CPS Investigation

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of how important it is to teach your children proper names. I heard a story from a teacher that her young student wrote a story that basically said 'my uncle always eats my cookie' and the teacher thought nothing of it until parent/teacher night when she told the mom she thought it was funny that the girl always mentioned how the uncle ate her cookie. The parent became horrified. Apparently they called the vagina and cookie and the uncle had been molesting the little girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel this thread to my core. When my DD was 4, she was walking our dog. I was with her. Our dog saw a deer nearby and bolted in the other direction. Somehow the leash wrapped around my daughter and moved upward like a noose around her neck and dragged her due to the force of our 110 pound dog charging. I screamed for the dog to stop and he did. But, my daughter had horrible abrasions on her neck and it looked like we tried to behead her. When we took her into the hospital, a CPS case worker had us in an interrogation room for almost 2 hours. I was so hysterical and I am sure that did not help. My husband also blamed me and that was bad too. They did a watch on use and 2 home visits and then determined there was no threat and it was indeed a severe accident. Worst moment of my LIFE!!

That sounds absolutely horrific. I'm glad it ended up ok!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am scared of this too. You guys should all read “small animals:parenting in the age of fear”. These days someone will call CPS on you if you let your kid out of your sight. I definitely helicopter more than I would because I’m scared of someone calling cps and having my kid taken away, rather than kid stranger danger. Most foster homes are not safe either, so if you are falsely accused there is a good chance of your child being abused or traumatized.

Most foster homes ARE safe, PP. Not that I would want my kid in one, of course, but what you are saying is simply not true and it perpetuates a scary lie. Moreover, CPS is more likely to place a child with a relative if there is one willing to do it. It would still be a terrible situation, I realize.

I know several people who were placed in foster care as children and were abused, so to me it seems like there is a pretty big risk of children being abused while in foster care.

[Anonymous]

Our 7-year old tells me all the time that I hit him. As if that's not enough, he takes my hand to try to slap his face: too many youtube videos. It would be absolutely devastating if he was taken away from us. I can see him trying to be funny and mention something about us hitting him at school and a teacher having to report it.
He even has pumps to show off because he copies youtube videos and jumps on me and everything else in the house. My only hope is that the teacher know better and after asking him several times, he will fess up to say that he made it up.
I'll tell you a mix up: DC told me that the teacher has a gun in her bag. Not even "on her bag". So, I looked at her bag (in coop classroom) and it had a gas pump nozzle picture on a grocery shopping bag. That's when DC was into nerfguns, and anything resembling guns, was a gun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel this thread to my core. When my DD was 4, she was walking our dog. I was with her. Our dog saw a deer nearby and bolted in the other direction. Somehow the leash wrapped around my daughter and moved upward like a noose around her neck and dragged her due to the force of our 110 pound dog charging. I screamed for the dog to stop and he did. But, my daughter had horrible abrasions on her neck and it looked like we tried to behead her. When we took her into the hospital, a CPS case worker had us in an interrogation room for almost 2 hours. I was so hysterical and I am sure that did not help. My husband also blamed me and that was bad too. They did a watch on use and 2 home visits and then determined there was no threat and it was indeed a severe accident. Worst moment of my LIFE!!

Wow, this actually happened. I have had this fear for years about walking our dog using a flexi-leash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had an experience with CPS a few years ago when my son was in a private kindergarten (our public school is only two hours/day for kindergarten). Apparently, a child told his parents that another boy had touched his privates. CPS shows up at my door demanding to enter and interview me. I was on maternity leave with my second child. It was all kinds of scary. The CPS lady interrogated me. And then told me they wanted to interview my kindergartener - and that parents wouldn't be able to be with him during it. My husband and I were also questioned by a local detective.

