System-Suckology: The High Profile Child Abuse Case and the Simple Minded Sheep

This is an extremely important article that I just came across.  One that almost accurately describes the heard like behavior of the idiot sheep simple minded normal people who watch too much TV News which is currently fixated on on a small number of high profile child abuse cases around the New York City area.

The average caseload was 9.2 per worker earlier this year, below the target of 12 at the city's Administration for Children's Services, according to the Daily News of New York (http://nydn.us/2ll2Y2x ). But after Zymere Perkins' death in September, (a high profile child abuse case) it rose to more than 13.8, largely because of an increase in calls of suspected abuse and neglect. The agency hired 600 new caseworkers last year, but child welfare workers told the newspaper that many are leaving because the job is overwhelming and stressful. 

More >> NYC child welfare worker caseloads increase after deaths 

You see folks, the normal people get their whole education about child welfare from watching TV or reading sensational news stories in the local papers. When the Local News Media takes off with such horrific stories, the normal people tend to have their hearts and minds moved in such a way that they start seeing potential cases of child abuse everywhere.  They become so concerned for the well being of other peoples children that they pick up the phone and call without hesitation.

It's an interesting phenomenon really.  These simple minded normal people become psychologically conditioned to to think of only such horrific cases of child abuse so that when they hear the words "child abuse or neglect" sickening images of only the worst of the worst cases pops into their heads.  Differences in severity, such as the difference between a minor spanking and a sicko who rapes and beats an infant to within an inch of her life become totally non existent to them.  All parents become monsters.  Therefore, oh my god every kid is going to die so everybody needs to call CPS right away.

"We recognize that caseloads rise temporarily following high-profile cases, and averages fluctuate at various times throughout the year, which is why our continued focus remains building on the 600 workers we've recently hired," acting Commissioner Eric Brettschneider said.

It is right that society be disgusted by severe child abuse cases.  We wouldn't be civilized if we allowed these cases to go unpunished.  That said, it is a shame that when it does happen, the number of unwarranted calls to the hotline increase drastically.  As a consequence, Social Workers end up chasing shadows and burying themselves in the paperwork it comes with, while the real child abuse cases just slip through the cracks.

Another consequence is that CPS becomes, perceptually speaking, an utter mess in need of tons of money to hire more workers and provide more training, and bla bla bla and this and that, ie. "600 newly hired workers."  The states legislature typically falls for it and pumps more money into the system to "fix" it.  Therefore CPS is able to use the high profile child abuse case as a growth opportunity when it should be an opportunity to throw them all out and start over.  In fact, the simple minded normal people mentioned above will demand it of them.  

These people who become so quick to call the Child Abuse Hotline following high profile child abuse cases are a major part of the problem that doesn't get nearly enough credit.  Sadly, most of them don't know any better because until you experience a CPS worker crawling up your ass, it is impossible for you to see the light.

I could go on about this subject for hours.  I'm just not going to as I've already given you enough to chew on.

Peace Love and Flowers
LK

10 Highly Effective Tactics to Making Money During Child Abuse Propaganda Month

We all know that the System Sucks are in it for the money, but National Child Abuse Propaganda Month which is held every April, is a special time of the year for making even more.  During this month of excessively high System Suck activity, the System Sucks hold all kinds of events and fundraisers, tell lots of horror stories, blow the whole issue out of proportion and take total advantage of the easily influenced stupidity of the normal people.  

So without further adieu, let's look at a few of the ways that they have commoditized some of the nations most vulnerable children.

10. Ask for money...

And don't forget to throw in a great horror story when you do.  Remember, people base most of their decisions on emotion then justify it later through logic.  Therefore throwing in a few CPS created statistics, or a fresh from the headlines case along with a convincing story on why you're the ultimate solution to the problem is a great way to get people to part with their hard earned cash.

This Wednesday, April 9, is Arizona Gives Day. It's a challenge for all of us to donate money to Prevent Child Abuse Arizona resources. Don't wait for a legislative debate at the governmental level. This is people helping people. That means us. Call 445-5038 to help. 

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubsectionID=73&ArticleID=130332

and be bold about it...

Support the “Promise to Protect” campaign – the CAC is asking the community to “promise to protect” local children with a contribution of $483.00 ($1/child abused in Tom Green County). This contribution will provide hope and healing to the children that have experienced abuse or neglect. In appreciation for your valuable support, you or your business will be featured on Facebook and receive a hand-delivered bouquet of blue pinwheels. 

http://975kgkl.com/april-is-child-abuse-prevention-month/?trackback=tsmclip

9.  Convince people that they're helping by suckering them in to work for free.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month - CASA needs volunteers, and of course they get grants to help their business grow.  

8. Offer a discount on a product sold through your website, such as a book about child abuse, in honor of National Child Abuse Propaganda Month. 

Child Abuse and Neglect, 2nd Edition.

7.  Hold a road race and get people to collect pledges.

 CASA's fun run April 19 

 Exchange Happenings – April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

 Royalty Race to support Prevent Child Abuse Lake County

6. Hold a A Zumbathon Fundraiser!!!  (or whatever, just do something fun to bring out people who otherwise wouldn't get up off of their butts.)

 http://www.kltv.com/story/25145560/wood-co-encouraging-child-abuse-prevention-with-candlelighting-family-events

(Unlike the Child Protective Industry, I never make any of this shit up.)

5. Have your business advertise support for child abuse prevention by offering 10% of your profits to the System Sucks, while getting a free write up in the newspaper for your efforts.

• Subway Day — Will take place all day April 15 at Subway locations in Manitowoc, Two Rivers and Mishicot. Ten percent of all daily sales will be donated to support CASA, a volunteer-based program that advocates for abused and neglected children in Manitowoc County. 

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20140402/MAN0101/304030193/Residents-rally-support-child-abuse-awareness?nclick_check=1

4. Eat Drink and Gamble.

The fundraiser will feature a bountiful buffet throughout the evening including over-the-top hors d'oeuvres, carving stations, fish and pasta dishes and delectable desserts. There will be an open bar, casino-style play all night, and a silent auction and tricky tray.   

Tickets are $125 each and can be obtained by calling Chrystal Henion at 201-336-7520. Donations are also being accepted for the auction and tricky tray. Ads for the journal and sponsorships are available beginning at $25. Please call Chrystal for information.

 http://ridgewood.patch.com/groups/giving/p/bergen-casa-casino-night-to-benefit-local-foster-kids

3. Have a Bake Sale.

4,000 Desserts at "Cupcakes for Kids" to Help Raise Awareness

2. Invite people to go bowling....

Hampstead 'friend-raiser' brings out bowlers in support of Family and Children's Services

And the Number 1 way to make money during Child Abuse Propaganda Month.  Sell blue things such as Pinwheels and Ribbons and Kite Shaped Pin Up's...

Yes folks, the Child Protective Industry thrives off of symbolism.  The blue pinwheel, blue ribbon whatever is one of the most common symbols of Child Abuse Propaganda Month.

For example...

You can order a pinwheel garden in Utah for $100 bucks to show how willing you are to jump on the child abuse bandwagon.  http://www.preventchildabuseutah.org/ or Click Here for the Order Form

Or sell a pin up for a dollar.  Child abuse awareness fundraiser

Or sell blue ribbon cards.  April Child Abuse Prevention Month

Or sell a t-shirt.  Buy a GO Blue! T-shirt.

and don't forget to use the number of calls to the child abuse hotline rather than the number of confirmed cases of child abuse, you can make more that way.  

Volunteers tied 6,112 streaming, foot-long blue ribbons on two young trees on the North Kalamazoo Mall along the 100 block of Michigan Avenue in downtown Kalamazoo.  

Each ribbon represents a case of child abuse reported during 2013, said Karen Hayter, executive director of the Kalamazoo County Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Council. 

