Legally Kidnapped

Shattering Your Child Welfare Delusions Since 2007


Sunday, June 17, 2018

Mississippi man charged in incident with Mobile girls in foster care



Authorities say a Mississippi man picked up five girls ages 11-16 from foster care in Mobile last weekend and drove them to Ocean Springs, where police found them under the influence of drugs.

More >> Mississippi man charged in incident with Mobile girls in foster care
CPS likes to rub it in our faces and use this day to tout their cause by highlighting a foster parent or a dad who adopted a child from the system

More >> How to use Fathers Day as CPS / Foster Parent Recruitment Propaganda


Siblings separated through adoption, reunite in Milwaukee

WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

Three siblings, each put up for adoption in the 1950s and '60s, reunited for the first time this week in Milwaukee.

Dennis Walter, Kerry Anderson and Ellen Kreger live in separate states, but discovered they are half-siblings.

More >> Siblings separated through adoption, reunite in Milwaukee

Saturday, June 16, 2018

How Colorado educators fail to report sex abuse of students — and get away with it

Colorado public schools are paying millions to settle lawsuits when educators fail to report sex abuse of students, but those educators avoid legal consequences. This Denver Post investigation explains why.​

More >> How Colorado educators fail to report sex abuse of students — and get away with it

Reno family court judge suspended, fined for violating state code

A Washoe County family court judge was suspended without pay for three months and fined $1,000 for violating the state’s judicial code of conduct.

The Reno Gazette Journal reported Friday that a consent order filed this week by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline found that Judge David Humke mishandled child support cases and refused to discipline his former judicial assistant, who was accused of inappropriate behavior.

More >> Reno family court judge suspended, fined for violating state code

Police: 8-year-old girl raped while in foster care in Silver Spring Township



A Silver Spring Township man has been arrested after police say he raped an 8-year-old girl who was in foster care.

Shane Michael Mehaffie, 48, is charged with felony rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, corruption of minors, indecent assault, child pornography, three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault and misdemeanor indecent assault for incidents police said occurred when the child was in his care.

More >> Police: 8-year-old girl raped while in foster care in Silver Spring Township

Philly Family Court judge who wouldn't let parents speak gets reassigned

After a series of caustically worded reversals from the Pennsylvania Superior Court over what the appellate judges deemed denials of due process, a Philadelphia Family Court judge is being reassigned to the city’s trial division, according to her attorney, Samuel Stretton.

More >> Philly Family Court judge who wouldn't let parents speak gets reassigned 

Does Privatized Foster Care Put Kids at Risk?

Buzzfeed’s harrowing 2015 investigation into MENTOR exposed the grim repercussions of privatized foster care, detailing Alexandria’s and others’ tragic cases that likely resulted from shortcuts made in the pursuit of profit. Piling too many cases on social workers, for instance, can result in abuse when foster parents aren’t properly vetted or monitored. Among the omissions in Alexandria’s case: MENTOR failed to interview Small’s sisters, who said they would have warned the company about her. (MENTOR denied that it cuts corners to make money.)


More >> Does Privatized Foster Care Put Kids at Risk?

Republicans’ Unease Grows Over Trump Policy Separating Families at Border

Top Republican congressional leaders said Thursday they want to limit the separation of children from parents seeking asylum at the southern U.S. border, amid a public backlash against a Trump administration policy that threatens to become an issue in the November election.

House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters he’s not comfortable with the government’s “zero tolerance” policy, adding that “we don’t want kids to be separated from their parents.” Second-ranking Senate Republican John Cornyn of Texas said he’ll push legislation to keep parents and children together while the children await expedited status hearings.

More >> Republicans’ Unease Grows Over Trump Policy Separating Families at Border




The legal drama over the adoption of Baby N continues and now there is a gag order.

The now 3-year old girl was placed in foster care when she was 12-weeks old after being diagnosed with "failure to thrive." The Schneiter family fostered the child until she was 15-months old. She was removed from the home after Erie County Department of Social Services fought in court to have the child placed in a foster home with her biological siblings.

More >> Child caught up in adoption battle with Erie County

State to open adoption records from 1941 through 1993 on July 1

A new law that takes effect July 1 will open state records for people adopted between 1941 and 1993.

Nick Schneider was adopted as a baby in 1953 and wants to know who brought him into this world.

More >> State to open adoption records from 1941 through 1993 on July 1

Friday, June 15, 2018

Does President Trump agree with the policy of separating families at the border?


"I hate it," President Donald J. Trump says of administration's policy of separating children from parents at the U.S. border, claiming he has no ability to alter the policy without votes from Democrats.

Number of illegal adoption investigations keeps rising

A further 140 cases of possible illegal adoptions are being investigated, the children’s minister has said.

Katherine Zappone said that these cases were in addition to the 126 men and women identified as illegally adopted from St Patrick’s Guild, the former adoption agency.

More >> Number of illegal adoption investigations keeps rising

Mum wins child back after ice cream and haircut claim

A social worker has been criticised by a judge for saying a woman failed to meet her son's "emotional needs" by not taking him out for ice cream.

