Legalized Abuse

From the US to Canada, Great Britain to Australia, children removed from their parents and placed in foster care, group homes, detention centers, or other locations are being subject to abuse.

But worse than that, the abuse is being covered up or ignored by the very system that was designed to prevent it from occurring.

Why? Because abuse of children while in the care of CPS/DSS/DFCS is the clearest demonstration that the system is irretrievably broken and needs to be dismantled and replaced with something that truly works to the benefit of children and families.

One of the most recent examples of how convoluted the system has become is the Border Force Protection Act in Australia. Despite the law regarding mandatory reporting of child abuse, the mandated reporters will now face prosecution if they report the same abuse occurring against children within a detention center.

Daily more reports are made of children being sexually and physically abused while in foster care - and this doesn't even begin to encompass the psychological and emotional abuse inflicted by social workers and foster parents who engage in estrangement techniques to work towards termination of parental rights and subsequent adoptions.

• http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130266
• http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-foster-care-in-crisis-experts-say-1.1250543
• http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/crime/2015/04/02/foster-care-child-abuse-case-headed-to-grand-jury/70864558/
• http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-28/hundreds-of-children-in-foster-care-abused-last-year-report-find/6052006
• http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Foster-child-sexually-abused-on-state-s-watch-6137702.php
• http://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/apr/20/care-system-failures
• http://www.kptv.com/story/27635026/dhs-to-pay-out-millions-after-two-young-children-say-they-were-abused-by-their-foster-parent
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/major-study-reveals-true-scale-of-abuse-of-children-living-in-care-9587244.html

The links above are just a small sample of what is easily found from mainstream media when you Google "foster care abuse".

The numbers statistically would be much higher if all the actual cases of abuse in foster care were reported. However a variety of issues prevent reports from being filed:

• the children are too young to report the abuse;
• the people attempting to report the abuse are the biological parents - and CPS/DSS ignores them or labels the reports as "lies";
• children old enough to report the abuse are frequently convinced that they are at the mercy of the case worker/foster parent (due to being ripped from their family/parents) and they don't think that anything will be done.

Even one case is "too many", yet DSS/CPS/DFCS continues to relentlessly seize children on a daily basis and place them in environments where they are just a commodity that earns cash - for the foster parents and for the system.

Educate yourself on a system that is irrevocably broken worldwide.

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose CPS.

Off to the Races!

As if New York State CPS didn't need any more excuses to wrongfully seize children, terminate parental rights and set children up for adoption...(click for a link to the article)

Governor Cuomo Announces $1.57 Million For Post-Adoption Services

In other words, there is ALL NEW money to be sucked in, which means affirmation of the reasons why CPS will continue to deny parental and Constitutional rights, make false allegations and present fraudulent paperwork to Family Court, and otherwise be an enemy of families and children.

Don't forget, It's All About the Money, It's All About MORE Money, and It's All About OUR Money!

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose CPS!

"Family" Court?

And this is business as usual for Family Court - judges ignoring the truth, those charged with enforcing the law instead violating it, witness tampering, but worst of all - damage done to a child and a family!

We had judges listening to what they knew were outright lies, yet instead of shutting the liars down and advocating for the truth and justice, they continued to penalize those of us telling the truth.

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose a corrupt system.

US Govt Says? Foster Care FAILS!

In August 2005, the US Department of Health and Human Services issued a report on federal foster care financing (click here for the full report).

What is most striking is that the report lists quite a few failures in the funding system that have not been addressed at all in any type of reform.

A sample is as follows (directly quoted from the report):

"The current funding structure has not resulted in high quality services."

"The current funding structure is inflexible, emphasizing foster care.  Title IV-E funds foster care on an unlimited basis without providing for services that would either prevent the child's removal from the home or speed permanency."  

Again, it is all about 'cash for kids'.

"Foster care services are intended to provide temporary, safe alternative homes for children who have been abused or neglected until such time as they are able to return to their parents' care safely or can be placed in other permanent homes. Federal foster care funds, authorized under title IV-E of the Social Security Act, are paid to States on an uncapped, “entitlement” basis, meaning any qualifying expenditure by a State will be partially reimbursed, or “matched,” without limit."

In other words, there is no incentive for states to return an child to their parent, and there is actually financial reason to keep the child in foster care for as long as possible.

"the current funding structure is inflexible and emphasizes foster care payments over preventive services" 

Preventive services would mean reunification with the family.

This table is very interesting - it shows that the states which collected the most money for "maintenance" (actual foster care) are West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Maryland, and New York  - in that order. In other words, those five states are maximizing their revenues by putting kids in foster care and keeping them there as long as possible. 

These are funds collected from the federal government in addition to child support collected from the parents.

"Funding sources for preventive and reunification services, primarily the Child Welfare Services Program and the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program funded under title IV-B of the Social Security Act, are quite small in comparison with those dedicated to foster care and adoption."

The federal funding streams encourage foster care and adoption, rather than reunification.

The report repeatedly cites failures in record keeping and accountability by the states, as well as the issue that reunification is not fiscally rewarded, and it is more lucrative for children to be placed in foster care or adopted out rather than being left with or returned to their families.

The system is broken, even the feds have been aware of it for at least ten years!

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose CPS!

Pick and Choose!

There is no greater demonstration of the selective persecution prosecution that is rampant in the so-called justice system than what occurs in Family Court and its related criminal court actions.

In the summer of 2010 - July to be more specific, my children were at Jon's apartment for the first extended length of time (any prior visits were very short, 15 min or less, and had only occurred twice that I can recall). We were celebrating his birthday with a cookout, and also letting the kids know that we were going to work on reestablishing our relationship.

My middle child took the dog for a walk, and mentioned that the kids in the yard that Jon's balcony overlooked were really splashing in the pool.

About an hour later she took the dog out again, and came inside reporting that there was yellow crime scene tape around the pool and yard.

Apparently a four-year old little girl had drowned in that short period of time.

What is most striking is that the mother claimed to have left an 8-year old child in charge of watching the little girl, who suffered from several disabilities.

The yard was not fenced, so anyone could have wandered in from the street and accessed the pool.

There was no gate to block access to the pool from the deck.

There was a sliding glass door that was left open onto the deck.

Jon had spoken from his balcony to the parents and the grandparents about the need for pool safety on at least two occasions after observing the kids unsupervised in the pool. When nothing changed, he finally called in a report to CPS - two weeks before the drowning.

And the mother was posting status updates and game updates on Facebook during the whole time frame in question, including one about how the 8-year old was downstairs playing a game - while he was supposed to be watching his little sister.

No charges were filed, and the mother never lost custody of any of her children.

Maybe the fact that her family was friends with the investigating detective had something to do with it.

It is amazing how people can pick and choose what they will investigate, and who they will pursue and persecute.

It's amazing how many neglectful and abusive parents are ignored or given a pass - while those known to be innocent are harassed.

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose CPS!

