This is so sad. Please help these children: via Hena Zuberi Siddiqui : PLEASE HELP SAVE THE AKHTAR KIDS Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu wa Ramadan Mubarak, We are desperately in need of the duaa’s, help, and assistance of the entire Muslim community. My two nephews and one niece, who are residents of Wake County, North Carolina, are about to be placed in non-Muslim foster care by Wake County Child Protective Services (CPS). These kids have already been heavily traumatized after spending over three months in a Dallas, TX foster care facility, where they have been mostly isolated. Now that they are coming back to North Carolina, we can’t allow them to be placed in a non-Muslim foster home. BACKGROUND: Three Muslim children (12 year old boy, 9 year old girl and 6 year old boy) from Cary (suburb of Raleigh, Wake County), North Carolina were taken to Dallas, TX by one of the parents, where they ended up being taken away by the Dallas Child Protective Services and placed in an emergency foster care facility. They have been in that facility since April 1, 2013 and are finally moving back to North Carolina on July 17th, after rulings from judges in both Texas and North Carolina. A couple of Muslim families who are in the Foster Parenting Training Program from the Wake County community offered to take the kids into their care. Originally, Wake County CPS kept arguing to hold them in TX, saying that the kids need to be moved to some extended family in TX. This was shot down in courts. CPS then asked for family or friends from the community in Wake County with whom they could do placement, at which point the names of the Muslim families were provided. CPS initially agreed to this and even did a home study for one of the families. However, now we are finding out that they don’t want to place the kids with a Muslim family but instead want to place them in non-Muslim foster care. WHAT TO DO: Contact Wake County CPS and explain that you are a concerned citizen who has heard of the case of the three Akhtar kids. Demand that the Akhtar kids need to be placed in a Muslim home. These are Muslim kids that need to be in a Muslim home that can take care of their needs. There are Muslim families who are in the foster training program ready to accept these kids, and CPS needs to follow their own guidelines for placement that direct them to place children with family or friends that are familiar to them in their own religious and cultural community. Denying the kids placement in their own religious and cultural community is a violation of their basic civil rights. CONTACT: Child Welfare Administrator: Warren Ludwig, Ph. D / (919) 212-8447 / Fax (919) 212-7027 / wludwig@wakegov Assistant Division Director of Child Welfare: Lisa Cauley, MSW / (919) 212-7437 / Fax (919) 212-1031 / lisa.cauley@wakegov Program Manager: John Tanner, MSW / (919) 212-7433 / Fax (919) 212-7752 / john.tanner@wakegov You can leave voice mails and send faxes and emails, but please also make sure you can talk to these individuals directly. Remember to be polite in all communication. FORWARD TO EVERYONE (INCLUDING THOSE OUTSIDE OF WAKE COUNTY, NC): Insha-Allah with enough public pressure, we can get CPS to go back to their original word and comply with their own policies. Please forward this to everyone you know, Muslim or otherwise, and ask them to help intervene. MAKE ANNOUNCEMENTS IN ALL MASAAJID AND GATHERINGS Ask your local masjid to champion this cause by getting your Imam and Board Members to personally contact Wake County CPS as well as announce to the community at Friday Prayers and Taraweeh to do the same. Please post this information on bulletin boards as well. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact the children’s aunt, Iffat Mobin-Uddin, iffatmu@gmail, for more information and to keep her informed on any conversation you have with CPS. Thank you very much and may Allah reward you for your help.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 22:10:37 +0000
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