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My name is stan wright. I am trying to adopt a special needs child. He is 9 years old and has a brain stem injury from parental abuse. The el paso county department of social services has completed a favorable home study. The problem is Kids resource Network a child placement agency that has the placement of the child in foster care. They have done everythin imaginable to stop this process. They tried to get me fired from my job. I am a nurse so they even went as far as contacting the state board of nursing claiming that it is unethical for a medical professional to try and adopt a patient. This child has been in foster care for over two years and is about to be placed in his third foster home. He is unnessacarily on a feeding tube which pays additional money to KIDS RESOURCE NETWORK. The child is on the highest foster care pay rate. If any of you have had similar problems please contact me.

Stan Wright
heirstan@yahoo.com

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Originally Posted By deborah

i have a child with rare genetic disorder as well as cp.it appears to me the agency would rather keep these kids so they can continue to collect money rather than having the best intrest of the child at heart.i'm feeling very frustrated when the county caseworker wants to wrap it up yet they come up with more of this well have we really give the bio's a fair chance.the bio's have significant mental illness and violent acts in the 11 mo, i've had the child.many people have suggested an attorney.i've not ruled this idea out.foster parents do have more rights under the law than we have in years gone by.i wish you good luck in your loving attempts!

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Originally Posted By yrand

Hey Stan- I'm an single black woman here in Colorado and I'm having a struggle trying to get my county to let me adopt two little black girls who have been sexually abused.They rather give them to a white family than let a black woman who
knows what's happening have them. So I know where you're coming from the workers here have it all confused. In my case I'm taking it to the top I've written letters to the head people at DSS and requesting a hearing. I'm also talking to an
attorney to see what my legal options are.

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Dear yrand,

I am so sorry to hear that there are so many of us out here in Colorado. I also wrote letters. I included a picture of the little boy with each letter so that they would realize we are not talking about a used car. I sent copies of my letters to Judge Toth (division 4), the county attorney the Gaurdian Adlideum, the mothers attorney, as well as all the DHS caseworkers and supervisors. Are your two little girls placed with a child placement agency or are they in DHS? Here in El Paso county DHS no longer has foster homes. All of the children here, over 1000, are placed into for profits like Kids Resource Network. I have an attorney,Tom Beltz, 719-473-4444. Tom is recognized across the state for his expertise in Colorado Adoption Law. In fact judges call Tom when they need help interpurting law. Tom is good but expensive, $175.00 an hour. When you are battling money hungry idiots the hours add up real quick. Two weeks ago he worked on my case ten hours. We go to court Tuesday morning to hopefully put an end to this once and for all. Recently Linda Ellegard, owner of Kids Resource Network, demanded an independent homestudy be done as well as an observational visit with me and the child. I agreed to this with El Paso county. Susan Ficsher came out and did a second home study left here and recommended immediate placement with me. The county still wanted the visit to go just to shut Linda Ellegard up. When Linda found out about yet another favorable homestudy she refused to allow the visit saying that there is no court order.

Some days I don't know how much more of this I can take. Linda Ellegard got me fired from my job citing a conflict of interest between me and the child. I am a nurse who took care of the little guy. She even went as far as calling the board of nursing to have my license pooled for the same reason. The board found her to be ludicrous and threw the complaint out.

The best thing to do though is to hang in there. These kids really need us. If we give up we will allow these greedy people to destroy all of these childrens hopes and dreams. I use to wonder how something like Columbine could happen. Going through this process has shown me why we have so many angry children. These children truly feel unloved and for the most part as long as they are left in foster care they are.

Also the Gaurdian Adlideum, Ted Radakiowicz, drop by my house the other day. Didn't know he even new where I lived. Said he came for a visit, then kicked my dog (I'm serious). I took him to the family room and asked him to have a seat and still offered him something to drink, he said no and wanted to see the boys room, so I showed him and took him on a tour of the house. All he would say is "thats nice" or "neat" and he liked all the toys and the furniture in the living room. His "visit' lasted less than five minutes. Do you have any idea what thats all about?

Best of luck and thanks for giving me someone to talk to.

