DFCS is a horrible place full of nosie people. My daughter was recently taken from me based on nothing but circumstancial heresay from the grandmother. WHats even worse is dfcs new that she was the type to call and lie because of her previous attemps. HOwever, this time they chose to believe her and they took her without even having a hearing to prove me unfit. Whats even more worse is my child was sexually abused by her cousin who is living in the grandmothers house with my daughter as we speak. I informed DFCS of this information and even had proof of the abuse from a daycare who witness the cousin acting out on a student there, and He was also taken to the dfcs office to be evaluated in which they found he was molested as well. This confirmed it. Well DFCS of course didn't care about that because they would rather break up the family so they can have something to do than actually do their damn job and see my daughter was fine where she was. When I went to court I told the judge about my daughter being abused and he ask DFCS if they had investigated that yet, Their response was "this is the first we have heard of it" LYING A** BI@##S. ITs interesting how they only dig up dirt on the parents and not the care takers or the foster parents. MY neighbors sister is a foster parent and my neighbor says that she does drugs. HOW F@#$ed is that. DFCS IS THE DEVIL HIMSELF AND ANYone who works there is a piece of SH@# and deserves to burn in hell. I am a college student with a 3.8 Gpa I pay my bills on time I even passed their drug test and when that wasn't enough they decided to hair test me in which they tried to alter the test by cutting a chunk off the top of my head. If its a hair follical test shouldn't the follical be included how will they know which end is which? DFCS NEEDS TO BE DISSASIMBLED!!! The people who really do abuse their children still have them because DFCS is too afraid to deal with those people for fear of their own safety. I guess its easier to lie on the good parents and fabricate evidence then to actually help the actual abused children. DFCS MUST HAVE A DEATH WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until you have been a victim of Fayette County DFCS you have no idea of what they can and will do to you without blinking an eye. They are not about keeping families together. They do not investigate a childs outcry, they believe the child 100%. I will advise anyone who deals with them in the future to record your conversations or take an attorney with you if you ever receive a call from them. If you ignore this, you do so at a great risk. E-mail me at julieha7@yahoo.com. I have a horror story that would do a lifetime movie justice.

I dare anyone to watch this video of dead children that were in CPS care and not shed a tear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kaVjBi8tcw

If you want real information about this agency, just spend twenty minutes at this site and see if you aren't ready to fight them.
http://kidjacked.com/

