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Petition Tag - abuse
211. Repeal New York State's Immunity Laws 
The New York State Social Services Law Article 6, Title 6, Section 419 relating to Child Protective Services are unjust, ineffective, and racially biased.
This law requires ANY person, doctor, daycare, deadbeat parent, or stranger to telephone the New York State Central Registry Child Abuse Hotline to make an anonymous call to accuse a parent of child abuse or neglect WHETHER TRUE OR NOT.
The New York State Social Services Law Article 6, Title 6, Section 419 relating to Child Protective Services are unjust, ineffective, and racially biased.
When a telephone call is made to the New York State Central Registry Child Abuse Hotline. The person on the phone does not have to leave a name, just an allegation that a parent is abusing or neglecting their children. No proof or evidence is required.
Calls are only accepted by the accuser. Parents who have children in foster care are prevented from making this same call to the hotline.
This law states that an accuser shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal. No one is held accountable for making false allegations.
The harshest provision of the child protective laws are that children be removed from the biological home and placed in a strange foster care setting. Non-abused children are subjected to physical and sexual abuse by strangers daily.
73% of the children who are in foster care are African American, they spend an average of four years in foster care. 2% of the children in foster care are White. The remaining children are catagorized as other or Hispanic.
African-American children are overwhemingly penalized and removed from their homes without any prior evidence of parental wrongdoing.
The penalties apply without regard to the circumstances or the individual's character or background, making it irrelevant whether the parent is actually an abuser or not.
The racially disproportionate nature of the immunity law is not just devastating to African-Americans.
It contradicts faith in the principles of justice and equal protection of the laws that should be the bedrock of any constitutional democracy; it exposes and deepens the racial fault lines that continue to weaken the country and belies its promise as the land of equal opportunity; and it undermines faith among all races in the fairness and efficacy of the justice system.
212. Stop The Abuse at the Polunsky Unit on Death Row in Livingston Texas
This petition is to bring attention to the Governor of Texas and ask for a full investigation concerning the situations and conditions at the Polunsky Unit, Death Row, Livingston Texas.
213. Ban Animal Entertainment in Circuses in the USA
The animals used in the circus travel many miles every year without the proper care and abuse. Elephants are chained up and forced to stand in their own waste. They are caged in the heat without water. Elephants are trained with abusive methods, they are mentally broken down with brutal beatings some days at a time, they are beaten with clubs and shocked with electric prods, stabbed with sharp hooks and whipped. Baby elephants are taken from their mothers at one year of age and are stripped of their wildlife social bonds. Elephants in the wild live up to 70 years old. They live in herds and have large extended families. They take baths and find shade in hot weather. Large cats are also stripped of their wildlife traits. They can't hunt for food, sleep in the sun, and roam for miles each day. Lets put a stop to this abuse and stop using animals as entertainment in the circus.
214. UTR Action Against Sweatshop Abuse
This petition was formed by United Trauma Relief (UTR), an MIT student organization advocating for MIT's entrance into the Worker's Rights Consortium to end the abuse of workers involved in producing MIT-licensed clothing. The grounds for this position are explained in the Consensus Statement on MIT's role in sweatshop labor practices, available online at UTR's website.
215. Free Kashmir and Others in India
In 1947 India and Pakistan came into existence breaking free from British colonial rule. The agreement signed by the three declared that all the states would be given a chance to vote and pledge their allegiance to either Pakistan or India.
Unfortunately the State of Kashmir was never given that chance. In the past 50 years the Indian government has repeatedly in the International Community promised to fulfill this mandatory obligation.
Today the Indian Military has killed nearly 60,000 unarmed civilians and displaced over 100,000 others in order to forcefully occupy the Land of Kashmir.
Unfortunately Kashmir is not the only one oppressed by the fascist Indian regime. There are 17 other minority states that are oppressed and are subject to the worst type of Human Rights abuse in the world. Kashmir and Punjab are the worst treated among them.
216. California's Child & Family Protection Initiative
a) The protection of California's most vulnerable citizens, its children, should be the most important objective of government.
b) Although providing an important public service, current programs designed to protect children often times do more harm than good. Far too many tragedies, including serious physical and emotional injury to children and the unnecessary destruction of families, have occurred in recent years. The system must be reformed to restore fundamental fairness and promote protection of children and preservation of families.
c)California law requires cases where a child has been removed from his or her family due to alleged abuse or neglect to be heard within 15 days in order to bring speedy resolution to the matter and to minimize trauma to the child. However, thousands of children are kept away from their families for months on end by unnecessary government delays, resulting in tremendous costs to parents and taxpayers. In many cases, other family members are willing and able to care for these children, yet the current system does not promote preservation of the family.
d) The right to a jury trial is fundamental in our system of government. However, under existing law, a child can be removed from the care of his or her parents based only on allegations of abuse or neglect without the government having to present evidence justifying removal to a judge and jury.
e)This system, designed by politicians to protect children, instead often results in delay, excessive costs, mistakes, and family break-ups. IT IS IMPORTANT TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM ABUSE AND NEGLECT, BUT IT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THAT CHILDREN ARE NOT WRONGFULLY REMOVED FROM THEIR PARENTS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
f) Abuse of the process is cloaked in secrecy because such juvenile proceedings are not open to the public.
g) Recently, several studies, grand jury investigations, and oversight hearings have brought these problems into clear focus. However, our elected representatives have failed to take action.
h) In order to protect the health and well-being of children, the people of the state of California hereby enact the Child and Family Protection Act to establish the right to a jury in juvenile dependency hearings, the right to a public hearing, the right to a speedy resolution and the promotion of family over government-sponsored care whenever possible.
If you would like more information or would like to assist in our efforts, please send an email to neff@cavalier-assoc.com.
217. Say No to child abuse and protect children from a failed child welfare system
This petition was started based on a child who fell through the cracks of our failed child welfare system. Child welfare refused to protect my son who was abused by his father. They allowed this man to run with my son as he continued to abuse him for ten and half years. As child welfare stood by and did nothing to stop it. No matter how many times this child was apprehended he was always returned for abuse. After searching for my son for these long ten and half years I found him by the aid of social services. And I am fighting to have his voice heard and his story told of the abuse he had suffered when the system failed to protect him.
218. Prevent Child Sexual Abuse
Due to incidences of sexual abuse in summer camps in MA, The Camp Safety Project has been working to get camps better monitored. Better monitoring would include comprehensive background checks on all staff members and other necessary precautions. Currently the Department of Public Health (DPH) monitors summer camps. In October of 1997, we presented 70 cases of sexual abuse to the Legislature. We thought it may be more appropriate for the Office for Child Care Services (OCCS) to monitor the camps. In 1998, the MA government kept oversight of camps in the hands of DPH and mandated that they require some staff members be checked for a criminal record. We have been working to require that, at a minimum, all staff members be checked for a criminal record (CORI), sexual offender record (SORI) and that camp directors call the references of the applicants.
Please visit our web site for more information.