FOSTER PARENTS CHARGED WITH ABUSE

[MaryH]

CNN NEWS 6/30/2004

FOSTER PARENTS CHARGED WITH ABUSE: Tennessee authorities remove 18 children from home

Trenton, Tennessee (AP) --A little more than a year after Tom and Debbie Schmitz were profiled in heartwarming new stores as religious, caring foster parests, 18 children have been removed from their home amid charges of abuse and neglect.

Police say some of the children--including those with physical disabilities and special behavioral needs --were beaten, left for long hours in a dark cellarand lock in a metal cage.

The Schmitzes stood silently at their first court appearance Tuesday. An attorney for Debbie Schmitz said she in innocent and will fight for the return of the children.

"She's not guilty of abuse as the law would define that," attorney Michael Robbins said as the Schmitzes and a handful of supporters arrived at court with yellow ribbons pinned to their clothes....

The Schmitzes, who had a reputation for taking in hard-to-place children in need, came to this western Tennessee town four years ago.

Sheriff Joe Shepard said that was shortly after they were investigated on child abuse allegations in the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area where they had 11 children in their home. No criminal charges were filed in Wisconsin....

The allegations in Wisconsin were similar to the new ones, including that Debbie Schmitz drank heavily and most of the care for the younger children was provided by the older ones....

[orthogonal]

1. Which law? Which definition?

"She's not guilty of abuse as the law would define that," attorney Michael Robbins.

Which law and which definition?

Jay Bybee's? John Ashcroft's? George W. Bush's?

[MaryH]

9. I thought the same thing

Abuse, by what standards? Donald Rumsfeld's? Ashcroft's?

Another bunch of religious people with a real wierd view of family?

[NashVegas]

2. link?

..

[redqueen]

3. link here

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/06/30/foster.parents.abuse.ap/index.html

:cry:

[MaryH]

5. Try This

http://www.cnn.usnews.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+Foster+

This isn't working. Let me see what else I can find.

[rkc3]

4. Apparently Tennesee screens foster parents as well as...

the State Department screens potential Iraqi leaders.

[MaryH]

7. Foster Parents

These cases just make me sick. These poor kids who are disabled have enough trouble trying to make it without these assholes - and I think these people get paid by the state - per kid.

And how on earth could two people take care of 18 children - some disabled. This is nuts.

[Sticky]

6. Why would any agency

place 18 Special Needs kids in one home? In my opinion they are partly to blame.

The nation must do something about the number of kids in fostercare - it's frightening!

[LosinIt]

8. because they have no where else to place them

and the states don't have facilities anymore to keep them so any port in a storm. It is so sad.

[MaryH]

10. Home For the Handicapped

When I was in hi-school I used to volunteer at a home for handicapped children. Most of these kids had been dumped by their families - but not all. Some were just so difficult to care for that they needed specially trained people to help.

Those children were treated really well. And the nice thing was that they felt like they had a home there. Everyone was just accepted as they were. And they all had a really good time with each other. It was a fun place. Those kids were fun kids. And there was no one there to make fun of them.

So it is possible to provide handicapped children with good environs even if they can't be with their families.

[RobinA]

12. How Long Ago Was This

These places don't really exist anymore, at least in many states. Insurance is one reason. Just plain money is another. There's also a push to get kids in the least restrictive environment they can possibily be maintained in, regardless of the quality of that maintenace.

I am in the child welfare system and I agree that 18 kids in one home is way too many. In my state we don't see a lot of that anymore (to this degree), but back in the '70's when I did my internship I remember several foster homes who had what I considered to be WAY to many kids. They were always good church-going people who had big hearts and just wanted to help disadvantaged kids. I was always highly suspicious.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. Sounds like a cross between Abu Ghraib and

the orphanage in "Jane Eyre"

Sheriff's Detective Don Curry said the children were required to clean the house and take care of two horses and other animals on the farm. He said one young teenager who needs a leg brace to walk told him she was beaten for not working fast enough and forced to sleep naked on the floor after breaking a ceramic vase.

Debbie Schmitz forcefully cut off a 14-year-old girl's hair when she refused to name a boy who had written her a note in school, Curry said he was told.

"She had long, pretty black hair, and she cut it off to nothing," Curry said.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/06/30/foster.parents.abuse.ap/index.html:

[Sticky]

13. Another horror story

that casts a dark shadow on foster parents and social workers. I'm a family support worker and we try very hard to keep children in their birth homes. It's better emotionally and financially to put supports in place for the family and leave the foster care system for extreme cases only.

But when apprehension is indicated or a child is voluntarily placed, foster care is all there is for these kids. We owe it to them to get this right!

I'd like to see the entire system re-vamped and a good PR campaign to recruit quality people as foster parents. It's a profession full of loving, caring people who make great sacrifices to give children a second chance. Unfortunately people like the couple in this article are always the ones who make the headlines. :-(

[RobinA]

14. I'd Like to See

the system revamped so that we can provide adequate mental health treatment for many of these very disturbed kids. Part of the problem is that few middle class families are ready to deal with the problems that these kids bring with them. Add that to a MH system that has only band-aids to offer, and you've got a lot of kids that no one can care for in a home setting.