By DAVID IGNELL
My last two articles about AK Mom’s family have focused primarily on George, her second oldest son with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and autism, who Office of Children’s Services continues to place in inappropriate foster homes.
OCS’s carelessness has led to George being put in highly vulnerable situations trying to get home to his mother, AK Mom.
Moved From a Loving Home into an Abusive Home
This article will focus mostly on his older brother, David, who will turn 18 years old later this year. As you’ll read, OCS seems determined to set David up for failure as an adult before he ages out of the foster system.
David was born with FASD and later diagnosed with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. AK Mom took him home from the hospital when he was just two days old, adopted him, and loved on him daily for the next 15 years.
A few years after David was born, his biological mom had another son named Damien, also with FASD. Both the biological mom and the Kotzebue tribe wanted AK Mom to adopt Damien so the two half-brothers could be together. OCS was opposed to this, however.
With support from the Native American Rights Fund, the attorneys for the tribe made it possible for AK Mom to adopt Damien in 2011. For the next 10 years both brothers lived happily together in AK Mom’s loving home.
That abruptly changed on April 3, 2021. The last two years in OCS custody has been hell for David. He was quickly separated from Damien and his other siblings. He was taken off his prescribed medications for his disorders. He’s been moved several times from home to home and school to school. In one home David was physically abused. One of his foster parents shoved him, called him a “little s**t,” and offered him marijuana before he was 16 years old.
OCS abuses its power to remove children from homes of love and put them into houses of drugs.
Family Time
OCS limits David’s family time with AK Mom to a maximum of two visits a week, but sometimes it’s only one or even none. On Wednesdays, David is allotted 10-15 minutes to interact with AK Mom via Zoom, provided he doesn’t express any negative feelings about OCS or the miserable situation they’ve put him in.
The Guardian Ad Litem moderating the call will allow David to stay on longer if he wants to say hi to one of his siblings during their allotted time with AK Mom.
On Fridays, David’s family is allowed to meet in person for 1.5 hours with a supervisor present. But that’s only if OCS or the supervisor feel like it. Last week they cancelled the in-person visit a couple hours before it was to occur. OCS has been jerking the family around like this for 2 years.
OCS tells citizens their goal is to work towards family reunification, but their actions prove otherwise.
Sex Education without Parental Consent
Two weeks ago, David didn’t log on for the weekly Zoom call. It was supposed to be a special call because it was also Damien’s 12th birthday. But David decided to skip it because OCS offered him $200 to attend some “life skills” classes offered on the UAA campus instead.
One of those life skills classes turned out to be “Sex Education” with a focus on LGBTQ issues.
David later bragged about getting $200 to take this class, apparently forgetting that some of the money was for two other classes he took called “Resource List Activity” and “Career Inventory”.
All David had to do for each class was sit down and watch a video and afterwards answer three questions. Easy money, but here’s the kicker: The sex education class paid twice as much as the other two classes.
In addition, the compensation for sex education was immediate gratification in the form of a Walmart gift card. Afterwards, OCS took David to Walmart so he could spend his gift card. OCS told David he’d have to wait for his money on the other two classes though. A check would be sent to him in the mail.
No wonder David liked the sex education class so much. Heck, can more of us sign up for this class and get Walmart gift cards?
A puzzling aspect to OCS’ program to teach their views of sex to foster kids like David is that they made no attempt to obtain AK Mom’s parental consent for the class.
House Bill 105, currently pending in the House Education Committee, is supposed to place “matters of personal identification and sexual education directly in the hands of parents at the local level,” according to the sponsor’s statement.
Some readers may counter that HB 105 isn’t a law yet. Technically that is true, but the bill comes directly from Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who also oversees OCS. The governor won’t respond to me, so perhaps some readers will want to speculate who’s to blame for this inconsistent policy.
Another consequence of OCS’ bribe was that Damien never got to hear his brother wish him a “Happy Birthday.” OCS has grown accustomed to victimizing Damien. The agency has prevented him from attending the family in-person visits since last August. They’re punishing him for being angry at his family’s separation. OCS’ actions mock their stated objective of family reunification.
OCS trains foster kids to fail?
Some of my sources believe OCS wants foster children to fail as adults. For boys to graduate to prisons and mental hospitals, and girls to deliver babies into the greedy hands of the foster care system. This theory makes a lot of sense when you start thinking about the hundreds of millions of dollars at stake annually and the businesses that have been built on this pipeline of money.