Mr Justice Mostyn spoke out at a family court hearing in Swansea brought by the boy's mother to bring him out of care.

More >> Mum wins child back after ice cream and haircut claim

House GOP Immigration Bill Would End Family Separation At Border

House Republicans plan to vote next week on a pair of immigration bills, including one that would end the Trump administration's practice of separating children from their parents at the Southwest border.

More >> House GOP Immigration Bill Would End Family Separation At Border


Fundraiser for victims of child abuse offers AR-15 as prize



A fundraiser to help victims of child abuse in the Heber Valley is giving away an AR-15, the gun used in recent mass shootings—including the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

More >> Fundraiser for victims of child abuse offers AR-15 as prize

Foster children waiting for homes no longer sleeping in caseworker's offices

Every month dozens of children who are waiting to be placed in a new home sometimes sleep in a caseworker’s office. A new partnership will change that.

"We watch our children when they are in the offices, but that is not our goal. It never has been," said Vice President for Behavioral Health Operations at KVC Hospitals, Bobby Eklofe .

More >> Foster children waiting for homes no longer sleeping in caseworker's offices

Sts'ailes marks 10 years of keeping apprehended children in community

Two small children stand on cedar boughs in a Stó:lō long house in Sts'ailes, a community in the upper Fraser Valley.

"In Sts'ailes law, you are "markers" — living monuments to signal how far the community has come," says a leader, placing red and grey wool blankets over their shoulders.

More >> Sts'ailes marks 10 years of keeping apprehended children in community

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Lawsuit filed in alleged child starvation



The maternal aunt of a 9-year-old Hilo girl allegedly starved to death almost two years ago by her parents and maternal grandmother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the state, the girl’s parents and her maternal grandmother.

Honolulu attorney Randall Rosenberg and Hilo attorney Robert Marx filed the civil suit Tuesday in Honolulu Circuit Court on behalf of Tina Marie Kasten, personal representative of the estate of Shaelynn Alohalani Haleaka Lehano-Stone, who died June 28, 2016, after being found unconscious and apparently malnourished in her grandmother’s apartment on Kinoole Street. Kasten also is filing as guardian of the interests of Lehano-Stone’s two minor siblings, listed only by their initials, K.L.-S. and S.L.-S.

More >> Lawsuit filed in alleged child starvation

This Woman’s Autistic Foster Son Was Ripped From Her Arms Because She Works With Catholics

After Philadelphia cut ties with Catholic Social Services because of the organization’s religious teachings on marriage and family, an autistic boy was kept from returning to his foster mother’s home for weeks, causing both great distress. He has just been reunited with his family, who plan to adopt him.

After being yanked from his foster family, the boy spent weeks languishing in temporary homes instead of being returned to his home because of the agency’s religious beliefs. During that time, he didn’t receive the therapy and specialized care he needs. Ultimately the child was returned to his adoptive family after The Becket Fund For Religious Liberty got involved and fought for their reunion. But the city’s new policy, which targets the faith-based organization for its teachings on marriage and family, remains in place, affecting countless other children and parents.

More >> This Woman’s Autistic Foster Son Was Ripped From Her Arms Because She Works With Catholics

Families in Crisis: DSS training issues put children in danger


A lack of training put more than 100 vulnerable mountain children in risky living situations.

That's what investigators found in the state's takeover of Cherokee's Department of Social Services.

More >> Families in Crisis: DSS training issues put children in danger

Illinois Lawmakers Demand Explanation on Children Stuck in Psychiatric Hospitals

Illinois lawmakers have asked state child welfare officials to explain why they routinely fail to find better homes for hundreds of children in psychiatric hospitals, leaving them trapped for weeks and sometimes months.

State Sen. Julie Morrison, a Democrat from Deerfield, called for a public hearing after a ProPublica Illinois investigation last week revealed that children in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services are confined to psychiatric hospitals after physicians have cleared them for release.

More >> Illinois Lawmakers Demand Explanation on Children Stuck in Psychiatric Hospitals

Georgia divorced dads among those with least amount of child custody time, study says

Child custody varies from state to state. However, Georgia dads are among the fathers with the least amount of time, according to a new report.

More >> Georgia divorced dads among those with least amount of child custody time, study says

Jury seated in foster dad murder trial


A St. Lucie County judge on Wednesday afternoon, seated a jury to sit in judgement of a foster dad accused of beating to death a 2-year-old boy in his care.

The 2014 killing shocked the community.

More >> Jury seated in foster dad murder trial

Child abuse is now part of America's official immigration policy

It’s impossible to look at the Trump administration’s practice of migrant family separation and see it as anything other than what it is: institutionalized child abuse.

By now, there have been real horror stories: parents hearing their children screaming in the next room; a man who committed suicide when his three-year-old was taken from him; children kept in what Oregon senator Jeff Merkley described as a “”; a woman being  by a border patrol agent: “You will never see your children again. Families don’t exist here. You won’t have a family any more.”

More >> Child abuse is now part of America's official immigration policy


Guess what

It Could Happen To You