Werme Tricks – Picking On Neglectful Parents
September 13, 2005
Attorney Paula Werme warns parents to watch out for the “neglect charge” on her Tips and Tricks page. What the heck is she talking about? Well, in the State of New Hampshire, our Child Protection Statute, RSA 169-c, allows for two avenues, abuse or neglect. Abuse can be a little more black and white – there are four different types of abuse listed in the current law: Sexual abuse, Intentionally physically injured, Psychologically injured and Physically injured by other than accidental means. I think that sexual abuse and intentional physical abuse are fairly straight forward. psychologically injured is sometimes more difficult to prove, and physically injured by other than accidental means simply means that while you might not have intended to send your son to the hospital when you kicked him with a steel toed boot, he did end up with injuries.
Now that we have an understanding of abuse, lets move on to neglect. Our law states that a child has been neglected if one of three things happen: (1) they have been abandoned, (2) they are “without proper parental care or control… necessary for their physical, mental or emotional health, and when it is established that their health has suffered or is very likely to suffer serious impairment, and this deprivation is not due primarily to lack of financial means” or (3) their parent is “unable to discharge their responsibilities because of incarceration, hospitalization or other physical or mental incapacity”. So what does this mean? Well, it means if the child was abandoned, even for one night, then this law says the parent is at fault. If the child’s health “has suffered or is likely to suffer serious impairment”, then the parent is at fault. Finally, if the parent is in prison, hospitalized, or has some other incapacity, and have not made arrangements for their child, then they are at fault.
So, Attorney Werme warns parents to be aware of the “neglect charge”. For example, DCYF might receive a report stating that a father has sexually abused his 6 year old daughter. DCYF would first look to this girl’s mother to protect her from future abuse. We generally ask that the alleged victim not have contact with the alleged perpetrator until we are able to interview the child (usually the same day, or the following day). If our investigation turns up evidence that this allegation might be true, then we would ask this girl’s mother to continue protecting her daughter. If this mother refused to believe these allegations, if she chose to believe her husband or boyfriend over her daughter, then DCYF would be forced to take action against this mother. Why? Because this mother would have placed her daughter into a situation where she might be sexually abused again. Under New Hampshire State Law, this would cause the little girl to be “without proper parental care and control”.
Do we always file neglect charges against a parent who has not committed any abuse? Most definitely no. We follow the letter of the law – if our laws say that a parent has neglected their child, then we bring this information to Court and allow a Justice to make the decision. If a parent protects their child, (meaning they provide their child with “proper parental care and control”) then we do not file charges against that parent. However, if DCYF is able to prove that there is a potentially dangerous environment for a child, we trust that child’s parent(s) to protect him or her. If they choose not to protect their child, then the law is designed so that DCYF can step in and do the protecting.
In dealing with Ms Werme I have found that her interest are more selfish then a genuine concern for the parents she claims to represent, certainly the children who are the ones to suffer the most and the foster parents who give of themseleves. The court appoints a casa worker who works for the well being of the child independent from both the birth parents and dcyf.In my experience they do great job! The only mission Ms. Werme is engaged in that of self promotion. While we all recognize the shortcomings of the state run departments most are well run and staffed by people who genuinly care. They work long hours and could probaly fimd other profssions were they would be better compensated. They do their job because they feel stongly about what they do. Ms. Werme should spend more time dealing with why these children have been removed before taking on a case for a wrongly accused parents. At the end of the day the mission is the children those who seldom have a voice. Shame on Paula Werme for using a segment of our society that can not defend themselves and need to rely on others!
Roger – you fail to mention that you attempted to alienate this child from her father’s affections two years before DCYF involvement – don’t worry – we’ll get to that in trial. I consider your “values” to be in the toilet if you think this is acceptable. How’s it that you want guardianship because this child desperately wants to be baptized Catholic, yet you list your religion on your foster care app as “lapsed Catholic.” You ought to be excommunicated.
There is NO reason why this child should not be with her father. He’s no more unfit than you, and really cosiderably more fit since you’re so arrogant that you think you have the right to do what you did.
The following comments are directed towards the first post from “sarah”.
First you say – “DCYF would first look to this girl’s mother to protect her from future abuse. We generally ask that the alleged victim not have contact with the alleged perpetrator until we are able to interview the child (usually the same day, or the following day).
In one sentence you use the term “to protect her from future abuse”. The next sentence you use the term “alleged victim”. If you are as well versed in these terms as you proport to be than certainly you must realize that there is a vast difference between alleged and being proven guilty in a court of law, unless of course you are inferring that DCYF is exempt from that standard? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but the last time I checked there was a legal supposition in this country of innocent UNTIL proven guilty.
You go on to say – “If our investigation turns up evidence that this allegation might be true, then we would ask this girl’s mother to continue protecting her daughter”.
So in other words, even before you have proven this allegation to be true you are requiring that the family be broken apart to “save” the child from what boils down to nothing more than what may be a he said, she said situation. If the parents refuse to split apart to “protect” the child from future (as yet unproven) abuse then the DCYF will step in and charge the mother with neglect because she did not agree to the validity of the allegation. So in other words she either agrees with your assessment or she loses her child too. Sounds like Due Process to me!
