.
Now complicate the financial issue with a child who will cost far above and beyond the average cost of educating a child, with the inequities of finance, and the result is to overpower the rights of a child to an appropriate education. The school is naturally going to be looking for a way out of the added expense involved in educating that particular child.
At this point it shouldn't be too hard to see how a school distinct of limited financial resources could be more than slightly interested in using any means they can find to remove the need to spend more than a predetermined amount on any particular child. Now think about the law that requires a school to report even the suspicion of neglect or abuse to the CSD and I'm sure you can see how a temptation might, (might?), exist for the school to "do their duty" and report suspected abuse. They may even be willing to cooperate with CSD in full, not only reporting the abuse or neglect, but be more than happy to set up a situation where the law would require the intervention of CSD.
What a great day for the school when the day comes they can make that final call, and solve the financial problem. Not only that but they get a pat on the back for being conscientious and helping a child by saving it from an abusive and neglectful home life.
If you think this scenario is farfetched, just the product of a vivid imagination, think about the people who have died or were maimed over money. The people of the school who called CSD didn't kill or physically hurt anyone nor did they steal any money. They just found a way not to have to spend some money. Besides, they only did what the law required them to do, didn't they? Their hands are clean, and their cheeks are rosy. All is well in the school district, this problem has been solved.
While it is true that the school did not steal or hurt anyone directly or physically, what about the emotional damage done to the child? Or doesn't that count? It seem to me that divorces are granted on the grounds of emotional abuse or cruelty, and it seems to me that there are many other instances where emotional suffering has been grounds for legal action against the same perpetrator. But a school can subject a child and its family to the emotional damage of what amounts to kidnapping, (Another Crime!) for the sake of money, and it's legal!
Handy aren't they? CSD I mean. For a small, poor school district it could be their salvation from financial distress. All they have to do is make the call and the people at CSD will direct the whole show. Supply instructions and provide any legal advice. All the school has to do is support CSD's story in Court.