One of the most appalling overreaches of CPS, in my opinion, comes when foster parents are allowed to violate parental rights in cases where they have NOT been terminated. Foster parents are supposed to provide a safe home for a child while the case is being adjudicated, NOT make decisions for the parents.

In a few recent cases I have read, it was about cutting hair and piercing ears. The former comes closer to a "gray area", but because, again, parental rights have not been violated, parental consent should be legally mandated before these actions are taken.

But it goes even further than that. As many of you know, I grew up Mormon. Though I was not an active member, I did not make a conscience choice to LEAVE the church until I was 18. In one foster home where I was placed, the family were Jehovah's Witnesses. I was required to go with them to the Kingdom Hall because they couldn't leave me home unsupervised, but wasn't allowed to go to my ward, where I was an active member (and, a couple years later, a deacon). When I was placed in foster care "finally" (at 15, where I would remain until I was 18), the first family was Baptist. The second, and final family was Church of God. In both cases, attending worship service at the LDS was unacceptable.

Parents make a variety of choices for their children. As long as they are not stripped of their parental rights, they have the legal RIGHT to make these choices. Foster parents and the CPS do not have a right to strip these choices from the parents, and should be subject to prosecution when they do.

What many people do not realize about Child Protective Services is their repeated and flagrant violation of the rights of the parents. The fact that they usually act without penalty only makes it worse. As I have maintained before, CPS is a broken system and should be destroyed and replaced by a system in which TRAINED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS handle the investigations.

CPS will argue that they err "on the side of the child". But how can that be, if a child is subject to growing up not knowing where they will live from one day to the next or the rules and regulations that will apply in their new placement? How can that be when children cry themselves to sleep longing for a mommy and daddy that they can only see in a sterile room with a one way mirror, a locked door and a social worker present? How can that be when they are removed from the schools and the friends they have established relationships with? How can that be when the religious values with which they have been raised are not enforced or are outright disrespected? And finally, how can that be when children routinely DIE in the foster homes that are supposed to be there for their safety?

There are far too many unanswered questions about Child Protective Services. This is a system that has not been held to the legal accountability that is required by law, and, in some cases, the Constitution. We MUST hold their feet to the fire and DEMAND that these questions be answered. And we must also realize that sometimes a system is so broken, so fundamentally flawed, that it cannot be fixed, simply discarded and replaced with something more respective of our constitutional RIGHTS.