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2014/04/efforts_made_in_2013_to_help_p.html

SystemSuckology and that nut over at Foster2Forever.com

SystemSuckology is the philosophical study of the psychology and moral/ethical view of the the System Suck.  It is an attempt to answer various questions such as: How can these people sleep at night?  How do these people think?  How do they view themselves?  And most importantly how they justify their actions by judging you, the real parents of the children in question.  Typically, these judgement's are based on the mouth of the CPS Agent who is overseeing the case.

The System Suck, being defined as anybody who benefits from the system including any profiting lawyer, shrink, foster parent or service provider as well as any desperate to adopt infertile who feels incomplete as a woman because of her inability to breed crossed with an unhealthy obsession with joining the mommy crowd, thus causing her to feel entitled to the children of others based upon their imperfections as a parent and thereby with a complete lack of empathy for the real parent who lost their child.  And to tell you the truth, they don't give a hoot as to how you feel about it.  You are monsters.  You f****d up.  That's why they have your child so too bad for you.

In other words, not every person in this is trying to benefit financially from all of this.  There are those who want your child of their very own to have and to hold, to hug and to squeeze and to call George or Veronica or what have you.  These people are much less likely to want to do the right thing for the child because their agenda is to become parents which can often conflict with the desire of the real parents to get their kids back once they fall in love with your child who is in their care at that moment in time.



There is one person (a foster blogger) out there who is the epitome of all of this.

In her latest blog post for example, that parent hating nut over at Foster 2 Forever describes how she decided to play God by refusing the placement of the biological sibling of one of her stolen children, thus forcing the kids brother to grow up in a different family, forever.  And because another family is now the proud parents of somebody elses stolen kid, they can all live happily ever after.

http://foster2forever.com/2013/08/brothers-adopted.html

How cold and heartless can these foster frauds be?  Well...  Lets examine this.

In her blog post, Penelope calls her decision not to take the biological baby brother of one of her stolen children one of the most "heart wrenching decisions" she's ever had to make, then she lists her excuses for refusing the second kid, naming age and her inability to deal with more children. Fortunately, further on down in the post, all is made better because Penelope approves of her stolen child's brother's adoptive parents.  The only mention of the real parents is that they took the real baby away too.  So we don't know if the parents did anything to fix this or not.  The real parents, of course, are the villain in her version of this story which is her justification for the whole thing.

Then they say we'll let you visit occasionally, to try to make it look all better to her readers.  This probably being based on the convenience of or some demographic of the adopting parents but certainly at their current ages, they will not understand that they are actually brothers being kept apart.  It's also probably a heartless promise with no real intention of going beyond the occasional play-date schedule of the 'nomadic interfile yuppies' who like Matt and Melanie Capobianco, would stoop to the lowest possible levels to get their hands on your kid of their very own.

It's bad enough that they justify their personal acquisition of stolen children by passing judgement onto the real parents based on the ranting and ravings of the nice social worker, who is actively working to convince the gullible that they are angels by repeatedly telling them what they want to hear, including what a monster the real parent is, but come on...  These are siblings. Brothers! Real brothers who should be given every opportunity to grow up together as God intended by having them come into the world via the same mother and possibly father. It's bad enough to separate them from the parents but to separate them from each other is perhaps the lowest thing you can possibly do.

But you are evil so they are justified.  They are the heroes in the story.

So if you are not blocked because you made some accurate comment critical of this real parent hater's views then your best bet would be to copy and paste the link into your browser instead of clicking on it which will get you a "stop harassing me" message.  And if for whatever reason you are unable to view this page, let me know and I'll send you the copy.

http://foster2forever.com/2013/08/brothers-adopted.html

http://foster2forever.com/2011/11/baby-brother.html

Systemsuckology and the Art of BS-ing You Into Supporting Their Cause

Good morning to all of my beloved readers:

Although this article is off topic, I will post because I run into a similar problem daily, where the media is so biased on political and social issues that pre-determined and false-dispositions are created and assumed in the normal people who are highly susceptible to suggestion simply because the media so often speaks in suggestive tones and demeanor's, that agreement of personal values can be assumed regardless of the level of knowledge the normal person has on the subject.  In other words, the way something is said can predetermine the opinion on the subject that the normal person will formulate by reading or watching especially when they see it on a trusted source such as the TV.

During April, for example, which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month or May being Foster Care month, or even November which is when they liquidate the assets during the mad dash to maximize that adoption bonus otherwise known as National Adoption Month, the media will often use the wrong set of numbers to demonstrate the problem of child abuse or the severity of the need for foster or adoptive families, while failing to mention the fact that there are plenty of parents or capable and loving family members fighting desperately for the chance to raise their kids.  The demeanor or rather the tone of the articles and news reporters on the Television Mind Control Device often preaches predetermined dispositions such as:

• Foster Parents are wonderful people who are helping children.
• CPS Agents are wonderful people who are overworked and underpaid while doing an extremely stressful and dangerous job.
• Adoptive Parents are wonderful people who share their hearts and their homes with a child in need.
• They are ALL angels and you are ALL monsters.
• Etc.

While sometimes this might be true, anybody who has ever had a CPS Agent up their ass knows that they are often sadistic bitches on power trips who rip families apart without just cause and the fact that there are such high rates of abuse in foster homes or with countries such as Russia banning adoptions to the USA for whatever reason, the critical and independent thinker would see signs of a problem.  However, with the good and obedient normal's far outnumbering those of us who question such authoritarian and emotionally manipulative psycho-babble bullshit, intellectuals and truthers are often perceived as the bad guy, angry, hateful or even crazy simply for telling the truth which doesn't comply with the accepted understanding of the normal mind and instead providing an alternative view of a cruel and unjust system of con artists, money sucking service providers, infertile women who desperately want your child of their own, and fraud.

For this I'm the bad guy according to dip-shit's like this... (not that I consider her normal or anything, for she's at the totally opposite end of the bell-curve).


For example, (as I've mentioned a hundred times) a county or a state could have had a certain number of calls to the child abuse hotline, and use that to make an impact on viewers or readers. On average, only about 15% of said calls are ever substantiated, that fact is rarely mentioned. The rest are either unsubstantiated or do not rise to the level where an investigation would be warranted. The bigger number just looks bad and the sheeple will support the cause all the more.

Also words such as "terror" and "child abuse" have become generic with universal meanings and understandings, although each situation and severity level would be different, once they repeat the lie enough times or bombard the sheep with only the worst of the worst, such images simply pop into their heads at mention of the word and the grandmother who slaps the 17 year old in the face for telling her to go fuck herself is put into the same boat as the sick individual who rapes and beats an infant to within an inch of their lives, because they're both child abusers.  So really all they're doing is crying "wolf" and "fire" in a crowded theater all at the same time. But it works because there are the normal people supporting their cause and crying out for more and more and more.

The Elephant in the Room: Militarism 

I spent years as a political pundit on mainstream TV – at CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. I was outnumbered, outshouted, red-baited and finally terminated. Inside mainstream media, I saw that major issues were not only dodged, but sometimes not even acknowledged to exist.

A SystemSuckology Case Study: How They Twist Events And Use Wording To Turn You Into A Monster

I'm sorry, usually I wouldn't do this, but I have to correct this article in order to demonstrate how the wording alone can have a profound effect on the perception of the court of public opinion, which is typically staffed by the normal people who haven't a clue as to what goes on in secret.

Police: Mother swings child from side-to-side in front of CPS agents

Gut Public Reaction of a Typical Normal Person: Oh My God!  How can she do that to that poor helpless child?

LK Reaction: The CPS Agent was probably trying to rip the baby from her mommy's arms and she swung around in an effort to protect her kid.

