the pretense of protecting babies from drugs doesn't justify the reckless destruction of families.

And I do mean "pretense." Like everything else about prohibition, taking babies from "drug-using" mothers was NEVER about protecting anybody; it's merely one more way to penalize people who use illegal drugs. The babies are merely one-use tools.

Use them once and throw them away.

I know about this travesty personally as I was blindly drug tested when giving birth to my son. I tested positive for marijuana. I was required to meet with a social worker and then child protective services before being allowed to take my baby home from the hospital. The meeting with the social worker was ridiculous. All that she asked were questions about my (and my husband's) financial situation. I own a small business and my husband is a partner in a large regional law firm, so the questions seemed a little inapplicable. I ultimately met with child protective services who was required by law to refer me to an alcohol and drugs assessment center where I was mandated to take a month's worth of "drug education" classes. Since I have money (the classes cost $100), a car and a husband, it really wasn't too much of a hardship. The women who were without a car, money and a husband or someone who could take care of their baby while they attended these classes were much more inconvenienced than myself. I was shocked that every week the classes consisted almost entirely of women. On the last class, I summoned up the nerve to ask the other women why they were there. Overwhelmingly the class consisted of women like myself who tested positive for marijunana when giving birth. I don't expect anyone to sympathize with me for using marijuana while pregnant, a decision that I researched and knowingly made and don't regret, rather for the civil rights violation. Here we have another clear example of ill conceived drug war strategies by the government that disproportionately affect the poor. If I were to get pregnant again, I realize my options are abortion or home birth. I will never go to a hospital again EVER.

Anonymous,

You sound like someone who is affluent. I wonder how they knew to test you. Do they target all pregnant women? I also wonder if the drugs that they give to ease pain during childbirth may have an effect on those drug tests. It alarms me that these folks will violate a woman's civil rights without just cause.

My daughter was given a morphine IV in labor for nineteen hour's because the baby was placenta-previa, which we were never told. She was also a month early, due to my daughter being anemic, hyperthyroid and had hyperemesis gravidarum, which we were never told and she was never treated for any of these complication's. When her daughter was born, she was accused of doing drug's the day she went into labor. Toxicology test's done on the baby showed morphine. The morphine given to my daughter in labor.The baby was taken and put in fostercare and my daughter's right's terminated. We are still fighting for the return of my granddaughter. The court's won't listen.
My daughter can't have any more children. Her pituitary gland was damaged while she was pregnant due to being anemic. There was no blood going to the pituitary gland. She now has Sheehan syndrome and a mass on her brain, all due to bad medical care. I will fight for the return of my granddaughter if it takes the rest of my life. Drug testing pregnant women does give false positive's and so does illnesses. This injustice against women need's to be stopped.

An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and the Child Protection "INDUSTRY"

Child Protective Services Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of CPS.

every parent should read the free handbook from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

Perpetrators of Maltreatment

Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13
Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12
Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per 100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a bunch of social workers.

THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST

Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central intelligence agency wiretaping programs…

THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia

http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/articles.php?filter=6

The Business of Child Stealing in Florida

http://www.nolanchart.com/article4132.html

This is Child Protection?
By Gregory A. Hession, J.D.

http://www.jbs.org/node/4632

Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-callahan16oct16,0,5019944.stor...

FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILURE:. A Brief Analysis of the Casey Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler

http://www.nccpr.org/reports/cfpanalysis.doc

http://www.nccpr.org/index_files/page0003.html

HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN

http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html

http://www.nccpr.org/reports/asfa.pdf

Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families
By Nev Moore Massachusetts News

http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm

A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:

30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
2% receive a college degree
50% were unemployed

Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems, including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and impaired social relationships. Some experts estimate that about 30% of the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment than the general population.
*Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support

80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.

The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should just be blown up.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991

Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent housing.

These studies found thousands of children already in foster care who would have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in the first place.

Front-page story in USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-foster-study_N.htm?csp=34...

Read the studies online.

Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Care: Findings from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study,"

www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm

MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care,"

www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf

http://www.cftl.org/documents/2008/FCfullreport.pdf

Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" reports:

http://www.window.state.tx.us/news/60623statement.html

www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren

The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than Walking Wreckage...

CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS....

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...

Hi everyone:

In this case, we must decide whether a state hospital's performance of a diagnostic test to obtain evidence of a patient's criminal conduct for law enforcement purposes is an unreasonable search if the patient has not consented to the procedure. More narrowly, the question is whether the interest in using the threat of criminal sanctions to deter pregnant women from using cocaine can justify a departure from the general rule that an official nonconsensual search is unconstitutional if not authorized by a valid warrant.
==============================

Peter

Addiction Recovery Florida

Addiction Recovery Florida

The point that the above commenter correctly makes ("the question is whether the interest in using the threat of criminal sanctions to deter pregnant women from using cocaine can justify a departure from the general rule that an official nonconsensual search is unconstitutional") is exactly where we have gone with drug laws where there are no limits to civil rights violations for "the greater good of society" or for the "message it sends to children". What you will see if this becomes common practice is an increase in abortion rates, at home deliveries, women going without prenatal care and children in foster care. This administration's pathetic approach to drug abuse is drug testing everyone where it matters most: Women giving birth, men and women in their jobs and students in school. These tactics are not lowering drug use but disenfranchising people from those they should trust (i.e. doctors, employers and teachers). I am the same person who posted above and tested positive for marijuana when I birthed my son. Legally there is no difference between cocaine and marijuana. (actually I believe cocaine is a Schedule II while marijuana is in the more "dangerous" Schedule I category), so drug testing new mothers is not at all limited to cocaine users. In fact, it seems from my experience (as with most drug testing) that marijuana, a less dangerous drug than alcohol or tobacco, is most often the culprit of positive drug screens. Drug testing is bullshit. Plain and simple. It is a means of punishing people based not on their performance at work or school or the health of their child, but for their life choices. Drug laws have made a mockery of the principals on which this country was founded. I was pretty matter of fact in my earlier posting. What I did not convey was the tremendous fear of losing my child, my only child, who I had tried to conceive for 2 years. The drug counselor with whom I was mandated to speak, threatened me with losing my son if they showed up at my house unannounced, and I failed a drug test. My doctor asked my husband and I, just hours after giving birth to my son, if we were married before telling us that we would have to speak with child protective services prior to taking our son home which obviously speaks to the bias against unmarried women in my situation. I thought it was a weird question coming from a doctor until I realized that he was asking us because he knew we would be less likely to lose our son if we were married. Like I said earlier, I will NEVER go to hospital again. This is the perfect example of broken trust from those that were supposed to help me. It is difficult for me to go near the general area where the hospital is, and I haven't had an annual gynecological exam since this traumatic experience. My only hope is that when we get more objective leaders in the White House this type of state sanctioned crime will lessen if not cease. It is nothing short of a tragedy, certainly for the 23 year old whoose baby died at the hands of a foster parent which originated this blog.