Illinois Accidentally Places 3,000 Innocent People on Child Abuser Registry, Won't Apologize
May 21st, 2008 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families"What is the attitude of the DCFS when confronted with over 3,000 mistakes they made? Spokesman Kendall Marlowe 'acknowledged that mistakes are made, but he said the vast majority of people…were placed there properly… he declined further comment.'
"The DCFS chief administrative law judge Meryl Paniak said, 'A lot of what happens at these hearings is it becomes a legal process, not… whether it happened or not, but whether enough evidence is presented.'
"Not a hint of apology, not a whiff of promise to a better job. In one word, arrogant."
Ned Holstein of Fathers & Families has an interesting post on a new outrage by Illinois officials. Surprise, surprise--state officials put thousands of people on their child abuse registry who should not have been there. They offer no apologies, only saying that most of the people on the list belonged there, as if that makes it OK that 3,000 people were wrongly listed. More evidence that authorities treat the widespread problem of false abuse allegations very lightly.
Holstein writes:
"The Belleville News-Democrat in Illinois reports that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) 'wrongly placed more than 3,000 people on the State’s official list of child abusers over a five year period…'
"Why should the family court reform movement care about what happens to child abusers? After all, a lot of these parents are less-than-perfect, and they probably did something wrong, you say.
"The reason we care is that non-custodial parents are often up against the same problems as men and women falsely accused of child abuse: arrogant, self-righteous government officials who have been given too much power and are accountable to no one.
"Listen to the complaints of the victims and their attorneys and you will hear a familiar echo.
"Nick Brunstein, one falsely accused foster parent said of child abuse investigators, '…the bad ones have the power of God and with the stroke of a pen they can ruin your life.' Sounds pretty much like a GAL or a family court judge doesn’t it?
"Diane Redleaf, executive director of the non-profit Family Defense Center in Chicago said, 'We see so many cases where the basic rules are being ignored completely by the state investigators.' This too has a familiar ring.
Continue reading here.
"));
19 queries. 0.341 seconds.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:52 pm
They also have the commonality that men suffer in disproportionate numbers.
Of the 3,000, I'd bet there are less than 100 women represented. In that respect, it is even more similar to family court.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Hey, any lawyers in IL? Here's your chance for a 3000 party class action libel/slander lawsuit.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:04 pm
i wonder how many people saw a neighbor of theirs listed. I wonder how many checked again to find them no longer listed - i wonder how many of THOSE people still think their neighbor is a child abuser.
Doesnt matter that it was an error these people will ALWAYS be thought of as abusers because as these in charge have shown been 1 MILLION innoncent people get convicted as long as 1 guilty one doesnt go free.
Ah what a country we live in
May 21st, 2008 at 3:09 pm
as long as the women folk are happy, we can tollerate a little sloppy here and a little sloppy there. keep the eye on the prize.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:09 pm
The situation of abuse and anti-male bias at DCFS and the Family Courts in general in Illinois (my home state) is compounded by the fact that we have a radical feminist State's Attorney General - Lisa Madigan - and she never misses an opportunity to persecute men.
She wants to set up special fast-track DV courts to bring "batterer's" (read: men) to justice more efficiently.
And, she aspires to become governor!
May 21st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
roy Says: And, she aspires to become governor!
and then president. no wait.....thats hillery's thing.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:28 pm
You might want to collect your valuables roy and get the hell out of that state.
This is a classic example of what happens when someone has way too much power.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
As I have stated in this blog on several occasions, Illinois is a profoundly corrupt state. It goes way beyond the the "old Chicago politics' reputation. I would place our CSE office, DCFS, and DHS at the top of anyone's list as the most abusive, arrogant, and unapologetic as any other state's. Illinois has the attitude of "let's do it until we get caught."
I am not talking as someone who has been absolutely brutalized by the CSE system (which I have) but as someone who makes their living in upper management of a DHS funded Mental Health program.
I am also a life long resident of this state of which I used to be proud, now I feel only shame and disgust at the way it abuses it's power.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:52 pm
When people are in certain positions that cannot be sued or prosecuted, they become intoxicated with their own power. I'm betting these people will not be able to sue so they will dismissed as if they don't matter.
Same as family court. Judges can dismiss men, because at the present time we cannot sue judges.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:15 pm
spawn,
I'm ALL in favor of a class action suit against Ill DCS... and another on in Texas when they lose their case against the FLDS people... followed IMMEDIATELY by a massive campaign in each state (and Florida and Georgia as well) to rescind the 'immunity' laws protecting DCS from indescriminate labeling of parents as abusers (etc) enabling accused parents in general and fathers in particular to pursue law suits against specific agencies and staff members who 'facilitated (I LOVE that word) wrongful pursuance of false accusations against parents in general and fathers in particular, including specific verbiage specifically allowing for law suits to specifically recover costs incurred (not unlike the Miguel Velasguez case in Virginia) in subsequent legal proceedings.
