Parental Rights First

Too many times over zealous, bottom line seeking, state agencies such as New Jersey's Division of Youth and family Services (DYFS), and others, will wrench children away from caring loving parents because of unsubstantiated hearsay and often false allegations or suspicions.

Current Federal law does not set national standards to protect the whole healthy family.

Often children are removed on alleged "emergancy need" and the parents are not given the opportunity to defend their rights, or counter any claims against them.

Many times such claims are unjustified and or false. Agencies eager to prove their own existence or to meet funding quotas, zealously jump at the opportunity to remove children away from their mothers and fathers.

Such removal or "replacing the children" is the most abusive and traumatic experience they are forced to live through and it is ultimately devastating to the family.

Law should protect families and ensure they remain whole.
 
Please set mandates that Parents, both mother and father, will be assured to maintain custody of their children until related agencies can prove legally, beyond doubt that it would be in the best interest of the child or children to be removed.

Steps should be taken to first contact the parents giving agencies and courts an opportunity to listen and consider all sides, all concerns BEFORE ripping a family apart.

There should be sensitivity to the bond between Father and Child Mother and Child. An awareness that families that work together grow together.

Agencies should be mandated to address any concern first and foremost, while ensuring parents maintain custody of their children.

In such and instance agencies may provide counseling and other supportive services (food, health care,etc) while the family remains whole if such support is deemed needed.

Every first attempt must be made to keep families together.

Typically children are torn away from complete, whole healthy families sending children into foster care, causing pained and heart broken parents thousands of dollars in legal fees. While both children and parents suffer undue heartache, life threatening stress.

The children ranging from infancy to teenagers often get lost in the system become subject to real abusive situations.

Current custody law and guidelines that rule youth and family services are for the most part incomplete, and place the state bureaucracy in total control and does little to provide true meaningful long term help to serve and foster healthy families and healthy communities.

The current system is costly for families, and the whole community suffers as parents loose their jobs, go into debt, and through the stress of it all, often divorce.

The current system needs reform and, this time, legislation needs to place parents and the healthy biological family at the center.

The cycle of creating state dependency and perpetuating crime has to stop. Please propose legislation that will prevent ALL government institutions, programs, state agencies, commissions and divisions from ripping children away from their parents, including both mother and father with out fair due process.

Thank you