Cash for Kids

Over the course of the past three years, I have had numerous talks with my friends, relatives, and co-workers (not necessarily mutually exclusive) and have heard some fairly profound stories about just how badly the system is broken.

The intent of the Federal Adoption Incentive was to spur CPS and the Family Court system into finding "forever homes" for children who had been lingering in the system for years.

Unfortunately, there is a reason these children had been held in limbo, unadopted. Many of them had physical or developmental issues that would be difficult to manage. Others had been subjected to severe levels of physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse that would require intensive treatment over a period of years.

To draw an analogy - most people would prefer a brand new puppy to a dog from the local animal shelter, and the mentality about adopting a child isn't much different.

People who are looking to adopt want a baby they can "raise from scratch", or a child who hasn't been subjected to the ordeals of actual abuse. But those didn't exist in the foster care system - so CPS had to find a way to generate such a marketable commodity.

With the rise of private adoptions, in which pregnant women could broker deals for the unwanted child they were carrying, CPS needed to find another source of babies and children to supply the adoption demand, and to start generating quotas to earn their state the bonuses under the Federal Adoption Incentive.

That meant that they needed to start seizing children who were "marketable", so CPS found a new target. They began to go after people on "neglect" charges - and they came up with a new description to broaden their search - "derivative neglect".  

In the eyes of CPS, parents are neglectful if they miss a doctor's appointment (even if they immediately reschedule), if their child misses too much school (even when there is documented illness and the parent coordinates with school and keeps their child up to date on work), if their child isn't dressed according to the standards of the social worker (regardless of whether the child's clothing meets "community standards" - what is considered acceptable to most of society), or if the parents aren't feeding a diet deemed acceptable by the social worker. All of it is entirely subjective, and gives caseworkers wide latitude to charge a parent wrongfully, setting in motion a seizure of their children.

Derivative neglect is even more interesting as a concept. It basically means that a parent can be charged for anything that may have happened to a child, even if they were not present, were not informed about it, and the child never told them or demonstrated any signs that anything occurred. Under this standard - each and every one of us could be deemed guilty of derivative neglect for the Boston Marathon bombing, or the Twin Towers - that is how broad the standard is and how non-existent a burden of proof is required.

And this is how CPS has been able to make their own niche in the Cash for Kids market - they find families with minor amounts of discord and assess for how "marketable" the children are, then proceed accordingly. The Family Court judges buy into this corruption because they receive funding based on case load and disposition, not the merits of the case. There is no incentive to adjudicate fairly - after all, once a family has been logged into the CPS system they become "fair game" for future action.

People worry about the NSA and other agencies maintaining a database - however there is a much more insidious database being maintained by a specific government agency - the CPS and Family Court System. Any individual who has ever been a "party" in Family Court or in any Child Support action, has now been entered into the CPS database. This includes not only the adults, but also the "subject" children. This is in addition to the records maintained on any and every report ever called in to CPS - whether "founded", "indicated", or "unfounded".

Foster children, victims of false reports, parents who have fully completed and complied with "service plans" (and learned and changed their behaviors as a result), are all fair game for the pickings. They have become a "fertile field" for CPS to harvest adoptable children.

And meanwhile, the situation that the Federal Adoption Incentive was designed to correct continues - with repercussions. Now only the most severely obvious cases of abuse are acted upon - and often those are the only families that are reunified. The system is bogged down with cases of "neglect" and "derivative neglect" that are fast-tracked into TPR (termination of parental rights) and adoption, rather than the reunification that should occur with these mild or even non-existent charges.

Meanwhile, foster parents looking to adopt the "high needs" children are put on the back burner - their cases are dragged out with repetitive paperwork and unnecessary delays - while children from intact families are fast-tracked into removal from their parents and placement for adoption.

I have spoken to two separate adoptive parents who refuse to work with our local CPS system any more after their experiences in foster-to-adoption. Both parents are mandated reporters who have been trained in the recognition and reporting of child abuse, and who have no doubts that the children they fostered and then adopted had been actually abused. Yet they faced what they characterized as a "lack of support" for ensuring that the needs of the children in their care were met. This would be expected - the needs of a genuinely abused child would require spending money long-term and would erode the CPS profit margin on the funds they receive from multiple sources.

Additionally, one of the adoptive parents was subjected to extortion attempts from the extended family of the children they were adopting. The family had absolutely NO interest in taking the two children, but upon learning of the employment status of the foster family adopting the children, they began making direct contact with the foster family requesting payments for them to sign off on the adoption quickly.

In conversations with several teachers, I learned about multiple cases that had been "hotlined" in which children made allegations against a parent, with more than sufficient evidence to back up the allegations. Yet not only weren't the children removed from the homes, nothing was done to address the abuse. In one instance a sexually abused child (one of several in the home) finally attacked the abusive parent with a hammer and was sent to a juvenile facility.

We even have a local county legislator who was showed up on CPS radar after his child and other kids got into a "very active" game of street hockey that left marks. Despite the evidence presented by all of the children involved, it took months before the legislator was given a "clean slate".

The common factor when children are seized? No evidence of abuse, often no evidence of neglect, and characteristics in the children that would make them "adoptable" - no disabilities or other issues that would render them undesirable. Even in our own case they tried to fast-track Ruby into adoption - within four months Ruby's father was told that she was going to be adopted out "soon", despite family members who wanted to take her. (It kind of makes you wonder who would be in the market for an intelligent, beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who at age 14 could pass for 17 or older.) 

The system is irreparably broken. It is merely a cover for the illegal seizure and sale of children and youth, as well as a source of revenue generation and career preservation.

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose CPS!

CPS Kills Kids!

Standing up for the truth is no longer praised and rewarded in society, it is punished - often to an extreme level.

One of the most obvious examples is in the Child Protective/Family Court system.

The minute a parent/family begins to assert their rights and speak up for the truth, tries to expose the lies and fraud being committed, CPS opens the floodgates and musters every resource at their command to attack and vilify them.

And trust me, their resources are far-reaching - they can recruit law enforcement and District Attorneys to add additional pressure, threats, and charges to try to force a family to back down.

One of the biggest pieces of leverage that CPS uses is wrongful seizure of children. Once CPS has gained control over the children, they are able to manipulate the parents using the false promise of returning the children.

And then CPS fails to keep children safe.

Children are killed while in the custody of CPS.

And now a new report: in January a foster father burned an 11-month old to death in a bathtub. A family court judge had removed the baby from his parents shortly after birth due claiming it would be in the child's "best interests". Apparently in the eyes of CPS and Family Court, death is a child's best interest.

This week, a 6-month old died while in CPS custody, in a foster home that CPS claimed would keep her safe.

A year ago a toddler was killed in Las Vegas by her foster father, who then killed himself. No charges were filed against the foster mother.

Two years ago, a toddler was removed from her parents and placed in foster care. They immediately began to notice issues, and then they received a phone call informing them their daughter was in the hospital. She subsequently died from injuries inflicted by her foster mother (who had been the subject of prior complaints).

