Hello, @familyprotection!
I would like to thank you
for your response to my latest rant!
I would like to thank you
for your response to my latest rant!
Before getting into the nitty-gritty of why I did it, and what good came out of my latest rant! I would like to give you all a bit of a history lesson into how and why this community came about, maybe then you will understand why I am so passionate and protective about @familyprotection.
How it all began.
I told my story about Growing up in foster care and being homeless when I first joined steemit. The response was amazing and it really helped me deal with a lot of issues I had buried. And I also discovered that being open and honest with this community gained me a lot of respect.
The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back!
Roughly four months after writing that post, we received a phone call from the Swedish school board stating that if we continued to home-school our children then we would be getting visits from cps, they expressed their dislike to our lifestyle because we travelled and world-schooled our children. They even made a point of saying that this was a very WORRYING situation. Luckily for us we were prepared for this type of aggression because we had already sold our house and built a tinyhouse on wheels so that we could escape whenever we wanted.
The Snow Ball Effect!
We received hundreds of comment from people all over the world, people who had no idea that it was illegal to home-school in Sweden and that Swedish cps frequently kidnap children from home-schooling parents.
After the response, I started to look deeper into this matter and discovered a world of injustices being dealt out by "child protection" agencies all over the globe. At this point I would like to remind people that we are still on the run, travelling around Europe looking for a country that will except OUR choice to home-school OUR children.
I started to find stories and put them together, backed up with my own personal experiences from growing up in care and then having the state threaten to take our children for no reason. My posts were gaining interest and BIG payouts which for some reason I felt uncomfortable with. I felt that some of this money I was receiving should be for the families that suffer and that there must be a way to help these people as well as raising awareness.
@familyprotection was born!
I came up with the idea of having a support group, but I knew that I would need some help. I went to the person that I trusted and looked up to most on steemit, this person was also a believer of home-education and without her resteeming my posts about the Swedish government then I'm sure that the response would not have been so huge! She also made it clear of her dislike towards cps because she had previously helped families in her home-town who had been terrorised by cps.
Her Name was @canadian-coconut. I knew we had the passion and that Ca-Co had the power, and that together, we would be a force to be reckoned with!
The First Ever @familyprotection Post!
The Rest Is History!
The @familyprotection community quickly grew and people started to come forward with their stories, The first being @misslasvegas, who was being harassed by cps for choosing to home-educate her children in Ireland!
Even people who had not had any dealings with cps were helping us spread awareness on this ever growing epidemic, but like with anything that involves money or rewards, we were bound to get some people who would take advantage of the situation.
I had started to question peoples motives, and because I was donating a huge chunk from my @familyprotection posts to the cause we decided that everyone else should to, by doing this we would also get a good idea of who was here for the money and who was here to actually help the cause.
Back To The Matter At Hand!
Ok! So now you know why @canadian-coconut and I are so passionate about this cause and why we feel so strongly about trying to put an end to the suffering, We don't expect all our members to be as passionate as we are, but for us to understand why you are here then a little donation from the rewards you receive from being a part of this community is not too much to ask.
The Rant!
Five days ago, I made a post expressing my dislike to the fact that some people do not donate some of their rewards back to the community. We had tried in previous post's to get our point across but the message was not getting through to a few of our members, so I decided to try again, only this time, I did it my way.
I admit, I could have handled it in a more civilised manor and maybe I should have been a bit more specific, this way the people who were contributing would know I wasn't talking about them, but as they say "you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs".
What did I Learn From It?
My post certainly raised some eyebrows. Some people got offended and some got upset but all in all I think the response was positive. I think it was needed, and I don't regret it. One thing that has come out of all of this, is that we, Ca-Co and I, need to be more vocal about our expectations and that maybe we should set a minimum amount that is reasonable to our members but still beneficial to @familyprotection.
Who Should Donate?
I think It's fair to say that everyone who benefits from being a part of FP should donate a portion of these benefits back to the cause, Thus to say, if you make a post and tag it with our tag, then some of the rewards you get from that post (which are usually higher than normal) should be channelled back into the community.
Exceptions!
