California CPS kidnaps Russian baby

[mendeleyev]

Yes, it is a provocative headline. But when you read the details of this case and watch the TV reports, I'll think you'll be as angry as it made me.

http://www.news10.net/news/article/242734/2/Couple-fights-to-get-baby-back-from-CPS-police


Watching the police filmed as they entered a private home without a warrant and searched thru rooms without a warrant is mind-boggling.

[Shadow]

Usual story. Parents can beat a child daily, but as long as they charm the doctors nothing happens.
Question the doctor and CPS will find a reason.

[Anotherkiwi]

I know that the USA is the most litigious society in the world, so what I see here is the hospital being so scared that they would be sued for possibly inappropriate treatment of the suspected heart murmur that they wouldn't let the parents exercise their right to a second (and third, and fourth...) opinion about their son's health.
 
How much further into the mire have they sunk themselves by causing the removal of a happy (and presumably well-cared for) baby from his home by illegal means?  Next headline:  "Russians beat Americans at own game."

[calmissile]

Mendy, I think this story will piss off every American citizen.  One of the problems is that police, cps, politicians, judges are generally protected from lawsuits.  There is no accountability anymore.  We should have seen it coming with the Patriot Act.

Hopefully the family will be reunited.  Unfortunately the mainstream media seldom follows up on any action taken against officials.  I was happy to see the report that the woman  that was shot by rougue cops in L. A.  did receive a large settlement.   Unfortunately it was paid by the taxpayers rather than the cops and their managers.

[GQBlues]

There's about 1 in 200 bust cases like this in the world of CPS. That's 199 timely cases versus 1 really stupidly bad one. Alex and Anna's case just happens to be one of those...





I hope Baby Sammy will be fine. The good news is they'll probably get a cool million$ for their trouble.

But one thing to note: This is an exception and not the rule - unlike so many other  places in the world. Child safety trumps all other social priority.

[Shadow]

There's about 1 in 200 bust cases like this in the world of CPS. That's 199 timely cases versus 1 really stupidly bad one. Alex and Anna's case just happens to be one of those...


I hope Baby Sammy will be fine. The good news is they'll probably get a cool million$ for their trouble.

But one thing to note: This is an exception and not the rule - unlike so many other  places in the world. Child safety trumps all other social priority.

Someone placing a bomb in Boston is also an exception. Does not mean it should not be adressed and something changed that will stop it from being repeated.

[mendeleyev]

On Monday a California judge ordered CPS to return the child to the parents. With all the fuss about treatment of Russian orphans in the USA, this case made headlines over the weekend in Russia. The hearing was attended by Vice Consul Igor Shaktar-ool, of the Russian Federation Consulate in San Francisco as the case had attracted the attention of the highest levels of the Russian government after hitting the television airwaves in Russia.

It seems that CPS had disregarded the second hospital's recommendation that the child was safe and fine with the parents. A police officer sent to the second hospital to ascertain the situation also felt the child was in no danger and his recommendation fell on deaf ears. Without an interview with the family or home study, the baby was taken from a loving home.

[GoodOlBoy]

No win (lose-lose) situation.
 
Putin blames all of us here for this "mistake" in judgement by CPS and if God forbid the child dies Putin blames the GoodOl' USA anyway for killing Russian babies.
 
MHO, better safe than sorry.
 
GOB
 

[Shadow]

No win (lose-lose) situation.
 
Putin blames all of us here for this "mistake" in judgement by CPS and if God forbid the child dies Putin blames the GoodOl' USA anyway for killing Russian babies.
 
MHO, better safe than sorry.
 
GOB

The child was safe and CPS is 'sorry'.
No excuse for such action when there was clearly indication the child was not in any danger.
There is no amount of money that can make the parents trust in the American CPS ever again.

[GoodOlBoy]

There is no amount of money that can make the parents trust in the American CPS ever again.

Don't worry sir, they will get much more than their "ten minutes of fame" out of this fiasco. 

 
   JMO, but Putin should focus more of his attention on his broodmare concubine Alina Kabaeva and a little less on the GoodOl' USA.
 
GOB

[Shadow]

Don't worry sir, they will get much more than their "ten minutes of fame" out of this fiasco. 

 
   JMO, but Putin should focus more of his attention on his broodmare concubine Alina Kabaeva and a little less on the GoodOl' USA.
 
GOB

Imagine this: your wife falls at home and you go with her to the hospital.
Some overactive nurse decides that all men who marry RW are wife beaters, and the injury came from you beating her, regardless of what she or you say.
She reports this, and one hour after you get home a SWAT team breaks down your door and takes your wife to a 'safe house'.

Would you have a similar opinion on this being a 'minor incident' and 'better safe than sorry'  ?

[GoodOlBoy]

Imagine this: your wife falls at home and you go with her to the hospital.

Funny you mention it Shadow. 
 
When Marina first arrived in the GoodOl' USA, she used to ride a brand new ladies bicycle that I purchased at Wally world (Wal-Mart) for her to get around on, while she was learning to drive.
 
