Masha Allen Abandonned Again

Earlier today, this document was filed in New Jersey federal district court in Masha Allen's lawsuit against the agencies responsible for placing her with pedophile Matthew Mancuso. According to the motion:

On or about August 18, 2009, Faith Allen freely and voluntarily executed a consent to adoption with respect to Masha, pursuant to 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 2711. Because Faith Allen did not revoke this consent to adoption within the statutorily allowed 30-day revocation period, it became irrevocable subject to narrow exceptions. The Orphan's Court with jurisdiction over the matter has now terminated Faith Allen's legal rights as a parent to Masha Allen.

Masha Allen is officially an orphan again.

ASFA Failure - Only 71 Interstate Adoptions Last Year

This just in from blogger Jeff Katz of the Huffington Post:

The simple fact is that it is virtually impossible to adopt a foster child across state lines in the United States.


In the most recent year for which we have data, states reported that only 71 children in the entire country were adopted from foster care across state lines by non-relatives.


Why is interstate adoption so rare? The primary reason is that we do not have a national adoption system. Instead, we have 50 different child welfare systems, each with its own process for adoption eligibility, recruitment, approval, and training.


Even worse, our current system has created profound disincentives for states to facilitate and support adoptions across state lines.


It is a national scandal that 25,000 children age out of foster care each year while willing adoptive parents are ignored because they are in the wrong state or even the wrong county. It shouldn't be harder for a New Jersey family to adopt a child from Manhattan than Moscow. We must change the incentives in our adoption system so that everyone wins when a hurt child finds a forever family.

Check out the complete post here.

Birdman Adoptive Father Stephen Melinger Back in the News

Look who's back! Was it adoption for love? Child trafficking via surrogacy? Or something else? The bizarre case of birdman Stephen Melinger is back in the news, this time in a New York Times article on the perils and pitfalls of surrogacy. Do check out this story in the Times, but just remember from Melinger to womb outsourcing, snowflake adoptions and sperm donor introductions for lesbians, this blog gave you the scoop first.

"Wrongly Accused" 100 Year Old Pedophile Leaves Prison

For those of you who believe in the power of rehabilitation, or that age conquers the irresistible impulse to exploit and abuse children, or for the liberal horde who expressed indignant outrage at the prospect of the death penalty for child sex abusers, this one's for you:


According to the Huffington Post, Theodore Sypnier, a 100-year-old child molester who will soon be released from prison, has an "unrepentant heart" and continues to deny that he ever harmed any children.

New York's oldest registered sex offender is scheduled to move by week's end out of a Buffalo halfway house for released inmates and into a place of his own, after completing his latest term in state prison for molesting little girls.


The judge who sentenced him said at the time that she expected him to die behind bars.


But 10 years after his last arrest, as Sypnier prepared to shed the closely monitored lifestyle of the halfway house, its director warned that the spry and active Sypnier has not changed from the manipulator who used his grandfatherly charm to snare and rape victims as young as 4.


"Whether he's 100 or 101 or 105, the same person that was committing these crimes 10, 25, 30 years ago still exists today and has an unrepentant heart," said the Rev. Terry King, director of Grace House, which has twice taken Sypnier in from prison. "He is someone that we as parents, as members of the community, any community, really need to fear."


Six months after marking his 100th birthday in the Groveland Correctional Facility - becoming the first New York inmate to reach the milestone while incarcerated - the retired telephone company worker now says he wants to get to know the youngest members of a family that has disowned him.


Being grandfatherly was how the 5-foot-5, 150-pound Sypnier found his victims, authorities say. After his most recent arrest at age 90 on charges of raping and sodomizing a 4-year-old girl and her 7-year-old sister, his neighbors in the suburb of Tonawanda recalled what appeared to be a kindly Sypnier offering rides to adults, handing out money to children so they could buy candy, and baby-sitting.


The victimized sisters called him "Grandpa," their mother said at the time, adding that it "was a total shock" when police showed her sexually explicit pictures of her girls found in Sypnier's apartment.


Sypnier's convictions date to 1987, when he was given three years' probation for sex abuse. He spent a year in prison for sexually abusing a minor in 1994. His neighbors in Tonawanda never knew of Sypnier's background because he was convicted before the adoption of laws requiring sex offenders to register with police.


But Sypnier says he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, despite twice pleading guilty in the case involving the sisters.


"Those children crawled into bed with me because they were frightened, but there was never any sexual hanky-panky," Sypnier told the Buffalo News.


Sypnier initially pleaded guilty in 2000 to two counts of rape, 15 counts of sodomy and endangering the welfare of a child for molesting the Tonawanda girls, as well as three in Buffalo. An appeals court threw out the conviction in 2002 after Sypnier claimed he was confused at the time, leading to another plea the following year to a lesser charge.


In sentencing Sypnier to as many as 10 years in prison, state Supreme Court Justice Penny Wolfgang told him she expected he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.


