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Monday, February 8, 2016

Hillary Clinton, Child Poverty, & A Campaign In Flint, Michigan

Mayor Karen Weaver and Secretary Hillary Clinton
in Flint, Michigan



The times when I stumble across child abuse related propaganda which is so perversely distorted that it literally brings me to tears in disgust are quite rare.

This is one of those moments.

For U.S. Congresswoman Karen Bass to shamelessly come out and support a political candidate by controlling the narrative of the national foster care system as a success is an utter embarrassment to my intelligence and my mission.

Yes, this is a wonderful story and I am proud of this gentleman, but now is the time to show courage by standing up and admitting that the Adoption and Safe Families Act has codified poverty as the crime of abuse and neglect.

As Secretary Hillary Clinton wishes to tout her work with child welfare, I believe it is only fitting to let her know that my entire blog is dedicated to inspire anyone in leadership to admit the reality of the secrecy behind the iron curtain of foster care.

Everyday, children in foster care are raped, drugged and tortured, yet, due to privacy constraints, very few even know that the majority of these children were removed due to poverty.

In 1997, the Adoption and Safe Families Act created an expedited, cost reimbursement system and launched a campaign to end poverty from the platform of "the best interest of the child" and Michigan led the nation in the development of policies to maximize revenue from the chattel of the poor,

The federal funding flood gates were opened as direct funding to assist families in need was shut down under the Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

PRWORA also stripped what little civil rights protections that existed from the poor to raise children.

The Children's Defense Fund is nothing more than the propaganda machine to criminalize poverty and sugar coat the entire child welfare industry as it is too big to fail.

I will even go so far to allege that this non-profit has, contributed and/or coordinated, in some for or fashion, to her Super PAC.

ASFA, for which the States have failed to meet one single benchmark, allows for children to be Legally Kidnapped.

Until I hear Madame Clinton speak upon the targeting of populations, the horrors of foster care, the ills of poverty and the culture of rampant fraud in child welfare, for which ASFA has promulgated, I will make it my hobby to call her out, and any other individual who fails to address the reality of hell for any child who survives foster care and those who did not.

I did not just write a book on this, I am an original source.  Hillary Clinton is not.

Welcome, Secretary Clinton to Genesee County, Flint, Michigan, second to Detroit in child poverty rates, where children would be typically removed from the homes in these lead related issues as a situation of environmental neglect..

This time, there are too many.

I am glad you find the urgency to protect vulnerable children of Flint, but I ask you, "Where were you all these years?"

As the Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, I have time and again seen the power of positive mentorship. With encouragement and opportunity, many of the roughly 424,000 children in America's foster system go on to lead successful lives. That said, I was still deeply moved by this Hillary Clinton inspired video featuring Jelani Freeman, a foster youth turned government lawyer.

If you haven't watched the video yet, you absolutely should! Jelani describes a moment from his 2003 internship in Hillary's Senate office when he came across his boss talking with Sen. Ted Kennedy. As Jelani tells it, Hillary was "bragging about" him as an incredible young man who had rocketed from foster care to Capitol Hill.

That encounter meant the world to Jelani. "I grew up... just wanting someone to be proud of me," he says. "It was moments like that when Hillary would brag about me and build me up that I really, really treasure."

It's not often we get these glimpses into a presidential candidate's personal side. I'm thrilled that Jelani shared his story, as part of the "Let's Talk Hillary" project, and I'm hopeful that Hillary's example can inspire others in this country to offer support. After all, role models like her make all the difference.

In Hillary's case, Jelani is a single but important example of a long career helping young people. As a lawyer with the Children's Defense Fund, Hillary advocated for juvenile justice reform. She later worked as First Lady to push the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which boosted foster adoptions by 64 percent by 2005. And as Secretary of State she created a special advisor on international children's issues while bolstering foster care worldwide.

Hillary's current platform is equally ambitious. She calls for universal preschool, so that children with fewer resources can make strides alongside their wealthier peers. Meanwhile, her New College Compact promises lower tuition rates, which means people like Jelani can continue to succeed from foster care onto college.

Too Small to Fail, family planning, criminal justice--the list goes on. My point is this: when it comes to helping children, Hillary has far more experience and far more detailed proposals than her opponents, Democrat and Republican alike. That fact, alone, earns her my vote.

Congress can only do so much, even on issues where both parties agree. The power to protect foster children will largely rest with a bully pulpit and executive actions--with the next leader in the White House. Four (or eight) more years are too many to wait around on this issue.

Jelani's story follows a pattern. If you had successful former foster children how they came to succeed, I'd be willing to bet a person like Hillary played a role. And with Hillary's nuanced proposals, many more foster kids can be business leaders or civil rights activists--maybe, one day, the President of the United States.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

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