And children kill themselves while in foster care.

In December, a 6 year old girl in foster care supposedly hung herself. Yet a child of that age killing themself is almost unheard of, especially when she should have been supervised due to her age, and there are still many unanswered questions.

In 2009, a 7 year old boy hung himself - attributed to the psychiatric drugs that CPS had arranged for him to take, without parental consent.

In 2011, a 14 year old committed suicide after being shuffled between 22 foster homes in 13 years.

In September of 2014, Karmah Jayne Hall committed suicide while in foster care, and her biological family was never informed. Instead they learned of the death through a Facebook post.

CPS does NOT care about the safety and well-being of children and families. It is all a numbers game. For each child removed from a parent's custody, they get money from the federal, state, and local government.

This includes wrongfully removing children from loving homes and parents, and placing children with foster parents who may not pass background checks or who may be in it just for the money. When there isn't enough foster care space, children are placed in juvenile detention facilities.

The links above are just a few of many articles - do a Google search yourself using "death while in foster care", "suicide while in foster care", or any other horrendous outcome followed by "while in foster care". Then change to "while in CPS custody" and a whole new batch will appear.

The riots in Ferguson, Baltimore, and NYC centered around the theme of "one death is too many". Why doesn't this apply to our children and help shut down a system that singlehandedly accounts for more deaths, more wrongful "incarcerations", more deprivation of Constitutional rights than any other agency in our society?

ONE DEATH IS TOO MANY! Stand up, speak out, expose CPS!

Pushing Buttons!

Suicide is a criminal offense!

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that the person who commits suicide is a criminal - the criminals are those who put any person in a situation where they perceive that suicide is their only option!

Who are some of the victims of this particular offense?

Dave and Tiffany O'Shell were two police officers who were wrongfully charged with abuse when doctor's failed to diagnose their daughter with a genetic disorder. Their despondency at the persecution of their family by child protective services and the criminal courts led to a murder-suicide for the husband and wife. And the family was unable to prevail in a lawsuit against CPS for wrongful actions. The irony is that their daughter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder that explained her injuries and also caused her death soon after.

Eleanor de Freitas brought rape charges to the police, but although they believed her story, they felt there wasn't enough evidence to secure a conviction. The alleged perpetrator spent over 200,000 pounds to bring private prosecution against her and the Crown Prosecutor joined in (smell the money trail?). Eleanor, who suffered from bi-polar disorder, killed herself as a result.

Ron Mayfield Jr. was a teacher falsely accused of assault by a disruptive student. Without even informing or consulting the boy's parents, the school and CPS pursued charges against him. He was cleared by the police the morning that he killed himself, sadly enough. David Alan Papadakos suffered similar persecution after false allegations by his adopted son (who was on psychiatric meds at the time), and he also killed himself as a result.

Chris Mackney is another case, in which an ex-wife repeatedly and continuously dragged Chris through the Family Court system and criminal courts until he was bankrupt and had lost all hope of contact with his children. Despair over the inequity of the justice system caused Chris to kill himself.

I have previously written about Jon Massey, whose despondency over being unable to present the evidence and witnesses that would show the allegations against him were false made him give up all hope of justice and take his own life.

A simple Google search for "suicide", combined with any other terms of your choosing (false allegations, bullying, harassment, CPS, Family Court, etc) leads to hundreds of results of actual people who have been victimized by a system that fails to take action against those who have brought them to the brink of death.

In many suicides there are clear and distinct signs that actions and words of an individual or group were what prompted the attempt (whether successful or not), yet those people and systems responsible for the death of another person are rarely, if ever, held accountable.

What is not-so-surprisingly missing are the statistics on how many parents and children have died after being wrongfully dragged through the Family Court or Criminal Court systems by CPS. At this point, unless the friends and family members come forward, the true numbers will never be known.

What is known is that for over 25 years there have been questions about the legitimacy of the CPS system and the actions that it takes - often using coercive and underhanded techniques to continue cases without merit while ignoring the actual reasons for false allegations. (Click here for an article that details statistics from 1990 and earlier regarding false allegations and their effect on families.)

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose the corruption that has existed for more than a quarter of a century!

PA + NPD = TOXIC PARENTING

One thing that has stood out throughout my readings on PA (Parental Alienation) is that it carries many of the same markers as Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

Although PA has not been included under that label in the DSM-IV or DSM-5, it actually has been present in both editions under other descriptions. The phrases used are "pathological triangle" and "estrangement", and there are several different codes that are used for a diagnosis of what is essentially Parental Alienation. Click HERE for an article describing the presence of PA in the DSM.

However, NPD is definitely listed as a DSM-IV and DSM-5 disorder and many attribute the presence of PA to a parent who has NPD or borderline NPD. Two of the specific traits which most likely contribute to the inability to recognize that the PA they are inflicting is wrong is their lack of empathy, and their intimacy issues. They see relationships as being superficial and self-serving and are unable to recognize the harm that they are doing to others.

Indeed, when you google PA + NPD, there are multiple pages of articles that appear. To a tee, whether or not they acknowledge the legitimacy of PA, they acknowledge that NPD causes very toxic parenting - almost a scorched earth for the alienated parent as well as the children and any family members who are included under the umbrella of the alienator's abuse. The only one who "wins" (at least in their warped perspective) is the alienator him/herself.

Worthy of a read are the following selections:

• Narcissistic Personality Disorder and PAS
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)
• Parental Alienation & Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• Adult Children of Parental Alienation
• Borderline Personality Disorder and Parental Alienation Involve Similar Abusive Behaviors
• How Sociopathic Parents Use Police Reports for Defamation

There are many others available, but these seemed to be fairly comprehensive and research based.

Ultimately, what is important to recognize is that the techniqes and strategies used in what is now commonly known as Parental Alienation (PA) definitively fall into the range of emotional and psychological abuse - not just for the child(ren) involved, but also for the targeted parent and family members.

The environment of Family Court and the CPS system not only don't discourage PA, they actually provide a venue which fosters the behaviors. This is totally contradictory to their stated mission - providing support to maintain families. Yet without PA and NPD, the entire system would collapse for lack of business. So they maintain this unhealthy climate to provide themselves with job security.

It is time to stand up, speak out, and expose a corrupt agency and system for the abusers that they are!

DNA Denial!

In my 30 years of working with about 100 people per year, I have learned people come in all types, and unless we have suddenly become a society composed solely of clones, that won't change any time soon. It is built into our DNA to come in different sizes, shapes, colors, and configurations. Life would be boring if we were all identical.

For CPS to intervene because a child doesn't meet their standards just demonstrates how ignorant they are and how far they will go to either: 1) seize children for their adoption/trafficking scheme; or 2) target former foster care children for ongoing monitoring akin to something out of a dystopian novel.