Glenn, can we get Ned Holstein and Jeff Leving onboard with this? The timing is great, and it would set a real precedence for fathers and families rights (not to mention leave DCS wide open for serious investigation and compulsory oversight).
Gunner Retired
May 21st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I'm curious. If there were 3,000 wrong entries, and still the "vast majority" of people belonged on there, that sounds like an awful lot of incidents doesn't it? Even for a 5-year period in a populous state. I wonder how many of them are "17-year old boy has consensual sex with 15 year old girl"?
May 21st, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Norman,
A la Genarlow Wilson?
G_R
May 21st, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Having grown up in Chicago, I can say one thing with certainty: If anyone should be on the list of child abusers it's the DCFS.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:14 am
G_R,
I wasn't thinking of him in particular - but there most be countless "incidents" such as these; another example would be a male tennis coach tapping one of his female student players on the butt, as in "go on out there and win!" (such a case would probably be pressed by someone observing the incident, or maybe someone the girl casually mentioned it to later; not by the girl herself.)
In fact it's my suspicion that an extremely small fraction of people in these databases are serious, dangerous child molestors like the ones we hear about in the news. I'm sure they're quite rare but the media beats it into our heads, making it seem otherwise. I personally think they should not allow "To Catch a Predator" since it's entrapment, and makes the guy's face publicly known.
I don't think they should have the databases at all, in fact, but I'm sure some here would disagree. It's too much like "1984" with everyone being watched or kept track of. The fact is that life is full of the unexpected, we cannot legislate safety in the grander scheme of things. And sociologically speaking, the increasing alienation of men from our society, in part by keeping tabs on every guy as if he's suspicious, has far more serious consequences than the occasional molestation, as terrible as that is. The problem is that people get myopia, and the personal overtakes what is best for society.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:46 am
Actually my comment immediately above brings to mind something which I am new going to mention, which may create controversy but that I nevertheless feel must be said.
One cannot separate all members of our society into "good" and "bad" camps. Although the law oftentimes tries to do so; but that does not do away with the infinite fine shades of psychology and morality that are existent. Instead of attempting to judge everyone by some specific strict standard, a little more humanity and common sense should be used when evaluating how serious a supposed wrong actually is.
One example of how this could be applied, would be in considering what punishment, if any, should be given to a grown man, for standing at the bottom of the bedroom stairs in his house, in his underwear, while his step-daughter sits in her bedroom using her computer. I did read about such a "case" in the news a couple years ago..actually it never got to the point of being reported to the authorities, because the guy ended up feeling so terribly guilty about what he had done, that he came forward to the wife and said he was having a serious problem and wanted to seek professional help.
He ended up in some "support group" which sounded sort of like one of those DV perpetrator groups - each guy must admit he is a potential molestor, etc. Now although I certainly cannot read the father's mind in this case, after reading the article a couple times it started to seem to me that he had over-reacted to his own actions, probably due to having the mentality foisted upon him, by society, that any man who would do anything that could even remotely be viewed as having some relationship to improper sexual conduct; to the point where he is made to feel evil and effectively convinces himself that he has a serious problem.
Whereas in fact, even if the behaviour was odd and somewhat noticible, I don't see where it is innevitable that it would lead to a future molestation. Like I said, "fine shades" - maybe he likes to stand there in his underwear, and is even thinking of the step-daughter while doing it; if he started doing it regularly, then he should probably seek some kind of counseling or advice which would be less regimented than the "support" group. Or even maybe just talk to his wife about it, initially. If we lived in a sane society he could have done so, without extreme feelings of self-reroach or fear of punishment.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:49 am
should say "self-reproach"
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 am
This comes as no surprise since the vast majority of government employees, especially those who are elected, will never admit to any wrong-doing. Their job is highly dependent on their ability to deceive.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:51 am
DCR said:
"Doesnt matter that it was an error these people will ALWAYS be thought of as abusers because as these in charge have shown been 1 MILLION innoncent people get convicted as long as 1 guilty one doesnt go free."
That may be their agenda, but if DCFS is that incompetent with innocent people, it's likely that in fact MANY abusers get away with it under their auspices. Mainly the female ones, I'll bet.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:54 am
Norman L. - very good observations and I dont consider them controversial . A major Rights and Democracy watchdog organization, www.FreedomHouse.org, recently released a report on the state of the nation, Today's America: How Free? While the findings are that we are not as bad as say Cuba, our rights are being sacrificed.