Take David’s education for example. Despite his FASD (which is brutal on math skills), autism, and ADHD, David was doing pretty good in his Christian school before being kidnapped by OCS. For the third quarter ending March 3, 2021, he received scores of 89 in both English and History, and scores of 70 in math and science.
OCS apparently thought so little of these actual life skills that when they kidnapped him on April 3, they did not allow him to return to his Christian school to finish out the quarter, which ended on May 20. Instead, David spent the rest of the fourth quarter being bounced around several different homes where he was abused and offered weed. Could it be that OCS has something against Christian schools too?
The next fall, the OCS enrolled him in an Anchorage public high school and then a month later transferred him to a Mat-su area public high school. That semester his previous B+ in English turned to an F. His B+ in history also turned into an F. His C in science turned into an F. The only substantive class he didn’t fail was math, where he got a D.
The next semester he was transferred to a third school where either he did slightly better, or their standards were lower. He got all D’s except for English where he had a C.
David’s scores for 11th grade are unknown to AK Mom. She’s been trying to find out for months, but OCS won’t tell her. They ignore the parent just like they do the son’s education on subjects that will help him succeed as an adult.
Federal Class Action Lawsuit, Kim Kovol, and MMIW
One source for my articles on David and George has been the Amended Class Action Complaint filed on July 15, 2022, in Federal District Court (Case No. 3:22-cv-00129-JMK.) I urge readers to locate this document online and learn in paragraphs 74-100 how David and his siblings were treated by OCS in just the first year of their kidnapping.
The purpose of this class action lawsuit, brought by four law firms including three in Alaska, is to rescue kids like David, George, and their 3 siblings from OCS abuse. Yet the Dunleavy Administration is trying to dismiss the lawsuit. All of us need to start demanding an answer from the Governor — why is his administration opposed to protecting Alaska’s children?
The acting commissioner in charge of OCS the last nine months has been Kim Kovol. According to her resume, for the two years immediately prior to that Kovol was a special assistant and policy advisor to the governor for a “social services portfolio.” She also “successfully launched the People’s First Initiative,” which among other things “increased supports for youth in foster care.”
These words aren’t supported by her actions. I hope our legislators will start asking some tough questions before the joint session convenes to vote on Kovol’s confirmation as commissioner.
A hearing on Kovol’s confirmation was scheduled for March 21 before the House Committee on Health and Social Services. I felt the stories of David and George, as well as her opposition to the federal class action suit, required a challenge to the claims in her resume. On the morning of the 20th, I sent Kovol an email asking if she’d like to meet with me before the confirmation hearing; she replied no.
My testimony before the Committee focused on these issues. I also questioned if Kovol had played a role in suppressing Thomas Garber’s requested grand jury investigation into the OCS. I brought up the story of Katelynn Shelhamer and held her picture up to the camera.
Katelynn Shelhamer was murdered in Anchorage in 2021, shortly after she turned 18. According to a post from a friend, she had been in OCS custody and sex trafficked since at least 14 years of age. The friend said that after getting out of OCS custody, Katelynn was turning her life around. Was she murdered because she was escaping the vicious cycle and posed a risk to the system? An independent grand jury with a special prosecutor is the only government body in Alaska that can properly investigate this question.
On March 22, I sat in on the House Tribal Affairs Special Committee meeting. The entire session was devoted to missing and murdered indigenous women like Katelynn. One of the invited speakers, Tribal Judge Debra O’Gara, testified that Anchorage is one of the most dangerous places in the nation for indigenous people. She also testified that “foster children are at a high risk of being targeted by traffickers” and that “indigenous people, both men and women and boys and girls, are being targeted at a higher rate than any other race.”
These facts highlight the dangerous environment that OCS has placed David, George, and their siblings into. If you’re unfamiliar with my first two stories about George, its only by the grace of God that he has not become another trafficking statistic.
Kovol was also in attendance at this meeting when Judge O’Gara spoke those words. Afterwards, I again asked Kovol if we could talk, but she said no and walked away. Kovol’s refusal to engage on these critical issues is extremely troubling, especially since OCS is daily exposing AK Mom’s children to these heightened risks. Every legislator should be asking these tough questions of Kovol, especially those in the Senate who have showed no concern over these issues.
Recently the House Judiciary Committee devoted over two weeks of its time focused singularly on how to stop sex and human trafficking in Alaska. What OCS is doing and not doing, as demonstrated in the case of AK Mom’s family and others, must be included in the legislative record.
