AUGUSTA, Maine — A spike in the number of children entering state custody because their parents are abusing bath salts has forced the state’s Office of Child and Family Services to add almost $1 million to its budget this year to accommodate 200 additional children living in foster care and in the homes of relatives.
The Department of Health and Human Services — which includes the child and family services office — expects to request an additional $4.2 million for that purpose in upcoming budget packages to be voted on by state lawmakers to cover those expenses through June 30, 2015.
The state’s Office of Child and Family Services has seen a net increase of 200 children in state custody since last November, and officials can trace the bulk of the net increase to situations in which parents have been abusing bath salts, Therese Cahill-Low, director of the Office of Child and Family Services, said Monday.
As a result, the state has transferred $1 million to the office this year from unspent funds so it can afford room and board payments to foster parents and relatives taking in children who have entered state custody, according to Cahill-Low and DHHS spokesman John Martins.
“We kind of got blindsided by bath salts back in November, December,” she said. “As a result of really a lot of bath salts usage in certain pockets of the state, we’ve had an increase in the number of kids in care by 200.”
At the end of last November, the state had 1,450 children in its custody. At the end of September, according to Cahill-Low, that number had risen to 1,657 children who were either living in foster care or with relatives after being removed from the care of their parents.
“We can pinpoint it specifically to substance abuse, particularly around bath salts,” she said.
Bath salts-related situations are particularly common in the Bangor and Rockland areas, Cahill-Low said.
It’s challenging for foster parents to start caring for children whose parents have engaged in any substance abuse, but bath salts present a unique challenge, she said.
“With other substances, there may be a little more predictability. Bath salts, there’s no standard,” she said. “Children are probably more scared and probably have been put in more precarious situations just because the parents don’t have any wherewithal when they’re on bath salts.”
Bath salts emerged on the streets of Bangor in early 2011 and, within months, bath salts abuse had spread throughout the state.
The drug, which is addictive, can be snorted, smoked, injected or swallowed. It has caused hallucinations, convulsions, psychotic episodes and thoughts of suicide in users.
Maine lawmakers voted to outlaw the drug in September 2011. President Barack Obama signed a federal ban on the primary chemical components of bath salts into law in July of this year.
To report a situation in which a child might be in danger, call the state’s child abuse hotline at 800-452-1999.
Maybe Augusta in their “Think Tank” might come up with some jobs for these parents to pay their children’s support!
Yeah, it is a “lack of jobs” that causes people to become losers……I don’t think so.
Yet they can afford to buy bath salts, clearly for the calming and relaxation that comes with their use.
my sarcasm meter just exploded! LOL
Calgon, take me away!
In a way it does…Unless one lands a cushy State job there isn’t much “hope” out there due to the ” build absolutly nothing anywhere near anything” those aren’t the “right jobs for Maine” we can get by with our “quality of place” attitudes…
You really think the bath salts users are out there actively looking for jobs? Let me guess, all the unemployed engineers/CPAs, etc are now on bath salts since they are unemployed.
I bet the bath salts users were using something else before the baths alts became available, and I wonder how many of them truly are interested in working. I think fewer and fewer people want to work (the goverment makes it easier to not work these days).
You really have NO idea what you’re talking about. Trust me…..
Sme of those “cooshy” state jobs involve woring with thse people that no one wants to be around, ie, prisoners, mentally ill, mentally challenged, the elderly, etc. Those that fill thse jobs work really hard at making sure these folks are fed, clothed, bathed, schooled if needed and treated as human beings like the rest of society that has shoved them off to the side. Others work at trying to keep the roads from being unpassable with little to nothing to work with. However,believe what you will about state workers, I know they are a hard working lot.
Agreed! I am so tired of the “all state workers are lazy” rant….
NO…… but it helps!!!!
Then what do you think it is?
They are just losers no matter what right? Humanity has failed them somewhere along the line and lack of jobs is just one of these failures.
You do realize that some people (and that percentage seems to be rising) are NEVER going to work. The economy could be great, and they will still never work/apply for jobs. I have a hard time saying “oh, the economy is bad, I don’t have a job so I might as well do bath salts.”
