The amount of "good" done by DHS does not offset the evil/damage it does. The outfits are a failed experiment that should be abandoned. The money saved could be used to help mothers like Christy more directly -- with day-care and training.

If anyone but the state were to invade homes and kidnap children the way DHS has, one might reasonably expect parents to respond with deadly force. ...

At a minimum, anyone who orders the removal of a child from a home should be civilly and criminally liable for any future consequences of that action. In the Marr case, Allison Peters, the caseworker who failed to follow procedure, should be in prison right next to the killer, Sally Schofield, and both should be liable for civil damages that will ensure they never have two dimes to rub together for the rest of their lives.

san antonio, tx

Dear FRONTLINE,

I believe that Christy should sue DHS for the murder of her child, Logan. In fact, I believe that all of the mothers in this country who have had their children taken away wrongfully (as the program pointed out, mostly poor--is that criteria for removing a child?) should get together a class action suit for the damage this system is doing to them and their children.

I was totally disgusted with Sally's dismissal, early on in the program, of her clients. Her smugness and feelings of superiority know no bounds. I hope that there are lawyers out there who are willing to take on a lawsuit designed to protect our children from the very agency that keeps repeating, "we're only doing it for the children," and instead is causing untold harm

Mary Anderson
milwaukee, wi

Dear FRONTLINE,

Excellent story "Failure to Protect." However, if the child died in the care of the birth mother, there would be an outrage that DHS should have taken Logan "out" of the home!

The facts are there are a lot of lousy parents out there and too few people willing to take care of these children. Therefore, sad events such as this exist. The amount of money provided to DHS agencies is far below the amount needed and anyone with some intelligence quits the underpaid and overstressed jobs at DHS before they know what they are doing!

P.S. Your story finally used the appropriate title of "case worker" for the individuals that work at DHS. So often the title "social worker" is used wrongfully in stories about DHS case workers.

Jeff Laforge
charlotte , nc

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am so angry after watching how Logan Marr's life was cut short by people who had no business in her life anyway. I know that children must be protected from abuse; I was an abused child. But, I think that we have gone to such extremes that a parent can lose his or her child with no evidence of mistreatment.

And what is worse is that both DHS and the court systems continually fail to recognize the difference between a child being at home and being with strangers. They also ignore the obvious: that foster parents can look good on paper--any parent can look good on paper--but like anybody, under stress they can crack. Let's face it-if the child is not of your own flesh the bond is different.

We need less intrusion into our families by government agencies. Our children cannot be victims of two extremes--parental and governmental abuse. They are too precious and abuse hurts.

san antonio, tx

Dear FRONTLINE,

Sally Schofield described what her infant son went through when he was removed from her home and separated from her with great pain and empathy for his feelings. How unfortunate that she couldn't muster that kind of understanding and love for the little girl who was stolen for her by the Maine DHS.

It was very disturbing to me that the state appeared to make the decision to give Christy's girls away even while she had divorced her husband and was working two jobs to maintain herself, and was still attending all of the classes mandated by DHS. If these are the true and complete facts of this case, someone should be held accountable, for this is corrupt totalitarianisim at it's worst. This is not supposed to happen in our ever decreasingly "free country."

Amee Webster
baltimore, md.

Dear FRONTLINE,

Watching the program this evening left me feeling sad, angry and extremely frustrated with the system. I am a licensed social worker and am employed by a private agency. My job is to determine what is in a child's best interest and make a recommendation to a court. I would like to clarify that a social worker has extensive experience and has a graduate degree, unlike that of a caseworker. In addition, the first goal of the caseworker at DHS should have been to provide support services to the mother, Christy. It was evident that her only support was that of her own mother. I was disgusted to watch DHS threaten to take her children unless she severed her relationship with her mother. Why not simply recommend counseling for Christy and her mother? The most important goal a social worker learns is to help clients create support systems for themselves. Instead, DHS left Christy alone to fight a losing battle.

Joanna Korsh
milford, ct

Dear FRONTLINE,

Our family is dealing with an opposite situation in which my grandchildren have reported sexual abuse by their father and his parents - but DHS says they "can't confirm OR deny" their stories (despite the fact the father has taken several psychological tests all of which evidenced dishonesty, personality disorders and an inability to maintain a normal relationship, while the mother's parenting tests produced the highest scores ever seen by the evaluator) - so the court continues to force the children to live with their abusers (who have also threatened them with harm if their secrecy is violated). These babies (ages 3, 5 and 6) have individually and collectively told the same stories consistently to person after person for over a year - they could not orchestrate a group lie such as this. When children ask for help and DHS isn't sure they believe their stories, unless DHS is certain their stories are false, I believe they must render a decision which gives the benefit to the child - especially when the decision of placement is between two parents and the other parent has been accused of nothing.

"Failure To Protect" was wonderful. Thank you for doing it. I anxiously await the second part. I know DHS has a tough job - too many cases, too few workers, too little money - but I believe their main problem is too many workers with improper motives. We need people with common sense, compassion and a sense of discernment rather than vast knowledge of rigid bureaucratic guidelines.

oklahoma city, ok

Dear FRONTLINE,

Though I greatly appreciate that you have produced this program, I would like to see citizens informed on the real power of the DHS. The system is balanced such that caseworkers need only their own word, while parents are presumed guilty. The DHS has its own legal resources and they are seemingly endless, while parents have to spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to aquire adequate representation. Even then, there are very few attorneys who are well versed in family law; even fewer of those are available on a court appointed basis for the families who cannot afford to pay.