A Louisville woman was arrested after police say she refused to give up her child to Child Protective Services officials despite a court order.

Translation to Reality: A mother, while going through that awful moment in her life when her family is being ripped apart, gets busted for not happily handing over her child to CPS Agents without question or argument.

Then she gets accused of all kinds of shit!  Check this out...

According to police, Denise Wilson is charged with Wanton Endangerment, Obstructing Governmental Operations and Terroristic Threatening after she allegedly help on to an 8-month-old child and shook the baby from side-to-side in front of the CPS agents. She then allegedly stated that was going to "get" the social worker and that the social worker would "get her's."

Far be it from me to question authority of any kind, especially the word of a Cop or a CPS Agent, but knowing what I know, I highly doubt that this mother is guilty of anything more than trying to protect her child from the Boogey Man.   However, we now have new terminology, that is essential to understand when dealing with CPS Agents.  

1. If somebody was trying to grab your baby and you moved her out of the way quickly then they can twist it around and say that you were shaking the baby from side to side.  
2. Any natural verbal reaction will be interpreted as a threat.  
3. And your unwillingness to happily hand your baby over to CPS Agents is now called Obstructing Governmental Operations. 

The article concludes with...

Police say the child was put in danger by Wilson's actions.

But that's no reason to believe it.  I wasn't there so I don't know.  The article says nothing about the child being injured though.

System-Suckology: What They Think You Need To Know

The news coverage regarding the recent attacks on the Gaza Strip by Israel has been skewed and ignored by the mainstream media.  This is similar to the problem that family rights activists face when dealing with a mainstream media that constantly bombards the normal people with pro-CPS propaganda, National Adoption Month fairy tales and a blown out of proportion look at the issue of child abuse and neglect while completely ignoring the fraud and corruption committed against innocent families and children by CPS Agents every day.

Who is doing the killing in Gaza? Noam Chomsky and others challenge world's media

Fortunately, for inquiring minds who want to know, we now have unregulated social media, including Twitter and Google +, where not only is the propaganda spewing from both sides of the conflict, but the people who are as close to the conflict as you can possibly get are tweeting about their plights and suffering, while tons of pictures that you will never see in the mainstream media are available simply by clicking on a currently trending #hashtags where you can read about such conflicts from the people who are caught in the middle of the firestorm.

Israel's Gaza Invasion Sparks Fierce Fighting With Hamas On Twitter, YouTube

Unfortunately for the Palestinians in Gaza, as well as the Victims of CPS in the UK, Canada, Australia and right here in the good ol' USA, etc. most of the good little sheep continue to choose to get their knowledge of current events in the world through the skewed and Sugar Coated Mainstream Media Propaganda Machine.  For the most part, people can't handle the disruption to their ignorant views of their perfect little world and simply don't want to accept the fact that fraud, cruelty, secrecy and cover-ups are an ongoing reality for the parents who are falsely accused of abuse or that the Palestinians could possibly have any legitimate beef with Israel whatsoever.

Most people would rather sit quietly in their beliefs that all is well and that they are well informed because they watch CNN or Fox News and/or read their local newspapers.  Therefore, the normal people are generally full of crap by keeping themselves tied up in their dark little caves while the Mainstream Media continues to use their knowledge of human nature against them.    

Meanwhile, in the west, babies continue to get stolen by a cruel and unjust child protection system that profits based on the number of kids in foster care, while in the Middle East babies are being blown up by rockets and air strikes.  The general public continues to support the side that the media tells them to.  

SystemSuckology: Understanding Child Abuse Propaganda Month - Part 3: You Can Help Support Child Welfare Fraud

IN order to enhance my understanding of the mentality that parents who are victims of CPS are up against, I've been spending some time with the Anti-Abuse mob on Facebook, mostly in this one particular group that I was added to called "Stop Abusing Your Children", which is run by a self proclaimed anti-child abuse activist named Stacy, who is apparently married to the former host of a

Nickelodeon game show.

As of this evening, and I honestly didn't expect to last this long, I am proud to say that I have officially been booted and blocked simply for sticking up for all of you, the falsely accused, those who have lost your kids for frivolous reasons, those of you who have fallen victim to the cruel and unjust system that destroys the children they are claiming to protect.

Immediately following my being booted the following message was posted, which BTW, I was not supposed to see.

In my own self defense, I do not protect child abusers, I fight for family rights.  However, giving credit where credit is due, I gotta say this was quite the learning experience.  Never have I come across such a blind group of parent haters in my life, except when reading foster parent blogs of course.  In fact, I don't think I've ever really paid nearly as much attention to these anti-abuse people or their message as I should have.  I tried to be polite and offer them a little education regarding child welfare fraud, and was met with the same delusional message repeated over and over again.  Now really, they're all just people fighting for a cause that they believe in with a simple lack of understanding as to the harm the system causes, so they demand that the world do more.  For example, immediately remove a child upon an accusation.  In fact they wouldn't even consider another view.

According to these people, you are all child abusers because CPS has come into your life.  You are all monsters who must have done something wrong to deserve CPS taking your kids away.  And her website (which has had 340 whole visitors already as of the writing of this post, has an empty calendar of events during Child Abuse Propaganda Month no less, is completely lacking in any factual or educational information with the exception of the copy and paste regurgitated bullshit that you'll see on every other anti-child abuse related site, and you can even buy a t-shirt through their Café Press store), and her public service announcement which is supposed to somehow display her dedication to the cause, as well as perhaps revitalize her acting career although I'm sorry to say I've never heard of her before but she was a hottie back in the day.   

As for the rest of the group, it seems as if so many of these people were so effectively moved by the Casey Anthony trial, so much so that we have a whole new wave of misguided, wanna-be champions for children to contend with, who all got their education on the child abuse issue from the horrible child abuse stories they post to this group, Dr Phil or any of the rest of the talking heads on the television anti-child abuse bandwagon.  In fact, in nearly every debate that I've had with these people, they brought up the name as if every abused child on the planet suffered the same fate as Caylee Anthony.  The reason is due to the continuous bombardment of news stories or talk show drama queens jumping on the now high profile name to increase their ratings, which in turn becomes society's whole education on the child abuse and neglect issue.  http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/dr-phil-interview-with-casey-anthony-parents-14503117 

To take my analysis a step further, I might add that a lot of the anti-child abuse advocates that are popping up on Facebook, are middle to upper class stay at home mom's with nothing better to do except sit around criticizing parents who they deem unworthy.  Some are total emotion junkies who thrive of the feeling of disgust that they get when they see another not parenting up to their standards.  They will be the first to call the child abuse hotline and all with the understanding that CPS simply helps to protect children from Abuse or Neglect.  They know nothing of the fraud, the pain, the suffering, the consequences that sometimes befall the victims of false accusations or self-righteous hypocrisy.  The rest are "Survivors" meaning children who grew up after being "abused" including one gay anti-bullying activist who even claims to have been raped in a public rest-room by the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, and who many years later, is now coming to terms with the fact that he is a pussy who was beat up by his brother, but could offer no information whatsoever on the issue. 

Their goal is to blindly empower CPS, lock up every offending parent for life, because every child who falls under the category of being abused or neglected has been raped, has broken bones, bruises over 90% of their bodies or has fallen victim to some other horrific tragedy like the extreme case they saw on TV, like the Nixmary Brown case. 

So I pointed out to them the fact that some cases are different and should be handled differently. 

They simply didn't understand and went off on the typical rant preaching all the extremes which are rare by the standards of what CPS usually sees when they investigate a family, including death, broken bones, half starved kids, etc.  I was once even forced to use the following example: "A parent who is charged with child abuse for slapping the teenager across the face for telling her to go fuck herself is not nearly as bad as the parent who beat the baby to within an inch of its life because it wouldn't stop crying."  Of course, the first response I got was, "You should never slap a kid in the face," and we had to work to move beyond that into why I should use a hypothetical example to demonstrate a point which any even remotely intelligent person could consider.