“Humanity has failed them?”……No, they have failed themselves.
Lots of people don’t work. Some of them get daddy’s or mommy’s money, and sit around on their palatial estates telling the rest of us how lazy we are.
yep, and those on the palatial estates don’t live off our tax money either.
There are a lot of rich people who have never done an honest days work in their lives.
There are some “fortunate” sons and daughters who have been born into a life of luxury and as an adult don’t know how to clean a toilet and won’t pick up the brush to try.
Let me rephrase, people whose refusal to work cost the taxpayers money and live off the system. Unlike the libs, I don’t hate the rich or their offspring. If somebody was smart/lucky/ambitious enough to create some wealth to make his family very comfortable for the next 1000 years, why would I care. I don’t need to pay their healthcare/housing/cell phone/food/cigarettes, etc.
Sounds like you are such a resentful unhappy person. That’s sad.
For as long as Maine’s liberals demand socialism, jobs cannot be created.
yes, yes, I have seen all the jobs our esteemed Governor has created.
Hahahaha
Because the “republicans” who outsourced jobs to the lowest bidder are looking out for the lower class right?
Keep drinking the Obama kool aid. He loves the poor so much, he created millions more.
Boy, that kool aid comment is getting as old as “I’m a businessman and I know how to balance a budget”! Also, I didn’t realize it was Obama who sent millions of jobs to the Chinese. Get your facts straight.
Republicans? I seem to remember that Clinton, in the two short years he had a Democratic majority, passed N.A.F.T.A. Of course old George Bush favored that plan too. Only Ross Perot said “That big flushing sound you’ll be hearing is millions of manufacturing jobs leaving the Country.” So after Clinton left office, he made millions in speaking fees in China telling them how to legally avoid our export/import tarriffs, and how to encourage our employers to move their factories over there.
The government has sold us out to the Red Chinese for money. They no longer need U.S. workers because they have Mexicans, Indians, Indonisians, and Chinese people who will work far cheaper. For those who say we should drop our labor costs and compete/ here’s a figure. The average Chinese manufacturing worker makes $30 a week. Try renting a house in east bumf#ck for that.
If taking children away from parents who are using bath salts is a 10, and removing children from a home that is unclean, has little food and the parents are often drunk is a 1-how many other kids living in terrible situations in between 1 and 10 should be screened and placed in foster care? It’s scary to think about.
Many. There is a definite need for more resource families but people do not want to become involved. It’s easier to use excuses not to help a fellow human being (even a child) than it is to take a humanitarian look at ways to help. My favorites — I might become attached to the child(ren). Well, I would hope so! and it would be too hard to give them up. Again, I would hope so. It is sad really that people are so eager to hang on their own comfort zone they prefer not to become involved. Unless of course it is to way in on the problems of others through a forum such as this one.
Do you have foster kids?
I do my part and encourage others to as well.
and then there is the fact people don’t want to pay for social services any more. “The heck with the kids “
It is scary. But some parents with substance abuse issues are willing to get help if it will help them keep their children, and sometimes they are lucky enough to have family or friends willing to take care of their children while they go to treatment. That is not always the case. But not all children of alcoholics or drug addicts wind up in foster care. Whether they should is debatable in my opinion. It depends on whether the parents are willing and able to take the help that is offered to them to battle their addiction.
@Westshores
Know your facts before you start throwing out judgements on families:
These are 2009 Stats on child abuse in foster care. 2012 are expected to be higher: childre are far more abused in Foster Care than in home.
Just something to consider in regards to how CPS “helps” our country’s abused children. Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the United States. These numbers come from: The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) in Washington.
CPS- Physical Abuse (160) Sexual Abuse (112) Neglect (410) Medical Neglect (14) Fatalities (6.4)
Parents- Physical Abuse (59) Sexual Abuse (13) Neglect (241) Medical Neglect (12) Fatalities (1.5) As you can see, children are abused far more in care than at home. The calculated average is for every 1 abused child removed from an abusive home, there are 17 `non-abused children removed from loving non-offending homes nationwide.