Anyway, one day she fell of the bike onto the street. She got scratched up pretty good and I was worried about her arm, so off to the hospital we go.
 
Long story short, before we went to the hospital Marina changed her clothes and got "cleaned up" a little bit at the house, so when we arrived at the hospital, she didn't look that bad.
 
I signed in and filled out the paperwork for Marina and then we waited to see the nurse.
 
The nurse took one look at Marina, looked at me and excused herself from the examination room.
 
The doctor came in next and asked me to leave the room declaring that he wanted to do a "physical examination" on Marina.
 
I left the exam room and sat out in the waiting room. A very long time later Marina came out. I figured that they took her for x-rays for her arm or something like that. I was wrong. They had been questioning Marina all this time about the injuries she had and my possible involvement in them??
 
Marina felt embarrassed enough about falling off the bike, but even worse that the staff was trying to somehow pin this on me.
 
Of course nothing came out of this incident and we went on to the pharmacy (Walgreens) and got her prescription (pain medicine) filled and then I took Marina home and got her into bed (sorry, no sex story ML).
 
But this whole event does give one pause.
 
Also to any Newbies reading this, be sure you have insurance in place BEFORE your lady arrives. One trip to the ER or Dentist can be very expensive and if something happens that requires surgery the medical bills could be astronomical.
 
GOB
 
Sorry for the    Mendy.

[GQBlues]

On Monday a California judge ordered CPS to return the child to the parents. With all the fuss about treatment of Russian orphans in the USA, this case made headlines over the weekend in Russia. The hearing was attended by Vice Consul Igor Shaktar-ool, of the Russian Federation Consulate in San Francisco as the case had attracted the attention of the highest levels of the Russian government after hitting the television airwaves in Russia...

There's that pesky 'bear blaming the bee for eating all the honey' again...

..It seems that CPS had disregarded the second hospital's recommendation that the child was safe and fine with the parents. A police officer sent to the second hospital to ascertain the situation also felt the child was in no danger and his recommendation fell on deaf ears. Without an interview with the family or home study, the baby was taken from a loving home.

There isn't a matter of 'disregard', rather it's more of being over-zealous. Sutter calls CPS as soon as the parents departed. They in turn opens a file and call the authorities. When in comes to child endangerment, they spare not one second to 'act'. The cops reach the parents at Kaiser and everything is declared 'a-ok'.

In the meantime, the newly opened file got shuffled in 'active' mode and continued through the process the rest of the day. The first dispatched police's report never nullified the file and likely was late getting into the mix. Next day rolls and it automatically prompt another attempt to check on the child, only this time, and since it's a 24-hour lapse, a case worker is dispatches into the home escorted by the police to retrieve the child.

That's protocol.

http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/cps/cps.pdf

Better to err in the side of caution but Russia is free to make this a heck of a lot more than it has to be to mask their ever-growing child neglect cases in-country from the their own population. Propaganda is still alive and well in that part of the region.

So, there's really nothing here, folks. You may now all go home...

[Shadow]

Better to err in the side of caution but Russia is free to make this a heck of a lot more than it has to be to mask their ever-growing child neglect cases in-country from the their own population. Propaganda is still alive and well in that part of the region.

So, there's really nothing here, folks. You may now all go home...

Better not to err at all than making the parent scared for life to go to a hospital with their child.

Nothing to see here, just some insignificant Russian people who had their child taken by force while the protocol is to blame.
Happens all the time. If they would have carried a gun it might not have happened....

[mendeleyev]

The CPS is guilty of overreaching and the People's Demokratic Republic of Kalifornication should be taken to the cleaners. They failed standard protocol by failing to do a family interview and in home survey which is also standard.

Given that we no longer march the offending parties out to the gallows in these modern times, a lawsuit and firing the overzealous is the least one could do.

[ML]

I left the exam room and sat out in the waiting room. A very long time later Marina came out. I figured that they took her for x-rays for her arm or something like that. I was wrong. They had been questioning Marina all this time about the injuries she had and my possible involvement in them??

We have a wood burning furnace (works with gas also) with full ducting to heat the entire house.  My Gal loves to put the firewood in . . . but she is not careful and has burned her arm a couple of times on the framing around the furnace door.

I took her to medic for ear infection . . . and they noticed two burns on her arm, one old and one new.  They quizzed her about it and asked her if she was living with a husband.  Then they asked her if she was living with a son ???  Never asked her about another category of man.

She came out very puzzled about it all; until I explained it to her.

But all in all, it is probably a good system; as I hear there are such real cases.

[Hammer2722]

I really hope this couple sues the Pants off CPS!!! Its pretty obvious they did not follow their own rules.

[BillyB]

I hope Baby Sammy will be fine. The good news is they'll probably get a cool million$ for their trouble.

Based off that video, maybe they prepared ahead of time to get that million? They must have known CPS were sending the cops to their house so they placed video recording machines in various rooms. They purposely didn't lock the front door so the cops could enter without restrictions in order to prove the cops entered uninvited. I feel bad for anybody that unnecessarily get separated from their child but something about the video cameras getting set up ahead of time and door left unlocked before the cops arrived is strange.

