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CPS Horror Story
Rain
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I've never had to deal with CPS but I ran across this article. Not sure how much of it is true.http://fairfaxcps.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-child-protective-services-works.htmlAll it takes to begin the potential destruction of a family is a call to one of the child protective "hotlines" in every state. The call can be made anonymously, making the hotlines potent tools for harassment. More often, however, false allegations are well-meaning mistakes made by people who have taken the advice of the child savers.
Though state laws generally encourage -- or require -- reports if you have "reasonable cause to suspect" maltreatment, child savers urge us to call in our slightest suspicions about almost any parental behavior. (And that sort of advice is not limited to adults. One group has published a comic book effectively telling children to turn in their parents to "other grown-up friends" if they get a spanking).[2] The hotlines then forward the calls to Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies who send workers to investigate. These workers can go to a child's school or day care center and interrogate them without warning. Such an interrogation can undercut the bonds of trust essential for healthy parent-child relationships and traumatize children for whom the only harm is the harm of the investigation itself.
Workers can search homes and strip-search children without a warrant. Child savers insist such searches are rare. But in the course of defending against a lawsuit, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services acknowledged how common they really are. In its legal papers, the department said that any effort to restrict strip-searching "would immediately bring the child abuse hotline investigations to a halt."[3] Such a statement can be true only if strip-searching is routine.
Then it is up to the worker to decide if the case will be "substantiated" and the accused will be listed in a state "central register" of suspected child abusers. Workers make these decisions on their own. There is no hearing beforehand, no way for the accused to defend themselves. (In some states, they can try and fight their way out of the register after the fact).
No proof is required to "substantiate" a case. In most states, "substantiated" means only that there is "some credible evidence" of maltreatment, even if there is more evidence of innocence.
And what if parents object to all this? What if they want to defend their children against a strip-search, for example? Technically, in some circumstances, they can say no to a CPS worker (though the worker doesn't have to tell them this -- there is no equivalent of a "Miranda warning"). But if they do say no, the worker can wield the most feared power of all -- the power to remove a child from the home on the spot.
Workers have that power in 29 of America's 55 states and territories. In all but four of the rest, they need merely call the police to do it for them.[4] Parents then must go to court to try and get their children back. In most states, there is supposed to be a hearing in a matter of days, but often it takes far longer before that child's parents get their day in court.[5]
And it is a very short day. Such hearings tend to be five-minute assembly line procedures with a CPS lawyer who does this for a living on one side, and a bewildered, impoverished parent who just met her lawyer five minutes before -- if she has a lawyer at all -- on the other. Children are almost never returned at these hearings. If the children are lucky, they may get to go home after the next hearing in 30 or 90 days. Or maybe they will never go home at all.
And who are the CPS workers who wield this enormous power? In most states, a bachelor's degree in anything and a quickie training course devoted largely to how to fill out forms are the only requirements for the job. Turnover is enormous and caseloads are crushing. And the worker will find little guidance in the law, which is so broad that almost anything can be deemed abuse or, especially, neglect (See Family Preservation Issue Paper 5, Child Abuse and Poverty). Given all that, it's easy to see why so many children are needlessly removed from their homes.
But that is not the only tragedy. Enormous caseloads dominated by false and trivial cases steal workers' time from children in real danger. That's the real reason children sometimes are left in unsafe homes. See Family Preservation Issue Paper 8 .
There is a CPS worker who allegedly told several parents "I have the power of God." Even more frightening than the thought of a worker saying such a thing is the fact that it's true. CPS workers do have the power of God. And rarely is the power of God accompanied by the wisdom of Solomon.
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The parents, or whomever, are more than able to refuse without a warrant. In which case LE would be called and usually they then agree. If not, a Judge is called and a warrant has been given in every case I have ever seen
It does not take far longer for a parent to have their day in court. They MUST see a Judge within 24hrs or the children must be returned, no questions asked
I do not have stats on children that are removed or returned upon the "shelter hearing" as it is called, but I guess it is well over 30%. Children mind you are not removed for smoking pot, or dad hitting mom, or mom slapping her kids a$$. They are removed for their father touching the pee-pee's, their mother beating them with an entension cord, or their parents passed out from the fumes of meth they are cooking up with the 2 year old in the playpen.
