FacePalm Friday:Arkansas DHS

Welcome to this week’s edition of FacePalm Friday.

This is where your hosts will list their top picks for this week’s FacePalm moment—something they learned or read about this week that caused the FacePalm to happen (you know, the expression of embarrassment, frustration, disbelief, shock, disgust or mixed humor as depicted in our Rally FacePalm smiley).

We invite you to add your FacePalm of the week to our comments. Go ahead and add a link, tell a personal story, or share something that triggered the FacePalm on the subject of child welfare or adoption.

Your Host’s Selections:

(1)Josh Duggar Speaks at Christian Children’s Home of Ohio Hope Gala in 2009

http://www.inquisitr.com/2123126/josh-duggar-was-speaker-at-ccho-hope-gala-for-christian-foster-care-spoke-of-abuse-to-children/

“Josh Duggar visited the Christian Children’s Home of Ohio in 2009. He said that visiting the children’s home was an eye-opening experience for him that made him realize what he was privileged to that the foster children were not.”

“As the guest speaker, Duggar stressed the importance of investing in working on behalf of abused, neglected, and suffering children. Josh Duggar quoted scripture while referencing his father and reality TV co-star, saying that Jim Bob Duggar spent his house savings on an unsuccessful political campaign. Josh pointed out that while the house savings was gone, the attention from his father’s campaign was ultimately responsible for the financial boost from the reality show. Josh Duggar told the crowd at the Christian Children’s Home of Ohio’s gala that in Romans 8:28, God says, “All things work together for good,” but clarified that the poor children the charity is said to help know well that not all things are good, according to The Daily Record, and Duggar specified the emphasis of the word “together” from the scripture passage. Josh then told the charity’s guests that “there is hope when we are willing to stand up and be bold and be courageous.”[Except if you  molested  your sisters.]

Those words would soon follow him, because not long after his evening as guest speaker at the Christian Children’s Home of Ohio’s gala, Josh was publicly accused of molesting minor girls, including some of his sisters when he was 14″

“Before the news of the molestation from his youth came out, Josh Duggar told the crowd at the Christian Children’s Home of Ohio’s Hope Gala that evil done to children is one of its worst forms.”[Except if you molested your sisters ]

“While some are calling Josh hypocritical, many others are disturbed that the Duggar parents allegedly consider manual labor and prayer appropriate treatment for inappropriate sexual activity involving minors. The Inquisitr reported on the treatment facility Josh Duggar attended. According to People, Josh’s so-called therapy at Basic Life Principles Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, has been extensively criticized.”

Watch Funny or die: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/82a2f2d61f/the-duggars-respond

(2) Representative Justin Harris

Featured in our How Could You? column here.

 http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/not-just-the-duggars-arkansas-dhs-keeps-giving-christian-conservatives-a-pass-on-child-abuse/

“A sexual molestation case involving Josh Duggar, the reality TV star and former high-ranking employee of the anti-LGBT Family Research Council, has dominated national news for more than a week as continuing revelations suggest the teen and his family may have received preferential treatment from authorities.”

“As the Arkansas Times reported, Harris and his wife, Marsha Harris, have not faced any consequences since news broke in March that they gave away two adopted daughters to a man who later sexually assaulted one of the girls – although state legislators changed a state law to prevent others from doing the same thing.

The lawmaker continues to serve in the statehouse, where no fellow Republicans have called for his resignation or censure, and the couple still own and operate the Growing God’s Kingdom preschool – which receives 90 percent of its funding through the state and federal government.”

“The Harrises took in three girls in 2011 through the Department of Human Services, despite concerns by case workers and therapists that the couple was ill-equipped to care for the girls – who had suffered abuse before they were placed in foster care.

But the girls’ previous foster parents said Harris used his political influence to pressure Cecile Blucker, the director of the DHS Division of Children and Family Services, to recommend their planned adoption to go forward.

The couple returned one of the girls to DHS within months due to behavioral problems, and they claim they were unable to return the other two girls in early 2013 without risking child abandonment charges.

The Harrises believed the girls were possessed by demons and had an exorcism performed, said a babysitter and others who knew them – but the lawmaker and his wife deny that.

They eventually “rehomed” the girls, ages 5 and 3, in October 2013 to a friend and preschool employee of theirs – Eric Francis – who is now serving a 40-year prison term for abusing one of the Harris’ adopted daughters and two other children. 

The couple left their adopted daughters with Francis even after firing him over poor work attendance in January 2014 — when court documents show he admitted to raping the girl while his wife was out of state.

Current and former employees at Growing God’s Kingdom said they remain concerned about possible tax violations, child mistreatment, improper use of foster children in campaign ads, and the lawmaker’s influence over DHS.

The agency is responsible for administering federal funds for preschool breakfast and lunch programs, which some employees said the Harrises abused by falsifying sign-in forms for absent children.”

Duggar case

“Jim Bob Duggar — a former Republican state lawmaker, failed U.S. Senate candidate, and close friend of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee – said last week that he had taken his then-teenage son in 2003 to meet with a state trooper acquaintance who did not report the abuse, which had happened about a year earlier.”

“The police report was published last week as part of a Freedom of Information Act request – although Judge Stacy Zimmerman, who also has ties to Huckabee, quickly ordered the original report to be destroyed and GOP state Rep. Bart Hester wants state police to investigate the legally mandated release of the document.

Springdale police referred Duggar’s case in 2006 to the Families in Need of Services, which monitors criminal cases against juveniles, and that agency then notified the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

It’s not clear what action – if any – was taken by DHS against Duggar at that time because he was a juvenile.

But nine months later, Duggar sued DHS and a trial was held Aug. 6, 2007, after TLC began working with the family for the reality show that would begin broadcasting the following year as “17 Kids and Counting.””

“His parents initially claimed the teen received counseling, which DHS can mandate for abusers and victims, but he instead went to work for several months with a family friend who remodeled buildings in the Little Rock area.”