SACWIS Update: is it possible to crumble the system?

By C. Patience Summers
patiencepoet@ymail.com
(760) 317-8854

Following several interviews with state Departments of Human and Social Services spokespeople, it was leaked that there was a flaw in the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS): duplicate records on single individuals.

SACWIS is a file, or system of files, that contain record of an individual's foster care record, their food stamp and public medical care history and any welfare or Child Protection Services allegations (false, unfounded, sustained and anonymous complaints alike).

A representative of the Department of Social Services in Utah said, "It's not like there's just one file," and went on to explain that any allegation or social services record gets put into this SACWIS system and intake social workers, or whomever is researching the parent of a child, have to match these complaints against actual people.

For example: in area "B", there are numerous complaints against the "Smith" family. Some of these complaints could be in this SACWIS system under the name "Smithe" and there could even be numerous families with the "Smith" name.

Then, the social worker must match the other identifying aspects of the family to the SACWIS system to form a case against the family for removal of the children in family court.

At it's genesis, the plan for this system was to have this system up and running, connecting all states and run every family through this system prior to releasing their newborns from the hospital to ensure the infant would be going home to an "appropriate" home and family.

Currently, only children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), who coincidentally qualify for SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) funding for being premature or sick in some way, are automatically being checked through this system in most hospitals because the funding simply isn't there to run every child as of yet.

If one wants to see the paperwork a social worker must fax a hospital to put a hold on a newborn, visit http://federaljack.com and search "Washington Social Services Exposed" and view the documents and records leaked there. There is a generic, fill-in-the-blank form social workers fill in to place an unconstitutional hold on a wanted newborn.

At this point, some states, like Utah, have declined integration into this national system, but still copy the form of record keeping into their own SACWIS.

How easy would it be to crumble this system if there were millions of complaints made against similar families than the existent ones? Could it be made like sifting through any local phone book? The investigation continues.