Stolen innocence: The battle against modern-day slavery USA

[Horatio]

Nicholas Kristof/ NY Times Columnist
http://www.facebook.com/kristof
We tend to focus on sex trafficking abroad, but we don't have the moral authority to complain about others unless we clean up our own act. This article illuminates the problem at home -- and why it sometimes really does amount to slavery. Time for emancipation, right?

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7002 ... d=fb_share

Here is the article in its entirety.

ATLANTA — Maybe it was the defiant glint in her eye. Maybe it was the way she dragged her feet on the way to join the other underage girls in tube tops and 8-inch heels hawking their bodies in a bad part of Atlanta. Keisha Head wasn't sure. But somehow Sir Charles always knew when she was considering trying to escape.

"You better not be thinkin' 'bout leaving," the pimp would say. "You know what's gonna happen."
 
Sometimes, if he sensed Keisha needed reminding, the big man would shove the then-16-year-old into his Mercedes-Benz and drive her to the cemetery. There he'd strip off her clothes and leave her curled up next to a headstone, sobbing, to contemplate how nobody would notice if she — a runaway and a prostitute — went missing.

"I know grave diggers," he'd say when he came to collect her 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour later. "We could just throw you in a hole when they're burying someone else."

At the time, Keisha, now 31, was considered a delinquent. Now lawmakers are beginning to recognize she was a slave.

Their stories are as different as their backgrounds. There's the boys choir from Zambia that was forced to sing seven concerts a day then locked in a trailer in Texas while their benefactors collected the cash. There's the case of 400 Thai agricultural workers who came to Seattle looking for salaried work picking apples and wound up shut in wooden shacks with no pay.

Researchers estimate close to half of today's victims of human trafficking are people like Keisha who have been coerced into the sex industry.

Sex slaves are the most profitable slave in the modern world, according to Siddharth Kara, a fellow on human trafficking at Harvard University and author of "Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery." On average, a sex slave costs $5,000 in the United States and, before escaping or dying, generates profits exceeding $135,000. There is little risk for exploiters because, more often than not, it's girls like Keisha — and not the pimps who manipulate them — who wind up behind bars.

There are some state and federal laws in place to fight the practice, but prosecutions and convictions are rare.

According to an analysis of anti-slavery laws released last week by the anti-slavery organization Shared Hope International, more than half of states don't have legislation in place to make sure victims like Keisha aren't being punished instead of cared for. Even in places with strong anti-slavery laws, victims go unnoticed because law enforcement officials confuse the crime, which is officially called human trafficking, with smuggling immigrants across the border. Many still see people like Keisha as criminals instead of victims.
 
With job descriptions ranging in scope from prostitute to waiter to maid, more than 150,000 people in the United States are living in slavery, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
 
"We're only just starting to wake up and recognize this problem," said Alicia Wilson, policy counsel for Shared Hope International. "Awareness is low, law enforcement isn't where it should be and there are almost no services for victims."

Changing Perceptions

When Keisha met Sir Charles, she was living in an abandoned building in Atlanta and hadn't eaten for several days. Born to a schizophrenic mother, she had spent most of her life wandering through foster homes — 42 in all — until a child welfare official told her the state mental hospital was her only remaining option. She ran away. Sir Charles gave her food and replaced her ragged, dirty clothes. She found herself telling him things she'd never told anyone: how she'd been molested, how she had gotten pregnant and how, because she had no money, she had sorrowfully given the baby up. He dried her tears and offered to take her to visit the 6-month-old.

"I felt like I'd finally found a home," she said.

Three days later Sir Charles asked Keisha to turn her first trick. She refused.

"You know that little girl you took me to see?" he said. "I can make sure something happens to her."

Because of a deep-seated perception that slavery is a Third World issue, states have had a hard time getting the ball rolling on anti-trafficking initiatives, said Texas state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, who has been at the forefront of the legislative battle against modern-day slavery. When she first suggested an anti-slavery law in 2001, "I was patted on the back and told, 'Little lady, that doesn't happen here,'?" she said. The movement started out small, with just a few states taking a look at slavery. Over the past decade, 48 states have criminalized human trafficking. In 2005, states passed nine new laws, then, in 2008, 13. In 2011, legislatures approved 42 bills.

