The interest of an adopted girl put aside for politics

We have just received news about the forced removal of an adopted girl from a foster family who had been approved by the social services and host several children in categorized as at-risk teenagers.

The girl had been adopted by a Danish couple some years back but she had too much luggage based on her life in Africa so the Danish couple was unable to provide her with support to deal with her past. The Danish couple reached out to the social services in the town of Naestved. She was placed in a foster family and everybody was happy.

The girl seemed to adjust to her life in the foster family. She attended a local school with little absence. There seemed to be no reason to move her to another solution. But the social services in Naestved had their own agenda. In Naestved they have a special behavior modification program who marketed themselves as a program which can deal with every kind of problem teenagers may have. 

For the town of Naestved to attract clients to their program from other cities they use every opportunity to put teenagers into the program. Even teenagers like Amy which functioned very well within the foster family. They proudly state that they don’t kick teenagers out just because the teenagers act out. They just hire employees with more muscles. Soldiers are the employees called by the manager of the program in one article in a magazine for social workers.

But this young girl doesn’t need soldiers. She doesn’t need power play by employees. We can hardly understand how it is to live in Africa in countries which have been marked with armed action.

The social services removed her by force from her foster family. They were aided by police. How should this poor girl act when she properly is used to that the police kills children living on the street before they ask questions, if the police in her native country ask questions at all.

What kind of care does this girl get now? We do know that this specific behavior modification program employs people who drink alcohol during their work hours. Several newspapers stated so in 2008. The program didn’t drag the newspapers in court so the journalists must have hit something right there.

This case raise the question whether Denmark as a country are able to participate in the business of buying children for adoption from the third world. It is difficult to state whether her adoption to Denmark was of service to her. Maybe it is time for countries which sell their children to Denmark for adoption of a typical price of DKK 80,000 to stop this traffic while the case of Amy is fully investigated.

While testimonies continue to drop in from our whistleblower blogs, we have learned that the media world in Denmark finally picked up some of the testimonies and followed through with their own investigation. Now Denmark’s Radio broadcasted no less the 2 reports from a facility named Solhaven near the Danish town of Farsoe.

Teenagers were beaten by adult staff members without proper education in the field of working with troubled youth.

But that is not all. The same television channel produced a documentary about another residential treatment center called “Schubert’s Minde”. The methods used were met with critic from therapists.

Right now a case involving violence at a foster family is dealt with by the courts. We were rather surprised to learn that there was another case involving another family also. It has been known for some time that 75 percent of the foster families in Denmark are missing their mandatory education.

There are so many things which are covered up. We can only promise that we will do everything to drag this awfulness into the light.

Regards

The Orange County Register published a story January 2010 a story about a young girl who claimed to have a relationship with an employee at Starbucks.

The girl who was a teenager at the time of the alleged relationship did not want to testify against the employee. She did also ask the manager not to fire the employee.

But after being violent forced into so-called therapy at a facility name Integrity House she suddenly confessed to the relationship in a letter she had to write in order to be released back to her family.

It is far from the first time teenagers have confessed to various acts as result of actions often claimed to be therapy. High Impact in Tecate produced far the best results when they were in operation. The conditions were harsh. Often the teenagers were placed in dog cages tied up being forced to dry out under the sun (Photo taken from Inside Edition can be viewed in this link)

Imagine yourself in this position. For how long would you be able to hold out? How willingly would you be to invent acts in order to achieve better conditions?

But is the girl who is suing then a liar?

Not necessary because therapy has another tool to make the claims right in the mind of the child placed in therapy. The fact is that there is something called False Memory Syndrome. If a child is sent to a facility by either the parents or the social service the paying party wants to see results. This wish for results has in a number of cases given the employees of the treatment facility the motive to implant false memories on the teenager. A lot of parents have sent their teenagers to treatment facilities only to be shocked by the confessions the teenagers give as reply to the impact letter the parents are encouraged to send once the teenagers are detained at the facility.

Was the entire Starbuck case then a result of implanted false memory? It is not certain to state but the fact is that a lot of teenagers suddenly confess to various acts the parents didn't even suspect the slightest.

The present system has its flaws. Innocent people might end up in prison as result of implanted false memories. That's why such confessions should be followed by some degree of independent evidence before any judgment is done based on it.

Integrity House did recently close another facility operating under the same circle of people who are among the owners. Whether the Academy of Eastern Arizona had the proper licenses is still under investigation.

Source:
Woman sues Starbucks for underage sex (The Orange County Register, January 25, 2010)

For nearly a decade absent parents in the Californian town of Pasadena used private boot camps to straighten up their kids so they could avoid the burden of leaving the TV and miss out of their favorite show.

