[I have a great cheerful piece for Xmas day.]
by Dee McLachlan
There is much maliciousness in the Child Protection Departments across the country, and it goes beyond what I believed possible in a civilized society. I am only now, after eighteen months, beginning to absorb the true scale of the horror perpetrated on Australian kids.
There is no question in my mind that the Department for Child Protection SA, and probably in other states, is causing psychological and mental harm to hundreds — possibly thousands — of children. Removing a child from a loving parent or parents against their wishes can cause life-long trauma.
A Foster Parent’s Account
In South Australia, the Chief Executive of the Department for Child Protection (DCP), Cathy Taylor, has unfettered powers over the now 4,000 children in guardianship. She has for a year being advertising for foster parents — apparently desperately needed for ever-increasing demand. So let me introduce you to a couple — foster carers Jacqueline and Graeme Bowden.
For seven years a child had been with the Bowdens. It was the only home she knew, and when the Bowdens had their own child, the two girls grew up like sisters. Just before Christmas in 2011, social workers arrived and — without explanation — gave the young lass 35 minutes to pack a toy, and remove her.
The Bowdens have been fighting for her ever since, and are about to have yet ANOTHER Christmas without their foster child. So I will describe their experience with Families SA and then the DCP through the eyes of the departed Professor Freda Briggs AO, Emeritus Professor in Child Development, who was advocating their case.
Freda Briggs Was Disgusted
In a letter by Freda, she wrote about a child being ripped from caring foster parents,
“I am also told that her few photographs of life with and before the Bowdens have been removed, that she was banned from taking her photo albums with her, thereby cutting off her past.”
As Freda learned, the child had lived with the Bowdens since infancy and this was the child’s second foster placement, as well as Mrs Bowden’s first experience of motherhood.
The foster child, K, was brought up as their own child in a privileged Burnside family and attended Seymour College with their own younger daughter (at the Bowdens’ expense).
The Bowdens were not told by the department that the baby had developmental delay, was lactose intolerant and suffered from an attachment disorder that dated back to her first few weeks with her natural mother. That information came much later from the previous foster carer.
The Bowdens made tremendous efforts to enable the foster child to reach her potential.
They paid for one-on-one tuition from four teachers at Seymour College where the child made good progress. As Freda wrote:
“The Bowdens were exemplary carers; they ensured that the child maintained regular contact with the birth parents and grandparents, both of whom received photographs and reports of the child’s progress and activities. They sought medical assistance for the child’s health problems and for three years provided the therapies recommended by senior medical expert Dr. Pearson at the Adelaide Women and Children’s Hospital (AWCH). By comparison, the department persisted in refusing to provide a base-line assessment that would have assisted the carers to provide for the child’s needs.”
At the two meetings that Freda attended, Department senior social workers and administrators admitted at the outset that the carers loved the child and the child loved them. The Bowdens’ own younger daughter loved the foster child too and the affection was reciprocated.
Why then, would anyone remove the foster child from their care?
I continue with Freda’s account, in her words:
“On December 13th [2011], two social workers went to the house and told the foster child to pack some of her clothes and take only one of her hundreds of toys because she was going for a ‘short drive’. She was given 35 minutes in which to complete this task. She was then taken to another foster home where there were 12 children (foster children, family daycare children, and the carers’ own children).
“The girl was deprived of her education, her foster sister, her school friends, her activities such as ballet classes, swimming and gymnastics and even her Christmas presents. The child was lactose intolerant and had medication and special milk. The social worker refused to take them with her and it was reported that the new carers were not informed of the lactose intolerance, the result being that the child became ill.
“On the 14th January 2014, I [Freda] accompanied [the Bowdens] to a meeting called by Families SA senior officer. At the outset we were told that the meeting was to discuss “the communication process for future involvement with their former foster child”. The officer said that she understood that Graeme and Jacqueline had loved and cared for the child for most of the child’s life, she loved them and their physical care was exemplary. However, it was made very clear that the Department would never return her. This message was repeated several times.”
Freda asked why the child had been removed as an emergency.
The response, the Bowdens “could not meet the child’s future emotional needs”. Of course, to the “Australian Expert” in child development, this was absolute nonsense.