Hubby and I both have law degrees and know not to practice where we don't have expertise - especially when it might matter. So we hired the best local lawyer we could find. And we learned that CPS was likely checking us out to see if we were abusing our child. We finally agreed to have our son interviewed, per advice of the attorney. After the interview, the attitude of the CPS investigator totally changed and she told us that our son is a lovely, well-adjusted kid. They said that my son's name had been mentioned, but there was no reason to think he'd been involved. The detective seemed disappointed that there wasn't anything there.

We didn't know what our son would say to the investigators. He was so little. And we wanted to protect him from any trauma from the experience.

Ultimately, we were out a few thousand dollars, but we had some peace of mind through the process. And our son is just fine.

But, wow, those CPS folks have a scary amount of power.

I doubt this one. One Kindergartener touching another Kindergartener's private parts is not considered abuse in any way. It would not be investigated, because it's developmentally normal. If anything they should have investigated the school to find out why kids were left unsupervised while that went on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people have had this... Its stressful but ultimately necessary to have such a system

No, it is not necessary to have a system with a hair-trigger for removing kids from the home.

In answer to your question OP - I knew someone who had a false Shaken Baby accusation made against them. Preemie twins, one had a brain bleed at home that is common in prematurity. The ER doctor saw this as a per se sign of child abuse and referred to CPS. This was a wealthy, professional family. Thankfully they had the resources to fight this, and the babies were never removed from the home to fostercare. I think the babies went to the grandparents, and one parent (the one who was not home at the time of the brain bleed) was allowed visitation. Once it was sorted out, the family literally left the US to never return because it was so scarring.

I knew a family who, when putting the baby to bed one night, found a bump on the back of his head. Took the child to the ER and the doctor called CPS immediately. They took the child into protective custody for two weeks. They were all interviewed and it turned out the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. That family, especially the mother, was traumatized. She quit her job to be a SAHM and they never had another kid. It's awful

I don’t understand. How is CPS in the wrong in any way here? Their investigation turned up that the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. If not for CPS and the doctor who called the baby could have suffered from more neglect from that caregiver. I’m sure it was traumatizing but this story illustrates why we need CPS and why we have mandatory reporters.

Because there need to be more signs of neglect/abuse before you take a child away from its parents -- it's fundamental due process. Taking an infant away from its parents is about as extreme a deprivation of a fundamental right as one can imagine. It cannot be done on textbook definitions of "see this clinical finding, call CPS."

Just to give you a contrast about how good medical professionals handle this stuff:

My child (8) has bruises all over his legs because during DL he runs all over the house and bangs into stuff because he's antsy, and because he knocks his shins against his bike when he carries it up the stairs. I didn't really think much of it. When he went in for his well visit, his pediatrician said "Oh, I see all those bruises ... that's because you are a growing boy and running around!" I immediately told her yes, about the banging into furniture and the bike. She is very reasonable and observant, and she knows that parents don't bring in an abused child for their flu shot and well visit in the middle of a pandemic with zero concern for the doctor seeing the bruises.

I have a friend who is a doctor and she mentioned bruises on the arms and legs doesn’t raise alarm bells in an overall healthy kid without any other factors to suspect abuse. Bruising on their trunk or head, or apparently certain patterns of bruising are what they look for.

Right - and I'm so thankful my doctor is wise enough to know that there were no other concerns for abuse, instead of just a rote interpretation that multiple bruises = CPS.

Yes, but in the scenario you are initially referencing there absolutely were indicators of abuse that warrant a CPS call. It's not the medical provider's job to determine if the parents did it, just that abuse likely occurred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people have had this... Its stressful but ultimately necessary to have such a system

No, it is not necessary to have a system with a hair-trigger for removing kids from the home.

In answer to your question OP - I knew someone who had a false Shaken Baby accusation made against them. Preemie twins, one had a brain bleed at home that is common in prematurity. The ER doctor saw this as a per se sign of child abuse and referred to CPS. This was a wealthy, professional family. Thankfully they had the resources to fight this, and the babies were never removed from the home to fostercare. I think the babies went to the grandparents, and one parent (the one who was not home at the time of the brain bleed) was allowed visitation. Once it was sorted out, the family literally left the US to never return because it was so scarring.

