Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Chicks on the Right podcast.
We're very excited today because we have a member of
our own audience on the show with us today who
reached out to us, Jamie Williams.
Speaker 2: Thank you for being here.
Speaker 1: You reached out to us with a story to tell
about what's going on in the foster care system in
Washington State. Give us and our audience the rundown.
Speaker 3: Yes, Oh my gosh, Washington State is a dumpster fire
for so many reasons, you guys, and we already know that,
but the child welfare system is a huge component to
that right now and so on. So I've been a
foster parent for seven years. I primarily was at labor
and delivery nurse for most of my career, and that's
kind of what led me.
Speaker 4: Into the foster care system.
Speaker 3: We taken babies exposed to drugs within utero and some
that are really medically challenging and high risk, and so
that's kind of how I landed in foster care. So
we have adopted, We've taken care of, you know, ten
or so children within the system. I'm from a little
corner of the state. I'm as far away from Seattle
as you can get.
Speaker 4: I live in Walla, Walla, which people are always like,
is that real?
Speaker 2: Is that a real? It is? It is.
Speaker 4: We're known for our wines. We're very rule.
Speaker 3: We are also known from for Tanya from the Real
World back in the nineties.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you remember that. Oh my god,
what was that like?
Speaker 2: Season one?
Speaker 4: I can't even remember because I was young. I was
really young.
Speaker 3: But yeah, and Batman Batman.
Speaker 4: So there's some fun facts about.
Speaker 1: The get.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So this I kind of got.
Speaker 3: I got into Foster Care about seven years ago, and
we are just now experiencing this huge crisis, and it's
so upsetting because our governor and our dc y F,
which is the Department of Children, Youth and Family, the director,
they're all trying to really silence this. They're trying to
use kind of diversion taxtic tactic to deflect from the
crisis that we're in. And so I reached out to
you guys, and I was so excited to hear back
that you guys were willing to listen to this story.
But I'll talk about kind of the both components to
this crisis. On one side, it's like a double edged sword.
On one side, you have a bill that was passed
in twenty twenty one. It's called the Keeping Families Together Act,
which sounds like butterflies and rainbows.
Speaker 4: And I assure you it's not. It's a crapshoot.
Speaker 3: And that what that did was this law passed where
now DCYF Department of Children, Youth and Family, the social
workers have to prove imminent physical harm to remove a
child from a lethal environment. So that is really hard
to do because, for example, if you beat your child
last week, well this is a new week.
Speaker 4: You know, so you might go.
Speaker 3: You can't prove that this is going to happen imminently.
And so what's happening is we've had this massive increase,
like over two one hundred percent increase.
Speaker 4: In fatalities and near fatalities.
Speaker 3: So if drugs are involved, you can't the child stays within.
Speaker 4: That environment, you cannot remove them.
Speaker 3: So when babies come, you know in my career, it
was a mother would come in, she'd have a baby,
baby would test positive.
Speaker 4: Mom would test positive.
Speaker 3: We know there's active drug use, we know there's a
really big threat to the safety of this child. So
the baby would immediately go on a CPS hold. We
would find a foster home for that baby, and then
we would immediately wrap services around the parents so we
could reunify in a safe way. Well, now baby just
goes home, Baby just goes home with active yes, with
active drug use in the home. And it's god wild
and what the reason?
Speaker 4: And you guys don't love this? The reason they pass
this law.
Speaker 3: The primary sponsor of this bill her name, and I
will call her out because she deserves to be called out.
Her name is Lilian or Tease self. And her argument
and her campaign, if you will, around this bill was
that we were racially disproportionately removing children of color from.
Speaker 1: Their whole crime and it didn't matter what the stats
were for the drug use rising right, oh my god,
And so it was completely they viewed it through this
racial tunnel vision.
Speaker 4: And it is maddening.
Speaker 3: Because when you actually look at the data and the facts,
in twenty twenty one, before they passed this bill, fatalities
among children of color was eight percent in Washington State.
You fast forward now to twenty twenty four, and that's
the last data we have available on public record critical
incidents meaning fatalities and near fatalities combined among children of
color is twenty five percent.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, wow, and they don't see that there's
a connection.
