Foster children removed from home of Oregon militia militant

[KamaAina]

http://www.alan.com/2016/01/17/foster-children-removed-from-home-of-oregon-militia-militant/

Oregon militia spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum told OPB that the four foster children who had been living with him and his wife on their Chino Valley, Arizona, ranch have been taken away. “I hope people are seeing the sacrifices we’re making here,” he said.

The rancher estimated that more than 50 boys, often caming (sic) from group homes, drug rehabs, and psychiatric institutions, have lived with them in the past decade. “My ranch has been a great tool for these boys,” Finicum said. “It has done a lot of good.”...

That represents an enormous loss of income for the Finicums. According to a 2010 tax filing, Catholic Charities paid the family $115,343 to foster children in 2009. That year, foster parents were compensated between $22.31 and $37.49 per child, per day, meaning if the Finicums were paid at the maximum rate, they cared for, on average, eight children per day in 2009.

“That was my main source of income,” Finicum said. “My ranch, well, the cows just cover the costs of the ranch. If this means rice and beans for the next few years, so be it. We’re going to stay the course.”

[Warpy]

1. Maybe they interviewed a few of those boys

and found out they'd been free labor to add to all the free grazing on BLM land.

[mike_c]

4. bingo....

My first thought as well.

[bobthedrummer]

30. Or something far, far worse that has been going on for quite awhile without accountability

Chapter 21-Omaha
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016139460

[Aerows]

32. *THAT* was my first thought

You never know.

[Warpy]

33. That could also be the case

but my best guess says they're unpaid ranch hands.

[rug]

2. I wonder if he got government subsidies for the ranch as well.

[catnhatnh]

3. “I hope people are seeing the sacrifices we’re making here,” he said.

Now he's down to just milking cows...

[grntuscarora]

6. Lol!

[7wo7rees]

5. Definitely a WTF moment!!

Damn.

[403Forbidden]

7. I suspect "LaVoy" is taking in those foster children to collect government support payments...

...because if he really cared for the children's welfare, he wouldn't be leaving them to go play soldier. Even if his cause was legitimate (it's not), there are plenty of "patriots" at the Wildlife refuge to handle his concerns.

[Brickbat]

18. #DaddySworeAnOath

[Jim Beard]

35. Look up farm subsidies at www.ewg.org/farm

[SwankyXomb]

8. Aw, poor widdle tarp boy lost his free labor and meal ticket.

I guess he'll have to find some other government teat to suckle at.

[Old Codger]

9. Free room and board

At the local federal prison

[Downwinder]

10. Does Arizona provide the same amount

of aid to birth parents?

[geomon666]

11. So he was using kids as cheap labor

and getting paid to do it? Fuck him.

[LeftyMom]

12. Eight kids at a time? CA maxed out at placing six in a home *before* they cracked down,

because that's factory farming children for profit and you can't deal with the emotional needs and safety concerns of that many emotionally damaged kids in a home-like environment, which is the entire point of foster care.

[malaise]

13. Foster children as income

Everything is a fucking racket.

[suffragette]

24. And likely as unpaid labor, too.

Disgusting hypocrites and users.

[malaise]

25. Well no one can say they aren't getting a real look

at the mindset of these racist, anti-government exploiters of children in need.

More than a few of those who think like them have been elected as ReTHUGs

[suffragette]

34. Yep, they put the 'ugh' in ugly.

[SoCalDem]

37. My friend's mother in law got $5400 a month

and she was waaaay too old to be caring for marginally disabled teenaged boys.. They finally booted her off the foster parent racket..

She used to take them to Vegas 3 or 4 times a year, where they would be made to stay in the room and make sandwiches from a cooler, while she gambled..

[malaise]

38. Good effin' grief

Grifting off unfortunate kids is a way of life

[yellowcanine]

14. Hmm. The deal with foster care is you are supposed to be there to take care of the kids......

Just sayin' LaVoy. Oh and there is that other thing of possible federal felonies. Not exactly a good role model, are you, LaVoy?

Kind of hard to see how you could have expected any other result, dipshit.

[yellowcanine]

15. I am sure there is a clause in the foster care agreement somewhere....

that covers the possibility of opening yourself up to the possibility of federal felony charges.....

Just guessing.

[Vinca]

16. Foster children for profit. How caring.

[Javaman]

17. And it begins...

the end of the occupation.

if you wish to combat an adversary, never take the tactic they expect.

we will see and read a lot more of things just as this.

[treestar]

19. Isn't the money for the purpose of taking care of the kids?

So if the kids aren't there, they don't need the income.

[Iggo]

20. "That was my main source of income."

I'm glad to see he cares so much about children.

[Mendocino]

21. Why were they removed?

Could there be more here than meets the eye.

[Iggo]

22. The stuff that meets the eye is bad enough.

[jwirr]

29. I don't think it necessarily means there is more. I am not sure

about the state he lives in but most states do not place their children in the homes of criminals. His actions are the reason these children were taken out of his care.

[Mendocino]

31. Were they removed

before he went to Oregon? Was there irregularities and problems then? Was he using them as unpaid labor? Did he lose fostership then say something like heck with it, the overeaching government took them from me, I'm going north? Did he commit crimes or improprieties at home and fled? AZ allows singles to foster kids, why couldn't they stay with his wife? Were they only removed because of his activities at Malheur?

I'm certainly not going to believe only his account until more information comes out. These are somethings I'm wondering about, not necessarily asking you these questions. Time may tell.

[joeybee12]

23. "That was my main source of income..."

Disgusting, he's making a profit off this...what garbage

[maxsolomon]

26. There was a simple way to avoid this situation, LaVoy

Stay on the Ranch and do your jerb raising up those children. Every child needs a mother AND a father, right?

I don't even have a problem with the kids doing chores on the farm; my problem is with him sticking his wife with the job while he's off playing patriot - for reasons he doesn't even understand.

[Runningdawg]

27. I wonder if

during the OWS protests he ever said "If any of those idiots have kids, the kids should be taken away" could be we are just seeing Karma.

[Turbineguy]

28. If they go on half-rations on the rice and beans

they can double down on the stupid.

[pinboy3niner]

36. UPDATE: Removal of kids began 4th day of standoff; Finicum blames 'pressure from feds'

Oregon standoff: Militia member loses foster kids, blames ‘pressure from the feds’
Published time: 19 Jan, 2016 03:18

One of the most visible members of the armed militia that took over a wildlife refuge in Oregon says his four foster sons were taken away due to his involvement in the standoff, and he blames the federal government who “must have gotten to the governor.”

...

A social worker began removing the last four of the family’s foster kids on January 4, the fourth day of the Oregon standoff. The last left five days later, he said.

...

Critics point out, however, that by helping the Bundy brothers take over federal property in Oregon, he could potentially be arrested for committing crimes.

“(H)aving one parent away from the home for a significant period of time committing a number of high profile federal crimes would seem like at least a plausible reason to remove the children,” Josh Marshall wrote for the Talking Points Memo Editor’s Blog. “This doesn't seem to occur to Finicum.”

Another militia member, Blaine Cooper, also said that his children were taken from him in a video posted to Facebook on Saturday. The video was apparently removed later.

...

https://www.rt.com/usa/329381-militiaman-loses-foster-kids/