Before I had kids, I would have said it's very unlikely a child would be removed without extremely good cause. That's when I was a teacher and certain kids being abused was common knowledge and yet we couldn't get CPS to do anything other than "talk to" the parents, or at best give a warning. Then I had my own child - a much-loved, spoiled, never-hit child. And discovered that indeed some people literally have nothing better to do than call CPS or otherwise threaten parents and look for abuse where there is none. We never had CPS at our door, but our school counselor and Kindergarten teacher made a huge stink over a drawing my son made of his father tickling him and a quote from a comedian "Let the beatings begin!" as well as just about anything else he did. We got all kinds of threatening letters at home. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I'm a former K teacher and spoke up about the fact that my son's teacher had zero idea how to teach reading and was basically giving worksheets all day. So I believe people who say they were unfairly targeted.

Anonymous wrote:These are not common situations. Far more common that children who should be removed aren’t and have to stay in an abusive or neglectful situation.

+1. CPS is far too overwhelmed to fully vet many reports or find foster care placements, let alone baselessly removing kids from homes. 100% convinced that many of these stories are urban legends.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!

That WAS horrific, and the 4 year old child could have been killed. Who lets a 4 year old child walk a 110 lb dog on a leash in open areas where the dog could run after any number of things?? Your husband was right to be outraged, and absolutely you deserved to be interrogated.

Did you keep engaging in the same stupid irresponsible behavior with you small kid and the dog that outweighs her significantly?

Shame on you.

I’m wondering if the mom tied the leash around the girls waist? And it slipped upwards? So incredibly dangerous if that’s the case. Never tie a leash around your waist and that goes for adults, not preschoolers walking 110 pound dogs. If she was just holding the leash it would have been ripped out of her hand. As opposed to around her neck. I cannot believe this mother did that.

Anonymous wrote:I just realized that this thread is from 2020. Someone posted about the concern about the drop in CPS referrals during the pandemic. I’ve read numerous case files about kids who were beaten and starved to death during the pandemic because they were not being seen by teachers, neighbors, in home service providers.

But thank goodness the call volume to those nasty overpowering CPS workers went down.

I was outspoken at my kids’ school about the urgency of reopening schools because of the vulnerable kids who would suffer at home from hunger, neglect and abuse. My pleas were dismissed by high income parents who favored keeping schools closed indefinitely. I wonder how they live with themselves now that the true toll of their selfishness has been exposed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s crazy that people are harassed for months or years by CPS for freak accidents, but then you have horrible cases of neglect and abuse where the kid isn’t seen for a long period of time and eventually turns up dead, and then CPS is “so busy, so overtaxed, can’t investigate all claims, too understaffed, blah blah blah.”

I posted earlier on about my friend who was falsely accused. My friend -- who was deeply traumatized by the experience -- thinks that sometimes CPS goes overboard with false reports because they are easier to deal with than the actual hard cases. The agencies can report numbers without dealing with truly horrific situations.

You and your friend are both deeply wrong and possibly profoundly stupid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had one friend get investigated. Kid was a daredevil and unfortunately wound up with 3 sets of stitches and a broken arm over the course of 4 months. The process for her was not too painful.

As a mandated reporter, I have called CPS once when I found out in the end it wasn't abuse. I feel bad that the family had to go through the process, but I've also reported times when it was abuse. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Families that have cps called and it turns out to be false should be able to pursue legal remedies against the person who called and lied. If it were me in that situation I wouldn’t rest until I got some sort of revenge against the person that called.

It’s a crime in most jurisdictions (if not all) to make a knowing false report to CPS, punishable by hefty fines and jail time as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

This depends on where you live. In some places you can have your name expunged after a period of time if it was unsubstantiated.

These cases aren’t a matter of public record anyway, because they involve minor children. If/when it goes to court, the court is sealed. The court files are sealed. The CPS files are sealed from public purview and even getting access to them by a party with standing can involve many layers of legal maneuvering.

If you live in the same jurisdiction and another report is made on you to CPS, yes they’ll know there was prior involvement. That’s how they ascertain patterns of abuse in families over time so it’s stupid to suggest that policy shouldn’t exist.

