NEW YORK (Finalcall.com)�When the National Action Network Law Enforcement Committee convened a late June forum at their East Harlem headquarters to discuss concerns about child protective services, juvenile justice laws and the legal system, parents shared horror stories of battling for children and a confusing maze of requirements and official demands. Many were unsuccessful and confused.

"We are losing our children to a system that we know little about," lamented Gwen Bowen, of the National Action Network (NAN) Law Enforcement Committee.

That system includes the child agencies and law enforcement, but also includes courts, adoption agencies, new laws and rules that impose harsh penalties but don�t stress family reunification and fail to give troubled parents the help needed to meet requirements to regain control of their children, said activists.

In addition, when families seek help from these agencies, they often end up on the punitive end of system responses, activists charge.

The first phase of what some critics decry as legal kidnapping often begins when state child protective service agencies are called into a home. Once there, the agencies have a tendency to immediately remove children, without a valid attempt to investigate problems and assess how to best serve the family, activists said.

Stringent laws imposed to protect children and demand quick action�but lack flexibility�are part of the problem, critics say. For example, the federal government�s 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act, allows state protective services agencies to remove children from homes simply on the allegation of abuse and neglect. But quick action often means children who should not be removed are snatched and dumped into the foster care system, critics say. Even statistics from the National Committee to Prevent Abuse show nearly one in every three investigations of abuse or neglect was not confirmed, activists note.

Though the cases of neglect may be unfounded, children and families still go through intense investigation, separation and scrutiny, said Dr. Olusegun Ifalase, Ph.D., a child psychologist. The investigation process, in which authorities question children about their relationship with parents and family issues, can be as traumatic or more damaging than initial allegations, said Dr. Ifalase, a volunteer counselor with Harlem-based People United for Children (PUC). "The child may experience shock, disbelief and confusion at the time of the removal. Other children may not understand the reason that they are removed and placed with strangers," he said.

There are many cases where children have suffered worse abuse or death while in state foster homes or group homes, he noted.

Dr. Ifalase is one of a number of activists concerned about how the system is operating and believes parents, religious leaders, lawmakers, and child advocates need to learn more about these laws and develop balanced approaches to protect children and families.

One reform offered by activists is moving family court verdicts, which involve child abuse and neglect cases and criminal cases against juveniles, out of the hands of judges and into the hands of juries.

The activists feel judges, who are appointed in New York City by the mayor, often lean toward prosecution and separation of families versus rehabilitative programming. Juries, composed of people from the community, may better understand problems and advocate services. PUC held a conference on June 23, at the Harlem State Office Building to mobilize the community around changing the laws.

Jesselyn McCurty, of the Washington-based Children�s Defense Fund, supports the federal adoption and safe families law. But, she does feel a lack of programs to help families and parents is a problem. Though the law rightly allows for intervention, support programs are needed, she said. Drug-addicted parents, who are a significant number of those who lose children, have few places to go for help, said Ms. McCurty, citing an example of the type of support necessary.

On the other hand, delinquent youth are too often punished and locked away, than receiving counseling, intervention, education and services to turn them around, she added.

The trend toward punishment has had a horrendous impact on Black and Latino youth, who are disproportionately incarcerated, arrested, taken from families and put into the system. Forty-three states have actually changed their laws since 1993 to make it easier for judges to send children into the adult criminal system. In Florida and 14 other states, prosecutors, not judges, can actually decide to try juvenile cases in adult courts.

In Illinois, and several other states, an "Automatic Transfer Law" mandates that 15- or 16-year-olds charged with a drug offense within 1,000 feet of a school or housing project be automatically excluded from juvenile court. "Because of laws like the one in Illinois, Black youth make up 50 percent of the youth doing time in long term facilities, even though they are 15 percent of the population," Ms. McCurty told The Final Call.

A National Institute of Drug Abuse survey of high school seniors, published in 1999, shows white students use cocaine at seven to eight times the rate of Blacks and heroin at seven times the rate of Blacks. But in many states, huge numbers of Black youth are arrested for drug crimes.

"We have to understand that the mood of politicians is not to offer opportunities for correction when it comes to Black and Latino youth. They are viewed by society as predators and legislators are asked to create laws that will put our children away," said Atty. Lawrence E. Wright from Brooklyn, who attended the NAN forum. "However, it will take a lot of hard work to convince politicians to change these laws," he said.

Mr. Wright explained crafting legislation is mostly a reactive process, in which legislators need clear, organized information with compromising options and solutions.

Ed O�Brien, executive director of Street Law, a youth advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., teaches youth and parents about juvenile laws and how to act if arrested or challenged by police. Laws need to be changed, but in the meantime, youth and parents need to know what the laws are, and how to handle police officers and courts, he explained.

Youth should be taught to obey laws, respect police authority and wait for parents before answering questions, if arrested, advocates said. It can be difficult, but youth must understand that when arrested they can wait for parents before answering questions. Statements made by youth can be damaging, they said.

Sgt. DeLacy Davis, of Black Cops Against Police Brutality in East Orange, N.J., says Black and Latino youth are jailed because cops want to lock them up. Laws are not enforced fairly in urban areas, putting youth at risk, he stressed. Riding a bicycle on a suburban sidewalk may be ignored, but it may be a cause for city officers to confront an urban youth, he said. "We have to insist that the laws are applied equally," Mr. Davis continued.

And, he argued, Blacks must fight for and create more prevention programs that offer positive experiences and outlets. In East Orange, over 900 young people are served by a Police Athletic League Program, funded by a federal juvenile justice commission grant, he explained. His group has bought a new van for the youth program and spends $29,000-a-year on trips to give the youngsters good experiences, he said. "Every kid that comes through the door is not interested in athletics, but they know there is someone here they can talk to," Mr. Davis said.

He complained that too often community programs are run out of dilapidated buildings, while whites have state of the art facilities. "We need to put more pressure on our elected officials to bring home the prevention dollars," Sgt. Davis insists.

In the end, keeping youth out of the system calls for parents and the community to do a basic thing: stand up for the children. Blacks and Latinos need to mount a mass movement to protect their children by advocating for them and understanding the root causes�relationships, economics, nurturing and communication�of problems families face, advocates maintain.

"We are too willing to accept the media image that Black and Latino youth are criminals without challenging the causes of their behavior. This must stop. When the shooting took place in Columbine, the press talked about the shooters and what may have been their motivation. When a shooting takes place in our communities, the press uses words like predator, and never examines the societal conditions that may have affected the shooter," Ms. McCurty observed.