Van de Putte pushed for state legislation because she believes states are better equipped to detect the crime. It's local police who are on the ground, responding to domestic violence and prostitution calls, she said.

"They are the ones who are going to be able to peel back the layers to figure out whether this is actually a case of human trafficking," she said. "The feds can't do that. They aren't even here."

Texas gets high scores from advocates for its anti-slavery laws, as do Illinois and Washington. But in a comprehensive analysis of trafficking laws released last week, Shared Hope International gave 26 states failing grades. Many states, like Utah, have good criminal statutes in place but don't offer protection or services to victims. West Virginia and Wyoming have yet to address the issue at all.

When it comes to sex trafficking, oftentimes it's the victim who is prosecuted while the captor goes free, Wilson said.

"Shared Hope International argues, regardless of whether or not there is proof of coercion, minors should never be charged with prostitution because they cannot legally consent to have sex. While federal law protects children from prostitution prosecution, only three states do the same."

"We need to be shifting the mind-set, taking this from a delinquency proceeding to a child protective proceeding," Wilson said. "These are not criminals. These are vulnerable children."

Sir Charles expected Keisha to bring in $1,000 a night. If she didn't meet quota one night, she had to make it up the next. If she failed, Sir Charles beat her. She never saw a penny.

"People always ask me, 'Why did you stay?'?" Keisha said. "I didn't have a choice. Sir Charles was well-connected in the community. He knew all the runaway hideouts. I had nowhere to go."

Enforcing the law

People who might have helped Keisha jeered at her instead. They saw her, a teenager in a tight miniskirt, on the side of the road, and rolled down their windows and yelled at her to "Go home!"

Even the police overlooked her plight.

One day, after all the other girls had left with clients, a patrol car pulled up.

Looking her up and down, a half-smile on his lips, the officer inside observed, "What are you doing here? You belong down on Pastry Street. That's where all the pretty girls are."

Even for those on the front lines, human trafficking remains a foggy issue. While the vast majority of states have criminalized both labor and sex trafficking, less than half require law enforcement to complete training. In states with anti-trafficking statutes, 44 percent of law enforcement personnel and 50 percent of prosecutors don't know the legislation exists, according to a recent survey from the University of Chicago. Prosecutors who had heard of the laws indicated they were reluctant to use them because, "Sometimes it's easier to prosecute it as something else."

There's always a little lag between the time new laws are passed and prosecutions start piling up, said Kathleen Kim, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, who studies human trafficking. For example, the Federal Human Trafficking Prevention Act of 2000 revamped the definition of human trafficking to include a variety of coercion tactics, including psychological manipulation. But most of the cases filed since have continued to reflect the older laws, which required prosecutors to provide proof of bodily harm. Federal, state and local law enforcement officials need to get up to speed on the broad definition of coercion, she said.

"They're using 10 different control tactics and we're only catching them for one," she said.
 
A big part of the problem is a simple lack of awareness, said Bradley Myles, executive director of Polaris Project, one of the nation's largest anti-slavery organizations.

"It's a hidden crime," Myles said. "Traffickers do their best not to be detected. If we're not looking, it's very possible we won't see."

Law enforcement, prosecutors and service providers get hung up trying to define human trafficking, according to the University of Chicago survey. Many incorrectly confuse human trafficking with smuggling or believe only immigrants are affected.
 
"We're not talking about people paying for an illegal ride over the border," Myles said. "We're talking about people being held against their will and being forced to work."

Keisha, who is now a spokeswoman for the Georgia anti-trafficking organization A Future. Not a Past., describes the work she did for Sir Charles as "being raped repeatedly."

"If you don't want to do it," she said, "it's rape."