You seem to have your facts together. My point was that it seems that children residing in the homes of the bath salt users were quickly removed. Were those kids just fine when Mom and Dad were using other drugs or was the bizarre behavior from the use of Bath salts the trigger for removal? I make no judgments on families, but there just have to be other kids out there in terrible situations that go undiscovered because their parents are not naked and hanging off bridges and claiming their skin is on fire.
stats from what state? Never mind …I see it is national stats.
Parents who lose custody of their children to DHHS due to drug use can decide whether or not to participate in family drug courts to address their drug use. I do not know how the state can acknowledge that they are not competent to take care of their children because of drug use, which I agree with wholeheartedly, but then let them decide whether or not they will be held accountable through the structure and accountability that drug court offers. This includes frequent, random drug testing, which is important especially in early stages of recovery to help keep addicts on the straight and narrow. People involved with the court through criminal charges are not necessarily allowed to say no to adult drug court. Why are parents allowed to choose when they have already shown they don’t make good choices?
Just because your child enters DHHS custody does not mean you are automatically excepted to participate in drug court. People who have committed a crime and who have drug problems can apply to be a participant of the drug court program, all participants are chosen they are not automatically excepted to participate in the program.
but is there a chance for them to be accepted?
There is a chance but they have to be willing to participate.
Now what are they going to do?! THEY ARE GOING TO LOSE THEIR WELFARE CHECKS! GOD PLEASE TAKE OF THESE POOR CHILDREN
Why would you think/believe that God will take care of these or any children?
If “God” put them there in the first place, he intended them to suffer.
Great belief you have there.
People with substance abuse problems can’t focus on fixing their situation, let alone navigate the government bureaucracy for assistance. Now lobbyists and investment bankers on the other hand draft the laws that regulate their industry which enables them to milk the government and the american people for all they’re worth. The money sucking leeches you fantasize about are not the drug addicts, the homeless, or the working poor on government assistance. The real group that is bankrupting our country are the officials jumping between banking firms, or energy companies, or big pharma and washington. They add no value to our society yet assume positions of power and authority over all three branches of our democracy.
Nope, its not Corporate ‘Merica thats to blame for the issues we face as a country. Its all the junkies on welfare.
It’s both of the groups you mention. Sometimes people do fall through the cracks due to no fault of their own, but that does not include junkies and addicts. Corporations are not bad per se, but there are plenty of scum bag predators out there too. Private enterprise is the source of all government money, including every penny that’s spent on the poor. The exception to this is minting dollars with nothing to back it up. When the US government does it, it’s business as usual. When anyone else does it, it;s called counterfieting.
This drug is crazy why would anyone want to do it know the consequences and the health risk involved?
I dunno. Why would people want to climb Mt. Everest?
Climbing Mt. Everest usually doesn’t involve the urge to rip your scrotum off to get at the people that are trying to kill you!
Odd. I didn’t have that urge when I did Salt (before it was illegal in early 2010). Must just be the drug addicts who can’t handle themselves, or the looser, “down and out” drug users who don’t know anything about their substances and don’t care.
Your right, it doesn’t. But it does involve a place called the Death Zone. And it does involve being left to die if you are even slightly injured. And it does involve something like a 20% fatality rate. Honestly, of the two, despite how harmful Salt might be, I’d say Everest is far more dangerous, all things considered.
Never Climbed Everest, but did several smaller hills when I was young. Mount McKinley was the biggest, and the view from the top was awe-inspiring. Some folks who climb mountains talk of “conquering” I think of it as becoming friends.
Had another friend back in the sixties who told me his heroin use was “totally” under his control. He’s dead. They had to break down the door of the bathroom to get his stiff tortured body out. All the folks who I climbed mountains with are still around EXCEPT my father who died in bed at age 93.
Your comparison is bogus. The effects of climbing mountains (for me) is a net gain. I don’t loose children, jobs, my family or my property because of mountain climbing. When you mature, maybe you will discover what life is about, then again, maybe you won’t.