You know what the bottom line here is…..if the DCYF is so sure that they possess adequate evidence that abuse has in fact occurred, than why are they so opposed to having parents zealously represented? Oh, and one other question, if there is so much physical abuse going on in this country why are the prosecution rates only at 32%????? Any thoughts?
You say you follow the letter of the law. But the law says all citizens have the right to due process. You say that you do not file neglect charges unless neglect is proven. Proven by whose standards? It seems that if it is your opinion then it is proven as far as you and the courts are concerned. If children are only removed in cases of proven neglect then why am I advocating for so many families where the abuse or neglect has no basis in fact? Do you really have any idea of how many children are in foster care based on false allegations that are unfounded? If your allegations of neglect and abuse are proven then why do so many police and investigative reports declare the allegations unfounded yet the children remain in foster care? How many children who have been in the system or aged out of the system have you spoken with? I have spoken to many. When ask who caused the destruction in their lives they point the finger not at the falsly accused parent but at the system that destroyed their families. You submit your definitions of abuse and neglect as if we are to uneducated to fully understand what these things are. Let me tell you that we do fully understand. We understand what abuse is everytime we hear of a child dieing from abuse and or neglect while in foster care. We understand abuse in its most horrendous form when our children are stripped from our loving arms and sold to the highest bidder for the sake of federal funding. In your comments you refer to the agencies in the WE context. You are speaking of the agencies as if this is some sisterhood that you must defend. Maybe you play by the rules but I can assure you that not all child protective agencies and their empolyees play by those same rules. I would like answers, do you have them? Why does a large amount of unsubstantiated cases result with children still in foster care? If the case is substantiated then why were their no legal ramifications such as trial and sentencing? Why are a large percent of the children raised in foster care highly dysfunctional and report serious abuse at the hands of the fosterers and other children? If these children are so much better off in foster care then why does the agencies deem it necessary to medicate these children into submission? How much reasearch have you done on the other side of this issue? From your comments I suspect very little to none!!!
I noticed that any report of abuse-not necessarily from the child-is considered reason to separate the father from the family. Then it is stated that if a mother chooses to believe the father over the child. Tht is one situation. It is quite another if the mother believes her husband over some anonymous caller who has made accusations. And if the caller remains anonymous then there is no way for the accused to show prejudice and ill will on the part of the caller. One lone call from an anknown person is sufficient to separate a family? Can anyone really believe that is fair, right or decent?
Let me ask you this?
Now that they (A panel of State Experts on Staten Island NY recently)have openly admitted that our children have had dollar signs on thier forheads via Government funding to States for the amt of children in Foster Care and children sucessfully adopted aka incentives to find parents guilty of abuse so the money keeps flowing in, can you honestly sit there and say only real abuse cases move foward?
If you can, then I have this bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell, are you interested?
I’ll sell it for a dollar!
Wake up and smell the coffee
I will add one thing here. A friend whose brother recently was convicted of shaking a baby to death sent me a May 2004 Michigan Bar Journal article where research is cited stating that there is no scientific evidence that Shaken Baby Syndrome is a real phenomenon. It is titled “Junk Science in SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome) and Child Head/Brain Injuries.” Courts are starting to exclude the testimony of the so-called “experts” in these cases. What about these “proven” cases? I know for a fact that our own state medical examiner considers himself an expert in child abuse and is willing to testify in child abuse cases as an “expert.” I bet he can’t prove any more scientific evidence pointing to SBS as a real phenomenon himself.
If anyone is interested in a copy of the article, I have it on my computer. Contact me at paulawnospam@werme.8m.net Delete the “nospam”.
Hi paula good site, Im currently under investigation for my son noah having a scratch on his back . I let them in my home and they interviewed all three sons in seperate rooms on tape recorder upon my approval before my friend lauri henderson told me of your site unfortunately . tHE COMPLAINT WAS ONLY FILED ON NOAH . And he supposbly told them two stories he is 7 one that dad rubbed him up against a wall and then that granma hit him . 3 yrs ago my wife died of cancer leaving me with our three sons noah 7 paul 14 and mason 4. DCYF tried toget me to sign the medical release forms i said i needed to speak with some people The girl young there were three of them the two couldnt have been over 20 and the boss maybe 30.Then said well ill mail you a envelope to make it easier for you so just sign them and mail that right back to me . I said no ill be in ports tomorrow ill drop them off , she said no no just send them in ok I said no im going to be in the area ill drop them off she said im trying to make it easier for you . I said thank you but ill drop them off . I read your site thank God and dropped them off unsigned and thanked them for visiting and then i filled out a request for coopy of report . The next day my older son said they were at the school talking to his the oldest s teachers .What do you think of there strategy to get me to sign by mailing me the envelope ?
I actually read part of your blog. I have recently had my daughter placed with my ex husband due to what is claimed to be “neglect” I never have recieved any type of pamphlets from any DCYF worker explaining any of my rights at all… perhaps all workers should be on the same page regarding the information provided to a parent. It’s horrible enough having to worry about your children going through this horrible process and ordeal never mind having to navigate the red tape as a parent.