"The sheer notion of him wandering the streets unattended or unsupervised is a scary proposition," King said.

PA's Lax Judicial Oversight in the Masha Allen Case

During the past four years numerous questions have been raised about how and why then-Allegheny County Judge Cheryl Lynn Allen was allowed to preside over the adoption of Masha Allen by her namesake and former roommate Faith Allen.


For a long time I wondered the same thing. Almost three years ago, I filed this complaint with the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board. After supplying additional information at the request of JCB's chief counsel, Joseph A. Massa Jr., the JCB presumably spent a year investigating my allegations. Right after Judge Allen won her hotly contested election to the Pennsylvania court of appeals in late 2007 (she recently ran for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and lost in the primary), my complaint against Judge Allen was summarily rejected.


Now that same board and its chief counsel, Joseph A. Massa Jr., have been accused of "stonewalling" Pennsylvania's Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice in its attempt to evaluate the JCB's handling of a complaint against corrupt Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan.


The same person who handled my complaint against Judge Allen, Joseph A. Massa Jr., allegedly acted as the "gatekeeper" for the judicial disciplinary system who kept the complaint against Judge Conahan away from the 12 member JCB.


"In our efforts to gather information from the JCB we have asked for it formally, informally, on the record and off the record," said John M. Cleland, chairman of the Interbranch Commission. "Our requests for meaningful information have been met with an unyielding refusal to provide the information based on an assertion of constitutional confidentiality."


According to The Legal Intelligencer, ever since the revelation in September that the JCB received the complaint against Conahan, the board's responses to inquiries have raised a host of troubling questions.


How many complaints were filed against Conahan? What did the board do with those complaints? When did the board speak with federal authorities?


What, if anything, did the JCB tell federal investigators regarding the complaints? What did the board do with the complaints between the time they were filed and the filing of federal charges? Why wasn't the board made aware of the allegations in the 2006 complaint?


Robert L. Byer, a former Commonwealth Court judge and former member of the Court of Judicial Discipline, said the JCB needs to be more forthcoming.


"This situation is so serious, there cannot be any sacred cows," said Byer, now an appellate lawyer with Duane Morris. "There needs to be full disclosure."


Byer said that two things "ought to happen" to address the questions surrounding the JCB's handling of the case and the judicial discipline system as a whole.


"The Supreme Court should give consideration of an independent investigation of the board," he said. "[And] I think the General Assembly should have a committee look at this and consider whether this situation calls for changes" to the state constitution regarding the JCB and the Court of Judicial Discipline.


Perhaps now serious questions will be asked and answered about the highly unusual domestic adoption of the internationally adopted and sex trafficked child named Allen.

Big Pharma: if you can't treat 'em then drug 'em

Powerful mood-altering drugs were prescribed to hundreds of Illinois foster children without the required consent of state child welfare officials, a Chicago Tribune analysis of government data has found.


And increasing numbers of young wards were diagnosed with bipolar disorder and given a class of anti-psychotic medicines that some physicians consider risky for youths because they can cause such side effects as metabolic abnormalities and pronounced weight gain.


Psychiatrist Michael Naylor, MD, who reviews psychotropic medicine regimens for DCFS, said that he worries that "marketing efforts" by pharmaceutical companies are driving increasing diagnoses of bipolar disorder leading to more prescriptions for antipsychotic medicines, and that some "physicians are skirting the consent laws."


A separate report by the University of Illinois at Chicago's department of psychiatry finds that an Illinois psychiatric hospital used medications as chemical restraints on kids. Streamwood Behavioral Health Center, "one of Illinois' largest psychiatric hospitals, dosed foster children with dangerous combinations of mood-altering" medications, "sometimes using the medicines as 'chemical restraints' to control youth who needed counseling."


The report also found that the center, "which has treated roughly 475 Department of Children and Family Services wards since 2007, is 'so understaffed as to be counter-therapeutic,'" and that "hospital staff resorted to extraordinarily high rates of emergency psychiatric medications, physical restraints, and seclusion."

Restitution for Child Pornography Victim Denied

On Monday, a federal district judge in the Eastern District of Texas issued a memorandum opinion and order denying restitution to a now 20-year-old woman known as "Amy" in the case of a defendant who downloaded and possessed her images.


The Court’s decision is a serious set-back for victims of child pornography like Amy in their effort to obtain just and timely restitution for the ongoing crimes perpetrated against them. How can we, as a country, justify awarding tens of thousands of dollars in damages to record companies for downloading a single song, while criminals who exploit children pay nothing?


For over 30 years, Congress and the Supreme Court have recognized that victims of child pornography experience significant life-long harm by individuals like the defendant in this case who trade and possess images of their rape, abuse and humiliation.


It is now up to Congress, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court to decide this issue in the interest of children like Amy and the American people who have little tolerance for these crimes and the abuse and exploitation of our nation’s young people.