Not sure about McKinley being a small hill, but hey, if you like being modest, go for it.
Well, I’m sorry for your friend. Heroin has taken the lives of many. But, his actions were his own. I would say that everyone ends up dead, its just a matter of how. Going out high on heroin doesn’t really seem that bad to me, personally. Also, with the rising cancer rates, chances are I might just go out on Morphine or Fentanyl or something else just like heroin, cept it’ll be legal and thus okay with everyone… I don’t want to feel anything when I die… Not everyone who uses drugs dies. Ive met lots of responsible drug users in my day and Ive also met lots who are not. Its true most are not responsible and the stereotype that all users are washed up wastes of life is about 90% accurate.
Net gain? What did you gain by climbing? A sense of enjoyment, right? Isn’t that what the drug user gets? I’m pretty sure I know what life is about. Its about whatever meaning we, as individuals, assign to it. Its subjective. There is no universal thing that life “is about”. Personally, I believe the point of life is to be happy, by whatever means and happiness is many different things to many different people.
You know, you do have a point with your last paragraph @DevilDude:disqus . Happiness does have different meanings for different people – even the drug abusers. But, when you have chosen to have a child, it is your responsiblity to make THEM happy and to teach them right from wrong and show them love. When you are using drugs like these, you aren’t doing the children any good – only causing life long damage and giving them a sense of no self worth.
I generally agree. I do find that most people with kids who also use drugs simply cannot be decent parents. Drugs most often take priority. Although, I will say I have known users who were better parents than some sober parents I have met. Again, its all about the mindset of the user and the extent of their use. I know drunks who are less capable then some people who use medium potency opiates now and again.
I was seriously chemically addicted to Opiates and Benzos for quite awhile. I got very ill when I didn’t have them. But, I never robbed anyone, or hurt anyone, or neglected important things I had to do. If I had been dope sick for 2 days and a friend needed me I was there. Children I was responsible for for short periods of time on occasion were never neglected and I never took my eyes off of them. They never even so much as got a scratch and they always enjoyed when I watched them. We’d play games together, or make interesting art stuff, or play outside in the mud or whatever. They’d beg me to “hang out”. To think that just because someone uses a substance they are incapable of being decent is just lunacy. Most often drug users cannot handle themselves, it is true and most serious heavy drug use will leave someone unable to function enough to look after kids. But, that is not always the case and not all users use around kids, either. In fact, there are many respectable users who’d slap a person around for using or being high around kids. Though I no longer use if I saw someone railing up a Perk in front of their kid Id have a few choice words to say. Its a matter of decency, in my opinion. You can use and be a good person, but, you have to be a good person prior to using. Most people simply are not.
Want to be clear I am NOT defending the Salt. I’m all for complete legalization and regulation of nearly all substances, but Salt is not one of them. I am defending the idea that its not the drugs which are to blame, its people.
There really isn’t such a thing as right and wrong, or good and evil. I don’t have kids, but if I did, Id teach them how to think for themselves and more importantly how to be rational and responsible people regardless of what they are doing and not try to impose my views or morals upon them. Its a parents job to place to road signs, not drive the car, unless its absolutely required.
As far as self-worth goes, religion is far more dangerous to a childs mind than situations created by drug use and the reason is because far more people are religious. Pressure from society to fit the mold is also quite damaging and drives many people to suicide (maybe they should have tried drugs instead?). There are lots of things that can potentially damage people and children and drugs are just one of them.
A hammer is a tool, but can also be a weapon. Such are drugs.
Apologies for the book. Good day to you.
I commend you on your honesty and couldn’t agree more with your statement above! No apologies needed, you stated excellent points. I was referring to bath salts and proper parenting while using this particular drug in my reply to you.
I”ll bet you only THINK you didn’t neglect those things .I also bet you never did bath salts or herion .
You’d loose those (contradictory) bets.
But hey, if looking down on and passing evidence-less judgements over other people makes you feel good, keep at it cause I really couldn’t care less.
