Episode 24 summarizes the 7 episodes posted about America's children lost in foster
care and through family court. I warn you, my listeners and viewers, this is
heartbreaking stuff. Please find your support network if you are triggered by these clips.
Start with the list of resources below.
Dr. Kahn showed some clips from these episodes:
Episode 17 spotlights Rachel Bruno, who had her own children taken in 2015, then
sued Los Angeles County and the State of California. She won. She has the lived
experience and after 10 years the perspective to shed light on the abuses of
America’s child welfare system. She emphasizes the financial incentives for states to
remove children from homes: states get $2000 – $8000 per month, more for special
needs children, to place a child in foster care. LA County receives about $2B per
year from federal funding. Money only kicks in when a child is removed.
Episode 18 features Baily Templeton, mother and advocate for family rights and
child welfare reform, whose child with cancer was taken from her and treated without
her knowledge or consent. Her son was returned after they had amputated the
bottom part of his leg. Bailey argues for parents to be in charge of their children’s
medical, educational and religious decisions. She supports the legislation calling for
Parent Advocates in family courtrooms. She questions the role of the Guardian
Administrator in each state, that makes medical decisions for children in foster care.
In Episode 19, Terri LaPoint describes patterns of Medical Kidnapping, where
children are taken from their parents, sometimes babies taken from their mother’s
arms, placed in foster care. Then as wards of the state, these babies and children
are vaccinated and enrolled in medical tests without parents’ knowledge or consent.
Episode 20 features Connie Reguli, a family rights lawyer, who describes the
policies and laws that allow 350,000 children to be taken from their families every
year. And 87% are not taken for abuse, they are taken for neglect, mostly related to
poverty. The outcomes for foster care children are dreadful on many measures. Over
the past ten years, about 3.5 million children and their families have been
traumatized by the US government. Yet billions of dollars flow from the federal
government to the states to remove children from their homes. Directly helping
families in crisis is not allowed – only taking children from homes.
E 21 and 22: Under the Hood Part 1 and 2. Rachel Bruno, Bailey Templeton,
Connie Reguli, Kathleen Monahan and Dr. Kahn talked about the agencies
responsible for family policy, foster care, and family court. One observation was that
the primary agency, the Administration for Children and Families, ACF, somewhat
recognizes the importance of family support and reunification, though clearly not
enough. To her surprise, Dr. Kahn concluded that truly helping families in crisis
means first of all changing the legislation that delivers tens of billions of dollars to
states for removing children from their homes.
In Episode 23, David Shubert describes parental alienation, in his case starting with
his spouse kidnapping his children, taking them to another country, and lying to the
children to alienate them from the other parent.
RESOURCES
Connie Reguli
Facebook Group Family Forward Project
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1697223540511940
YouTube channel - Connie Reguli
https://youtube.com/@connieregulifamilyforward?si=39HQPmm4_pN0EC94
YouTube - Family Forward Training and...
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