Do you have a problem with Children's Protective Services destroying families and children?

Question

I am in the middle of a case with CPS which could stand to destroy my family. I discovered I am not alone. Check the site below:
http://www.familyrightsassociation.com/

CPS needs to be consistent...they need to stop taking children from families that show no evidence of any abuse, and they need to protect the innocent ones who are being abused.

Accusation of abuse was raised by a dead beat ex-wife when she discovered how much she owes in child support for my teenagers who she now has custody of (except one is 18 now).

I am trying to reunify with my current wife and younger children who have nothing to do with the situation I was accused of. However CPS believes everything they're told, unless it comes from me.

I actually interned for Lutheran Social Services, Asian Child Abuse Prevention Program in Sacramento...I was interpreting parenting classes and did case studies and visitations. It was horrible, and I decided not to become a CPS worker. My family CPS worker was a teacher who became a CPS Social Worker because in her words, "I saw where the power was."

Jimmy, that's not the issue--check the link I have provided please. I have been a public educator for many years, the results of these false allegations have cost me my career, and now stands to cost me the rest of my family. The children are suffering without two parents in their home. Does that mean my children should go live with people that don't know them at all? As I have already stated, these things were all based on false allegations--the mad dog tactics of CPS is blind to the Truth.

They refuse to acknowledge they have made an error.

Someone mentioned people who fight with CPS have something to hide...I disagree...if you know you have done nothing wrong, do you just lay down and wait for them to destroy you? However, in my county, and too many counties across the nation, the system has no defense for the parents who cannot afford an attorney. I have been sending my children to private school...and trying to raise them with plenty of positive activities, like music, and martial arts--whatever hobbies they want to do. I did not think someday I would need a lawyer who would defend my right to parent my children in a positive way...or to prove that I have done nothing wrong, I cannot afford a good attorney. No money, no defense.

Answer 1

I feel for your plight. I work for Social Services, and have seen both sad sides of the coin -- children who are not protected, and children who were "protected" when they do not need to be.

It is a two-edged sword. While Protective Services encourages people to report abuse, unfortunately too many people jump at the chance simply because they, for some reason, don't like or disagree with the parenting of the child, Then, there are others who look the other way or say, "I don't want to get involved," or, "maybe I'm wrong." And sadly, there are way too many children claiming abusive problems in the home because a parent smacked them on the butt for sneaking out of the house, or because a parent wouldn't let them date/get piercings, etc.

In my parents' and grandparents' day, a spanking as 'punishment' was considered okay, healthy, and justified. Today, too many self-righteous people see corporal punishment as child abuse. I grew up alright with a spanking or two (hey, life smacks you on the butt often enough), and sometimes I think that's what some kids today need.

Unfortunately, too often a false report makes the front page of the newspaper, but the retraction of it ends up on page 30, and the stigma lasts.

Err on the side of caution? I think that happens a lot, as better to be wrong and protect a child, than be wrong and have a life ended or scarred.

But, you are right -- false accusations can destroy otherwise happy, normal families, with the defendants spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to clear their good names and try to heal their family.

In our office, we try to place the child with a responsible relative, rather than a stranger, until the situation can be clarified or resolved. I, myself, had had numerous children in my home while a case is being investigated, and from personal experience, I know that some of these cases are justified, and some are not. The sad part being, the unjustified ones are frequently as damaging to the child as the abusive situation at home is.


The bottom line being, yes, I do have a problem with families being destroyed, and the trauma a child experiences from that.

However, in the middle of the fray, I don't know what the solutions are. Ministers can be as abusive as the next person, and, by law, we cannot ignore ANY complaint simply because the parent is educated, or enjoys a certain social status. In fact, I had a 12-year old girl who stayed with me accuse me of abuse because I had to physically pick her up (and caught her hair and ended up dragging her by her clothes) to bring her back into the house because she was trying to sneak out with her 17-year old "boyfriend."

I urge parents who have been wrongly accused to go to the Civil Liberties Union if they cannot obtain legal help elsewhere.

