Although permanent removal technically does require all those steps you described, temporary removal does not.
DFACS can remove a child, temporarily, immediately from a home where they determine abuse has occurred. The tricky part is once a child has been temporarily removed it takes an act of congress to get them back. So technically Clayton DFACS, since they are now overseeing Fayette, can remove a child. My fear is not a child being taken that isn't in danger, my fear is a child being left in a dangerous situation because the slackards from Clayton County don't investigate it thouroughly.

I was an investigator in GA, and even temporary removal requires the investigator to contact the judge and get verbal permission to remove and within 72 hours go to court for the shelter hearing. That is the federal laws in regard to this issue.

Please read Working with Child Deprivation Cases in Georgia's Juvenile Courts A Reference Manual for Department of Family and Children Services Case Managers and GA's codes for child deprivation.

The Georgia Juvenile Code allows a law enforcement officer or a duly authorized officer of the court to take a child into custody "if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the child is suffering from illness or injury or is in immediate danger from his or her surroundings and that his or her removal is necessary." O.C.G.A. § 15-11-45(a)(4).
Furthermore, DFCS policy specifically prevents a caseworker from removing a child from the home without first obtaining a court order. See Child Protective Services Manual.
When a Clayton DFACS worker requests and receives a court order to remove a child living in Fayette County, I will send you $1000.

The essence of our problem with child safety and protection is at the core of the case recently in the media. We can all speculate but none of us was there to actually see what was happening in the home. What parameters surrounded the situation that brought Fayette DFCS in the home and do any of you know what measures were taken to assist the family. It is hard for me to believe that because the mom spanked her child the courts saw fit to remove them. Legally the stated allows a parent to use corporal punishment and during the act of discipling your child it is expected that there will be some bruising, and this bruising must not last more than 2 to 3 days (transitional bruising). When the county steps over the state line and says no to what the state has said yes to then there is a problem. Mary Davis was not an effective Director and should have never been in the chair that was too big for her shoes. She does not have a college degree and is not qualified for the position that she holds. All of you that are petitioning for her return should be ashame!!! What Fayette needs to do now is find a qualified Director who has the child first at heart (whether they be black, white or hispanic)and find him/her quick. One bad apple can truly spoil the whole bunch and I am grateful that the well cured (rotten) apple is finally out of there.

Since I believe other citizens have already addressed your serious grammatically challenged "comment," I will simply say that Mrs. Davis has a Master's Degree, genius.

Ms. Davis might have a master's, she could have a doctorate for all that means. She is and was a puppet for Ms. BJ. And the investigation that cleared the Chicago connection is crazy. Even as they write the results they have to look at that and think, aren't we the guinesses. I like Ms. Blanco when I worked for her in GA, but she is a yes man to BJ and BJ is not a GA person. The things she said and did are off the range. Had Ms. Clarke not been black and from Chicago, she would have been fired. I see good workers get fired in county's where once the black staff pick you out, you are in for a very rough ride. I have watched a white staff need to go on medical leave, denied and when she showed the policy that forced that leave for a life threatening condition, her job was red lined just before her return. And anyone who made waves or talked about it were in danger too.
Child protection? In GA? The case managers, investigators, social workers, in Child protection, have to play politics and pray they do not cross the wrong line.
Look at Mr. Joe. In the article it is not mentioned that he was in Richmond County GA and made that agency so horrible that there was not one person in that agency willing to stay. They were looking for outs all the time. And the ones that stayed, figured out how to lie, cheat, and forge the paperwork, until they were caught with over 100 cases each in "backlog" and 100's of children on seen or investigated. All hushed all down played, and Mr. Joe was moved to a post closer to Ms. BJ.
Neat how all that works out.

But the substantive errors are just too outrageous to be left uncorrected.

Legally the stated allows a parent to use corporal punishment and during the act of discipling your child it is expected that there will be some bruising, and this bruising must not last more than 2 to 3 days (transitional bruising).

Really? I’d be interested in seeing that DHR policy in print. Please post the link to the DHR expected-2-3-day-bruising-is-okay policy. Georgia Code Section 19-7-5 and DHR policy 2101.5 clearly establish that physical punishment must not be excessive or unduly severe and may not result in more than short-term discomfort. Thirty-four marks (including one which looks like a belt buckle) on an 8 year old who has been made to remove all but her underwear is not a spanking; it is a BEATING. And no matter what you want to call it, under Georgia law, it cannot be characterized as anything other than excessive, abusive and criminal.

Mary Davis was not an effective Director and should have never been in the chair that was too big for her shoes. She does not have a college degree and is not qualified for the position that she holds.

Having previously retired from a long-term position as a director with another child welfare agency seems qualified enough and she was effective enough to resist threats to her job and follow policy when her office asked the court to protect a child who had 34 belt marks from an abusive parent who just happened to be the assistant director of Fulton DFCS. That is the type of effective leadership we expect in Fayette County.

Either way, one thing is certain; the Investigator General never made a written determination that Mrs. Davis was unqualified for her position. The same cannot be said of other characters in this drama.