Speaker 2: There's a correlation here.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: We in fact, this is fun because we were actually
supposed to talk last week and I had to reschedule
because I had to go to Olympia and I was
at our state capitol the whole week, and we were
meeting with Republicans and Democrats on both sides. We had
a huge rally, and we we were in the House.
Speaker 4: We were in the Senate, we were going to committees.
Speaker 3: And we were presenting this information to really debunk this
and the only person that refused to meet with us
was Lillian or Te's self. Shocker, wow, yeah, shocking, right, yeah.
And so it's it's just so maddening because we even
met with we met with a lot of Democrats on
the in the House and in the Senate, and what
we heard was the same was kind of the same thing,
and they were saying, you have to be really really
progressive to survive in the state. You knows, as in
our position as a lawmaker, there's we are traditional Democrats.
Speaker 4: There's no room for us.
Speaker 3: So like we we want to support you, and we do,
and we see it, we understand, but they will not
listen to us. In fact, we've gotten metalitating.
Speaker 4: Are left like, oh maratifude.
Speaker 5: Right, try being a kid and trying to survive, and
that's say good.
Speaker 3: And so it's just it's just sickening because you can't
break through to these people. They in fact, they even
straight up told us, they said they will not listen
to you. You know, the far left that's really responsible
for this bill. They won't listen to you. You've got
to find a black coalition to get behind you, or
you've got to find some native tribes. But they will
not listen to you, even though you have the fat,
the facts and the data.
Speaker 5: It's crazy what you're saying, Like, it's it's like just
listening to it, I'm just like, this is absolute madness.
It's like nobody cares about the kids. No, it's because
you're showing them data. They don't want to look at
the data. They're like, la, la, la, I don't want
to see data.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 4: It's totally deflecting.
Speaker 3: And so part of their mitigation tactics to compensate for
all of these fatalities, in these near fatalities, is to just.
Speaker 4: Hand out Narcan. It's candy. I mean, we've just we
don't even track all.
Speaker 1: Let's just give the kids needles. I mean that seems
to be like right on line with that kind of thinking.
Let's just go ahead and give them safe needles.
Speaker 2: Like, part of.
Speaker 3: Their harm reduction kits include Narcan test strips so that
you can test your drugs for fetanyl, because surely if
it tests positive or fetanyl, if it's laced, you won't
use it, all right.
Speaker 4: Because drug users make good decisions like that.
Speaker 5: I feel like, listen, if it's happening there, it's happening
in other cities. Obviously, it's happening in other states across
the country. Yeah, this is probably indicative of so many
different stays across the aggressive ones.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely absolutely, and so and then the thing that
just makes me laugh. In their harm reduction kits, they
also have this like really pretty brochure to like explain
to you that drugs are bad, you know, like in case.
Speaker 2: You didn't know. Wow, that's new information.
Speaker 5: Okay, It's just it's wild.
Speaker 4: It is so wild.
Speaker 3: And I experienced the ramifications of this because we were
forced to send home a four month old baby back
to his mom because she did AA online and that
was sufficient thing during COVID it was oh, that's still
like summer of twenty two, so it wasn't It wasn't
like right in the peak of COVID.
Speaker 4: But she went to AA.
Speaker 3: Online's as she's using yeah right right fast tracked him
home and that was the first time like my husband
and I were like, what is happening? Why are they
setting her up for failure? She's not ready. Let's just
slow it down, Let's continue to work with her. I
was trying to get her to come to doctor's appointments
and get engaged. She wouldn't, and so he was sent back.
Speaker 4: She wasn't even fighting for the child.
Speaker 1: This was just like it was just like the handles
by services, these services that she was completing were sufficient
enough for DC.
Speaker 4: Wef to be like she's ready, oh my god. Oh,
And she wouldn't even go to the doctor appointment.
Speaker 3: No, no, And so when he was sent back home,
I started getting calls from his medical team and they
were saying, Jamie, we have not seen him.
Speaker 4: Where is he?
Speaker 3: And I was like, I have I can't even help.
You know, you have to call the social worker. You
have to call the supervisor. I'm completely out.
Speaker 4: Of it now.
