One Mistake and Goodbye, Kids!
A few days ago, WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan, ran this video about the power of Michigan to take kids away from their parents without any claim of danger to the child. Michigan is one of only two states that allow state workers to take children into custody without charging the parents with any crime, and without even a claim – let alone a showing – of imminent danger to the child.The lead story in the article is from a couple of years ago, when Christopher Ratte bought his son a lemonade at a Detroit Tigers baseball game. Ratte had no idea the drink was actually alcoholic – a "hard lemonade" – and no one at the stadium warned him, either. But near the end of the game, stadium security called in a Detroit police officer, who handed the child over to the Department of Human Services (DHS). A test performed at the hospital shortly later showed no alcohol in the boy's blood, but he was already taken from his parents, and subsequently placed into foster care.Fortunately for the Ratte family, their 7-year-old was returned after only three days. But doesn't the state have too much power if they can whisk a child away from his parents over an honest mistake, when he was not negatively affected and there was no evidence that he would be in danger if he stayed with his parents?Not according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty that would essentially apply Michigan's standard to the other 49 states and not the other way around.Click here for complete article:http://parentalrights.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={06ABF5A7-AAF2-4391-8A42-8DA363BA54AB}