Hiding from Michigan CPS is a Profitable Crime

Get ready for Michigan's biggest holiday.

Child Abuse Propaganda Month!  April is only a few weeks away.

For almost 10 years I have been desperately trying to bring national attention to the lack of parallel jurisprudence in the child welfare system.

Alas, my work has but all fallen upon deaf ears.

Instead of reiterating, I will just do color commentary...in a soft fuchsia...to make the facts more palatable.

Cleared of harming her daughter, mom is in hiding and on state's secret list of child abusers

BRIGHTON, Mich. (WXYZ) - The showdown over a local baby continues. The 7 Investigators first showed you last night  how a mother in Livingston County has gone into hiding because she fears authorities will take her daughter away, even though the mom has been cleared of all abuse allegations.

The mom is absolutely correct.  CPS has all intentions of taking the child back into the custody of the State.  A CPS case will remain open, up to a year, to monitor the status of the child.  It justifies billing, which of course, is detailed as case management.  It only takes one incident of non-compliance.  In this situation the non-compliance was when she tried to resist CPS and police entering and searching the home without warrant.  But, as we, in the industry of fighting fraud, waste and abuse, well know, CPS enters a home without a warrant under what is called exigent circumstances.  

Exigent circumstances in child welfare means someone, like an untrained social worker will bring in law enforcement to validate their whimsical notion that the child is in immediate danger.

Child Protective Services workers are still demanding an address for Brenda Burns and her baby, Naomi.

Even though the case against the mother has been dismissed, that does not mean that CPS cannot, at any time they please, file another petition, even if there are no grounds for a petition, and if the petition is deficient, they can, whenever the wind blows, amend the petition.  This means CPS has every legal right to demand the whereabouts of the child.  If the mother does not comply, that is ground for amending the petition to child neglect.

Brenda’s lawyer told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo that CPS isn’t following the law, and they’ve even gone so far as to put Brenda Burns on a secret list labeling her a child abuser – despite the fact that a jury found her innocent.

CPS is following the law.  

Typically, CPS will place an individual on the Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect within 48 hours of an investigated complaint.  It has nothing to do with substantiation.  By law, the State must notify an individual of being on the Registry within 30 days but rarely does.  This is one reason there may be more than 100,000 people on the Central Registry without any knowledge.  

So why does the State maintain this "secret registry"?

Well, I can only at this time speak upon Wayne County.  The Registry is secret because of the fraudulent billing.  Yes, CPS Wayne County was "rubber stamping" court orders for CPS a while back.  These court documents for removal and placement were rubber stamped due to the fact that the cases were fraudulent.  By this I mean they never existed.  No judge.  No court.  No prosecutor.  No defendant.  Yet, these cases were being billed.

If and hopefully when the Central Registry is made public, it may behoove federal investigators of HHS OIG and DOJ to cross reference each individual on the Registry to the case billings for cost reimbursement.  They will find children, and even parents, were prosecuted as juvenile delinquents and foster care.  This is called 'double jackets'.

Fortunately, Madame Maura Corrigan made sure these cases were absent any federal review.

The Burns family has created a website to document their legal battle.

Welcome to the war.  You have been chosen.  Assume your position in the ranks.

Both Josh and Brenda Burns deny that they ever hurt their daughter Naomi.

Of course they did not harm their daughter.  Most parents do not.  I doubt if anyone even realizes poverty is considered abuse and neglect.  Mental illness, poor education and low IQ are also considered child abuse.  Failing to admit you hurt your child or even challenging the charges that you hurt your child is considered child abuse and sent up as aggregate data to generate national statistics on child abuse.

So, because the Burns deny that they ever hurt their daughter Naomi, that is child abuse and justification for filing a second petition for removal of the child.

“It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life,” said Josh Burns as he fought back tears during an interview in January.

No.  This is not the hardest thing you have ever been through in your life.  Just wait until you see your daughter being drugged, beaten and raped in foster care, knowing there is nothing you can do about it, not even shed a tear because if you do break down, you will give CPS all the ammunition needed to file for termination of parental rights as you are clearly mentally unstable, demonstrating a future likelihood of emotional abuse.

Naomi is now a 14-month-old. When she was only 10-weeks-old, the baby had to be hospitalized after suffering from seizures and severe vomiting. Medical experts say the Naomi had injuries from vacuum suctioning during a very difficult labor.

Ah, but your medical doctor did not document the trauma.  This makes the hospital and doctor liable for medical malpractice and, of course, humiliates the attorney general in the prosecution.

“Watching my wife go through what she went thru to bring our daughter into the world, it gave me a new love for my wife,” said Josh.

I bet it did.

But a doctor at the University of Michigan said the bleeding they later discovered between Naomi’s brain and skull was caused by abuse. Josh admits that Naomi slipped off his knee last March, but says he caught her before she hit anything.

Doctors are mandatory reporters who are trained that it is "better to err on the side of the child", famous words of Janet Reno.  No doctor will ever jeopardize a medical license just for a parent.

Livingston County CPS workers accused both parents of child abuse and they put Naomi in foster care.

Counties get their funding and sustain jobs by meeting quotas and maintaining levels of children in the system.  If Livingston County CPS is snatching from a new demographic, it tells me they are running out of fresh baby bodies to put in the system.

A jury later cleared Brenda and she now has custody of her daughter.

The reasons she was cleared were because her husband had too much trust in the system by sharing the 'lap slip' story.  By clearing her, CPS is eligible to put more services in place to monitor....and bill.

Josh was convicted of felony child abuse in January, but both parents maintain that Josh is innocent. Brenda told us that she has lost all faith in the judicial system.