One night, a client pulled a gun on her, raped her and stole her money. She emerged so bruised and battered she could barely walk. When she returned to Sir Charles, he sent her straight to the street to earn back the cash she'd lost.

That was the day she realized — no matter what Sir Charles threatened — things couldn't get worse. That was the day she found the courage to escape.

It took years and a stint in prison to assemble any kind of self-esteem. But in the end, Keisha realized she was more than just the abuse she'd suffered.

"I am a powerful woman with a voice," she said.

Now she spends her days testifying before legislators, advocating for tougher laws and higher penalties. She's living proof of the reality of modern-day slavery. Proof is tattooed across her shoulders in curling, black script: "Sir Charles."

[Eliscu2]

When Keisha met Sir Charles, she was living in an abandoned building in Atlanta and hadn't eaten for several days. Born to a schizophrenic mother, she had spent most of her life wandering through foster homes — 42 in all — until a child welfare official told her the state mental hospital was her only remaining option. She ran away. Sir Charles gave her food and replaced her ragged, dirty clothes. She found herself telling him things she'd never told anyone: how she'd been molested, how she had gotten pregnant and how, because she had no money, she had sorrowfully given the baby up. He dried her tears and offered to take her to visit the 6-month-old.

From the legislative desk of Senator Nancy Schaefer 50th District of Georgia (She is now dead)
http://http://fightcps.com/pdf/TheCorruptBusinessOfChildProtectiveServices.pdf
November 16, 2007

THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES

BY: Nancy Schaefer
Senator, 50th District

My introduction into child protective service cases was due to a grandmother in an adjoining state who called me with her tragic story. Her two granddaughters had been taken from her daughter who lived in my district. Her daughter was told wrongly that if she wanted to see her children again she should sign a paper and give up her children. Frightened and young, the daughter did. I have since discovered that parents are often threatened into cooperation of permanent separation of their children.

The children were taken to another county and placed in foster care. The foster parents were told wrongly that they could adopt the children. The grandmother then jumped through every hoop known to man in order to get her granddaughters. When the case finally came to court it was made evident by one of the foster parent’s children that the foster parents had, at any given time, 18 foster children and that the foster mother had an inappropriate relationship with the caseworker.

In the courtroom, the juvenile judge, acted as though she was shocked and said the two girls would be removed quickly. They were not removed. Finally, after much pressure being applied to the Department of Family and Children Services of Georgia (DFCS), the children were driven to South Georgia to meet their grandmother who gladly drove to meet them. After being with their grandmother two or three days, the judge, quite out of the blue, wrote up a new order to send the girls to their father, who previously had no interest in the case and who lived on the West Coast. The father was in “adult entertainment”. His girlfriend worked as an “escort” and his brother, who also worked in the business, had a sexual charge brought against him.

Within a couple of days the father was knocking on the grandmother’s door and took the girls kicking and screaming to California.

The father developed an unusual relationship with the former foster parents and soon moved back to the southeast, and the foster parents began driving to the father’s residence and picking up the little girls for visits. The oldest child had told her mother and grandmother on two different occasions that the foster father molested her.

To this day after five years, this loving, caring blood relative grandmother does not even have visitation privileges with the children. The little girls are in my opinion permanently traumatized and the young mother of the girls was so traumatized with shock when the girls were first removed from her that she has not recovered.

Throughout this case and through the process of dealing with multiple other mismanaged cases of the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS), I have worked with other desperate parents and children across the state because they have no rights and no one with whom to turn. I have witnessed ruthless behavior from many caseworkers, social workers, investigators, lawyers, judges, therapists, and others such as those who “pick up” the children. I have been stunned by what I have seen and heard from victims all over the state of Georgia.

In this report, I am focusing on the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS). However, I believe Child Protective Services nationwide has become corrupt and that the entire system is broken almost beyond repair. I am convinced parents and families should be warned of the dangers.