For coverage of this case see the Tyler Morning Telegraph


Further background can be found here.

Impact of Adoption and Safe Families Act Webcast

On December 14, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. E.T., the Urban Institute and the Center for the Study of Social Policy will host an audio Webcast on the impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act on the safety, permanence, and well-being of abused and neglected children.


The nearly 2-hour session will be moderated by Susan Notkin, New York Director, Center for the Study of Social Policy. Panelists include:

• Olivia Golden, Fellow, Urban Institute


• John Mattingly, Commissioner, New York City's Administration for Children's Services


• Carmen Nazario, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services


• Jeanette Vega, writer, "Rise" magazine


• Nancy Young, Director, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare

To obtain further information and register for this Webcast, visit www.urban.org/events/Safe-Families-Act.cfm. Information about attending the session in Washington, DC, is also available on that page.

1 in 4 Teens Engage in Sexting-Criminal Child Porn Activity

As recently as a year ago only 20% of teens were engaged in sexting. Now a new MTV-AP poll of teens aged 14 to 17 reveals that the practice is growing with 24% of underaged teens involved in some kind of naked sexting.


Here are some highlights from the survey:


• Girls are slightly more likely to have shared a naked photo or video of themselves (13%) than boys (9%).


• Those who have shared a naked photo or video mostly report that they initially sent the photo to a significant other or romantic interest. However, 29% of those who sent sexts report sending them to people they only know online and have never met in person. 24% sent sexts to people they wanted to date or hook up with.


• While girls are more likely to share naked photos or videos of themselves, boys are more likely to report receiving a naked photo or video of someone else that has been passed around - 14% vs. 9%.


• 61% of those who have sent a naked photo or video of themselves have been pressured by someone else to do so at least once.


• Those involved in sexting are likely to use words like “flirty”, “exciting”, “hot”, “fun” and “trusting” to describe the practice.


Perhaps the most surprising (or not) statistic is that almost half of sexually active young people report being involved in sexting. While their underaged sexual activity is probably legal under state law, creating a visual record of ANY teenage sexual activity is illegal production of child pornography under federal law and subjects the creator, distributor and recipient to a mandatory minimum five year sentence.


Sexual activity includes actual or simulated masturbation, sexual intercourse, or a "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area."


Parents can be liable too. Any parent who "knowingly permits" such activity "or has reason to know" such activity is occurring faces a 15 year mandatory minimum sentence in a federal prison.


Here's an outline of potential federal criminal liability in a typical sexting scenario:

17 year old John challenges his 15 year old girlfriend Karen to masterbate for him on her webcam. Karen takes off her clothes and simulates masturbation in front of the webcam. John and his friend Sam record the episode on a laptop computer. The following day Sam asks his buddy Tony if he wants to see the video. Tony does and Sam emails it to him. Later that same day Karen's mom Debbie discovers a still image from the webcam masturbation on Karen's cell phone.

Under current federal law, John is guilty of violating 18 USC 2251 which prohibits an individual from "persuading, inducing, enticing, or coercing any minor to engage in sexual activity" including simulated masterbation. If convicted, John will receive a 15 year mandatory minimum sentence, registration as a sex offender, and up to lifetime supervision by a probation officer.


While Karen will probably escape liability for production of child pornography, she is guilty of "knowingly transporting by computer a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct" which is a 5 year mandatory minium federal sentence, registraiton as a sex offender, and up to lifetime supervision by a probation officer. 18 USC 2255 and 18 USC 2255A.


Sam is guilty of pandering child pornography under 18 USC 2251 by "offering to distribute a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit." He'll join his friend John in federal prison for the mandatory minimum 15 years.


Tony is guilty of receiving child pornography in violation of 18 USC 2252A and will receive a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence, plus registraiton as a sex offender and up to lifetime of probation monitoring.


Karen's mom Debbie also faces federal criminal liability. If, after finding the incriminating image on Karen's phone, she continues to "knowingly permit" Karen "to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct or for the purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction of such conduct," she will join John and Sam in federal prison for 15 years. 18 USC 2251. Better yank out that web cam mom! And the video cell phone. And the Filp video cam. And the Canon SureShot. And . . . you get the picture (hopefully not).


These are theoretical hypothetical possibilities and it is unlikely that any federal prosecutor would ever bring such a case. These are, however, very real crimes with substantial criminal penalties. Federal prison is far cry from the "flirty exciting hot fun” most teenagers experience while sexting.


The question remains, should federal law change to protect Karen? If so, what about her boyfriend John? Should Sam and Tony escape liability? What about permissive parents like Debbie? And what if Karen was 13 instead of 15? Or 12? What if John was 18 or 20?


Any federal exception for sexting needs to take into account many complex scenarios and aggressive defense attorneys who will use any opening in the law to exempt real pedophiles from criminal liability.