Is Fayette County, Ga.
the child removal capital of America?
Current Georgia data discussed below are presented in full in the NCCPR Georgia Rate-of-Removal Index
For several years, NCCPR has been comparing the propensity of states to take children
from their parents. We compare the number of children taken from their parents over the course
of a year to the total number of impoverished children in each state. (We believe this is fairer than
using total child population since it factors in the crucial role of poverty.)
We also have been able to compare rates-of-removal in three states where counties or regions
handle child welfare, California, Ohio, and Florida.
As of federal fiscal year 2005, the most recent year for which data are available for all
states, the national average was 24.1 children taken from their parents for every thousand impoverished
children. Georgia was almost exactly at that average. But Illinois and Alabama take, proportionately,
far fewer children and independent court-appointed monitors have found that the
reforms in both states improved child safety.
The highest rate of removal statewide was in Nebraska, where they took more than 80
children for every thousand impoverished children in the state. One region in Florida is about as
high, and there is one county in Ohio that comes close.
But we have found no place in the country where a child is at more risk of being thrown
into foster care than Fayette County, Georgia. In fact, it’s not even close.
In the year ending February 28, 2007, the Fayette County DFCS office took away 107 children.
Most, though not all, probably were poor. According to the 2,000 census, there were only
797 impoverished children in the entire county, so the “rate of removal” -- number of children removed
for every thousand impoverished children - is 134.3.
That’s a rate nearly 70 percent higher than the second highest jurisdictions we’ve found
anywhere in the country – that region in Florida, the state of Nebraska - and another Georgia
County, Cherokee.
The rate-of-removal in Fayette County is more than five-and-a-half times the national average,
more than eight times the rate in Alabama and more than twelve times the rate in Illinois.
Because there are so few impoverished children living in Fayette county, we did not include
Fayette in our formal rankings, which are limited to the 44 counties with at least 2,000 impoverished
children. (About 70 percent of the state’s impoverished children live in these 44 counties.)
But even so, the number of children removed, now 107, would have to drop enormously to
be in line with other counties, when poverty is factored in.
And Cherokee County has a larger population of impoverished children, and an obscenely
high rate of removal.
IT’S NOT METH
Of course there is a serious meth problem in Georgia. But California has been devastated
by methamphetamine longer than any other state, yet no California county takes children at a rate
above 59 per thousand impoverished children. And, of course, Alabama has felt the force of
methamphetamine abuse as much as Georgia.
IT’S NOT “THE COURTS”
We hope nobody still falls for the line one often gets from child welfare agencies: “We
don’t take away children – the courts do.” In fact, in every state, child welfare authorities have the
power to remove children on the spot, on their own authority, if they think the situation is an
emergency. In some states, caseworkers can do it themselves, in others, including Georgia, they
can call law enforcement to do it for them, or police may do it on their own.57 Workers also can go
to court and ask a judge, without notifying the family first. Ask any county DFCS office how often
the judges say no. In all of these situations, the family has to go to court in a few days to try to
get the child back. But that rarely happens. When DFCS wants to take away a child, judges are
far more prone to wield rubber-stamps than gavels.
IT’S NOT POPULATION GROWTH
Even the fast growth among some Georgia counties since 2000 does not explain these
high rates of removal.
The rate of removal in Fayette County is so extreme that, even if one assumes the impoverished
child population grew at the same rate as the population as a whole (16 percent), Fayette’s
rate of removal would drop from 134.3 to 115.8. – still the highest we’ve seen anywhere in the
country.
If we assume that the impoverished child population in Cherokee County grew as much as
the population as a whole, (37.6 percent), Cherokee’s rate-of-removal would drop to 58.8; no
longer among the very highest in the nation, but still highest among the ranked counties in Georgia.
WHEN YOU ELIMINATE ALL THE EXCUSES…
Either Fayette County, Georgia is a cesspool of depravity, possibly unlike any in the nation
(which we rather doubt), or Fayette DFCS doesn’t have much understanding of the devastation
wrought on children needlessly taken from everyone loving and familiar or about the fact that being
poor is not the same as being neglectful.
And there may be a reason for that. Fayette County doesn’t see much child poverty. According
to the 2000 census it had the lowest proportion of impoverished children in Georgia. Indeed,
the three counties that take away, proportionately, the most children when poverty is factored
in – Fayette, Cherokee, and Henry – also had the lowest proportions of poor children according
to the 2000 Census. Perhaps in counties with relatively little poverty, authorities are more
prone to confuse that poverty with neglect.
As for the county that the state Office of Child Advocate seems to like best – Cobb - it
takes children at the third highest rate among the 44 ranked counties.
None of the four states we’ve compared has shown much consistency among counties.
Whether a child winds up trapped in foster care in all of these states has more to do with custom
and practice where he happens to live than with actual child abuse.
But in California and Ohio, individual counties run their child welfare systems. The Georgia
system is state-run. At least it’s supposed to be.
The differences among counties in Georgia are the worst we’ve seen. The rate of removal
in Fayette County is nearly 25 times the rate in Bulloch County, which takes proportionately the
fewest children, when poverty is factored in.
So it is laughable to contend, as OCA does, that a county’s practice has been unduly influenced
by state policies. The real problem is the apparent inability of DHR and DFCS to get
county offices to pay attention to policy, whatever it may be. Indeed, Georgia child welfare appears
utterly lacking in a shared vision among its 159 counties.
WHAT THE SAFETY DATA SHOW
Ask anyone in the county DFCS offices about their high rates of removal and the response
is predictable: They’ll brag about it. They’ll tell you that by taking away so many children they’re
keeping them safe.
But over and over, around the country, we have found either no correlation or an inverse
correlation between rates-of-removal and child safety.
We’ve already noted that the only state and local systems widely viewed as, relatively
speaking, models for keeping children safe are those that take, proportionately fewer children,
such as Alabama and Illinois.
In Ohio, California, and Florida, we compared rates of removal to two key safety outcomes:
The percentage of children left in their own homes who were abused again, and foster-care recidivism,
that is, the proportion of children sent home from foster care who had to be placed again.
For a variety of reasons, including the sheer number of counties in Georgia, the number of
counties that are very small, making meaningful comparisons impossible, and the complex way in
which data are made available by DFCS, we were unable to compute outcomes for most Georgia
counties.
But among the 44 large enough to rank, we did check rates of reabuse in the counties with
the five highest and five lowest rates of removal as well as Fulton and DeKalb.
On average, the counties with the high rates of removal did do better - by one tenth of one
percent.
And that average hid some remarkable variations. Cherokee County’s rate of removal is
nearly 15 times the rate of Bulloch’s. But in Cherokee, 7.1 percent of children left in their own
homes were reabused. In Bulloch, it was 1.4.
Cobb County, OCA’s favorite, did relatively well, with a reabuse rate of 3.3 percent. But
Bulloch, Sumter, and Mitchell counties all did better, while taking, proportionately, far fewer children.
On the other hand, Fulton County, which takes proportionately fewer children than
DeKalb, did worse than DeKalb on reabuse. But even Fulton did better than Cherokee, which
takes children at a rate four times higher. And Fulton’s current performance is an improvement
over 2005, when Fulton had a worse rate of reabuse even as workers there took more children
from their homes.
When big cities are compared, Atlanta takes children at a significantly higher rate than
New York City, Los Angeles County or metropolitan Chicago, all places that have improved child
safety while reducing foster care. (For details, see Appendix B.)
Of course, particularly in smaller counties, it doesn’t take a huge shift in raw numbers to
create a big shift in rankings. So Cherokee might do better next year.
But that, too, can cut both ways. Fayette County reported no reabuse of children left in
their own homes at all in the most recent 12 months for which data are available. Proof that their
extremism works? Not exactly.
In calendar year 2005, when Fayette County took away even more children, 6.1 percent of
children in Fayette County were reabused, a higher figure than the current total even in Fulton.

