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Anne Stevenson

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Top 5 HHS Programs Endangering Women and Children

Posted: 05/14/2012 1:15 pm

The so-called "War on Women" is raging, and billions of your tax dollars are being misused to fuel it via the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The solution is to remove the middle class from the welfare roles and do away with gender-based funding incentives.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) program it created transformed welfare policy by drastically reducing and shifting federal assistance away from the homes of mothers and children and into the homes of violent offenders. In an article entitled "How Federal Welfare Funding Drives Judicial Discretion in Child-Custody Determinations and Domestic Relations Matters" fathers and rights activists Lary Holland and Jason Bottomsly explain that this policy has backfired because the incentives are structured so that the state will only benefit if children are removed from loving homes:

"In essence, the federal guidelines wanted the states to function as collection agencies, recovering financial support from parents who had willfully abandoned their parental responsibilities to their children. The result, however, was different from the intent and has caused the state welfare programs to adjust their environment to have a greater need, which has caused the program to collect from willing parents that would ordinarily provide a loving environment for their children absent a court order limiting a parent's involvement. Despite the original intent of the IV-D welfare program, it now provides an incentive for the states to use their family courts to produce forcibly absent parents in order to increase the states' IV-D welfare caseload."

These HHS policies created a new breed of dangerous Welfare Kings through HHS Office of Child Support Enforcement when it began subsidizing the homes and legal battles of the unfit, unwilling, and violent fathers. At the beginning of a custody case, only the offender is sick, but if one violent offender gets custody, the whole family needs treatment. Consequently, it is also not uncommon for dozens of family court mental health and legal professionals onto the case to sustain his deadly custody rights through HHS programs.

The top 5 HHS programs endangering women and children are:

1. Child Support Enforcement (Access and Visitation Programs and Responsible Fatherhood Initiative) A 2011 report from the Office of the Inspector General demonstrates that the States are collecting child support, but not disbursing it to the children it is intended to benefit. So where is the money going? Although previous graduates include mass murderer D.C. Sniper John Muhammad, the 2012 HHS budget reflects President Obama's $1 billion endorsement of the fraud-riddled fatherhood industry.

Using the virtually unregulated child support system as a vehicle and the father's will to evade prison time as collateral, the fathers are told they can risk their liberty and property attempting to pay down arrears, or alternatively, sue the mother for custody using a variety of federally funded "supports." Unlike the welfare programs for women and children which had restrictive income eligibility requirements, HHS Responsible Fatherhood program benefits are not needs based and are available to all fathers-even billionaires. Benefits from Responsible Fatherhood programs to abusers include:

  • Child support obligations are suspended

  • Free attorney representation in the family courts to fight for custody

  • Free housing

  • Direct cash incentives

  • Free groceries

  • Free car maintenance, gas, and other transportation costs

  • Free healthcare and dental care


While many upstanding fathers honestly complain about TANF programs and the courts victimizing them, the dirty little secret in the fatherhood industry it that the grant recipients who train court personnel, social services, and child support personnel are often fathers rights groups like the Fathers and Families Coalition, the Children's Rights Council (Founder David Levy sits on the board of the Supervised Visitation Network) and the National Fatherhood Institute.

Clearly, judges understand the danger abusers pose, which is why their courts are guarded with armed deputies and not unarmed social workers. HHS programs are actually a deadly investment given that (a) abusive men win custody of their victims 70% of the time when they ask for it, and (b) regardless of the gender of the victim, it is a public safety issue when DOJ studies show men perpetrate more than 95% of violent assaults against women. A 2011 CDC study also shows that men are raped by other men more than 93% of the time, and women are raped by men more than 98% of the time.


2. Incarceration/Reentry Programs. The purpose of these programs is to recruit violent offenders who are still incarcerated directly from prison, then help them gain custody of victims. It is unclear to me how a child benefits from the dangerous influence of a violent offender insofar as it reduces support to the home they are recovering in. The program paints the offender as the victim and domestic violence as a disease they are afflicted with, curable by the removal of witnesses to their crimes.