Speaker 3: They won't even talk to me about this kid, you
know now that he's not in my care. And so
nine months went by and I got this text message
from one of the social workers that does like placements
for foster children, and she said, hey, Jamie, so and
so is back in foster care. He's been neglected medically
and just overall neglect, and you know, can you take him?
Mom relapsed, The house burnt to the ground.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: I was told that it was purposefully set on fire
and they killed all the animals inside of it. Luckily
there were no children there, but it was horrific and
I just wanted to unleash on them because I was like,
this is what I told you. He could have been
with me this whole time. We could have still been
working with Mom. It could have been a safe and
stable situation, and instead you sent him back home. You
started to hardwire this trauma in this growing brain. He's
been neglected. There's drugs in the home, so many red flags.
So I just felt this visceral reaction of like, I've
got to find out what's going on. And that's when
I found out that they changed the laws and it
made it really difficult for social workers to either keep
children in foster care or just even just remove them.
Speaker 4: And so my phone stopped ringing. It just stopped ringing.
Speaker 3: And we recently we did have one baby for about
a year and he went to an adoptive home, but
they weren't even going to he was born in the hospital.
Drugs were involved a lot of other concerns as well,
and they were not even going to try and put
him in protective custody because they didn't think they had
enough evidence underneath this.
Speaker 4: Law on what they have to prove.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: So luckily, luckily they were able to you know, petition
and put him in and protect a custody and then
he stayed with us, thank god. But this is why
we're seeing this massive increase in critical incidents. In fact,
there was just a story that was so horrific in
Seattle and it kind of went like viral all over
the state where they were. They found like a nine
year old boy was living in a tent in the
homeless camp and.
Speaker 4: There was rat feces all over the.
Speaker 3: Tent, used condoms because his mom was engaging in prostitution
for drug money. They fetanyl paraphernalia everywhere and.
Speaker 4: This boy and people kept calling CPS.
Speaker 3: They'd see this boy living there and CPS would would come,
but say, we just don't have enough, like I can't
prove that he's at risk of in it is the.
Speaker 4: Coal harm under this stupid law.
Speaker 3: My gosh, it's so wild and so then so that's
one edge of the sword. The other component to this
crisis is that they at the same time that they
that they passed that law, they also changed like our
Washington State Administrative Code are wax that we have to
follow as foster parents. So now we are also forced
to affirm and support a child's gender identity and sexual orientation.
Speaker 5: Oh, here we go.
Speaker 3: And that's not just using pronouns that is, it's it
clearly states that you have to connect them to services
that will support and affirm their gender identity and sexual orientation.
Speaker 1: And wait, just really quick, like when did that Is
that a new part of a new law? Because how
does that jive with what President Trump has said? You
can't do that anymore, especially since these are federal you know,
or they're at least governmental programs, right, how does that
even work?
Speaker 3: But I talk to somebody about this who knows a
lot more about this. Do you guys know Aaron Friday
from our duty? No, Okay, she's from California and her
her child was kind of indoctrinated into this crap in
school several years back during COVID, and.
Speaker 4: So she's really ending up. Yeah, she's risen up.
Speaker 3: And so I was actually I was talking to her
the other day because we're going to have her on
our podcast, and she was saying that the executive order,
it's kind of a nice gesture, but it doesn't help
the Blue States black man.
Speaker 4: So it doesn't really it doesn't really factor in.
Speaker 3: However, it does kind of threaten the Blue States that
where you you and he has said you cannot force
foster parents to do this. It's against their constutional rights.
So I think if they were to actually come after
me and try to revoke my license, I would win.
I would win that case. And I think they know that,
but they and that's why they tried to roll this
out like really silently. They didn't like send an email
out to foster parents. It was all just kind of
like under the table, We're just gonna sneak this in
and hope that like, people don't find out about it.
But so now foster parents they're trying, are getting license,
they get to that step and they're like, I can't
agree to this.
Speaker 1: Right, you know, which is so stupid because these are
probably fantastic homes families that are desperately needed by kids.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, it's.
Speaker 3: So insane to me and even just I mean aside
from you know, my stance as a Christian and my
convictions there, but as a medical professional, I absolutely will
not conform to this.
Speaker 4: Yep, we we are not this is this is not okay.
Speaker 3: And if if a if a a child came to
me who was experiencing anorexia, would I have affirm that
absolutely no, let's go get you some mozampic.
