On Monday, January 27, 2009, National Coalition For Men (NCFM) member John Van Doorn’s spoke before the San Diego Board of Supervisors regarding Child Protective Services and the recent California Supreme Court decision in Humphries v Los Angeles. He then followed up with a letter to the Supervisors as well as a press release which is below. I have posted John’s efforts to show how one person can responsibly present before a local governmental body of elected officials then follow-up to ensure testimony given is reinforced.
To John’s credit he regularly testifies before the San Diego Board of Supervisors; and, he ran for a strong incumbent’s Supervisor’s position in the last election garnering over 30,000 (roughly 1/3) of votes cast. He will run again in the next election and his participation at Board meetings is providing him with other insights necessary to win the next election.
Coincidentally, the District Attorney requested approval of a $750,000 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) funds. John had another unscripted opportunity to pitch the fact that VAWA now specified that funding could be used for abused men too, but in San Diego no funds went directly to programs for abused men. One of the Supervisors, apparently the Chairwomen, stated on the public record that the funds would only be used for women. Given the recent California Supreme Court Ruling in Woods v Shewry she may have committed the County of San Diego to an untenable and litigious position; and, given us a nice surprise gift…
To the esteemed Board of Supervisors,
Attached are copies of the recent Federal decision “Humphries v. County of LA” as promised in today’s earlier presentation.
For too long, our Children’s Welfare Services agency has operated without any public safeguards and far too many citizens of this county have had their reputations damaged and families destroyed by the misguided efforts of this agency. With the Humphries decision in hand, the Public at large now have the right to demand due process, to review their CPS files, and the right to mount a viable defense against the oft baseless allegations of this agency. Once a number of these hearings are conducted, it should be obvious to this Board that the past behavior of this agency will not only be an embarassment to this County, but also may pose a significant liability, both for the cost of reparations for past offenses as well as the cost of the potential thousands of case reviews that can (and likely will) be requested. .
As you may well suspect, I will be continuing my efforts to make the public aware of the past and present offenses of this agency and initiating future discussions regarding the financial motivations to this county (i.e., Federal reimbursements and incentives) that have led to this county treating Children’s Welfare Services as a ‘for-profit’ enterprise, whereby the greater number of citizens that can be labelled as ‘possible’ abusers results in a greater reimbursement from our federal government.
It’s time to stop selling out our children and destroying families in the name of increasing county revenues. Our children deserve better!
Sincerely,
John van Doorn
To the members of the media, please refer to my testimony given at the 1/27/2009 hearing, a transcript of which is attached to this email. Also attached is a copy of the Humphries decision, and a copy of a press release regarding Humphries issued by the Pacific Justice Institute.
If you would like to talk with me about the public perception of CPS, my personal experience with their unethical and illegal behavior, or if you would like to follow and report this effort as it proceeds it’s slow course, I invite your participation. My contact information is detailed below.
John van Doorn
1645 Olmeda Street
Encinitas, CA 92024
H (760) 230-6200
C (858) 449-4492
