Reality Check 101

           Michigan’s social service system could be one of the best in the nation.  But federal statutes, state codes andFIApolicy protocols alone cannot compensate for professional ineptitudes or prevent ideologically-driven abuse of innocent people.

            After three years of documented spousal abuse and evidence indicating sexual abuse of their child by the spouse, a desperate young mother and child left the state.  Previously, local law enforcement, Protective Services (CPS) and Friend of the Court (FOC) had been presented with third party assessments and physical evidence that should have triggered immediate action.  Instead,CPSbotched an investigation, FOC ignored cries for help and the local police threw the evidence away.  Today, the abusive spouse has sole parental rights.  The mother is now a felon being forced to live in poverty under inappropriate FOC support assessments and scanty employment opportunity.  Her ex-husband blocks contact with her child and pleas for justice made to almost every level of state government go unheeded.

            Another mother’s nightmares began when she came home to blood on a bed and her three year old crying about being hurt by the father.  The child was immediately rushed to a hospital which referred the case to Children’sAssessmentCenter.  After the incident began, every step that should have worked was properly followed – preservation of evidence, victim testimony, medical documentation, independent professional assessment and multiple independent collateral reports.  At the end of the process, the court rejected the expert’s testimony which contradictedCPSbecause the witness answered questions too quickly and used the terms “absolutely” too often.  The mother lost her children to the alleged abuser.

            Are these cases just unfortunate aberrations?  Consider another family’s trauma.  After reading a student’s journal entry in a high school “PALS” class which referenced a conversation with the step-father about sexual issues, the teacher notified a school counselor.  Without parental knowledge or consent the student was sequestered for an emergency interview.  Before the end of the dayCPSand the state police had been notified.  The teen denied the existence of any wrong-doing.  But, after hours of interrogation, the high-schooler began to change.  In the issuing months, family members were pressured to confess stepdad’s guilt and he was led to believe that his only hope was to plea bargain.  These parents have watched as, underFIAcare, their once “A” student flunked classes, became sexually active with an adult and ended up in Pine Rest on suicide watch.  Since the trial that completely exonerated the stepfather, there has been only one contact between mother and child.

            One more case deserves attention.  When a legal guardian arrived to pick up her four year old from supervised visitation with the biological father,CPSmet her.  The supervised father had reported a bruise on the little one’s buttocks while, in violation of visit rules, escorting the child to the bathroom by himself.  The toddler was removed from her guardian and taken to foster care.  When, three days later a judge had reviewed the evidence and ordered the child returned, aFIAsupervisor stalled long enough to find a more favorable judge who not only ruled against the original order, but set a hearing for the next day in his own court.  It wasn’t until nearly seven weeks later that child and guardian were allowed supervised visits.  As of this writing, charges have been dropped but the child is slated for reunification with her abusive father and brother.  The guardian is now listed onFIA’s offender registry.

            It is not the unique details of these cases which are the most disturbing; it is the commonalities.  They reach across three counties, Allegan,Ottawa, and Kent and cover a span of one to five years.  In every case, physical evidence, and the victim’s claims were accepted if they fit official pre-conceptions and rejected if they did not.  Every case involved separation from the home without legal notice or anything remotely resembling due process.  Without exception, the process was guided by a presumption of guilt rather than innocence.  Three out of four of the children were eventually left in the hands of adults with documented records of abuse or neglect instead of the original innocent party.  But far worse than the manipulation of state law, disregard for agency polices, bully tactics and incredibly skewed court decisions, is the cost in human lives.  Even though innocent relationships have been mutilated and lives scarred, holding those responsible is almost impossible.

            Giving the Office of the Ombudsman more investigative power andFIA’s establishment of the Family to Family program are two important recent state-level reforms.  But opportunities, such as raising a child, are given only once in this life.  Victimization of innocent citizens by those in authority may be horribly irreversible.  These families, and others like them, deserve justice.  It is time for a genuine investigation.