August 22, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

A couple of weeks ago, I reported on the tragic murder of Mason Wycoff of Iowa who was just two years old at the time. His mother, Stephenie Erickson had given him an overdose of oxycodone. She then did the same to herself, dying a short time later. Mason’s father, Dillon Wycoff had, for 10 months, been frantically trying to draw the attention of the police, child protective authorities and the courts to what he regarded as Erickson’s growing risk to Mason. No one heeded the warnings and Wycoff’s little son paid the highest price.

August 21, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

Last week’s riots in Milwaukee, sparked by a police shooting of a young black man, have brought the pundits out of the woodwork. Everyone has an explanation, everyone sees a cause. One prominent commentator, Sheriff David Clarke of Milwaukee County, has since been featured prominently on Fox News, largely, I suspect, because of his powerful anti-progressive point of view.  Here’s some of Sheriff Clarke’s commentary as quoted by conservative columnist Cal Thomas (MSN, 8/19/16).

August 19, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

- continued from yesterday.

While Mindi Stiglet tried to get the Hancock County (Mississippi) Sheriff’s office to do something about the fact that a DHS caseworker had forged a signature on a document in her file, the usual secrecy shrouded everything at DHS in mystery (Sun Herald, 8/12/16).

In that, Mississippi is much like many other states; child protective authorities routinely function outside the view of the press, the public and even lawmakers. And that is just how they like it. Time and again we see those agencies oppose even modest efforts at bringing sunlight into their dark spaces. Just recently, the California Legislature had such a bill before it, only to see it intransigently resisted by state child welfare officials. The same has been true in New York, Arizona and elsewhere.

August 18, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

This is a great article (Sun Herald, 8/12/16). Better yet, it’s one of a series.

Its points are two; first is the story of Mindi Stiglet, a single mother whose child was taken by the Mississippi Department of Human Services in Hancock County. Second is the secrecy that shrouds DHS, making possible the wrong done to Stiglet.

August 17, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

What prompted this article, I can only guess (Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 8/14/16). It’s about whether Arkansas child support authorities treat male and female child support obligors the same. What raised the issue?

William Threet of Little Flock believes men and women are treated differently by the courts and the Office of Child Support when it comes to paying child support.