ParentalRights.org in May 2020 during lock down send a letter to Congress urgently asking them to reject a boost to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) funding.
CAPTA is a “carrot” program used since 1974 to provide federal spending incentives for states who adopt child maltreatment programs according to the specified guidelines.
Through CAPTA, millions is spent by Government to fund programs that instead of protecting children cause more harm and trauma to families.
Because their CAPTA funding depends on it every state has a child abuse hotline.
Lately, Congress has been looking at a proposal that would greatly increase the amount of money going through CAPTA—money flowing to the states in recognition of, and to facilitate the states’ adherence to, CAPTA guidelines. When I say, "greatly increase,” I mean they’re looking to roughly triple the funding.
But there are serious flaws in the CAPTA program—flaws that traumatize millions of children in innocent families; tripling the funding would only magnify those flaws.
ParentalRights.org wrote a letter to Congress highlighting three problems that need to be addressed before Government spent even one more dollar for CAPTA funding.
1. The anonymous reporting must be changed to confidential reporting.
It is through the hotlines that anonymous reporting is destroying lives of children and parents. This system is abused by exes, nasty in-laws, busybody neighbour, andd even strangers off the street. This anonymity can put the parent in the hot water with no consequences for the anonymous caller.
Nationally, only four percent of anonymous hotline calls —that’s one in 25—result in a substantiated finding of abuse or neglect.
This system should be changed to require the identity of the caller, to the hotline. The identity can still be confidential and not make known to the alleged abuser. Changing the system to confidential reporting would cut down the number of false and malicious calls made to the hotlines. This will enable states to identify and prosecute offenders who repeatedly make false reports.
2. Put an end to open-ended investigations.
Currently the system requires certain details to be reviewed every time a family is investigated. An anonymous call can quickly turn into a full investigation of everything in your house even if it has nothing to do with the allegations.
To eliminate the problem parental rights call for "off-ramp" measures that will allow the investigator to stop investigation immediately if it turns out that the hotline call was false.
A case our own Jim Mason was involved in some time ago through his work with Home School Legal Defense Association is helpful to illustrate this point. A mom called in because an investigator was at the door and wanted to see the house and the children. Mom explained that the hotline had apparently received an anonymous call alleging that she let her toddler children play around their in-ground pool all day without supervision.
But there were two details that would immediately allow any investigator to know the call was false. First, her children were all teenagers. And second, they didn’t even own a pool!
With the current system the investigator still has to check all the boxes like were there food in the house? Were the children interviewed separately? Where they checked for bruises?.
With an "exit-ramp" provision in place the investigator could just write down "no todlers no pool" case closed.
3. Specific guidelines when to remove a child from a home.
Currently, CAPTA provides funds to states whenever investigators remove children from the home. There is no specific guidelines, the Social Security Act states that children can be removed from a home wherethere are any circumstancess "contrary to the welfare of the child." This standard was proven to be too.vague and is leading to abuse by the investigators.
If through CAPTA states is going to receive money for the removal of children from their homes, this Act should provide extremely careful guidelines to ensure that children are not removed unnecessarily from their homes which can cause irreversible trauma to children and parents alike.
Last year 83 percent of all child welfare investigations were closed as unfounded or unsubstantiated. That means that, for every child rescued from abuse or neglect, five innocent families were traumatized needlessly. Confidential reporting, off-ramp options, and especially a removal standard could help eliminate this unnecessary trauma without stopping the valid work—in fact, they will free more resources for the valid work—of finding and aiding children in actual need.
The current pandemic regulations prevented Parentalrights org to deliver this letter to the congress leaders in our normal dramatic fashion. But it could not stop us from delivering our important concerns.
Because our Capitol Hill liaison, Maggie McKneely, has been working on parental rights issues since long before COVID-19, she already had contacts with members of the staff in crucial offices. So she was able to email our letter directly to the attention of those who needed to see and address our concerns.
Yes it was mailed in but because of pre-existing relationships, it insured that our and your concerns to protect innocent families from trauma will be heard. Maggie will be able to monitor the letter's progress and the discussions that will follow.
So even in the days of lockdown, ParentalRights.org is still making our presence known in Congress as we stand together to protect children and preserve parental rights.
To support this organisation go to ParentalRights.org
Thank you for reading.
Source: https://parentalrights.org/oppose-capta-budget/
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