I knew a family who, when putting the baby to bed one night, found a bump on the back of his head. Took the child to the ER and the doctor called CPS immediately. They took the child into protective custody for two weeks. They were all interviewed and it turned out the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. That family, especially the mother, was traumatized. She quit her job to be a SAHM and they never had another kid. It's awful

So CPS worked in this case right?

They would probably not have found out that the nanny dropped the baby if they did not call. Thank goodness!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people have had this... Its stressful but ultimately necessary to have such a system

No, it is not necessary to have a system with a hair-trigger for removing kids from the home.

In answer to your question OP - I knew someone who had a false Shaken Baby accusation made against them. Preemie twins, one had a brain bleed at home that is common in prematurity. The ER doctor saw this as a per se sign of child abuse and referred to CPS. This was a wealthy, professional family. Thankfully they had the resources to fight this, and the babies were never removed from the home to fostercare. I think the babies went to the grandparents, and one parent (the one who was not home at the time of the brain bleed) was allowed visitation. Once it was sorted out, the family literally left the US to never return because it was so scarring.

I knew a family who, when putting the baby to bed one night, found a bump on the back of his head. Took the child to the ER and the doctor called CPS immediately. They took the child into protective custody for two weeks. They were all interviewed and it turned out the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. That family, especially the mother, was traumatized. She quit her job to be a SAHM and they never had another kid. It's awful

You are writing pure fantasy.

I believe the PP.

+1

I believe it 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people have had this... Its stressful but ultimately necessary to have such a system

No, it is not necessary to have a system with a hair-trigger for removing kids from the home.

In answer to your question OP - I knew someone who had a false Shaken Baby accusation made against them. Preemie twins, one had a brain bleed at home that is common in prematurity. The ER doctor saw this as a per se sign of child abuse and referred to CPS. This was a wealthy, professional family. Thankfully they had the resources to fight this, and the babies were never removed from the home to fostercare. I think the babies went to the grandparents, and one parent (the one who was not home at the time of the brain bleed) was allowed visitation. Once it was sorted out, the family literally left the US to never return because it was so scarring.

I knew a family who, when putting the baby to bed one night, found a bump on the back of his head. Took the child to the ER and the doctor called CPS immediately. They took the child into protective custody for two weeks. They were all interviewed and it turned out the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. That family, especially the mother, was traumatized. She quit her job to be a SAHM and they never had another kid. It's awful

I don’t understand. How is CPS in the wrong in any way here? Their investigation turned up that the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. If not for CPS and the doctor who called the baby could have suffered from more neglect from that caregiver. I’m sure it was traumatizing but this story illustrates why we need CPS and why we have mandatory reporters.

Because there need to be more signs of neglect/abuse before you take a child away from its parents -- it's fundamental due process. Taking an infant away from its parents is about as extreme a deprivation of a fundamental right as one can imagine. It cannot be done on textbook definitions of "see this clinical finding, call CPS."

Just to give you a contrast about how good medical professionals handle this stuff:

My child (8) has bruises all over his legs because during DL he runs all over the house and bangs into stuff because he's antsy, and because he knocks his shins against his bike when he carries it up the stairs. I didn't really think much of it. When he went in for his well visit, his pediatrician said "Oh, I see all those bruises ... that's because you are a growing boy and running around!" I immediately told her yes, about the banging into furniture and the bike. She is very reasonable and observant, and she knows that parents don't bring in an abused child for their flu shot and well visit in the middle of a pandemic with zero concern for the doctor seeing the bruises.

I have a friend who is a doctor and she mentioned bruises on the arms and legs doesn’t raise alarm bells in an overall healthy kid without any other factors to suspect abuse. Bruising on their trunk or head, or apparently certain patterns of bruising are what they look for.

