I am going to present my two cents and say Ann Marie LaFlamme was asked to leave WXYZ because she was trafficking tiny humans, and she was using the resources, which includes the trademark and copyright, of the station, which has a federal license under the FCC, which also has a license of the State of Michigan, which is probably why.
WXYZ corporate counsel is probably not in a happy place right now.
Liabilities, you know.
I also know about what Children's Villages was doing when she was engaging in seriously questionable fundraising activities.
I remember when they moved out to West Bloomfiled.
Everyone moved out Detroit, but always kept in touch.
Detroit has many beautiful temples, many faded away to blight., but I bet there are lots of unknown land patents and creative bond schemes, but hey, what do I know?
I do not know what is going on, but, considering that the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) is still.......down......., I am going to go with the possibility that Temple Israel of Detroit no longer possesses grant to bear the arms of the U.S. because it seems it had its 501c3 tax exempt status snatched, but, hey, what do I know?
I know the League of Jewish Women may not know about this because they are the parent corporation of Orchard Children's Services.
Ann Marie LaFlamme is leaving WXYZ on Friday after five years as a reporter. And she's apparently not happy, suggesting on social media that it's a management decision.
Full-time TV reporters normally work under contract, which stations can opt not to renew.
"I may not understand their business decision but I trust and respect it and I know this will truly be for the best," she said in a Facebook post that draws over 1,200 comments in half a day.
"While I’m sad to be leaving a job I worked so hard for, more than anything I want to thank all of you.
"I grew up watching WXYZ and it was my dream to someday be part of the station that inspired me to become a journalist. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to be welcomed into your homes every morning on TV and for that, I am incredibly grateful.
"I can’t even begin to describe the appreciation I have for my amazing coworkers, family and friends who have been by my side with unwavering love. The relationships I have been fortunate enough to build are priceless and irreplaceable.
"Thank you all for your loyalty, for seeing who I truly am, for accepting me and allowing me to become a part of your families. I can’t wait to share with you what’s next, God is faithful and his plan is always perfect."
The Detroit News hadn't heard back yet after requesting a comment from the station.
A WXYZ bio said earlier:
Ann Marie LaFlamme is back home! Born and raised in Rochester Hills, Ann Marie is incredibly excited to be part of the 7 Action News morning team, joining the station in March 2015.
She comes to Detroit from Grand Rapids, where Ann Marie was a reporter and anchor at FOX 17. During her time there she launched "West Michigan's Most Wanted" -- a series helping local and national law enforcement track down and apprehend dangerous criminals. Ann Marie will continue this work with 7 Action News through “Detroit’s Most Wanted.”
Her career started at 9&10 News in Cadillac, where she was a general assignment reporter before being promoted to anchor.
Ann Marie is a graduate of Central Michigan University, where she high jumped for the women’s track team. She was recently awarded Orchards Children’s Services Champions for Children Advocate Award for her work helping recruit foster parents and finding loving families for foster children in Michigan. She is also a passionate volunteer with Special Olympics Michigan, The Miracle League, Humane Society and is a loving dog mom to her rescue, Jacob
The following is a unanimous ruling, with dissent if that makes sense, of an aunt trying to adopt her niece, but the Michigan Children's Institute Superintendent said, "NO" because, more than likely, as per the norm, there was fraudulent billing to Medicaid, mixed in with a sprinkle of the child being Legally Kidnapped, on paper, which is why there was a dissent.
Before we get to the dissent of the unanimous ruling (yea...I am still working on this on), you have Michael Kelly, who must have been reading my blog.
Because I would conclude that the trial court misapplied MCL 710.45, I would reverse the trial court and reinstate the superintendent’s decision to deny petitioner consent to adopt RC. Colleen O'Brien
I am not familiar with Meter, so I am just going to fast forward to this Colleen O'Brien, who just had to throw in her two cents on the unanimous ruling, with her dissent.
I am not going to harp on this too much for the simple fact that Michigan Campaign Finance Law was set up where you can just ask for a filing waiver if you think you are going to generate and spend less than $1,000, or $5,000 for other campaigns.
That way, a candidate can run whatever money they want through a campaign because no one is going to check the bank accounts.
Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (a group connected to an ongoing, foreign political influence investigation, among other matters of interest).
So, in a nutshell, I am trying to find out why this woman would "consent to dissent" by saying, basically, MCI was not whimsically pulling decisions out its arse in denying consent for the aunt to adopt her niece because it was due to a technical error of the lower court not to rule in favor of MCI keeping the kid as a ward of the state, even though the parents voluntarily terminated their parental rights for the aunt to adopt.
What I see is that Colleen O'Brien seems to be one of those "foreign-influenced" individuals who are part of the newest trend to rebrand foster care and adoption, starting in Michigan, of course, by privatizing the courts, starting in child welfare, like they always do.
What he used to do was to run what is called concurrent planning ops that go like this.
The kid is Legally Kidnapped by CPS and placed in the private, state contracted Child Placing Agency for foster care.
While in foster care, Orchards bills Medicaid twice, thrice or even under different names of the kid, in phantom billing, double billing, treble billing, or just made up cases to bill.
Hell, Orchards even ran a juvenile case on a woman who was in her 30s, where they phantom billed, double billed, treble billed, for whatever they came up with.
While all this was going on, Carmine, in his infinite wisdom, would set up concurrent planning, which is a code in Michigan for Medicaid billing for adoption services, while billing for foster care services, at the same time....concurrently....contemporaneously....simultaneously.....fake billing.
Anyway, Carmine would refer his foster care cases to himself for adoption counseling.
She basically deferred to the authority of Fostering Futures, which is run by some chick with the same last name as Carmine, who is probably his adoptive daughter or sister, or something like that, which just so happens to be registered as a Michigan LLC and a domestic non-profit.
But, hey, what do I know?
I know Colleen sucks.
Before: M. J. KELLY, P.J., and METER and O’BRIEN, JJ. PER CURIAM. Petitioner, Lucinda Carrier, the paternal aunt of the minor child RC, sought consent to adopt RC after the parental rights of RC’s biological parents were voluntarily released. The superintendent of the Michigan Children’s Institute (MCI) withheld consent to adopt.1 Carrier challenged the denial of consent to adopt in the circuit court. After conducting a hearing pursuant to MCL 710.45(2) (Section 45 hearing), the circuit court found that the superintendent’s decision to deny consent was arbitrary and capricious. The MCI appeals that decision as of right.
For just a few moments, allow me to take you back in time to when children were openly sold in the papers.
