Friday, January 16, 2009

New Jersey Officials Have Explaining To Do

This is just rich.
"Removal of a child from a family is only done when there's an imminent danger to a child and that wouldn't include the child's name alone," Kate Bernyk, a spokeswoman for New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services, told the newspaper. "We wouldn't remove a child based on their name."

The children's names are Adolf Hitler Campbell, 3, Joyce-Lynn Aryan Nation Campbell, who will be 2 in February, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, who turns 1 in April.

The children and their parents, Heath and Deborah Campbell, received attention last month when a northwestern supermarket bakery refused to put Adolf Hitler Campbell's name on a birthday cake.
They're claiming that they didn't take the remove the children from the custody of two Neo-Nazi parents who named their kids in honor of Nazi scum because of the names. So then why were they taken?

There's a hint of a reason here:
Holland Township Sgt. John Harris, who accompanied state authorities to the home Friday, said he didn't know the reasons for the removal.

He said police have received no recent reports of abuse, negligence or threats against the family that might have put the children in danger.

(snip)

Harris said he has known Heath Campbell, 35, for years.

"We've been out there before," he said of the family home. "It hasn't been for anything with the kids. He's always been very good with the kids. His kids seem to mean a lot to him. His relationships? That's something I can't comment on."
So, has the family been involved in violent acts? Unsafe living conditions? That would have to be the gist of the reason, because the names, while highly offensive, aren't in and of themselves a reason to have the kids removed from the home.

This story reeks of government overreach, and unless the state can show that the parents were harming the kids or that the kids were in an unsafe living environment, the parents have themselves a lawsuit on their hands. And state taxpayers will be picking up the tab.

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