The report states that America is losing its sense of PROPORTION when it comes to crime. In the examples above, any deviation from the norm is a candidate for the WORST outcome. When all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
It turns out you can download the file. For the category referred to in the article, those designated as "Child Sexual Offenders," there are 16,383 people. Of that amount, there are exactly 395 classified as female, meaning the registry is 97.6% male.
With this list, if we assume that the errors they made are a representative sample, it would include about 70 - 75 women out of the 3,000. Additionally, the article points out that there are another 3,000 where the agency, before it goes to court, takes the person off the iist without it going to court, for about 6,000 errors during that multiyear period.
I wonder if the gender ratio would make the law itself discriminatory? Even if it doesn't, the discrepancy is large enough to create a man-promoting soundbite equivalent to the "For every dollar a man makes, a woman earns 73 cents." With a bit more evidence we can say, "For every year of a woman's life in this country, a man spends 1 week in jail." I'll have to keep thinking about a good sound bite that is accurate and rolls off the tongue... anyone?
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Wasn't it French diplomat Tallerand who said: "It's worse than a crime, it's a mistake."
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Greg, thanks.
Also I should point out that in my scene description above, I did mean it (it was not a typing error) when I wrote, that the man was standing there and was thinking of the girl. So as I said he did have some potential problem, but again, not something to have a sh**-fit about.
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Andy S:
"For every year of a woman's life in this country, a man spends 1 week in jail." I'll have to keep thinking about a good sound bite that is accurate and rolls off the tongue... anyone?
How about a health stat? Something like, "For every 12 months a woman lives, a man lives 10 months." Or whatever the difference would calculate to.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I like it Danny. Who knows the life expectancy stats?
May 28th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
The Illinois Alliance for Parents and Children, in conjunction with local universities in Chicago, is conducting an in-depth study of parents, children, and "second spouses" who have unlawfully suffered a de facto termination of parental rights in Juvenile and Domestic Relations court cases, absent an actual finding of harm, and without a fitness or termination of parental rights hearing, resulting in a substantial loss of civil rights related to child custody, visitation/parenting time, and/or child support.
If you or someone you know residing in Illinois would be interested in participating, please write to us at: info(at)illinoisparentsandchildren(dot)org.
May 29th, 2008 at 1:25 am
I'm reading "Taken into Custody" by Stephen Baskerville. It is likely that this article is no coincidence. Except, the mistake they made is to allow the public access to the information. If all family courts were as open as this, the epidemic nature of the problem would be revealed. And then only the tip of the iceberg.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 am
Illinois will never admit to all of the mistakes they make of the state workers, and them getting orver paid.
The people in DCFS and the Cook County Illinois State Attorney's Office has a job requirment of proptecting the children of Illinois. Yet, that is the last part of their job agenda and when it comes time for that job it don't get done.
Illinois son't care about them making mistakes, they will always blame it on someone else and still try to make you pay for the mistakes the State Emloyee's make because they are too busy sitting talking on their cell phones or surfing the internet at work.
The people who think they have the power and abuse it can be sued after they violate your constitutional riights and violate certian laws. I have lived in Illinois all my life and those people have to be shown that not everyone is afraid of them to prove their power really don't mean anything. Except they can't control what happens at their own homes so they have to take it out on everyone else. Knowing the public generaly will not speak up against them.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
fiprs ybzd vxtpoy lsuw
September 4th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Любопытно и полезно, а будет еще что-нибудь из этой же серии?
September 9th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
A friend of mine was falsely accused of rape by his step daughter because she got mad at him for grounding her. Drs. verified she was still a virgin. Police wouldn't even give him a lie detector test because after interviewing everyone they came to the conclusion that he was innocent. But...CPS hounded him at work, kept falsely accusing him, etc. Even though by this time even the child had admitted she lied & why.
In Ky. you can tape any conversation w/o warning others they are being taped as long as you are in the conversation. So he taped all the meetings with CPS including one where in anger the CPS worker stated she didn't think the child had ever been touched in anyway. But as a CPS worker she had to take the child's side.
Those tapes were what finally got the madness to stop. In some states at least there is a point where it changes from job definition to harassment & it can be sued. What they need is some honest lawyer (boy, is that an oxymoron) that will file a class action.
This is absolutely shameful. Until the 70s few cared whether you beat your child or not. Now you give them a dirty look you're branded for life with no apologies. It may be the best court system in the world but it's a world away from true justice.
March 20th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
zmnp ghjnx