Plea to Governor Dunleavy
Gov. Dunleavy: Last week you and your wife each met AK Mom at public events. At your Prayer Breakfast she gave your staff a stack of her 24 prayer requests that have been distributed by others around the state and nation this past year. You know the people standing at her side are of excellent character and judging from the wide smile on your face that day, you seemed to think AK Mom is a quality individual also.
Governor, besides Acting Commissioner Kovol, you have the ability to pick up the phone right now and order AK Mom’s children to be returned to her tomorrow. There’s absolutely nothing in your way to impede justice. If you don’t and any innocent blood of her children is shed, it will be on your hands.
Make the call now, Governor.
Allow George to be home in time for his birthday this week and to finally open those presents he’s been waiting two years for. Allow AK Mom to joyfully bake a birthday cake that her family can take to church this Easter Sunday in celebration with their friends there.
I have yet to write about AK Mom’s other two children, Karen and Lawrence, who also have FASD. They share the same biological mother and father, both of whom wanted AK Mom to raise their children and adopt them. Re-unite Karen and Lawrence with the rest of their siblings.
Give AK Mom the support she needs rather than allowing OCS to continue destroying this once remarkable family. You should name her the Alaska Mom of the Year for her remarkable work with these children and standing strong in the face of OCS’ adversity. Let my next story focusing on Karen and Lawrence be about the happiness and safety you’ve returned to their lives.
Governor, on Friday morning when I was reading Psalms 144 in my daily devotions, you came to mind. A Psalm of David — I urge you to read it and find courage to sing a new song to God, to be rescued from right hands that swear false oaths, to enable our sons in their youth to be like well-nurtured plants and our daughters to be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
For the people to not be led into bondage, to hear no cries of protest in our cities’ open spaces. For the people of Alaska to be happy.
Amen.
David Ignell was born and raised in Juneau, where he currently resides. He holds a law degree from University of San Diego and formerly practiced as a licensed attorney in California. He has experience as a volunteer analyst for the California Innocence Project, and is currently a forensic journalist and author of a recent book on the Alaska Grand Jury.
Nobody gives a damn about native kids. Especially the people entrusted to protect them.
OCS isn’t exactly modern day slave trading, but it’s not too far from it, either.
And as usual our useless governor is nowhere to be found.
In the Governor’s defense, OCS has been massively screwed up for many years….to the best of my recollection since at least 1990. Since that time, it has been largely ignored by each successive administration. If anyone recalls, at one point in the early 2000’s it got so bad that rather than actually try to fix anything the State took the easy way out and rebranded DFYS to OCS.
I have heard, since I arrived in Alaska in ’08, that OCS is brutal to Alaska native children, and that they make a habit of taking these kids from good homes, and sharing them around the foster system simply to make money off them from the native corporations. From my point of view, the native corporations need to cut off the money flow to OCS, and take responsibility for the natives they purport to help.
These children have three layers of government protections. These children also have a right to an individual education plan (IEP) or a 504 Plan to ensure that they are succeeding successfully in school. What are OCS, foster parent(s) and the school district doing to meet the goals of the IEP or 504? The child is failing his classes within OCS care.
Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact Between Certain Alaska Native Tribes and Tribal Organizations and the State of Alaska reads “WHEREAS, Alaska Constitution, Article VII, Section 5 requires that the Legislature provide for the public welfare, and the Legislature has adopted a statutory scheme to address the protection of all of Alaska’s children from abuse, neglect, and abandonment. The Office of Children’s Services (“OCS”) is charged with enforcing these state laws and endeavors to keep all children safe and families together;”
AK Mom’s children are not being kept safe and the family is not together because of OCS. How many stories (statistics) need to be told before an intervention plan is implemented for the safety and protection of her children and they are all returned home to her?
Did the foster parent get charged for physically abusing David? Physical abuse is domestic violence. What about the foster parent offering a minor marijuana? Isn’t that illegal?
I sat in the House Judiciary Committee and listened to Lieutenant Tony Wegrzyn give his presentation on March 13, 2023. Slide 21 (page 21) Titled Grooming addressed a point on “TARGETING: Traffickers target victims who have some noticeable vulnerability: emotional neediness, low self-confidence, or economic stress.” When AK Mom’s son ran away from his foster home a month ago, he had some noticeable emotional neediness and economic stress. He was fortunate to see his Mom’s parked car and then find her.