Although violence is a voluntary act, HHS now invested our tax dollars into rehabilitating the incurable who choose to assault the most vulnerable members of society. Studies of male DV perpetrators show that 50% of them are sociopaths and another 25% have sociopathic tendancies. Psychopaths are people who feel no emotional connections to others and have zero regard for the rules and regulations of society, they do not respond to therapy, and cannot be rehabilitated. Dr. Robert Hare reports that psychopaths make up 1% of the general population, but 25% of the prison population:

"Violence is not uncommon among offender populations, but psychopaths still manage to stand out," he says. "They commit more than twice as many violent and aggressive acts, both in and out of prison, as do other criminals ... The recidivism rate of psychopaths is about double that of other offenders ... The violent recidivism rate of psychopaths is about triple that of other offenders."

Recipients include:

  • Massachusetts Probation Department: The Probation Department conducts all pre-trial mediations in the MA family courts. As of 2007, the department claims to have helped 1,600 male offenders with their custody cases, including Springfield inmate Shawn Suarez who was recruited into the custody switching program from jail, was released, won custody, then was sent back to prison on another violation. In 2011 and 2012, several high ranking administrators in the Probation Department were indicted by the DOJ and charged with conspiracy and fraud under the Racketeer, Influence, and Corrupt Organizations Act.
  • Colorado's "Parenting From Prison" received grants to implement programs which recruit violent offenders who are still incarcerated directly from prison, then help them gain custody of children.
  • CT Child Rapist and mass murderer Joshua Komisarjevsky's nine-year old daughter was brought to visit him 55 times while in prison awaiting trial for murdering and raping 11-year old Michaela Petit, and also killing her sister Haley (age 17,) and their mom. Prior to murdering and raping the Petit family, Komisarjevsky gained sole custody of his daughter, who he promptly handed over to his parents to raise. The same parents who he blamed for his crimes after being found guilty of 17 counts, including the three homicides, and sentenced to death.


3. Foster care. Despite the fact that the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect found that children are six times more likely to die in the State's care than those with their parents, it is assumed by some politicians that if you are poor, then you must need the US Department of Health and Human Services programs to tell you what's best for your own family.

  • In 2012, Colorado Governor John Hicklenhooper ordered an overhaul of the State's child welfare system after the Denver Post reported 43 children were murdered as a consequence of social workers who dropped the ball.
  • In 2011, San Francisco Department of Child Protective Services paid out4 million to a former foster child who suffered years of abuse after his sister was beaten and starved to death by the foster parent. Another report showed that more than 1,000 CA foster homes matched the addresses of registered sex offenders, 600 of whom were high risk.
  • This report talks about the 1.5 million mothers who say they were "coerced," "manipulated," and "duped" into handing over their babies for adoption. These women say sometimes their parents forged consent documents, but more often they say these forced adoptions were coordinated by the people their families trusted most... priests, nuns, social workers, nurses or doctors."
  • This report by ABC News reporter Diane Sawyer showed that 25% of all foster kids were on psychotropic drugs, and the States did not do enough to oversee them.

4. Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. With an annual budget of more than $20 million, the Center gives grants directly to religious groups exempt from anti discrimination laws, such as churches and mosques, as well as nonprofits affliated with them. Often partnered with the above-referenced Fatherhood industry programs, the Partnership's purpose is to "build and support partnerships with faith-based and community organizations in order to better serve individuals, families and communities in need." HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius explains that:

"Faith leaders are trusted partners in local communities. You have a unique ability to reach people, especially the most vulnerable, with the tools and information they need to get healthy, stay well, and thrive."

The consequence of this policy is that unsubsidized secular nonprofits that provide community services such as childcare, education, and healthcare cannot compete with the radical anti-woman nonprofits the Obama administration gives preference to. Examples include:

  • Catholic Charities received $650 million from HHS between 2008-2011, despite the fact that they have lobbied to uphold their discrimination based policies that deny adequate healthcare to women, children, and the LGBT community. This includes policies which refuse women birth control, abortion, and rape counseling to the more than 10,600 children allegedly raped by some 4,392 preists as of 2002.
  • Atlanta based New Birth Missionary Baptist Church received $1 million from HHS to support accused pedophile Bishop Eddie Long's $3 million salary and benefits package, as well as anti-gay marriage lobbying efforts. In 2012, the SEC announced charges against his successor, Fatherhood promotor Ephran Taylor who "was actually peddling was a giant Ponzi scheme, one aimed to "swindle over $11 million, primarily from African-American churchgoers," that reached into churches nationwide, from Long's megachurch in Atlanta to Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church congregation in Houston."
  • "Final Defendant Pleads Guilty to Medicaid Fraud in Scheme Involving Homeless and Pregnant Teenagers " (3/22/2012). This press release from the GA Office of the Attorney General regarding God's Promise Center, a business located in Henry County which purported to be a residential treatment program for homeless teenage girls.