Imagine sitting at the table, having a morning cafe, reading the daily newspaper to come across this ad for the sale of a child, only to realize that it is your own child who was legally kidnapped from your arms because of your economic status in society, otherwise known as being a member of "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth).
During the pre-Emancipation Proclamation period, there was a strong possibility that you could not read, nor were afforded the opportunity to have a morning cafe, due to the prerequisites of having to work for your life in the fields, the factories and other mandatory servant functions of a household.
You would not be able to see the advertisement of your child being sold, nor were you able to stop then from taking your child in the first place, for no other reason than for who you were, and, in this period of time, conditioned to your station in life as a slave, your forever home.
Now, fast forward to today.
You pull out your mobile phone, check your Facebook and see your child being sold...because you were poor, and, just because this is Michigan and the child placing agency was Orchards Childrens Services, I am going to put it out there that your parental rights were terminated based on fraudulent filings upon the court and your child was drugged to stop the pain and tears of never seeing his family again, due to the rampant fraud in child welfare, oh, and the fact that the Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette will not do a damn thing about it.
Yes, this is exactly what happened to the father of Anthony when he checked his Facebook and sipped his morning coffee.
This is the modern day child slave trade, a federally funded, privatized, multi-billion dollar industry for the States, where fraud flourishes and no one finds anything wrong with selling tiny humans or the fact that there are no civil rights in child welfare for the parents, just because they are poor and child welfare workers have the legal right to lie to achieve the successful transaction of placing a child in a forever home.
Well, as we all know, in modern times, we, as a nation, are so much more compassionate, and, albeit, much more sophisticated, that we no longer sell children, we charge fees and issue tax incentives.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- FOX 17 continues our Forever Home series to help kids living in Michigan foster care find loving adoptive families.
Anthony, 11, clipped into his climbing gear at Grand Rapids Treetop Adventure Park. Then one step at a time, looking straight ahead, he conquered his fear of heights. And his favorite part?
The zipline.
"It was fun!" he said. Then he quickly offered advice for anyone else who's afraid of heights: "Just whatever you do, don't look at the ground."
Anthony dreams big in school.
He's enjoying the fifth grade and shared the latest he learned about photosynthesis in his favorite subject, science.
Playing outdoors, cards and video games are some of his favorite hobbies.
"Terrarium," he said is one of his favorite video games, "it's pretty much a building strategy game."
But for Anthony, the biggest dreams come when he thinks about family.
"So I wouldn't be lonely," he said.
And he imagined what a day well spent with his future forever family would look like:
"Going to a card shop, going to play games, and Pokemon,"
Anthony said.
And then, his greatest hope for the year ahead Anthony said is "to get a new family."
If you would like to learn more about Anthony and the adoption process, please call his adoption agency Orchards Children's Services at: 1-(855)-694-7301. FOX 17's
Forever Home series has helped 95 percent of the children featured to be adopted or in the process of being adopted, according to OCS.
FOX 17 would like to send a huge thank you to Grand Rapids Treetop Adventure Park for an awesome filming experience!
Here is a fun little video about Forever Homes. Enjoy.
Over the last few days, it seems I have some really interested .xyz individuals who have taken a statistically significant interest the following post:
Tim Damschroder, of Ann Arbor, is a member of Bodman PLC, where he heads the Business Practice Group, advising clients in matters involving mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, general business, corporate governance, securities offerings, and tax. He served on the board of directors of the Washtenaw United Way, the Washtenaw County Red Cross, and on the advisory group of Ann Arbor Angels. Damschroder holds bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a degree from the University of Detroit School of Law. He represents the general public.
Lynn Alexander, of Bloomfield Hills, is senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Presbyterian Villages of Michigan. She also serves as president of Your Aging Well Advisor, a consulting and education firm for consumers over 50. Alexander has served on the Commission on Services to the Aging and as director of the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging. She also has experience with the White House Conference on Aging, the Help America Vote Act Advisory Council, and the Elder Abuse Reporting Protocol advisory group and maintains involvement in several community organizations. Alexander holds a bachelor’s in social work from Defiance College and earned a master’s degree in psychology from Lone Mountain College, which is now known as the University of San Francisco. She represents the interests of senior citizens.
It looks like Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare.
A law signed this year to modernize Blue Cross required it to contribute up to $1.6 billion to a foundation that will take on some of its charitable work. The money may be spent on infant mortality, wellness and fitness programs and other areas.
Alexander is vice president of public affairs for Presbyterian Villages of Michigan.
ASSET FORFEITURE THROUGH CORPORATE PARENTAL RIGHTS
Keith Pretty, of Midland, is president and CEO of Northwood University, a position he has held since 2006. He previously served as president and CEO of Walsh College of Accountancy and Business Administration. His previous experience includes work for the State of Michigan, Western Michigan University, Amoco Corporation, the Michigan Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives. Pretty holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Western Michigan University and a degree from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He represents the general public.
Susan Jandernoa, of West Olive, taught fourth, fifth, and sixth graders for 30 years at East Grand Rapids Public Schools before retiring in 2004. She is a member of the Children’s Leadership Council of Michigan, the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees, the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Michigan, the YMCA Advisory Board, and is a local board president for Ele’s Place. Jandernoa holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Central Michigan University. She serves as the nominee of the Speaker of the House.
What we do ~ We steal Medicaid from Child Welfare, then use the funds for personal investments in land we stole from the Detroit in fake ass property tax & bogus mortgage forclosures, then snatch up the properties in the name of the tax exempt god from the fake ass Detroit Land Bank Authority, then mortgage a few times in federal grants, wiping them out in quiet titles, run the financial boon out the U.S. through children's trust funds, mostly the Ukraine, then funnel back to fund U.S. campaigns, to get chosen spokestokens elected by taking over the administrations of local & state governments, to get more crappy predictive modeling Social Impact Bond private state contracts in child welfare, where we never have to pay taxes because it is all done as a foreign takeover the U.S. in the name of the tax exempt god.
We support the development of Michigan as an outstanding state in which to live, learn, work, and raise a family, with a particular focus on West Michigan. We do this by committing our leadership, talent, and financial resources, in particular to key initiatives and effective organizations seeking to collaboratively and positively enhance:
Education
Wellness and Healthcare
Families and Quality of Life
Individual Responsibility
Jobs (see also Entrepreneurship)
Public policy - particularly focused on the first five of these priorities
Rob Fowler, of Haslett, is president and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan, a 10,000 member business trade association. He previously worked for the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Department of Commerce. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Small Business Association, the Michigan Health Insurance Access Advisory Council and the Haslett Board of Education. He represents the business community.
