Does anyone remember this viral photo. This is Devonte Hart at a protest following the murder of 18 year old Michael Brown who was shot by police in Ferguson Missouri 2014. Witnesses stated that Michael had is hands up and said, "don't shoot". Then that officer shot him. Violence and rioting ensued. This protest was a peaceful statement. Several.pics of Devonte made headlines and went viral including one where he held a sign reading "free hugs". They went viral because they grab you by the heart

It was a moment of healing this Black child offered to a country that was reeling from another unjustified, extrajudicial homicide by a white police officer.

This little boy and his family made major headlines again when his two adoptive and heavily inebriated mothers ushered Devonte and his five adopted siblings into their SUV and drove off a cliff here in California.All bodies were later recovered except Devonte's.

The reason i tell you this. because it is illustrative of two very broken

Governmental agencies. Law Enforcement and Child protective services. Devonte and the other children were adopted to this couple who had numerous complaints made against them for various reasons. So they stayed in motion moving several times. All the photos I have seen, parents have lovely smiles. In some the children look distressed. The signs were there and concerned people in the know took steps to have it addressed. The children remained. The mother's used them to seek attention.

I bring this up, not to dampen holiday spirits. I bring this up as a reminder that we have a seditious congress members along with others who are obstructionist and defiant to quality representation of the people they are supposed to be representing. We have SCOTUS that has made rulings that not only defend actions of these agencies but have and are moving forward to remove more safety rails in place to protect us from them. These agencies are as bad as ever. Republicans are back in charge

of the house in Jan. A bill meant to address human trafficking recently had people like Gaetz and Greene, who should be sitting in lockup and not at the Capitol, voted against that bill. Our foster care system is criminally reckless, abusive and weaponized against people with little to no recourse. Bad outcomes for too many of these kids are the rule not the exception. It is a money making venture. And it is government approved child trafficking agency.

As is it is in all things, not every person who works within the agencies are bad people. Many are hamstrung by bad policy, overwhelmed by the statistics and workload. They suffer trauma on a daily basis and work harder in an attempt to be as useful as possible to the people they encounter arewithout stepping on too many toes or risking their job. They have mouths to feed and bills to pay just like the rest of us. And they truly care. They suffer trauma and burnout they are viewed with suspicion

by superiors, coworkers and a public who has systematically experienced the breach of trust these agencies have repeatedly and brazenly engaged in at our expense. They meet our questions and calls for accountability with defiant justification, a spirit of malicious superiority, and callous indifference to the pain, heartbreak, destruction, fear and undo burden they yoke us with. They revel in the fact that they leave their victims shattered, and struggling to find their way.