HB 105 is currently pending in the House Education Committee. However, parents have a constitutional right. See Alaska case law. What does the Supreme Court of the United States have to say about parental rights and education? OCS has failed these children? Why is this OCS failure being allowed to continue?
OCS has failed themselves according to testimony on February 14, 2023 at 3:30 p.m. to the (H)Health & Social Services Standing Committee. How can OCS, a toxic workplace, dysfunctional, etc., ever be able to manage a child if the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner cannot manage their internal OCS dysfunctional department?
AK Mom is the best protector of her children’s best interests which include their physical, emotional, mental, religious, and the love she has for them.
Governor Dunleavy, our children are paramount and we’re looking to you to immediately intervene in this most serious situation to avoid further on-going trauma to the child(ren) and the whole family.
As I think on it, the last person in government to care about native kids was Byron Malotte.
And that was for all the wrong reasons.
David your report in such detail , is a testament to years of pain , yet not resolved for the most vulnerable ! God bless your effort so un selfishly devoted . Payers continue until this family is united . Virtue isn’t without struggle let the lord hear the cries for help. Amen, We pray !
There are so many things wrong with our govt but undoubtedly one of the most grievous has got to be the mistreatment of families and children. Much as a person would hate to think, it certainly appears that our very own State sponsored child trafficking operation is right smack in front of all our eyes.
Governor, is it really so hard for you to step in and make a real difference for a few of these families or are you going to just sit on the sidelines and deliberately allow tragedy to strike them. For Gods sake man, DO SOMETHING!
‘https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.akd.68710/gov.uscourts.akd.68710.16.0.pdf
the Amended Class Action Complaint filed on July 15, 2022, in Federal District Court (Case No. 3:22-cv-00129-JMK.) I urge readers to locate this document online and learn in paragraphs 74-100 how David and his siblings were treated by OCS in just the first year of their kidnapping.
The plaintiffs are not suing for monitory compensation. They are asking the federal government to do what the Alaska Bar Association cannot do. That is hold the Alaska Office of Children’s Services accountable.
The Alaska Office of Children’s Services conductors Interventions so aggressive it amounts to legal kidnapping. Alaska uses civil proceedings to make criminal allegations in order to legally kidnap children. Native children are targeted disproportionately because of racial and cultural differences.
Native children are entitled to the same rights and services as other Alaska children. The Alaska Supreme Chief Justice Bolger and Justices Winfree, Maassen and Carney also write in their letter to Fellow Alaskans about biases and changes to improve the justice system.
‘https://courts.alaska.gov/media/docs/sc-2020-stmt.pdf
How does SCO 1993 improve the Alaska Justice System? It doesn’t. SCO 1993 severed every Alaskans Constitutional Right to go before a grand jury about the Office of Children’s Services (OCS), an unfair trial resulting in a man being sentenced to prison for decades for a crime he did not commit, a judge(s) that does not follow the Alaska Statute and best interest of a child, etc.
Governor Dunleavy, we need you to intervene and help get AK Mom’s children back home. Today is George’s 16th Birthday. Please, reunite this family today!
What say you governor, are you gonna step up to the plate this time?
Gov. Dunleavy when will our cries for these children and others across the State end! When you stop talking about the welfare of our children and actually do something! Make these government socialists accountable for their unlawful behaviors!
Lord JD Acton coined the truism, “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Any division of government charged with enforcing law or policy must be constantly monitored for this tendency… not as a disparagement of the actors within any division, but rather as an acknowledgement of the reality of our human condition. There are enough alarm bells going off to justify a thorough investigation of OCS from top to bottom. This urgent matter should rank as a highest priority; it’s not about potholes in our roads but rather the lives of vulnerable, impressionable children–living through their critical formative years. Whoever has authority to investigate OCS–please get on it, now!
Mike Dunleavey, at the end of the day, i.e. your life, you are going to be before the throne of God Almighty. You know what’s right from wrong. Yes, you’ve been approached, offered a choice between gold and lead. Ask yourself what any of that matters when you’re before the One that can kill, and send you to hell. You know what is going on. Do you want Yeshua to speak up for you? Do the right thing.
One of the most enduring qualities of good men and women is their capacity for unending hope. How long has it been since the Grand Jury Investigation on OCS in 2016? Yet, nothing has changed and in fact, it has only become worse for Alaskan families and Alaskan children.