In her submission to the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission in South Australia, Freda outlined many points about the case. Here are ten of her points (summarised):
- The girl was snatched from the only home and “parents” she knew with only half an hour’s notice and NO preparation whatsoever. This was not an emergency, and there was never any suggestion that the child was being abused.
- The girl was told that she could only take one of her hundreds of toys with her, that she was “going for a ride” in the car, but the carers were told that she would never return.
- One week after leaving the Bowdens, was very confused about the lie, why her “short drive” had lasted a week and she was now living with strangers. The Bowdens were banned from answering her questions and threatened if they did.
- The girl was deprived of continuity of her education and the one-on-one learning, plus ballet and swimming lessons and going to gym.
- She was deprived of contact with her friends and foster sister.
- Freda noted she was about to have a 5th foster placement with “carers who will love her” … but the department social didn’t know where or with whom she would live given the shortage of foster carers.
- The girl, after being taken from the Bowdens, was made aware that she was unwanted by her next two foster placements (carer #3, and #4). The department expected the child to ‘love’ her new foster carers and the fact that she didn’t was blamed on the Bowden’s emotional attachment.
- The officer admitted that the child felt that she was being removed from the Bowden’s because she was bad and had been rejected by them. And the girl began self-harming, i.e., scratching holes in her legs because she couldn’t be with the Bowdens.
- The girl child was banned from taking her photograph albums with her and Mrs Bowden was criticized for having taking photographs of the child.
- The child was removed from a loving and privileged home with only one other child present and transferred to a family with 12 children in the house.
There is so much more detail to the wrongdoing in this case. Freda writes,
“Unfortunately, this isn’t going to go away. I have seen more of the Bowdens in recent weeks than your workers ever did. I have observed them with their daughter and cannot fathom why any social worker would label them as anything but outstanding parents. Graeme and Jacqueline are the most sensitive, gentle and dedicated parents while M [their daughter] is still grieving for her loss of contact with K.”
Freda has passed on and now it is 2019.
(When Ms Taylor took over the job from the Minister for Child Protection, she could have corrected this in 5 minutes.)
So, as I was saying, Merry Christmas to the DCA, Department of Child Abuse. Some children might look back and call it the DCB — B for Brutality.
If perchance the child in question is reading this, I would be delighted if she would give me (Dee) a call at 0429-0429-51.
Dear Child, the good people of Australia apologize to you for the state government’s unfathomable behavior.
From FACS website: https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/
“The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) is now the Department of Communities and Justice.”
What a load of BS.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-19/you-decide-would-you-remove-these-children/8103416
Here is the ABC giving you a choice YES / NO with 6 cases of parents that drug or mental problems. .
No ABC — the above article is the one you should be running. And what about the story where the kids escaped from their abuser. Or the one where the mother has ten ‘excellent mother’ affidavits and the department is trying to cover up criminality.
Dee, if the FBI can identify the serial number of the cooking pot holding the fruit chocs, you may be spending Christmas in irons.
I wonder if prisoners get to pull crackers and wear king hats at Xmas lunch. Wouldn’t that be funny.
Clearly the ABC is push polling and therefore corrupt if it ignores this article and reported facts by being selective in choosing the cases reported by the ABC…… if they are genuine cases!!
Sell the ABC, pocket the sale proceeds, save a billion per year running it plus the interest on the borrowed money.
Then put the savings into the states running decent and honouable transparent child protection systems.
Why did we spend so much on the Commission into institutions and not investigate those running child protection agencies and the ABC running dogs?
They only explanation for the cruelly outrageous behavior of the agent of the SA, government is that by breaking the bond between this poor child and those who love her,hey will create an eventual target for paedophiles. I sense the strong involvement of AFCC (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. Australian Chapter) in this case. One should look for links between AFCC Australian Chapter and the government department involved.
As they say, ‘FOLLOW THE MONEY’
Thais exactly what they do alienate the kids until they have had the filthy lies told to them and they are threatened if they speak to the parents they will send them to foster care but get this,for being an apparent victim of DV?How can that be so?I thought a victim was to be supported not rip the kids away and cause absolute hell for parent and child…there no excuse why there cant be more therapeutic environments rather than jail….theyve been l;ying to children for years hell I know a caseworker who was told the same but she said when she met her Mum she was nothing like they painted her….