A bachelors is required, and generally at least 4 weeks of "quickie training". Also, a person with common sense and decency would be able to do the BASICS of the job on day one. Hmmm, dad was drunk around a 15 year old...remove kid? vs Hmmm, dad was drink with 6 month old in the front seat of the car while he is smoking crack------doesnt seem a ton of training is needed
Turnover is enormous and turnover is terrible---this much is quite true. And some children are needlessly removed no doubt. I have also seen a Judge refuse to remove a child and that parent later grab the 3 year old by her ankles and bash her into a piano and subsequently kill her. And the CPS workers NEVER have the power of God unless in their own minds. ANY AND ALL actions and implementations of services, removals, ect. must be approved by a Judge who has the final say...period.
I've had friends in other States go through this; their kid gets injured at home, maybe from a spanking, maybe because the parent accidentally hurt them (for those of you with kids, you can't tell me that in the 18 years you've had them that accidents don't happen or you spanked them too hard at least once) - someone sees a bruise, calls the CPS, or Dept. of Family, and the case starts up
Soon, the social worker with a months training (read: no experience, just training from books and lectures) and all the self-righteousness of a religious fanatic is coming to your home, interviewing your kids, asking them constantly if they want to be taken away or "taken to a safe place", and there's nothing you can do to stop it except a very expensive court battle.
To be blunt, it's hell; a f*cking nightmare for the parents; a lot of the time, the parent is pathetically guilt-ridden about hurting their kid, the CPS investigation is a dagger in the back. Too much of the time, the social workers investigate stupid cases - kid gets spanked, or burns themselves, and the CPS starts intruding on the lives of the entire family; then a few weeks later you read about a kid who starved to death and you're wondering WTF is going on that they're coming after you. In a few States (maybe all, don't know much about this, just second hand experience), the whole thing can come to a stop if the kid tells the social worker to leave and not come back - but they never tell the kid this, and you're forbidden from telling the kid this is a possibiliity
Even more hell ensues when there's a divorce going on - you don't wanna know half the **** I've seen with this.
We both know those are easy cases. The ones the article and a lot of people can speak to, are the cases where the kid gets burned or has bruises and it's the first time ever; maybe the parent had a real **** day and wasn't thinking, maybe the kid burned themselves and wants revenge on the parent for something, etc. It's the cases where the CPS intervenes in loving families and the social worker doesn't know when to **** or get off the pot that's the focus of the article.
Like I said, I've seen this a few times; social worker with no experience doesn't get the clue that the family loves their kid and the incident was a one time thing, that the parent is tearing themselves apart at night thinking of how they overreacted and the self-righteous CPS just keeps going and going, knowing the family loves the kid, but won't close the case.
Not saying all social workers are like this, but with a HS/GED education and the power of the State behind them, there's a lot of people who become little Napoleons when they've got someone by the balls
So beyond this disagreement....what is the solution or better idea? Because this is obviously hitting a nerve with people, but as soon as a kid ends up dead or burned or sexcually assaulted, the first agency to get blamed is Dept. of Children and Families (or their equivalent).
First, I think that there are many people with great, big hearts in this field. Second, I hate generalizations.
CPS is different in every state and locality. There were several publicized accounts of investigations into the CPS practices, policies, and abuses where I used to live. Many, if not most, of those investigations were upheld. I agree there are good and bad in every walk of life. Maybe it just seems worse because this subject deals with children and families. Maybe it is worse for some reason that I cannot know.
That said, I still felt they served an important purpose and once had to call CPS on a family. It was a very difficult decision, arrived at after the parent refused several avenues of help. There was a continued refusal to let anyone into the home to interfere; but the situation was declining so quickly that someone needed to be in that home. I'm thankful for the CPS folks who were able to enforce some standards and work with the parent to keep the children there and stabilize the home. No one else had the authority to do so.
As someone who has seriously considered becoming a foster parent, I understand the horrors of a child being torn from a family. Some stories are sad, some are necessary. Some stories shouldn't have happened. I am most thankful for those people who are willing to help even in the midst of an imperfect system. Thank you, Vulchor, for what you do.
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.
We almost fostered a child who was going to be in a temporary and voluntary care situation. Some personal things happened that kick started mom so we never proceeded. We loved the child, but I'm glad he's with his family more than us. We're in no place to foster right now, what with living in a small, rented place and having no money, but it's on our hearts as something to do in the future.
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.