My vote on what to do with the money is to aim for lawyers... a lot of people have already tried the lobby route and it's not doing much.
Cindy Blackstock is doing a lot of good work in forcing the government to change funding and the route she took was using lawyers and taking the government to the Human Rights Tribunal.
I've been following the work of the BCALU who just won a major victory over solitary confinement in prisons; and how they work is going to court on an issue that changes things for overall... in that case "solitary confinement is inhumane treatment." Now it changes the rules on how we treat people across Canada.
It's the same with Foster Care... some of the things they do to the kids can't be legal... leaving them unattended in motels for months at a time.
Aside from individual cases, suppose a lawyer picks that as something to attack in court and get a ruling that it's inhuman, or against their charter rights... it changes the rules across Canada.
One piece at a time chip away at the system until it gets fixed and protects families.
That's my two cents. :-)
Yes! I agree!
Bit by bit, piece by piece,
If enough of us make a noise, they will have no option but to listen!
Thanks for sharing this information
Actually I've been thinking about how to find the success stories, where people have managed to change things for the better, in fact these are the stories we should focus on as they bring hope, and they are proof that it's possible to beat the system or change it.
Thanks for your 2 cents!
Totally agree with this statement. Success stories are empowering and hopeful.
It might also be necessary to work one county or authority at a time.
It’s, in my experience (home schooling context in the UK), a good idea to find authorities that have a good rep for good/fair practice.
We’ve used them in the past in a process where we consulted with our own authority to improve their practice. Often they will listen best to their own people, initially.
We’ve done this in the UK with authority services dealing with home schooled kids. We (@helensoutar & I) got copies of our authority’s contracts with subcontractors who provide the services to home educators. These kinds of contracts often exist and where they do you can be sure they are conferring ‘statutory duties’ the authority doesn’t actually have by law. That was our foot in the door to start cleanup in the authority. We made lots of people aware of the unlawful nature of their contracts. Much of the infringement of rights was taking place based on dodgy contracts.
Thank you for your input @sallylloyd
It appears we have some homework to do, but reading comments like this gives me hope that we can really start to get a clear vision of the path ahead!
We just have to learn how to play their game before we can become victors!
It's funny! This all started because they told me If I homeschool my children, CPS will take them from us!
Big Mistake!
I remember way back when you posted that @markwhittam.
We were not quite dealing with this level of severity here in Staffordshire, UK but we were definitely building up to it. Thankfully, though our home ed service were certainly on the witch hunt, child protection were not playing ball. So the home ed team stooped to issuing fake school orders and making multiple protection reports.
Here is one breaking success story that may help shine the light on steps that some will be able to take. This John Doe, who recently turned 18 was a "Foster Child" put into a Child Porn Ring who is now suing CPS for $15 million in Arizona. https://thegoldwater.com/news/17498-Foster-Child-put-into-Child-Porn-Ring-Suing-Child-Protective-Services-for-15-Million-in-Arizona
Hi. I am VERY new to Steemit. That story is such a heartbreaking story. That young man was placed in a home with a horrible man. Even though Arizona DCS KNEW that there were issues with this home, they placed little Devani with him. How many children did this foster parent destroy, and how many people within DCS were aware of what he was doing to innocent children. I pray that this young man wins that lawsuit. We are still advocating for Devani to be returned to her REAL family.
Here is more on that lawsuit from Health Impact News: http://medicalkidnap.com/2018/02/06/arizona-foster-care-system-revealed-as-pedophile-ring-former-foster-child-tortured-for-years-sues-for-15-million/