Domestic violence is a multibillion dollar industry complete with its own ambiguous gender neutral lingo often causes victims in profitably dangerous homes. The CDC estimated that in 2003 Americans spent $8.3 billion on the domestic violence industry, which does not take into consideration the nearly 8 million work days per year that victims miss as a direct consequence of being assaulted, nor the costs associated with the children they care for who might also be abused. With as much as $585 billion also spent subsidizing the child abuse industry, so it's no wonder some unethical abuse industry professionals cash in by keeping the public in danger and placing children in dangerous homes.

 
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04:13 PM on 06/26/2012
how come we don,t just study why men are so in mature .men are allowed to act violent at sports work .why are there man caves ??? boys will be boys .men don,t get there brains together late in life...only reason they get married is because mom kicked him out or died .so they need someone to take care of him so he can go out with the other boys ..men have no self control anymore .we woman let them get away with all kinds of really bad things .we trust them to much .if men could they want 4 girl friend s ..lots of money from them .we woman make it so easy for men to act like heartless creeps ..men have to many un written laws .i could go on forever why men get away with many bad habits
01:01 PM on 05/29/2012
I have called this one over and over again, yet people don't want to believe me, and even when the media is telling you exactly what I had said! How am I a liar now? I don't think so!
12:59 PM on 05/29/2012
I have called this one over and over again, so many people don't want to believe me, well look at the stats! look at what the media is leaking out! So am I the liar now? I think not!!!
02:59 PM on 05/18/2012
I ran from an abusive husband in colorado, and CPS made my life a living hell because of it! they proceeded to steal my children and sell them to abusers. my oldest and i are working through his abuse trying to get him where he SHOULD be at the age of 19. Colorado CPS does NOT protect children, they HURT them!
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08:32 AM on 05/18/2012
Thank you Ms. Stevenson for this important article. It was posted on Safe Kids International on facebook. To expose the source of the destruction of so many children's lives is critically important. Domestic violence victims seeking help within the structure of Family Law Courts can be a hopeless endeavor thanks to Programs put forth by HHS. HHS funds the teaching of PAS, Parental Alienation in all its forms ...a buzz phrase that dead beats, batterers and child molesters hide behind and corrupt Lawyers promote to win custody away from fit/safe parents. Keep shining the light and thank you!
05:36 PM on 07/09/2012
Thank you for writing this article - as some have attempted to discredit the essence of the article by diverting the real focus on minute details - the truth lies in that there are millions of children and mothers (my child and I included) that lived a hell for years because of this new Parent Alienation Syndrom that victimizes the mother and child. The most unfortunate aspect of all this is the court militia that are all in this together: Here is Broward County the ring starts with Jeff Weissman and Martha Jacobson. Ask any policy officer who has to protect the victim and they will tell you in Broward County, Florida this is the last a victim of domestic violence will be protected. It has been 7 years since I was in a emergency room at the temper and outrage of an alcoholic sociopath protected by this PAS fraud ring in Broward County. In the end the father cared little about her, he cared that he had "control over his money" . The court systems do not care or want to really see the damage they do to these innocent children. PAS is the new buzz word for the money hungry professionals who care little about the "well-being of the child". Keep speaking out. I thought I was alone - I am torn between feeling angry because there are so many of us and/or blessed because I am not alone. The American version of the Cambodian 'Killing Fields"
12:12 PM on 05/17/2012
There are so many instances of abduction by CPS from good, poor families who can't afford to fight back, mothers who have been in "care" at the hospital in the delivery room, and families who have had outsiders "report" them for one reason or another that NEVER proved any neglect or harm to any of the children and now those families are having to PAY to even see their children, and these are ALL GOOD MOTHERS AND FAMILIES and they are a part of my groups, worldwide: MOTHERS WHO WANT OUR CHILDREN BACK.

