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In Dependency Court, a Judge Comes Face to Face with the Biggest Threat to Children – Their Moms and Dads

A A A Comments (7) By Paul Rubin Thursday, Jan 22 2009

...continued from page 5

The attorney explained that the parents were behind on their rent and were so broke that their electricity was about to be turned off.

"I wish I could help you with the electric bill," Judge Reinstein told them after hearing their latest accounts of financial woe. But judges cannot do that sort of thing.

Illustrations by Ryan Sealock

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Several months later, with the pair's finances apparently in better shape, CPS returned the kids to the parents on a full-time basis and ended its dependency case.

The postscript to Michelle's case is a work in progress, court documents suggest, and not a pretty one.

Last year, Michelle's mother filed a court petition against her husband after they split up, and he had not paid any child support as ordered. The couple later reunited.

It is uncertain where Michelle, who is now 14, and her brother currently are living.

Now retired from the bench, Ron Reinstein is busier than he was during 22 years as a Superior Court judge.

Among his current duties, Reinstein is a consultant to the Arizona Supreme Court and chairs the court's Commission on Victims in the Courts. He also lectures nationally on DNA and its powerful place in today's judicial system.

But the former judge says he still wonders how the kids, whose cases he got to know so well in dependency court, are faring.

"When parents drag their kids through so much, how can we expect these kids to pull it all together and have good lives?" Reinstein says. "It can happen, and it does. But, you know, we really shouldn't expect a judge or a government agency to solve [very many people's] problems. All we can do is try."

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Pennyrichter 05/20/2012 3:03:00 PM

how true! I just listened to one thing alex jones may be right about on his show Friday May 18.2012 I just could not believe it cps and peoples poor little children and I know for a fact that kids can be hurt from both sides of the situation. I sugest people listen to that one day about the middle of the show it is worth the time spent God Bless all the Children and the people who are really help to all! The evil ones may Gods Rath come to you and the devils lies.

12/22/2010 10:17:00 AM

Friedland Law Center is a setup of trained mitigators work extensively with all major banks to reach resolutions on mortgage modifications and foreclosure matters. i strongly recommend to get their services.

12/18/2010 3:38:00 PM

Juvenile's Rights 02/02/2009 4:39:00 AM

This should give the public an idea of what is going on in the juvenile and family courts: Editorial: Judges Sentenced Kids for cash The setting is Pennsylvania coal country, but it's a story right out of Dickens' grim 19th-century landscape: Two of Luzerne County's most senior judges on Monday were accused of sending children to jail in return for kickbacks. The judges, Luzerne County President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., 58, and his predecessor, Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan, 56, will serve seven years in jail under a plea agreement. They're alleged to have pocketed $2.6 million in payments from juvenile detention center operators. When a federal judge reviews their plea, though, the question ought to be whether the punishment is adequate - along with the judges being bounced from the bench, disbarred, and losing their pensions. If the allegations are true, Ciavarella and Conahan were involved in a disgraceful cabal far worse than one that merely lined their pockets. First, the judges helped the detention centers land a county contract worth $58 million. Then their alleged scheme was to guarantee the operators a steady income by detaining juveniles, often on petty stuff. Many of the kids were railroaded, according to allegations lodged with the state Supreme Court last year by the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, an advocacy group. In asking the court to intervene in April, the law center cited hundreds of examples where teens accused of minor mischief were pressured to waive their right to lawyers, and then shipped to a detention center. One teen was given a 90-day sentence for having parodied a school administrator online. Such unwarranted detentions left "both children and parents feeling bewildered, violated and traumatized," center lawyers said. "Very few people would stand up" to the Luzerne judges, according to the law center's executive director, Robert G. Schwartz. Fortunately, Juvenile Law Center was willing to do so, along with backing from state Attorney General Tom Corbett's office and the state Department of Public Welfare. The blind justices on the state's high court, though, took a pass. Only last month, they offered no explanation in declining to take up the law center's request that the court step up. Now, the state Supreme Court should revisit the issue, since the scope of corruption alleged at the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre could further undermine confidence in the courts statewide. Authorities need to redress running roughshod over juveniles' rights - a process also likely to bring damage suits. While the local district attorney pledges to "do our best to right the situation," this calls for an independent, outside review. The two judges' downfall may have rooted out the worst perpetrators of this evil scheme, but the abuse of power alleged in Luzerne County is so startling that it should send shock waves for reform around the state court system. Comment by Juvenile's Rights from East Valley on Feb 1st, 2009, 17:47 pm

