Houston, TX. -- Toddler caught in a battle over culture and custody:Asian family accuses CPS of not

Toddler caught in a battle over culture and custody

Asian family accuses CPS of not understanding, says boy was safe

By SARAH VIREN

Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5192755.html

Raymond Liu's Chinese aunts and grandmother always assumed he would stay

within their close-knit family circle.

The 2½-year-old boy's mother has schizophrenia accompanied by occasional

angry rages, but he was happy and safe, they said, coddled by other

family members when his mother was hospitalized or off her medication.

The Child Protective Services saw a different picture, one of a little

boy raised in a potentially violent home by a woman who reportedly hit

her own mother and spewed vulgarity at a caseworker investigating

possible abuse or neglect.

Late last month, the agency prevailed in court, convincing a jury that

Raymond belonged not with his mother's family, but with Anglo foster

parents who had been caring for him since March 2006.

The court battle, stretching over three weeks, has galvanized Houston's

Asian community. On Friday, the Asian American Family Services announced

the formation of a fund to bankroll an appeal of the decision and at

least two Asian-owned restaurants plan to donate a portion of their

sales to helping the Liu family.

First translations

Advocates say cultural insensitivity is the issue, and that CPS is ill

equipped to deal with the Chinese immigrant community. The agency

disputes this, saying the Liu family declined translators in court and

the aunts didn't initially come forward to claim Raymond.

"We do try to place with relatives, but we want to make sure that home

will be safe," said Estella Olguin, spokeswoman for CPS. "They couldn't

demonstrate to us or to the court that they would be able to protect

Raymond."

The complicated case began in 2005 when CPS received reports that Sally

Liu wasn't changing her son's diapers properly or feeding and medicating

him as often as she should and had refused to let her mother, Hui Situ,

touch the boy. Caseworkers couldn't find Raymond's mother at home,

according to a report filed with the court, and eventually contacted her

at a psychiatric hospital, where she insulted a caseworker.

The grandmother, who was taking care of the boy at the time, then denied

that her daughter had a problem, according to these documents, and said,

through a translator, that she would never keep Raymond from his mother.

But the Liu family members, who immigrated from China 20 years ago, say

they can explain all these red flags.

Connie Diep, Sally Liu's twin sister who is now pushing to get parental

rights of Raymond, said she and her mother were both caring for the boy,

ferrying him back and forth from Houston to Arizona, where she lived.

They say translators from CPS misunderstood them, that they knew Sally

had a "sickness" and always kept the boy safe from danger.

"CPS should have just given us a call," Diep said.

Tradition

At the heart of the problem, said Kim Szeto, with Asian American Family

Services, is a sort of cultural bumping of heads.

Szeto said, to the Liu family, Sally has been a source of shame. She had

a baby with her boyfriend and she is mentally ill. Situ had moved her

daughter to Houston, Szeto said, to avoid the cultural stigma of her

having a child out of wedlock.

This made the family reluctant to talk when CPS came knocking and shy

about reaching out for help afterward.

She and others believe CPS is not sensitive to the insular nature of

Asian families, and that Asian families, in turn, are not always savvy

in the way they deal with the agency. For example, Asian lawyers who

specialize in family law are rare, said Martha Wong, a former state

representative from Houston.

"Asian families take care of Asian families; it's in the culture," Wong

said.

Two families

According to the latest local CPS numbers, no more than 3 percent of the

4,700 children in foster care are of Asian decent. Asians represent 5

percent of the city's overall population.

Wong, who got involved in this case last year, said she'll be pushing

lawmakers to pass stricter translator requirements at CPS and wants to

see a greater effort to keep children with their families.

But Olguin said the agency already does this and is well-equipped to

deal with families from all across the globe. The agency has Chinese and

Vietnamese caseworkers, she said, and contracts with interpreters of

more rare languages when the need arises.

And cases of abuse and neglect, she said, cross all cultural boundaries.

"(Mental illness) is not just a stigma with the Asian community," she

said. "But the fact that they would place their grandchild or their

nephew in danger because of their denial of it or because it is a

stigma, that is what is concerning and made us worry that they would not

protect Raymond in the future."

Meanwhile, Raymond continues to be raised by a white family in Katy —

another source of frustration for Liu family advocates, who feel the boy

should be with other Asians. Olguin said the agency looks to match

children by ethnicity, but puts more emphasis on finding an overall fit

between the child and foster parents.

The couple declined to comment for this article. But they have had him

longer than any one else involved in the complicated custody battle and

love him very much, said their attorney Brian Fischer.

The parents brought smiling photos of him to court and plan to give him

lessons in his native tongue and keep him involved in Chinese cultural

activities. Although granted conservatorship of the child in September,

they must wait until the appeals are through to adopt.

A civil rights case?

Just when that will happen is unclear. Sally Liu's attorney Gary Polland

said he plans to file for a new trial within the next two weeks. If a

judge denies that, he'll appeal the jury decision.

Polland said he thinks the case is a civil rights issue and that

language barriers, not abuse, are the heart of the problem.

"This is the Tower of Babel in real life," he said. "Except that in this

case a child has been separated from his family."

sarah.viren@chron.com

CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A

DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA

WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...

It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even

killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from

connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US

These numbers come from The National Center on

Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)

Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

Perpetrators of Maltreatment

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59

Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13

Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241

Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12

Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that

are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per

100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse

and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the

citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold

parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY

government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and

death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more

human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which

they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that

they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when

children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a

bunch of social workers.

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT

FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF

REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES

TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY

ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...