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Corruption
in DSS Should Scuttle Cellucci
April 2001
The
appointment of Gov. Cellucci as Ambassador to Canada has been
opposed in a letter to all U.S. Senators by Justice for Families,
a group which is concerned about the “corrupt” DSS.
It
says that DSS is “rife with corruption and operates in blatant
and gross violation of its own policies, state regulations and
existing federal mandates,” according to Nev Moore, President
of the organization.
The
group said that although the agency seizes 25 children per day
without notice or warrant, it does not have to account to anyone.
“Gov.
Paul Cellucci’s conscious and deliberate decision to turn away
from his constituents’ legitimate concerns and pleas when they
are informing him of gross corruption within his administration
does not encourage a vote of confidence. It clearly illustrates
his contempt not only for the citizens, but for integrity, his
responsibility and his sworn oath to uphold the Constitution,”
Moore wrote.
Full
text of the letter is as follows:
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Full
text of the letter is as follows:
Dear
Senator:
I am writing to urge you to vote against the confirmation
of Governor Paul Cellucci of Massachusetts to the post of Ambassador
to Canada. We are Massachusetts residents who have a non-profit
group, Justice For Families, that was formed to help families
and children who have been erroneously (and, often, illegally)
disrupted by the state Department of Social Services.
We discovered through extensive research, including the
analysis of state and federal laws and policies, DSS case records,
court documents and by interviews of victims, that the Massachusetts
Department of Social Services is rife with corruption and operates
in blatant and gross violation of its own policies, state regulations
and existing federal mandates. DSS operates on a $500 million
plus budget with no external oversight to ensure the integrity
of the agency. They account to no one. The Massachusetts Post
Audit and Oversight Committee conducted an investigation in 1997
and issued findings that stated that the DSS had “lied, altered
documents, and deliberately misled the legislature.”
With no oversight, accountability, or external control,
the DSS seizes 25 children per day from their homes in Massachusetts.
Children are arbitrarily (and traumatically) removed from their
homes, schools and families without notice or warrant.
No proof or verification of child abuse or neglect is needed.
Children may be seized based on vindictive, anonymous phone calls
to DSS. Young, poorly educated, poorly trained and often childless,
unlicensed social workers make the decision to remove a child
from his or her family - scarring the child for life - to uphold
a “quota.”
Children are put into foster homes with strangers, many
of whom are notorious for abuse themselves. There is no inspection
or oversight of foster homes or foster care providers. Massachusetts
has a terrible history of foster care abuse and fatalities, including
the physical and sexual abuse, educational, medical and dental
neglect of children in the supposed “protective” care of the state.
The police have no jurisdiction over DSS. It is a self-contained,
self-investigating agency that does not have to account to anyone,
so those “unfortunate accidents” can be neatly contained by screening
out abuse reports that are filed against their own contracted
vendors.
For the past four years, we, and hundreds of others, have
been writing and calling the governor’s office to inform him of
these abuses. We have formally requested an audience and offered
to show him evidence and documentation of illegal actions, fraud,
and the abuse of children in DSS “care.” We have written to inform
him of the brutal conditions that go on daily in DSS contracted
facilities, where children as young as six-years-old are subjected
to heavy drugging to restrain them, strait jackets, “take-downs”
(violent, assaultive and potentially lethal restraints), and the
notorious “24 Hour Chair” that violates Amnesty International’s
rules for the treatment of war criminals in third world countries
... yet is perpetrated on the children of Massachusetts every
day - day in and day out - by the state agency mandated to “protect.”
We have also attempted to inform the Governor that the
DSS is filing false documents in secrecy through the courts to
document compliance with the federal requirements of their Title
IV-E state plan that allows them to collect their federal funding.
They are, in fact, operating in non-compliance and deliberately
lying on the documents. The DSS is defrauding the federal government
with intent.
I spoke with Governor Cellucci on a call-in radio show
on WRKO. I, again, asked if he would meet with us to discuss these
issues, particularly the high fatality rate of children in DSS.
custody. Seventy-four children died in foster homes in Massachusetts
over a four-year period. Governor Cellucci’s response,
verbatim was: “I’m sick of hearing about DSS’s few mistakes.”
Of the hundreds of calls and letters that Governor Cellucci
has received regarding these issues, none have been responded
to or even acknowledged.
Safe and healthy families, and their right to live free
from coercive governmental intrusion within Constitutional protections,
are the foundations of our society.
Governor Paul Cellucci’s conscious and deliberate decision
to turn away from his constituents’ legitimate concerns and pleas
when they are informing him of gross corruption within his administration
does not encourage a vote of confidence. It clearly illustrates
his contempt not only for the citizens, but for integrity, his
responsibility and his sworn oath to uphold the Constitution.
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