Red Planet Boxing

A thorough review of mcdojolife’s post on cooperative spirit martial arts raises serious ethical, legal, and institutional questions that deserve a response. Since that response was blocked, here it is. Feel free to send this to him since I can’t.

⚖️ Side B — Families Harmed by CPS Investigations
5. Take Care of Maya (Netflix, 2023) A Florida jury handed down a stunning $261 million verdict against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital after a CPS case involving young Maya Kowalski spiraled into what the family called severe overreach. Even after the documentary aired, dozens of parents with similar experiences with that exact caseworker came forward. aol (https://www.aol.com/news/care-maya-261-million-verdict-113500105.html)
6. Failure to Protect (Independent Documentary, 2023) This documentary asks whether the CPS system is biased against minorities, LGBTQIA+ couples, and the economically disadvantaged, and whether it prioritizes removal of children before fully understanding the situation — told through deeply personal family stories. Talkhouse (https://www.talkhouse.com/exploring-the-dark-side-of-the-child-welfare-system/)
7. Tough Love (also relevant here) This film chronicles two parents — one in Seattle, one in New York — both of whom lost custody of their children to child protective services, and follows their efforts to redeem themselves in two different child welfare systems, encountering a complex and entrenched bureaucracy. Noodle.com (https://resources.noodle.com/articles/must-see-movies-for-child-youth-and-family-social-workers/)

📌 Key Stats Worth Knowing
    •    Nearly eight million children were referred to a child maltreatment hotline in 2019, with investigations resulting for three million of them — and more than 80 percent were found not to have faced abuse or neglect. Human Rights Watch (https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/17/us-child-welfare-system-harms-families)
    •    An estimated 37% of U.S. children experience a CPS investigation, with rates among African American children climbing to 53%. PubMed Central (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10701339/)
    •    Studies indicate children involved in CPS investigations suffer from trauma, anxiety, fear, shame, guilt, stigmatization, powerlessness, and depression — even when investigations stem from false or overblown allegations. Heritage Defense (https://heritagedefense.org/How-CPS-Investigations-Harm-Children)