I don’t admit to previous use because I think its “cool”. I admit because I, unlike everyone who comments here about drugs, have actually had experience with drugs. So I can offer actual insight, where-as most people who spend their time talking about drugs have never done them.
Mr. Dude;
With all due respect. You do not have to “do drugs” to experience their effects.
Remember, you can’t fix stupid.
Support old school hallucinogens and just say no to designer drugs.
And now we can see what the savings from cutting budgets for substance abuse treatment gets us!
Most of these parents were already in treatment at Acadia. See what substance abuse treatment gets us?
they take them away and give them right back…a revolving door for the kid. makes me sick…and the drug addicts have all the ‘rights’.
This is a story about children. The comments (including my own) have moved away form that subject; SO it is time for a story;
Years ago while working at a auto-recycling plant in a large southern New England city, I was approched (in the yard where the public wasn’t allowed) by a dirty, smelly, raggedy child who I later learned was 12, though he looked older. He asked me for money. I, always being a soft touch for kids, gave him a five and told him that the Y.M.C.A. down on Main Street had free showers.
I thought that was it, but several days later I found the same boy sitting in my car when I got off work. He smelled a little better, but he was still pretty ragged. He said he had run through my fiver, and thought maybe I’d be good for another. Well I already had an expensive hobby, that being trying to live on what I was making. I told the kid I was tapped. He started to cry.
The story he told me was that he had been removed from his home by the Department of Child Guardianship, and placed in a foster home where he was abused and not fed. Of course being niave, I didn’t believe him. I read the papers. I knew the State took care of children like this, and I told the boy I would take him back where he belonged, and check out the situation.
What I saw rocked my world.
Foster Care is NOTHING like it is described. The longer version of this tale wouldn’t be allowed here.
Sometimes problems simply do not have solutions.
This is sad but true and this happens more often than any of us want to believe. This must have been so difficult for you. I could only imagine.
Most (not all) foster care is a joke – they are only interested in receiving that extra money and not about the child or children they have agreed to care for. These kids are taken out of their home for a reason and placed in another bad situation and we wonder why our crime/drug rates are up – there is no love for these kids when that is all they need even being with a foster family, they should be loved.
These numbers are disturbing and dis-heartening.
Reimbursment for foster care is $16.50 daily! If there are people doing it for the money, I’d like to know who. If you feed and cloth a child and pay for all their activities — swim lessons, after school activities, sports fees and equipment, etc. for $6.50 that means you are being compensated $10/day. That is 41 cents an hour!! Seriously, would you work for that as your primary reason? Or maybe is it that there are people who actually are trying to help society one child at a time? Also, 75% of the children adopted in the State of Maine are adopted from foster care situations — most often by their foster parents. Good people who wanted to provide short term assistance while biological families learn the needed skills to provide a safe and appropriate situation love these children and make them a perminant part of their homes.
Yes there are good foster parents who actually use their “reembursement funds” to pay for necessery stuff like food and colthing and other child related expenses, but the foster care system is lacking in oversite to insure this. The boy I found at Linders junkyard was on the street for two months while his foster parents were still being paid.
Want to use statistics?
try these http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster14.htm
As many as 45% of foster children become homeless within two years of leaving foster care.
Or this one which finds that nearly 20% of young prison inmates spent part of their youth in foster care. http://www.econ.ucla.edu/workshops/papers/Applied/doyle_fc_crime_dec07.pdf
Or this one from Casey Family children’s services where they once hosted foster care programs:
http://www.casey.org/aboutus/2020/pdf/2020Brochure_English.pdf
Jerry Miller who once ran the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services continually said “Children get worse in State care.
Frank Ordway former supeintendent at the Westborough Massachusetts “Lyman School for boys” said that children would fare better if they were never brought into State custody no matter how bad their parents were/are.
…and here’s the best one from Mike Castle of the Eastern Coast adoption exchange;
Children over the age of 9 have a better chance of winning New York’s lottery than they do of being adopted.
