By Robert Singer

The Animal Rights National Conference is the U.S. animal rights movement's annual national conference. It is also the world's largest and longest-running animal rights gathering, hailing back to 1981. It is the only conference open to all points of view on achieving animal liberation.

The conferences attract thousands of leaders, activists, vegan vendors, and others who care about animals. They offer sessions on abuse, organizing, and outreach skills, as well as opportunities to discuss controversial issues, enjoy delicious food, network, and "recharge your batteries."

And in the spirit of being open to all points of view and the willingness to discuss controversial issues, we call on the leaders, activists, vegan vendors to acknowledge that Children are members of the Animal Kingdom.

The movement to end cruelty to children and animals began in 1874 when Henry Bergh, president of the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), took on the responsibility to remove Mary Ellen from an abusive home, because she too was " a member of the animal kingdom." Etta Wheeler's story about Mary marked the beginning of a worldwide crusade to save children.

In 1877, the American Humane Association was founded on a mission and vision to prevent cruelty, abuse, neglect and exploitation of both children and animals. And in 1954, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) followed with that mission to "create a humane and sustainable world for all animals, including people, through education, advocacy, and the promotion of respect and compassion" (2001 HSUS Annual Report).

Aren't children people?

Activists advocate for better laws to protect animals; conduct campaigns to reform industries; provide animal rescue and emergency response; investigate cases of animal cruelty; and care for animals through sanctuaries and wildlife rehabilitation centers, emergency shelters and clinics but aren't children human animals?

So why aren't they advocating for better laws to protect human animals?

Shouldn't HSUS, PETA, FARM, IDA, LCA, MFA, AWFW, COK, IPPL, SSCS and Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! hear the voice of human animals?

We need to help the countless human animal children who are victims of unimaginable cruelty because of the broken child protection system in the United States? [Appendix B]

HSUS, PETA, FARM, IDA, LCA, MFA, AWFW, COK, IPPL, SSCS and Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! (Animal Rights Activists) have done ground breaking work on many fronts to protect all sorts of animals from all sorts of abuse, but they need to:

Advocate for better laws to protect Gabriel, Abigail, Joshua Vasquez, Baby Sammy and Cynthia - not just Molly, Riley, Joey, Buddy, and Daisy.

Gabriel, Abigail, Joshua, Sammy and Cynthia are just 5 of the rash of deaths and beatings of children under the care of DCFS. 570 child deaths were reported in a recent 18-month period of time----that represents over one dead child per day under the care of Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS/CPS) who died a cruel and horrible death because the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors refused to implement the meaningful changes advised in the April of 2012 confidential report – leaked to the Los Angeles Times. The 82-page Board of Supervisors Children's Special Investigation Unit Report detailed terrible deficiencies inside the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services ... the department most often responsible for investigating child abuse in court cases.

Had the board approved and implemented the April 2012 recommendations, then Gabriel Fernandez, age 8, would not have been beaten to death. Tori Sandoval, age 25 months, would not have been beaten and starved to death. Sara Chaves, age 2, would not have been abused to death. Erica Johnson, age 2, would not have been beaten to death by a parent with a criminal history, and Deandre Green, age 2, would not have been beaten to death because someone from DCFS would have come to his aid.

Sheila Kuehl, a long time activists for children, families, women, is now on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

In honor of the 2015 National Coming Out Day, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl introduced a motion Tuesday, which passed unanimously, to hire an expert consultant whose sole focus is the support of LGBT youth in the Los Angeles County child welfare system. These youth face unique challenges and barriers to finding positive outcomes and permanent homes—challenges stemming from discrimination due to their sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression.

Contact Supervisor Kuehl (213-974-3333 sheila@bos.lacounty.gov, madeleinepatriciamoore@gmail.com) and ask for her support in fixing the broken Child Protection Services in Los Angeles County. Let her know that there are vulnerable children, who are not gays or lesbians, that need her to acknowledge that DCFS, given its historical and current culture of fear and rigid organizational structure, is designed and fortified with impenetrable internal political walls that resist any meaningful, permanent change.

[From The Story That Does Not Change by Julian J. Dominguez LMFT, A former DCFS employee (1996-2014) and co-author of "A Culture of Fear: An Inside Look at Los Angeles County's Department of Children & Family Services" (Jul 9 2014)]

Case in point, the 2014 Blue Ribbon Commission report (BRCR) that criticizes the troubled Department of Children and Family Services. [1]

The comprehensive one-year audit, costing almost one million dollars, was formed in response to the death of 8-year old Gabriel Fernandez in Palmdale. The BLCR found that many of the issues an earlier commission identified – "and which made specific recommendations on how to fix them" – remain today. [2]

The latest report neglected to identify or even mention one of the most fundamental examples of systemic failure: the tendency of DCFS to consistently provide Dependency courts with information based on erroneous or fabricated "facts" when assessing child safety and family stability. [3]

"Ghost Authoring"

"Ghost Authoring" is the practice that allows DCFS to provide false information to the Dependency courts regarding the status of families involved in Child Custody cases.

