LK Announcement

Good morning.

I have decided to retire Legally Kidnapped. 

After over 12 years of bring you the latest headlines regarding CPS fraud, failures and fuck-ups, I have decided it's time for me to move on to bigger and better things.  I still have no love for CPS so I will still be around in some capacity.  I just haven't figured it out yet.  

LK has simply become a burden and a dead horse that I can no longer do anything with.  My life circumstances have changed.  There are also technical issues with the blog that I can no longer overcome.  For example, thousands of dead links to articles that are no longer there on the servers.  This prevents me achieving any growth or earning any revenue for the hours of work that I put in and the fact that there are costs associated with running and growing any blog requires that.  

I would love for somebody else to take over, but I doubt anybody would be willing to put in the work.  I still own the domain name and haven't figured out what to do with it.  Should anybody be interested, you can contact me through Facebook and we can talk about it.

I want to thank all of my loyal followers.  I wish you all the best of luck in your fights against this evil system that has brought so much pain and suffering to to children and their families.  You will all be in my prayers.   

LK

I’m a Mom Fighting for Custody — & the Parents Giving it Up for College Aid Make Me Sick

A group of Illinois parents has been in the news recently for taking advantage of a legal loophole in order to get their kids college financial aid: The parents are giving up custody of their kids in order to game the system. As a mom who’s currently engaged in a difficult custody battle of my own, these parents are rubbing salt in my wounds. Not only are they taking for granted the very thing that so many of us parents fight long and hard for — custody of our children — but they are relinquishing it in order to get financial breaks they don’t deserve.

Similar to the college admissions scandal a few months ago — during which rich Hollywood parents used bribery to get their not-necessarily-deserving kids into college — here we are again, faced with the sobering reality of class warfare. But how did we get here? How did college admission and aid become a war? Why can’t the privileged check themselves and give the financial assistance to vulnerable families who truly need it?

More >> I’m a Mom Fighting for Custody — & the Parents Giving it Up for College Aid Make Me Sick

What's next for the former Corpus Christi officer accused of impersonating a CPS worker?

A former Corpus Christi police officer accused of posing as a Child Protective Services worker will go to trial in September after a judge rejected her offer to plead guilty.

Norma DeLeon resigned from the Corpus Christi Police Department in March, and is accused of pretending to be a CPS worker during a welfare check.

More >> What's next for the former Corpus Christi officer accused of impersonating a CPS worker?

• Judge rejects plea deal for former CCPD officer accused of impersonating CPS worker

Foster Parents Who Beat 2-Year-Old to Death Cry as They Are Found Guilty of Murder

On Thursday, a Georgia jury convicted a 30-year-old woman and her 29-year-old husband of murdering their 2-year-old foster daughter in 2015, according to multiple reports.

Jennifer and Joseph Rosenbaum were both facing 49 counts stemming from the death of Laila Daniel.

More >> Foster Parents Who Beat 2-Year-Old to Death Cry as They Are Found Guilty of Murder

DCF declines to pursue case after witness claims to see child punished at restaurant

The Department of Children and Families has declined to pursue a case after a witness called police about what was viewed as excessive force used on a child at a restaurant in The Villages.

The witness called law enforcement on the evening of July 27 after she saw a man remove his three-year-old daughter from Chili’s restaurant on Avenida Central, according to an incident report from the Lady Lake Police Department. The father later admitted to police he had spanked the child in the parking. The witness claimed the father had spanked the child so hard she was finding it hard to catch her breath, the report said.

More >> DCF declines to pursue case after witness claims to see child punished at restaurant

School-lunch debt cleared; N.E. Pa. superintendent ‘appalled and upset’ by district’s foster-care threats to parents

As of Thursday, no family in the Northeastern Pennsylvania school district that attracted national attention for its efforts to collect student lunch debt.

More >> School-lunch debt cleared; N.E. Pa. superintendent ‘appalled and upset’ by district’s foster-care threats to parents

Foster grandparent pleads guilty to child sex abuse

A Franklin County foster grandparent is in prison for sexually abusing five children.

James Horton pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of child sex abuse. Investigators say Horton abused five kindergarten children in the foster grandparent program. As part of the plea deal, Horton was sentenced to seven years in prison.

More >> Foster grandparent pleads guilty to child sex abuse

Foster care providers fear loss of funding due to Family First Act

A successful foster care provider in Saline County is fighting for kids he serves.

For 19 years, Second Chance Youth Ranch has housed foster children and supported foster families.

“We provide the support, the knowledge, the wisdom,” said Perry Black, founder of the non-profit organization. “We take off a lot of those responsibilities of the families. We help them with budgeting, planning, safety factors, transportation. We provide the house and the utilities.”

