Inside the 'Broken' System -The Beat Goes On

A few weeks ago I had opportunity to visit a Social Services executive where the subject of the recent San Jose Mercury series re Juvenile Dependency was brought up. This was right after Mr. Gary Proctor retired from his Dependency Services business but before his tragic suicide. There was a little consternation that the sudden retirement would leave the court system in a lurch, also not giving much time to find another firm to take on the representation of parents who enter the foster care system. That, at that time, those that had bid to take it on submitted higher bids than was already being expended was seen as an unfortunate ironic outcome of the Mercury series.

We covered the history of CPS and its relationship to the District Attorney's Office (who represent the children) and the Legal Dependency Services (representing the parents) which was both illuminating and somewhat validating. I had started to see that the DA's office actually ran the whole show, with Social Workers and Dependency Services following their lead. This had been denied months ago when I brought it up to another person, but it was virtually confirmed with this higher-up administrator. A former District Attorney had priorly been in Juvenile Dependency and was the most knowledgable in dependency matters so 'everyone' deferred to the DA office on such matters. So, the playing field was greatly slanted to the point that Social Workers was in essence working for the District Attorney Office. This, reportedly, has been gradually being rectified but still has some ways to go.

Of course, the District Attorney Office has their own Social Workers on the payroll which I never understood and neither does Social Services! Especially when the DA's Social Worker that I encountered were doing 'assessments' of a grandmother and father without even interviewing them! They must be damn good to pull that off especially when a judge accepts their 'findings'.

Funny enough, it was commented on how the Reporter for the SJ Merc, Karen DaSa was not trusted due to past experiences with the reporter not accurately reporting the data, slanting it, or reporting unverified data as fact when not verified. But the point here was that the Judges were not ratted out on since they were quite probably the source of information for the reporter. I responded agreeably, saying I know of one 'judge' that should have been exposed. As it turned out we were both talking about the same 'Judge' in dependency services. So not only are the parents complaining about this person but also Social Services!

Tragically, a couple of weeks later, Mr. Gary Proctor committed suicide. The only comment here from me on that are the various reactions that I received from parents and such who were involved with his dependency services; from pointing the finger at the San Jose Mercury News to 'conspiracy theory' type allegations, I found very interesting. My take is that I had not helped straighten out this mess fast enough which has now resulted in another life wasted.

I then walked over to the Office of County Counsel who represent CPS to clear the air on a couple of accusations that had been sent to me. That went well enough and hope that subject doesn't come up again. However, the SJ Merc News series came up and it was mentioned how surprised they were upon reading that someone in the DA Office would actually falsify records which came as a surprise to me since all the complaints I get is that false reports are a common occurrence with everyone involved to one degree or another. It was a fine meeting overall and hopefully will be useful in resolving other complaints.

An interesting lesson in civics and politics.

Meanwhile, I continue to get complaints from parents regarding Social Workers, a certain 'judge', and the lawyers involved in this system that are supposed to be Court Partners to act in the best interest of the children and keeping families together.