Filipina Faces Family Crisis in Corrupt Alaska

The AK Department of Health & Social Services gobbles up the most money of any Alaska State department and is responsible for more damage to Alaskan families than even the AK Department for Education. This writer learned how truly dysfunctional this department is as a Juneau Business Agent for the largest unit of state workers (GGU)–Alaska State Employees Association/AFSCME–over 4-1/2 years during residency in the capital of Juneau 20 years.

DONN’s Professional resume is linked at the end of this story.

I have kept track of my AK experiences and will be telling future stories of Alaska Chuckleheads known over my career witnessing the Decline of Alaska Since Optimistic Statehood.

A State Run by Chuckleheads

State of Alaska (SOA) government is divided into departments under the Constitution. SOA Bureaucrats  have made sure Gov. Dunleavy’s 2026 budget for all departments is complicated to understand for Alaskans who have been educated by weak teachers on their Alaska Adventure, as Dunleavy was before he became a politician. In their reporting, SOA Chuckleheads associate state funds to Federal Funding sources, such as Medicaid Services, because Alaska is still a colony of USA. Only the governor’s Office of Management and Budget really knows where all SOA money is located and where it came from. Additionally, this administration has established a new Department of Family and Community Services including Division of Children’s Services, budgeted $202,643.2 (million) for 2026. DFCS is no longer part of Department of Health and Social Services–granddaddy of all AK agencies–projected to cost $2,834,174 (Billion) of the estimated $14.19 Billion projected for all departments. A declared Permanent Funs Dividend of $3,892 is also begrudgingly paid to each eligible Alaskan.

[1] Western Alaska Deserves Better in Juneau: Willy Keppel Says He Can Make a Difference, DONN LISTON July 18, 2022

Despite Alaska wealth, rural Alaska is poverty-stricken. Recently long-time Alaskan Willy Keppel demanded the entrenched politicians passing record budgets and diminishing the Permanent Fund Dividend.

The Number One Cost, of Course, is Personnel

Alaska’s Boom and Bust economy happens because when there is money available from natural resource development–furs under the Russians, gold and now petroleum as a US Resource warehouse–the politicians elected in districts around the state meet the first four months of every year in Juneau to spend every penny they can as fast as possible to serve special interests away from nosey Alaskans. North Slope oil development has paid as much as 80% of state and local government since the early 1980s, resulting in about 25% of the state’s workforce (and our flood of itinerant teachers) doing what they have to in state service until they can retire and go home.

[2] Why British Petroleum Left Alaska, DONN LISTON January 17, 2023

But while oil revenues have been ramping down, state budgets will increase until Alaska goes bust again. The Permanent Fund is only as permanent as the politicians are willing to protect it.

[3] FY2026 Governor’s Proposed Budget Operating Budget – All Fund Source

How the Office of Children’s Services Damages Alaska Families

This writer has written numerous stories on this topic. This story is an update to a tragic betrayal of a young family now damaged profoundly as Hoover struggles to make sense of it herself. She was audacious to interview for the story I published July 26, 2023. Since then he has continued to be violated by bureaucrats, attorneys and the court system through the AK Division of Family Services. As with others I have also written about, the State threats and intimidation tactics are outrageous.

[4] Refuge from Calamity, DONN LISTON March 15, 2018

Anchorage was an optimistic place in the early 1960s and I have had profound experiences there and other places in Alaska. I survived a childhood with minimal supervision and I generally made good choices. I was lucky.

Hoover has not been lucky. While at the mercy of the institutions professing to be dedicated to helping families, Hoover has been torn up by what has happened. Don’t expect any state worker or contract attorney to care. Her heartfelt manifesto about it is included in its entirety in References.

[5] Read Heartfelt Manifesto of Cristine Hoover in References.

The Alaska I Knew is No More

DHSS-DFCS is run by Social Workers and case managers who are authorized to intrude into families in crisis sometimes based on unfounded claims, hearsay and outright lies. These sometimes overzealous state workers can make judgments which hurt individual Alaskans in need of fair treatment and destroy families beyond the instant problems. Corrupt Alaska Courts sometimes enable this debilitating culture of crisis.

I have known some of these state employees and represented a few in employment disputes during my time serving dues payers in the union they are required to be members of as a condition of SOA employment. This is difficult work to perform well and I hate to say I witnessed almost unbelievable workplace acts by some employees in state service. Sometimes I had to tell members they need to find other employment. As a Business Agent of this public sector union I had to defend members in conflict with their employer under the Duty of Fair Representation.