I am just saying as a foster parent who tries to always do the right thing and knowing many other foster parents who also try to do the best they can, to read posts only highlighting the “bad” situations is discouraging. If people feel good people are not doing what they can then maybe it is time to do some soul searching and focus on the good you can do.
I personally know older children who have been adopted by great people and who have made a difference in life.
I have adopted 6 teenagers You will get no argument from me on that score, but you missed my point again. it is the SYSTEM which is not toeing the line, I’m not criticizing “good” foster parents.
looks like you are blaming foster parents . kids who have had a difficult home life are more likely to also have a difficult foster home life, as well, because of the “fall out’ .
The ” system” is mucked up because increasingly no one want to pay the price of it …. even “for the kids sakes” . There are good and loving foster homes ,trying very hard to help already (in some cases already VERY badly) damaged kids.
My guess is if you adopted 6 teeanager , you know how hard it can be. But you likely also know some even already damaged kids can be helped ( but maybe not fully cured) .It all depends upon how( if ) permanently damaged a kid is when they arrive— addicted to drugs when born/ head trauma /neurologically damaged?
so folks take care of you kids so they don’t end up in foster care Build an ozzie and harriet life not an ozzie osborn life.!!!
LePage has done NOTHING to stop drug abuse…!!!
Know your facts before you start throwing out judgements on families:
These are 2009 Stats on child abuse in foster care. 2012 are expected to be higher: childre are far more abused in Foster Care than in home.
Just something to consider in regards to how CPS “helps” our country’s abused children. Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the United States. These numbers come from: The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) in Washington. CPS- Physical Abuse (160) Sexual Abuse (112) Neglect (410) Medical Neglect (14) Fatalities (6.4) Parents- Physical Abuse (59) Sexual Abuse (13) Neglect (241) Medical Neglect (12) Fatalities (1.5) As you can see, children are abused far more in care than at home. The calculated average is for every 1 abused child removed from an abusive home, there are 17 `non-abused children removed from loving non-offending homes nationwide.
I read nothing hear about keeping these families together or working to get these 200 kids home. That is what they advertise they do. We keep families together. Once The state gets there hands on your child, it’s like a black hole when trying to get them back. Why? Because look at the million of dollars they get for keeping them.
I suspect we’ll see adoptions rise also: More money… Snatching children for federal funds. How about Millions to help keep the families together and provide services. That is what they are suppose to be doing.
Instead their answer to everything is take your child.. They create picture of danger when nothing has happened to take children.
Imagine your child taken from a non offending loving home, one parent screwed up for a moment then your child is put at risk of all of that abuse above!!
Foster Care is Far Worse Abuse to Children…….
I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ADD:
Your tax dollars Pay for those MILLIONS!
If you had the choice would you chose your tax dollars going to keep these children out of abusive state care, off psychotropic drugs they use to control these kids, to keep these children safe in home and services for the families to “Recover” as the state claims they do?
OR
Have these children go into abusive foster care, severe traumatized, drugged (IRONIC), higher likely hood given those stats of being sexually abused whiled drugged, and lives ruined.
Your taxes are paying for children to be more abused in state care!! You pay for that our of your pay checks:-)
200 children taken so far, expected more and how many of those 200 in family care????? Most likely around 30, and that’s what they don’t want to tell you!!!
In this case we ARE talking about bath salts.
It is absolutely true some kids are abused in foster care, so parents need to be vigilant to do all they can to stay drug free, stay away from the bad element, and provide a safe and caring home for their kids. If the parents don’t look out for their own kids first, why would any one else?
Parents usually have multiple warnings and opportunity to clean up their act. Some resent being “told what to do” ( which is often the beginning of their problems from way back when they decided “school rules ” didn’t apply to them, and then societies rules didn’t apply to them, etc.) Parents who ‘follow the rules” never have to worry about their kids being taken away. and possibly further endangered. Choosing not to cooperate is their first bad decision. It usually goes down hill from there.