The Department of Child Protective Services, known as the Department of Family and Children Service (DFCS) in Georgia and other titles in other states, has become a “protected empire” built on taking children and separating families. This is not to say that there are not those children who do need to be removed from wretched situations and need protection. This report is concerned with the children and parents caught up in “legal kidnapping,” ineffective policies, and DFCS who do does not remove a child or children when a child is enduring torment and abuse. (See Exhibit A and Exhibit B)

In one county in my District, I arranged a meeting for thirty-seven families to speak freely and without fear. These poor parents and grandparents spoke of their painful, heart wrenching encounters with DFCS. Their suffering was overwhelming. They wept and cried. Some did not know where their children were and had not seen them in years. I had witnessed the “Gestapo” at work and I witnessed the deceitful conditions under which children were taken in the middle of the night, out of hospitals, off of school buses, and out of homes. In one county a private drug testing business was operating within the DFCS department that required many, many drug tests from parents and individuals for profit. In another county children were not removed when they were enduring the worst possible abuse. Due to being exposed, several employees in a particular DFCS office were fired. However, they have now been rehired either in neighboring counties or in the same county again. According to the calls I am now receiving, the conditions in that county are returning to the same practices that they had before the light was shown on their deeds. Having worked with probably 300 cases statewide, I am convinced there is no responsibility and no accountability in the system.

I have come to the conclusion:

· that poor parents often times are targeted to lose their children because they do not have the where-with-all to hire lawyers and fight the system. Being poor does not mean you are not a good parent or that you do not love your child, or that your child should be removed and placed with strangers;

· that all parents are capable of making mistakes and that making a mistake does not mean your children are always to be removed from the home. Even if the home is not perfect, it is home; and that’s where a child is the safest and where he or she wants to be, with family;

· that parenting classes, anger management classes, counseling referrals, therapy classes and on and on are demanded of parents with no compassion by the system even while they are at work and while their children are separated from them. This can take months or even years and it emotionally devastates both children and parents. Parents are victimized by “the system” that makes a profit for holding children longer and “bonuses” for not returning children;

· that caseworkers and social workers are oftentimes guilty of fraud. They withhold evidence. They fabricate evidence and they seek to terminate parental rights. However, when charges are made against them, the charges are ignored;

· that the separation of families is growing as a business because local governments have grown accustomed to having taxpayer dollars to balance their ever-expanding budgets;

· that Child Protective Service and Juvenile Court can always hide behind a confidentiality clause in order to protect their decisions and keep the funds flowing. There should be open records and “court watches”! Look who is being paid! There are state employees, lawyers, court investigators, court personnel, and judges. There are psychologists, and psychiatrists, counselors, caseworkers, therapists, foster parents, adoptive parents, and on and on. All are looking to the children in state custody to provide job security. Parents do not realize that social workers are the glue that holds “the system” together that funds the court, the child’s attorney, and the multiple other jobs including DFCS’s attorney.

· that The Adoption and the Safe Families Act, set in motion by President Bill Clinton, offered cash
“bonuses” to the states for every child they adopted out of foster care. In order to receive the “adoption incentive bonuses” local child protective services need more children. They must have merchandise (children) that sell and you must have plenty of them so the buyer can choose. Some counties are known to give a $4,000 bonus for each child adopted and an additional $2,000 for a “special needs” child. Employees work to keep the federal dollars flowing;

· that there is double dipping. The funding continues as long as the child is out of the home. When a child in foster care is placed with a new family then “adoption bonus funds” are available. When a child is placed in a mental health facility and is on 16 drugs per day, like two children of a constituent of mine, more funds are involved;

· that there are no financial resources and no real drive to unite a family and help keep them together;

· that the incentive for social workers to return children to their parents quickly after taking them has disappeared and who in protective services will step up to the plate and say, “This must end!” No one, because they are all in the system together and a system with no leader and no clear policies will always fail the children. Look at the waste in government that is forced upon the tax payer;

· that the “Policy Manuel” is considered “the last word” for DFCS. However, it is too long, too confusing, poorly written and does not take the law into consideration;

· that if the lives of children were improved by removing them from their homes, there might be a greater need for protective services, but today all children are not always safer. Children, of whom I am aware, have been raped and impregnated in foster care and the head of a Foster Parents Association in my District was recently arrested because of child molestation;

· that some parents are even told if they want to see their children or grandchildren, they must divorce their spouse. Many, who are under privileged, feeling they have no option, will divorce and then just continue to live together. This is an anti-family policy, but parents will do anything to get their children home with them.

