ecoTrain Question Of The Week: Lawful kidnapping by the State (Child Protection, Social Services) is a symptom of a modern day crisis. What are the issues that lie behind the increasing trend of State taking children away from their parents, and what can be done to prevent abhorrent injustice?

I have to be honest, I don't know much about ecoTrain yet (but will soon 😊). I saw the title and started to write.

OK, I know that some of the readers here might think I completely lost it when I say that the trend we see in regards to Child Protection is something that has been worked on for a long time, consciously and unconsciously. But mostly consciously. The people involved, parents of children in question, people who have the cps finger ready to dial, doctors, nurses, churches, teachers, etc. etc. - in other words: anyone who is in contact with children and their parents each play their own roles in this.
Some do a great job. Others unwillingly or willingly don't - and there are a few that are just horrible at it.
Those few are a few too many.

Child protection during pregnancy

In some countries, like the Netherlands for instance, where abortion is not illegal, things are sometimes taken to the other extreme. Tests are done to see if everything is OK during pregnancy. Usually it is.

But if it's not, like when the outcome shows the possibility of a major disability in the child, it is almost advised to terminate. This puts parents in a position to make an impossible choice: welcome a disabled child or terminate a pregnancy because it could 'possibly be one with a negative outcome.'
When I had my three older children in the Netherlands, I was overwhelmed with the brochures and flyers outlining my options in the case of a negative test outcome. I declined the tests with my two younger children.
The problem here is that some parents could be as overwhelmed by this as I was and more, and make choices that will forever change their lives, while there would be a possibility for them to welcome a child with flaws, but who is at the same time a great gift and would enrich their lives immensely. The doubts are put into their heads by those who otherwise would not hesitate to ring CPS for any other instance.

I mention these examples of child protection before birth because it clearly outlines the power others have over the lives of mother and child, when the power should be with the mother at all times.
Instead of empowering women, nowadays in most developed countries women are broken down to believe that they know nothing about birth, don't know their own bodies and have no say in the matter.
They are turned into birth machines, forced to sit on the side-line of their most important moment in their lives.
Not only does this affect the mother, but also the (un)born child, simply because he or she is connected to the mother until after birth.
These are examples where child protection fails and oversteps boundaries.

Child protection before birth

I think we can all agree that all life is precious, no matter what our stance on abortion is.
It is one of the most controversial and contradicting subjects and I don't believe there is anyone who ever thought that making a choice in this would come easy.
That aside, there are countries where abortion is allowed and others where it's not. And there are places where, in some cases, it is even advised.
In Ireland, it has always been illegal to have an abortion.
Of course, it is not as black and white as that, but in this country, this has cost the lives of mothers.
The too basic rule: "If there's a heartbeat, there is life and therefore it needs protecting" has caused problems that resulted in the death of mothers.

Equally, the decision made by people, other than the mother and her partner, have also resulted in maternal/ infant mortalities.

Example:

Savita Halappanavar was a 31 year old woman from India who entered the hospital in Galway, Ireland with complications in her pregnancy at 17 weeks. She never left it alive.

The story: The baby was coming, but at 17 weeks, it was impossible for the child to survive.
Mother begged for a termination because she felt there was something not right.
This was ignored. The pregnancy could not be terminated due to the laws in Ireland at the time: No termination as long as there is a heart-beat. The life of the unborn child, that had no chance of survival, was chosen to be protected even if it would cost the mother's life. And it did.
Turned out, the miscarriage was septic and this was eventually what killed the woman. The woman, who knew her own body better than anyone, knew there was something terribly wrong but was ignored - causing her death.
The doctor in charge is still working, while a man lost his child and wife and has to live with that awful fact.
And not only that, while the mother lost her life, the unborn child has possibly been put through unnecessary suffering by a doctor who knew it better and followed protocol. Where were CPS now?
It's one of those examples where both the medical profession and church/state are involved. When will people see they are all connected?

Child protection during birth

Back in Holland, I used to work with pregnant women. Due to the nature of my business, I developed a lot of close relationships with those women, even if it was only for a few months (I remember every single one and they are all precious). Some women were first time mothers to be, others had older children.
I’ve heard all the stories. Unimaginable stories….
I think it’s time some of their stories are told.

Story Ruby:
Ruby was born in the hospital into the arms of her loving parents. It had been a long and hard labor until eventually the midwife suggested the membranes should be broken. They declined.
The parents wanted a birth as natural as possible, but chose the hospital for safety. Something they later regretted. After a few hours of slow movement, but no danger for either the mother nor child, the midwife had enough and insisted on the breaking of the membranes and the excuse was the hour of the day and ‘if anything were to go wrong, there was no anaesthetist on call’ in the case that they needed one, and ‘their baby could die’. Child protection during birth at it's best...