[Muzh]

I hope Baby Sammy will be fine. The good news is they'll probably get a cool million$ for their trouble.

Unfortunately, the fact is that the officers were following the letter of the law.
 
I say unfortunately because you are seeing the erosion of our rights as citizens of this country.
 
With that said, they can try for the cool million. I don't think they will get it.

[calmissile]

Unfortunately, the fact is that the officers were following the letter of the law.
I say unfortunately because you are seeing the erosion of our rights as citizens of this country.
 
With that said, they can try for the cool million. I don't think they will get it.

Not sure I follow you on this.  As I recall, the officers went to the 2nd hospital and was told that the baby was fine to be taken home.  IIRC, the officer advised his superiors (or maybe CPS) and it fell  on deaf ears.

I do agree with you about civil liberties being erroded away all the time.

[Hammer2722]

Based off that video, maybe they prepared ahead of time to get that million? They must have known CPS were sending the cops to their house so they placed video recording machines in various rooms. They purposely didn't lock the front door so the cops could enter without restrictions in order to prove the cops entered uninvited. I feel bad for anybody that unnecessarily get separated from their child but something about the video cameras getting set up ahead of time and door left unlocked before the cops arrived is strange.

If I remember the article, the cops frisked the father outside the house and found the house keys so they did use them to enter the house.....

[calmissile]

If I remember the article, the cops frisked the father outside the house and found the house keys so they did use them to enter the house.....

The father making the comparison of this incident to living in Russia during communist times was intersting.  It gives us something to think about.

[Vasilisa]

Based off that video, maybe they prepared ahead of time to get that million? They must have known CPS were sending the cops to their house so they placed video recording machines in various rooms. They purposely didn't lock the front door so the cops could enter without restrictions in order to prove the cops entered uninvited. I feel bad for anybody that unnecessarily get separated from their child but something about the video cameras getting set up ahead of time and door left unlocked before the cops arrived is strange.

It doesn't surprise me at all. Many Russians use special videocameras (видеорегистраторы) on their cars as they are driving, you can find a lot of youtube videos, including the famous Chelyabinsk asteroid one shown on TV.
I personally don't know ANY American that would use them besides cops. I also know the guy that is graduated from MAI, he has videocameras installed in his Russian condo, so if the guy in the video is a computer programmer working in the US or something like that he could have a working videocamera in the house, remember the baby monitor, too.

[calmissile]

It doesn't surprise me at all. Many Russians use special videocameras (видеорегистраторы) on their cars as they are driving, you can find a lot of youtube videos, including the famous Chelyabinsk asteroid one shown on TV.
I personally don't know ANY American that would use them besides cops. I also know the guy that is graduated from MAI, he has videocameras installed in his Russian condo, so if the guy in the video is a computer programmer working in the US or something like that he could have a working videocamera in the house, remember the baby monitor, too.

Funny you mention the dash cams in the cars.  I was fascinated with them on my last trip to Ukraine and noticed them in nearly every taxi, bus, and many cars.  In fact when I got home I bought one off e-bay.  You know how it goes.... the boys and their toys.   LOL

[GQBlues]

Better not to err at all than making the parent scared for life to go to a hospital with their child.

Nothing to see here, just some insignificant Russian people who had their child taken by force while the protocol is to blame.  Happens all the time. If they would have carried a gun it might not have happened....

The CPS is guilty of overreaching and the People's Demokratic Republic of Kalifornication should be taken to the cleaners. They failed standard protocol by failing to do a family interview and in home survey which is also standard.

Given that we no longer march the offending parties out to the gallows in these modern times, a lawsuit and firing the overzealous is the least one could do.

LOL. It could be worst, baby Sammy could be stricken with mental disorder and had stayed in that Moscow hospital one unfortunate night that isn't equipped with fire extinguishers, especially if the windows are barred, and perished. So let's be thankful baby Sammy is in the USA.

If there's anything that is wrong with this case, I would cite Sutter Memorial to be the culprit due to 'allegedly' misdiagnosing the child's health. Then I could also lay some responsibility on the parents.

How so, you ask? Well...

1. You don't just walk off the hospital after the doctor had administered care on the patient WITHOUT proper hospital discharge. The parents should've known that.

2. I'm not a parent - yet - but I'm already gathering references and recommendations for pediatrician to care for an infant/child. In case anything happens to my child in the future, I would already have a 'vetted' pediatrician we already 'trust' for his/her care.

Now, if it turns out I still need a second opinion for whatever reason, especially if it involves surgery to my child (I'll probably get more than just 2), then I'll speak with my doctor and get a 'release' for the intent of seeking a second opinion if my child was in his care/hospital.

So there you have it. There's no 'kidnapping' here. Merely a couple who are emotionally-driven (understandably) and a public serving entity, in this instance - child protection services - following protocol.

Kidnapping, LOL.