They simply don't understand.  They are sold on the child abuse horror stories.

They don't understand the trauma that a child suffers from being removed from the only world they've ever known.  They don't understand the concept of helping families to better care for their kids.  They don't understand that most kids do not thrive in foster care.  Their solution is to empower CPS, the courts, the agencies, what have you, with no understanding of the harm that this could cause.  Their understanding is that every parent who is ever reported to the hotline is a horrible monster who must have done something wrong or else that call would not have been made.  They don't have a clue that the system sucks have learned how to make tons of money off of these kids.  They are simply pushing an empty message with extremist solutions which will simply inflate the number of kids being removed from their homes if taken seriously.  Their solutions will inflate the prison population with parents who could be helped.  Their solutions will rob all parents of any right to raise their kids the way they see fit, and impose their perfect ways upon us all. 

The fact of the matter is that foster care should be an absolute last resort, and only when the kid has no other options.  However, as you will see next month, (May is National Foster Parent Appreciation Month), this is not the way things are done, and this is not the message that will be given.  Instead, we'll see the few success stories while none of the failures are mentioned.  You'll see the foster parent recruitment campaigns heat up, and the awards dinners for foster parent of the year, with all the honor and glory in the world, without consideration of the fact that many of the kids are being passed around through the system like unwanted puppy dogs.  

So what it all comes down to is that we have large groups of clueless bandwagon jumpers looking for self meaning, all moved by some tear jerker on TV, ganging up on the poor and imperfect who couldn't possibly afford to live up to their standards, all thinking as one and preaching the same empty message in absence of truth or fact, that we must stop child abuse while offering no viable solutions except for increasing the number of calls to the hotline or police and locking up every offending parent for life, regardless of what they did or didn't do.

I should also mention, that the court of public opinion usually automatically assumes guilt, and these people are no exception to this generalization.  This particular aspect of the message is reinforced when they use the largest available number to make an impact on the seriousness of the issue, such as the number of calls to the hotline vs. the number of investigated cases where child abuseor neglect was substantiated.  A call automatically equates to guilt in these people's minds. 

The real problem with all of this is that there are a lot more of them then there are of those of who do have an understanding of this problem.  They're also much louder than anybody with half a clue.  Yet they're sold on an exaggerated message which is sold to them by those who are raking in the cash through all of the Child Abuse Propaganda Month fundraising efforts as well as the grant money, money from the states or feds or private donations.

And there you have the Imperialistic Morality Parade in a nut shell.

SystemSuckology: Understanding Child Abuse Propaganda Month - Part 2: Sitting Around The Campfire Telling Child Abuse Stories

"Dozens gathered to light candles and remember the many victims of child abuse. It was also a night to honor victims who survived like Adam Carbajal."

In the first installment of this series, we discussed the use of National Child Abuse Awareness Month as an excuse to hold a fundraiser.  While I believe this to be the true reason of this month long celebration,  I think it is important to build upon this concept and discuss how they actually sucker these people into giving their money or getting involved.  In order to do this, I have created a list of the most common elements of the hundreds of news stories that will be published  this month, devoted to this Awareness subject, and will continue to add to this list all month long as new elements pop up.  In creating this list, I was able to formulate a kind of arm chair behavioral profile of the typical system suck.  So I will begin this segment with the following question: 

What is a System Suck?

The simple answer to this question is this:  A system suck is one who profits in one way or another from, or makes their living from the legal kidnapping of your children.   There are two types, although both types can be present in one person.  One does it for the money, the other does it to make themselves feel important.  A sort of self gratification.

The more complex answer is one who sells their soul to the child protective industry for money or for self gratification purposes.  In that, these people are very devoted to their cause.  In fact, I think that many of them actually believe the lies that they preach, with the problem being that very few base their beliefs or understandings of the issues on truth or facts.  Most are sold on a line of bullshit, buy it hook line and sinker and loudly preach that which is totally blown out of proportion, skewed to the horrific, and reinforces the one size fit's all nature of the Child Abuse and Neglect labels. 

There are two ways that they do this.  The first is through the presentation of the wrong statistical data, including preaching the number of calls to the child abuse hotline or the number of reports that were investigated last year, while failing to tell you that most of these calls or investigated reports did not result in confirmed findings of abuse or neglect, and failing to report how many cases actually were confirmed.  This is a form of misdirection, lies by omission, whatever you want to call it.

The other thing that they don't tell you is that every case is different in both intent and severity.  For example, the mom who slaps her teenager in the face for telling her to go and f*** herself would be included on the same list where a sicko beat a newborn to within an inch of their life because he/she wouldn't stop crying.  So this is by no means an accurate portrayal of the child abuse issue.   But it does create a sense of urgency in the normal people, who believe that thousands upon thousands of kids in their community are severely abused by monsters among us.

 Last year, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Servicesinvestigated more than 60,000 reports of child abuse and neglect.  - Notice there is no mention of how many of these 60,000 investigated reports had confirmed cases, thus including the innocent in their lies.

Ropersays last year alone, there were 64,000 calls made to SRS to report abuse andneglect, with little more than 10,000 coming from the Wichita and SedgwickCounty area.

"But the alarming trend continues across the country, she says costing society nearly $104 billion a year for health and mental health services and correctional activities."  - and even more when you take into account Child Abuse Propaganda Month fundraising activities. 

Onein 23 children are involved in investigations of child abuse in Madison County,officials say

This tends to make the problem appear worse than it actually is.  Then again the smaller numbers don't provide as much of an impact.

The second way that they blow things out of proportion is with the gut wrenching horror story, detailing some horrific case of sickening child abuse, triggering some emotional response in or painting a picture in the uneducated mind of the normal human of some extremely rare and severe abuse case, that simply pops into their heads whenever they hear the words. 

Now I'm not saying that these things don't happen, just that they like to present the most extreme cases, thus leading the normal person to think that all cases are as extreme.

"When he was taken away from his parents, he grabbed just one thing: his Nintendo DS.

Sam was removed from a home with no running water, no electricity and mold growing in the refrigerator. He arrived at Calvary Home for Children in Anderson just days before Thanksgiving."

http://www.independentmail.com/photos/galleries/2012/mar/31/a-high-price-for-protection/

"After nearly three years, the little girl’s name still stands out among those who can’t forget her, the little girl who was a victim of what Chandler police detectives described as the worse case of fatal child abuse they had ever seen."

http://www.caringforourchildrenfoundation.org/?p=19481

Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anders talked about prosecuting women who give birth to children with illegal drugs in their system.

http://www.waff.com/story/17315733/april-is-child-abuse-prevention-month-in-decatur

In fact, the deeper I dig into this particular topic, the more convinced I am that truest System Sucks are emotion junkies who love sitting around the campfire telling child abuse stories.   I can attest to this further based on my experience in a couple of these anti child abuse Facebook groups, where they share and discuss news stories, all testifying publically to what they would do if that was their kid or what they would like to see done to the parents. 

Both of these examples, however only tell a part of the story,  I'm only stating this now for the sake of explanation, as it will be further explored later, but...  The battle against child abuse has become an epic battle of good against evil.  We can't have a good child abuse story without the tales mighty heroes who ride in on their shiny high horses, preaching all their self-righteous glory to get involved and help save the children!  