Since you question Mary Davis' qualifications for not having a degree, may I ask where you got yours? No degree, where did you attend high school? junior high? elementary school? Unless you are practicing your comedy routine, I suggest the next time you blog and bring up someone else's education you re-read what you have written--
a third grader could do a better job. For your edification: The chair may have been too big for her backside but not for her shoes. The shoes may have been too big for her to fill, metaphorically speaking, and one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel. Good Writtens, well, that has already been explained to you. Singular nouns and plural verbs, that for who, but then I guess you get the pitcher --OOPS, I mean picture.

If this was not a parody response then, wow, what can I say.

Someone who knows the state law on corporal punishment so well obviously has had it used against them at some point and probably by Fayette County DFACS and Mary Davis. Either that or you are gunning for her job.

But I have to ask, what did you mean by her "being in a chair that was too big for her shoes"? If there was an award for tortured metaphors you would win hands down. You are critical of Davis for not having a college degree. Even without one, she probably knows that your title which should have been written "Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish".

I cannot believe you actually believe what your wrote. The mother in question was not someone who did not know where to go if she needed help. This was an employee of DFACS whose job it was to see that what happened to her child was not happening to other children. Where does it say that you can beat your child with a thick doubled leather belt and belt buckle many many times? This is not hearsay, this woman admitted she did this. What makes it worse is that she felt she had the right to do so. If I made you angry and you assaulted me with the same tools she used you would be in jail. Why should a defenseless child have less rights? There is nothing wrong with discipline and there is nothing wrong with a swift swat on the backside when a child places itself in danger and you want to make a point. There is definitely something wrong when a person who has the authority to have other people's children removed from their homes for such infractons sees nothing wrong on subjecting their minor child to such a beating by her own hand. Let's hope you are not another employee of DFACS if you believe there was nothing wrong in what this mother did.

P>S> Didn't understand the "Good Writtens"-could you please enlighten me?

Its good that you can copy and paste code and such though. Read my response to you again. I'm not worried about them TAKING a child, I'm worried about them NOT taking one that is in danger. The dead children around the state haven't been from a child being taken, they have been from them being left in a home.

I honestly hope you NEVER have to send me that grand!

Letters to the Governor - great idea - let's add to it an online petition.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gadfacs?e

Please forward to as many as possible - I have a feeling this petition will go throughout the State - it is my understanding that other counties are seeing their children put at risk as well. There is the possibility that one child has already died in Fulton County due to the use of the "Performance Pyramid" and if so that is already one child too many.

This Petition states the following:

We will not allow our children to be at risk by the use of the State instituted Performance Pyramid. We demand that decisions such as the removal of our local DFACS Director be made in partnership with our local DFACS Board so that the local community's voice is always weighed in through this Board as it was devised.

Sign the Petition: A Community Stand with regard to our State DFACS

Petition signed with the following comment --

"A government cannot expect the support of local communities if bureaucrats are allowed to ‘lock’ them out. Candidly, all of Georgia’s DFCS system should be reviewed and audited by an outside agency. The first determination should be the number of children who have died over the past five years while under the ‘watch’ of DFCS."

Have sent my e-mail to the governor reminding him of all the promises he made to protect children and reminding him of all the foster children he and Mrs. Perdue have helped--also asked Ms. Davis be reassigned back where she was and Fayette County handle Fayette County DFACS... Hope it will help. Passing link on to eveyone I know.

Would ask that folks who are really concerned about the well being of kids in Fayette County, send the Governor a note immediately. Simply, we have a bureaucrat from Region 16 (Clayton County) that is attempting to dictate to a caring supervisory board who has the kid's best interest as their guiding principle. This board was not intimidated by DFCS bureaucrats during the trial that was referenced, and the Clayton County bureaucrat 'reassigned' Fayette County's former DFCS Director for retribution. Do not think that a county who cannot even retain academic accreditation for a 52,000+ school system should be dictating to a county who goes to great lengths -- by very competent leaders -- to care for children in need of DFCS services.

This community rose to the occasion in the Spring of 2008, when a bad bill -- that could have had serious impacts on our kids -- was killed before it saw the light of day.

WE NEED THAT SAME TYPE OF RESPONSE TO LITERALLY POTENTIALLY SAVE LIVES OF KIDS IN FAYETTE COUNTY!

The State's DFCS track record leaves much to be desired. The Governor
needs to clean house, but will not without a 'lot of cards and letters'.

It would also be interesting -- AND HELPFUL -- to see some 'Leaders' who will be on 15 July ballots step forward and show some highly visible leadership on this issue. Bet that many of you would agree that you might be motivated more by 'actions' rather than 'words'.

Strongly recommend you use TyroneTerror's link to the Governor. It is QUICK AND EASY.

THANK YOU!!!

My email has been sent - and I urge everyone to contact the governor's office.

(What happened to all the great things he said he was going to do for the children of GA. when he was running for office?)

Have one on the way. Great link, and greater idea!

Thanks to Mr. Nelms and TheCitizen for always giving us all of the story. It is the one way we can really stay informed. What can we as citizens of Fayette County do to get this situation changed? Would telegrams to our governor do it, or would he not do anything because this was his appointee making these decisions? Clayton has proved it cannot take care of itself, much less Fayetteville also.