I just realized that this thread is from 2020. Someone posted about the concern about the drop in CPS referrals during the pandemic. I’ve read numerous case files about kids who were beaten and starved to death during the pandemic because they were not being seen by teachers, neighbors, in home service providers.

But thank goodness the call volume to those nasty overpowering CPS workers went down.

Anonymous wrote:

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!

That WAS horrific, and the 4 year old child could have been killed. Who lets a 4 year old child walk a 110 lb dog on a leash in open areas where the dog could run after any number of things?? Your husband was right to be outraged, and absolutely you deserved to be interrogated.

Did you keep engaging in the same stupid irresponsible behavior with you small kid and the dog that outweighs her significantly?

Shame on you.

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.

They took a baby away from its parents for two weeks.

The baby won’t even remember it, and it’s the baby’s best interest that was the compelling factor, not the parents’.

No system is perfect, social workers have unconscionable caseloads in every jurisdiction because child abuse and neglect is rampant and folks like many who post here don’t want to pay the higher taxes necessary to fully find child welfare agencies and dependency/neglect courts.

I’ve worked in the system, as a CASA, as a public defender representing parents and kids, and as the state’s attorney representing the child welfare agency. I’ve done hundreds of hours of training. The system is set up to safeguard parents as much as possible while prioritizing the best interests of children.

If the baby with the traumatic head injury was killed by its parents or babysitter you’d all be screaming that child welfare didn’t remove it when the ER reported the unexplained head injury. Because the injury turned out to be somewhat benign, you’re vilifying the child welfare agency for doing a 14 day investigation to ascertain that the child was safe - a child who has no possibility of self advocacy.

You people are insufferable. It’s a wonder anyone with any intelligence goes into child welfare - and most of the people there are very competent, very concerned about kids and working themselves sick to protect them. Yes they make mistakes, as all of you do in your jobs. Maybe your jobs just don’t have the same stakes so it’s easy for you to criticize.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know the process when the parent does not have physical custody of the children at the time of the investigation? Meaning that there are no children to remove and the other parent is not likely to give the parent under investigation access to the children (because they are clearly incapable of caring for them safely at that time). Is a report made and held on file for future circumstances that might include access to the children? Or what could the outcome be?

If a child is being harmed by an individual I think you start by calling the police. If the individual is a parent who does not have any physical custody, I don’t think cps makes sense. Unless the primary parent were allowing the non custodial parent to care for / abuse the child. But if the primary parent is keeping the child away from a dangerous non custodial parent, it sounds like that’s what’s supposed to happen, and if the non custodial parent is staying away and therefore not abusing the child, there isn’t a crime to investigate

Do CPS investigate crimes? The report has already been made (by a mandatory reporter) and the children are not in danger because they are being kept away from the unfit parent. So the question is, what happens with the investigation and what do they do? They will certainly find that the parent is incapable of caring for them at this point in time.

If a report was made that the child’s welfare was in danger due to the non custodial parent they’ll come and investigate you and the child’s home and probably also the other parent, to make sure the other parent doesn’t currently have access to the child. But if the other parent is out of the picture because they are unfit, what exactly
Got reported? Was it reported they were being abused so you kicked him out? They’ll come investigate and make sure he’s kicked out I’m assuming. But the police should be charging him?

The issue is that the other parent is no longer able to feed, clothe or generally care for the children, or properly understand what is involved with caring for them. The unfit parent does not accept this even though it is obvious to anyone with expertise in this area, or even a casual bystander. It is possible that this impairment may be temporary. In attempting to change the custody agreement to safeguard the children, details of the parent’s (recent) past behavior were shared in court which in turn led to a report to CPS. So the question is what will CPS do?

Got it. I’m assuming they don’t currently have any custody because of this recent psychiatric break/ drug issue/ whatever is going on. I’m assuming CPS will visit you? If that’s where the kids are, because they want to see the kids. If the other parent has any custody, they’ll absolutely visit that parent while the kids are there, at least I’d hope.