Additionally, dysfunctional management of AKHSS often created great challenges in problem-solving workplace melodrama. I had to pick which battles to fight because there were so many.

[6] Duty of Fair Representation

Unlike the first-world nation of Philippines, third-rate Alaska institutions often target single-parent families for destruction.

I wrote in that story:
The growing public knowledge of on-going abuses by Alaska’s Office of Children’s Services (OCS) would be considered illegal by standards of a First World Country like Philippines—where all families are regarded with sanctity even when headed by a single parent, of which there are many in Alaska.

[7] PH Solo Parent Protections

Also from that story:
Hoover agreed to talk about what has happened since she received custody of her four children after divorces from both fathers, only to have that same court system allow OCS to kidnap them as Child In Need of Aid (CINA) from their family home, and subject them to multiple alien foster care facility chaos. Details of OCS cases are confidential to protect bureaucrats and judges from the damage they do to children, but this writer pushed for the interview anyway.

[8] How OCS implements Child in Need of Assistance was described in a recent case before the Alaska Supreme Court: Miranda T v. State of Alaska, Department of Health & Social services, Office of Children’s Services and Bishope A. 3AN-19-00228 CN

Alaskan Kids Deserve Better

Hoover works in Human Services, too!

Hoover has been working in the business of child protection and related human services for most of a decade and wants to help families facing domestic crisis. But that has not made her immune to imposed crisis of her own; OCS kidnapped all of her children on September 20, 2022. She has been in crisis, managing her life, working and trying to deal with the legal challenges imposed upon her. Then, on July 6, Hoover received an employment termination email after 10 months on the job.

“That’s how they did it,” said Hoover. “The kids were upstairs in their rooms while they conducted initial assessment. They looked around my house and it was clean; three bedrooms, girls share one room boys share a room, I have my own room. Nothing wrong, nothing at all. At the end of the week, they came back with a different case worker. One week after on September 21, 2022, they took the children while they were in school and youngest child was at her father’s house.”

“I am in college for paralegal, and Human Service Psychology,” continued Hoover in the July 19, 2023 interview. “I’m also in the program with Alaska Legal Service Corporation, taking courses for Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), SNAP and domestic violence protectors. I have helped others deal with this situation and now I’m going to take them on myself.”

Hoover is one brave Filipina/Alaskan

“When they were removed I was informed by the caseworker that my neighbors were under investigation for sexual abuse. They had allegations of constant reports of sexual abuse and been under investigation for some years,” continued Hoover. “I was never informed of this situation and after they suddenly removed all four children I was not allowed to see my sons in person again until December, but was able to see my daughters three weeks after their removal. I had only gotten to speak to my boys on my birthday. I asked to see all four of them–November 4 was my birthday–and they only let me Zoom my sons 30 minutes each separately.”

The joy of children’s interactions with each other upon seeing their mother was likely forbidden by AK-OCS Policy and Procedures.

My immediate reaction (to removal) was shock, said Hoover. I’m a busy mom and my kids were in jujitsu classes for two weeks, I have just started picking up my job at work and getting schedules going and getting them ready for school. So I wasn’t paying attention to the signs of grooming (by the neighbor). What parent thinks about that stuff when someone offers incidental help to a single parent managing multiple kids?

So I’m in the middle of planning my daughter’s birthday weekend–planning to go to Anchorage to buy school clothes and stuff like that, winter outfits, continued Hoover. Living in Fairbanks, you gotta get out. I’m in a public place when I found out about this. So I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t think straight; it was like all my kids had just died. I was with my sister, her fiancé and my fiancé–they saw the damage it did that day.

Harm done to parents (and grandparents) is not a consideration for this agency, which can be a powerful means for one divorced parent to harm the other, malevolently manipulating the children they both created, for lasting harm.

OCS immediately placed both son’s in foster care, continued Hoover. They wouldn’t let me talk to my sons, they wouldn’t let me see my sons, they separated my sons into separate foster homes and lied about why they were split up.

Hoover is being Punished for Having Bad Neighbors

The neighbors had cared for Hoover’s kids a couple of times for very short periods. They are now incarcerated for acts against other children.