"The volunteers go to court with children that have been removed from their homes as a result of abuse or neglect, and they present to the court what is in their best interest," East Texas CASA board president Kristen Ishihara said.

http://www.cbs19.tv/story/17304060/advocates-for-child-abuse-victims-raise-awareness-funding-in-longview

“To the world you might be just one person, but to one person you might be the world.” These words from an unknown source reflect my deepest feelings about CASA: A Voice for Children.

http://napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/neighbor2neighbor/neighbor-neighbor-court-appointed-special-advocates-of-napa-valley/article_b85429b2-7c7b-11e1-9cb8-0019bb2963f4.html

Now to be fair, I will state that a few journalists who write theses articles that I am researching on the topic of Child Abuse Prevention Month, do prefer to use the correct information, but they really are few and far between.  Most do not.  Most are going for the gut reaction as this is how they're going to capture your attention, warm your heart, play the sympathy card and make you feel important as if you're doing more for kids than lining the pockets of the professional system sucks.

SystemSuckology: Understanding Child Abuse Propaganda Month - Part 1: An Excuse For A Fundraiser

A Philosophical Perspective by LK.

April is known by the Child Protective Industry as National Child Abuse Prevention Month.  According to them, it's a month designated to raising awareness about the problem of child abuse, and educating the public on ways to prevent child abuse and promote strong healthy families.

PresidentialProclamation -- National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 2012

This particular month also tends to be my busiest time of year.   My news-reader fills up with this crap.  In fact, I would guestimate a 150% increase in the number of pro-CPS articles over any other month, except November which is National Adoption month and a whole different sales pitch. 

In years past, I would skim through a few, delete most as to the uneducated mind, they seemed all the same and are enough to make you vomit.  Then a couple years ago I noticed a trend where they were using the wrong set of data as a symbolic visual representation of the number of  children who were abused or neglected, for example, the number of pinwheels planted in the ground equaling the number of calls to the child abuse hotline, which appears to trick the public into believing that the problem of child abuse is worse than it actually is, when in fact approximately85% of such cases remain unsubstantiated or do not even rise to the level wherean investigation is warranted. 

"Roper says last year alone, there were 64,000 calls made to SRS to report abuse and neglect, with little more than 10,000 coming from the Wichita and Sedgwick County area."  - http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Advocates-work-to-strengthen-families-during/8goUVMdNSEmFzp-5AZb1mg.cspx
 

This year, upon taking a closer look at these articles, collecting about 100 so far, and reading through the first 25 this morning, I came to realize that the System Sucks will base the number of pinwheels on practically anything.  In Tennessee, for example...

"Each pinwheel represents one of the 95,000 babies that will be born in Tennessee this year." -

http://www.pcat.org/child-abuse-prevention-month/april-is-child-abuse-prevention-month/

And why pinwheels?

"Pinwheels are a symbol of a happy, carefree childhood and the belief that getting it right for kids early on is less costly than trying to fix problems after things have gone wrong. Doesn’t every child deserve this opportunity?" - http://www.pcat.org/child-abuse-prevention-month/april-is-child-abuse-prevention-month/

So I thought: The word symbol here is interesting to me.  If the blue pinwheel is supposed to represent child abuse awareness, then using visual that also represents a happy, carefree childhood is somewhat disturbing.   Then basing it on the number of babies being born in the state in hopes for a happy childhood for all, which would certainly put a lot of these agencies out of business, is a deception that must be stated.   Then again the actions and views of the system sucks have often proven to be concerning if not confusing.  But then as similar patterns began to emerge, I stumbled onto another interesting detail. 

"Community members can sponsor a pinwheel for $10. Donors can specify a program their donation will support or let the center choose the area of greatest need."  - http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_20307692/about-garden-pinwheels-planted-york-draw-attention-child

So I thought, hmm… There is a method behind the madness.  As there seems to be money involved.  This pattern emerged more and more.  The deeper I looked into it.  In fact, out of the 25 articles that I read, 13 of them specifically mentioned some fundraising activities.  The pinwheels are apparently going for between $1.00 and $10.00 dollars a piece, and all the proceeds go to some agency or nonprofit organization which deals with abused or neglected children.

Then I came to notice that these fundraising activities of these agencies didn't stop with selling pinwheels, and that many agencies are getting in on this interesting little funding stream.  One of the most well known, which seems to be very active in fundraising during this time of year is CASA, otherwise known as the Court Appointed Special Advocates.  In fact, the number of CASA related articles has jumped significantly over the last week, according to my newsreader, and they're coming up with a few creative ways of their own to cash in on Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Now before I forget, I should mention that the government is considering completely eliminating funding for CASA,  http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=6a45adb6fa71aca01f7c6bb20&id=d24294f386&e=f9d0250090  so how are they going to deal with it?

Advocates for child abuse victims raise awareness, funding in Longview - http://www.cbs19.tv/story/17304060/advocates-for-child-abuse-victims-raise-awareness-funding-in-longview

Ride raises $30K for child abuse prevention - ( which will be split with CASA and maybe even recruit a few more, mind you) - “We need volunteers to go through our screening and training process to become a CASA. We also need community members to help with fundraising events and to spread the word about CASA. In addition, we welcome opportunities to speak to business and civic organizations about CASA and the children we serve. - http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=65314

And you can even dine out in support of CASA, where a portion of your bill will be donated to CASA.   Dine Out in April in Support of Child Abuse Prevention Month - http://www.casappr.org/news/dine-out-in-april-in-support-of-child-abuse-prevention-month/

Of course, it wouldn't be fair to pick on CASA alone as the soul agency using Child Abuse Propaganda month as an excuse to hold a fundraiser.  Nor is there any lack of creativity or work put into such fundraisers, I mean awareness campaigns, as it appears that practically any agency that deals works with CPS is able to cash in.  And a few of these events are quite sophisticated in their organization.

For example, in Ocala Florida, there is a - Race Against Child Abuse set for April 14 - with a $25 dollar entry fee http://www.ocala.com/article/20120331/ARTICLES/120339951

In West Virginia, there is going to be a walk-a-thon against child abuse, which last year raised $14,000, and is expanding to include more events this year.  "This year’s walk-a-thon event has been expanded to include a 5-kilometer run and a bike-a-thon for children, starting at Hancock’s Widmeyer Park on April 28. The event’s proceeds will benefit Safe Place, at 24 N. Walnut St. in Hagerstown, and Safe Haven, a child advocacy center in Morgan County, W.Va". -  http://www.herald-mail.com/news/hm-blue-ribbon-event-designed-to-raise-awareness-of-child-abuse-20120401,0,2012487.story

So as you can see, those of you who are out there crying about Medicaid fraud and Title IV funding, we have an interesting little funding stream which has gotten far too little attention.  How much do they rake in?  We many never know as a whole, but I'm sure it's way up there and all of this money is made under the guise of Raising Awareness About Child Abuse.

To conclude this little escalade, I earlier mentioned that similar patterns began to emerge.  And so begins a month long series.  No it won't be a daily thing.  Just a few throughout the month.  But it will enlighten you as to the beliefs and behaviors of the System Sucks. 

SystemSuckology: Foster Care Fairy Tales

Earlier today I posted a link to a blog called Foster-2-Forever. Now before some system suck gets their panties in a bunch, (Oh my God how can I pick on such a sweetie) I gotta say that I do not believe that this person is bad or evil. In fact just the opposite. Although she is certainly on the old Imperialistic Morality Parade, I'm sure she is taking very good care of the kids who come into her home, and I'm sure she really wants to do what is best for the kids. She just doesn't understand what that is.

I also gotta say that I do enjoy reading this particular blog, but not because I see it as having any educational value whatsoever. I read it more for entertainment. Why? Because it is one of the best examples of the Fairy Tale view of foster care and adoption that I have ever seen.

So what do I mean by the Fairy Tale view? Well... Mostly that her writings do not reflect the reality that most people experience, but instead preaches a much happier scenario. If this is her reality then great. In the case where the child really needs to be protected, I wish it could be like that for all of them. I would hope that every kid in the world would have a good home. I would hope that they would all grow up loved and nurtured. I would also hope that if they were in foster care that there really were no other options such as a grandparent or loving family member who should always come first.