Yet such is the case of Angela Borths. She herself is very "petite", yet apparently she was expected to overcome genetics and produce "normal" sized children. The article about Angela and her battle with CPS can be found HERE.

The level of ignorance of CPS astounds me - if you check Angela's Facebook page dedicated to her battle, https://www.facebook.com/BRINGHOMEMYKIDS she has posted a growth chart on her daughter which shows steady growth, even though she has been consistently in the lowest percentile.

Wait, consistently in the lowest percentile, and yet Angela is expected to perform miracles and have her daughter reach "normal" height, despite the fact that the entire family is in the lower percentiles.

Maybe the CPS action is because Angela herself was a foster child. But wait, that doesn't make sense either. After all, CPS claims that they are the authority on parenting. In fact, according to CPS, if everyone in the family participates in all the services that CPS demands in their service plan, the family will turn out fine.

Angela is not the only former foster child who has been targeted as an adult. It seems to be a common denominator, especially when children are being seized and fast-tracked into adoption.

If you look at the pictures of Angela's children, you can tell that they would be in high demand for adoption - they are cute kids.

And while you are on the webpage Medical Kidnap, go to the homepage and take a look at other stories. Not coincidentally is another story about CPS and Boston Children's Hospital seizing an infant based on the mismanagement of the medical community rather than on the neglect of the parent. This is very similar to the Justina Pelletier case in my prior blog entry, Mito-Malpractice!

It is time to stand up, speak out and expose CPS for the self-serving, fraudulent, corrupt system that it is.

CPS (Career Preservation Society)

We all hope to one day get a career, not just a job. The difference between the two is that a job pays the bills, a career is something you believe in and enjoy doing (while you get paid to do it).

One of the factors of being employed (whether a job or a career) is being evaluated on what you do and how well you do it.

Such is the situation with CPS...they are accountable to a variety of forms of oversight - the government agencies directly responsible for the supervision of their branch (in NYS it is the county, then the state, and ultimately the federal government), the immediate supervisor, and the director of their branch.

But ultimately, their job, or career, or paycheck - however they view it - relies on one thing and one thing only: having enough cases to justify their positions, and those of their co-workers.

So they "found" cases based on the "quality" of the case in order to provide sufficient numbers to continue their employment.

However, many of the standards used have nothing to do with abuse or neglect, but are based solely on some very inappropriate reasoning.

The list below includes a number of reasons that CPS is taking children nationwide and funneling them into the foster care system. The ultimate goal is to help meet adoption quotas and secure funding, as well as to justify their jobs based on numbers of cases.

• "Medical neglect" based on the disagreement of a temporary health care provider (ER doctor, first time specialist, etc) or the caseworker with the diagnosis of the regular provider or the parents' wish for a second opinion or different - but medically accepatable - treatment.
• Ability of the parent to pay child support in excess of the foster care expenses.
• Animosity between family members which can be utilized to generate additional false allegations of neglect or abuse.
• "Adoptability" of the children - fitting the high-demand criteria (racial and ethnic appeal, lack of disabilities, lack of negatively impacting backgrounds).
• "Prior history" of the parents, including any history of having been in foster care, prior reports to CPS, or any other item which CPS deems makes them "high-risk".
• Inability of parent(s) to have the financial resources to implement a good defense.

Additionally, caseworkers will lie and manufacture allegations in the paperwork to support their wrongful seizure of children.

CPS no longer is an acronym for Child Protective Services, it has evolved to represent Career Preservation Society, a group of individuals whose sole purpose is to collect paychecks based on performing jobs in a manner that continues to support them collecting a paycheck.

Find a voice! Tell your story! Speak out against CPS! It is time to shut down the self-serving corruption!

Sunglasses at Night

I pity CPS workers.

Let me say it again. I pity CPS workers.

They have an incredibly warped worldview - especially as it pertains to parents and children, and the myriad interactions which occur within families in all their configurations.

Through these dark glasses that CPS workers wear, society is a very bleak place in which all step-parents abuse their step-children. The minute they learn that one of the parents appearing on their radar is a step-parent, CPS goes into full-out attack mode. The majority of CPS workers were spoon fed the Disney fantasy that demonizes step-parents in larger than life animation, and they freely apply that model as though it were the fount of reality. Given the modern day statistics of the number of children living in homes with a step-parent, if this were actually the case, CPS would be the world's largest employer - far outstripping the police and teaching as a profession. The reality is far different - CPS is now an agency whose turnover rate is extremely high and it struggles with job preservation, advancing unfounded cases and false allegations in order to secure funding and justify their continued existence.

(Anecdotal side bar 1 - there is a major exception to this "step-parent" rule that involves family members of CPS employees. A friend of Ruby's was constantly at our house, and frequently complained about her stepmother belittling her and her brother - calling them "stupid", "useless", "never amount to anything", and other derogatory phrases. She described how her stepmother threw her brother out of the house when he turned 16. Imagine our amazement when we discovered that this stepmonster was the sister of a CPS investigator actively involved with the Jon Massey case.)

Constantly inundated with examples of the worst of humanity, many CPS workers can't - or won't - see that this is not the norm, and that the majority of society does not treat others with callous disregard. Instead, when they encounter a person who has absolutely no criminal record, CPS "investigators" will relentlessly pursue the blameless in the misguided belief that lack of a record indicates that an individual is just devious and adept at avoiding being caught. The sheer stupidity of this belief is staggering - if all people without a criminal past were secretly guilty of something, we would be living in a state of sheer anarchy with the crime rate through the roof.

In the dark land of the Career Preservation Society, all inappropriate behavior by children can be directly attributed to neglect or abuse by parents and family members. Acting out is proof positive of allegations - the cart drives the horse. There is no room in the murky tunnels of their minds to acknowledge that all humans are different and respond in a broad variety of ways to the same situations, or respond to peer and societal pressure differently.

There is a name for this - CSAAS (Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome) - and it has been deemed "junk science" by the psychological community and was retracted by Roland Summit, the man who "invented" it in the first place. Under the original theory, AFTER a diagnosis that sexual abuse has actually occurred, a number of behaviors could emerge and be attributed to the abuse. However CPS has repeatedly claimed that the emergence of any of those listed behaviors can be used to prove that sexual abuse occurred. Again, the cart before the horse.

(Anecdotal side bar 2 - One of the CPS caseworkers approached me in court to ask for assistance regarding her teenage daughter. Apparently her daughter was sneaking around, changing clothes at school to more revealing and/or inappropriate outfits, and using makeup despite her mother's prohibition. Ironic isn't it? The very acting out behaviors that CPS - and this caseworker - claimed were "proof positive" of the abuse allegations against Jon Massey were being exhibited by this girl. But rather than being attributed to abuse, because it involves a CPS worker, the actions were considered simply the 'normal' behaviors of a teenage girl. Even worse, the CPS worker turned to one of their alleged perpetrators for assistance.