More >> Foster care providers fear loss of funding due to Family First Act

Illinois DCFS: Agency didn't track kids sleeping in offices

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has acknowledged it didn't track how many children were forced to sleep in its offices until recently.

The agency reports 16 children were forced to sleep in DCFS offices between May 6 and June 28 of this year. It says it didn't track those numbers before May 6.

More >> Illinois DCFS: Agency didn't track kids sleeping in offices

IN DEPTH: Incarcerated parents learn to live away from their children while remaining relevant to families

Marcus and Jasson Jr. can’t wait to wrestle with their dad.

The brothers sat with their grandmother, Kim Howell, on July 3 inside the family’s living room in Portage. It was a fairly normal evening, and just earlier that week, they had spoken to their father, Jasson Howell Sr.

More >> IN DEPTH: Incarcerated parents learn to live away from their children while remaining relevant to families

A police officer tried to report suspected child neglect to the state’s 24-hour hotline. He was told to leave a message and wait up to 4 days for a callback.

A small police department in the northwest suburbs had received several calls about a local family, raising the possibility that young children might be living in a dangerous home.

Concerned citizens began contacting the McCullom Lake Police Department in March to relay a number of allegations: The children were playing alone in the street and on the roof of the house, a baby strapped into a car seat was left unattended on the front porch and someone inside the home threatened to beat the children, according to police reports obtained by the Tribune in a public records request.

More >> A police officer tried to report suspected child neglect to the state’s 24-hour hotline. He was told to leave a message and wait up to 4 days for a callback.

Voices for Children report shows racial disparity in calls to Nebraska abuse/neglect hotline

A report by Voices for Children in Nebraska shows children of minority groups are more likely to be the subject of maltreatment reports to the state's child abuse/neglect hotline.

The report, "Equality Before the Law: Race and Ethnicity in the Front End of Nebraska’s Child Welfare System," examined calls to the child abuse and neglect hotline and the immediate child welfare system response.

More >> Voices for Children report shows racial disparity in calls to Nebraska abuse/neglect hotline

US asylum laws foster child trafficking at southern border, Utah Sen. Mike Lee says

Left unchanged, U.S. asylum laws will continue to let human traffickers bring children across the southern border and sell them as sex slaves, Sen. Mike Lee told a U.S. Senate committee Thursday.

"Children are brought to the border by cartels who know the U.S. government will essentially complete the trafficking route for them at the end of the road by releasing the child into the interior, in some cases to sponsors who claim to be relatives but in fact are only the final link in the trafficking chain," he said.

More >> US asylum laws foster child trafficking at southern border, Utah Sen. Mike Lee says

• Doctors call for investigation after 3 migrant children in custody die of flu
• These Horrifying Family Separation Cases Have All Happened Since Trump “Ended” the Policy
• 'Timely Action Is Critical': Doctors Call On Congress to Investigate Children's Deaths In Migrant Detention Centers
• ‘Why did you leave me?’ In new testimonies, migrants describe the ‘torment’ of child separation

Wrongful death lawsuit names CYFD, foster parent

An amended lawsuit brings on new accusations in the 2017 death of a baby girl in the care of a state-licensed foster parent.

CYFD, social workers, supervisors, and an office manager are now named as defendants in the lawsuit against Stephanie Crownover, a foster mom accused in the December 2017 death of Ariza Barreras in Valencia County.

More >> Wrongful death lawsuit names CYFD, foster parent

Birth mom charged in adoption fraud case locked up on new bond violation

A birth mother charged in a nationwide adoption fraud case has been locked up once again. Enhelica Wiggins appeared in U. S. District Court in Detroit Thursday to face a Federal Magistrate Judge, after she turned herself in Wednesday night. Wiggins is accused of violating her bond.

The 29-year-old from Saginaw had previously placed children through unlicensed Macomb County adoption worker Tara Lee.

Lee is charged with 23 counts of wire fraud, and 1 count of aggravated identity theft.

More >> Birth mom charged in adoption fraud case locked up on new bond violation

Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith were once accused of ‘abusing and not feeding’ daughter Willow

Jada Pinkett-Smith and her husband Will Smith were once accused of ‘abusing’ and ‘not feeding’ their daughter Willow.

Jada, 47, revealed that someone called the child protective services in 2014 after a photo was shared showing Willow, then 13, lying on a bed with her shirtless Disney star pal, Moises Arias, then 20.

