Free Our Children

1. Remove the Funding Incentive - DCF makes entirely too much money off each child they have in State custody. These Federal funds should be reduced, and incentive funds to encourage the re-unification of families should be made available. How our Federal funds is not just a Florida issue, but concerns every American that pays Federal taxes. Florida has a disproportionate number of children in State custody for it's population, and spends more of our Federal money breaking up families than reuniting them.

2. Remove the Perpetrator, NOT the Children - No child should lose their childhood to DCF tyranny. If a dog bites a child, then the dog should be removed, not all of the children from a family, as in the case of Greg and Melissa Pound.

3. Quit calling an accident "abuse" - Accidents happen infrequently, abuse is a pattern. Guidelines for separating out "tripping over a cord" from real abuse should be in place.

4. Trial by Jury - DCF and the Court system have dictatorial control over everyone that ends up in their "system", as it is up to a single judge or bureaucrat to determine the fate of a family. A jury trial, as guaranteed by the US Constitition, as well as the Magna Charter, would insure that the innocent would be set free when they are brought to court. For DCF cases outside of court, a citizen's review board composed of former victims of DCF would help ensure that only those truly abused would lose their children.

5. Monthly Status Report - Demand that DCF provide their own monthly status report for their efforts to reunite the family. If they are not trying to reunite families, as required by law, they have lost their legitimate right to administer child and family services.

6. Case Plans that do not violate the Christian Religion - The case plans imposed by DCF on the family requires them to teach their children that Homosexuality and other sins against the Christian Religion are acceptable. This is against our right to the free exercise of our religion, as guaranteed in the US Constitution. Child welfare should be about providing food and clothing, not providing brainwashing for the young.

7. Case Plans that are affordable - Many of the DCF case plans require that the parents pay for "psychological testing" or counseling, at $700 or more. This is absolutely unaffordable for the poor, which is the people that DCF preys upon.

8. Assistance to the Poor - Special case workers that seek to fix the underlying problem, not just take the children, should be employed to help poor people to overcome their problems.

9. Prosecute DCF Abuses - there are too many Foster Parents involved in drugs that are unsupervised by DCF. They need to be in jail, not raising our children. Judges who violate our laws that protect due process and habeus corpus need to be removed from the judiciary.

10. A New Governor - This is sad to say, but despite repeated calls to Charlie Crist's office, this administration has been completely silent in helping the people of Florida who were victimized by the DCF system. Bob Butterworth is just another politician that doesn't really care. They need to be removed and held accountable for failing to correct the problems with DCF.