CPS SHOULD BE AUDITED, FROM THE ORIGINATION OF THE FUNDS to the families it destroys and these children should be RETURNED TO THEIR MOTHERS AND THEIR FAMILIES POST HASTE, BEFORE ANY MORE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES ARE DESTROYED BY GREED AND CORRUPTION, that we call CPS... They are in the news enough already, but there is no focus on the good families that are suffering and the CHILDREN THAT WANT TO GO HOME TO MOMMY AND DADDY!!!

Please, please be one of those who care and want to see the truth. We are all experiencing PTSD and it is tearing us apart to have our little babies at risk and no one will listen... i hope you will...

thank you for all you do... I, we, will be waiting for a hopefully prompt response...

best regards,
deborah parks
11:40 AM on 05/17/2012
Jefferson County family courts have ALIENATED my relationship with my children, severed the sibling relationship, protected the abuse, entrapped and criminalized me, robbed my life of all I have worked for and silence me.
I want my kids back NOW
My daughters need to be at their brother's graduation
I want reimbursed my losses since the 2004 filing to have custody switched.
I want my license reinstated (not at my expense)
I want my support forgiven as I should not have to pay for my children to be abused.
I want these fathers to get help if you love your children you do not do this to them.
11:40 AM on 05/17/2012
As I was paying for my time with my children and trying to meet a child support payment that was set above my financial means, my support went into arrears, almost to the amount I was paying to buy a few hours a week with my kids. The Court then issued a contempt against me for the arrears and 9 months in jail or until I pay in full. The fathers then came with a stipulation that if I signed away my rights they would not keep me in jail. So I face and inevitable jail sentence due to the entrapment of a family court.
When a stay of execution was filed Judge Enquist granted it as the court was in contradiction, and Judge Tidball denied. Since March of 2009 my kids have been held with a ransom that increases by approximately $800.00 a month.
My son was incarcerated in 2009 for defending himself and after 30 days Scott Storey granted him a habeas corpus. He is now with me and is not allowed a relationship with his sister as a result.
I have recorded phone calls with Dan Welch (head of Colorado Human service grant monies) that my ex- husbands are monsters
and Katy Smith (head of Jefferson County child support) Stating they had no grounds to incarcerate me over the child support. Continued
08:06 PM on 05/15/2012
Dear Anne,
Thank you so much for this article. Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceburg of what is happening in the courts in cases of domestic violence.

My own case is in Spain, and in retaliation for having denounced my ex-husbands violence the courts have defrauded me of every cent I have (in collusion with my Spanish lawyers) and prevented me from seeing my two children for over 4 years; all in their attempts to intimidate and silence me.

The US State Department's stance.... "this is a private affair", even though Inter-American Courts on Human Rights have found the USA guilty of human rights violations (Gonzales vs. USA) in their failure to protect victims of domestic abuse. This is the 3rd case (A vs. UK and Velasquez vs. Honduras) where a State has been found guilty of human rights violations under the principle of due diligence and State and non-State actors duty to protect victims.

DOMESTIC ABUSE AND VIOLENCE IS A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION AND NOT A "PRIVATE AFFAIR" OR "CIVIL DISPUTE"!!

ONCE AGAIN THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS ARTICLE!!

Quenby Wilcox
12:15 PM on 05/17/2012
Please find me and friend me. We are fighting to get our children back out of this broken and corrupt system... We are mothers worldwide and we will never, ever, ever give up!
10:56 AM on 05/15/2012
Ms. Stevenson,

Although the source(s) of your information is unclear, with respect to Mr. Komisarjevsky's prison visitors subsequent to his 2007 arrest, it appears inaccurate. As you no doubt appreciate, bad information makes for bad policy.

Todd Bussert
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Anne Stevenson
11:46 AM on 05/15/2012
Attorney Bussert,

In order for the justice system to work, all defendants, including your client Joshua Komisarjevsky, require a fair trial before an unbiased jury and a rigorous defense. For doing your job as a lawyer I don't fault you.

The source of the information on Komisarjevsky's visitors is your co-council according to the embedded link to the ABC 20/20 News article dated 11/23/2011 entitled "Girl, 9, Testifies in Bid to Save Her Dad, Home Invasion Killer Joshua Komisarjevsky, From Death Row."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/girl-testifies-save-dad-home-invasion-killer-joshua/story?id=15017721#.T7J0He33AUt

QUOTE:

"But Jeremiah Donovan, one of Komisarjevsky's attorneys, said that showing the videotape was important because it would allow the jurors to see his client as a loving father who, records show, has seen his daughter 55 times during his incarceration -- instead of seeing him as just a cold-blooded killer."