As president/CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM), Rob Fowler is a registered lobbyist representing small business before the Michigan Legislature. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Small Business Association and serves on the board of the newly created nonprofit organization MiQuest, whose mission is to make Michigan the State of Entrepreneurship. In October 2013, he was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to serve on the Board of the Michigan Health Endowment Fund and currently serves as board chair. SBAM, which was founded in 1969, serves more than 23,000 member companies from all of Michigan’s 83 counties. A leading voice for growing the state’s entrepreneurial community through a strategy known as “economic gardening,” SBAM helps Michigan’s small businesses succeed by promoting entrepreneurship, leveraging buying power and engaging in political advocacy.
Fowler joined SBAM in 2000 and was vice president of the subsidiary corporation, Small Business Insurance Services, until July 2003, when he became president. Before moving to Michigan, he was the executive director of the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) in Cleveland, Ohio from 1995 to 2000. A former lobbyist for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce for ten years, he served as executive director of the Indiana Small Business Council and was on the staff of the Indiana Lt. Governor for two years.
He is the former chair of the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Mid-Michigan and has served as chair of the Business Advisory Committee of the Michigan Hospital Association. A graduate of Ball State University with a degree in political science, Rob and his wife Lisa live in Haslett with their son Reid and daughter Emma.
Henry Veenstra, of Zeeland, was the President of Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital, a position he held for more than four decades. During his tenure, Veenstra directed all strategic planning, construction of a new facility, and the transition of Zeeland Community Hospital to membership in the Spectrum Health System. In addition to being a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he is a Life Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and serves on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Hospital Association Foundation. Veenstra serves as the nominee of the Senate Majority Leader.
Michigan State University Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building. University of Michigan Biomedical Science Building, a 2007 AIA honor award winner. The Michigan Life Sciences Corridor (MLSC) is a $1 billion biotechnology initiative in the U.S. state of Michigan. The MLSC invests in biotech research at four Michigan institutions: the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; Michigan State University in East Lansing; Wayne State University in Detroit; and the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation administers the program. It began in 1999 with money from the state's settlement with the tobacco industry. When the program's funds distributions are completed in 2019, the goal is that the investments in high tech research will have notably expanded the state's economic base. History In 1998, the State of Michigan, along with 45 other states, reached the $8.5 billion Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, a settlement with the U.S. tobacco industry.[1] Former Governor John Engler created the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor in 1999 when he signed Public Act 120 of 1999.[2] The bill appropriated money from the state's settlement with the tobacco industry to fund biotech research at four of Michigan's largest research institutions.[3] Under the management of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the MLSC allocated $1 billion over the course of 20 years, including $50 million in 1999 to fund research on aging.[4] The following year, the MLSC awarded $100 million to 63 Michigan universities.[5] In 2002, Governor Jennifer Granholm incorporated the MLSC into the Michigan Technology Tri-Corridor, adding funding for homeland security and alternative fuel research.[6] In 2009, the University of Michigan added a 30-building, 174-acre (0.70 km2) North Campus Research Complex by acquiring the former Pfizer pharmaceutical corporation facility.[7] A BioEnterprise Midwest Healthcare Venture report found that Michigan attracted $451.8 million in new biotechnology venture capital investments from 2005 to 2009.[8][9]
Alexis Wiley, of Detroit, is Chief of Staff for Mayor Mike Duggan, where she oversees the implementation of the Mayor’s initiatives, legislative affairs and external communications. Prior to joining the administration, Wiley was a reporter and anchor at WJBK Fox 2 Detroit. Her Emmy award-winning work has appeared on local television stations across the country and cable networks such as Fox News and CNN. Wiley is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, a member of The Detroit Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and serves on the board of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. Wiley serves as the nominee of the House Minority Leader.
I still want to know about FOX2Detroit and their financial fundraising activities with St. Vincent Sarah Fisher Residential Facility.
Michael Williams, of Westland, is the president and CEO of Orchards Children’s Services, Michigan’s largest foster care and adoption agency. He has served in this capacity since 2003. Previously, he was president of Detroit-based Starr Vista Inc., and held various positions with Starr Commonwealth, in Albion. Williams is an adjunct professor at Albion College, and received the “Heroes” award from Michigan’s Children in 2007. He holds many professional memberships and is involved in several community organizations. Williams holds a bachelor’s degree from Albion College and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Eastern Michigan University. He represents the interests of minor children.
Michael Williams is dumb as dirt. I only say this as an original source, where I am more than willing to swear an oath in the court, under penalty of law, to this fact....wait a minute...I already did.
Cindy Estrada and her international symbol of stealin'
Cindy Estrada is serving her third four-year term as a UAW Vice President and currently heads the Fiat Chrysler and Women’s Departments.
She earned a degree in education from the University of Michigan and had planned to become a teacher. After organizing with the United Farm Workers union on an internship she was drawn to union organizing instead.
Estrada worked as a UAW Region 1A temporary organizer successfully organizing a number of Parts suppliers. She helped organize workers at Mexican Industries in southwest Detroit in 1995, resulting in one of the UAW’s largest victories among Spanish-speaking manufacturing workers.
Estrada’s organizing ability was recognized by then UAW President Stephen P. Yokich, who appointed Estrada to the UAW International’s organizing staff in 2000.
She was soon appointed to Coordinator of Michigan organizing and ran the Michigan Organizing Center. In 2007 UAW Vice President Terry Thurman appointed her as the Administrative Assistant over the Organizing Department. After Terry Thurman’s retirement UAW President, Ron Gettlefinger appointed Estrada as the Director of the National Organizing Department.
She was first elected UAW Vice President in 2010 and assigned to direct the unions UAW Independents, Parts and Supplier/Competitive Shop Department; Public Sector and Health care servicing department and the UAW Women’s Department. While in that role she was the lead negotiator for over 17,000 UAW workers in the State of Michigan.
Estrada also led negotiations for the Michigan Coalition of State Employee Unions, providing historic agreements protecting health care and establishing vital programs addressing privatization and workplace democracy for over 35,000 state employees.
As director of UAW Independents, Parts and Suppliers/Competitive Shop Department Estrada proudly honored the reason Walter Reuther urged the departments establishment in 1968: to use the UAW’s parts worker density to establish minimum industry-wide compensation standards in IPS contracts. This resulted in breakthrough agreements in seating and other major auto component part industries.
Four years later, she became the first woman and first Latina to lead the union’s General Motors Department.