Anecdotal side bar 3 - A CPS investigator himself - as well as his younger brother - both exhibited some of the same "everything but the kitchen sink" behaviors described in CSAAS - as well as exhibited by Ruby - sneaking out of the house, underage drinking, and yet the behaviors weren't considered "out of the ordinary" or proof of any form of abuse.)

As a result of this obsession with believing the worst possible scenario, CPS workers are unwilling or unable to give credibility to any evidence presented to them, unless it has been discovered by themselves. This could be attributed to their awareness of the frequency that they themselves present false information and lie, and therefore any documentation of wrongdoing received from outside sources would be considered founded in untruths also...they only "trust" their own lies. As a result of this twisted reality, CPS workers have often zealously advocated that children be placed with sociopaths or convicted abusers rather than with the parents who have protected them and kept them safe. This is even more true when those parents have engaged in a fight with CPS, against all odds, to present the truth.

(Anecdotal side bar 4 - Although we were able to document the extent to which my youngest daughter's father would go to get his own way, CPS deliberately ignored disturbing reports he made to them as well as their own agency's records, testimony by a psychologist hired by the court, and documentation of his lying in court, and instead insisted that he was an upstanding and appropriate parent.

Anecdotal side bar 5 - An even more distressing case is that of Kendall Lebow, whose mother has been fighting to regain custody of her daughter, who was place with a convicted sexual offender. When the mother began seeing signs of sexual abuse on visitations, CPS insisted that her visitation be cut off, rather than investigating - and potentially finding their own liability for a child being abused. You can view her story at savekendall.com)

Immersed in a job where everything is focused on the darkest human behaviors, the whole world becomes a moonless night. But CPS workers deliberately go one step further and put on their sunglasses, so that they wander through life thinking the worst of everyone and seeing evil in every situation - a belief system entirely of their own making.

I pity CPS workers.

Let's Play Doctor!

As a result of this two-year journey, I've heard a lot of stories and "met" quite a few individuals who have stories about CPS.

One of the most recent and troubling trends has been CPS involvement in what is known as medical kidnapping.

A well-known recent case is that of Justina Pelletier, a Connecticut teenager who spent almost two years in the Massachusetts CPS system, deprived of contact with her parents. Justina was seized by a Boston Hospital when their staff ER doctor decided to overrule the diagnosis of her specialist. He recruited CPS and turned Justina into a medical experiment that went wrong - for Justina, her parents, and her family.

Because Justina's parents spoke out and tried to regain their child wrongfully removed, they began to be persecuted by CPS. First their contact with their daughter was severely limited, and then it was completely severed. The Pelletier's were even issued a gag order - a violation of Freedom of Speech as guaranteed in the United States Constitution.

At the time she went into the ER at Boston Children's - ostensibly to meet with her long-time specialist, Justina was a figure skating, soccer playing, ambulatory teenager. When she emerged she was confined to a wheelchair with extremely deteriorated mobility. Why? An ER doctor, without interviewing her or checking her medical records or calling in her specialist, decided that all her conditions were psychological in nature and took her off all medications.

If any of us were to deprive our child of medications for a DIAGNOSED medical condition, our child would be seized by CPS on the grounds of medical neglect or medical maltreatment. Yet when CPS did the exact thing that would get a normal parent scrutinized and demonized, they did so with impunity - and the blessing of the Family Court judge assigned to the case.

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A newer case is that of Cassandra C., a 17 year old diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The teen read up on all the treatment protocol pros and cons, and made an informed decision to NOT receive chemotherapy, as the cure could be worse than the disease with its physical side effects. Cassandra's mother backed her choices, but then DCF (a variation on CPS) entered the scene.

After initially securing a court order forcing the teen and her mother to comply, Cassandra ran away to avoid being forced to endure a medical procedure she didn't want. At that point, DCF and a judge ordered her confined to the hospital and cut off all contact with her mother.

At this point in time, even though she is in remission, Cassandra is not being allowed to visitation with her mother, despite a break in her treatments. At a time when she is suffering from a serious disease and most needs the support of her family, she has been cut off from all contact.

Yet DCF is the same entity that advocates that children as young as 12 are able to make their own decisions regarding birth control and healthcare, without their parents' knowledge or consent, has arbitrarily decided that a 17 year old is unable to make an informed choice to refuse treatments that are debilitating and potentially have long-lasting side effects.

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A third case is that of Angela Borths, whose children were seized because one of her children was "too short". Apparently, in the eyes of CPS, all children must fit a Stepford mold, and there is no room for differences based on biology or genetics. You can learn more directly from Angela herself (on FB, and @PureMadAngel on Twitter).

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In our case, at the time that CPS seized Ruby and put her into foster care, she was in the process of being removed from several asthma medications by the orders of the allergist who had prescribed them and done an evaluation on her. Yet CPS refused to consult with the allergist regarding his course of treatment, and kept her on medications for a condition which she does not have. (Her asthma symptoms were due to her use of Tramadol - stolen from Jon Massey - in conjunction with Vyvanse - her ADHD meds, and she did not have asthma.)

In terms of the ADHD meds (amphetamines), Ruby did not have a formal diagnosis of ADHD. When I requested that she be taken off the meds, CPS tried to charge me with medical neglect.  I actually have an audio recording of the CPS caseworker admitting that he had no clue that ADHD medications are amphetamines. Although we cleared up that charge in court, CPS continued her on amphetiamine-based medication for over a year - without getting a diagnosis. Additonally, when CPS finally did secure a diagnosis of ADHD, it was not according to diagnostic protocol which requires that you take a child off the meds before diagnosing and secure reports from multiple sources that rate the child on a variety of behaviors and characteristics.

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What all of these instances reveal is that CPS has become a system out of control. They have decided that they are the ultimate arbiter of what is acceptable parenting, and what is not allowed. These decisions made by CPS are often violations of Constitutional Rights, and state laws.

Ultimately, CPS has decided that it is now qualified to make medical decisions for children against the wishes of their parents and families, and they will use techniques that effectively incarcerate children and isolate them from their parents and families if they deem it necessary. Essentially, CPS has decided that they are medical professionals - which is normally a criminal offense. Apparently the immunity of caseworkers extends to making decisions they have no education, training, or credentials to support.

It is time to speak out against the nanny state of CPS and its wholesale kidnapping of children on fraudulent medical charges. It is not until we as a society take a stand and change things that we will get any justice and resolution. Physician, heal thyself!

