October 04, 2004

On June 25, 2003, President Bush signed the "Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003", which is described by democrats, republicans and the president as an act that "would further provide funding for programs designed to prevent, detect and treat child abuse and neglect and coordinate efforts to do so among local, state and federal agencies.".

Amazingly, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) which fought for 3 provisions in the act, described it as "The new law will help protect innocent families against overly intrusive social workers". Over the years, thousands of homeschool families have been victimized by social workers operating on nothing more than a tip from an unknown stranger," said Michael Farris, General Counsel for Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). "Such aggressiveness, in a system which presumes guilt, can result in needless pain and anxiety for families," said Farris . In November 2001, HSLDA reminded the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Select Education of this forgotten piece of paper, The Constitution of the United States of America.

Can both these groups be talking about the same bill? But, provisions are one thing, enforcement is another. The government is for some reason extremely lax with enforcement of laws which require more restraint by the government.

This law, supposedly, informed Health and Human Services Department's social workers of the Constitution of the United States. Supposedly, social workers would actually have to inform families of the charges of which they are accused, before they remove the children from the parents protection and force the children to a physical inspection of their bodies. Social services would receive "additional training" to inform them that United States citizens have rights against unreasonable search and seizure. There would even be a citizen's advisory board to hear complaints about Constitutional rights violations.

It only took a little over a year and half to get the bill signed. There was apparently no rush to restore the Constitutional rights of United States residents and citizens. The basic rights of individuals didn't rate in the political agendas of the elected Democrats and Republicans. After all, it was getting to be election time and the parties needed time to scapegoat their opposition. The judicial branch had and still has no concern for basic constitutional rights. Their main concern was getting into the bedrooms of Americans to decide on what type of sexcapades citizens would be allowed to have.

During the year and a half period of this sloth like reaction time of our legislative and executive branches of government that was required to grace the people of the United States with their basic Constitutional rights, almost 5 million families were invaded unConstitutionally. That's, at a minimum, 10 million people whose rights were allowed to be violated from the time they were "informed" of these abuses. There is no mention of the fact that these abuses to the Constitution were passed by both parties, which consist mostly of lawyers. They had to know they were passing laws that were destroying the rights of every family in the country and the resulting court battles would be very lucrative to other lawyers and the court system. It's a lot easier to sell judgeships in a lucrative environment.

HSLDA dealt mainly with homeschoolers, and that is understandable. They stated that many of these unknown strangers that filed unsubstantiated "tips" were from those holding a grudge against home schooling or would possibly get some financial gain from shutting homeschoolers down. HSLDA did not concern itself with other unsubstantiated, unknown "tips" that might arise from a grudge, vindictiveness or financial gain in other circumstances of Constitutional abuses against individuals, children and families. Those domestic situations, grudges, vindictiveness and financial gain are much more prevalent. Hopefully, Constitutional rights will be "allowed" in more than the area of homeschooling, but, in all aspects of child protection, children, individuals and families.

The United States Constitution has and is being subverted by the 3 branches of our government. We are more an oligarchy than a republic at present. The republic is based on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. When those are denied, we are ruled by those who have caused the violations.

The system of checks and balances has been subverted by the judicial system. The judicial system is supposed to be non political and hold the feet of the executive and legislative branches to the fire by enforcing the Constitution of the United States. How can the judicial system perform that check when the very position of a judge can be sold for the going price.

Our free press has been subverted by allowing a few key corporations to obtain most of the ownership of the media outlets, a fact for which these corporations must be very grateful. Is there an incentive for these conglomerates to inform the public when their basic Constitutional rights are being destroyed? Is there an incentive for these conglomerates to inform the public about any circumstances that might bite the hand that feeds them?

And finally, the public has been subverted by years of political scapegoating, spinning, spending and outright lies. The public seems have lost its outrage against political government injustice when directed at the citizens. Have we become "sheeple" of a government of political agendas and spin? Will the public take back their individual, familial and Constitutional rights? Are we patriots of the rights and values of our founding fathers or a government's political spin that is subverting those rights and values.

The Constitution is there for a reason. The Bill of Rights is there for a reason and there would have been no Constitution without them. There would be no United States without them. It can not be subverted for a "good cause" or any alleged reason by those who think they are better or know more than our founding fathers. When that happens, the principles upon which this nation is founded are destroyed.

"Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government." --- James Madison.

Despite the supposed provisions for Constitutional relief, oppression continues by this government. Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore said, "The main goal is to get the kids in school." The issue is really one of child abuse. Brenda Self should consider herself to be lucky to be sentenced to 15 days in prison and 2 years probation. She and her child could find themselves the victims of a CPS Bonus foster adoption. Brenda was sentenced for failing to make her daughter go to school. Short of handcuffing her daughter to the school pole, powers apparently only granted the state after the fact, how does one make a 15 year old go to school when they do not want to? According to the thorough thought process of prosecutor Moore, the girl's mere handcuffed presence at school also forces an excellent forum for the needed requirements for a good life. It appears that if the prosecutor has his way, after all the truants are prosecuted, they can go after the parents who are "not making sure that their son or daughter gets an education" as that is the justification for truancy enforcement.

Most likely, Brenda and her daughter are both products of a single parent home. Since, by far, there are more mother headed single parent homes than father headed single parent homes, 71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.

"A single parent family is one in which one of the primary care givers is absent, most frequently by divorce or separation, and the other is raising the child or children alone. According to Shreeve (1988), these families in the United States have increased by 225% since 1960, and it was estimated that since 1990 half of all children will spend some time in a single-parent home. It has been found that children from single-parent homes do have lower school achievement, higher incidence's of truancy, suspensions, tardiness, absenteeism, discipline problems, and dropout (Randall 1992). Decreased cognitive function has also been found and measured by IQ, achievement and scholastic tests. Decreased parent-child interaction and high levels of anxiety are what have been found to contribute to this according to Shinn (Bray, 1982)."

What better way to "'help" insure the family gets all the added benefits needed for a productive life than to cage the mother, give her an arrest record and show the daughter she may soon have a new set of Bonus foster parents? That is this governments "helping" out an already tragic situation. At present for homeschoolers, and any parent, Home School California has the best advice for those that may find themselves in the child abuse gears of this government.

"If a truancy officer comes to your home, take any information they want to give you, but do not let him or her in your home without a warrant. Some of the risk factors that will predispose you to child abuse investigations are: Removal from public, private, independent study or charter school, custody battles; welfare recipients; and unsupportive families, friends or neighbors or members of the community."

It's not hard to see how child abuse has risen drastically, when you include homeschooling, truancy, vindictive anonymous phone calls, custody disputes, corporal discipline or anything resembling less than the perfect family in the "child abuse" data. If the agencies need more numbers, they just add another "new form" of child abuse. The funding and family destruction just follows per the status quo.

Ed Ward, MD, MT.

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