We do make exceptions because some people really need our help and because we are a support group, we should support these people who are in need by letting them keep all the rewards until they are in a position to start contributing. We currently have four such members (that I am aware of) who qualify for our help, and those are as followed:
@hickorymack, who has been struggling with homelessness and is in danger of having her children taken by the legal kidnappers.
@cfs.leaks who has had his boy taken by cps and will need all the support he can get in the coming weeks, he also goes out of his way to interview victims of cps and pays them for their stories.
@anouk.nox who is another victim of cps and is currently struggling to keep a roof over her and her families head.
@thehoneybee who is trying to get the Kids Inc. documentary made that exposes cps and how they make Big money from legally kidnapping children from loving families.
These are the people we are here to help, so I think we are all in agreement that we should help them by letting them keep all the rewards from being in this community? and in the future we hope that we can offer people who find themselves in this position more than just upvotes!
How Do We Know We're Not Being Scammed?
Ok! This is the internet, and there is no way for us to know if what we are being told is the truth. We have already been scammed on numerous occasions by people trying to take advantage of our kindness, so in the future we will have to come up with some sort of way to tell if what we are being told, is in fact true.
We are already discussing a method whereby if someone wants our help, then we need to interview them via skype and ask to see some correspondence to back up their claims but for now, I'm willing to go with gut feeling.
If you are not on the exceptions list, then it's expected that you donate some of your rewards back to the cause and if you are wondering why you are not getting upvotes from me or Ca-Co then It might be related to your contributions to the community.
We Are Not A Vote Buying Service
Some people are donating before they have received upvotes from us which is not advised, If we don't deem your post as being valuable to our cause then we will not upvote it.
Post Quality Matters!
Ok! I will be making a post to explaining in detail what our requirements are, but for now I will say that if your post does not get a upvote or resteem from us but it is about cps and you have donated in the past, then this might have something to do with the quality of your post. This is another reason to only donate if your post has been successful.
Conclusion.
I think that we are a strong community, but we are a growing community and we are bound to have a few teething problems along the way. For the most part, I think that we are all on the same page and that we can work our way through any misunderstandings that may arise.
I don't wan't to be seen as a hard-ass but at the same time I need to be firm, otherwise we will be overrun with parasites and then we can all wave goodbye to @familyprotection.
I would also like to add that @canadian-coconut and I, are just two steemians who had an idea to start a support group, we are not professionals at this and we don't have all the answers, but we do have the passion and the power to get the job done with the help from all our amazing members, we are in this together!
I think that from now on if anybody has any doubts or questions, then joining the familyprotection discord chat is a good way to connect with the community without having to go through the Blockchain, here you can chat with the rest of the community or send a private message to both me and Ca-Co.
Familyprotection Discord Link
https://discord.gg/qeZEcp
https://discord.gg/qeZEcp
(If you @markwhittam perceive this comment to be spam or a scam we will remove it at your request, Every penny we raise will go to helping families in need as all the funds we raise are transparent and accounted for.)
Thank-you for making this post to clarify and pull together all the other posts where these issues have been talked about.
Steemit is an amazing platform, where dreams can come true, yet building a Community such as @familyprotection is a huge new learning curve. We are all pioneers in the new world of blockchain/crypto social media. We will sometimes stumble along the way, but each time we learn valuable lessons and improve.
Thank you Linda!
You can say that again!
I think we have accomplished beyond any of our expectations and to think it's only been going for 5 months.
I wonder how things will be in 5 months from now =)
"I wonder how things will be in 5 months from now =)" Hopefully a lot more children will have been saved from this madness! Just keep doing what you are doing.
I'm really grateful for @familyprotection. It's one of the things that makes Steemit a wonderful platform. It would be difficult to do this on something like Facebook or Youtube. Here, not only can we get our stories and research out on to the blockchain, we also can donate the proceeds to help others that are in need. That's amazing!
Giving back to @familyprotection is a no-brainer. Anyone who appreciates what familyprotection is doing will be generous with promoting posts, upvoting, commenting, resteeming and donating. Thank you for everything you do @markwittam, especially starting this discussion on Steemit and encouraging the promotion of quality posts having to do with this topic. Also @canadian-coconut for supporting and encouraging Steemians to tell their story.
