Family Preservation Foundation TV Interviews

(ST. PAUL, Minn. (KSTP) - A group is calling for a federal court to shut down Child Protective Services after claiming the agency takes children away from parents without due process.

Family Preservation Foundation and their parental rights group “Stop Child Protective Services from Legally Kidnapping Children” filed a motion Tuesday for a permanent injunction to immediately close CPS. Dwight Mitchell the organizations founder, called the agency’s practices unconstitutional, vague and overly broad.

(ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - A group is calling for a federal court to shut down Child Protective Services after claiming the agency takes children away from parents without due process.

Family Preservation Foundation and their parental rights group “Stop Child Protective Services from Legally Kidnapping Children” filed a motion Tuesday for a permanent injunction to immediately close CPS, calling the agency’s practices unconstitutional.

Dwight Mitchell, who created the group, is on a crusade to stop what he calls “legal kidnappings.” He says his son was taken unfairly from him for 22 months. Mitchell says these stories may be hard to believe, but they are not uncommon at all.

“Our phones have not stopped ringing and our email inboxes are overflowing,” said Mitchell. “Our association had 250 members we have now grown to 1,265 in less than 30 days.”

Ten-month-old Zayvion has been away from Amanda Weber, his mother, in foster care for just over a week. The ordeal started when Weber took her son to the hospital with a cough. The doctor deemed him stable and notes show the diagnosis was, in fact, a cough. However, the recommendation was that the patient should have stayed. Weber took him home.

“After waiting, I had asked to leave because I wanted to put my kids to bed and I had my three-year-old with me and I asked if there was anything else that had to be done,” said Weber. “They said ‘No, there was no other testing or anything that needed to be done.’”

In a couple of days, police were at her door and took Zayvion to the doctor.

“She checked him out, all his vitals were stable,” she said. “They already had a foster parent in the room , in the room to remove my son before they ever proved … before they ever proved there was an emergency situation.”

Mitchell says he believes it all comes down to money.

“[CPS] can’t even start collecting the money until the child is taken out of the home, put into foster care, then they can start billing a minimum of one social worker a month and one supervisor a month per child,” he said.

Weber says she’s now a part of Mitchell’s crusade. Her first mission is to get her son back, then she’s ready to fight for all the others.

“I need to share my story and if I need to share it a hundred times, a thousand times – I will,” she said.

www.fox9.com.

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- We are following up today on that lawsuit filed by a group of parents at the state capitol last month who say Minnesota child protection services is doing more harm than good in some cases.

Dwight Mitchell said three children were taken from him because of a single spanking incident. After months of fighting a system that he claims wrongfully overreached its authority, he won his case and had his children returned. Now being joined by many other parents who allege the state's protection laws are unconstitutionally broad and vague.

Mitchell filed a civil rights lawsuit saying the current statutes in Minnesota are triggering unnecessary investigations and putting children at risk for wrongfully being removed from their homes.

"You have to show harm to the child to permanently terminate parental rights otherwise the government shouldn't be involved," said Erick Kaardal.

On Tuesday, Mitchell's attorney, Erick Kaardal, filed the official injunction where they are seeking to have the Department of Human Services and the laws used in child protective cases changed.

Over 50 signatures were added in the last six weeks where parents reported similar claims as Mitchell.

"We were a little bit overwhelmed from all of the victims that stepped forward," said Kaardal.

Mitchell, his foundation, Family Preservation Foundation, and the organizations parental group, "Stop Child Protection Services from Legally Kidnapping Children" said they want to see changes in laws they deem unconstitutional.

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- We are following up tonight on that lawsuit filed by a group of parents at the state capitol this week who say Minnesota child protection services is doing more harm than good in some cases.

The lawsuit is being led by a Dwight Mitchell, the founder of Family Preservation Foundation, who says the laws are unconstitutionally. He alleges that unconstitutionally vague and overbroad child protection laws allowed Minnesota child protective services and Dakota county social services to take his kids away from him based solely on allegations and social worker discretion.

(KMSP) - A new federal lawsuit targets Minnesota's Child Protection Services and child protection laws.

The suit alleges that CPS triggers unnecessary investigations and puts children at risk of being removed from their home based only on allegations. Dwight Mitchell said two CPS psychologists said he was fit to parent and that CPS was ordered by several judges to reunify him with his 11-year-old son.

But instead, CPS tried to terminate his parental rights all together. CPS eventually dismissed the case and returned his son to him.

Mitchell has started a nonprofit called Family Preservation Foundation and the parental rights group “Stop CPS from Legally Kidnapping Children.” While his case focuses on the actions of Dakota County CPS, it’s happening in many counties - in part because state laws allow them to.

“If we have vague and ambiguous statutes that authorize child protection to seize those kids, single fit parents, then the government ends up raising the child, and we all know the government is horrible at raising children,” attorney Erick Kaardal said.

In the lawsuit, there are many demands, including jury trials for all termination of parental rights proceedings and defense attorneys for people who cannot afford one.

State Senator Andrew Mathews said he will also begin working on legislation to tighten things up here on a local level.

A Minnesota man, Dwight Mitchell who says his three children were once taken from him because of a single bottom spanking is alleging the state's child protection laws are unconstitutionally broad and vague, and are sometimes based only on allegations and social workers' discretion.

Family Preservation Foundation and the parental rights group he leads, "Stop Child Protection Services From Legally Kidnapping", filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court against the state and county agencies charged with enforcing those laws.

Full Press Conference Family Preservation Foundation and the parental rights group "Stop CPS From Legally Kidnapping Children" - Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Filing.

The lawsuit is being led by a Dwight Mitchell, the founder of Family Preservation Foundation, who says the laws are unconstitutionally. He alleges that unconstitutionally vague and overbroad child protection laws allowed Minnesota child protective services and Dakota county social services to take his kids away from him based solely on allegations and social worker discretion.