And also after birth:
Blackmailed into submission, they reluctantly agreed.
After this, a shitstorm of events rolled over to the next and what started as a normal, natural birth process, ended in a brutal birth with forceps in which one doctor handled the medieval instrument (because that is what it is) and another nurse or midwife handled the baby but not with care.
A few days later at home, the mother discovered a bump on the shoulder of her newborn baby.
The nurse-help at home didn’t trust it, sent them to the hospital, where they were awaited by CPS. Less than one week old, the nursing baby was ripped from her mother's arms and both parents were investigated for child abuse.
The babies’ shoulder was broken and they were blamed for causing this injury.
Two weeks went by, when one doctor admitted that there was a chance that the child’s shoulder was broken during birth and the child was returned to her mother.

How did CPS work and fail?

They made assumptions before they gathered any facts. As a result, both the parents and child were put through unnecessary heartache and trauma.
The parents were automatically blamed and the response to that was the ultimate horror story for the family, while the doctor is still working under his license.

It doesn’t seem to be an issue if the abuser is a doctor.
Where were the CPS now?

Child Protection right after birth

If new parents follow the guidelines given by mainstream child health practitioners, there will never be an issue.
But as soon as they question these guidelines or even step out of line, there's trouble.
This can range from refusing Vitamin K injections (in countries where this is common), refusing the heel prick to doubting and refusing to vaccinate their children right after birth.
There are too many countries in the world, where a choice like that is used against the parents and puts them at risk of losing their child.
Choices like these should always be informed choices but what we see too much now is that parents have no chance to get informed or even make a choice without consequences.

Child protection based on life choices

When a mother decides that life without the partner after a child is born is the best choice to make for her family, she is at risk of unnecessary meddling regarding child protection.
In a lot of countries, a break up is a 'no-questions-asked' referral to CPS. In some places all they want to know is if the child is protected and safe, but in all instances it causes unnecessary stress.
The issue people often times fail to see is that most mothers only want what's best for their child and would ring alarm if they thought they needed help. The system implies that these women need help, either way. Something that couldn't be less empowering. Single mothers are broken down and conditioned to believe that not they, but the State knows best.

Being a single parent in general (mother or father) oftentimes raises questions with CPS.
The same issues arise: they are led to believe they are somehow inadequate in raising their children, because they don't live in a 'normal' family setting. Again, the state knows best, the single parents know nothing.

Life choices that are 'different':

1. The choice to homeschool your children can have serious implications.
   In some countries, like Sweden and Germany, it is even illegal to homeschool your
   Children. If you do, they will take your children. In other countries, it can be easier,
   but in most you will be on their watch list.

2. Living ‘off-grid’: you grow your own food instead of buying toxic waste in the shops.
   This, and especially in combination with homeschooling, can make you a target.
   CPS is oftentimes overstepping their boundaries in cases like this. Why?
   Because you are different.
   They don’t know enough about you and they don’t often see your children since they aren’t in school.
   You must be a horrible parent.
   Enough reason for CPS to make your life a living hell.

All these examples above, ranging from child protection before birth until child protection based on life choices, have one or a few things in common: in all these cases, third parties are choosing to go behind the backs of the ones that should have the most say in the matter.

It is all done on purpose and it is done to break us down and the family bond.

We’re conditioned to believe that:

birth is dangerous
mother knows nothing about her own birth process
doctors are gods, midwives a good second, nurses third, but all above the mother and her partner.

We are not capable of properly caring for our children. We need the watching eye of CPS to protect our children from ourselves.

We are not part of a community, it is everyone for themselves. The community is a danger to their plan, so division as early as possible is the best way of control (think schools where conditioning is at its finest).
If this kind of indoctrination continues, we will lose all that is important: the family bond.
And it is the most important foundation of all - without it, we as a species fail.

What can be done?

Raising awareness and this needs to be repeated over and over again, until most, if not all people are awakened to the fact that what they thought was truth is no longer so. Question everything. All the time.

Building close communities is essential to stand against injustice done by the state and their CPS helpers. This can be here online, on Steemit, but preferably also in real life.
Safety in numbers…

Teach children the values of community spirit and family at an early age. This way, they will
not easily fall for the traps set out before them. And most of all: teach them to think for themselves. To question, question and question again.

Speak to health and child care professionals and bring up these subjects as often as you can.
Not all are evil, most actually started this kind of job for all the right reasons. Maybe some will have an open mind and
if not right away, then maybe later in a situation that proves your point.
Someone is bound to listen and remember. I spoke to a cps worker once at a conference. She was very open-minded and interested in what I had to say. After speaking to her for half an hour, she told me that she now considered home schooling her child when he came to school age. That's a win! It's possible!

And the most important one of all is this:
Bring power back to us, empower women, men. The man is the life bringer, the woman the life giver.
We have done this for a long time without needing anyone else to tell us how. We are very well capable to do this on our own, and we all need to know and live this. If we do, our children will follow by example and there will be a different world. One with more awareness and no more indoctrination.

Thank you for reading.

Love & Light

@misslasvegas