Needless to say the parents must have known the extend of abuse the private boot camps put their children through. The Boot Camp operators and employees have posted a lot of videos online where they boast about their treatment of the so-called unruly children.

Children were shouted at and they were forced to drink water in such a huge amount that they were vomiting in the videos.

Once side of this case is the police investigation of the acts committed by the boot camp employees. Another side is the permit these parents gave the boot camp operators to mistreat their children. Should parents which grant such permits be allowed to keep their children at home or should the DCFS start their investigation and if possible remove not only the children but also their siblings from the parents?

Of course they should research this matter to its full extend and if the result is that some of the children should go to the foster care system, then it should be so.

The boot camp operations in Pasadena are far from a single incident. It is a worldwide problem!

• In Mexico did the authorities shut down a boot camp where parents from all over the states sent their children so they could be placed in dog cages tied up.
  
• In Spain did the authorities shut down a private treatment facility where children were placed in small cages built for pigs. The parents came from Germany and Switzerland.
  
• In Texas a girl was tied and dragged after a van because she refused to walk while she participated in a boot camp organized by a church. The parents had provided the boot camp with permission to use force.
  
• A lot of private residential treatments centers and boarding schools have been subjected to investigations by the authorities and several have been shut down due to child abuse investigations.
  
• More than 100 children from the United States have lost their lives in private programs according to a GAO investigation back in 2007.
  

Parents must step up and investigate the options they choose if they want to continue their absent role in the lives of their children or they must choose to be a part of the lives of their children.

Either way they must be held accountable.

If some of these parents related to the Pasadena boot camp scandal are brought to justice this could be the very step forwards fewer deaths and less institutional child abuse.

Never have a DCFS investigation counted as much.

Source:
Cops turn to DCFS in Pasadena youth boot camp investigation (Whittier Daily News)

When a child is placed in any residential setting in Denmark - foster care or in a residential treatment facility the risk of being victim of sexual abuse increases a lot.

Of course the best choice would be if sexual abuse could be avoided, but even the strictest facility cannot supervise all children 24/7. The economy will suffer. The clients whether it is parents or the public sector will not pay tor full staffing 24/7 seven days per week.

So sexual abuse will happen at some point, in fact surveys made after year 2000 show that it happens twice per month on average in Danish foster families, group homes or residential treatment centers.

Knowing that it is inevitable the next thing is to handle it correctly. Left untreated the molested child could grow up and be a molester later in life. A survey from 2006 did show that most of the residential treatment centers had no knowledge of the strategy and guidelines the government had made to deal with this issue. The result could be that the molested children were not cared properly for. A tragedy not only for the child victimized by the abuse but also possible for the family of the molested child later in life.

Now here in 2011 there are no signs that the situation back in 2006 are changed. However With a new government in charge there is hope that changes are possible.

A number of changes are required:

• The number of children who are removed from their families need to be lowered as a lot of the problem is based in the number of placements. Denmark has 25 percent more placements than countries like Norway or Sweden. A lower number of placements will reduce sexual abuse as a lower number are easier to monitor.
  
• All staff member of foster parents should be taught how to observe the signs of sexual abuse happening during the placement of the child. It is very easy to assume that changes in behavior are rooted in experiences before the placement. However a number of cases show that there is a need to change the pattern of the thinking among the staff so they become aware that the abuse can take place during the placement.
  
• The staff should be taught how to help and treat a molested child so the victimized child doesn't have to be moved to a new facility and by this move experience what only can be seen as a defeat and a punishment.
  

Let’s hope that the new government in Denmark will be able to do that.



Source (In Danish)
Seksuelle overgreb på børn og unge på døgninstitution - omfang og indsats</a> (Anvendt Kommunal Forskning - 2006)

We just got word that the police in South Zealand have decided to charge a foster care family who was living in the town of Mern of neglect and abuse. It is the final nail in a sick foster care system functioning totally outside any political control.

Last month it was revealed that a residential treatment facility named Herkules sent some of the children in their care to a subcontractor in Sweden where they received a special kind of wilderness therapy including being placed in alleged minefields and being forced to watch a false escape attempt where young actors pretended to have their fingers cut off and fed to dogs.

According to testimonies from now young adults who have been living a various foster care families and group homes all over Denmark the cases mentioned above are not single incidents. All too often the social workers back in their original town see a placement as "out of sight, out of mind". There are not good enough plans for the return to society. The children hardly receive education making them able to function as adult.

Reports are that every 14 day a kind of sexual attack will take place among the children. The people hired to work in the group homes are not educated to talk with the children about the abuse they suffer and it increases the possibility that the victims will become abuser over time.