The long-time organizer and activist is involved with many labor and community organizations. Estrada is a proud member of UAW Local 174, having worked at Impressions in Taylor, MI. She is the mother of twin 15-year-old sons, stepmother to four and grandmother of six. She is the widow of the late UAW organizer and retired Administrative Assistant Frank White.
This, is so succulent a moment to me, I am in pure bliss.
What we have here is a delicious fantasy I have played out in so many fashions, but this one is spectacular.
The Michigan Attorney General has to investigate the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Yes, I have been transported back to a time when I decided to figure out why the Michigan Attorney General has allowed me to suffer for almost two decades when it comes to their nefarious operations in child welfare.
Yes, my dearies, I am the original source and I am about to push this as far as I can, because I have to prepare, you know.
I wonder if Dana has pulled my file, yet.
I have the largest file in the history of the State of Michigan Office of Attorney General, but hey, what do I know?
I know I have found fresh flesh for false claims of Medicaid fraud in child welfare.
I also know I was never afforded due process in a court of law.
Michigan AG: "If an investigator comes to your door and asks to speak with you, please ask to see their badge and not their rosary"
Beverly Tran: "If Child Protective Services comes to your door and asks to speak with you, please ask to see their warrant and not their badge because they are no law enforcement"
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel accused Catholic Church leaders of not fully cooperating with law enforcement, telling them to stop "self-policing" and allow state investigators to probe sexual abuse by clergy.
They are only doing what the State of Michigan does in child welfare. Dana is new. She will catch on, or maybe not.
Speaking Thursday at her first news conference, Nessel said she will continue the investigations into Michigan's seven Catholic dioceses launched under her predecessor, former Attorney General Bill Schuette. Schuette conducted raids in October at dioceses in Michigan that involved 70 police officers and 14 assistant attorney generals, Nessel said.
But will she go into the foster care and adoption contracts? How about Faith Based Funding Slush Funds? Trafficking Tiny Humans?
Nessel told victims of abuse and others to speak with state investigators rather than Catholic officials, expressing concern that nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) are being used to discourage victims of abuse to speak with law enforcement authorities.
Where are all the attorneys looking to make a name for themselves? I find it quite odd these massive law firms in Detroit refuse to lift a single finger when it comes to trafficking tiny humans in Michigan. Well, not really. Some are too ignorant to wrap their brains around the subject matter, some just want a paycheck, some just do not care. Just ask the State Bar of Michigan.
"Stop self-policing" and let the state do its investigations, she said. "Our office is conducting a thorough investigation and it's important we be able to talk with any and all victims harmed by these egregious acts without the intervention of the church."
A thorough investigation entails the child welfare contracts, including the schools, residential institutions, child placing agencies and any faith based foster care situation because this sexual abuse is all funded by Medicaid.
"If an investigator comes to your door and asks to speak with you, please ask to see their badge and not their rosary," Nessel said. "And here's why that matters. Because many churches and diocese appear to be self policing and encouraging parishioners to report abuse to them so they can conduct their own internal investigations. We've heard many stories from victims who have been encouraged to take settlements and sign NDAs or nondisclosure agreements. And victims may believe that they cannot or should not report abuse to us because the church is going to handle it and simply put, that's just not true. Firstly, if you signed an NDA, you still have a right and I would say a responsibility to speak to law enforcement authorities. An NDA will not protect the church."
At least "The Boys" are being proactive. "The Boys" are part of that arm of the Vatican who just so happens to coordinate operations such as NDAs. Dana does not know this because she has no clue how deep this is going to get. She would if she read my blog because you know darn well she will never, ever reach out to me on dealing with anything remotely relevant to child welfare in Michigan.
Nessel was joined at the news conference by the head of Michigan State Police, Col. Joe Gasper, who echoed Nessel's remarks.
"I also want to echo your comments regarding the importance of reporting tips directly to law enforcement," Gasper said. "We take all leads seriously and it's critically important that we hear directly from you when you have information to provide."
Are you going to start taking seriously the screams of kids in the foster care system and directly report to law enforcement or shall we continue with that "hire a private attorney" response of your office when it comes to a private contractor in child welfare. The Archdiocese of Detroit, and the rest of the state, have those cherished, private child welfare contracts.
In response, the Archdiocese of Detroit issued a statement contesting some of Nessel's points, saying it wants to "clarify some of the broad generalizations made during today’s press conference."
The statement said: "The Archdiocese of Detroit does not self-police. We encourage all victims to report abuse directly to law enforcement. When we learn of an allegation of sexual abuse of minors, we immediately notify law enforcement authorities, in accordance with the agreements we have had in place with them since 2002..."
FUN FACT! I MAY HAVE BEEN A CATALYST IN THIS 2002 GRAND EPIPHANY OF "ENCOURAGING" REPORTING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT, WHICH IS STILL NOT A LAW, WHICH THEY STILL DO NOT REPORT
Ned McGrath, director of public affairs at the Archdiocese of Detroit, criticized Nessel's remarks about how investigators should have badges, not rosaries.
Yes, that was pretty pithy, but you have to give props where props are due. That was a smackdown.
“The rosary is a treasured devotion of the Catholic Church," McGrath told the Free Press. "And it’s troubling to have it used as a punch line. Here’s hoping future statements show no additional disrespect.”
There actually was no disrespect. A badge has legal authority. A rosary is a tool of privatization. Sorry, McGrath, your coup to completely take over the State of Michigan has yet to come to full fruition. "The Girls" are on it!
The Archdiocese also took issue with Nessel's remarks on NDAs:
"Since 2002, the Archdiocese of Detroit has not entered into any nondisclosure agreements, unless specifically requested by a survivor of abuse, as required by the Catholic Church in the United States.
In addition, the archdiocese does not enforce any nondisclosure agreements signed prior to 2002 ..."
Nessel's remarks happen to come on the same day that Pope Francis kicked off a four-day summit at the Vatican to discuss the issue of sexual abuse among clergy. Michigan has about 2 million Catholics.
Timing is everything. I wonder if Dana is going to cross over to the proper side of history and become a whistleblower? Time will tell.
Michigan is one of more than a dozen states that launched investigations after a report released last year by the Pennsylvania Attorney General showed extensive abuse by priests and cover-ups by Catholic leaders.
Nessel said they have received 300 tips so far and are reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages of documents.
What about the contracts?
Nessel compared the reaction of Catholic Church leaders to the reaction of leaders at Michigan State University to the sexual abuse of Larry Nassar.
