Motivational Speaker and Foster Care Expert Derek Clark gets invited by Jane Velez-Mitchell CNN Headline News HLN to share his professional opinion regarding how the system failed the children of child killer Josh Powell. This murder/suicide case was a tragedy. Josh tortured and murdered his own children because he was a selfish coward. Watch This Video. The court should have NEVER allowed Josh Powell’s children to have visits at his house. It should have been at a neutral location. There should be a law requiring the suspension of parental rights and visits if a parent is being investigated for murder and other violent crimes. The courts first priority should be protecting the children.
CNN Headline News features Motivational Speaker Derek Clark as the foster care expert and child welfare speaker. Derek shares his opinion regarding the Josh Powell child killer/suicide case and if the system let those children down. Watch the video.
My heart goes out to these precious children and all who knew and loved them. There are so many tragic cases that we hear about through the media, and so many more that we don’t hear about. On the flipside of the same coin, there are so many wonderful stories that we don’t hear about. Thank you Derek Clark for sharing your wonderful story with the world. Thank you for choosing to use your life in such a positive and uplifting way. As a fellow foster child, I feel that I must share this point; Every case is unique and has to be decided on it’s own independent history, and facts. Judges and childcare workers share the same mindset, biological family reunification. Many times that is the worst possible decision, as was in this case, and would have been in Derek’s case. They need to err on the side of the child(ren), not on the side of the biological parents. I have been in 7 foster homes. Some were great, some were horrible. I have seen and lived both sides of the afore mentioned coin. Forget biological parent’s ‘rights’!!! When you abuse or neglect your kids, you have choosen to give up those ‘rights’!!! It is, or should be all about the children’s rights! The right to live in peace, knowing love and acceptance. The right to know someone will fight the monsters and win!!…just because it is right. When a child is removed from a loving home and sent back to the monster (the abuser), or sent to a new monster, they believe it is THEIR FAULT!!!! I must have been bad to deserve this. It kills the spirit. I know, I have been there. We must fight for the right of the children, not the monsters!!!
Amen Jennifer! From one Foster to another…You Rock! Never give up and never let a weakness destroy your greatness!