Boy's death shows weaknesses of L.A. County's child welfare system
Records show that Yolanda Tijerina exhibited signs of mental illness months before she decapitated her son Lars Sanchez, 4. But the risk was not deemed sufficient to remove him from her care.
Unexpected Backlash of the Probe into the Child Welfare System: Absence of Due Process
ReplyDeleteMy sister in law has had the unfortunate privilege of dealing with the Child Welfare System in the wake of the current probe. In this instance her 9-month old toddler was injured when she pulled herself onto a large dining room table and the chair tipped over on her. The head injury became life-threatening and the baby was rushed from a nearby inadequately functions emergency room to the pediatric care center at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. The baby underwent surgery and has remained in ICU as mother and father diligently watched over her.
Then came the overzealous social worker who took the remaining three children, without due process, and against the recommendation of the surgeon who stated that there was no evidence of abuse during the operation. She quickly tried to get the children into foster care although members of the family were available to care for the children. When we followed up with the social worker she lied and directed us to another social worker who posed as her supervisor -- which she wasn't. It appears to be a scam, corrupt social workers rely on the ignorance of vulnerable parents to throw children into the system quickly. Once the child is in the system the social worker receives a kick-back from the individual chosen for foster care, and never has to deal with the parents again. As you know, it is harder to get a child out of the system than it is to get them into the system
We finally got the kids back after only a day and they were "assigned" to their aunt and grandmother. The police were asked to investigate again a second time because the first social worker botched the paperwork. For the second time the police reported no evidence of abuse. The Police even went so far as to say that know the signs of abusive parents and my sister and brother-in-law didn't fit the bill.
However, after we retained a lawyer things changed. Detective Marlene Vega from the Special Victims Bureau of the Sheriff's department out of Whittier, CA requested that the parents take a polygraph test. The lawyer advised us not to take it. Detective Vega promptly went into a tirade. As a last ditch effort to coerce the parents into taking the polygraph test, Detective Vega took the kids away and placed them into foster care the night before their court appearance. Why not wait and let the judge decide? It was a gross misuse of power to which Detective Vega claimed, "I have the right to do it." So instead of the three children being in the comfort of family they are spending another night in an already tainted foster care system.
My trust in the system is tainted. This unfortunate experience is a true testament to the economic separation of justice. If we had money, this wouldn't have happened. The California Child Welfare system is in dire need or reform from the inside out. Switching from one extreme, negligence, to another extreme, fraud and over zealousness, is not the way to change. The truth must be sought from the beginning. However it seems that the fallibility of humans overpowers the search for justice.
it took me THREE years To get my children back! I was abused and was "unable to protect myself" they put my kids with HIS Mom, uh...he lives there too! He is currently in jail (THANKS TO ME) for abusing one of our children, but who knows how long he will get to be there, the Judge may DROP the charges I filed against him because a 5 in. long, 3 in. wide bruise he left on my child's arm may be deemed ACCIDENTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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