"Oh, no she did not"!
"The clergy abuse investigation is jarringly similar to the MSU investigation in that both institutions when confronted with a public sex abuse scandal, publicly pledged their cooperation with law enforcement authorities, but it failed to deliver on those public promises," Nessel said. "And regrettably, it would seem as though these two powerful institutions care more about protecting their brand than the people they serve."
Hey Dana....if you look really closely, you will see the financial connections in the contracts. Let me give you a hint on where to start ===> The Michigan Children's Trust Fund. Can you say "DACA or DAPA"? I can. You can, too, if you do the right thing for the public trust of the children.
Nessel said victims should contact law enforcement even if the statute of limitations to prosecute has ended.
There still are civil options for obtain justice....that is if you have money because you know no one wants to look at the false claims filed for Medicaid cost reimbursement of those child welfare contracts. No money, no justice.
"We may not be able to charge every priest, but our office will be sending letters to the diocese when we find credible allegations, and we ask that the diocese step up and deal with these abusers and protect people from them when the statute of limitations keeps us from being able to do that ourselves, which is often the case, or frankly, when there are other unethical acts that are uncovered," Nessel said.
If you cannot charge every priest, meaning there are many who will walk, can you at least take a look at the contracts? How about the child welfare NGOs?
The Archdiocese said in response that "the state of Michigan’s mandated reporting laws have been in place for decades. Through the years, we have strongly supported expansions to the list, including the addition of clergy. The Archdiocese of Detroit regularly educates all mandated reporters of their duties to report sexual abuse or neglect of minors."
Mandated reporters are a limited group of individuals, under the law. I do not feel like looking it up, but you can on the top right of the page, but clergy are not mandated reporters because the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is a private, foreign corporation, registered as a UCC in Michigan, which means that the State Attorney General is too much of a little punk to take this matter to the proper jurisdiction to the ICC because what has happened to the children in these christian child placing agencies is nothing but a war crime of forced migration and torture of a child.
Nessel said her office has sent letters to parishes asking them to inform their members of the state's investigations.
Step it up and go out to the private, contracted child placing agencies like Bethany Christian, Wellspring, Orchards Children's Services and Samaritas and hold a full blown interactive with the Administration and Boards to let them know they have been put on public notice. On second thought, if you do that, you will have to do the same with the all the other "non-faith based". Oh, well, it was just an idea.
She encouraged victims of abuse or those who may know about possible abuse to contact the state through its hotline.
Can kids still in foster care report abuse? That would be grounds to terminate parental rights of the Michigan Children's Institute Superintendent for being abused and neglected while under the legal guardianship and custodianship of the State. Guess foster kids should just go back to praying they find a good pimp to rescue them from the aegis of the state.
The Archdiocese of Detroit said in its statement that when it "became aware of the Attorney General’s request for parishes to publicize the state’s tip line, we immediately offered to help our parishes facilitate the publication of that material."
Yup, the email was sent.
The Archdiocese of Detroit also said it "has not been asked by the Attorney General’s Office to stop its internal review process. These internal investigations are required under Church law, and their purpose is to restrict or remove from ministry anyone who has committed sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult."
The act of defrocking or removing one from ministry is an act of exile from the law of the sea for justice to be served from the laws of the land for bearing false witness to their office of the children's trust. Congress possesses a similar procedure of removing a member of the body from public office. It is called impeachment, nullification, indictments in other jurisdictions, you know, due process.
During her news conference, Nessel also spoke about her investigations into the Flint water crisis and Michigan State University over abuse tied to Larry Nassar.
Did Dana say Sparrow? I missed that.
Col. Gasper of Michigan State Police said "we are committed to seeking justice for all the victims in the cases and we were also equally committed to ensuring that we conduct a thorough and proper investigation."
In its statement Thursday, the Archdiocese of Detroit also said:
"Since the Attorney General’s investigation began, the Archdiocese of Detroit has not received notification from that office regarding credible accusations against any of our priests. Should we become aware of such a complaint, we will act immediately."
This is the Judge who ruled upon the physical bondage of the youth to Children's Villages.
Hon. Mary Ellen Brennan Presiding Judge of the Family Division Presiding Judge, Oakland County Family Court Division Presiding Judge, Oakland County Family-Focused Juvenile Drug Court Elected to the Oakland County Circuit Court on November 4th, 2008 Senior member of the Oakland County Family Court Bench Graduate - James Madison College of Michigan State University Graduate - Wayne State University Law School Judicial Staff Attorney, 44th District Court 2002-2008 Assistant City Attorney, City of Royal Oak 1998-2002 Assistant General Counsel, Meadowbrook Insurance Group 1996-1998 Assistant Prosecutor, Oakland County 1990-1996 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-ellen-brennan-71709454
Hon. Mary Ellen T. Brennan is the presiding judge of the Oakland County Juvenile Drug Court (Family Division). She was a judicial staff attorney for the 44th District Court from 2002 to 2008 and was elected to the Oakland County Circuit Court in 2008. Prior to that, Judge Brennan was an assistant city attorney for the City of Royal Oak, assistant general counsel of an insurance firm, and an Oakland County assistant prosecutor. She is a former board member of CARE House of Oakland County, an organization that offers prevention programming, forensic interviewing for victims of sexual abuse and assault, therapy as needed for victims, family-support services, and a court-appointed special advocate program for children involved with the court. Judge Brennan is also a former board member of the RESTORE Foundation, a group that raises funds for the adult and juvenile therapeutic drug treatment courts through private, tax-deductible donations. She is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School.
Slavery was never abolished because it was renamed gerrymandering and it was privatized through foreign Public Private Partnerships as tiny human asset forfeiture operations.
A 15-year-old in Michigan was incarcerated during the coronavirus pandemic after a judge ruled that not completing her schoolwork violated her probation. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” said the girl’s mother.
PONTIAC, Mich. — One afternoon in mid-June, Charisse* drove up to the checkpoint at the Children’s Village juvenile detention center in suburban Detroit, desperate to be near her daughter. It had been a month since she had last seen her, when a judge found the girl had violated probation and sent her to the facility during the pandemic.
The girl, Grace, hadn’t broken the law again. The 15-year-old wasn’t in trouble for fighting with her mother or stealing, the issues that had gotten her placed on probation in the first place.
She was incarcerated in May for violating her probation by not completing her online coursework when her school in Beverly Hills switched to remote learning.