Right - and I'm so thankful my doctor is wise enough to know that there were no other concerns for abuse, instead of just a rote interpretation that multiple bruises = CPS.

Yes, but in the scenario you are initially referencing there absolutely were indicators of abuse that warrant a CPS call. It's not the medical provider's job to determine if the parents did it, just that abuse likely occurred.

No, there should not be any set of injuries or clinical findings that warrant a rote referral to CPS. That is how the whole Shaken Baby debacle happened. Doctors and teachers need to be trained (and sensible enough) to be able to have the discretion.

https://www.law.uh.edu/hjhlp/volumes/Vol_12_2/Findley.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people have had this... Its stressful but ultimately necessary to have such a system

No, it is not necessary to have a system with a hair-trigger for removing kids from the home.

In answer to your question OP - I knew someone who had a false Shaken Baby accusation made against them. Preemie twins, one had a brain bleed at home that is common in prematurity. The ER doctor saw this as a per se sign of child abuse and referred to CPS. This was a wealthy, professional family. Thankfully they had the resources to fight this, and the babies were never removed from the home to fostercare. I think the babies went to the grandparents, and one parent (the one who was not home at the time of the brain bleed) was allowed visitation. Once it was sorted out, the family literally left the US to never return because it was so scarring.

I knew a family who, when putting the baby to bed one night, found a bump on the back of his head. Took the child to the ER and the doctor called CPS immediately. They took the child into protective custody for two weeks. They were all interviewed and it turned out the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. That family, especially the mother, was traumatized. She quit her job to be a SAHM and they never had another kid. It's awful

So CPS worked in this case right?

They would probably not have found out that the nanny dropped the baby if they did not call. Thank goodness!

OMG. Taking a baby for TWO WEEKS is not a success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people have had this... Its stressful but ultimately necessary to have such a system

No, it is not necessary to have a system with a hair-trigger for removing kids from the home.

In answer to your question OP - I knew someone who had a false Shaken Baby accusation made against them. Preemie twins, one had a brain bleed at home that is common in prematurity. The ER doctor saw this as a per se sign of child abuse and referred to CPS. This was a wealthy, professional family. Thankfully they had the resources to fight this, and the babies were never removed from the home to fostercare. I think the babies went to the grandparents, and one parent (the one who was not home at the time of the brain bleed) was allowed visitation. Once it was sorted out, the family literally left the US to never return because it was so scarring.

I knew a family who, when putting the baby to bed one night, found a bump on the back of his head. Took the child to the ER and the doctor called CPS immediately. They took the child into protective custody for two weeks. They were all interviewed and it turned out the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. That family, especially the mother, was traumatized. She quit her job to be a SAHM and they never had another kid. It's awful

I don’t understand. How is CPS in the wrong in any way here? Their investigation turned up that the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. If not for CPS and the doctor who called the baby could have suffered from more neglect from that caregiver. I’m sure it was traumatizing but this story illustrates why we need CPS and why we have mandatory reporters.

Because there need to be more signs of neglect/abuse before you take a child away from its parents -- it's fundamental due process. Taking an infant away from its parents is about as extreme a deprivation of a fundamental right as one can imagine. It cannot be done on textbook definitions of "see this clinical finding, call CPS."

Just to give you a contrast about how good medical professionals handle this stuff:

My child (8) has bruises all over his legs because during DL he runs all over the house and bangs into stuff because he's antsy, and because he knocks his shins against his bike when he carries it up the stairs. I didn't really think much of it. When he went in for his well visit, his pediatrician said "Oh, I see all those bruises ... that's because you are a growing boy and running around!" I immediately told her yes, about the banging into furniture and the bike. She is very reasonable and observant, and she knows that parents don't bring in an abused child for their flu shot and well visit in the middle of a pandemic with zero concern for the doctor seeing the bruises.

I have a friend who is a doctor and she mentioned bruises on the arms and legs doesn’t raise alarm bells in an overall healthy kid without any other factors to suspect abuse. Bruising on their trunk or head, or apparently certain patterns of bruising are what they look for.