I truly wish you the very best of luck, and I hope you can repair your family.

May God bless and keep you all.

Answer 2

CPS is sometimes wrong but if they don't do their job they get in trouble. Anytime you hear a child dies of abuse the first thing said why didn't CPS do their job.
Your first matter should be find out why CPS is involved with your family. Find out if someone is just abusing the system and getting you in trouble or is it the truth and you don't want to admit what is going on in your family. Try working with CPS and show them you take the problem seriously. If they see you want to work with them then they will back off. Families that fight with CPS appear to CPS they are hiding something.

Answer 3

I used to think they lived up to their mission statement. After knowing everything about your case...I realize they are running with the rest of the world, on a system of greed. I may be biased because you are family...but what I see is truth, and they clearly don't care about that. Just like the police and other 'law enforcement/courts, etc.', they make more money when they arrest people or interfere in people's lives. Too bad the cops and cps don't do what they're supposed to do...prevent crimes. Just remember, the top law enforcement official of this county was convicted of several felonies a couple of years ago....

Answer 4

My heart truly goes out to you! Personally I think that the CPS is over-worked, their methods of "checking the facts" are out-dated, and quite a few of the these people have a "cold" attitude. The bottom line seems to be, the money, and not necessarily what is best for the children!
But then what can you do?
I would say IF you are sincere.... your BEST way to "fight" the system is to go public! Take your issue to the local Newspaper and have them run a story on your situation! Believe me, NOTHING makes organizational issues like yours "straighten up" and play "fair" than to bring it to the public & let them help you!! It doesn't matter if it is a local paper or one that is a "State" paper..either one will help you get the attention you need! If your telling the TRUTH..then you will get the sympathy of your local friends & neighbors, who will help "support" your cause! Also keep your situation lifted up to the Lord, Jesus Christ, for He is the final authority!
May He truly be with you, surround you with His perfect peace...and bless you!

Answer 5

Yes, I do have a problem with this! For every child that is rescued from a true abuse situation, another child is abused or neglected in the attempt to rescue him/her from a good home. Marriages, careers, reputations and lives get destroyed for something that is not even valid!

Children no longer have the sense of having to repect any authority from their parents. They know that they can play the game and trade in their families. I have been through this myself, but fortunately the Neglect charge against me was dropped. But in the process of the whole horror story, my husband was instructed to throw me into the street (I am SAH and have no separate money) so that he wouldn't get in trouble too. My husband refused to do it, and my son went into foster care. Private records or not, the word got around, my husband lost his job, we got dirty looks from people, and suffered abuse from the police. I am fortunate that the whole thing was dropped, but we are still dealing with severe anxiety attacks from the whole situation. It takes a long, long time to recover from these things both emotionally and financially.

It would help the CPS situation if they would raise the standard of evidence for convicting people in their family courts. A preponderance of the evidence (51%) is simply not a strong enough level of evidence for completely destroying peoples' families and lives. Shouldn't we be making sure that someone really deserves to suffer so horribly?

Answer 6

I have a problem with CPS when they don't help take children out of abusive households, instead they just put them back with their abusers. Someone that I love dearly was abused as a child and I wish CPS would have stepped in and protected him.

Answer 7

As a child victim of government run foster care I would say yes they ruin families and destroy children.
There is not enough room here to describe the abuse I endured at the hands of DCFS, I hope they all rot in hell.

Answer 8

Yes, I do have a problem with them. I did my internship with them in college. I live in Oklahoma and the things that I saw and witnessed in court are enough to scare anyone! Watch your step... I witnessed several children being taken away from their parents, but in some cases it needs to happen, but others, it's just wrong.... flat out---- wrong! Good Luck and get an attorney to help you out.

Answer 9

I am not overly found of CPS because they took Allison May Newman (Michigan) out of her home and placed her with someone who murdered her. I interpreted the Birth of that Child and it should have never happened.

Answer 10

There are WAY too many people out there who get angry and use cps as a weapon