Thank you for the link, Cambion. This is
interesting.
As a social worker (although I work with
mental health and not children protective
services) I am on the other side of
things. CPS workers have to do as their
agency and state decrees, and that is
generally a "CYA" policy in regards to the
children. Take first, ask questions
later. The last thing an agency wants is
to have given the family the benefit of
the doubt and the next thing you know
there's a dead kid somewhere.
Additionally, social workers are taught
about the immense amount of damage
removing children from their home can
cause kids and families. So social
workers are not in favor of taking
kids-they would rather, by their own
ethical institutions and education, leave
the families intact and solve the problem
from a person-in-environment perspective.
So it must be understood that social
workers are not evil minions who want to
remove kids at the drop of the hat.
Many of my colleagues do work in CPS and
they are immensely saddened by the amount
of neglect and abuse they encounter, and
recognize how terrible it is to take the
kid away. Frequently I hear how amazed
they are that a parent can do all kinds of
crap to a kid and the kid
still
wants to go with Mommy.
That being said, there are abuses of
power, and mistakes made, I am sure.
Most social workers choose that profession
b/c they want to help people. If there is
someone abusing their power, they are in
violation of every kind of ethic standard
the social work profession abides by and
they need removed from the profession.
I looked at the website. I noted some of
the responses. Here are some excerpts:
"my dfaughter was a year old april 1st
2008 and we couldnt even see her they are
making me and my babies father do a whole
bunch of appointments and submit to random
drug tests without our permission and were
willing to do it all but we are currewntly
homeless i am 6 mons pregnant with a
little boy and were homeless and were
trying to get housing"
They are homeless and angered that CPS
took their child. Hmmm. Also, they have
to submit to drug tests. I wonder why.
The next one:
"...I am under investigation for the
second time since November 2007. It seems
to me that I must have missed alot in
college- my professors told me that
CPS’s job was to preserve family life
not devestate it; which is what I’m
going thru now. My ex-husband is calling
them as soon as a case closes saying the
same things: I’m smoking crack-cocaine
and living with a convicted child
molester. The second half of the
acusations are slightly correct. I will
admit that, my bf is in therapy for what
he has done and his counselor is standing
behind us, saying that my son is SAFE. CPS
however doesn’t see things that way. I
have agreed to drug tests, as I don’t do
drugs, yet they continue to assume that my
own god-given child doesn’t belong with
me."
She said it's "slightly correct" that she
lives with a convicted child molester.
Hmmm. I wonder why they would say she is
smoking crack. Maybe she is not right
now, but has in the past. A court has to
have just cause to instigate drug
testing.
There's alot to these stories that people
don't write, I am sure. I read alot of
responses from grandparents. Grandparents
can live in denial for years. And we are
all familiar with mothers who defend the
fathers against allegations for whatever
reason, like here:
"In February 2007 my 14 year old daughter
accused my husband, her step-father, of
touching her. I realize that you do not
know her history ( which includes a false
accusation of rape and a false accusation
that a teacher had touched her, both
proven to be false) but the only people
that beleived her story were the police
and CPS. She and my 12 year old son were
removed from our home and placed with my
mother. Thank God they did not have to
endure foster care as I have heard horror
stories about that. At the time I was 4
months pregnant with my third and my
husbands first child. The story my
daughter told was the most unbelievable
load of crap I have ever heard come out
anyone’s mouth."
Here's a story about the FLDS:
"I am here because the FLDS mothers need
their children back.The CPS should not
have any authority that reaches over our
constitutional rights as citizens of the
United States. Complaints should be
handled on a case by case basis as with
any other community or religion. It is
very clear that religion intolerance
played a large role in the actions of the
Texas raid..."
The children removed were taken because
their pregnancies and marriages violated
federal, state, and local laws. Teens
cannot consent to sex unless married in
Texas, they can get married at 16 w/
parental consent, but no such documents
have ever been filed.
How's that for a long post?