· fathers, (non-custodial parents) I must add, are oftentimes treated as criminals without access to their own children and have child support payments strangling the very life out of them;

· that the Foster Parents Bill of Rights does not bring out that a foster parent is there only to care for a child until the child can be returned home. Many Foster Parents today use the Foster Parent Bill of Rights to hire a lawyer and seek to adopt the child from the real parents, who are desperately trying to get their child home and out of the system;

· that tax dollars are being used to keep this gigantic system afloat, yet the victims, parents, grandparents, guardians and especially the children, are charged for the system’s services.

· that grandparents have called from all over the State of Georgia trying to get custody of their grandchildren. DFCS claims relatives are contacted, but there are cases that prove differently. Grandparents who lose their grandchildren to strangers have lost their own flesh and blood. The children lose their family heritage and grandparents, and parents too, lose all connections to their heirs.

· that The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1998 reported that six times as many children died in foster care than in the general public and that once removed to official “safety”, these children are far more likely to suffer abuse, including sexual molestation than in the general population.

· That according to the California Little Hoover Commission Report in 2003, 30% to 70% of the children in California group homes do not belong there and should not have been removed from their homes.

FINAL REMARKS

On my desk are scores of cases of exhausted families and troubled children. It has been beyond me to turn my back on these suffering, crying, and sometimes beaten down individuals. We are mistreating the most innocent. Child Protective Services have become adult centered to the detriment of children. No longer is judgment based on what the child needs or who the child wants to be with or what is really best for the whole family; it is some adult or bureaucrat who makes the decisions, based often on just hearsay, without ever consulting a family member, or just what is convenient, profitable, or less troublesome for a director of DFCS.

I have witnessed such injustice and harm brought to these families that I am not sure if I even believe reform of the system is possible! The system cannot be trusted. It does not serve the people. It obliterates families and children simply because it has the power to do so. Children deserve better. Families deserve better. It’s time to pull back the curtain and set our children and families free.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and the needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9

Please continue to read:

Recommendations
Exhibit A
Exhibit B

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Call for an independent audit of the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) to expose corruption and fraud.

2. Activate immediate change. Every day that passes means more families and children are subject to being held hostage.

3. End the financial incentives that separate families.

4. Grant to parents their rights in writing.

5. Mandate a search for family members to be given the opportunity to adopt their own relatives.

6. Mandate a jury trial where every piece of evidence is presented before removing a child from his or her parents.

7. Require a warrant or a positive emergency circumstance before removing children from their parents. (Judge Arthur G. Christean, Utah Bar Journal, January, 1997 reported that “except in emergency circumstances, including the need for immediate medical care, require warrants upon affidavits of probable cause before entry upon private property is permitted for the forcible removal of children from their parents.”)

8. Uphold the laws when someone fabricates or presents false evidence. If a parent alleges fraud, hold a hearing with the right to discovery of all evidence.

Senator Nancy Schaefer
50th District of Georgia

EXHIBIT A

December 5, 2006
Jeremy’s Story

( Some names withheld due to future hearings)
As told to Senator Nancy Schaefer by Sandra (XXXX), a foster parent of Jeremy for 2 +½ years.