Because of the confidentiality of juvenile court cases, it’s impossible to determine how unusual Grace’s situation is. But attorneys and advocates in Michigan and elsewhere say they are unaware of any other case involving the detention of a child for failing to meet academic requirements after schools closed to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
The decision, they say, flies in the face of recommendations from the legal and education communities that have urged leniency and a prioritization of children’s health and safety amid the crisis. The case may also reflect, some experts and Grace’s mother believe, systemic racial bias. Grace is Black in a predominantly white community and in a county where a disproportionate percentage of Black youth are involved with the juvenile justice system.
Across the country, teachers, parents and students have struggled with the upheaval caused by monthslong school closures. School districts have documented tens of thousands of students who failed to log in or complete their schoolwork: 15,000 high school students in Los Angeles, one-third of the students in Minneapolis Public Schools and about a quarter of Chicago Public Schools students.
Students with special needs are especially vulnerable without the face-to-face guidance from teachers, social workers and others. Grace, who has ADHD, said she felt unmotivated and overwhelmed when online learning began April 15, about a month after schools closed. Without much live instruction or structure, she got easily distracted and had difficulty keeping herself on track, she said.
“Who can even be a good student right now?” said Ricky Watson Jr., executive director of the National Juvenile Justice Network. “Unless there is an urgent need, I don’t understand why you would be sending a kid to any facility right now and taking them away from their families with all that we are dealing with right now.”
In many places, juvenile courts have attempted to keep children out of detention except in the most serious cases, and they have worked to release those who were already there, experts say. A survey of juvenile justice agencies in 30 states found that the number of youths in secure detention fell by 24% in March, largely due to a steep decline in placements.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order in March that temporarily suspended the confinement of juveniles who violate probation unless directed by a court order and encouraged eliminating any form of detention or residential placement unless a young person posed a “substantial and immediate safety risk to others.” Acting on Whitmer’s order, which was extended until late May, the Michigan Supreme Court told juvenile court judges to determine which juveniles could be returned home.
Judge Mary Ellen Brennan, the presiding judge of the Oakland County Family Court Division, declined through a court administrator to comment on Grace’s case. In her ruling, she found Grace “guilty on failure to submit to any schoolwork and getting up for school” and called Grace a “threat to (the) community,” citing the assault and theft charges that led to her probation.
“She hasn’t fulfilled the expectation with regard to school performance,” Brennan said as she sentenced Grace. “I told her she was on thin ice and I told her that I was going to hold her to the letter, to the order, of the probation.”
That June afternoon, a month after the sentencing, Charisse left Children’s Village without seeing Grace, but she did pick up a shopping bag of clothes and toiletries she had delivered days earlier. She said officials had rejected them because they violated facility rules: underwear that wasn’t briefs; face wipes that contained alcohol; a pair of jeans deemed too tight.
Charisse counts each day they’re apart, and that was day No. 33. Another month has since passed, and there could still be months to go before they are at home together again.
Driving home, Charisse had to pull over soon after she turned onto the road leading away from the complex. She sat in a parking lot, sobbing.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” she said. She shook her head as tears dampened the disposable blue face mask pulled down to her chin.
“Every day I go to bed thinking, and wake up thinking, ‘How is this a better situation for her?’”
It has always been just the two of them, Charisse and Grace.
Told by doctors that she would be unable to have children, Charisse, a consultant to nonprofit organizations, was shocked when she became pregnant at 44. She has raised Grace on her own after the girl’s father did not want to be involved, she said.
They did everything together: winter sports throughout Michigan, rounds of golf, going to the opera, singing to Tony Bennett on road trips. They even appeared in a “Pure Michigan” tourism ad. As a child, Grace wanted so much to be like her mother that she asked to be called Charisse No. 2.
When Grace hit her preteen years, however, their relationship became rocky. They argued about Grace keeping her room clean and doing schoolwork and regularly battled over her use of the phone, social media and other technology.
By the time Grace turned 13, the arguments had escalated to the point that Charisse turned to the police for help several times when Grace yelled at or pushed her. She said she didn’t know about other social services to call instead. In one incident, they argued over Grace taking her mother’s iPhone charger; when police arrived, they discovered she had taken an iPad from her middle school without permission. At her mother’s request, Grace entered a court diversion program in 2018 for “incorrigibility” and agreed to participate in counseling and not use electronic devices. She was released from the program early, her mother said.
While there was periodic family conflict, Grace has always had strong friendships and is active in her school and community, her mother said. She has helped run programs at church, played saxophone in the school band and composed music, and regularly participated in service projects.
The incident that led to her current situation happened Nov. 6, when someone called the police after hearing Charisse crying “Help me!” and honking her car’s horn. Grace, upset she couldn’t go to a friend’s house, had reached inside the car to try to get her mother’s phone and had bitten her mother’s finger and pulled her hair, according to the police report.
Police released Grace to a family friend to let the two cool down and referred the case to Oakland County court, where an assault charge was filed against her.
Weeks later, she picked up another charge, for larceny, after she was caught on surveillance video stealing another student’s cellphone from a school locker room.
“After I was caught, I felt instant remorse and guilt. I wanted to take back everything I had done,” Grace wrote in a statement to police. She said she had questioned herself even as she took the phone but wanted one after her mother took hers away.
The other student’s mother, who declined to comment for this story, told police she wanted to press charges, although the phone had been returned to her son soon after Grace took it. “My sincere hope is that any punitive action taken in this case be grounded in the goal of providing this student with opportunities for growth, change and future success,” she wrote in a statement to police.
In the months following the two incidents, Grace and her mother participated in individual and family therapy and Grace stayed out of trouble.
Charisse told a court caseworker assigned to the case that other than being irritable and getting “cabin fever” from being shut at home during the pandemic, “nothing significant” had taken place between the mother and daughter. There was no police contact after the November incidents, records show.
The April 21 juvenile court hearing on the larceny and assault charges against Grace was conducted via Zoom since the courts had shut down, with everyone calling in from their homes. Grace connected from her bedroom, her mother from their living room.
It had the familiar awkwardness of many online meetings: dropped audio; a dog barking in the background; participants swivelling in their chairs; the prosecutor losing his connection. (This hearing and others in the case were recorded, and a ProPublica reporter watched them at the Oakland County courthouse last month.)
Ashley Bishop, a youth and family caseworker for the court, told the judge she thought Grace would be best served by getting mental health and anger management treatment in a residential facility. The prosecutor, Justin Chmielewski, said he agreed. Grace’s court-appointed attorney, Elliot Parnes, said little but asked that she be given probation because she had committed no new offenses and because of the risk of COVID-19 in congregate facilities.