Without proper supervision the foster care families and group homes have not only become warehouses where the children will be kept for an undisclosed period of their lives but also a place where the children will be hurt and scared for life.

The State of Denmark has around 14.000 children in their care. It is by far the highest number among the Nordic countries. It is with the cost of 13 billion DKK also the most expensive system among the Nordic countries. A recent report did show that there is no proof that a residential solution will work regardless of how it is put together.

What is worse is that there is no system supervising how the individual foster care family or group home is chosen. It increases the possibility for a high level of corruption. While Denmark doesn't make use of private paid educational consultants which is a line of work general known for their use of payment in return for referrals to certain boarding schools and residential treatment facilities, there are social workers who decides which group home will get the task without anyone getting an insight in what kind of circumstances which became the deciding factor when choosing a certain partner for the job.

We must urge the politicians in Denmark to demand a reconstruction of the entire system. In the case of the foster care family in Mern there had been complaints for almost an entire decade. It is not acceptable.

Danes! Demand justice for your children

Press-release from Domestic prisoners of conscience

While several countries are busy conducting investigations of the past, some countries find themselves discovering abuse in residential settings even today.

A scandal in the United Kingdom started with the discovery of some bones at a former therapeutic boarding school. It wasn't human remains but the investigation brought forward former residents prepared to deal with their past. Several convictions of former staff member have been the result and the name Haut de la Garenne is no longer only a bad memory for those who managed to get away living.

In the United States lawsuits are made against both Mount Bachelor Academy and the managers of Casa by the Sea in Mexico. Both programs are now closed but in the mindset of the now grown survivors only a conviction of the program in court will give them closure.

In Denmark the group home Herkules decide to close down after Denmarks Radio did show what basically happens in many Danish group homes. The difference with all the other group homes and Herkules is that it was shown on national television and informed the public where they have closed their eyes before, so they didn't have to think about it. Awareness of ordinary behavior modification methods made the public angry and the owners had no other choice but to close the program.

Back in the United States Fox News told the viewers what Ridge Creek School in Georgia is all about. You can find more information here on the homepage of Fox news.

The bad news is that it doesn't matter what country we choose to feature. The level of abuse is basically the same.

A new report reveals that there are errors in 64 percent of the cases where Danish children are put into the foster care system. 

64 percent!

Where are the protests from the Danish citizens? It is their tax money which is put to use in a bad way. We are talking of a worn down foster care system where children are exposed of sexual orientated issues by other children every 14 day on average according to recent studies.

The answer is that the Foster system is victimized by trade unions and lobbyist organizations.

When the politicians ordered new treatment measures introduced and they resulted in fewer placements outside the families a massive wave of protests came. First and foremost the workers in the child protective services accused the politicians accused the politicians of neglecting the children just because they wanted to lower the entire budget. This unfounded claim was backed by the organization of group homes and therapeutic boarding schools in Denmark (LOS). Of course they are angry. It did cost them income and some of the group homes are already closed.

This campaign together with a case about a family in Broenderslev who allegedly neglected their children caused the politicians in our parliament over in Copenhagen to create tougher laws. These people who are normally out of touch with the normal population reduced the possibility of public access to case files, so people who are charged with child neglect have less possibility to learn about the case against them and the background of the so-called professional staff who is handling their case.

In the case of the family from Broenderslev no fewer than 3 towns had their child protection services to inspect the family. Two recommended that the children should stay with their parents, the last one in Broenderslev had the case-files on their desks for month not opening them hoping that the family would move on eventually. Still it was the town which had done most which ended up with the bill.

A forth town was also involved. The town of Ringsted had the girl living at one of their group homes and the girl wanted to go to her father and her stepmother. In the law it is required that the child protection services inspect the home before they can send a child home and they did - very thoroughly according to their testimonies.

So no less than 4 different departments oversaw this family and their slightest moves. Still they were able to make a case out of it and now it is damaging all families who are investigated. All parents are regarded as criminals despite the fact that everyone testified the opposite.

In the town of Frederikssund a girl was dragged to a group home because she survived cancer and her parents wanted to make her transition from the hospital to her old life slow and she was behind in school and somewhat truant because she was in the hospital hooked up to various equipment.

Please support families in the Danish foster care system by passing this message on.


Sources (Mostly in Danish):
Undersøgelse viser fejl i sagsbehandling ved anbringelser af børn (Ankestyrelsen)
Seksuelle overgreb på børn og unge på døgninstitution (Servicestyrelsen)

Trial underway in gruesome family abuse case (CphNews)
16-årig tvangsfjernet for "skadelig omsorg" (Sjaellandske Nyheder)