Family Court Needs Independent 01/26/2009 5:51:00 PM

This comment from above says it all --"Now if we can just get Paul Rubin to do a story on the cesspool that is "family court" in Maricopa County" This destructive court needs independent investigation and the relationship of the judges to the county attorney's office and the use of the legal system, trumped up serious charges to throw the other spouse's life away, one step short of a gun. Family lawyers who get rewarded with Judge positions in the Family court and how they are linked to cases they handled. Those who abuse the family court system in this way should be given harsh mandatory sentencing like that the "other side" is facing. How many family court / child custody / child support cases end up with the other parent in jail / prison silenced for years and isolated from their children. The public is very uniformed about the abuses going on in the family court. The parent with the most money wins -- it's obvious why. Follow the money, the pay-offs, the destruction to the children by vengeful spouses. Keep up the great series, Paul, the family court needs it's own series. It's a place of destruction of families, the children's lives and the future of the society.

A parent 01/24/2009 4:29:00 AM

Now if we can just get Paul Rubin to do a story on the cesspool that is "family court" in Maricopa County.

Tom Mixx 01/22/2009 1:59:00 AM

An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and the Child Protection "INDUSTRY" Child Protective Services Does not protect children... It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of CPS. every parent should read the free handbook from connecticut dcf watch... http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US These numbers come from The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN) Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS Perpetrators of Maltreatment Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59 Sexual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13 Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241 Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12 Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological Parents 1.5 Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per 100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a bunch of social workers. THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central intelligence agency wiretaping programs� "It is the closest agency we have to the Gestapo in our society." -District Judge R. Darryl Mazur THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/articles.php?filter=6 The Business of Child Stealing in Florida http://www.nolanchart.com/article4132.html This is Child Protection? By Gregory A. Hession, J.D. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-32729767_ITM Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-callahan16oct16,0,5019944.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILURE:. A Brief Analysis of the Casey Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler http://www.nccpr.org/reports/cfpanalysis.doc http://www.nccpr.org/index_files/page0003.html HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html http://www.nccpr.org/reports/asfa.pdf Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families By Nev Moore Massachusetts News http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm Ted Gunderson Speech to Congressional Hearing on Child Protection 3/13/04 http://educate-yourself.org/tg/childprotectionspeech13mar04.shtml Phoenix New Times Outrageous Fortune Private lawyers in Maricopa County child-dependency cases are soaking us for unbelievable bucks By Paul Rubin http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-04-19/news/outrageous-fortune/ When The State Becomes Parent by Mollie Martin. http://www.ejfi.org/family/family-110.htm A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care: 30% of the nation�s homeless are former foster children. 27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated 33% were receiving public assistance 37% had not finished high school 2% receive a college degree 50% were unemployed Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems, including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and impaired social relationships. Some experts estimate that about 30% of the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment than the general population. *Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support 80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system. The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should just be blown up. http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/FosterCare/Story?id=2017991&page=1 Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America�s foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent housing. These studies found thousands of children already in foster care who would have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in the first place. Read the studies online. Front-page story in USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-foster-study_N.htm?csp=34#Close Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Care: Findings from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study," www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf http://www.cftl.org/documents/2008/FCfullreport.pdf Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" reports: http://www.window.state.tx.us/news/60623statement.html www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren Chosen Children: how the Foster Care and Adoption industries fuels the Prison industry. Billion Dollar Babies in America's Foster Care, Adoption & Prison Systems by Lori Carangelo http://www.thechosenchildren.com/ http://www.thechosenchildren.com/ebooks/chosen.pdf Statistics of Adoption-2005 Edition-Compiled and edited by Lori Carangelo http://www.amfor.net/statistics.html The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than Walking Wreckage... CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS.... CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON... BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION... "SAVE THE FAMILY AND YOU SAVE THE CHILD"