For the past few days my wife @lturner has been researching the origins of the "Child Protection Service" here in the US. She's gathered some very valuable information to put up on the blockchain. She's hoping to put the introduction up sometime soon. The philosophy of CPS is the same philosophy all over the world concerning the relationship between the State and "human resources" aka children. @ironshield
Thanks for keeping the community informed. The mister has a pretty good BS detector, and mine is getting better but I am known to often be too trusting - I really want to believe the good in people. And while, thankfully, we have never been in need of such services we know that our lifestyle tends to realise a few eyebrows which has us on alert more often than not.
I think, like any good initiative, that there will always be kinks to work out in the beginning and you and @canadiancoconut seem to be navigating the growing pains of @familyprotection pretty well. I hope you guys continue getting the support you need! We will stand with you on this cause.
We will continue to support the cause because we believe the government does more harm to families than good and needs someone to keep them in check. Keep fighting the good fight. -Aimee
Thank you @canadianrenegade!
"It's good to know that we're doing something right!
We are very thankful for the support we have received and we really hope that people don't get to offended by some of the decisions we have to make.
Bless.
Thank you for the update. I agree that we need to have a system in place to verify when someone needs the help. I mean if we can not help someone when they truly need it than this is all for nothing. But at the same time we should not be completely open that we are scammed either. there needs to be a balance and a set of rules. I love it and I feel this is coming together more and more.
Thank you @curlfamilyvlog!
You are right, the balance needs to be right or will not work, I'm confident that we will find that optimal balance, especially with the support and feedback from our members.
We'll get there in the end =)
Thank you for the update, I am going to read those older posts later too .. Because I did not know about the history (besides you @markwhittam growing up in foster care) with being threath by cps about homeschooling. Thank you both for your understanding, and I have no problem with explaining myself further via skype if neccessary at all! If that should be needed, let me know and we will make that happen! Again thanks for clearing it up, I felt guilty so I felt the need to explain..
Thank you @anouk.nox!
I don't it's necessary for us to look any further, in your case I'm willing to go on gut feeling =)
Thank you for supporting @familyprotection!
Thank you, I am one that trusts on my gut feeling too, the best indicator for good or bad :)
Oh yeah I forgot to mention the post links you put in here. I am going to make sure I read these initial posts. Fascinating and concerning too, buddy. I wish you all well and applaud you for living the way you do. Inspiration mate. A great way to give back. You and ca-co deserve respect for setting this up and you have mine all the way. Peace to you and yours :)
Cheers Mate!
Much appreciated and the feelings mutual!
Big respect to you Brother!
I agreed with the purpose of your rant, and I'm agreeing again here. I am glad to see your exceptions, like with @hickorymack...I met her early on and the group I belong to, @newbieresteemday, all jumped in to help her.
I am a firm believer in paying it forward, and try to do that daily here and in real life. People in the world need help, and if we as humans don't do that, then we've basically stripped the human out of humanity. I find it really sad that you have to ask, then rant, then demand for others to give back...I guess it's a sad reality, but it's one if we all continually work at, perhaps will one day change!
Keep up the fight brother! You and @canandian-coconut do awesome things here :)
Indigenous families are suffering enormously at the hands of the racists in cps, bothh Canadian and in the USA.
It's an ongoing genocide. Indigenous children die in cps custody anf are turned over to hateful families who often are abusive. Indigenous children also get short changed in education, they are stripped of their cultures and language.
I hope your group holds space for indigenous youth.
CPS targets vulnerable families.
Indigenous families are often the most vulnerable.
I do know from personal experience with a few poor white families, that they are just as eager to take their children away from them.
There have been several posts written with the #familyprotection tag about governments' historical removal of indigenous children from their families through things like Residential Schooling. This abuse continues today in a different form. @cfs.leaks has been writing about the horrible situation in Winnipeg, Manitoba where most of the foster children are native.
So yes, these stories are part of what @familyprotection is about too.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
This post is a well welcomed one, the teething stage is a much needed stage pulling us from infancy, and it is a sign that we are indeed growing. .
Thank you @kryptocoin!
This is a very good way to look at the grand scale of things, thank you for giving me some much needed positive feedback!
Bless.
