Enroll Your Child In Public School = Lose Parental Rights, page 2

June 12th, 2009

XXXXX XXXXX
c/o DHS Child Welfare District X Hotline
PO Box XXXXX
XXXXX, XX XXXXX

Dear Mss. XXXXX XXXXX,

Thank you for your letter in concerns with my daughter XXXXX XXXXX.

Perhaps it would be best to begin with informing you that the report that your department received was made by a teacher in retaliation for having received a reprimand after I had filed a complaint against her with her supervisor. Her interest in this matter goes beyond what XXXXX Revised Statute 419B.010 requires of Mandatory Reporters. It may interest you to know that your department is being used as a tool in a personal vendetta, beyond what XX rev.419B.010 requires and protects, and that the information you received may therefore be grossly biased, inaccurate, and unreliable.

That said, please let me address your concerns to my child's welfare directly.

My daughter, XXXXX XXXXX, is 12 years old. She is just as capable as any other 12 year old of functioning interactively at that age level, and capable of undertaking many of the same responsibilities as others at that age level (especially within familiar surroundings and controlled environments such as Public Transit).

As my daughter's mother routinely leaves my 12 year old daughter home alone to care for her preschool aged half-sister, and other small children, it would seem to me that she is just as confident to the functioning level and maturity of my daughter as I am.

When riding Public Transit, on the rare occasions she has done so unaccompanied by a parent, my 12 year old daughter is surrounded by children from her school, and supervised by the driver of the bus. There are even Grade School aged children who attend XXXXX Elementary who ride that very same Public Transit bus with my daughter, who are equally unaccompanied by their parents as well. She is familiar with each of the bus drivers, as they are familiar with her. Riding Public Transit accompanied by myself three times a week for the past 3 years has made the entire experience routine for my daughter. On the rare occasions she has ridden the Public Transit bus unaccompanied by myself, she is placed directly on the bus at the Transfer Station, and gets off the bus at a stop right next to a School Crossing-Guard and a Retired XPD Officer in uniform. At these times, my daughter carries a cellphone with her, able to call either of her parents, or 911 in case of an emergency. I fail to see how this can be quantified as neglectful or unsafe in any stretch of the imagination.

I have contacted Transit Department, as well as both the XXXXX and XXXXX Police Departments, to inquire into whether this is considered unsafe or neglectful in any way. In all cases, they have assured me that XXXXX State Law states that I'm well within my rights to do so, and considering the small community that we are in, far more safe of a practice than in other areas of the State. During a phone conference with the XXXXX Middle School Principal XXXXX XXXXX, the same sentiments were communicated to me, indicating that it is not an issue of safety or criminal neglect, but within my parental rights under State Law.

As far as DHS: Child Welfare is concerned in this matter, I ask you this: how is riding a Public Transit bus with other students from her school any more unsafe than my daughter riding an XXXXX School District bus with other students from her school? Why is one "acceptable" and the other is considered by your department as "criminal neglect"? How is riding a Public Transit bus with other students from her school any more unsafe than my daughter walking to school alone when she stays with her mother? Why is the latter "acceptable" while the former is somehow "criminal neglect"?

I find it deeply disturbing that DHS: Child Welfare Program does not take multiple reports of physical abuse of my daughter at the hands of her mother and her mother's boyfriends seriously, even when reported by her teachers and the XXXXX Police Department, yet would take concern to threaten me with criminal charges of neglect and to get involved in Juvenile Court for having done nothing more than allow my 12 year old daughter to ride Public Transit with other students from her school on her own. It would seem to me that DHS: Child Welfare Program clearly does not have my daughter's best interests at heart, but has a rather anfractuously contorted agenda and set of priorities instead.

However, I assure you, my priorities are not as misguided in concerns to my daughters welfare, well-being, and safety. These are always paramount of importance to me, always on my mind, and my number one concern, which I do take very seriously.

Best Regards,

XXXXX XXXXX

[edit on 12-6-2009 by fraterormus]