My first clue about these neighbors was when they lost all their five kids to OCS, said Hoover. Actually my seven-year-old daughter asked: “Where are your kids?” The mother replied: “We will talk about that some other time.” So I asked her, and she said she was a heroin addict before.

But the father in this family was a pedophile. OCS knew it but Hoover had no way of knowing.

And, Who Doesn’t Know Alaska Judges

and OCS Social Workers are Above the Law?

After removal from their home, the caseworker said the nine year old’s tantrums were too much for that one family so he needed to be removed, said Hoover. He was only with this second foster care for probably about a week or two. And then he ended up with my mother, grandma, grandpa, but they left my 11 year old in foster care by himself until January 28–when they finally placed him with my cousins that live down the street.

Could there be any more dramatic proof of harm being done to these children by State workers? This writer experienced this same displacement for a very short time and it had traumatic effect. In Hoover’s case It took four months for OCS to find–among her many relatives in Fairbanks–satisfactory placements for these children. Their excuse is they are short-handed and overworked, of course. Those family members had to be licensed foster parents, by filling out their license packet for fostering, to receive familial placement of the children.

[9] The Trial, Franz Kafka, 1924

Previously my nine-year-old son started having behavioral issues at school, added Hoover. He was showing sexualized behaviors and being defiant. Reports were made, but I had already initiated efforts to, you know, advocate for him to be in counseling. He was just having issues. He’s been having these issues since he started school–since kindergarten–when he was five years old. So I told them what I thought it was, because the school did tell me that if these behaviors don’t get addressed and handled that they’re gonna have to call downtown. I assumed that meant OCS. I informed them as his parent that he has been on medications, I have been doing every step of the protective factors and everything with my kids to handle the behavioral issues that he’s been having for years, and I was already on top of this.

Divorce of parents always causes harm to children, always, even when they are older.

I was able to get my discovery a few weeks ago–both the kids’ fathers made false reports alleging drug abuse and other lies, continued Hoover. They made false reports to try to gain custody after they had already lost in court on my testimony and evidence I provided.

The father of the boys has been in prison at Arizona for six years, he was in and out of Fairbanks Correctional Center, she continued. We got divorced in 2015. My nine year old was barely turning one. And my 11 year old had just turned three. They haven’t seen him since March 2015. When I found out he got released in 2020 I gradually allowed him to, you know, call them. I am somebody who believes in change–change for the better–and I believe that both parents need to be involved regardless of what happened with their situation. So I allowed him to contact the boys. Then I found out he went to prison again, he was in and out, and now I’m dealing with him making allegations and saying false statements when he found out the boys were removed by OCS. The father of the girls barely had anything to do with them, and barely had his daughters during the summer of 2022, until his parents decided to come up to Alaska and watch them at the fathers place so he can work all the Alaska overtime hours possible.

OCS and Alaska Courts have Damaged this

Family. Who is going to take responsibility?

From the previous story:
State workers who are members of unions with negotiated pay and benefits approved by people they helped elect, are quick to equate poverty with neglect. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) specifies the treatment of Native people. Yet, those safeguards are not followed, and Native children are treated differently. OCS makes little effort to keep any families together with community-based services. Inconsistent application of policies and procedures by unlicensed and uninsured social workers—often arbitrarily dismissing Grandparent rights and roles in Child in Need of Aid (CINA) proceedings–instead creating alienation with typical OCS Soap Opera crappy case plans and bountiful excuses.

Using the secret CINA process, Alaska Courts intimidate parents in crisis to facilitate OCS betrayal in secret. This is yet another reason parents should not allow their kids to attend today’s Alaska public schools. I have written about the false hope and betrayal experienced when attempting to get the Alaska Court System to allow another Grand Jury to investigate OCS abuses. The last person to profess to care about this issue, Rep Tammie Wilson did succeed in getting a grand jury investigation and was then co-opted when she became a Gov. Dunleavy appointed official at AK Department of Health and Social Services–apparently tasked with keeping a lid on the problem she professed to care about.

[10] Alaska OCS Crisis; Parents are Pursuing Accountability

Hoover explained her efforts further: In the face of all this trauma I chose to drop down to part time in my job because I thought it was smart, you know, because it affected my performance at work. I didn’t want to put the Fairbanks Native Association (NGO) agency in a bind. They also know my situation and I had a meeting with my supervisor and the Deputy Director the first or second week of June. We talked about putting me back on schedule full-time because things have calmed down. I was ready to go to work because I have spent months gathering evidence, digging and doing necessary research.