I've read this, but only now find the time to comment properly. I really don't have much to say because I agree with everything you say. It is normal for any kind of initiative really to get people who are 100% behind it and others who aren't. I believe in the short time @familyprotection has been around, there have been some immense waves and fortunately the positive ones are larger than the negatives. The community here is without a doubt filled with beautiful people who are all working to make this world a better place. And since @familyprotection is here for protection of those who are not only the most vulnerable in society but also the most important, I don't think there is a better cause to support. I am one of a few lucky ones who had the chance to meet you in person @markwhittam, and I think I said it before: you were exactly as I expected you to be. What you see is what you get! And it proved to me that I was right about you, @canadian-coconut and @familyprotection. Aside from a few who obviously don't have any idea what this community is all about, I think that the rest of us here are exactly alike. The heart in the right place and wanting to make a change here and with that, in a world that's been corrupted by the people in power for far too long. And I believe with all my heart that this change will come, as long as we're all sticking together. 2018 is THE YEAR!
Thank you @misslasvegas
Your comment fills me with positivity and confidence for the future of fp, I do believe that with the support we are getting from so many dedicated steemians that we will overcome any obstacles that come our way.
Thank you for being the first steemian to believe enough in this project and using the fp tag to tell your story.
Bless.
You're very welcome and thank you and @canadian-coconut for encouraging me to tell my story. That and the support of this community has gotten me through some of the most uncertain times since I moved to Ireland. Just knowing there are people who know the situation and are familiar with the feeling of stress and despair that the cps workers bring wherever they go, helps immensely. I am proud and honoured to be part of this!
Thank you for everything you put into this Mark.
I'm going to join the discord group, as I'm specifically interested in helping people in these situation, as per my previous posts and I'm gathering other practitioners who would like to support them as well.
Cheers Buddy!
You are doing great work here, I would like to suggest that you add something to your curation comment tag, a link to a post that gives a thorough explanation of what to do and what not to to when dealing with CPS. For example never let them enter your residence without a court order.
Several of us have written posts about that!
I know I think it would be a good resource and since you can't pin a post to @familyprotection putting it in the comment tag would make it readily available
I know it's probably redundant, but it might not be a bad idea to do a similar post every few months for people new to FP now that you mention it.
Its the best way to protect your family from CPS never let them start a file on you or even get their foot in the door.
What I learned the hard way is all it takes for them to start a file is one asshole that doesn't like you. They're like syphilis- once they get into your life they never go away!
That is the worse thing about them.
We are working on it! Watch this space!
Thanks for your input! We really do appreciate it
Your Welcome
Very well said my friend!
Cheers @richq11!
I agree the best way to show gratitude for a generous familyprotection upvote is to donate. But also, perhaps more importantly, show gratitude by being active in the familyprotection community. Adding to and promoting good posts. Writing useful posts, adding quality comments, upvoting posts with the tag, resteeming.
When it comes to donations, however, I would say that there is a difference between "should" and "must". I agree, people should donate, but not everyone must donate. The difficulty of operating a generous charity is that people are quicker to receive than they are to give. It just comes with the territory. Encouraging people to contribute back is a good thing, but i'm not surprised at the offence taken when it's implied that they "should" (which could be read as "must") give back. It's like finding cash in your mailbox with a note saying "Thank you for your contribution" and another note saying "You really should give some of this back to promote the charity." The note is correct, freely given, freely given away. But it's up to the recipient of the gift to determine that.
@ironshield
True! And it's up to the giver of the gift to quit giving further gifts ... lol
We can not know until after at least 7 days when someone first starts posting for fp if they will give back to the cause or not. But after the first week, we can stop voting and resteeming. Mark's posts are partly to explain why some people may start to see their posts no longer receive "gifts" from our community.
So you are correct, that nobody has to do anything. They do not have to give back. But then that separates them a bit from the community part of who we are. If you do not give back to whatever community you belong to in real life, the community will start to notice.
We will of course have the occasional "visitor" who makes only 1 or 2 posts about this issue and never planned on continuing on as part of our community, and that is all well and good.
It is mostly those who wish to continue to stay involved, and wish to continue receiving support that Mark is speaking too.
My wife received a gift for her post and her husband (me) converted it all to SP. I didn't realize at the time that a portion was about to be donated. I got in the way of her generosity. But she hasn't forgotten. We both want to support the community and really appreciate what you guys are doing. @ironshield
@markwhittam ...thanks thanks alot for making it much comprehensible and grabing all the previously touched matters in just one i.e here...