The Ten (CPS) Lies

The Ten Lies

that CPS will tell the Family Court and you:

1. We present the truth and nothing but the truth. (Even CPS caseworkers will admit that they lie and "embellish" reports to win cases.)
2. We do not let monetary reward, promise of promotion or threat of discipline, political aspirations, opinions of superiors or outside agencies, or anything else influence our quest for the truth. (The Federal Adoption Incentive is a prime example to the contrary. CPS caseworkers are coming forward in increasing numbers to expose the threats and promises that are used to govern their behavior and document the lack of regard for the truth.)
3. We have thoroughly investigated every case and collected all evidence, reports, and statements. (Multiple case files document that CPS caseworkers routinely ignore or suppress statements from any individual who does not support their case. Additionally, some documentation can be found to support the idea that CPS recruits local law enforcement to assist in this effort.)
4. We only put facts into our paperwork. (CPS uses "copy and paste" to create court documents, and often fails to delete incorrect information from a prior case or enter correct information from the current case. Even when changes and modifications arise as a result of court action, the CPS paperwork remains uncorrected resulting in continued need for court action to correct it. Additionally, CPS caseworkers often shred their handwritten notes to prevent fact checking regarding cases.)
5. We honor the concept of family and respect the father and/or mother and their right to be different from us in their parenting approach. (The reality is that CPS is a "nanny state" entity that believes in "our way or the highway", and will punish any parents/family who have different beliefs or practices. Many caseworkers are young and do not have children of their own, so do not have a realistic concept of parenting. Additionally, in some instances caseworkers can be documented as having inappropriate parenting skills themselves.)
6. We will not kill familial relationships through the use of alienation tactics. (CPS is one of the prime manipulators in PAS and whole family alienation - they remove children from their parents, block contact between family members, and encourage caseworkers and foster parents to discuss cases with the subject children in a way that is derogatory to the parents and other family members.)
7. We are impartial and only represent the best interest of children and families. (In reality, CPS will support whichever parents and family members assist them in pursuing their actions. CPS has also been known to place children with parents and foster parents who have a history of abuse or other inappropriate behaviors.)
8. We don't take children from their parents unless we absolutely have to. (CPS will take children from their parents even when there are no issues that endanger the child in any respect. Then the parents must jump through hoops that fiscally benefit them and their partner agencies before their children are returned to them.)
9. We do not bear false witness against any family member. (Except when they can win cases by doing so...which is pretty much every time.)
10. We do not desire to remove children or destroy family relationships. (Enough said - they do it because it gives them job security.)

This is a companion resource to The Ten Commandments - which should be a blueprint for the reform of the CPS and Family Court System.

Lies CPS Will Tell You

In no particular order, here are some of the lies, half-truths, and myths of "working with CPS":

1. If you sign the service plan, CPS won't take your kids away. Status? MYTH/LIE - CPS will use your signature as acknowledgement of your guilt, and then even as you work through the service plan (which utilizes people who are paid directly by CPS and know where their pay is coming from), "issues" will keep cropping up that prove you are an unfit parent. Best case scenario? They will string you along for years before finally leaving your family traumatized but "intact" or "reunited".
2. If you don't let us in the house, we will take your kids away. Status? LIE - They cannot enter your house without a warrant, and a warrant takes probable cause. However if you live in a small community CPS works hand in glove with the local authorities and probably can get a warrant based on their lies. If you don't let them in, they will use it against you in court. If you do let them in, they will manufacture lies about your home/living environment and what they allegedly found. It's a no win.
3. If you sign over your kids to us, we won't seize custody. Status: LIE - If they don't prove their case, you can sue them for emotional distress. Once they hit this point, they are going to move heaven and earth to prove you an unfit and/or abusive parent. Part of this means that they need to have custody of your children to use parental alienation techniques.
4. Nobody should be talking to your children about the case. Status: LIE/MYTH/HALF-TRUTH - The only person who isn't allowed to talk to your children about the case is you. The caseworker and the foster parents will talk to your kids endlessly about the case, use parental alienation techniques, and taint your children's memories. Any family members who are cooperating with CPS are also allowed to continue to talk to the kids about the case in a way that is detrimental to you.
5. If you do everything we tell you, you will get your children back. Status: HALF-TRUTH - If you do everything in the service plan, AND have an attorney watching out for your interests, AND do everything that they add on to your service plan, AND you end up with a reasonably good set of foster parents or kinship care that doesn't use parental alienation, AND your children aren't easily adoptable, THEN you will get your children back. I've probably forgotten some of the hoops they make you jump through, but you get the idea.
6. You are the child's parent and still have input and feedback. Status: HALF-TRUTH/LIE - You are only allowed to make decisions or to get reports if you cooperate. Otherwise, the foster parents and the case worker get to make all decisions for your child regarding religion, education, medical care, etc. We even have an email from the DSS attorney to the case worker stating that "unless they let you in the house, don't give them any reports". So they ignored my input regarding my daughter's medical conditions, educational needs, etc. for a year and a half.

This list is a "to be continued" - feel free to leave a comment that adds a new category or expands on one already listed. I will do revisions as we go.

If you were to ask me our particular favorite? The CPS investigator called me on the phone and told me that if I voluntarily signed my children over to him and if I testified against Jon, they wouldn't file charges against me. Last time I checked, that was known as "suborning perjury" and a criminal offense.

Please be sure to visit the article about Jon's trial! CLICK HERE

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

for CPS and Family Court

1. Thou shalt only present the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
2. Thou shalt not let monetary reward, promise of promotion or threat of discipline, political aspirations, opinions of superiors or outside agencies, or anything else derail or influence your quest for the truth.
3. Thou shalt use the scientific method and gather ALL evidence, testimony, and documentation prior to evaluating the truth.
4. Remember to present only the truth in all your dealings, whether with families, paperwork, the court, or any other respect.
5. Honor the concept of family and respect the father and/or mother and their right to be different from you in their parenting approach.
6. Thou shalt not kill familial relationships through the use of alienation tactics.
7. Thou shalt not enter into relationships with any family members to the exclusion or destruction of other family members.
8. Thou shalt not wrongfully take children from their parents.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against any family member.
10. Thou shalt not desire to remove children or destroy family relationships.

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This Isn't CSI Folks!

For the "start of the story", visit the Jon Massey Case.

Crime scene shows are very popular these days - CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, True Detective, there are even modernizations of old favorites with Sherlock, nerd versions like Numbers, and Steampunk style shows like Murdoch Mysteries. But before you get all bent out of shape because I didn't include your favorite (and before rushing off to Netflix the ones that I listed that you hadn't heard of)  please take a few minutes to read through what you don't know about the investigatory process.

Most of us learned about the scientific method in school. You form a hypothesis, possibly conduct an experiment, collect all the data and evidence that you can possibly find, and then evaluate what you have to determine whether your hypothesis is supported.

Police don't work that way. Ever. Can you think of the time and resources that are utilized in just one episode of your favorite crime drama? Now imagine if that were done for every case that is presented to law enforcement. Police departments would have a debt load larger than the national debt, and employ more people than any other entity. 

Here is how police actually work. They get a report, and if it includes a likely suspect, they focus on collecting any and all evidence and only interviewing those witnesses who will corroborate that the suspect is guilty. They will ignore (or possibly destroy) any evidence that contradicts their theory. They will do what they can to suppress any witnesses who will provide contradictory testimony. If there is no suspect, they will rattle around and see what they can find, and then it becomes a "cold case".