This is what ANY responsible parent would do—especially one who is herself in a human services career. Isn’t this what competent professional case managers should advise clients to do?

I had my children wrongfully removed from a home showing no signs of imminent danger or risk of anything, concluded Hoover. It has now cost me my job. How can OCS think this is good for Alaska families trying to deal with crisis in the face of incompatibility between two adults who can no longer live together?

The Philippine Culture LOVES children! They are everywhere here and they are actively involved in society from very young ages. According to the DSWD in a Philippines population of some 114 MILLION people, during the first quarter of 2016 some 2,147 cases of child abuse were reported (.0019%). The practice of waring parents using a government agency and overwhelmed court system, professing to be dedicated to child protection, to harm each other in marital disputes is not acceptable in Philippines.

In 2022, Alaska had 19,301 referrals for child abuse and neglect, with 2,581 children substantiated as victims. This is a rate of 14.6 children per 1,000. .0035%)

Maybe Hoover consider seeking asylum back to her mothers’ country of origin after now well-documented persecution at the hands of Alaska government.

With her experience and training Hoover might be amazed to find a place having a civilized approach to family security.

References:

Recent online statement by Willy Keppel:
To the three of you that have lived well off of the taxpayers dollars, get something straight… I live where poverty is not only pervasive, it’s the only way for the majority of any village.. I will defend the PFD against all those that are begging for its demise.

Dan is fully capable of of coming on here and defending his political positions, but, he’s going to have a hard time explaining why it’s better for him (&you three) to have every single dollar the State has left, as opposed to spreading approximately $90 MILLION PFD DOLLARS EQUALLY THROUGH EVERY HOUSE DISTRICT IN ALASKA…. EVERY OCTOBER 

The PFD is a poverty breaker when families combine their shares of our collective wealth, it clothes the kids heading to school, it keeps electricity and heat on in homes, it helps prevent illness through multiple ways. If you’re warm, fed kids are happy, stress and suicide goes down, divorce rates, domestic violence all go down…you know, the things three gals all pretend to support…

When someone with plenty, promotes the theft of the PFD, which is exactly what Dan’s doing by asking uninformed people to do, by calling their legislators and asking them to support his bloated industry……

Instead of asking the Delta to call and tell their legislators to pay a full PFD, quit funding the government off the backs of the lower and middle income Alaskans through the most REGRESSIVE TAX IN ALASKA,

BUT INSTEAD ask those living in poverty too call and tell the legislators to pay a full PPD and pass an income tax that puts government spending back to an equivalent level through all income levels….

There’s this thing called TAD. It allows the top 20% of Alaskans to actually pocket big Dividends by avoiding taxation through the theft of the PFD, which is hugely disportional depending on your income level. If you’re lower income of $4,000 PFD, it’s a huge portion of your yearly income. If you’re making $500,000 a year or 200,000 a year, a $4,000 PFD doesn’t mean a whole lot to your family’s welfare and security. Now what the TAD is, is the ability to avoid paying an income tax which puts money in your pocket because it’s not coming out to pay for government, simply because you can steal the PFD from the poorest in the middle and lower income brackets and pay for all government that way. That’s exactly what’s been going on since Bill Walker became governor in 2016. The other thing that’s happening out here is the last two legislators we had before Nellie, worked for Dan. Now I’m going to tell you this is a huge ass conflict of interest. You’re stealing from the poor as a legislator when you steal the PFD, you pass that dollar to the corporation that’s paying your salary and giving you a yearly bonuses when you vote for the programs your boss is advocating for, if not flat out demanding you go get passed.

So now that Dan does not own a puppet in the Legislature, he goes to Juneau and Facebook and preys on those who don’t have the facts or a clue about how things work, because of the lack of informative news casts out here, and tells them in essence, give up your PFDs… SO IN ESSENCE, WEALTHY FOLKS LIKE HIM, LYMAN HOFFMAN AND YOU COMPLAINERS RIGHT HERE DON’T HAVE TO PAY A 7% TO 15% INCOME TAX WHICH WOULD COME OUT OF YOUR POCKET TO PAY FOR GOVERNMENT.. INSTEAD, BY AVOIDING AN INCOME TAX YOU FILL YOUR POCKET WITH THE TAD DIVIDEND CREATED BY STEALING THE DIVIDEND 

Well excuse me if I offend you while I try my hardest to educate the masses living in the village,that pay your nonprofit salary, with their PFDs ….while you avoid taxes and the poor live with the crumbs..