Parents who didn’t have good parents have no sense of what good parenting is .They have to actively learn that. Neglect has the potential to endanger kids just as easily as active abuse does. Lack of supervision, exposure to drugs and criminal element, a chaotic life , not sending a kid to school, filth are not evidence of good parenting. They are indicators and a warning of a life going out of control. They all add up….kids unsupervised run out into the street and get killed, they get into their parents stash and die, they get exposed to criminals who MIGHT abuse and harm them.
Take care of your kids first and you don’t have to worry about what happens in foster care.
It’s time for the governor of this state to address this problem and do something about it.
Cutting programs will not make it go away.
I would like to know how many of these children they have “DRUGGED” to cope and control them from being severely traumatized by being removed from their families. Think about that!! Who gets all that money for those services?????
But no services to keep the family together?
Where are Maine’s stats on number of foster children being drugged on Psychotropic Medications. National Average about 6-7 psychotropic medications used on foster children.
Where is Maine’s stats on number of foster children abused in foster care? Sexually abused in Foster Care???
Read my post below….
How many kids are born addicted because their parents are and have to be weaned off??
Take good care of your kids ( and yourself ) and you don’t have to worry about foster care.
Start with choosing a mate wisely. Do they do drugs ? Move on. Involved in criminal activity? move on. Abuse you? move on. Have other kids ? move on. No you will NOT change him. No woman has. Do they work ? They might be a keeper . How long have they held a steady job ? Might be a keeper. Get to know them.IF he’s a keeper get married and have an ozzie and harriet life.
If you don’t know what is normal for parenting. Learn before they arrive .Kid’s don’t come with instruction Take a a parenting class , read a book. Learn from GOOD models. Watch and observe mothers. Ask questions— ask mothers , friends , aunts.
keep your house, your kid and yourself clean. Keep yourself and your kid safe . Be wise about who you and they hang out with.
Awww you should really know your facts before you thru around judgements.
82 % of children taken by cps are from false reports. So you can do all that you say, but it will not matter. And the point is State Care is more abusive then home care. The point is these Millions they are collecting should be going to keeping families together as they state. The point is I don’t want my tax money going to snatching children and putting them in danger (state care).
Did you think of the generations of children in state care becoming dependend on drugs because they drug them to cope.? That 82% taken from non offending loving homes, false reports or hysteria of some kind generated by articles like this.
Generations of children who suffer later in life, depression, anxiety etc….
There is nothing that anyone can say that makes that acceptable. Actually “denial”. That hurts these kids even more.
Where are you getting that 82% stat? Most reports are not even investigated. The number of calls is staggering compared to the investigations done. When the investigation occurs if there is not something VERY compelling going on parents are given resources to keep their children. If they do not adhere to the recommendation then maybe their kids are removed. From my experience, children are left in very bad situations for long periods of time because the situation has to be awful for the children to be removed quickly. If you are the run of the mill dirty, negelectful, out partying instead of reading books to your children, feeding them and showing them love you likely will keep your kids.
If something awful is happening to children then they are removed. The reason this story is about bath salts causing more cases is because when you are dancing on the roof naked, don’t know who you are forget where your children are or if you have them, action is take quickly. Read the numbers in the article there are 200 more cases but there are 1600+ total. Those other 1400 have endured a lot too.
I agree things generally need to be really bad, usually with YEARS of intervention, before DHHS removes a child in Maine . Or a parent is highly resistent and actively “in your face” oppositional. I’m sure there are exceptions though. DHHS tend to be very alert for ‘false (and retaliatory ) reports” It generally takes MANY reports from credible sources before they act at all . They don’t just go in and snatch kids., at will.
As far as medication. I agree too many kids ( in and out of state care) are medicated However some do benefit from medication and do need it. Heck, sometimes it is the parent begging for kids to be put on something.
your “82% ” comes from where? My experience is Maine DHHS usually doesn’t touch a neglect case ; they are too busy with the abuse cases. Maine goes out of their way to preserve families , but the pendulum swings back and forth, depending upon who has killed a child most recently. I personally think it is better to keep a child in their own home BUT when do you stop “trying” to convince someone to be a good parent, when they resist? Maybe they are saying they can’t BE a good parent or don’t want to be.
