Mother says fight for child on Spirit Lake felt hopeless

A silent tear rolled down Nina Martin’s cheek as she looked around the pink, Minnie Mouse-themed bedroom. A neat pile of toys sit in the corner and the closet is filled with tiny hangers holding up brightly colored clothes in hopes that someday Martin will again see her 3-year-old daughter.

More >> Mother says fight for child on Spirit Lake felt hopeless

$3.25M award for alleged bungled adoption is overturned; lawyer isn't liable for emotional distress

An Iowa lawyer isn’t liable for emotional distress damages for a failed adoption that left a baby in the temporary care of a birth father who was later charged with the child’s murder, the state supreme court has ruled.

The Iowa Court of Appeals overturned a $3.25 million emotional distress verdict against lawyer Jason Rieper in a July 3 opinion, report the Des Moines Register and WHO-TV.

More >> $3.25M award for alleged bungled adoption is overturned; lawyer isn't liable for emotional distress

'Family First' can change the narrative for teens in foster care

Iowa has more than the national average of the number of teenagers in the foster care system. In addition, Iowa also places youth in family-like settings way below the national average according to Annie E Casey’s Transitional Youth Data.

Simply put, teenagers aren’t being placed with families — whether that be their own, foster families, or with relatives. Instead, they’re living in group homes, shelters, or living on their own under what’s called Supervised Apartment Living. Thousands of youth age out at 18 without a family. These are incredibly abnormal narratives for thousands of young people.

More >> 'Family First' can change the narrative for teens in foster care

IOWA SOCIAL WORKER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO PERJURY IN CUSTODY CASE

The social worker accused of lying in a case where four children were removed from their parents is pleading not guilty.

Chelsie Jo Gray, 30 of Lawler, is charged with three counts of perjury. Authorities say Gray knowingly gave false testimony in a December 2017 hearing where she recommended a judge terminate the parental rights of a mother and father. Gray had been assigned as the case worker when the Department of Human Services sought to remove four North Iowa children from their biological parents.

More >> IOWA SOCIAL WORKER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO PERJURY IN CUSTODY CASE

POLK COUNTY JURY RULES IN FAVOR OF FATHER AFTER MOM DEFIES COURT ORDER TO RETURN CHILDREN TO TEXAS

On May 7, 2019, the Polk County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted Elizabeth Annette Davis for the felony offense of Interference with Child Custody.  Davis was found guilty by a Polk County jury.

She was sentenced to serve six months confinement at a state jail facility of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  Assistant Criminal District Attorney Kirby A. Wills secured the conviction for the State of Texas by focusing the jury’s attention on Davis’s actions. 

More >> POLK COUNTY JURY RULES IN FAVOR OF FATHER AFTER MOM DEFIES COURT ORDER TO RETURN CHILDREN TO TEXAS

Iowa social worker charged with lying in child removal case

An Iowa social worker has been charged with perjury for delivering false testimony that helped convince a judge to remove four children from their parents, investigators said Tuesday.

Former Department of Human Services employee Chelsie Gray is charged with knowingly giving false information during a December 2017 hearing in which she recommended a judge terminate the parental rights of a mother and father.

More >> Iowa social worker charged with lying in child removal case

Iowa woman gets 2 years for having sex with ward of the state

An Iowa woman accused of having sex with a teenage boy staying at the Child Saving Institute shelter in Omaha has been sent to prison.

Douglas County District Court records say 24-year-old Hanna Dickerson was sentenced Tuesday to two years. She'd pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a protected person. Prosecutors lowered the charge in exchange for her plea.

More >> Iowa woman gets 2 years for having sex with ward of the state

Jailed parents must be included in hearings on their kids' fate, Iowa Supreme Court rules

Parents in prison or jail must be allowed to fully participate in hearings on whether their parental rights will be taken away, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.

Allowing parents who are incarcerated to participate in person or by phone in such hearings is considered best practice for juvenile court judges, but the practice is not always followed. The court's 4-3 opinion will require juvenile court judges and court staff to do more to ensure the parents can fully participate.

More >> Jailed parents must be included in hearings on their kids' fate, Iowa Supreme Court rules

Police reports detail fights, sex crimes at Iowa academy for troubled youth

In February, a Lincoln, Nebraska, mother of a 15-year-old student at Iowa's Clarinda Academy told police that a staff member assaulted her daughter.

The girl fell and hit her face on the floor, causing bruising, after the facility's director, Brad Honnald, tried to restrain her, according to a police report. 

The next month, eight teens attempted an escape that resulted in a 32-year-old staff worker Nathanial Bennett suffering broken bones and falling unconscious and left another staffer injured.