Unfortunately many kids in this system do not find this kind of happily ever after scenario. It is difficult to find a "Forever Home" for a teenager for example. I've come across multiple news stories that claim that it's hard to find adoptive placements for special needs kids or sibling groups. This is not stating that I agree with most of these kids even being adopted when there are so many loving family members out there fighting for so many of them. It simply means that one persons reality may not reflect the reality of the norm, and this is an exceptionally "Happily Ever After" sort of a scenario.

What makes it even more of a fairy tale view is the fact that those who preach this kind of view do not acknowledge the very real problems within the system. For example, only abused and neglected kids are in the system. Workers never steal children and are always the heroes. Real parents are always hideous villains.

Never do they talk about the kids who are abused in foster care or the kids who are bounced around from home to home. Theirs will has a happy ending. They never bring up the systematic failures, you'll never see talk about the kids in group homes, abuse in care or the over-drugging of the foster kids. Nope, they're gonna love them, and hold them, and kiss away all of their troubles and give them some cute nickname on their blogs.

I do bring up these problems because I sometimes feel like they're preaching the wrong message as if this is the reality that all potential adoptive parents will experience, while many kids and parents suffer in secret. This view being preached so often ultimately leads to failed adoptions when the new adoptive parent looking for their happily ever after suddenly comes to understand of what they really got themselves into and the state still gets the money for the successful outcome anyway, and they may even get the kid back a year or so later. It leads to an undeserved positive public perception of the Child Protective Industry. That undeserved positive perception enables them to get away with fraud, corruption, child trafficking, etc. in secret, while the public believes the system to be the perfect little world like that which is preached in Foster 2 Forever.

When I do try to call them on their bullshit, I'm automatically accused of being the bad guy. I'm told to stop bashing foster parents. They always come back at me with a horror story of a kid who was really abused so severely, for example the worst of the worst of the worst as if they think that I believe in a parents right to abuse a child. I don't want to see kids get hurt either. They will all do this. Not only the foster parents but any system suck. They act as if calling them on their bullshit is the same as being pro-child abuse. It is not.

What do you not see the failure to protect cases that I post? You know the cases where the kid really did need to be protected, but the workers were too busy chasing shadows and harassing innocent parents who are having a hard time? Come on! The last thing I want to see is a kid get hurt. These people are so full of shit it's pathetic. Look for example at the comments that were posted after mine on the following post. I am trying to be polite here and start a serious discussion. And I have. But their responses are almost always the same. It's always the same argument. "But what about the kids who really are abused or neglected?"

http://foster2forever.com/2012/02/love-from-a-birthmother.html

The simple reason that so many of these kids do fall through the cracks is because there are too many false accusations and reports without merit. It's because the sheep are so caught up in the Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal or the Casey Anthony trial that they will report anybody who doesn't parent to their standards in their opinion. It could also be argued that the workers are incompetent and couldn't tell the difference between an abused or neglected child and a hole in the wall and spend more time tearing apart impoverished or innocent families than they do protecting abused or neglected kids. But this is beside the point.

The reason that the Fairy Tale view is so dangerous is the fact that it's the preaching of the wrong message to the gullible from the gullible who live in their perfect little worlds. It's the case of the blind leading the blind, where the cute little babies who become available are snatched up long before they're damaged like the older kids who are bounced around and end up on an edition of Wednesday's Child.



Wednesday's Child is another example of the Fairy Tale view.

How so?

Well, notice in the video that I just shared, the kid is dressed up nicely and taken to a fun place where he'll be having a blast. That way he's all happy and bubbly for the camera. When he gets back to the foster home, all hell will break loose. The rages will begin. He'll be given his meds and spend the rest of the day walking around aimlessly like a good little zombie.

But what a happy scenario the media presents to you, wouldn't you think? Do you think this kid would be a good edition to your family? Do you think this kid would be a challenge? Would his problems all be solved if he could just find his forever home? Did you notice they have him convinced of this? Why wouldn't the current foster parents adopt him? Is it possible that somebody loves and misses him? Or are all these kids really unwanted and unloved?

So this is what we'll call the "Dreams of Forever Homes" scenario. This is where they convince the kids that everything will be all better if they can only find them a family. They will live happily ever after. If they can't find them that forever home, then it's out on your ass at age 18. Sorry! See Ya!

Advanced SystemSuckology: Facebook

Introduction

I have recently noticed a trend of lots of stories involving Facebook, in one way or another.  These stories became numerous enough that Facebook became worthy of a category all in itself on Legally Kidnapped.  http://legallykidnapped.blogspot.com/search/label/facebook

Facebook is also the current hotbed of activity for Family Rights advocates and activists.  For the first time in human history we are able to come together, coordinate and communicate with each other  all over the world by typing a status, sending a message or even posting a link to the latest hot off the presses news story.   Protests are planned and organized in some of these groups.  Others are there to help people.  One of the best of these groups was set up by Leonard Henderson of AFRA who formed a group where people can go to learn how to fight CPS. https://www.facebook.com/groups/familyrights/   Of course, there is no magic bullet when dealing with CPS, but Facebook has given us a way to come together and share information like never before. 

Although a lot of good has come out of the Facebook phenomenon for activists, a closer look will reveal that the website has changed the game drastically on many levels.   There are many dangers associated with the use of Facebook.  I think that due to this new major player which effects almost every aspect of family law, people need to be careful and be aware that you are being watched and that your information can be shared and that if you're not careful, Facebook can have a profound effect on your case. 

So in this report, I am going to take a good hard look and show many examples of how this social networking phenomenon has changed the playing field on several levels including; Raising awareness, child safety,  getting caught doing something that you shouldn't, and the dramatic effects that the site has had on family law. 

It is my hope that by writing this that you will be better able to protect yourself in the future and not have something that was posted on Facebook show up on your judges desk to be used as evidence against you.

1: Taking On A Cause

The one thing about taking on a cause on Facebook is that anybody can do it.  You've all seen it, someone shares a message on their status, "If you know somebody who had cancer, post this as your status for one hour," or something along those lines.  Lots of people jump on these, why I don't know.  Perhaps it makes them feel important.  It makes them appear to be good and caring people in the eyes of everybody on their friends list.  Perhaps they can't think of anything better to say.

Of course some causes are taken more seriously than others.  In one case, for example, a mom got so upset about a Facebook Group that she said advocated for child abuse that she went out and started her own page against it with several members trying to get it shut down.  (1)   I've been notified of a couple of these groups and pages personally, with calls to stand together against publishing such garbage on Facebook.  For the most part, I think that they are set up as a joke but are certainly lacking in taste, and some are downright offensive and even illegal and should be reported to the proper authorities (and will be covered later).  I usually don't bother with these idiots, as I am on a mission of my own. 

Still taking on a cause is worthy of mention, because the one thing that Facebook has done is allowed anybody who has taken on a cause to amplify their voice and beliefs like never before.  So right along with the Family Rights groups, there will be anti-child abuse groups who are preaching out for CPS to do more to protect children, advocating for new laws to empower CPS.

2: The Awareness Campaign

In December of 2010, an interesting idea took over Facebook by storm.  Change your profile picture to a picture of your favorite cartoon character in an effort to raise awareness about child abuse. 

The child advocates were all over it as most thought it was a great idea.  It was something simple that anybody could do.  My friends list suddenly lit up with pictures of every character from Scooby Doo to the Power Puff Girls.  It was also a wonderful demonstration of how the sheep will jump on the in thing of the day with the simple belief that something like this could make a difference in the world. 

