We have read all the editorials and letters, for and against, the actions of the Department of Human Services which resulted in the tragedy on Interstate 95 on Aug. 9, and we felt compelled to speak out in defense of the Bangor Daily News. From our experience with literally hundreds of cases, in our opinion, you have hit the truth dead center.

For several years we have met with Maine legislators, DHS personnel, and many others in various areas of law enforcement, education, judicial, and the news media, to inform them of what was happening to people and their families. Most of these people we contacted began to realize the system of child protection wasn’t working as it was meant to, but deciding what to do to improve it was extremely difficult.

We do need a child protection agency because we do have cases of real child abuse. We cannot tear down an agency without having something ready to take its place, but we do need one that is aimed more to leaving children in their homes and working with the parent(s) to improve whatever situation needs to be improved.

The taking of the children was to be the last resort when they were definitely in jeopardy. This was not to be done except in extreme cass. Now it appears to be one of the first measures taken. It is very difficult to see why DHS was involved at all in the Lizotte case. If this was a custody dispute between the parents, then it should have been resolved by the parents and the judicial system. Since there was apparently no suspicion that the father was in any way abusive to the child, why did the department feel the need to step in and remove the child from his care? Unless, perhaps, they were totally committed to reunite Victor with the parent who had abused him so badly when he was 7 months old.

We feel great sorrow for a man who finally felt driven to the point that he believed this was the only thing left for him to do. We are not in any way trying to justify what he did. It was terribly wrong. Violence against oneself or others is never a solution to anything but we can understand a little of his feelings that led to this last tragic action. After meeting and talking to all these people over the years, we have seen the results of sleepless nights, continual and never-ending pain over the loss of their children, anger and frustration with a bureaucracy that does not seem to care about what they and their families are going through. They end up drained; emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially, while the hearings are continued on and on for months and months.

Because the parent(s) are often expected to take counseling at least one a week, visit their children for that one precious hour a week, attend court hearings, take part in other programs such as parenting classes, they usually end up losing their jobs because most of this takes place during the usual working-day hours. If they live in an apartment, they lose it when they lose their jobs. Some have been able to take advantage of the few night-time jobs available in Maine (shift work in factories, nursing homes, or the few convenience stores and restaurants that stay open all night.) Most are lucky to find part-time work to fit around the schedule they have to keep. The rest have to depend on the generosity of family or friends for even a place to live, putting the chance of reuniting with their children even farther out of their reach because now they don’t have a home for them to come back to. It becomes a non-win situation.

We have been in contact and are working with members of the Legislature on the following:

Set up a coordinated response system in the Bangor area, covering Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. This was to be a pilot program to be later extended to other counties if it was found to be successful. This would mean that more people would be involved in the decision-making policies of child protection. No longer would it be only the caseworker (and/or supervisor) to decide alone if a child should be removed from a home. It would involve a team composed of law enforcement officials, DHS personnel and others asking why and for what reasons. We realize a judge has to sign a court order to have a child removed from the home, but we also know that rarely does a judge refuse the request by the DHS. This program, set to start this month, received some funding but not enough to implement it. It may start in January.

An act to establish the Department of Families and Children would have created a separate agency to deal with all matters concerning families and children. This bill, we understand, passed the House and Senate but was rejected by the governor, in part, because it was not the product of a legislative commission or any other structured public process, and lacked widespread input and conclusive data to support the idea that a new bureaucracy is the only way to improve services. We (VOCAL) believe more input and study of the proposed program is required to ensure we provide a much better service to our children and families and not just another bureaucracy.

Good foster care is very expensive and getting very hard to find. Longstanding foster homes are getting scarce and foster parents are getting worried about the risks involved in caring for state children. It is ironic that just a few children kept out of foster care would do much toward funding a better system. Sen. Charles Pray’s bill for an independent outside investigation of the DHS certainly deserves more attention in the coming legislature. A few thousand dollars well spent would save taxpayers money in the future. And who knows how many children and families would be spared the terrible trauma of a family breakup caused by untrained people making wrong decisions.

We (VOCAL) would like to see the ombudsman’s office extended to several more locations throughout the state, to report back to one centralized ombudsman. The many cases that have been reported are too much for one person with one assistant. Even the ombudsman cannot carry out her responsibilities in an efficient manner because of the difficulties in securing papers from the DHS pertaining to individual cases. As you stated in your editorial, this is the only recourse available to those who believe they have been unfairly treated by the DHS. Another possibility might bea board or committee with an ombudsman as a member to oversee and listen to complaints against the department, one that has the authority to get behind the veil of confidentiality that covers all the actions and reasoning leading up to the decision-making.

We agree with Commissioner Rollin Ives that the DHS does wield tremendous power over people’s lives. We disagree that increased security for Human Services buildings and defensive training for caseworkers and other personnel is the answer to the threats that have been made against them. One hundred-fifty calls for police assistance in two years is in the vicinity of 140 too many. This just shows that there are a great many serious problems with the agency and the way many of their cases are handled.

It is time to make some changes within this agency by the separation of some of its functions and the much-needed special training of some of its personnel who have the power to destroy the lives of so many people. We all want the children who are being abused to be protected and the others who are not to be back with their families. We want and we need a department more focused on the preservation of the family and keeping our children within the structure of their homes, unless they are in true jeopardy. We don’t need anymore more tragedies for our children.

VOCAL Inc., Victims of Child Abuse Laws and/or Vigilance Over Child Abuse Laws, is a non-profit organization of concerned citizens advocating for those who are victims of the child abuse laws. We are a support group for the falsely accused, for the families torn apart by the trauma of child abuse allegations, and for those children who are themselves victimized and abused by the very same laws designed to protect them. We work through our legislative bodies and state agencies whenever possible to improve the child protective laws, the reporting and investigation of child abuse and neglect allegations, and the protection of the rights of individuals.

Rebecca Robinson is president, Sandra Smith is vice president, and Jeanette Bradbury is secretary of VOCAL Inc.