"Ghost Authoring" has been around for decades and is an integral part of the DCFS culture. "Ghost Authoring" is practiced, condoned and enforced by the DCFS leadership staff, Supervisors, Assistant Regional Administrators (ARA) and Regional Administrators (RA) -the Ghost Authors.

Clinical Social Workers (CSW) are told what they can and cannot include in a court report.

When their findings disagree with the opinion, position, point of view and implicit or explicit bias of the Ghost Author, the CSW is prevented from including their direct observations of the facts and the truth about the family. The CSW is ordered to sign the document and misrepresent the report as their own.

Should the CSW refuse to sign on ethical and moral grounds, they are told they would be considered "insubordinate," and may be harshly disciplined or even terminated. The Ghost Author justifies this highly unethical practice because "DCFS speaks with one voice."

CSWs have personally experienced or witnessed retaliation by Ghosts for years, who reinforce the "We speak with one voice" philosophy, through fear, bullying, and intimidation.

The "DCFS speaks with one voice" dictum is tightly woven into the cultural fabric of the agency and is designed to prevent any meaningful scrutiny or change in the organization.

The power structure in DCFS offices, backed up and enforced by its management structure and County Counsel, ensures that Ghost Authoring will keep this arbitrary and unethical practice from ever being challenged, reviewed or allowed into the discussion.

There are many other examples of serious systemic defects that prevent or significantly impede effective service delivery to the families, and at the same time crippling the will and spirit of the CSW and DCFS staff and unless there is a fundamental change to the system and structure of DCFS it will not and cannot change. [ End of From The Story That Does Not Change by Julian J. Dominguez LMFT]

Animal Rights Activists need to add campaigns to reform child protective services nationwide; provide child rescue and emergency response; investigate cases of child cruelty; and care for children through sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers, emergency shelters and clinics.

According to HSUS the most abused are the nearly 280 million laying hens in the United States confined in barren wire battery cages so restrictive the birds can't even spread their wings. But how does living in a barren wire battery cage compare to the life of eleven-year-old Jorge Tarin who told a school counselor that he wanted to kill himself "because he was tired of his mother and stepfather beating him all of the time."

Foie gras, the product of cruel force-feeding and diseased internal organs, HSUS refers to delicacy of despair. But you might ask yourself if the real story of despair is the story of Abigail, a child of cruel parental neglect who was returned to her abusing parents at the age of two, who then beat her to death.

HSUS can't imagine forcing a pet dog to live his or her entire life in a small wire cage with no human companionship, toys or comfort, and little hope of ever becoming part of a family. That is what life is like for a puppy mill breeding dog. But can you imagine forcing 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez to endure a cycle of cruelty including a cracked skull, broken ribs, bruises and burns, knocked out teeth and the BB pellets embedded in his lung and groin before he died. DCFS social workers may have failed Gabriel, but that did not stop the California State Assembly from awarding every unionized social worker a pay raise last week. As members of the SEIU, one of California's largest and most powerful government unions, these Palmdale DCFS social workers received a 4.5 percent pay raise just weeks after Gabriel's death. [4]

Animal Rights Activists asks supporters to get involved and to Take Action by supporting their major campaigns:

• Protect Farm Animals, Sign the pledge to help pigs
• Stop Puppy Mills, Join Colbie Callait in a pledge to stop puppy mills
• End Animal Cruelty and Fighting, Learn the signs of dogfighting
• Be Cruelty Free, Pledge your support for cruelty-free cosmetics
• Fur-Free, Fight fur with our action guide
• protect Seals, Save seals from the Canadian seal hunt
• Protect Wildlife, How you can stop crimes against wildlife
• Keep horses SAFE from slaughter
• Adopt a Shelter Pet, Pledge to adopt your next pet from a shelter or rescue group
• Chimps Deserve Better, Here are our top 10 ways to help animals in labs
• Pets for Life, Learn how we help pets and people in under-served areas

We Need a Take Action Campaign to:

• Stop DCFS/CPS from taking kids it shouldn't from loving families for trivial reasons that defy logic, and never returns them. Right now HSUS should be fighting for Lexi Dillon in Orange County, where CPS and the Family Court Judge, Glen Salter, awarded custody to the accused abuser, ignoring an open criminal investigation into child molestation by the father. ( www.savelexi.com )
• Protect the children from growing up in foster homes or being adopted out from the CPS agency that ignores real, documented abuse, leaving the defenseless children to fend for themselves until they are eventually killed.