"Well, it's going to peak someone's interest and it's going to make them get out on the Internet and Google child abuse and say, you know, just how much of this is going on our community," Reece said. "It's something just to get their minds stirring, to where they will go out and see, and hopefully follow through and either give donations to an organization or become an advocate for an organization that deals with child abuse."  (2)

The idea was a big hit, as many of you did this, but it was not without controversy.    There was a rumor passed around that suggested that such a campaign was started by pedophiles and that such profile pictures would be more appealing to small children, thus making them more likely to accept a friend request from a stranger.  (3)  While I suppose there may be some element of truth to this, philosophically speaking of course, the campaign was simply an idea that somebody stated, and went viral.  The claims that the campaign was started by paedophiles was completely without merit. 

It does go to show you just how easy it is for something to be misinterpreted, and how easy it is to spread the seeds of deception.

Never the less, Facebook has become quite the awareness raising tool for many campaigns with pages and groups popping up from everywhere on practically every topic you can imagine.  Some of them grow, others fizzle out rather quickly.  In the Family Rights groups there are fathers rights, mothers rights, on and on. 

3: Facebook and Child Safety

In terms of child safety and protection, Facebook has failed miserably. 

For starters, the site was once accused of hindering investigations into pedophile grooming and child pornographer rings and of failing to report illegal activity that had been taking place on the site to the proper authorities. (4)  Although Facebook claimed to have protections for children in place, their response to such activity was to delete the illegal groups and profiles of their members, thus destroying evidence that would have otherwise been used by police to get these perverts off the streets and internet.  (5)  Although this may have been an incontinence for many sicko's, it wasn't all that difficult for them to get back on under a new identity, set up shop and start right back in.  Facebook never reported these people to the authorities.

The child protection people in the UK were all up in arms over this, and after a rash of reports to local police agencies, none of which came from Facebook but rather all coming from the users of Facebook, and the highly publicized death of a young girl who was murdered by a sexual predator who she met on Facebook, as well as cases where teenagers have committed suicide after being bullied on the social networking sights, the British Government pressured Facebook to add in a panic button to all of it's users profiles. (6)  This panic button would make it easy to report criminal activity, bullies, and sex offenders and it was claimed, would deter perverts from targeting children when they could so easily be reported. 

Facebook, however was not interested in implementing the panic button (7) and instead, while under pressure, introduced the Child Exploitation and Online Protection app, which was downloaded more than 50,000 times (8) and prompted 211 serious reports of child grooming, etc within the first month. (9)

The United States followed suit by implementing a Find Help application designed by SafetyWeb.com.  (10) 

None of this has stopped parents from allowing and even helping their preteen children to get accounts on Facebook.  Nor has it encouraged parents to play closer attention to what their kids are actually doing and saying online.  In fact, a recent survey by Consumer Reports found that: "Facebook features some 7.5 million users under 13 years of age, with some 5 million under the age of 10."  (11) 

The same survey also found that many of these parents even help their kids to lie about their age so that they can set up a Facebook account.  (12)  Parents have also been relatively unconcerned about the dangers.

Another area of concern involves advertising and marketing, where companies have gone as far as to recruit kids to endorse their products on the social networking sites and advertise them to their friends.  (13)  One father even filed a lawsuit against Facebook, for allowing his kid to like a product or brand without parental permission, thus allowing the advertiser to market their products on the kids wall, as well as use the kids name and likeness when the kid commented on their page, etc.  (14)

 4. Teenagers on Facebook

A recent study from the California State University  (15) found that Teenagers who use social networking sights like Facebook and Twitter were much more likely to experience mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.

Another study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (16) claimed that teenagers who used Facebook were more likely to smoke cigarettes or abuse drugs and alcohol than teens who did not, as more and more of them were being exposed to photographs of their friends engaging in these activities.  This study was highly suspected to draw a false conclusion, with lots of criticism.  

There has also been a lot of concern over privacy issues, as more and more teenagers post status updates in regards to every aspect of their livest.  (17)  Privacy concerns have plagued Facebook users since the beginning.  It got so bad at one point that a town in New Jersey once tried to ban parents from posting pictures and video's from school functions such as sporting events and performances.  (18)

And the federal government even went as far as to try to require the schools to monitor students internet usage, both while at school and while at home in order to prevent cyber-bullying and harassment.  (19)  It wasn't just the students who were being harassed either.  Teachers are more and more often becoming victims of false accusations, insults and harassment by students as well.  (20) 

 

And in one case, a mother was even convicted of harassing her son, by posting derogotory comments about and as him on his Facebook account after changing his password so he couldn't get back on.  (21)

5. Getting into trouble on Facebook

People have said and done some pretty stupid things on Facebook.  (22)

What's worse than that is how some people will react to that which is said.  For example, I have personally seen several parents express their frustration with their kids, but all in all I know them to be good parents, and know from first hand experience that kids can be frustrating at times. 

On Facebook, stupid things that are said can cause more problems then the original author anticipated.  We've all heard of parents being investigated for doing stupid things like putting their kid for sale on eBay (23) or posting some stupid picture but there is a difference between intentional stupidity and how easy it is for the clueless to misinterpret something posted on Facebook.  (24)   There have been many cases where parents have been reported to authorities for posting pictures of their kids that were not deemed appropriate, or based on comments where what they said was misinterpreted as a threat. 

Because some threats that have been made have actually been carried out, some believe that all should be taken seriously. 

In another case,  a judge was caught offering to give advice to a defendant in a criminal matter, (25) and in another a father of 23 kids was offended after a child support hearings officer commented that he has too much time on his hands. (26)  The hearings officer was forced to delete his Facebook account after that.

This is probably a topic that I could go on forever with. 

 

6. Facebook and Family Law

When it comes to family law, Facebook has really made a mess of things.  In fact, Facebook is now being blamed for 1 in 5 divorces in the USA.  (27)  In one case, a woman caught her husband cheating and actually found pictures of him marrying another woman when he was supposed to be on a business trip.  (28)  As well as cases where the ex was trying to set the other up, including one where the ex-wife set up a fictitious account, posing as a 17 year old girl, trying to get him busted.  (29)  Fortunately for him, he knew it was her and was able to submit proof that he was just playing into her little game.

Of course it is not uncommon for things to get out of hand, with severe unintended consequences including CPS involvement.  (30)  There have been cases, for example, where parents have gotten into trouble for posting confidential information to Facebook, including one mother who posted her confidential case files including her children's names and information on the judge and guardian.  (31)

Lawyers have also been turning to Facebook to gather evidence against their clients opposition as well.  In fact it's becoming a known technique in the field, as there have been cases where those who were crying poverty in divorce cases were living it up on hidden funds.  (32)  In one case the judge even went as far as ordering the two parties to exchange their passwords, handing them over to the lawyers to both Facebook and dating sites when a husband became convinced that there would be useful evidence against his soon to be ex-wife on them.  (33)

One estimate even suggests that 2 out of 3 lawyers are now using evidence gathered from Facebook in divorce and child custody cases.  (34) 

 

When the case is a bit more high profile, Facebook has served to provide a venue for people to share suppressed information, such as the names of perpetrators of crimes where the names were suppressed to protect the privacy of the victims, thus making it difficult for police to do their jobs.  (35)

It has therefore been suggested that people who are involved in legal proceedings stay off the social networks altogether, due to the fact that it is so easy for anybody to print out your status messages, take them out of context or even set up fraudulent accounts in your name.  (36)  I would suggest that you at least be careful and mindful of what you post on the social networks. 