Stan Wright
heirstan@yahoo.com

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We also live in Indiana. We tried to adopt 2 siblings that we had for 3 1/2 years. We also tried for their 3 younger sibs. We turned in adoption petitions for all 5. Welfare fought us and even paid a doctor that was not ours to go to court and say that I was mentally ill. The doctor admitted under cross exam that I had nothing wrong with me. The caseworker admitted to telling all the lies about us. Nothing was done to her. We never heard about the petitions and someone else was chosen for the children. We tried to go through the SNAP team to get approval and after 2 years were still denied. Then I found out the Villages was approved by the state to do adoption approvals. They could not believe all the problems we had. With their help we found out that the county had even falsified records oto keep us from getting approval. We have since gotten approval and are looking for kids. We have tried so long and been discouraged so much that now we are afraid that our age will be against us. We are in late 50's. Our state offices were contacted about this, even the govenor, and the county agency convinced them they were in the right. No one even bothered to check court records or come to see the legal papers that I had.

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Originally Posted By yrand

Hi Stan- I talked to an attorney yesterday who just looked me right in the face and told me,which I already knew, that you
just can't get around Social Services they can do what they want and that basically it's a racket where money talks. If
you go through the agencies for these kids and pay an attorney
and the facilitator you get action. If you're just average Joe or Mary and you love and want to care for one of these kids you get the run around. It serves their purpose to keep these kids in expensive therapy and because you might make it unneccessary that would end the gravy train. I've been called cynical and it's not hard to be that way when you see the games that are being played with these little ones lifes.It's
like they're being victimized twice once by their parents and again by the system.

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Originally Posted By yrand

My home visit lasted longer but it was just as strange. The worker seemed more interested in me and my partner of four
years relationship which was spelled out in our homestudy if she had bothered to read it. He is the father of two and we are a committed mongamous couple. Does a marriage licence guarantee fidelity or decency nowadays? Haven't you heard of the couple here in Evergreen who were running an adult porn film biz in their home? They weren't found out until their 11 year old son was picked up for molesting his 5 year old sister! So people like you and I are scrutinized to death while behind closed doors all kinds of evil goes on. I showed her the room I had fixed up for the girls including a closet full of clothes and toys. We both work hard to pay for this four bedroom house with a big backyard we're not rich in anything but LOVE.

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Originally Posted By deb

I am so sorry for your pain. I too have been there with a baby I had since 5 weeks old to 2 yrs. old. The case worker told me if I did not shut my mouth about all the brusing she was getting on her home visits she would blame them on me. She also went to the childs doctor and convinced her that the baby had not been beaten with phone cord,which was her original statement when she examined the child. They also called all the other doc,s who said baby was hit with objects. These doc,s were told unless they could prove this in a court of law they better back off. Needless to say the doc,s I was involved with ran. I,ve since learned to put any doc who see,s any child I have on the spot before they touch the child,unless of course it,s an emergency.The underhanded tactic,s I came in contact with in this certain county has really scarred me.I tried to fight but the mistake I made was not getting an attorney.I got her a state appointed attorney who had lunch with cps every day.I feel my little angel deserved better but they all but ambushed me in this situation.I,ve heard that in one state they,ve made the judges and caseworkers legally responsible for childrens safety. To me this is the only way to get rid of people in power who absolutly criminals.They are this for accepting the responsibility of keeping babies safe and then refusing to do so.If held "legally" responsible I feel they would work harder to keep the child safe rather than placing them in harms way.I can't imagine what motivates some of these individuals. I,m not bashing all,I've met some excellent case workers and judges but in one region I know of they are scarce.

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I was watching the news last night and the lead story was about the uncle of the little boy I am trying to adopt. This child's birth father was a cop in Walsenberg Colorado as was many of his relatives. A fedaral judge has now ruled that the uncle must stand trial for failure to report the child abuse. Of course I have as much faith in this man getting a proper sentence as I do in Govenor Owens taking blood money out of foster care. The foster home where the little boy is at now is just unbelievable. There are 3 special needs foster kids in the basement along with a mentally retarded birth son, upstairs in the two bedrooms are two adult brothers with criminal records and no jobs, the mother with no job and her boyfriend with no job. The live in a $2,000.00 a month condo in Gleneagle (just south of Monument). The only way they pay there bills is from the money they make off these foster kids. Money that is suppose to be spent on the children.

On CNN's talkback live yesterday they were talking about a case very similar to yours that is taking place in Chicago. They had a lady from Florida on with a case exactly like yours. She sued the state of Florida and won. My personal feeling is, what the hell does this white couple trying to adopt your two little girls think they are doing? I am white and fairly liberal but under no means could I ever pretend to be able to provide two African American girls with the culture and heritage that is needed for them to grow up and become proud and successful members of society. This must be an example of compassionate conservatism. These two little girls already have to come to terms with the abuse they endured and to now have to grow up in a system that has violated them again with parents who cannot provide them with any accurate sense of where they came from is just asking for an enormous amount of trouble down the road.