There is an emerging consensus on several reforms that could make all the difference.

Animal Rights Activists need to demand that Child Protection Services all over the United States act responsibly, for example:

• When there are credible charges of molestation or abuse, law enforcement should investigate not CPS; if there are not, CPS should not be involved at all.
• If a criminal investigation is opened, the child should be placed in protective custody until the case is resolved. Obviously, a loving relative would be preferred to a stranger's home, but the child needs to be in a neutral corner; a safe environment. Children should only be restored to a home where abuse was alleged after allegations have been investigated and failed to be substantiated by law enforcement, and ordered by a judge, not at the whim of a social worker.
• In cases where no abuse is alleged, the burden of proof for continued involvement must fall on the state. There must be an easy way to quickly appeal to a grand-jury type panel of independent individuals from the community (outsiders) who can ultimately over-rule a social worker's decision by a 2/3's vote.
• Remove Malice as the standard by which a social worker can be sued for fraud or misrepresentation of the facts.
• Courts should be open to the public statewide. LA courts are open; OC are closed.
• Record all proceedings on video, especially social worker interviews with children, so there is an actual record to refer to, rather than merely the word of a social worker against the parent.

Momentum is now building for real reform and the public needs to get involved and make sure that attempts at meaningful reforms are not sidetracked by the deceptive tactics of DCFS/CPS or their union. Let's honor Gabriel, Abigail, Joshua Vasquez, Baby Sammy and Cynthia's memory by getting DCFS/CPS back to protecting kids, rather than returning them to those who abuse them. Contact Supervisor Kuehl (213-974-3333 sheila@bos.lacounty.gov, madeleinepatriciamoore@gmail.com) and ask for her support in fixing the broken Child Protection Services in Los Angeles County. [Appendix A]

Robert Singer writes about Secrets, Sentient Creatures and The Federal Reserve at The Peoples Voice and The Market Oracle (rds2301@gmail.com)

Epilogue
In February 2013, Martin Burns, a Fox 11 investigative news reporter, was writing about Lexi Dillion when he was producing the Fox News Special: "Children Lost in the Family Court System." He finished Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. For Part 5 Burns wanted to know “why did social workers – or someone – put her back with her father, the alleged molester, each time?”

Burns was aware of the recent confidential report – leaked to the Los Angeles Times – that detailed terrible deficiencies inside the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services, the department often responsible for investigating child abuse in court cases, and he was looking for insiders, whistle-blowers and others with information – pro or con – about DCFS and the Family and Dependency courts when he has killed.

Martin Burns, it is believed, discovered the answer that is hidden from most public scrutiny. But Burns, like three former Georgia state senators, Nancy Schaefer (R), Bobby Franklin (R) and Robert Brown (D) and documentary maker, Bill Bowen never got the chance to tell the public the hidden secret. Martin like Nancy, Bobby, Robert and Bill died before they could reveal the secret.

Meet Some Of The Children Who Died In Los Angeles Because The City's Child Protection System Is Broken
Illinois and Virginia CPS’ Conspire to Steal and Sex Traffic Children - By Dave Hodges May 17, 2014 Illinois and Virginia Child Protective Services is sex-trafficking in children that it illegally seizes and that the Illinois Child Protective Services is cooperating with Virginia in order to complete a child abduction with sex-trafficking connections.
California Family Courts Helping Pedophiles, Batterers Get Child Custody - Rex Anderson (left) and Henry "Bud" Parson were both convicted of child molestation after family courts awarded them custody of their daughters.
The Most Powerful Person in a Child Custody Case Isn't the Judge - Between 2008 and 2011, more than seventy children who passed through the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services have died due to child abuse or neglect. Many of the lives and deaths of these children have been rigorously documented by Los Angeles Times reporter Garrett Therolf and by the paper's invaluable Homicide Report blog.

Endnotes

[1] SB2030 Child Welfare Services Workload Study, Final Report," is available on line at www.dss.cahwnet.gov/sb2030final/sb2030final.htm.

[2] Report: LA County must reform troubled DCFS; officials say the whole system needs reform (update) by Karen Foshay/KPCC.

