Social Service was set up as an agency to protect children from abuse and neglect in their homes. I'm sure that most of the time that is exactly what it does. But in the city of Willmar, Minnesota it has been my unfortunate experience that Social Service can be wielded as an instrument of revenge against the reasonable expectations of concerned parents.  Apparently a teacher, with a simple phone call, can avoid  any reprimand or conflict with a critical concerned parents, who might challenge their effectiveness or methods, by accusing said the parents of child abuse. It seems that Kandiyohi County Social Services in disgusting, cronyistic fashion is more concerned about fulfilling the desires of  the school system than they are about the lives of the innocent completely vulnerable children and their families.  Based solely on reports from a teacher and without any other evidence, nor any investigation, Social Services can remove a child from their home. They can also threaten a parent with arrest if they " refuse to cooperate" with this horrifying procedure.  With no investigation, with no history of abuse in the home a child is taken simply because the parent was concern with the safety of the child in the school and dared to question the school system. 

I have three reasons to believe that something has gone terribly wrong with the child protection apperatus in Willmar.  My first experience came two years ago. My grand-daughter Genesis was in Headstart when one day her teacher Ms. Brown would not allow a much needed trip to the bathroom and Genesis was forced to do what nature demanded in her pants. She came home in tears with her panties in a plastic bag and a note saying, "she didn't wipe well." I could clearly see that poor wiping was not the problem . I filed a complaint against Mrs Brown and two days later Social Service was at my door.  Evidently two teacher, friends of Ms. Brown had accused me of abusing my granddaughter.  The second occured a few months later. This time little Genesis was left alone at the school park. Fortunately some neighbor children found her and  brought her safely home. I was understandably horrified and angry so filed a complaint.  To my suprise, once again Social Services was at my door just a few days later. Someone had again alleged abuse in the home.  The third strike comes this year.  My granddaughter has suffered months of bullying with no school staff coming to her aid. I have expressed my concerns to the principal, the dean of students and Genesis's teacher,  but to no avail.  She has had her head shoved in the snow and no teacher has come to her aid.  On the morning of Tuesday  3/03/11 at 9am I called the school requesting she spend recess safely indoors until the bullying issue could be mitigated in some way. I was told there wasn't  room for her and that the bullying was of little concern. I reitterated my wish that they find some way to keep her safe.  With frightening predictability by 3pm of that same day Social Services had stolen her away from school without even notifying me.  I later learned that a third allegation of abuse had precipitated this "protective" removal.

Any reasonable person upon seeing the one to one correlation of complaint to abuse allegation would have to wonder at the remarkable coincidence.  Not one of these allegations of child abuse and neglect has been substatiated in any way.  Solely on the uninvestigated claims of teachers a county child protection worker of questionable qualification, in my opinion, took a perfectly healthy, infinitely loved and cared for little girl from her safe and secure home and placed her in temporary foster care.  Will anyone investigate the validity of the teachers claims?  Or will they only investigate me the alleged abuser?  This makes me think of that old joke: "When did you stop beating your wife".  This isn't a joke though. They have taken my child and I have to fight to get her back.  There needs to be an investigation into these events by a neutral party. I may very well not be alone in my experience.  Sign the petition to get an investigation started into this grotesque use of a system designed to protect those who cannot protect themseves.