My husband and I received Jeremy when he was 2 weeks old and we have been the only parents he has really ever known. He lived with us for 27 months. (XXXX) is the grandfather of Jeremy, and he is known for molesting his own children, for molesting Jeremy and has been court ordered not to be around Jeremy. (XXXX) is the mother of Jeremy, who has been diagnosed to be mentally ill, and also is known to have molested Jeremy. (XXXX) and Jeremy’s uncle is a registered sex offender and (XXXX) is the biological father, who is a drug addict and alcoholic and who continues to be in and out of jail. Having just described Jeremy’s world, all of these adults are not to be any part of Jeremy’s life, yet for years DFCS has known that they are. DFCS had to test (XXXX) (the grandfather) and his son (XXXX) (the uncle) and (XXXX) to determine the real father. (XXXX) is the biological father although any of them might have been. In court, it appeared from the case study, that everyone involved knew that this little boy had been molested by family members, even by his own mother, (XXXX). In court, (XXX), the mother of Jeremy, admitted to having had sex with (XXXX) (the grandfather) and (XXXX) (her own brother) that morning. Judge (XXXX) and DFCS gave Jeremy to his grandmother that same day. (XXXX), the grandmother, is over 300 lbs., is unable to drive, and is unable to take care of Jeremy due to physical problems. She also has been in a mental hospital several times due to her behavior. Even though it was ordered by the court that the grandfather (XXXX), the uncle (XXXX) (a convicted sex offender), (XXXX) his mother who molested him and (XXXX) his biological father, a convicted drug addict, were not to have anything to do with the child, they all continue to come and go as they please at (XXXX address), where Jeremy has been “sentenced to live” for years. This residence has no bathroom and little heat. The front door and the windows are boarded. (See pictures) This home should have been condemned years ago. I have been in this home. No child should ever have to live like this or with such people. Jeremy was taken from us at age 2 +½ years after (XXXX) obtained attorney (XXXX), who was the same attorney who represented him in a large settlement from an auto accident. I am told, that attorney (XXXX), as grandfather’s attorney, is known to have repeatedly gotten (XXXX) off of several criminal charges in White County. This is a matter of record and is known by many in White County. I have copies of some records. (XXXX grandfather), through (XXXX attorney’s) work, got (XXXX), the grandmother of Jeremy, legal custody of Jeremy. (XXXX grandfather) who cannot read or write also got his daughter (XXXX) and son (XXXX) diagnosed by government agencies as mentally ill. (XXXX grandfather), through legal channels, has taken upon himself all control of the family and is able to take possession of any government funding coming to these people.

It was during this time that Jeremy was to have a six-month transitional period between (XXXX grandmother) and my family as we were to give him up. The court ordered agreement was to have been 4 days at our house and 3 days at (XXXX grandmother). DFCS stopped the visits within 2 weeks. The reason given by DFCS was the child was too traumatized going back and forth. In truth, Jeremy begged us and screamed never to be taken back to (XXXX his grandmother) house, which we have on video. We, as a family, have seen Jeremy in stores time to time with (XXXX grandmother) and the very people he is not to be around. At each meeting Jeremy continues to run to us wherever he sees us and it is clear he is suffering. This child is in a desperate situation and this is why I am writing, and begging you Senator Schaefer, to do something in this child’s behalf. Jeremy can clearly describe in detail his sexual molestation by every member of this family and this sexual abuse continues to this day.

When Jeremy was 5 years of age I took him to Dr. (XXXX) of Habersham County who did indeed agree that Jeremy’s rectum was black and blue and the physical damage to the child was clearly a case of sexual molestation.

Early in Jeremy’s life, when he was in such bad physical condition, we took him to Egleston Children Hospital where at two months of age therapy was to begin three times a week. DFCS decided that the (XXXX grandparent family) should participate in his therapy. However, the therapist complained over and over that the (XXXX grandparent family) would not even wash their hands and would cause Jeremy to cry during these sessions. (XXXX the grandmother), after receiving custody no longer allowed the therapy because it was an inconvenience. The therapist reported that this would be a terrible thing to do to this child. Therapy was stopped and it was detrimental to the health of Jeremy. During (XXXX grandmother) custody, (XXXX uncle) has shot Jeremy with a BB gun and there is a report at (XXXX) County Sheriff’s office. There are several amber alerts at Cornelia Wal-Mart, Commerce Wal-Mart, and a 911 report from (XXXX) County Sheriff’s Department when Jeremy was lost. (XXXX grandmother), to teach Jeremy a lesson, took thorn bush limbs and beat the bottoms of his feet. Jeremy’s feet got infected and his feet had to be lanced by Dr. (XXXX). Then Judy called me to pick him up after about 4 days to take back him to the doctor because of intense pain. I took Jeremy to Dr. (XXXX) in Gainesville. Dr. (XXXX) said surgery was needed immediately and a cast was added. After returning home, (XXXX), his grandfather and (XXXX), his uncle, took him into the hog lot and allowed him to walk in the filth.