Thats the perfection of steemit platform..this is one of the reason for its rapid growing... Best if luck ahead
Now the #familyprotection project is one of the best projects here which will have an impact on many families that are suffering in the future... Personally, I was able to know a lot of stories that I thought were only in the movies...
Don't forget: you help those families to share their stories that were buried in their hearts and thus they were able to feel that they are not alone in this world...
Hear the word thank you from them are more rewarding for you...
We also have to thank you for being able to light a candle in this darkness.
thank you @markwhittam
Thank you @markwhittam for your kind heart. There are just few people who care not only about their own well-being but also about other people. I wish all the best to you and your family.
You and Linda are an example to follow for me now, if all the people were like you, our world would be much better.
I am happy that I have joined the community. I have already donated some money and hope to donate much more in future, honestly speaking I am even happy to donate because this money will help children.
First of all a cordial greeting, I think it is interesting to return to this topic, because I leave some gaps, in my case I wrote a publication about this situation and if you have time to read the content and make a comment I would like. Regards
https://steemit.com/familyprotection/@antoniodpz/reflection-on-the-label-familyprotection-from-my-point-of-view
Mark
I respect the fact that you have decided to live the way you do. I fighting Cancer did the same and @lynncoyle1 and I hit the road. we were ridiculed for abandoning our kids whom now are aged 22 and 21. We had there blessing. Your rant was and is deserved. Kepp it up my friend. My last blog I just wrote may be my last, hoping not but times are changing. Take care and thank you for your work here,
This is great! Thanks for clearing up any confusion people might have had. Nice to know about the beginning of the group as well and who is supported through it.
Hopefully that's nicely wrapped things up. If there are questions being raised within the group then there will be questions coming in from outside the group as to it's legitimacy. So clarity and openness is important.
I think you have dealt with this very respectfully. Onwards and upwards :)
Wow!
I have been on steemit for 3month Now,and I never knew family protection had a community. I am still in shock and happy at the same time.
I run a N. G. O and hoping to start running a steem account or her but you can follow us on facebook and twitter @penachildinitiative, I run daily ads targeted at encouraging a good parent children relationship and building the child minds for the future, also we go on orphanage visit from time to time. I would love to have you guys visit us on facebook though.
Really happy to know their is a community of like minds here.
Quick question, how will you guys be celebrating the international Women's Day?
I am cooking something and would be interested in knowing if you guys are equally doing same.
Off to the discord channel. Yyeehip!
[-]mhm-philippines (48) · 3 minutes ago
So true, this entire system is broken! I am not sure if you are looking at this from Canada only, but the US children welfare system is in shambles. The thing is they really don’t value these children in the first place. It is great that you are educating people and advocating for the innocent children and parents!
@markwhittam, no need to apologize! You guys are doing an amazing job and in this case, toughness is needed! I will continue to support this cause regardless of upvotes, etc. My donations have "no" hidden agendas or "expectations." Just keep playing the "bad cop" as it is much needed in this case. Personally, anyone trying to "milk" this group for upvotes and personal gain is just as bad as the ones abusing the kids. Don't beat yourself up for speaking the truth! @familyprotection, to me is one of the most needed groups on steemit and it is an honor to support such a worthy cause. The more research I do on this subject, the more I realize just how crooked the system is. I am resteeming a lot of the @familyprotection using the guideline that if @canadian-coconut resteems and upvotes, then I resteem it. I know a couple of my posts were questioned and not given your seal of approval and that is great! It challenges me to try harder. Also, please don't hesitate to add comments as to what you are thinking when you read these posts. Feedback given in a "gentle" way can be a learning experience for us all.
Having just come through a cps attack, I am extremely grateful for this forum, and @canadian-coconut, @markwhittam.
It is so important to support and network to bring global awareness that this needs to stop.
This momma bear will help anyway that I can.
I am thankful for @wwf for helping me find you! Being off grid, homesteading, unschooling/homeschooling, and having a vaccine free daughter had made me a huge target. This initiative is so crucial for families. We are not alone.
Wow awesome post bro... I really appreciate your... Thanks
You made a great post ... I learned something new from your post ... and you are waiting for the next post ...... Thanks