Speaker 4: You know what.
Speaker 3: I know, it's insane, It's like because you know that
that's a symptom of something deeper that's going on, and
you are and yes, we need to lead with compassion,
but compassion is not shape shifting the truth. You know,
Compassion is not causing harm. That's that's irreversible to children,
you know, especially within the foster care system. That is
really where I get upset, because these are kids with
trauma and what we know about adverse childhood experiences like
that has permanently affected their brain.
Speaker 5: Right, They're so vulnerable. Those are like such vulnerable kids.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, if you want to affirm this false sense of reality,
and in a child who's growing and developing but also
has severe trauma, whose frontal lobe will probably never be fully.
Speaker 4: Developed, truthfully, how can you get behind that?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 3: And it's just so so ridiculous. Like I heard Brandy
Cruz the other day. She was on and she asked
Governor Bob Ferguson, like if he would like in terms
of the sports thing that's been like a really big
thing in Washington State, right, is boys playing girls sports?
And and he he totally deflected from her question, and
he accused Brandy of being obsessed with trans kids.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, is debata what he said?
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: We hear that a lot.
Speaker 5: We see that a lot of they say that a lot,
you know, like we're somehow obsessed with that.
Speaker 2: We're not.
Speaker 5: We just don't want boys playing in girls' sports.
Speaker 4: Absolutely absolutely, And it's so funny.
Speaker 3: Like as soon as I've been very had, I've had
a very public opposition to all of this, And I
mean you get, you know, all the Facebook trolls, you know,
in their mom's basement and they like come after you, you.
Speaker 4: Know, like swing in.
Speaker 3: And I've had people reach out to me and like
private message me, and they've you know, I've reported you.
You are a danger to children. You don't deserve to.
Speaker 4: Care for these children.
Speaker 3: I've reported you, And I'm just like, okay, Timmy, like
go stop your pass the fire and take a nap,
you know.
Speaker 5: But seriously, though, has that affected your ability to be
a foster parent.
Speaker 4: That I have? I have been reported, right, so I
know that for sure.
Speaker 3: I haven't received any specific communication from kind of the
higher up saying that, you know, we're going to provoke
your license or anything.
Speaker 5: Because you're because you're Christian and you have like morals
and we can't have that.
Speaker 4: Like I'm just curious.
Speaker 1: I guess, yes, Well, because what's a report going to
say she said something I disagreed with on the internet,
so take her license away.
Speaker 5: I mean, I mean, we've seen weirder things happening in
the in the country. That's why I was That's why
I'm asking. That's why I was curious.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, So I haven't received anythings specifically, but I mean,
I will sue the ship out of Washington. Stay you
back me into a corner and you threaten to take
away my license, which is like you should more important
to me than my career. I will fight like hell
for these kids. And I think they know that. And
it's actually funny because in Oregon there was the Baits
case and it's within that like ninth Circuit, so we're
a part of that, and the foster parents won. They
told the foster parents that they couldn't adopt this child
because they weren't willing to affirm their gender identity and
sexual orientation and all that, and they lawyered up and
they sued Oregon and they won.
Speaker 2: Oh and it was a pretty.
Speaker 3: Big case because it is it's a constitutional right. You
cannot coherse me into a belief. You cannot go against
my religious freedoms and my freedom of speech.
Speaker 4: And that's exactly what they're trying to do.
Speaker 1: They're really trying to like, is there I mean, I
know what you said about, you know, visiting the legislature
and not even getting to talk to the lady that's
responsible for the bill.
Speaker 2: Is there hope for your state?
Speaker 1: Like, is there something that Trump can put I don't know, like,
is there is there can you leave us with some optimism?
Is there something our audience can do to help with
the cause?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I would say probably realistically, it's gonna
take either a lawsuit or Trump will have to because
foster Care is federally funded like fifty percent, and he
I think would I think the government would have to
withhold funds and you know, and really play hardball, which
which would be a it would it wouldn't be a
good pr situation because it really would trickle down and
affect a lot of areas if we didn't get funding. Right,
But I think that's almost what has to happen in
order for Washington State to comply. But we are as
I mean, we oh, it's just the dumpster fire over here.