Alaskan citizens have been pleading for help going on years, and still, nothing changes. How long do Alaskan citizens have to plead for help before you realize that help is not coming from the Office of the Governor, Tammie Wilson, the Commissioners, the Alaskan Court Judicial Branch, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Dept of Law, OPA/GAL, OCS, Alaska Bar Association, et cetera? The Governor knows! Tammie Wilson knows! They all know exactly what is going on regarding the abuse, state kidnapping, and criminal negligence of Alaska families and Alaska children! They either do not care, can not do anything about it, or will not do anything about it that impacts the benefits they receive BY DOING NOTHING.
So our Alaskan children suffer. Our Alaskan families suffer. Our hearts suffer with them at the injustice of it all.
I am going to share a link to my testimony that provides more light on what prompted me to investigate the SOA and what I discovered. I do not know if I can share links here but I will try: ‘https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:05b22caf-dc5e-3579-9296-91e2616d98c8
Lady Donna
Prayers.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the only answer is another Civil War.
We need another Antietam…
When one door is closed, there is another open. For as long akmom been away from her kids, Dr dobson and focus on the family have been intensely focused encouraging christians (like empty nesters, singles) to become foster parents.
Perhaps civic leaders turning a blind eye is being allowed by God
cause the call is placed for the churches of alaska and its attendees instead.
Jesus will return and Biden will become conservative before the useless lump in the Governor’s mansion finds a spine.
Standing Tall has never been so small.
This is so tragic for the children, never mind the basic family rights that have been raped from this family and lets not get into the complete and utter disregard for their 1st Amendment Rights for freedom of Religion. It is time to take a stand for our children and families in this State. Support HB105. Call the Governor’s office, leave massages, if you personally know him or his family talk to them. This could be anyone’s children. If you have children you are not immuned from this happening to you and your family.
Governor’s Office Juneau
907-465-3500
Governor’s Office Anchorage
907-269-7450
Lt. Governor’s Office Juneau
907-465-3520
Call, leave messages, helping this family paves the way to help all families in Alaska and in the process crumble down the broken system called OCS and build a better system that is put in place to truly help children and their families.
Praying for these children, this family daily! David Ignell, THANK YOU! for all that you are doing. Please keep writing about this family and I can’t wait to hear the final chapter…when they are cleared of any wrong doing and the family is restored and the healing process has started.
Mr. Ignell,
Do you support HB105, the “Parental Rights” legislation making it’s way through the House? Would you testify for it?
Julia: Our schools are undoubtedly a mess. I support legislation that makes our children safe from violence, safe from bullying, safe from suicidal thoughts, and safe from invasions of privacy in their bathrooms and dressing rooms. Our children also need to be protected from sexual grooming masquerading as classroom instruction.
There’s only one singular solution to all of these problems — God. We need legislation to return God’s guidance into our classrooms and our school boards. The God who instructs us to show love, kindness and grace to one another. The God who directs us to nurture the earth. The God who provides a path to having a sense of purpose and being happy with our own bodies.
HB105 does not clearly accomplish these objectives. For instance, the concerns about bathroom privacy for biological children are purportedly addressed in the amendments to AS 14.33.120(a)(10). However, the proposed language seems to support the situation in Juneau where biological girls were told if they did not want biological boys to see them naked, then it was the biological girls who had to use single occupant facilities. I can’t support that.
I hope you testify those remarks in the Committee hearing. Thank you.
Mr. Ignell, I now have a greater understanding of the situation with AKMom. You pointed out in your recent article that OCS was opposed to AKMom adopting David’s brother and that the Native American Rights Fund with the attorneys from the Kotzebue tribe made the adoption possible. Clearly AKMom was at odds with OCS at that time, putting her in first place on OCS radar. OCS does not like being challenged. I’ll bet OCS has been out to see her fail for a long time
It is also clear that AKMom is vocal and steadfast reguarding seeing that justice is done and her children are returned home. Everybody and their brother in Alaska would not know about the travesty that has occurred with this family if AKMom was a meek, uneducated and easily intimidated woman as many, including myself, are. Obviously this story goes back a long way.
Mr.Ignell, please continue to educate and inform the public about all aspects of this situation with OCS. This can of worms needs to be opened up for all to see.
I would urge you to follow the money trail from the Federal level to the foster child. I feel that is something the public needs to know about. Who gets paid what when children are taken away from their homes by this agency?
Sex education without parental consent? and to be paid for it? What the hell is going on? How did OCS allow this to happen? Where are the foster parents? Where are the case workers? Is anyone keeping tabs on these kids?
