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Georgia: DCFS Administrator Arrested For Child Cruelty

A Georgia child welfare administrator for the Department of Children and Family Services (DFCS) has been arrested for felony child cruelty according to news reports. The accused woman, Cylenthia Clark, 38, is an assistant director for Fulton County DFCS.

On March 13, 2007 News4Jax.Com published this article:DFCS Official Accused Of Spanking Daughter With Belt. According to this news report the accusation came after school officials reported that the accused woman's eight-year-old daughter had marks on her back and legs.

The mother apparently has confessed that she forced her daughter to strip down to underwear, then spanked her with a belt. She claims this isn't child abuse and that it was done because the girl misbehaved at school.

The eight year old girl and her three sisters, ages 6, 5, and 3, have all been placed in protective custody.

Because of this accusation Cylenthia Clark is having second thoughts about how child abuse cases are handled. She is quoted as saying, "It makes me very empathetic; it makes me look at some of the cases that we handle. It's something that down the line that it's something that we are really following through and getting all the questions answered before we assume that person is guilty."

And that's a good point. Is she guilty? In America we are supposed to be considered innocent before proven guilty, however for thirty years parents have complained that in child abuse cases they are considered guilty first, then forced to prove their innocence. It can be very difficult to prove that something didn't happen when government-paid experts are saying it could have.

What seems strange to me is that the arrest warrant states that the beating took place on February 7 but the school personnel didn't see the welts until February 28. That's 21 days later, and welts were still visible? If that's correct, the injuries must have been severe.

Here is another news source for this story: DCFS Official Denies Abuse

Help us to recognize April 25th as
Parental Alienation Awareness Day!

The loss of a loving parent-child relationship is painful and destructive to everyone.
Parental Alienation behaviors are behaviors done by a 3rd party, which interfere with the normal parent-child relationship. These behaviors may be done by the other parent, extended family, courts, or social services. They may include such behaviors as speaking negatively to or about a parent in front of the child, interfering with communication and visitation, and sharing inappropriate information with the child.

We advocate awareness of such behaviors, and the right of every child to love and be loved by both parents.