More >> Police reports detail fights, sex crimes at Iowa academy for troubled youth

Native Americans March For Their Children Placed With Foster Families

Members of the Native American community journeyed on foot through Sioux City on Wednesday to memorialize Native children who have been removed from their homes and placed in foster care.

To Michael Wanbdigdeski O’Connor, the march is medicine, prayer and healing. He says when he marches, he thinks about the children in the child welfare system who have suffered and others that are suffering.

More >> Native Americans March For Their Children Placed With Foster Families

Iowa DHS Director Says State Is Embracing Child Welfare System Changes To Keep Families Together

Iowa’s Department of Human Services says the state’s foster care system has come a long way in helping children in unsafe home situations, but there’s more that needs to be done. The state is embracing a federal law passed earlier this year that supports keeping families together.

The Family First Prevention Services Act passed in February aims to provide services like mental health and substance abuse treatment to families before their child is pushed into the foster care system.

More >> Iowa DHS Director Says State Is Embracing Child Welfare System Changes To Keep Families Together

Abusive parents risk losing adoption subsidies after change in state policy

New rules approved this month would allow the state to recoup adoption subsidies from parents who are abusing or not supporting children in their care.

Iowa’s Department of Human Services drafted the rules after a Reader’s Watchdog report last year showed parents like Mark and Misty Ray of Perry and Nicole and Joseph Finn of West Des Moines still qualified to receive subsidies even after being accused of horrific abuse.

More >> Abusive parents risk losing adoption subsidies after change in state policy

Prosecutor to seek perjury inquiry into Iowa social worker

 A prosecutor will request a review to determine whether an Iowa social worker should be charged with a crime for giving false testimony in child welfare cases.

Cerro Gordo County Attorney Carlyle Dalen says he'll refer the case involving former Iowa Department of Human Services employee Chelsie Gray to another agency for investigation.

More >> Prosecutor to seek perjury inquiry into Iowa social worker

IA Social Worker Out After False Testimony About Parents

A social worker has left the Iowa Department of Human Services months after a judge found she repeatedly gave false testimony against a mother and father who were unfairly stripped of their parental rights.
   
Department spokesman Matt Highland says Chelsie Gray left the agency Sept. 23, two weeks after The Associated Press inquired about her status.

More >> IA Social Worker Out After False Testimony About Parents

• Iowa social worker out after false testimony in custody case

Pro-CPS Propaganda

This is an example of the Pro-CPS Propaganda that is being fed to the sheeple.  Many will believe it.

Bonsel is sober now and has been for more than five years. She and her husband hope to buy their own house soon, where they would live with Mason, now 8 years old, and a second son due to be born in November. She credits children services with much of her current success and believes her family wouldn't be where they are today without the agency.

More >> Moms credit children services with turning around lives

Iowa has one of the highest rates of foster kids on psychotropic drugs in US, study says

Iowa has one of the highest percentages in the U.S. of foster children on psychotropic medication and does a poor job of monitoring the use or effectiveness of those drugs, a study released this month shows.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General found Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Virginia led the nation with the greatest percentages of foster children on psychotropic medications.

More >> Iowa has one of the highest rates of foster kids on psychotropic drugs in US, study says

Lawsuit: Ankeny parents beat adopted children, locked them in basement

Ankeny parents JoAnn and Paul Drake are being sued by their adopted daughter, who accuses them of beating her and an adoptive brother and locking them in a basement years ago.

The plaintiff, 19-year-old SavannahRose Willow, also claims the Iowa Department of Human Services was negligent in failing to observe or investigate the abuse allegations.

More >> Lawsuit: Ankeny parents beat adopted children, locked them in basement

Iowa couple accused of feeding adopted kids only oatmeal, confining them to plastic-lined rooms

An Osceola couple is facing charges after investigators say they neglected and endangered the health of two children they adopted from Ghana.

Online court records show 42-year-old Kenny Fry and 40-year-old Kelly Fry are each charged with neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, child endangerment-bodily injury, and child endangerment.

More >> Iowa couple accused of feeding adopted kids only oatmeal, confining them to plastic-lined rooms

Ankeny couple gets probation for physically, verbally abusing adopted children

An Ankeny couple will spend two years on probation after pleading guilty to abusing two of their nine adopted children last year.

John, 56, and Joyce, 58, Bell each pleaded guilty in May to two counts of child endangerment. The couple was sentenced Thursday afternoon by Polk County District Court Judge Heather Lauber.

More >> Ankeny couple gets probation for physically, verbally abusing adopted children

Locked away: Iowa is holding troubled children in isolation to punish them even as it pays out huge settlements

For nearly 2½ years, JaQuan Bradford — a boy with emotional and mental disabilities — was held in isolation by the Iowa Department of Human Services for most of each day.

More >> Locked away: Iowa is holding troubled children in isolation to punish them even as it pays out huge settlements