My reply to this post of DIane’s was erased before I could finish typing it. It has probably gone to jjoin my other posts on a reputable website which lists posts taken down by Google as the result of a court order.Unfortunately my access to this site is limited so I cannot be sure of the details of my deleted posts..
Clue to finding this website ; simply use your name and the word FaceBook as keywords in an internet search.
I have just checked and the entry relating to my posts has completely disappeared. The website concerned appears to be chiefly a dating website, or else it represents a coincidence of website names. I have recently been invited out by unknown people, perhaps as the result of my neme being on this website. I am a non-dater..
No wonder they had to bump Freda off.
Mary — maybe not. They have all the taxpayer funds to use to manipulate the courts. It seems they have dealt with opposition in every state, by gagging parents and controlling the courts.
From the original survey Gumshoe did, we learned how easy it was to financially ruin a good parent. Once financially ruined, they are thereafter hobbled. They playing field is not fair, and the abuse perpetrated crushes so many.
I was a foster carer for over 2 years with one child and the same thing happened to me and my foster son…it still happens to others today, if the dept SW is on a power trip or if they need to cover their butts for not providing adequate care or if you uncover some corruption within their dept, which is not hard to do, they will make you their scapegoat and they dont care about how much it further traumatises the child, i mean in the depts eyes tje xhild is already just anotber messed up child thats costing them.money.
And eventually the people ‘hit the wall’ or ‘line in the sand’ – and then the Right to Keep and Bear Arms takes on a visceral meaning to the masses.
Unbelievably cruel and wicked treatment of this little girl and her foster family. I agree that she is likely being groomed for paedophilia. I also wonder if this is the department studying the effects of their policies – we all know how they love to cause misery, and watch on with amusement. This case reminds me of the Nazi experiments on twins, and how those experiments continued after the second world war in Australia and America. Sadly, no amount of studying the loving bond between parental caretakers and their children, biological or otherwise, will allow these sick psychopaths to understand what love is. Nor will it teach them how they might control that emotion. But it will create an army of angry, bitter former foster children who will seek them out once they come of age. Perhaps this is the true reason why so many foster kids end up in jail. Their former abusers fear the retribution they deserve.
There has to be some form of benefit somewhere.
A broker’s fee each time the kid is moved?
More money for outside assessors? (When the girl was been more than looked after — medically, private school, one-on-one tuition, outside activities at the expense of the carers) There is no benefit to the profiteers when the kid is placed with exemplary carers.
Or is it that she become available for other purposes?
The Qld Act states a child can only be removed after all supports have been tried and failed, but CPS Don’t put these supports in and just remove the child? If real supports were put in place, half these children would not be in care! They lie in court to get these orders, and since the court allows “hearsay” they never have to prove their lies! I think this has to be one of the biggest problems with the system. Every other court you have to prove guilty, but not in children’s court! WHY? It is all about “money!”
Correct Wendy — there is perjury on a grand scale. But the childrens/youth courts are little more than star chambers. Closed courts. I’m thinking the 1700s
so am I !!!!
Are the employees of Dept of FACS and Dept of Communities and Justice immune from the criminal charges of “child abuse”.
In the particular case above, child abuse by the department has definitely occurred.
The money versus the destruction of a child …money will win every time.
Removal of a child is a method to create extreme trauma be it from a parent or Foster carer.
This serves a future purpose by means of creating a sustainable industry within the welfare sector of Australia which already has a 75% encumbrance of funding…Things like, Mental health, Medical wellbeing, wellness, State housing, Centrelink, corrections, judicial, domestic violence (due to dysfunctional upbringings), education, family and children’s courts, lawyer’s, et cetera…
The validity of this industry is only at it’s peak for it’s ability to profit in ways no other industry can, where it creates the backbone of Australia’s now primary source of employment.
Shut down the absolute destruction and demise of children and their families by the system currently known as Child Protection Justice and family support, and you shut down 75% of the Australian sustainable industries.
Time to shut it all down and start over. To do so will entail many a sacrifice and much creativity to redevelop what has been sold off and lost due to poor and corrupt government.
