Comments about ‘Utah child-welfare lawsuit is likely over after 15 years’

Somewhere out there, former Attorney General Jan Graham and her former deputy Carol Clawson must be feeling a little sheepish knowing that their ill fated and negligent decision to allow that child welfare lawsuit to proceed to a court "consent decree," is what saddled the State of Utah with so much horrendous ongoing expense, now, as the article stated, in the millions of dollars. Thanks Jan and Carol.

After witnessing DCFS in its full glory with no checks and balances, writing their own rules and protecting their own at the expense of families, I say hurrah for anyone forcing them to be more accountable. Government agencies can become corrupt if left unchecked and DCFS was one that was left unchecked for too long. Hopefully they learned something and will be accountable for their arrogance in the future.

now, if we could just get them to start helping families and not just children. taking families apart does not solve the problem. giving agencies like the dcfs, irs, fda, etc power that is not constitutionally theirs is negligent.

The system will be fixed when children stop representing dollars.

Just get rid of the DCFS all together, and giving some rights back to the parents to raise their kids.

We had our children pulled out of school, interviewed then sent back to class. Later that day, DCFS showed up at our home because they had a 'complaint' that we were abusing our children. The children told them otherwise, and case was closed. They cannot tell us who put in the malicious complaint. Not only that, they pulled my kids out of school WITHOUT my permission or knowledge. How about a few checks and balances? I agree with protection of children. But I also disagree with the abiltiy to do whatever you want, whenever you want with no legal recourse on the part of the person who has had the malicious report put against them.

I think they should check out the abuse in some of the so called foster homes.

AG Guilt, how can you say that about Jan, to listen to her speak at any function, she was the only qualified parent in the state....Except the Jensens
DCFS run rough shod over people and their children, because they could, Leavitt, Graham,Walker, all those that could do something,did nothing.
So the state taxpayers get another taste of their elected officials poor management skills, and lack of backbone to correct such problems. $$$$$$$$,It's only money

Jan Gram and side kick Carol Clawson are about themselves ONLY!

I am a student who has been studying for two years to work for DCFS. I must say that the view that the public has on DCFS is very upsetting. If you guys would see all the good that goes on, as well as the horrors that we are protecting our children from, I think you would be a little less forgiving

I went in to work for DCFS out of concern for the safety of children. It is the hardest job you can imagine, you are worried sick about the kids, the parents are usually angry and frequently dishonest--you absolutely hate to take a child away from their parents, but when they are covered head to toe in bruises (not from roller blading, but from being punched and slapped all over)--what can you do? I have since quit DCFS, but we always did everything we could to keep families together. Those "fake" reports are also annoying, but at least someone cares to check if your child is okay--heaven forbid they aren't.

Spoken like a true DCFS worker who runs around unchecked. I happen to have personally been witness to the other side of the story that you're conveniently forgetting to tell.

To all you lunatics who think it would be great if DCFS were dismantled, how do you plan on helping children who are ritually abused by a parent? How about the child who is beaten to death because no one stepped in?

How can you live with yourselves? Oh wait, you are all no doubt abusers yourself, looking for a way to live out your sick proclivities.

A child is not the property of the parents.

Just remember that due to confidentiality DCFS can't always tell its side of the story but angry parents caught in the act can and often do without fear of rebuttal. Also, if perping parents could always know who referred them to DCFS, the loss of anonymity would mean many abuses would go unreported. Do some referents abuse that anonymity? Sure, but a lot of kids' lives have been saved or salvaged thanks to honest people reporting obvious abuse. Is the system perfect even now? Well, let's see, it's run by imperfect people. Face it, no system is perfect, but Utah's DCFS appears to be one of the best in the country.

Wow. This is turning into a real battle here.

First of all:

To lunatics: Not helping. Accusing people who think that DCFS has abused its power of being child abusers is wrong in so many ways it is not even funny. DCFS *has* abused its power; I've seen the fallout firsthand of this abuse (from the inside; no press releases or after-the-fact rants from the parent, just the train wreck as the case slowly unfolded). It's often not intentional; when a case-worker goes in with a chip on their shoulder, otherwise innocent behavior can be interpreted as abusive.

I think most people agree that child abuse is wrong. The problem is that we also live under what is known as rule of law, i.e. wrong-doings such as child abuse have to actually be *proven* before action is taken. If we decide that child abuse is so horrific that we can't live up to that standard, then innocent peoples lives will be torn apart because they actually weren't guilty, and now we've taken their children from them! The resulting attempt to save the child actually hurts them much worse than their parent. But we must keep the rule-of-law standard.

See that's the problem with ad homonim attacks: they let the argument move off topic. "Lunatics's" comment was directed to those people who want the system dismantled and stated so above. You in no way address those questions. What do you have to say, happyman? What kind of system will protect the child from abuse? You seem more interested in protecting the abuser.

Sorry to disapoint you, but I guess I'm a lunatic too. The system is set up where guilt is presumed rather than proven. The word of a 5 year old, known to lie, can ruin the life of an entire family. But no one can prove the kids a liar because he is ADHD and lively. $15,000 later and a hospital stay worth $80,000 due to stress, because 5 year olds can't lie shows DCFS is out of control. The bad outweighs the good in this case. Something else should be considered.

and go back to the dark ages. Don't we have enough Jerry Springer contestants already?

You people make me sick.

Let me just say a couple thing's here about DCFS organization.I'm 16 now an for two years i went through DCFS because of truancy after my father has past away,I was a runaway for those two years on my own i had the ability to take care of myself my mother did nothing wrong besides try to get these people off are backs.They did it for the money an altogether i was placed in a mental institaution for truancy problems.It was for the money not the help,They ruined our lives like it was nothing i didn't get any help like said.If i could write more I'd have pages an pages of disgust these people have done to our family.

DCFS ruins more children than it saves. 75% of the children in Carbon County have run through this terroist system of fear, intimidation and coercion. The workers enter homes with no cause or reason, incite fear and perpetuate false accusations. I made the mistake of asking for a lawyer and my family will never recover from the terror that simple request for my constitutional right has caused. We have spent over $20,000.00 tryig to prove our innocence (another constitutional right violated) after our child was interrogated for 16 hours without our permission while he was supposedly at school. These terrorists stole my child from school and took him for a medical evaluation 3 hours away, nothing was found, but we are still guilty without option to even attempt to prove innocence. This system abuses parents, incites fear in children and rips apart families in the name of protection. The damage caused by this negligent intrusion in my family will be nearly impossible to overcome, simply because I requested my constitutional right to legal representation. DCFS workers are terrorists in disguise.