CPS actually functions in an identical manner, except they already have a "smoking gun" so to speak - the parents or "caregivers". Anyone who dares to stand up to them becomes a fresh target for their charges and false reports. Family members are turned against each other and encouraged to provide information that would lead to additional charges.

This is not cynicism, this is reality. We have lived this for the past three years.

Examples? My youngest child was placed in the custody of her father (Ken Shaw) who lives in Canada. Ken Shaw immediately began filing false reports against me (as well as my middle daughter and my friends) with CPS, as well as Homeland Security, various Canadian police agencies, our local police department, and who knows where else. It is amazing that with all the reports filed, not only did nobody get arrested, but one of the Canadian police agencies actually told our local police force that they believed that my youngest daughter had been "coached", and they told me that they thought the father was "mentally unbalanced" and a "pathological liar".

Because none of my family backed up Ruby's claims, in fact they all contradicted her allegations, my oldest three children have been systematically denied any visitation with my youngest daughter, at the urging of CPS.

My son was threatened with arrest by the local Sheriff's department (under Burns and Trudeau) if he disclosed the information and evidence he had collected that contradicted Ruby's allegations. The detective involved also threatened to have me arrested and told my son that she would do so if he continued to cooperate with Jon and I. We have notes provided in the CPS discovery that prove these issues.

I've already discussed the police raids on my house that were a method of intimidation. At the first grand jury, the DA not only made false claims that my son was a "convicted felon" and "convicted drug dealer" to prevent him from being called and his evidence from being presented, he also disclosed information about my son that placed his life in jeopardy, and this disclosure was a violation of US law.

One of the friends of Ruby who was initially a defense witness and could testify as to motivation and behavior changed her story after a year and a half. Even though she voluntarily signed an affidavit for Jon and then a second affidavit with the Sheriff that reaffirmed her first affidavit, somehow she was "persuaded" to change her story. It possibly had to do with the fact that some of the evidence obtained by my son could be used by CPS to go after her parents.

Most telling about this whole situation are two incidents. 

There was an issue with one of the police statements - it had my signature on it. You would think that you are entitled to a copy of any legal document that has your signature on it. Apparently, according to our local police, you are not.

WHENEVER YOU ARE ASKED TO SIGN ANY LEGAL DOCUMENT, DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL YOU HAVE A COPY. IF THE DOCUMENT HAS MORE THAN ONE PAGE, MAKE SURE YOU INITIAL EACH PAGE AND THAT ANYONE ELSE SIGNING IT DOES SO ALSO.

When I requested a copy, I was shuffled from person to person until being told that I had to talk to the detective about it. When I asked the detective for a copy, I ended up with a police lieutenant screaming at me so hard that his spit was on my face, physically towering over me in a threatening manner, and telling me that I had to leave a public government building or he would have me arrested. This document later became the topic for a young police officer to commit perjury over - although the judges involved have conveniently sealed up half the testimony so that we can't prove the contradictory statements at this point in time.

The second incident involves the "evidence collecting" against Jon. Jon had absolutely NO record at all at the time of the allegations, and none afterwards either. No speeding or parking tickets, nothing. (I find this amazing - what person hasn't gotten at least a parking ticket?) The same detective mentioned above went to Jon's landlord for the initial time period requesting property rental records. The landlord, who is also a friend of ours, asked for a warrant. The detective said he didn't have one and the landlord told him to come back when he did (which never happened). As an attempt to persuade the landlord, the detective made the statement, "If we don't get him for this we will get him for something."

The irony of this entire situation is that even though we had documentation of the statutory rape that had occurred between Ruby and Mike (recorded admissions from Ruby, text messages, etc), CPS wouldn't touch it ("That's not our job"), the local police wouldn't touch it ("If it didn't happen in city limits, it isn't our job"), and even the Sheriff's department wouldn't touch it ("she says it didn't happen"). The reality is that a conversation going on behind the scenes (which CPS gave us partial documentation regarding) demonstrated that all three agencies knew that to pursue the statutory rape issue meant that they would lose the case against Jon. Since it was coming up on an election year, as well as high-level vacancies occurring in CPS and the police department, the "high profile" effect of prosecuting an adult male who abused a minor would benefit them more than a "low profile" statutory rape of a 14 year old by a 21 year old.

Once again, politics and the desire for fame outweighs truth and the administration of true justice. This isn't CSI, it is a game where the only winners are the best manipulators, and the losers are truth, justice, and the innocent.

The Hospital and The Hypocritical Undersheriff

For the "start of the story", visit the Jon Massey Caset.

On Friday, February 28, 2014, Jon Massey apparently ingested cyanide sometime after hearing a guilty verdict.

His best friend, my daughter, and I were in the courtroom as support people. We didn't see him put anything in his mouth. We did see him openhandedly pick up a glass of water and drink, but he never put anything in the glass or his mouth. Trust me, we were watching, because we knew about his suicidality and we didn't want to anything to happen to him.

What we did see was the bailiff walk over to Jon and ask him what he had in his pockets. Jon showed him some cash (for the jail commissary), his reading glasses, and a comb. The bailiff pulled out his handcuffs (standard courtroom procedure), but the judge waived him off and told him it wasn't necessary. The bailiff escorted Jon through a door in the back of the courtroom. That was the last any of us saw of Jon in a conscious state.

I stayed behind to ask the judge where to take Jon's medications, as the last time he was in prison (upon his initial arrest) the prison didn't have a correct list of his medications and weren't able to obtain some of them. I was directed to take them to the prison, about 10 minutes away.

I went down and dropped them off, and on the way back learned from the news that Jon had been rushed to the hospital. No phone call to me, no phone call to his sister or mother, we heard it from the news. Apparently people from the DA's office and the Sheriff's Department continued to report to the local news sources throughout the weekend and ultimately reported his death. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this appears to be a HIPAA violation.

Additionally, from what we were told by the staff at Samaritan Medical Center (who were compassionate and caring with one exception) - Jon collapsed at the loading dock and was rushed to the hospital WITHOUT ANY IDENTIFYING PAPERWORK. It took Samaritan over 20 minutes to get a positive ID on Jon so that they could access his information in the system. The Sheriff's deputy couldn't/wouldn't ID him because there had been no transfer of custody. This was subsequently confirmed by several Corrections Officers and Deputies.

Jon died three times and was brought back before he was transferred to ICU - in a coma and non-responsive. At that point the Undersheriff (who had announced his campaign for Sheriff) Paul Trudeau "took charge". Paul Trudeau took it upon himself to decide that since Jon was in their custody and their responsibility, he would decide who was able to see Jon, when, and how long.

Paul Trudeau was campaigning on a "Family and Christian Values" platform. And this self-righteous man decided that Maura, Grant, and Chad (all children with whom Jon had a father/child relationship) were NOT allowed to see him - solely because they were not "blood relatives" or "legal step-children". He only allowed myself (Jon's partner), his sister, and his mother to see him 20 minutes each. Not only didn't this conform to hospital visitation policy, it didn't conform to NYS Correctional visitation guidelines - which specify that the visitation rules of the facility in which an inmate is housed are to be followed.