I’m not up on the stats but from what I’ve seen 75% seems about right.
So far as the ruinous consequences CPS might be more visibly offensive than the other businesses but they are all principally identical
Dear Fiends,
I am about to board a bus for the White Mountains to do a bit of yuletide campaigning. If I don’t make it back (i.e., if they do a Freda on me), please look after Her Bossness. She’s low maintenance, really.
And thanks to y’all for being, occasionally, high maintenance. What a crew!
Joyeux Noel type thing!
.
I know you were thinking of this (or a companion scene)
While you find an “available” copy, here are a couple of favourites
Silent Night
O Holy Night
Merry Christmas Mary, Dee et al
For the bereaved.
Wait a minute! What’s this? A huge bunch of Aussie dames singing about domestic violence!
Did you know that the country of Estonia had a singing revolution? Maybe Oz could do it. Why not?
Merry Christmas to all the Gumshoenews Community. And hoping that some results come to fruition, of all our hard work, in the coming year.
Paul Simon
Getting Ready For Christmas Day (Official Video)
Vimeo
It is worth reflecting on some children quotes by leaders from other parts of the world:
President Xi Jinping
“Grade two students should have mastered a few hundred words, right?
These children are still very young; they are the apple of their families’ eyes.
In the s an important task to teach and look after them well – as you are not just their teachers but also their temporary guardians at school. I think safety comes first – including campus security and food safety.“
President Xi inspects poverty alleviation achievements in SW China
President Vladimir Putin:
“We can only change the world by inspiring young people through our own example. The world will be theirs. You saw by yourself how the audience reacted to all good things said here. Everything is developing on and on. The modern world is permeated with humanitarian ideas and of course young people feel it.
It gives me the hope that the world will become better thanks to them.”
… following the World Festival of Youth and Students, Sochi 2017
President Rodrigo Duterte:
“And do not destroy [with drugs] the young people of Davao City because they are our assets … And do not corrupt them with drugs. Do not destroy their minds … because I will kill you. I was very clear with that.” 😊
At 2.20. “Do not destroy our young people with drugs or I will kill you.”
Yeah, someone taking on big pharmacy, not sure he’s our man though, has to much zealot for my taste.
For some reason the timestamps were a little out – first video from 1:46, second from 1:44:00, third from 1:30 (to Mary’s 2:20 quote)
At 12:15 of the President Xi video: “Let the people of all ethnic groups live a good life.“
Never mind what pompeo and the US ‘lawmakers’ blurt (“Uygur Human Rights Policy Act”) – they just want another Camp Bondsteel type military base – listen to what this man has to say
Xinjiang religious leader: U.S. should get facts straight
Further to the last link …
The Point: China condemns U.S. Xinjiang bill
Fascinating what the Russians are doing with ‘gifted’ children in the ‘Sirius’ program. In the U.S. they force the gifted kids with higher IQs to sit and learn ‘Common Core’.
Instead of trying to build the pool of talent in the U.S., there are attempts to dumb them down, that approach will not end well for the U.S..
Terry, I suspect “not ending well” is the whole idea. There are plenty of motives to bring the US down a peg, or completely, for that matter. Dumbing down the US population systematically is only one strategy of several in play.
Thanks Dee, your outstanding.
Sorry Bowden family, would break me. Giving so deep from the heart, hope your daughter, reconciles it ok.
Hey case workers, you can never come home, that bond you broke, is unforgivable and I don’t think your boss even cares. Keeping an eye on you like any rabid animal.
And the foster girl, I can not say how how much I hurt for your circumstance, sorry I was not able to be there for you.
I am so sorry, too!!
Christmas ?
Pity more souls haven’t got a grip on the fact the birth of Christ heralded the crucifixion:
“And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
LUKE 2: 34 – 35
Can’t think of a better way of putting “away-in-a-manger” into perspective
https://www.change.org/p/afp-commissioner-mr-reece-kershaw-a-full-and-transparent-investigation-of-scott-morrison?recruiter=22031775&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial&recruited_by_id=9a0ae5e0-3c3f-0130-63fe-38ac6f16d25f&share_bandit_exp=skip-19073452-en-AU&share_bandit_var=v1&utm_content=fht-19073452-en-au%3Av12