We need to rally around AKMom and assist the mother of these children. I am sure she is suffering financially. Lawyers and expert witnesses are not cheap.As mentioned in a response to Mr. Ingalls last article please make a contribution to AKMoms Give, Send, Go account. Every dollar will help. (Give, Send, Go is a Christian fund raising platform.) Here is a link to the website.
https://givesendgo.com/G3K53?utm_source=sharelink&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=G3K53
This is Give Send Go was started for AKMom’s legal battle.
If reunification is the goal, why have these children been in OCS custody for almost 2 years? This is a human interest story and a human tragedy that will go on for years. Mr. Ignell, I hope you continue to follow the lives of each of AKMoms children and AKMom for a long time. The time spent away from her children will have life long consequences for all involved, especially her children. Thank you.
Adrianna: It would take a book to provide a complete account of the harm that OCS has inflicted on AK Mom and her five children. To protect the innocent however, the account would have to be written as a fictional novel which would minimize its effectiveness. So the story can be told only in bits and pieces through MRAK, the fortuitous platform of truth that Suzanne Downing generously provides us Alaskans.
You are correct that AK Mom’s struggles with OCS go back a long way, but their aggressiveness against her family has dangerously escalated under the Dunleavy administration.
If the Governor truly wants to resolve the systemic injustice pervading OCS, he should meditate on Proverbs 25:2 which advises “kings get glory from investigating things” and 25:5 “remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will rest firmly on righteousness”. There’s likely a reason why these were the first proverbs of Solomon that King Hezekiah’s men chose to copy after 250 years of decay in Judah from injustice.
The Governor’s best chance for a successful investigation is through an independent grand jury advised by a special prosecutor outside the influence of the Alaska Bar Association. It was such a grand jury that enabled Alaskans to discern the truth into high level corruption back in 1985. It didn’t work in 2016 when Tammie Wilson requested an investigation into OCS only because the Attorney General’s Office hijacked the process and put the investigation in the hands of the Ombudsman.
If the Governor wants the truth and a favorable legacy, the grand jury is his ticket.
I don’t believe reunification is the goal. This is not to say that all OCS employees are bad. However, nationwide, CPS, OCS or whatever you want to call them, have allegedly had a hand in the human trafficking business.
Adriana, thank you for the comment post. Also, AK Mom is in need of financial assistance today and I’m hoping that everyone who is reading will contribute financially. First court date is scheduled for April 25 in Palmer. Attorney fees, expert witnesses, etc., are extremely expensive and this has been going on for two years.
The Alaska Judicial Council ‘https://www.ajc.state.ak.us/publications/docs/guides/cinaguide.pdf received federal funding for this publication – November 1999. Public testimony February 14, 2023 ‘https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Meeting/Detail?Meeting=HHSS%202023-02-14%2015:30:00#tab4_4
Please listen to the testimony by Alaska Citizen Review Panel and OCS. After listening one has to ask themself what has changed from 1999 to 2023.
Thank you MUST READ ALASKA and David Ignell for the articles. The public needs to informed of OCS and what has and is happening to AK Mom.
AK76: Overwhelming evidence supports your belief that reunification has never been the goal.
I also agree that not all OCS employees are bad. For example, the bravery of a particular woman with a Masters in Social Work who understands FASD stands out to me. In 2020, a politically connected 3rd party provider alleged that AK Mom had committed both “mental injury” and “physical abuse” against each of her children. The OCS social worker, who was familiar with the family, determined that each of these 10 allegations were unsubstantiated and dismissed the bogus complaint.
Less than a year later, when OCS took all the children from AK Mom on allegations of “medical abuse”, they simply excluded this social worker from participating in their determination. I’m curious if she will be called to testify in the upcoming trial, and if so what kind of pressure will OCS place her under.
Awareness is building that state foster agencies like OCS play a contributory role in sex and human trafficking. In addition to the testimony of Judge O’Gara are the following statements out of the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: “Youth who have had contact with the child welfare system are at higher risk for commercial sexual exploitation than children who have not had involvement in the child welfare.” “Traffickers are known to target youth shelters, group homes, and foster care facilities as locations for recruitment of vulnerable children.”
Concerned readers should ask their elected representatives why they are ignoring the trafficking issue prior to their confirmation vote on Ms. Kovol. Why does she persist in putting these 5 children at risk?
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