American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and CPS: Strange bedfellows.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is supposed to be a conservative, Constitution-honoring think tank that produces model legislation for state legislators and state legislatures to put forward in the various states. While ALEC does do some good, usually (as is par for the course for other neocon-leaning groups, like "The Heritage Foundation" with which they share a lot, ideologically, and otherwise) in the area of fiscal conservatism, their real actions are often far from "conservative."

Consider, for example, their efforts and "legislative modelling" in the area of so-called "child protective" "services" (CPS.) Not once, to my knowledge, has ALEC ever called for eliminating CPS, or any of its assumed and un-Constitutional "powers." The closest they have ever come to doing so was with proposed legislation they put forward 18 years ago which would have required law enforcement agencies, rather than CPS caseworkers, to do the "research" and "investigation" whenever cases of "neglect" or "abuse" were received by CPS.


(Image courtesy of ALEC.org.)

Here is a webpage with that proposal:

https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Child_Abuse_Investigation_Reform_Act_Exposed

While the surface examination of the "intent" here by ALEC might lead you to believe this is somehow going to be a family friendly thing, a closer reading shows how draconian this situation really would have been in practice. Instead of caseworkers with LIMITED RIGHTS coming to your door to "interview" you or your children, under this legislation, it would have always been armed police instead. There is nothing LEOs could ever do to not seem less intrusive than CPS--just they way they are dressed and kitted out--or, to seem less threatening and authoritarian than CPS caseworkers.

The stated purpose of this legislation was to "free up" CPS caseworkers to do more "service" work than investigative work, but as any parent who has been harassed by CPS will tell you, actual "service" from CPS has gone the way of the telegraph long ago, and all they do now is look for ways to seize children as a method of getting more federal and state money. Also, consider this element of the ALEC plan (copied directly from their model legislation):

"Section 3. Family Protection Unit

A. Local child protection agencies shall transfer to or contract with law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations into all child abuse as defined by interagency agreement; and

B. Shall administer twenty-four-hour toll-free in-watts telephone services to report to the law enforcement agency information regarding possible incidents of child abuse. "

Does ANY OF THAT strike you as family friendly?? If this had passed, every single report by unfortunate "mandated reporters," and others, would have gone straight to the police, immediately, resulting in police at the door of every family against whom such complaints (86% of which have always been found to be fraudulent or misinformed) were registered, instead of a little girl with a clipboard. Don't tell me ALEC--that great "conservative" organization didn't know that was what they were actually proposing.

AGAIN...show me, PLEASE, and ALEC-foisted piece of model legislation that is actually family (or Constitution) friendly when it comes to CPS. I would LOVE to see one.


(Image courtesy of the Florida Education Association.)

Consider this more recent model legislation proffered by ALEC:

https://www.alec.org/model-policy/child-protection-reporting-requirement-act/

Here is a bifurcated excerpt of the model legislation cited above:

"Summary
This Act requires that an individual representing the state or working for the state, in a position of authority over minors, who witnesses the physical or sexual abuse of a minor [as defined by the state] submits an oral or written report about the incident to local child protective services agency or the appropriate law enforcement agency, providing exceptions....

Section 2. {Reporting of Abuse or Neglect – By Individuals Representing the State.}

(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including any law on privileged communications, in the course of operations of entities which receive state funding, each individual in a position of authority over minors:

(1) Who has reason to believe that a minor has been subjected to abuse, shall notify the local child protective services agency or the appropriate law enforcement agency; or

(2) Who has reason to believe that a minor has been subjected to neglect, shall notify the local child protective services agency; and

(3) Shall immediately notify and give all information required by this section to the head of the institution in which he or she is employed or the designee of the head.

(4) Individuals who witness physical or sexual abuse of a minor shall immediately notify any police department or sheriff’s department, not including a school district police or security or probation department."

What this legislation does is EXPANDS the mandated reporting requirement so that LEOs must be contacted directly AS WELL AS CPS by any mandated reporter (teachers, administrators, doctors/nurses in state-funded hospitals/clinics, social workers, etc.) I don't even see an ATTEMPT at making this sound family friendly on the part of ALEC here, and this is ten years more recent than the previous "model legislation" by them that we've discussed.


(Image courtesy of thetrumpet.com)

This, sadly, is how badly the American Republic, eons of family rights, and our legal system has been undermined in the USA...Even those few organizations that claim to be working for the people and the Constitution, are USUALLY, against us, in practice and reality. As I've already alluded, perhaps the most well-known (and well-healed) "conservative" think tank of all--The Heritage Foundation--is in the same category as ALEC..i.e. a wolf in sheep's clothing.

That is not to say there aren't some parental rights groups out there that can be trusted. There are. BUT...read up on them, if they were funded and founded by government-aligned individuals or groups, STEER CLEAR. If they were founded by parents who, themselves, have been victims of CPS abuse, they are far more likely to be trustworthy, truly family friendly, and helpful.

Being forewarned is being fore armed.

Do let me know, will you, if I've missed any ALEC-sponsored initiative that is truly family friendly v.v. CPS and the whole child seizure racket. I would be very interested in reviewing that, if anything along those lines exists. In the mean time, DO NOT TRUST either ALEC or Heritage when it comes to anything they may have to say about CPS.

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This is the first time hearing about ALEC.

Posted using Partiko Android

Yea, they're definitely a mixed bag. Usually conservative on fiscal matters, but untrustworthy on everything else of interest to true conservatives, from my experience, anyway.

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