“A most appalling pattern is emerging,” says Suzanne Shell, author and founder of the Family Advocacy Center. “They take the children first and ask questions later.”

“A most appalling pattern is emerging,” said Suzanne Shell, author of Profane Justice: A Comprehensive Guide to Asserting Your Parental Rights and founder of the Family Advocacy Center, which fights for the rights of parents falsely accused of abuse or neglect. “They take the children first and ask questions later.”

While instances do exist where children are abused and must have their safety and well-being ensured, child protective service agencies enter homes 3,000 times a day. Shell and other family advocates say that in many cases, children are removed from their homes with no evidence of abuse or neglect.

The state agencies and local laws they act on follow the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 (which created the Child Protective Services [CPS] system) and its subsequent amendments. Since the law passed, child abuse reports have increased sharply. The Government Accounting Office stated in 1997 that over a nine-year period beginning in 1988, reports of child abuse or neglect to CPS agencies across the United States rose 41 percent, reaching 3,195,000 by 1997.

continued...

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