Right - and I'm so thankful my doctor is wise enough to know that there were no other concerns for abuse, instead of just a rote interpretation that multiple bruises = CPS.

But in the situation you were responding to, there WAS neglect and the doctor was correct to report it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a black family that pulled themselves out of poverty. Bought a house in Chicago.
Child was diagnosed w lead poisoning. CPS eventually told parents the ultimatum was kid has to be moved out or they'll place kid elsewhere in lead free home. They lost all their equity and it totally destroyed the family.

CPS was right to tell them to find a safe home for the child. Lead poisoning causes major brain damage. Not their fault the family hadn't assured the family home was safe.

I myself have a child with lead poisoning. There are steps to take to minimize exposure. Taking away a child should be last resort. They should help pay for remediation instead.

Totally agree. Lead poisoning is neither neglect nor abuse, but a function of the aging housing stock and infrastructure that affects many children in our cities. Lead remediation can be very expensive and not something many families could budget for. It's a shame there aren't more public resources for this. I also suspect that more minority families deal with such issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people have had this... Its stressful but ultimately necessary to have such a system

No, it is not necessary to have a system with a hair-trigger for removing kids from the home.

In answer to your question OP - I knew someone who had a false Shaken Baby accusation made against them. Preemie twins, one had a brain bleed at home that is common in prematurity. The ER doctor saw this as a per se sign of child abuse and referred to CPS. This was a wealthy, professional family. Thankfully they had the resources to fight this, and the babies were never removed from the home to fostercare. I think the babies went to the grandparents, and one parent (the one who was not home at the time of the brain bleed) was allowed visitation. Once it was sorted out, the family literally left the US to never return because it was so scarring.

I knew a family who, when putting the baby to bed one night, found a bump on the back of his head. Took the child to the ER and the doctor called CPS immediately. They took the child into protective custody for two weeks. They were all interviewed and it turned out the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. That family, especially the mother, was traumatized. She quit her job to be a SAHM and they never had another kid. It's awful

I don’t understand. How is CPS in the wrong in any way here? Their investigation turned up that the nanny dropped the baby and never told the parents. If not for CPS and the doctor who called the baby could have suffered from more neglect from that caregiver. I’m sure it was traumatizing but this story illustrates why we need CPS and why we have mandatory reporters.

Because there need to be more signs of neglect/abuse before you take a child away from its parents -- it's fundamental due process. Taking an infant away from its parents is about as extreme a deprivation of a fundamental right as one can imagine. It cannot be done on textbook definitions of "see this clinical finding, call CPS."

Just to give you a contrast about how good medical professionals handle this stuff:

My child (8) has bruises all over his legs because during DL he runs all over the house and bangs into stuff because he's antsy, and because he knocks his shins against his bike when he carries it up the stairs. I didn't really think much of it. When he went in for his well visit, his pediatrician said "Oh, I see all those bruises ... that's because you are a growing boy and running around!" I immediately told her yes, about the banging into furniture and the bike. She is very reasonable and observant, and she knows that parents don't bring in an abused child for their flu shot and well visit in the middle of a pandemic with zero concern for the doctor seeing the bruises.

I have a friend who is a doctor and she mentioned bruises on the arms and legs doesn’t raise alarm bells in an overall healthy kid without any other factors to suspect abuse. Bruising on their trunk or head, or apparently certain patterns of bruising are what they look for.

Right - and I'm so thankful my doctor is wise enough to know that there were no other concerns for abuse, instead of just a rote interpretation that multiple bruises = CPS.

But in the situation you were responding to, there WAS neglect and the doctor was correct to report it.

Which situation? In the two examples, one was a brain bleed that had to do with prematurity. The other one was an accident by a caregiver. neither one warranted the government taking your child away.

[Anonymous]

Not to mention that even if the claims are found to be unsubstantiated, your name is in the system FOREVER.