Parnes and Bishop declined to comment for this story and Chmielewski did not respond to calls.
Throughout the hearing, Grace took her glasses off to brush away tears and wiped her nose with her sleeve. She shook her head, which the judge later criticized as a sign of disagreement but which Grace told ProPublica signaled her disappointment in her past behavior. She raised her hand a couple times and asked, in a small voice, “Can I just say something please?”
“My mom and I do get into a lot of arguments, but with each one I learn something and try to analyze why it happened,” she said. “My mom and I are working each day to better ourselves and our relationship, and I think that the removal from my home would be an intrusion on our progress.”
Brennan admonished Grace for the fights with her mother, her thefts at school and behaving in a way that required police to come to their home. “Police,” she said. “Most people go through their entire youth without having the cops have to come to their house because they can’t get themselves together.”
But, citing the pandemic, Brennan decided not to remove Grace from her home and instead sentenced her to “intensive probation.” The terms of the probation included a GPS tether, regular check-ins with a court caseworker, counseling, no phone and the use of the school laptop for educational purposes only. Grace also was required to do her schoolwork.
“I hope that she upholds her end of the bargain,” Brennan said at the end of the hearing.
Schools across the country weren’t prepared for the abrupt turn to remote learning. Grace’s school, Groves High School, in one of the most well-regarded districts in the state, was no different.
In mid-March, thinking the closures might last for only a month, the district initially offered optional online activities and then recessed for an already-scheduled weeklong spring break. Soon after, Whitmer announced that schools would end face-to-face instruction for the rest of the year. The Birmingham Public Schools superintendent asked families for patience as schools moved to an online curriculum in mid-April and promised flexibility in their support. Officials said student work would be evaluated as credit/no-credit.
The initial days of remote school coincided with the start of Grace’s probation. Charisse was concerned that her daughter, who was a high school sophomore and had nearly perfect attendance, would have trouble without in-person support from teachers. Grace gets distracted easily and abandons her work, symptoms of her ADHD and a mood disorder, records show. Her Individualized Education Plan, which spelled out the school supports she should receive, required teachers to periodically check in to make sure she was on task and clarify the material, and it allowed her extra time to complete assignments and tests. When remote learning began, she did not get those supports, her mother said.
Days after the court hearing, on April 24, Grace’s new caseworker, Rachel Giroux, made notes in her file that she was doing well: Grace had called to check in at 8:57 a.m.; she reported no issues at home and was getting ready to log in to do her schoolwork.
But by the start of the following week, Grace told Giroux she felt overwhelmed. She had forgotten to plug in her computer and her alarm didn’t go off, so she overslept. She felt anxious about the probation requirements. Charisse, feeling overwhelmed as well, confided in the caseworker that Grace had been staying up late to make food and going on the internet, then sleeping in. She said she was setting up a schedule for Grace and putting a desk in the living room where she could watch her work.
“Worker told mother that child is not going to be perfect and that teenagers aren’t always easy to work with but you have to give them the opportunity to change,” according to the case progress notes. “Child needs time to adjust to this new normal of being on probation and doing work from home.”
Five days later, after calling Charisse and learning that Grace had fallen back to sleep after her morning caseworker check-in, Giroux filed a violation of probation against her for not doing her schoolwork.
Giroux told the prosecutor she planned to ask the judge to detain Grace because she “clearly doesn’t want to abide by the rules in the community,” according to the case notes.
Grace has said in court and in answers to questions from ProPublica that she was trying to do what was asked of her. She had checked in with her caseworker every day and complied with the other requirements of intensive probation, including staying at home and obeying all laws. She had told her special education teacher that she needed one-on-one help and began receiving daily tutoring the day after the probation violation was filed.
Giroux filed the violation of probation before confirming whether Grace was meeting her academic requirements. She emailed Grace’s teacher three days later, asking, “Is there a certain percentage of a class she is supposed to be completing a day/week?”
Grace’s teacher, Katherine Tarpeh, responded in an email to Giroux that the teenager was “not out of alignment with most of my other students.”
“Let me be clear that this is no one’s fault because we did not see this unprecedented global pandemic coming,” she wrote. Grace, she wrote, “has a strong desire to do well.” She “is trying to get to the other side of a steep learning curve mountain and we have a plan for her to get there.”
Giroux declined to comment. Tarpeh told a reporter she was not allowed to discuss Grace’s case.
The May 14 hearing to decide whether Grace had violated her probation, and what would happen if she had, took place at the Oakland County courthouse when the Family Division was hearing only “essential emergency matters.”
Grace’s case was the only one heard in person in the courthouse that day.
Crop of a court document describing Grace's sentence.
On May 14, Judge Mary Ellen Brennan found that Grace was in violation of probation for not submitting schoolwork and ordered that she be detained at Children’s Village in Oakland County, Michigan. (Records provided by Grace’s Family)
Grace’s attorney, concerned about his health, participated by Zoom, though he told the judge it was difficult to represent her without being there. He told the judge he decided not to request a postponement because the family was worried she would detain Grace if they waited for a later court date.
The prosecution called Giroux, the caseworker, as its only witness. In response to questions from Grace’s attorney, she acknowledged she did not know what type of educational disabilities Grace had and did not answer a question about what accommodations those disabilities might require. Her assessment that Grace hadn’t done her schoolwork was based on a comment her mother made to her teacher, which Charisse testified she said in a moment of frustration and was untrue.
Grace’s special education teacher, Tarpeh, could have provided more information and planned to testify but had to leave the hearing to teach a class, according to the prosecutor.
Grace and her mother testified that she was handling her schoolwork more responsibly — and that she had permission to turn in her assignments at her own pace, as long as she finished by the end of the semester. And, Charisse said, Grace was behaving and not causing her any physical harm.
The transition to virtual school had been difficult, Grace testified, but she said she was making progress. “I just needed time to adjust to the schedule that my mom had prepared for me,” she said.
Brennan was unconvinced. Grace’s probation, she told her, was “zero tolerance, for lack of a better term.”
She sent her to detention. Grace was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
From March 16, when Michigan courts began limiting operations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, to June 29, at least 24 delinquency cases involving youth in Oakland County court resulted in placements to juvenile facilities. Of those, more than half involved young people who are Black, like Grace.
Those numbers, obtained by ProPublica from the Oakland County Circuit Court, reflect long-standing racial disparities in the state and county’s juvenile justice system. From January 2016 through June 2020, about 4,800 juvenile cases were referred to the Oakland court. Of those, 42% involved Black youth even though only about 15% of the county’s youth are Black.