Were you and Donovan paid with public funds to defend Komisarjevsky? Who brought Komisarjevsky's daughter to the prison 55 times and who paid for it? Was the daughter molested by other family members, and how is she doing? Is she still required to go to the prison?

What benefit did Komisarjevsky's 9 year old daughter receive from the 55 visits insofar as the visits were ultimately exploited at trial to help disguise a psychopathic pedophile rapist and mass murderer as a productive member of society safe to be around children?

With respect and regards, Anne
12:12 PM on 05/15/2012
As you can imagine, I am familiar with the evidence. My co-counsel, Attorney Donovan, was referring to the fact that family had brought the daughter to see Mr. Komisarjevsky during his prior period of incarceration -- not after the 2007 arrest, as you incorrectly assert. Importantly, there has never been any claim or indication that Mr. Komisarjevsky mistreated, let alone, harmed his daughter. Perhaps the greatest harm that has befallen her is the media as well as individuals in the public arena dragging her onto their bully pulpit, rather than recognizing her total innocence in the tragedy that occurred.

Noting that Mr. Komisarjevsky received court-appointed representation, as the Constitution requires for all indigent defendants, is a red herring. The suggestion that state funds were used to transport any of Mr. Komisarjevsky's personal visitors to the institutions at which he has been held is completely baseless. Your intimation, by inquiry, that his daughter has been sexually abused is outrageous. It is informative, however, of your policy perspective, as is your apparent ability to render psychiatric diagnoses.
10:34 AM on 05/15/2012
While this article may raise some interesting points, your bullet point on child welfare is so egregiously incorrect and absurd it completely eliminates any credibility to this article. Your "source" for that information is an op-ed from some Georgia politician, and you site is as fact? To state that 43 Colorado children were "murdered as a consequence of social workers dropping the ball" is not only completely inaccurate but it's almost criminally irresponsible to try and summarize such a complicated and extensive issue in one paragraph. To state that children are somehow less safe because of the services being provided to them from the state is absurd. Thank you for trying to cram your agenda into 2 links you were able to find on Google. Shame on you.
10:51 PM on 05/15/2012
You have to be illiterate or blind to say that she cited this article with "2 links (she) found on Google." Are you saying that it's absurd on it's face to say "that children are somehow less safe because of the services being provided to them from the state"? Why? Is it all the citations you missed?
03:05 PM on 05/18/2012
"o state that children are somehow less safe because of the services being provided to them from the state is absurd." NO what's REALLY absurd is that you know NOTHING about how CPS workers do things. I was TOLD in NO uncertain terms that if I spanked my son, on his butt with a bare hand, through his clothing, I was a child abuser, YET they sent him to live with a family that beat him with a wooden board, leaving welts and bruises on his back. the adoptive parents. but I LOST my rights as a mother because i "could" "possibly" become an abuser, because I was an abused child.
05:03 AM on 06/21/2012
your child should at least, sue the hell out of all of them and become very rich, as soon as he is able to do so. why not find an attorney for him that would do a good job? also he should obtain a restraining order against his abusers and be placed with family, including yourself.
11:41 PM on 05/14/2012
I find it shocking that the federal government is supporting abusive father's in obtaining custody of their children so that they can abuse them further. We need to find out who is training the court personnel and where is the funding going in the family court system.
09:39 PM on 05/14/2012
Amazing work Anne. I am so proud of the work you are doing. You are a true inspiration and I am privileged to be your friend. Thank you on behalf of all women and children who will benefit from your hard work.
Shauna
07:46 PM on 05/14/2012
The Biggest Child trafficking Ring in the US!!
07:44 PM on 05/14/2012
Thank you Anne, so many do not see how this is hurting so many. Thank you for keeping this in the light enough is enough already. CUT TANF FUNDING! NOW!!
05:07 AM on 06/21/2012
TANF funding? that's otherwise known a welfare. what are you doing on this page, hijacking the cause for your own personal hatred of social programs? welfare is what moms with kids live on when they need to. it isn't the programs that are funding the evil dads to abuse their kids on. get out, infiltraitor.