More >> Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith were once accused of ‘abusing and not feeding’ daughter Willow

• Jada Pinkett Smith EXCLUSIVE: 'We’ve survived so much as a family' Actress recalls child protective services being called amid false claims she was 'abusing' daughter Willow

‘A deeply broken process’: DCFS on how kids in its care end up sleeping in offices

The recent revelation that children under the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services had been sleeping in administrative offices may be “merely the tip of a very large iceberg,” a county watchdog says.

Internal emails show DCFS recognized last month that it had a “deeply broken process” that led to children spending the night in office space, sometimes on the floor.

More >> ‘A deeply broken process’: DCFS on how kids in its care end up sleeping in offices

Erica Parsons' adoptive mother pleads guilty to murder, child abuse

Casey Parsons, the adoptive mother of slain Rowan County teenager Erica Parsons, pleaded guilty Friday morning to murder and child abuse in the girl’s death.

Casey Parsons entered a guilty plea to all three charges against her -- murder, child abuse and obstruction of justice -- and will spend the rest of her life in prison.

More >> Erica Parsons' adoptive mother pleads guilty to murder, child abuse

Department of Children doesn't know identity of 37 childcare facilities at 'critical' level of risk

THE DEPARTMENT OF Children has said it does not know the identity of the 37 childcare facilities which Tusla has identified where critical levels of non-compliance are occuring.

The agency’s Director of Quality Assurance Brian Lee told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs yesterday that 37 facilities are on the highest level of risk on Tusla’s risk register.

More >> Department of Children doesn't know identity of 37 childcare facilities at 'critical' level of risk

A Parent’s Worst Nightmare

Suppose one day you arrived home and learned that you no longer had authority over your minor teenage son.  Unbeknownst to you, your son received advice from a legal aid group on how to become emancipated. No court hearings, no opportunity to be part of the legal process, and now no access to school records or medical records…no rights any longer as a parent.  Then you find out that your son was receiving without your permission or even your knowledge hormone treatments in order to transition from male to female. Would you be shocked? Would you wonder how such legal action could take place and you not even know about it?

More >> A Parent’s Worst Nightmare

Texas pediatrician on border crisis: ‘Kids don’t go in cages’

Over a 13-year career as a pediatrician in Texas, Dr. Marsha Griffin has visited every government facility that could hold newly arrived migrant children in the Rio Grande Valley.

She visited U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities during the 2013 and 2014 surge in unaccompanied minors arriving from Central America, when the agency retrofitted a warehouse in McAllen, Texas, into its largest detention center for unauthorized immigrants. Over the past 12 months, she has been visiting the facilities again – including a new temporary CBP facility in Donna, Texas, amid another surge in unaccompanied minors and families from Central America.

More >> Texas pediatrician on border crisis: ‘Kids don’t go in cages’

• Advocates: 'Horrible deja vu' in continued family separation
• ACLU says Trump admin has separated over 900 migrant children in past year
• Editorial: The Trump administration is using any excuse it can find to separate migrant families
• US has taken nearly 1,000 child migrants from their parents since judge ordered stop to border separations, ACLU says
• Booker on detention facilities for unauthorized border crossings
• N.C. shut down a group home last year. The US just gave it a contract to house migrant children
• Lindsey Graham to change rules, break ties with Democrats to curb asylum seekers at US border
• Her toddler died weeks after leaving ICE custody. She's suing a private prison company for $40 million

After boy’s death, family sues L.A. County’s child welfare agency for $50 million

Even years later, tears still flow easily for Maria Barron when she describes her efforts to rescue her nephew, Anthony Avalos, from his abusive Antelope Valley home.

She had been a constant presence in Anthony’s life — potty training, consulting with his teachers in preschool, hearing his boyhood dreams about being a fireman. Before his death at age 10, the boy confided in her and her husband about the abuse, too.

More >> After boy’s death, family sues L.A. County’s child welfare agency for $50 million

White Couple That Abused Adopted African Children Avoid Jail Time

A white couple made headlines last year after they adopted two African children only to neglect, starve and force them to live in deplorable conditions. One year later, the pair has escaped any jail time. Why are we not surprised?

More >> White Couple That Abused Adopted African Children Avoid Jail Time

Independent Report Finds Shortcomings in RI DCYF

An independent report on Rhode Island's child welfare agency has found serious shortcomings.

The Providence Journal reports that the Public Consulting Group Inc. report found that the Department of Children, Youth and Families failed to meet the target outcomes in 12 of 20 performance areas. The report covers the second half of 2018.

More >> Independent Report Finds Shortcomings in RI DCYF

Couple found guilty in the murder of two-year-old foster child

It was jaw dropping and tearful moment in a Henry County courtroom as a couple learned they were found guilty of murdering a two-year-old toddler.

More >> Couple found guilty in the murder of two-year-old foster child