A report released last month, which found inadequate legal representation for juveniles in Michigan, noted that research has shown a disproportionate number of youth of color are incarcerated in Michigan overall. Black youth in the state are incarcerated more than four times as often as their white peers, according to an analysis of federal government data by The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that addresses racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
“It is clear that kids of color are disproportionately involved and impacted by the system across the board,” said Jason Smith of the nonprofit Michigan Center for Youth Justice, which works to reduce the confinement of youth. “They are more likely to be arrested, less likely to be offered any kind of diversion, more likely to be removed out of the home and placed in some sort of confinement situation.”
In Grace’s case, too, she was sent to a facility at a time when the governor had encouraged courts to send children home.
At the county-run Children’s Village, which has space for 216 youth in secure and residential settings, the population was down to 80 last week, according to the facility manager. There have been no COVID-19 cases in the youth population and four workers have tested positive from contacts outside Children’s Village, she said.
During March and April, 97 juveniles were released from Children’s Village by court order, said Pamela Monville, the Oakland County deputy court administrator. “We understood the orders and the concerns to stop the spread,” she said. Judges, caseworkers and attorneys worked together to determine “who could go back to the community,” she added.
Juvenile justice experts and disability advocates decried the decision to remove Grace from her home, particularly when “the state gave clear directives that children, and all people, unless it was a dire emergency, were to be kept out of detention,” said Kristen Staley, co-director of the Midwest Juvenile Defender Center, which works to improve juvenile defense across eight states.
Terri Gilbert, a former supervisor for juvenile justice programming in Michigan and a high-profile advocate, said the system suffers from inconsistencies in treatment and sentencing, aggravated by a lack of public information.
“This is too harsh of a sentence for a kid who didn’t do their homework. … There is so much research that points to the fact that this is not the right response for this crime,” said Gilbert, a member of a governor-appointed committee that focuses on juvenile justice. “Teenage girls act out. They get mouthy. They get into fights with her mothers. They don’t want to get up until noon. This is normal stuff.”
Monville said Brennan, a judge since 2008, “made the decision she made based on what she heard and her experience on the bench.”
But officials at the Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, the state disabilities watchdog organization, said they were especially troubled that a student with special needs — one of the most vulnerable populations — was punished when students and teachers everywhere couldn’t adjust to online learning.
“It is inconceivable that, given the utterly unprecedented situation, a court would enforce expectations about what student participation in school means that was not tied to the reality of education during a pandemic,” said Kris Keranen, who oversees education for the group.
Charisse says the “greatest pain and devastation” of her life was watching Grace handcuffed in the courtroom. She got a letter in the mail a few days later:
Handwritten letter from Grace to her mother while detained.
In the first letter to her mother while in detention, Grace wrote, “I want to be a better person.” (Records provided by Grace’s Family)
“I want to change. I want to be a better person. Here I’ve realized how much you care and love me. I’m sorry I took that for granted. Please continue to send me pictures of me and you or just with anyone. I love you mommy and I miss you.”
On Juneteenth, the day that commemorates the end of slavery, Charisse sat alone at her kitchen table, the wall behind her covered with Grace’s childhood artwork. As the country faced a reckoning over systemic racism, the day had taken on increased recognition and Charisse lamented she and Grace couldn’t mark it together as they usually did, attending programs at church or at the Museum of African American History in Detroit.
Charisse made strawberry lemonade with fresh watermelon, a variation on the traditional red Juneteenth drink, and talked to Grace the only way she could, through a video call monitored by a Children’s Village case coordinator. The longest they had ever been separated before was when Grace attended a leadership sleepaway camp for six weeks over the summer.
“Juneteenth is all about freedom and you can’t even celebrate. What do you have? It has been taken away,” she said to her daughter.
Other than three recent visits, they have seen each other only on screen, including during a court status hearing in early June. On that day, Charisse watched as Grace walked into a room at Children’s Village handcuffed and with her ankles shackled, her mother said.
“For us and our culture, that for me was the knife stuck in my stomach and turning,” Charisse said. “That is our history, being shackled. And she didn’t deserve that.”
“I Can’t Breathe.” It Happens at Schools, Too.
Students in Illinois schools said “I can’t breathe” while being restrained at least 30 times over the time period we investigated, according to our analysis of the records. The practice of face-down restraint is still legal in Illinois.
At the hearing, both Grace and her mother pleaded with the judge to return her home. “I will be respectful and obedient to my mom and all other people with authority,” Grace said. “I beg for your mercy to return me home to my mom and my responsibilities.”
The judge, however, sided with the caseworker and prosecutor. They agreed that Grace should stay at the Children’s Village not as punishment, but to get treatment and services. She ordered her to remain there and set a hearing to review the case for Sept. 8. By then, it will be a week into the new school year.
On Juneteenth, Charisse and Grace spoke for their full allotted 45 minutes. Grace wore a light blue polo shirt her mother had dropped off a few days earlier. Her hair was pushed back with a Lululemon headband.
Their conversation began with the mundane: Charisse reminded Grace to use her deodorant, and Grace said she needed to get her glasses fixed. But it landed, inevitably, at the frustration they both feel.
“I want you to write in your journal,” Charisse told Grace. She urged her “not to get too comfortable” in detention. “I want you to do what you are supposed to do, but I don’t want you to feel like this is your new norm.”
Grace’s initial weeks in detention were “repetitive and depressing,” she recently told ProPublica in response to written questions.
Grace was required to stay in her locked room from 8:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. She couldn’t turn the lights on and off herself and she slept on a mattress on a concrete slab, she said. She passed the time by reading, drawing and watching some TV.
The local school district provided packets of material but no classes. She said that she has not yet worked with a teacher in person or online, and that she meets less regularly with a therapist at Children’s Village than she did at home.
She has since been transferred to a long-term treatment program at Children’s Village, where she has a bit more freedom. Still, she tells her mother, it’s difficult to think about what she’s missing. “Everyone is moving past me now and I’m just here,” she said during the Zoom call.
A Children’s Village case coordinator, listening, tried to be encouraging. “You are doing very well right now,” she said. “Whatever happens, it looks good. You are respectful, you are following the rules.”
Then she told them their time was up.
“Stay strong,” Grace told her mom.
“You stay strong, too,” her mother replied. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
ProPublica is using middle names for the teenager and her mother to protect their identities.
There are unspoken gag orders in child welfare, where, if a parent speaks out, parental rights will be terminated and the child put up for adoption.
