THE WAY CPS INVESTIGATES
Copyright © 2000 By Lesley Wimberly This was posted on the Witch Hunt List by Lesley Wimberly, with VOCAL (Victims of Child Abuse Laws, Inc.), and shows graphically the way in which the child protectors operate. Read on and be instructed.
- An adopted 10 year old daughter was mildly retarded. She acted out when she didn't get her way. One morning she had an argument with her mother, and left for school upset. She later told some friends that her Mom "beat her" (this family didn't even believe in spanking). They in turn told a teacher, who immediately took the girl to a school counselor, who called CPS. CPS came in and interrogated the child with the sheriff. The sheriff saw through the girl's theatrics and after the nurse found no marks or evidence of a beating, talked to the other kids in the family who told him that violence wasn't allowed in their home, and dismissed the case as unfounded. Not the social worker. Nosiree! She took the child into custody and founded the case. The matter took over two years to finally end. During that year, two other children were interrogated and temporarily removed. Allegations of beatings, making the children sleep on the floor, pulling hair, a dirty house, forcing the children to clean, the list grew as the months rolled by.
Wanna know how the family was investigated? not one worker bothered to go to the home and interview the mother, the father or the other children, or see for themselves what the living conditions were. Not one. Instead, they worked on the retarded child, who would easily agree to anything and used her to point the finger to her siblings as being potential victims. Like Perez, they worked at building a case.
During a protracted trial in juvenile court, the mother's attorney pointed out that the mother had not been allowed any contact with the child. The judge ordered the child to visit with the mother that day for lunch. When they resumed, the social worker stated that the child had reported being yelled at and threatened during lunch, emphasizing the need for protection. The mother's attorney pulled out a tape (Mom was wired through lunch), and the court allowed it to be played. The child and mother had nothing but loving things to say to each other, and the child had begged to come home.
The case eventually was dismissed, but not before the parents (who are Ph.D.'s) expended hundreds of thousands of dollars. They later sued and have since won $3 million. The suit took three years. Fortunately for these parents, they had the education and the income to fight. If they hadn't been so fortunate, that little girl would be in foster care to this day, if not the other children.
Oh, yeah, one more thing. This child was told by the social workers that her natural father was a drug addict and her natural Mom was a prostitute. The girl became hysterical and ran away and was found in an alley several days later, contemplating suicide. The adoptive parents in this case had over 20 years adopted 30 children who had been labeled as "unadoptable" due to deformities, retardation, and being orphans (one was from Cambodia, who witnessed the slaughter of his family and didn't speak until after this family took him in).
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- Parents of a little boy and girl took in a delinquent teenage nephew as a favor to his parents. They soon found he was on drugs and was stealing from them. After a credit card heist, they reported him, and he was arrested. While in custody, he accused them of sexually abusing their children. Since he was an eyewitness, the parents were immediately arrested and CPS took the kids (without seeking relative placement ... and they have a large extended family). The juvie court moved quickly, holding it's petition hearing and the adjudication on the same day (this is LA and they can do that). The parents, still incarcerated, were asked by their stupid attorney to agree that their children were in "need of care." Since the parent could not care for them they agreed, and asked that the kids be taken to family. What they didn't know was that the words "in need of care" is a legal term meaning they relinquish their right to a trial. Tricky, huh?
The nephew recanted, telling the state that he was mad and made it up. The criminal complaint against them was dropped and they went home. Did CPS relinquish? No. In fact they still have these kids. During their care with the state, the little girl was taken to their pet therapist (an MSW) who validates every case brought to him. He states in his reports that the girl said that her daddy "tickled" her while playing a game (hide and seek). He asked her where this happened, and she said "in the hall closet and under the sofa." He validated the case saying that "tickle" was molest.
Had CPS gone to the home and "investigated," they would have found a modest little house with NO closets in the hall (only cupboards) and the sofa sits 3 inches from the floor. But no ever did. To this day, four and one half years later. We found them a new attorney, who has appealed, but at this late date, it's like closing the barn door after the horses left. The father has not seen his children for four and a half years. The mother sees them but is not allowed to speak about the father.
We managed to get relative placement with a brother and sister-in-law of the mother, only after we raised the failures of "reasonable efforts" to the court, and after the kids had been separated in foster homes for two years. The aunt and uncle now have guardianship. At least they're with family. The little boy is angry and can't understand why he can't see his dad. The little girl has stated that she was never abused, but no one listens to her, and the family is forbidden to get them help. The father is completely emotionally destroyed, and cries when he sees photos of his children.
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- A mother spanked her son on the bottom with a wooden spoon when he refused to go to school. He went to school and told his teacher. The teacher, a mandated reporter, reported it. CPS interviewed him and after he used the word "beating" took him into custody. No marks, no evidence. They then went to the mother's home and removed her 18 month old baby (for being "at risk") after she stated that she did not abuse her son. She told the workers of her baby's asthma and his allergies. She packed his medicine and some belongings, and was left standing in the front yard weeping as they drove away. Her husband came home and they obtained an attorney.
While these children were in custody, the baby was placed in a foster home. They were not informed about the baby's allergies or his ATMs. Nor were the foster parents given his diaper bag with medicine. The foster mother gave him some apple juice and he went into a severe athsmatic attack, was hospitalized and almost died.
No one asked to see the wooden spoon, no one listened to the medical needs of the baby, no one talked to the parents about discipline. The case was finally dismissed. The older son later testified to the California legislature regarding what he experienced in foster care (beating by other foster kids).
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- A day care worker reported bruising across the back of a 2 year old boy's legs. CPS took the boy into custody. On the way to the foster home, the social worker got into a care accident, and the boy was injured. The social worker had not taken the boy's infant seat from the day care, and he was thrown into the floor of the car.
The family swore they didn't spank the boy. They contacted their family pediatrician who suspected the cause of the bruises to be due to a blood condition. Sure enough the boy had ITP, a blood condition that causes a weakness in the walls of veins. The condition follows a viral infection and the little guy had just recovered from chicken pox. He liked to sit on the side of the bathroom sink on the counter and watch his daddy shave every morning. He would swing his legs back and forth, and the back of his legs would hit the edge of the tile countertop ... hence the strange bruises.
No one ever called the family. No one came to the home and questioned the family about their disciplinary process. No one except the family had his bruising medically examined. They simply hauled him away and carelessly put him in danger, violating the law regarding car seats. Had a parent done that, they would be charged with child endangerment and cited.
Want more? I'll keep posting these cases. They need to be told.
The problem with the social workers isn't that they're not caring people who want to do their job. The problem is the absolute vacuum of training and acceptability. If workers do not have the tools (education, certification, requirements) to do their job, these kinds of cases will continue to occur. No one can do their job without the tools that are required.
When are we going start talking about what needs to be done to make the system work right? When are we really going to make a child-centered system? What does it take? More children injured, needlessly separated from family, dying simply because the bureaucrats within the system refuse to accept responsibility....who continue to give excuses for their failures without trying to improve? Why is it that the child savers keep doing business as usual without even trying to do better? It's OUR tax dollars that pay them.
Why aren't the taxpayers of this country furious at the failures of a myopic, behemoth, bumbling bureaucracy whose record of saving children is so abysmal? And then we talk about the government getting involved with public day care! What a joke! If such irresponsibility is rife in child protection, just imagine how a state-run nursery would be!
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