Well we go to court Tuesday. I am scared to death because I just don't know what Kids Resource Network is going to do next. Linda Ellegard of KRN is trying to delay the hearing by not allowing the observational visit to take place until Thursday. The independent homestudy lady is furious. This should have been completed last week. On Wed. I got fed up and started calling Linda Ellegard every 15 minutes until she would call Susan Fisher, the independent home study lady. Linda Ellegard was threatening to have me arrested for harrasement. I say go ahead cause when I sue her it will just be more evidence. Which reminds, how successful do you think people would be at suing these agencies for emotional abuse? What they are doing to you and I, as well as thousands of others is abuse.

Thanks again for giving me a shoulder

Stan Wright

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We had enough on the county agency to sue, but could not get any lawyer to take the case on a contingency basis and could not afford anymore money for lawyers. We spent 6600 dollars trying to adopt the 5, 2 of which had been placed with us 3 1/2 years since they were 9 months and 2. We watched so much abuse of these children on visits, some so bad the little girl spent 4 days in the hospital. They still would not stop visits.It seems that county agencies are above the law. Agency abuse of foster kids is very real and the case workers need to be made accountable. I wrote to the govenor, senators, and state representatives. There was even a state investigation which they covered up. This county does not have many foster parents haveing gone from 40 to only 3 or 4. This should be a red flag.

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Originally Posted By yrand

The lawyer I talked to as much as said that DSS is above the law and they can do what they want. You hear all this bull
about the best interests of the child but what it boils down to is the agency's best interest. So what I'm wondering is how
does it best serve DSS to adopt black children with white
families instead of black families or to keep critically ill
children in substandard foster care instead adopting them to a critical care nurse? There's got to be a money trail leading
to Federal funds some kind of way. They just can't be that STUPID!

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The DSS supervisor I talked to told me that El Paso county pays the child placement agency (Kids Resource Network) $700.00 a monthy plus an extra negotiated amount for things like feeding tubes. They also pay the cpa up to $1,500.00 for the foster family. What I think goes on is that DSS is afraid of these cpas because they have political clout. Here in El Paso county there is a big push to privatize all government services. Many of the far right Republicans in office here ran on this platform and were elected. I think it would be interseting to trace political contributions to see just who is greasing who's palms. Every single case worker at DSS has told me that they have had enormous problems with Kids Resource Network yet they still have to continue doing business with them. Getting KRN to return a phone call is nearly impossible and when they do returnd phone calls they cannot talk, they always have to let you go with the promise of getting back to you whenever there is a chance of removing a child into an adoptive home.

Thank You
Stan Wright

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Originally Posted By yrand

I was told by a minority recruiter here that I'm probaly going to be blackballed here in my county since I've been so vocal in my objection to the social worker's actions. I don't care at this point since I've been turned down twice already. They've run out of excuses at this point and it's odvious they have an agenda. I can just see the headlines "Black woman gets blackballed." I'm just trying to adopt some little black girls and give them the strong caring mama they need!

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Originally Posted By yrand

I talked with the adoption facilitator that I took classes
from recently and she said that the committee was probaly
concerned about my partners committment to the relationship etc. Who ever really knows about any relationship marriage or
not? All I know is we've been together for four years and I
moved from California to be with him because he had small
children and his first committment we felt was to them. By the same token as a single (unmarried) woman my committment would be to my girls and since he is willing to fill the father role what's the issue? In Colorado she tells me its considered common-law after one night with intent and I laughed as we've had many more nights than that together! The bottom line is what is better me a mature woman in a committed relationship or a single mother with a different man in and out every week? An unmarried couple like us or my
stepfather being married for ten years to my mother without
ever adopting us then splitting us all up after she died?

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Your story is very familier to me. You sound just like myself and my husband. Have you finally had children placed with you? We still haven't and have been through a lot of suffering trying. Domestic adoption of special needs children and minority children is very poorly run. You see, it is more advantageous for the state and local agencies to keep these children in foster care - they get more money for that than for adoption. But at age 18 or when these kids get out of highschool, they are literally out on the streets. One in four foster children who are not permanently placed end up homeless, on drugs and involved in prostitution.

It is a tragedy that in this wonderful, affluent country, we treat our children horribly. Our PETS have more rights than children. And that is not all of it. Doesn't anyone question WHY we do not have equal education for all our children, rich or poor?