CPS/Child welfare/DCYF info

[littlefarm_bighappy]

Hey all...
www.fightcps.com
Here is a great site for issues concerning DCYF/CPS etc. I read Quail Antwerps dilemma and while I am happy that things turned out well and they got a good social worker, there are just as many families who could have been torn apart.

I wish I was exaggerating but children are much more likely to be molested/abused/die in foster care than in the hands of their parents. (APOLOGIES to any foster parents out there... I know you have a hard job to do and many do it well. I am referring to the sad fact of the children's statistics)

I have seen a four year old taken from his married, loving, biological parents for NO OTHER REASON than they are "goth" (but child appropriate) A clean house was set as a return condition and a social worker dropped by at 8 PM- and saw dishes in the sink. Parental rights were terminated within 4 months. This occurred in Minnesota.

Meanwhile, in my county, a man just got a YEAR for beating a three year old girl so severely she had to have part of her skull removed.

There are so many childless, urban, young social workers out there making parenting judgements- it's not hard to see how a child that has chicken poo on a shoe could be judged as "living in filth" when in reality he was just gathering eggs that morning.


SO read, be aware, don;t let CPS in without a warrant and NEVER sign a "service plan"- this is just a voluntary admission you need CPS's help.

 

[hikerchick]

I am glad my daughter is over 18. You are likely to find chicken poo, goat poo, and duck poo on any and all surfaces on the exterior of our house. They all free range, and they do what they do wherever they happen to be.

 

[sparkles2307]

MN is really hard on parents. Trust me, working as the receptionist for Child Protection here in MN for 18 mo showed me how hard they are on parents. I told them all that they better not come to my house cause they'd take my kids away. They laughed and said that the original reason for taking a kid has to be something more than a messy house, but that the cleanliness can become a stipulation for getting them back. Of curse, thats excluding the extremes where there is 5 years of animal feces swept under the crib and things like that, cause they DO take kids away in situations like that due to the dirtiness. My kids, both boys, are rough on each other, and never before we lived here was I afraid that I would get reported for the bruises they get from wrestling, climbing trees, etc...but it seems that people in our area are always looking for someone new to call in to CPS....

 

[redhen]

Well...usually if the state removes a kid from a house it been after repeated warnings to the bio parents to fix the problem. Usually..unless they see something that really isnt right then they take the kid right away.. I'm not sticking up for the state..but they have a hard job to do.. under staffed and under paid. Believe me..

As for the foster parents being MORE likely to abuse children..well..i dont have any info on that so i cant say anything about that. But i would not generalize foster care like that...there are more good foster parents than bad ones. Why in gods name would people take on troubled children for pennies a day and all the heartache and headaches that goes along with it? Ask your self that? I believe that most foster parents do it because they truly want to help children that were taken away from abusive/neglectful homes. Just my opinion...

 

[babylady4]

Speaking as a parent who has had DCFS called on them; NOT FUN. My daughter was 7 and had just seen Lilo and Stitch when they came to school to interview her. At the time, she had come to school with a bruise on her face that was caused by her falling out of bed onto a Lincoln Log (she had had a seizure and had no muscle control). Since the bruise was in an unusual area the Principal decided we were beating her and called. By the time SS came to interview my DD, we realized she had had the seizure and she was undergoing all of the Cat scans and so on..... and of course the added stress of SS coming to call made her have more seizures since after seeing the movie she was convinced she was going to be taken away.

Sorry for the hijack, this kind of thing makes my blood boil. Anyway, when they came to the house I requested that the Supervisor of our case worker come with for the home visit. I live in a county where the kids who get taken away are the ones in loving families; the kids who need to be removed from their parents rarely are. It is a crazy system and needs to be overhauled. I have seen good foster parents and then there are the ones who take kids on just for the $$; and literally make the kids little slaves of the house.

I guess it all depends on who is running the office where you live.

 

[Boyd]

I am staying out of this.

 

[redhen]

Quote:

 

[littlefarm_bighappy]

I didn't mean to inflame; I certainly don't mean to generalize all foster parents. Remember those statistics include foster children in group homes and institutions, some of which are madhouses.

I only posted that site as a resource. It never ceases to amaze me that most people think CPS has the *authority* to walk into a home and peep thru your fridge, drawers, and DVDS. They SAY "we have to see your home" but really they should say 'We have to see your home to gather evidence for this complaint; we really have no RIGHT to come in, but we really want to."

That's all. There is also the painful fact that sibling groups larger than two rarely get to stay together.

 

[redhen]

Have you ever worked for the state? As a case worker or foster parent? Or have you had your kids taken away? Just wondering...

personally, i thank the state for protecting our children. Sadly..MOST times it IS needed. And yes, sometimes the state does make mistakes..But that usually comes out in the investigation. And yes, Sadly, sometimes parents are falsely accused by their own children. But how is the state supposed to know this?..if a kid says something happend they HAVE to step in...becasue if they didnt and it WAS true..then a child is left in a house to be abused. Think about it all for a minute..
I do agree though that some things do need to change in the system..
And it is a sad,painful fact that siblings dont get to stay together most times. That bothers me also.

But again..if they dont have enough foster homes and bedrooms.... what do they do? Leave a kid with an abusive mother...leave a kid in a house with no food because moms a druggie? Leave a kid in a bio-hazard filth ridden hovel? No..i'm sorry..

But, again, i do agree that some things in the system do need to change.. I will grant you that. Our MAIN concern should be protecting our children..


Also..about the Goth story..no way they removed a kid from a house ONLY because of dirty dishes in the sink. Come on.. there was more to the story...lets keep it real here. And the other story.. chicken poo on his shoe...again... yeah..they take kids from homes because the kid has dirty shoes..

again...lets think here...there was more to the story.. there ALWAYS is...maybe you only heard those parts..but i can guarantee you there was more too those silly stories.. You sound almost bitter toward CPS..i wonder why?

Again..I AM GOING TO SAY HERE....i know they do have some faults. And i've called them on it MANY of times, myself. So i understand some peoples concerns. But i still stand by ANY organization that its MAIN goal is protecting children.

 

[redhen]

Also..i dont think some people truly understand some things about the system..

If they get a compliant..they HAVE to investigate it. Sometimes in person...sometimes they can even do it over the phone.. It depends on the claim..
But just because they HAD to check out a claim, it does NOT mean you are guilty...an investigation does not mean guilt. It simply just means they have to investigate suspected abuse/neglect..etc..

Suspected is the key word here... Sometimes its true...sometimes its not.