Jeremy’s feet became so infected for a 2nd time that he was again taken back to Dr. (XXXX) and the hospital. No one in the hospital could believe this child’s living conditions. Jeremy is threatened to keep quiet and not say anything to anyone. I have videos, reports, arrest records and almost anything you might need to help Jeremy. Please call my husband, Wendell, or me at any time.

Sandra and (XXXX) husband (XXXX)

EXHIBIT B

Failure of DFCS to remove six desperate children

A brief report regarding six children that Habersham County DFCS director failed to remove as disclosed to Senator Nancy Schaefer by Sheriff Deray Fincher of Habersham County.

Sheriff Deray Fincher, Chief of Police Don Ford and Chief Investigator Lt. Greg Bowen Chief called me to meet with them immediately, which I did on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 Sheriff Fincher, after contacting the Director of Habersham County DFCS several times to remove six children from being horribly abused, finally had to get a court order to remove the children himself with the help of two police officers.

The children, four boys and two girls, were not just being abused; they were being tortured by a monster father.

The six children and a live in girl friend were terrified of this man, the abuser. The children never slept in a bed, but always on the floor. The place where they lived was unfit for human habitation.

The father on one occasion hit one of the boys across his head with a bat and cut the boy’s head open. The father then proceeded to hold the boy down and sew up the child’s head with a needle and red thread. However, even with beatings and burnings, this is only a fraction of what the father did to these children and to the live-in girlfriend.

Sheriff Fincher has pictures of the abuse and condition of one of the boys and at the writing of this report, he has the father in jail in Habersham County.

It should be noted that when the DFCS director found out that Sheriff Fincher was going to remove the children, she called the father and warned him to flee.

This is not the only time this DFCS director failed to remove a child when she needed to do so. (See Exhibit A)

The egregious acts and abhorrent behavior of officials who are supposed to protect children can no longer be tolerated.

Senator Nancy Schaefer
50th District of Georgia

* guess what happens to these Kids when the age out of Foster Care......

[Horatio]

Polaris Project
http://www.polarisproject.org/
 
Our vision is for a world without slavery.
Named after the North Star that guided slaves towards freedom along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project has been providing a comprehensive approach to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery since 2002.

Polaris Project is a leading organization in the United States combating all forms of human trafficking and serving both U.S. citizens and foreign national victims, including men, women, and children. We use a holistic strategy, taking what we learn from our work with survivors and using it to guide the creation of long-term solutions. We strive for systemic change by advocating for stronger federal and state laws, operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline 1.888.3737.888, and providing services to help our clients and all victims of human trafficking.

[Horatio]

Shared Hope International
http://www.sharedhope.org/

Shared Hope International exists to rescue and restore women and children in crisis. We are leaders in a worldwide effort to prevent and eradicate sex trafficking and slavery through education and public awareness.

[cmack]

Disheartening stories. The system is broken and rather than trying to patch up things a little here and there a complete overhaul is needed. I think the best way to protect the rights of children and youth is to recognize that they actually have rights. I believe there should be a simplified, uniform emancipation process similar to what Dr Robert Epstein advocates http://www.crosswalk.com/family/homesch ... .html?ps=0

Young people from at least the age of 13 should have much more control over the major life decisions that effect them. In keeping with the general spirit of fornits, I most especially don't think teens should be subject to involuntary placement in any kind of mental health or treatment facility. The Washington State law is a good starting point. http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_ ... &Itemid=35