Child welfare system blasted

The anger of two parents rights groups has reached the "not gonna take it anymore" level and they are hoping to turn it into a political action.

The groups, made up of about 100 parents, guardians and professionals who say they have been falsely accused of child abuse, or at least know someone who has been, say the state has usurped the parents' right to determine what is best for their own children.

Despite the federal court noting significant improvements in the state's ability to keep safe the children in foster care the past two years, the government "has failed miserably in protecting children and has instead fostered a system of kidnapping-for-profit racketeers," said Jolaine Moffett, organizer and spokeswoman for Child Protection Reform.

In a paper outlining the group's position, Moffett states that a "web of deceit and corruption has spread into our courts where innocent parents are losing their children over fictitious and frivolous allegations," while legitimate abuse allegations are not properly investigated or are ignored.

The group would like an independent audit of the child welfare system and would also like the state Child Protective Services and the Guardian ad Litem Office, which oversees the legal rights of children in state custody, dismantled and replaced with an independent, community-based, private agency. The Attorney General's Office, the main target for the parents, would get involved in child protection cases only when the child is actually a ward of the state.

Oversight of child welfare would be put under the jurisdiction of a Citizens Review Committee, and the current Foster Care Citizen Review Board would be disbanded.

The reform group is proposing a pilot project, the funding for which isn't specified, that would bring together public and private community organizations as well as businesses and churches to solve the problems.

Another group, Utah Families, includes several homeschoolers. In their first meeting last month at the Capitol — a meeting arranged by a Layton woman who this spring had an abuse case dismissed in federal court — they reviewed their constitutional rights in preparation for a fight with the state.

Steve Russell, a Salt Lake attorney, represented Connie Roska of Layton, who was accused of making her son sick on purpose. He said parents wrongly accused have to understand that going against the state "is like going up against the Navy and you have no ammunition.