You sound way to intelligent to expect the media to present a balanced report? I think you know better.............

I agree that marks should not be left, however there is a big difference between a welt from a belt that goes away in a day and a bruise that leaves permenant marks. I had the same upbringing Popeye and I generally agree with you. However, I do not agree with those who through a difference of opinion and parenting techniques jump to extremes in relating a spanking with a belt to "shaken baby syndrome, anger problems or any other extreme form of discipline that is not an acceptable American practice of parenting". Extremisim is part of our problem in this world right now. We should all be careful to not let our opinions become "judge, jury and executioner"! If you practice this you may or someone you love may fall victim to this same practice. Next time you are in a store watching children throwing things, talking back to their parents and you are thinking - they should have control of their children........I bet "timeout" is their best failed tool of parenting. All techniques should be used in parenting depending on the situation. Because you don't agree with one does not make it wrong or not within acceptable parenting practices. Parents should be supported when they attempt to parent their children with discipline. Discipline is not abuse and those who have intent on abusing a child should be prosecuted to the extent of society norms. I don't believe Ms. Clark had a history, intent or desire to ever abuse her child. I hope those of us who have so many comments never have to have their parenting evaluated by news media whose job is to sensationalize the point as much as possible to keep your attention. A temporary belt mark is not abuse in my opinion. Some parents words to children sting a lot more than a belt and leaves lifelong scars that damage that child emotionally forever.

There is no statue written by local govt., state govt. or on the federal level that indicates if you spank a child and leave a belt mark that equals abuse. From grandma telling the kids to go get a switch off the tree to moma spanking your tail with a belt because you been acting a fool, is as much american norm as celebrating hallowwenn. Well, even though hallowween is an american holday everyone does not agree with it for various reasons. Spanking your children is a matter of prefrence, and is acceptable to a majority of society. All topics that create passion such as the war in Iraq, our President, abortion, corporal punishment etc. does not make persons no matter what side of the issue they are on "evil" persons. We must be careful in our judgements and our intolerance. Intolerance is what we are attempting to change in the Middle East. I would ask ANYONE who claim to be employees of DFCS to please post the policy number and exact wording of the supposed policy in which a belt bruise is abuse etc. Does it exist? NOT! Your personal belief does not make it policy, it makes it opinion in which you use to implement policy when working with families. This case is an issue for ALL parents. If DFCS feel they can call corporal punishment abuse, than we as parents leave a tool in parenting in the tool shed which surely will assisst in more of our kids being diagnosed with ADHD and serving stints in Juvenile Detention.

DFCS employees writing on here they are embarassed based on the actions they perceive as unfairly supporting Ms. Clark. GET OVER IT! Be embaressed when you judge families! Be embaressed when children sit in foster care for years only because workers didn't do all neccessary to ensure they return home or get placed with a relative! Be embaressed when abuse has now been defined as a dirty home or spanking with a belt! Be embarressed when those you serve have to sit and wait for an hour or more in your offices as they watch you on the phone with personal calls or chit chatting with your co-workers!

Embarressment is a matter of percepttion.

As a long time DFCS employee, I know that our present administration is not doing the right work the right way. We don't try our cases in the news media. Just because it comes out of someone's mouth, it does not make it true.

Calling a beating a spanking does not make it right. Showing pictures on TV does not erase bruises. Insinuating that your child did something wrong first does not justify your actions.

To a DFCS employee, confidentiality is a policy and an understood rule. Only a DFCS spokesman can comment. But recently the right work the right way appears to have done away with all policy. Policy states that photos may be viewed upon request; not given to a client by a friend. Policy dictates that criminal background checks, drug screens and home evaluations are completed before relative placements. The right work the right way says we waive the policy for the chosen few.

I have been proud to work for DFCS, but I must say that my integrity does not allow me to understand how intimidation, threats and pressure have any place in our job of protecting children.

By speaking out I can only hope that I will be given an administrative job with my salary intact. Is this the right work the right way?

"Clark just happened to be a DFCS employee"? Ms. Harvey, my most astute bureaucratic friend, you are a fat incompetent government moron. Only 1 of 10 cases taken on by DFCS end up with any substance. The other 9 are life-ruining events that are hushed with plea bargains of intimidation. “OK, we’ll drop the charges if you promise not to say anything”. For the 10 percent they really fulfill, my hat’s off. Yea, it really works sometimes. But that leaves the other 90 percent laying in the gutter from the wake. I bet everyone reading this can either cite their own negative experience, or know someone very close that has. And as usual, there’s Randal and his deputies standing by their side with their hands resting on the gun. And the incumbent politicians keep funding these lovely people by the millions. If there’s not enough cases, they must make them to prove their usefulness and utilization. And they do.