One cannot loose faith in the justice system when child welfare does not have the same justice system.  You are guilty until proven innocent.  Period.  You are not allowed to face your accusers.  You are not even allowed to be present when a petition is filed against you.  Hell, you are not even notified to be present in court when a petition is filed.  You are not allowed legal representation during the course of 'services' or better put as interrogation.  It is your word against a social worker, if they are even a social worker.  You are not allowed to request second opinions from professionals who are not contracted with the State.

“I am in fear. I have nightmares at night,” said Brenda Burns during an interview in January. “I don’t feel good about my country, I don’t feel like it’s a safe place.”

All parents should have this fear.  All it takes is one phone call to the CPS hotline.

Brenda’s lawyer says a raid on her home by police and a CPS worker the night of Josh’s criminal conviction prompted the mother to fear that CPS was coming after Naomi again.

CPS will raid, at any time, day or night, without warrant, with no more than a piece of paper that says the child is in danger, which you are disallowed from viewing if it even exists.  What that danger is can always be generated in a court report after the fact, at a later date.

That’s why attorney Elizabeth Warner sent a letter to CPS last week – telling them that Brenda was moving – and if they needed to talk to her – CPS could go through Warner.

Wrong.  Too Much Information.  TMI.  Never tell them anything.  Anything you say will be used to remove a child, particularly if you just had charges dropped against you.  Retribution generates revenue.

The result? CPS filed a new petition against Brenda, demanding she give them her address.

No,  CPS filed a petition of child neglect because she failed to provide for the proper needs of the child.  Those needs, not being expounded upon in the petition, are of the State to protect the best interests of the child.  Those interests have high dividends when the funds are properly invested in the stock markets and other child protection programs, which only exist in a pretty, shiny brochure.

“It has all the makings of a personal grudge. Somebody in that Livingston child welfare system is upset at losing the civil trial against the mother. And they just won’t let it go,” said Warner.

It is more than just personal.  It is about potential revenue maximization.  Remember, Michigan wants to go private.  Once privatization kicks fully in, there is no public scrutiny.  There is no due process.  There are no civil rights.  The mother has committed the crime of moral turpitude, which is classified as child abuse.  Look it up.

Warner is outraged that even though Brenda Burns was cleared, CPS still put her on their secret list of child abusers, called the Central Registry. Warner says under the law, Brenda should not have been placed on the registry, which will prevent her from resuming work as a registered nurse.

Yes.  The days of nursing are done.  She was suppose to petition for removal from the Registry but of course, could not as she just recently received notice that she was on the registry.  This is a typical response from State Administrative Law Judges and Child Welfare /Administrators when asked why a person is on the Registry and is denied removal:

"You are denied being removed from the Central Registry because you were placed on the Central Registry."  I kid you not.

“So they’re trying to destroy her, emotionally, financially, legally, any way that can,” said Warner.

They are not trying to destroy her.  It is just pro forma.  That is how the system is designed.

The letter from CPS tells Brenda that she’s on the registry as person responsible for: “Severe Physical Injury, Shaken Baby Syndrome, Physical Abuse. And while the date of the notice says April 2, 2014, the CPS case worker didn’t sign it and send it until January of this year. Warner says the law requires CPS to notify you within 30 days of their investigation that you’re on the registry, not 9 months later like this.

She should be grateful she was even notified.

“They put her on the registry when there’s a 2014 law that says they can’t do that,” said Warner.

The law says that she can petition to be removed.  She never petitioned and now it is too late as there is a second petition.

“They need to back out of this family. They have overstepped their legal limits!”

CPS has no legal limits.  No oversight.  No contractual disbarment.  No sanctions. No license revocation.  No prosecution.  No termination.  No prosecution.  No recovery.  Why?  It's the Eleventh Amendment.  States are immune and to strip in federal court is a freakin' bitch of an action because it will take lots of money, a keen legal mind and a bold legal soul who is not afraid of being blacklisted in Michigan.

Brenda Burns is now in hiding because she fears retribution from CPS. A hearing is scheduled for next week to address this issue of Brenda’s address.

I hope you have Native American in you.  Hide on a reservation and stay there until the child turns 18 years of age.  Otherwise, you are going down.  You can always sign over your rights to someone else in another state before Michigan takes jurisdiction again.

That will be held on the same day of her husband’s sentencing, and it will be held in front of the same judge who will be sentencing Josh Burns. Now family members and attorneys are concerned that the CPS actions will hurt him in court.

It will hurt the mother more than the father.  It also looks like the father will serve time.  His appeal will be denied and this is why.  Michigan, during the 1980s revamped its courts.  To reduce backlog, the Court of Appeals does not have to entertain every petition for appeal.  Besides, the last time I checked, many of the COA judges are affiliated with child placing agencies. thanks to the judicial lobbying of Madame Maura Corrigan.  Is this a conflict of interests?  Of course, but there is nothing one can do about it.  It is Michigan.

A spokesman for the Department of Human Services, which oversees CPS, says they cannot discuss individual cases, due to confidentiality laws. Bob Wheaton did tell us in an email that “the standard for being listed on the Central Registry is different than the standard in court. By law, DHS has the responsibility to place an individual on the Central Registry when the department substantiates that individual as a perpetrator of child abuse or neglect.”

Wheaton is correct.  Abuse has been substantiated.  They were married.  He was found guilty.  She is the wife.  End of story.

A federal lawsuit is underway challenging the constitutionality of that process; lawyers say there is no due process because parents can be labelled an abuser on the Central Registry without a conviction in court.

True.  If a person is successful in a CPS case of this magnitude, does that mean the State must reimburse the federal government?  When hell freezes over.

Now is the time for federal intervention.

Now is the time to put civil rights in child welfare.

Now is the time to audit non-profits.

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