Thank you for spreading the truth! Keep up the good work. Maybe some day soon, the non-believer’s will take their heads out of the sand and help fight for the preservation of families instead of their destruction. Their children or relatives children could be next. All it takes is a false, anonymous report to steal a child and tear a family apart.
Go To DHHS In Maine Blogspot and read the parents handbook.
Go to Legally Kidnapped and read the articles.
Do your home work!!
Yah they went out of thier way with Alya Reynolds and she’s gone??
Same with that Gordon kid, sexually abused in “MULTIPLE” foster homes in MAINE. See how that worked out. Taken from a mom who did not abuse him.
And there are many more.. Just a amatter of time before these aged out foster children start coming forward.
Look up all the lawsuites settling across the country of foster kids suing the states!!!
And Maine is double billing the fed. gov. because they want the money.
Anyone reading this?? Go to youtube and look up corrupt cps workers.. start searching and you will see it all..
Both of you Prettyfoolish and Percipinience (One and the same person) seem to know alot and on the “DEFENSIVE” most likely CPS workers. Defensive ones are good ones. Shouldn’t you be working??? Hanging out on the computer all day most likely may be contributing to your Messes you make…
Look up Stop CPS workers and you will find a site made by CPS workers exposing the corruption.
Sad…
I don’t know who prettyfoolish is. We are certainly not one in the same.
I know a fair amount because as stated in my other posts I am a foster parent. I don’t work for CPS — I am sometimes frustrated by the system for sure.
My issue with these posts is they are all so negative about “the system” and we should be focusing on what is right for children. Twenty years ago children stayed in foster care for YEARS and were moved regularly as a means to discourage bonding between foster families and children, less the children become more attached to the foster parents than the biological parents resulting in a difficult transition back to the biological family even years later. Now the national standard is that children have a right to permanency and should have a permanency plan in place within 12-15 months of placement — either back with a biological parent or to be adopted if the parents have not shown the ability to take the steps laid out by the judge. That is right a JUDGE decides these things not a cps worker, a foster parent or anyone else. I am most concerned that with most things in life we look to the what is wrong to correct the system instead of looking at what is going right and trying to emulate that. I don’t foster children for me, I foster children for the children. I hope each child placed in my care can return to their parent(s). I think children need to be with their biological family whenever possible. I actually have a paying job — something some teens who have been with me have never known people do for the pride of self sufficiency. I could work about 4 hours extra weekly to cover the reimbursement I receive for a child to live with me. Anyone doing this for the money should be seriously looked at.
If you think the system is broken and you want to be a part of the fix or just want to know more about the ins and outs, take the basic foster parenting class. It is offered through your local DHHS office. For a fee you can even pay to have your prints run, a background check done, your house can be inspected by caseworkers and the fire marshall and all members of your house hold can be interviewed. If you do not know what goes into become licensed to provide foster care it will be a real eye opener for you.
Do you have the exact link for Stop CPS Worker’s?
Got salts?
The effects of the War on Drugs is endless. The madness continues without an end in sight, endless war and the children suffer as always.
End the War and end the insanity.
Where is the politician with courage, nowhere to be seen.
it goes to show you the reason why welfare should include denying women and men the right to have children. Given that 88% of people in treatment are on Maine Care, we can conclude that denying ability to have children until you can straighten out your life would be step in the right direction. Why do we have to pay for the rights of irresponisible people? By the way a friend told me that there had been a large increasdein pregnancy in the substance abuse facility eh works at. Primarily because the people are afraid of being thrown out of treatment. Kid=treatment. Great job at ing the State’s budget!!!
To each according to his needs…… interesting.
And some of them getting their drugs from the Repubs(Bain)
young males inclined to use bath salts should be encouraged to rip off their own testicles their first time using it………
So sad, bath salts are really bad. http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/01/17/health/report-describes-how-bangor-bath-salts-user-died/
What ever happened to family members who took children in to help them — and not because the state would be paying them a stipend to do so? There are some parts of the Good Old Days that REALLY were GOOD!