Dan, AVCP, LKSD,ONC and every other nonprofit alphabet along with the Alaska Legislature all have one thing in common…YOU NEED TO LEARN TO LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS… otherwise you’re fair political game on FB, radio or any other form of the press…

I’ve added this comment for those in the Bush having a meltdown over me “picking on or criticizing Dan”, who apparently is a cult hero too those that live off of the State’s generosity to non-profits.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AlaskaRepublicanAssemblyForum/posts/9410802018982900/?comment_id=9420875681308867&notif_id=1739044512919285&notif_t=group_comment_reply

Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation

A message from YKHC President & CEO

URGENT: CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS, NOW!

I write this in early February and from the steps of our Capitol building in Juneau. After meeting with state law makers, it has become clear that significant cuts to Medicaid are likely coming from Congress. If that happens this spring, more Medicaid cuts from the states will follow. Politico and other reputable news organizations have recently reported the same.

Like most tribal health organizations, Medicaid makes nearly 50% of YKHC’s annual budget. We use those monies to pay salaries, purchase airfares, build infrastructure and most importantly, deliver vital healthcare services to the 30,000 customers in our region, over 22,000 of whom are currently on Medicaid.

If Medicaid is important to you and your family, I strongly urge you to call and let your opinion be known to your two US Senators, Congressman and State of Alaska delegation members.

Lisa Murkowski 907-271-3735

Dan Sullivan 907-271-5915

Congressman Nick Begich 907-921-6575

Sen. Lyman Hoffman 866-465-4453

Rep Nellie Jimmie 800-323-4942

Sen. President Gary Stevens 800-821-4925

Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon 800-898-4451

[1] Western Alaska Deserves Better in Juneau: Willy Keppel Says He Can Make a Difference, DONN LISTON July 18, 2022
https://donnliston.net/2022/07/western-alaska-deserves-better-willy-keppel-can-make-a-difference/

[2] Why British Petroleum left Alaska,  DONN LISTON 01/17/2023
https://donnliston.net/2023/01/why-is-bp-leaving-alaska-2019-donnliston/

[3] FY2026 Governor’s Proposed Budget Operating Budget – All Fund Sources https://gov.alaska.gov/fy26-governors-proposed-budget/

[4] Refuge from Calamity What Brought Me to Alaska (and PH!), DONN LISTON March 15, 2018
https://listondonn.ph/a-refuge-from-calamity-2/

[5] Duty of Fair Representation
https://www.ueunion.org/stwd_dfr.html

[6] PH Solo Parent Protections

The Philippines has several protections for solo parents, including cash subsidies, housing assistance, and insurance. The Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act (RA 11861) provides these benefits. 

Benefits

• Cash subsidy: A monthly cash subsidy of P1,000 for low-income solo parents who earn minimum wage or less 
• Housing: Priority in housing projects 
• Health insurance: PhilHealth coverage 
• Discounts: A 10% discount and VAT exemption on essential items for children under 6 years old 
• Parental leave: Seven days of parental leave per year to perform parental duties 
• Flexible work schedule: The right to vary arrival and departure times without affecting core work hours 

Click here for application information:

[7] How OCS implements Child in Need of Assistance was described in a recent case before the Alaska Supreme Court heard February 24, 2023: Miranda T v. State of Alaska, Department of Health & Social services, Office of Children’s Services and Bishope A. 3AN-19-00228 CN. Miranda T was represented by attorney Amanda Harbor of Soldotna. The State of Alaska had appearances by four attorneys including Attorney General Treg R. Taylor from Juneau, while appellee Bishope had two Public Advocate attorneys also paid for by the State of Alaska.

This is directly from the court decision:
Miranda T. v. State, 524 P.3d 1105 (Alaska 2023)

[8]The Trial, Franz Kafka, 1924
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Trial-novel-by-Kafka

[9] Alaska OCS Crisis; Parents are Pursuing Accountability
https://donnliston.net/2022/11/alaska-ocs-crisis-parents-pursuing-accountability/

Have YOU been screwed by State of Alaska? Let’s talk…

Great Living Two Years in Philippines