7. Finding Lost Loved Ones on Facebook

One of the more interesting phenomenon's of the Facebook era is the number of lost loved ones who are finding each other online.  (37) There have been some truly incredible cases of this showing up on the newsfeeds, including one mother who was reunited with a daughter 63 years after she was forced to give her up for adoption, when she was just 17.  (38)  Another mother was contacted by her son 30 years after giving him up for adoption.  (39)

But regardless of all the happy stories and happy reunions, some of these people feel, it's not always a good thing.  There have been many cases where the kid rejected the long lost parent, sometimes not being interested in any sort of a relationship. (40)

Of course this phenomenon also comes with great anguish for adoptive parents, (42) who until recently felt safe and secure in knowing that their secrets were safe and protected.   Now they're report concerned with the crazy long lost relatives making contact.  The ones who have been out of the picture for years and for whatever reason.  (41)  IN some cases, it causes anguish for the kids, some of whom don't even know that they were adopted.  (43)

Conclusion

Never the less, Facebook has changed the rules.  In some cases it works out for the best, in others it certainly does not.  So I guess the best I can offer you is a piece of advice.  First be careful what you say because you never know whose watching, and second, don't get your hopes up because there are a lot of idiots out there.

Of course if you are concerned about anything you may have said on Facebook at some point and time, there is an easy solution.  http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/how-to-delete-every-facebook-wall-post-wipe-your-timeline/1999

Bibliography:

(1) Moms: Child abuse page on Facebook not okay

http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=466040#.TwHg5tRSTgZ

(2) Cartoon Characters on Facebook Spreading Child Abuse Awareness

http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=13615343

(3) Protection or targeting? A new Facebook campaign brings out the best and worst of the Internet.

http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2010/12/05/protection-or-targeting-a-new-facebook-campaign-brings-out-the-best-and-worst-of-the-internet/

(4) Facebook failed to tell police about paedophile porn ring

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/facebook-failed-to-tell-police-about-paedophile-porn-ring-20100826-13ual.html?autostart=1

(5) Australia Police claims Facebook hinders child abuse probe

http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2011/03/24/australia-police-claims-facebook-hinders-child-abuse-probe/

(6) Facebook accused of failing to report suspected paedophiles

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-accused-of-failing-to-report-suspected-paedophiles-1939386.html

(7) Facebook to announce raft of new child safety measures

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7582900/Facebook-to-announce-raft-of-new-child-safety-measures.html

(8) 50,000 Facebook Users Press Panic Button To Report Sexual Predators

http://www.allfacebook.com/50000-facebook-users-press-panic-button-to-report-sexual-predators-2010-08

(9) Facebook child protection app prompts 211 reports of suspicious online activity

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/12/ceop-facebook-child-protection

(10) 50,000 Facebook Users Press Panic Button To Report Sexual Predators

http://www.allfacebook.com/50000-facebook-users-press-panic-button-to-report-sexual-predators-2010-08

(11) Facebook Filled with Underage, Unsupervised Users: Consumer Reports

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Web-Services-Web-20-and-SOA/Facebook-Filled-With-Underage-Supervised-Users-Consumer-Reports-416060/

(12) Survey: Many parents help kids lie to get on Facebook

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-20127633-238/survey-many-parents-help-kids-lie-to-get-on-facebook/

(13) Companies Exploiting Socially-Networked Children to Push Junk Food Like Drug Dealers

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/208279-Companies-Exploiting-Socially-Networked-Children-to-Push-Junk-Food-Like-Drug-Dealers

(14) Facebook sued for kids 'liking' products without permission

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/company-focus/2011/05/06/301242/Facebook-sued.htm

(15) Facebook may cause serious mental health problems in kids, studies show

http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/facebook-may-cause-serious-mental-health-problems-in-kids/

(16) Teens On Facebook And Social Media Sites More Likely To Drink, Smoke And Use Drugs: Study

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/teens-facebook_n_935698.html

(17) Do teens of the Facebook generation value privacy?

http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2011/05/09/do-teens-of-the-facebook-generation-value-privacy/

(18) N.J. Town Wants To Ban Facebook Pictures Of Kids

http://www.allfacebook.com/n-j-town-wants-to-ban-facebook-pictures-of-kids-2011-06

(19) Fed instructs teachers to Facebook creep students

http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/16/fed-instructs-teachers-to-facebook-creep-students/ 

(20) 'Teachers are fed up' with online abuse

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/jan/21/wsmet01-teachers-are-fed-up-with-online-abuse-ar-712471/ 

(21) Mom guilty in Facebook harassment of son

http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/mom-guilty-in-facebook-harassment-of-son_2010-05-28.html

(22) Facebook photos lead to child abuse charges

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_northern_az/other/facebook-photos-lead-to-child-abuse-charges

(23) What Is Wrong With This Picture???

http://bossip.com/383542/what-is-wrong-with-this-picture-128/

(24) “I’m Going To Kill My Kid:” Violent Threats Online Should Be Taken Seriously

http://www.care2.com/causes/im-going-to-kill-my-kid-and-other-things-not-to-say-online.html

(25) Rash of judges stepping down after misconduct

http://www.ajc.com/news/rash-of-judges-stepping-596966.html

(26) Officer's Facebook Post Offends Father Of 23

 http://www.wdsu.com/mostpopular/26598325/detail.html

(27) Facebook to Blame for 1 in 5 Divorces, Lawyers Say

http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2011/03/facebook-to-blame-for-1-in-5-divorces-lawyers-say.html

(28) Wife betrayed on Facebook: ‘Terrible beyond belief’

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38535579/ns/today-today_people/#.TvtMMtRSTgY

(29) Insane Ex-Couple Lie to Each Other On Facebook for Proof in Custody Battle

http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2011/06/09/ex-couple-lie-on-facebook/

(30) How Not To Use Facebook To Get Custody Of Your Kids

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/11/18/how-not-to-use-facebook-to-get-custody-of-your-kids/

(31) Mother who published confidential family court papers on Facebook charged with contempt of court

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/mother_who_published_confidential_family_court_papers_on_facebook_charged_with_contempt_of_court_1_3353644

(32) Lawyer Uses Facebook Posts In Divorces

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/25025551/detail.html

(33) Judge Orders Couple to Exchange Facebook Passwords

http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2011/11/couple-ordered-to-exchange-facebook-passwords.html

(34) E-mail and Facebook used as weapons in family law cases

http://www.divorcelawyerillinoisblog.com/2011/01/e-mail-and-facebook-used-as-weapons-in-family-law-cases.shtml

(35) Social network sites a problem for courts

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/social-network-sites-a-problem-for-courts-20101118-17z8v.html

(36) Anyone in a legal case should get off Facebook and Twitter

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/06/22/anyone-in-a-legal-case-should-get-off-facebook-and-twitter-91466-28917734/

(37) Father, long-lost son reunite through Facebook

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-07-21/news/ct-met-schmich-0721--20100721_1_father-s-day-texted-facebook

(38) Facebook page reunites 80-year-old mother and the baby she was forced to give up for adoption when she was 17

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2026372/Facebook-reunites-Helen-Torres-daughter-Chris-Gray-63-years.html

(39) 'It was like a bomb going off, but a nice bomb': Mother logs into Facebook account to find message from son she gave up for adoption 30 years ago

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2006756/Facebook-Mother-gets-message-son-gave-adoption-30-years-ago.html

(40) Mom finds her kidnapped kids via Facebook

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20006895-93.html

(41) Beware Crazy Relatives Finding Your Kid on Facebook

http://thestir.cafemom.com/teen/125536/beware_crazy_relatives_finding_your

(42) Facebook has changed adoption for ever

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/19/facebook-adoption-tracing-birth-mother

(43) Adopted children face anguish as birth parents stalk them on Facebook

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/may/23/birth-parents-stalk-adopted-facebook

(44)  Facebook allows natural parents to track down adopted children, charities warn

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8993526/Facebook-allows-natural-parents-to-track-down-adopted-children-charities-warn.html