[3] The report found that many of the issues an earlier commission identified – and which it also made specific recommendations on how to fix them – remain today. The report takes a critical look at the troubled agency. It found that social workers and the children they are charged of caring for have a dysfunctional relationship:

"Many youth reported to the Commission that they could not even reach or trust their social worker – the person that should be their most important safety resource. In eight months of hearing hundreds of hours of testimony, the Commission never heard a single person defend our current child safety system."
[4] What's remarkable is that when hundreds of ordinary people spent their own money to travel to the Capitol in Sacramento to demand an audit of CPS/DCFS during the time SEIU held a rally for 10,000 social workers who chanted demands for more money, more benefits, more taxpayer-paid vacation time, to come. Not one member of SEIU in their angry purple shirts showed up to show any concern for Gabriel's family or any of the other families gathered there.

Appendix A
There is emerging consensus on several reforms that could make all the difference:

If there are credible charges of molestation or abuse, law enforcement should investigate not CPS; if there are not, CPS should not be involved at all.

If a criminal investigation is opened, the child should be placed in protective custody until the case is resolved. Obviously, a loving relative would be preferred to a stranger's home, but the child needs to be in a neutral corner; a safe environment.

Children should only be restored to a home where abuse was alleged after allegations have been investigated and failed to be substantiated by law enforcement, and ordered by a judge, not at the whim of a social worker.

In cases where no abuse is alleged, the burden of proof for continued involvement must fall on the state. There must be an easy way to quickly appeal to a grand-jury type panel of independent individuals from the community (outsiders) who can ultimately over-rule a social worker's decision by a 2/3's vote.

Remove Malice as the standard by which a social worker can be sued for fraud or misrepresentation of the facts.

Courts should be open to the public statewide. LA courts are open; OC are closed.

Record all proceedings on video, especially social worker interviews with children, so there is an actual record to refer to, rather than merely the word of a social worker against the parent.

Appendix B
Court-Licensed Abuse, a California Problem

In California and across America, children are taken from loving parents as part of a big business, while Big Pharma drug companies and CPS and DCFS make money off the matter. Children are given to sex offenders and violent criminals. Every time a child is removed, the feds provide bonus money. http://culture.squidoo.com/fightcpsvideos http://culture.squidoo.com/fightcpsvideos In addition to the federal funds, counties are linking with Big Pharma drug companies and making big bucks off drugging the children, starting at the earliest possible age. In one county back in Georgia, a drug test company operated through CPS making $100,000 off the kids. This is a national problem.

CPS has a goal of removing children from protective parents as loving parents will fight to protect their kids and keep them out of the system. This is not sex-related but protective-parent related. Often CPS removes the kids from both parents and gives them to abusers.

In Sonoma County, Charlotte Molinari was found hung from a tree after her father received full custody and her mother was prevented from seeing the girl. Afraid the girl had been killed after she identified her father as a rapist and disappeared, Colleen Fernald (the mother) asked authorities to search for her daughter – but they failed to do so. Eventually the father led the police off the path to the tree from which the daughter had been hung. The father quickly had the girl cremated and the mother had to go to court to even be allowed to attend her daughter's funeral.

In Los Angeles, the act of reporting abuse is considered "alienation" and protective parents lose custody and are placed on monitored visitation of only a few short hours per week so they won't encourage their kids to talk about the abuse. In Los Angeles County, it has become standard procedure to give abusers full custody to punish the parent who believes the child. Nation-wide this happens 85% of the time.

In Orange County Charlene Harris and Ruby Dillon both lost custody of their children because the children accused the fathers of sexually abusing them. There was medical and other evidence but reporting abuse is judged far worse than raping a child under the interpretation courts have of the law. See www.savelexi.com

In San Bernardino County, Baby Wyatt was killed by a man whose words foreshadowed the killing. The mother tried to convince the judge of the danger but was not believed hours before the baby was killed by the father.

In Georgia, and unwed mother from Alabama was arrested and extradited to California by a man who had denied being the father, who was out of the country at the time of conception and who had abused the kid when the kid had been with him according to medical, police and eye-witness accounts. He refused to take a paternity test but had the mother arrested for kidnapping her own son and extradited to California, where she was sentenced to three years in prison and lost all rights to ever see her six year old son again. Tammy sits in prison in Santee, CA, knowing that her only child is raised by strangers who have already abused the child severely. http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2014/05/15/california-courts-unconstitutional-trial

While CPS continues to be among the largest taxpayer drains, children are dying and being raped. The courts are out of control. http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC=%7B5433EE7C-6775-4D17-A2A1-CE4686AE1697%7D http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/AD33/?p=article&sid=427&id=255830 the kids need protection and help. The courts need to be opened up so that the false impressions will be eroded by truth – a truth that will lead to a change in the system.