Though I believe that there are capable caseworkers in the DHS, I also believe that there are far too many,(one would be too many), who are willing to bend the truth in order to get their desired outcome, and in Logan's case, to overlook the truth to assure that same outcome. Caseworkers should be required to pass personality screening as well as having a degree. I have seen the documents from DHS notes and trial transcripts, which show certain caseworkers who were willing to fabricate and manipulate facts to thier own advantage. I sat in front of Governor King's spokesperson with those documents and innocently believed that she would be as outraged as I was. Likewise, I have listened to the callers of radio talk shows, who seem convinced that the parents of children in custody must be criminals or drug addicts to have lost their children. It is just not so.

The presumtion of credibility on the part of the DHS is so strong, that the Attorney General's office moves to remove the majority of children from Maine homes on an ex-parte basis, without ever hearing the other side of the story. Judges apparently do not question what is presented to them by officers of the court, especially when no one is present for rebuttal.

It is sad that this the people of the State had so much blind faith in such a powerful organization as the DHS, that it took the death of a child to bring about change.

waterboro, me

Dear FRONTLINE,

DHS took my granddaughters away from their parents three times before they said no more. We were given the three girls 7 years ago. DHS could not have been more supportive. The caseworker did everything possible to help their parents, but when it was obvious the situation was not going to improve, they moved them out of their home. I am grateful the the casework every day. The girls are happy and safe. Their Mother is now in prison and their Father only sees them at his Mother's on Birthdays and Christmas. Their is never even a phone call. They have not changed, just gotten older. All systems are not bad.

bentonville, ar

Dear FRONTLINE,

After watching this heartbreaking story, I was struck by the isolation of the birth mother. To cut her off from the only emotional support she had with her own mother was monstrous. Why not have continuous counselling and support for them both and leave the children where they belong, with their mother? The child care agency failed to respond to Logan's natural desire to be with her mother and her desperate cries for help. Why was the supervisor not held to account for her neglect to follow up with the foster mother?

thornhill, ontario

Dear FRONTLINE,

The child welfare system is pathetic. They either don't care or lack the wherewithal to care for these children. I know they are a dumping ground for society's problems but it seems to me that alot of time they just don't want to be bothered. If I had not insisted on them investigating my sister, they would have never removed him from her home which, at the time, was a crack house.

This story about the little girl is an abberation: most of the time the exact opposite is true. They leave kids in abusive situations much too long and give parents who have absolutely no business having children chance after chance to continue to harm them. I have no idea why they would take that little girl away from her mother with no signs of abuse -- just hearsay. G*d knows there are enough children out here WITH signs of neglect and abuse to worry about. It is simply a crying (and I mean crying) shame what is happening to alot of children in this country.

columbus, oh

Dear FRONTLINE,

It was evident to me that Logan Marr, her sister, and her birth Mother were never allowed the opportunity to participate as equals with the SOCIAL WORKERS and the HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT. All three individuals were being managed and handled and being kept in the dark and at arms length by everyone in that system.

I believe Logan Marr was a perfect mirror of that system (it is a violent system) and that she had the guts to RAGE about all of it. Logan Marr was a willful being for all the right reasons. "Difficult Child" should be struck from the English Language. IMPOSSIBLE SYSTEM is more like it! If Logan Marr hadn't stood up for herself who would? Who could she really count on if not herself! ...

Just as we see the Catholic Church protecting their own "MANAGEMENT TEAM" of Bishops and Priests so too is the "SYSTEM" known as the Child Welfare System putting their own ahead of the hearts and souls of FAMILY and the hearts and souls of the children. Why are the American people not rioting in the streets about this system! Are there not 100's, if not 1000's, of individuals who have been damaged and hurt by this system? ...

Children need a bill of rights to survive in this world. Why do they have to wait to be of legal voting age? That way when the parents can't support them, and the adults around them fail them and the "system" fails all together they still have something to fall back onto. I think all too often children are given up on. Even when this leads to their death heads are scratched and alls anyone wants to know is "how can the system have worked better". It's not the system. It's how we treat children in general that is not on track.

essex, ma

Dear FRONTLINE,

I watched with a cold anger the systematic process that the Maine Dept. of Human Services used to kidnap Logan Marr on trumped-up charges, and place her with their own workers.

Logan Marr's mother was an easy target for the Maine DHS because of her poverty and defenselessness.

It reminded me of how the 1980's Argentine military murdered alleged left-wing sympathizers, and then foster-parented the orphans themselves. Sadly, these Argentinian kids turned out to be in better hands than Logan Marr was.

Andrew Brooks
forest hills, ny

Dear FRONTLINE,

After watching the program I am completely convinced that the current practices of child protection services is fundamentally state supported terrorism against the American Family. Even though my family has never had a problem with them, I find myself horrified at the way children and their families are being abused by our government.

It reminds me of when Indian children were taken from their families and put into state schools. It was a tragic mistake then and so is the current practice of taking children from disadvantaged families today. It is so hard to comprehend that any American can so self-righteously destroy other American families. This practice is going to prove to be very dangerous to our country's governmental stability.

Robert Tims
jonesboro, ar

Dear FRONTLINE,

The psychological repercussions of "yanking" children out of one foster home after another, often quite abruptly, are beyond comprehension. I have long wished that more thought be given to what may seem like a fairly radical idea to many. That is a return to the system of orphanages -- albeit humane and well-managed. Regardless of turnover, and perhaps even less than good staff members, a sense of consistency remains for the child, along with the promise of forming some degree of longer term attachment to a nurturing adult.

Susan Roberts
cleveland heights, oh