Hospital policy for ICU was that one family member could stay 24/7, and a second family member could visit for 20 minutes at a time in addition. The doctor in charge of Jon's case and the nursing staff tried to persuade the corrections officers to allow hospital policy to dictate - after all, Jon was in a coma, attached to multiple life support systems, and non-responsive. Trudeau was adamant about his own guidelines.

Matthew 25 speaks to this: 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

When I chose to remind Paul Trudeau (a man of "Christian and Family Values") of this verse, he grew irate. His buddy Sheriff Burns backed him up. This meant that none of the kids was able to see Jon until after he had died a very difficult death. Trust me, you would not have wanted to see that as an adult, much less as the de facto child of a man.

I have no complaints about Samaritan Medical Center, the hospital administrator even interceded at one point on our behalf when Trudeau tried to have his corrections officers prevent me from getting status updates on Jon. (Jon had registered me with Samaritan as his medical information resource, granting me full permission to get medical reports on him.) The doctor handling Jon's case was amazingly compassionate, and insisted that her medical reports on Jon be delivered in his room, outside of the 20 minute allotted visitation times (in order that the three of us have opportunity to spend some more time with Jon). Even several of the Corrections Officers assigned to "guard" Jon were very lenient when it came to watching the clock.

The only people causing problems were the Undersheriff and the Sheriff. Not a big surprise given their history:

• Deputy Passed Out Drunk in Patrol Car
• Deputy Sues For Harassment & Defamation
• Woman Sues Deputy for Sexual Harassment
• Woman Sues Deputy for Defamation
• Corrections Officer Sues for Harassment
• Partial Summary Timeline

On the plus side, there is a new Sheriff in town, and it is NOT Paul Trudeau. The current Sheriff seems to have her hands very busy cleaning up all the departments that were allowed to reign unchecked and inappropriate under Burns and Trudeau.

"Dirty Tricks and Retribution" - Part 1

For the "start of the story", visit the Jon Massey Case.

The abuse from CPS/DSS and the Jefferson County Court System was beyond belief. When I tell my sister about it she thinks I am exaggerating because the incidents are so out of control.

The title for this blog comes from an email I received four months after Jon's death. There is a VERY short list of people who had my email address, so it isn't hard to know that it came from one of those people (most of them employed by DSS/CPS or the DA's office).

So I received this email, clicked on the link, and it went directly to a news article about Jon's death. I managed to get a chuckle because Jon had years before purchased the domain names that referenced my name with middle initial and my name by nickname. The abusive idiot who did this was left with "sloppy seconds".

An IT friend of mine was all set to trace the individual, but within two hours the account had been closed and "no longer existed" according to Google.

A few days later I discovered that I had missed something that had been sent to my "Other" inbox on Facebook, apparently on the same day.

Once again, the account had either been closed immediately, or I had been blocked. These are actions of a VERY immature but manipulative and devious individual.

All of this occurred a few days AFTER I was called into the office by my immediate supervisor. (I will not name them, because they had obviously been manipulated by individuals of the same ilk.) I was told that I might be getting a disciplinary letter in my file because "friends and family of the judge" were upset about what I was posting on Facebook about the case, and because I had a GoFundMe account that I was posting about the case on. I was posting on MY Facebook page, and MY GoFundMe account - information that is contained in the article about Jon Massey and what was done to him in criminal court. The phrase "friends and family of a certain judge" was repeated several times. The individuals who went to my employer were upset and said that they "didn't think they could work with me" anymore because of my posts.

Let me get something straight about my philosophy - each of us is our own individual. We are not our friends or our family members. We each deserve to be treated with dignity and respect for who and what we are, not for the behaviors and actions of those around us. If I have a problem with someone, it is because I have a problem with them, not anyone they are related to or in contact with. We all have skeletons in the closet and those crazy or deranged family members, so I'm not one to throw stones.

Sidebar aside, I did not get a disciplinary letter when I made it clear that my posts were made on MY time, on MY account, from MY devices.

Before that point, my house had been subjected to multiple raids by the police based on false reports filed by Ken Shaw, his attorney Ruthanne Sanchez, his wife Mary Shaw, Eileen Ruggiero (the DSS caseworker), and Michael D. Werner (the DSS attorney). I have the email record, so obligingly provided in the DSS discovery, that demonstrates the involvement of all of those individuals. The pretext of the police raids was that Jon Massey was supposedly living at my house in violation of the Orders of Protection.

From the date of the allegations until all orders of protection were lifted (July 11, 2013) Jon initially lived at his mother's apartment in Carthage, NY. Then he moved in with his sister in Carthage, NY for about two months. Finally, he lived with our friend in Watertown from sometime in late October/early November 2012 until her death in July 2013. Carthage is about 30 minutes away from Watertown.

The raids were initiated by Ken Shaw in January 2012, who lied and claimed that I told him Jon was "sneaking in the back door at night", and who also lied and said that he "heard Jon calling the dog" while I was on the phone with my youngest daughter. Let's get some information straight - my house is completely enclosed with a 6 foot fence and Jon was 5'6" and had some medical conditions that would have prevented him from easily climbing the fence; additionally, the only entrance(s) were through the garage/gate on a driveway shared with my neighbor who works for Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and has a dog that barks if you sneeze. Secondly, Ken Shaw lives over three hours away in Canada and would have no knowledge of what happens on a day to day basis in my house.

Once Ken Shaw kicked it off, DSS and Ken's attorney jumped on board. After the first time the police showed up, there were two more episodes. The first time was about 5 pm, and they not only didn't find Jon (who was at a medical appointment the full time in question), my daughter and I had already left the house.

The second time was about 3 am that weekend - my daughter called me because they were pounding on the door. She let them in, but Jon and I were at a hotel (security cameras can document). They searched the entire house and tracked mud all through at the same time.

The third time they showed up was about 1 am around a week or so later. Two of the kids who are friends with my daughter were there out front, and the police specifically asked for Jon. Ironically, one of the kids was named John, and after clarifying that the police weren't looking for him, the kids both informed the police that Jon Massey didn't live at the house. So the police found reasons to ticket the kids for their cars and then left.

The next round was in early February 2014. The DA served me with a subpoena for Jon's trial at 11:30 pm on a work night - apparently specific orders were left to serve me during the 11 pm to 7 am shift - and I was told by a police officer that I "was lucky they didn't serve me at 2 am". When I was served for the first trial on the original charges, it was at about 4 pm and a courtesy call was made in advance to arrange service. Can you imagine being woken up at 11:30 pm from a sound sleep to a police officer pounding on your door? I actually had a Letter to the Editor published in the Watertown Daily Times regarding this abuse of power.

These are just a few of the dirty tricks that were engaged in because Jon and I "dared" to fight back and try to get the truth heard.