I just I'm not optimistic that anything concrete will happen
in a way that will really move the needle, just
because we are so blue, Like we are so radical
over here. I mean even like we're going to have
higher income taxes than New York.
Speaker 4: We're going to be the highest in the country. Pretty small,
and you're.
Speaker 1: Going to have a record of a bunch of kids
dying in foster care. I think that that would mean
something to the electorate in your state.
Speaker 2: But wow, that data.
Speaker 5: Doesn't seem to matter apparently. But this cannot be exclusive
to your state though, I mean, because there are other
progressive states out there, and you know they're experiencing maybe
not exactly the same, but at least something similar to
the situation that you're talking about. So that's the thing
is that people need just need to be more cognizant
of what's going on.
Speaker 4: And keep an eye on Virginia.
Speaker 2: Now, what else is going to happen in that?
Speaker 5: Say?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, it's horrible, Yeah, Jamie, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, we just so appreciate you filling us in and
letting our audience know what's going on, because this is
not a topic that we've ever hit on. It's not
you know, we don't do that personally. We're not foster parents. Obviously,
have huge admiration for folks like you who are. But wow,
I mean, what a story, and I'm glad you came
to tell it.
Speaker 2: We appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you guys so much for having me. It's
always so fun to watch you guys every morning. I
feel like, between mocks, laugh, and Daisies like sound effects.
You guys are the perple hair, and like, you're gonna
go into a really dark place in this in this
culture if you don't find the humor and all.
Speaker 4: Of it's a crazy news cycle, that's for sure. Yes, yeah,
it definitely is.
Speaker 3: I have one Candace story that I think your audience
is gonna love before we tell. Yeah, okay, So before
Charlie Kirk was assassinated, it was like earlier in the summer.
I was kind of throwing up all these hail Marys
to outlets that would would listen to this story and
help kind of amplify the problem here.
Speaker 4: And I reached out to Candace.
Speaker 3: Didn't really know who she was, but this was definitely
before she like jumped into a spaceship and left planet Earth,
you know what I mean. And I was like, whatever,
I'm just gonna send her an email and see, well.
Speaker 4: I get this automatic reply.
Speaker 3: And it was from this kind of company where she,
you know, she had an account with where you can
schedule phone calls or text messages with like celebrities or whatever.
Speaker 4: And I kind of was just.
Speaker 3: Curious because like, this is gonna be expensive, but I
just want to see what it is. So I kind
of tried to schedule something.
Speaker 4: It was I mean, goods.
Speaker 3: This was like before Charlie Kirk, right, so she like
had like maybe three hundred thousand followers, like I mean,
she didn't have the following that she has now. So
it was eleven thousand dollars to have fifteen minutes of
her time on the phone. And then it was a
thousand dollars for one text message exchange. And like a
few weeks ago, you posted or you guys played a
clip of her like I think she was talking about
like the financials of her business and she's like, you guys,
this is Jesus's platform.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm sorry, Uh, last I checked, Jesus
doesn't charge me eleven thousand dollars for a few minutes
of his time.
Speaker 4: I'm like, gosh, that's wow, it's work.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 5: That yeah, Well, if you're a televangelist, maybe it's so wild.
Speaker 4: I couldn't believe that.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my gosh, yeah, totally tracks, total track.
Speaker 4: I believe every every bit of it. Eleven grand chitch yeah.
Speaker 3: And then all the people in your comments like seven thousand,
I'm like, huh.
Speaker 4: Little do you know, you idiot, and then she'll.
Speaker 1: Ask people to please contribute to her legal fund because
Macron is suing her and she needs the financial.
Speaker 2: Help, and people do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the most amazing part is this, please let
me send you so much money?
Speaker 5: Well, I sit here in this three thousand dollars blouse.
Speaker 4: That is yes, okay, so funny.
Speaker 3: I just I want to I really want to perfect
like the Scott Jenny's look, you know when he's like,
we know, well we do, looking directly at the camera
and you're just like, bad, You're an idiot, really really bad.
Speaker 1: Ye. Well, thanks again, Jamie, so appreciate it, and good
luck with all of that, because it's like you're going
to need it in that state.
Speaker 4: Yes, and say a prayer or two for me. We
will sure, Thank you. Thanks everyone,