On a sweltering summer day in Harris County, Texas, Melissa Bright sat her five-month-old son on a lawn chair so she could help her toddler daughter out of her wet clothes after playing in the sprinklers. When baby Mason fell from the chair and hit his head on the driveway, no one could have predicted it would lead to an extended nightmare.

After The Brights sought immediate medical attention for the infant, and hospital personnel determined the child had an injury that was not consistent with a fall and was instead consistent with child abuse. Later the baby was found to have a blood clotting disorder that contributed to the severity of the injury, but a CPS supervisor removed both children from their parents and placed them with their grandmother anyway.

Unfortunately, little Mason’s injuries were too severe for his grandmother to handle on her own, and to make matters worse she lived an hour away from the baby’s parents. After trying to have the baby placed with a closer relative, CPS failed to respond, so the couple took their baby home to care for him. CPS had no grounds to remove the children from the home in the first place, so that should have been the end of it.

The family and their attorney received a tip from an investigator letting them know the real reason their children had been removed from the home: at least ten child protective services workers had pressured the tipster, who is with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, to file criminal charges against the family despite a lack of evidence of any wrongdoing.

Monday in court a judge sanctioned the agency and fined them $127,000, which is meant in part to offset legal and medical fees. CPS, you are not above the law. You can cover up your immoral and illegal actions, but they won’t stay hidden forever. Not as long as citizens like us, Rob and Kathleen Raskin, are here to hold you accountable.

This will come as no surprise to Alabama residents, but Blount County DHR is at it again. This time they are being investigated for making false reports and for placing children into the foster system without trying to place them with relatives first. You can help fight corruption in the system by sending a fax to your congressman.

Click Here To Fax Congress About DHR Corruption

We are working on responding to the many inquiries we’ve received about how to fight CPS and DHR. We’re putting together some resources that will help you to contact your legislators and to join grassroots efforts. One thing you can do is create your own petition for others to sign through this fax website and others like it.

Check back for more updates about what steps to take first if your family has been harmed by child protective organizations. We are Robert and Kathleen Raskin, and we are in this fight together with you. It’s time to put an end to the corruption that is destroying families and lives once and for all. Won’t you join our cause?

In the state of Mississippi, children caught in the foster care system are not receiving even the most basic healthcare, and we, Kathleen and Robert Raskin, demand to know why this is allowed. How can children receive their constitutional rights if the court does not intervene? The simple answer is, they can’t, and it’s time for the legal system to step up to the plate to fix this.

CPS Commissioner Jess Dickinson admitted the agent was short an astounding 240 caseworkers and 60 supervisors, and this is just the beginning when it comes to the myriad reasons the state’s foster system is ranked last in the country. Also at issue is the fact that this state is first when it comes to the number of children living in poverty. They are also ranked second for having the highest number of children in single-parent families. Add to that being the second-highest in child food insecurity and in infant mortality, and what you’re left with is a big mess.

So what is being done about this? The state has reduced the number of children in the system by 700. This is a good start, but it’s not enough. A federal judge has been asked to strip the state’s control from their system, and a children’s rights group has also asked a federal judge to appoint an independent party that would be charged with overseeing the system’s overhaul. We agree it is time for the federal government to step in. Do you agree? Have you personally dealt with the Mississippi system? Let us know in the comments!

We are Kathleen and Robert Raskin of Las Vegas, and we are dedicated to raising awareness of the corruption in the agencies that are charged with protecting families. Once again, this week we are reporting another case of a social worker who gave false testimony against parents who were then cruelly stripped of their parental rights.

This is a story we’ve heard far too often, but the difference this time is a judge sided with the parents. The social worker, Chelsie Gray, has since left the agency. We wish we had more details in this case, but because Gray was not forced to resign or fired DHS is not allowed to disclose any information as per state law. A review of the case was conducted, but, as is typical, the agency refused to release the findings of this review.

A judge ruled that the social worker not only fabricated reports, but also that she flat-out lied under oath in court. The disgraced worker left the agency on September 23^rd, but leaving her job is not enough. Corrupt workers like these must be held accountable for their actions, because the damage Ms. Gray’s lies have done could potentially last a lifetime.

There is no shortage of corruption in the Iowa DHS or in the court system. Want to learn more about what the families of the Hawkeye State are facing? Please watch the following videos made by families who have been harmed by the system.

Why would an organization that is designed to help children systematically put indigenous families at a disadvantage? That’s what we, Kathleen and Robert Raskin, would like to know. The system should be supporting families, and instead they are stealing their children away, with some families having all of their children stolen away for five or even six generations.

During an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, a spokeswoman for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said, “Any challenges that our families are faced with, it’s used against them instead of them being offered support. It victimizes our families.”

This Manitoba inquiry will focus on child welfare, which is an issue that is directly related to the snatching of indigenous children, which strips them of their identity. These children lose their self-worth by being removed from their tribe, and they grow into damaged adults, which contributes to the rates of violence in their communities.

Manitoba has the highest per-capita rate of children caught in the system, and a shocking near-90% are indigenous. With over 10,000 children in care at this time, that means nearly 9,000 indigenous children have been removed from their families. Believe it or not, this is the lowest the rate has been in over a decade.

The main reason these children are being stripped from their parents, often at birth, is poverty. The government claims seizing these children is a last-resort measure, but the reality is it is typically the first thing that happens. Think of what could happen for these communities if the money they spent stealing children was instead used to help communities in crisis?

Missing and murdered women are a huge problem in Manitoba. Mothers are murdered, they fall victim to domestic violence, they lose their homes and financial support when they no longer have children in the household, and they often must resort to sex work just to survive, putting them at increased risk. It’s a huge problem, and taking generations of children is not the solution.

We are Kathleen and Robert Raskin of Las Vegas, and after our family was harmed by the Alabama DHR system, we began this fight against corruption in our child protection organizations. Today we would like to bring attention to the fact that a recent report has determined a full 1/3 of foster children have been prescribed psychiatric medications without proper follow-up care. That means no treatment plan, and nothing in place to determine whether or not the medication is working or the dosage needs to be adjusted.

The report, which was released by the inspector general’s office of the Department of Health and Human Services, included drugs that are used to treat the following conditions:

• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar disorder
• Depression
• PTSD
• Anxiety
• ADHD

There have been reports of children as young as six being diagnosed with multiple disorders, along with which come multiple psych meds, without regard for how this may effect the child in the immediate—much less the long-term—future.

Why are foster children being disproportionately prescribed these drugs without a plan in place? We demand to know, and we hope you will join us in our quest to find out.

Has your family been harmed by CPS, DHR, or a similar organization? Are you a former foster child who has a story to tell? Please write to us at [email protected] to learn more about sharing your story. Your anonymity is guaranteed.

We are Robert and Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, and today we’d like to bring attention to the thousands of foster children who are being placed at risk by taking psychiatric medications they don’t need. While we understand kids in the system have often been abused and many face a host of psychiatric and emotional issues, medication is not always the answer. However, far too often, meds are all these children are getting when it may not be the best answer.

Disorders like oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety, depression, attachment disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and ADHD are seen all too often in the system, and children can take many pills each day to keep their disorders under control. But what happens when the medication is doing more harm than good? Foster parents may not have much say in the matter, and biological parents have even less input.

Nearly 80% of kids who enter the system suffer from psychological issues. Far too often the system does what is easier instead of what is right, and the kids are paying for it. These medications can have serious side-effects that can impact children’s health, and a recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services found that kids are taking pills they don’t need.

It’s time to fight for foster children’s right to adequate healthcare, and now! Won’t you join us in our quest to hold these agencies accountable?