CPS must safeguard kids from abuse, but what if the definition of care and abuse is influenced by a divisive ideology, fracturing the nation? What if the state imposes this on your child?
Never, ever, ever, EVER talk to CPS/CFS/DCF or allow them in your home without talking to a lawyer first.
They do not mean well. Once they decide you're the bad guy (and they decide that very early on before getting the whole story), they will do everything they can to take your kid, including lying to you, lying to the police and lying to the courts on their affidavits.
Hundreds of thousands of parents have learned this the hard way, including this poor couple. Don't be another one. They would still have their daughter today if they had only known.
If you see CPS coming, just don't answer the door.
If you don't realize it's them until after you've answered the door, immediately end the conversation and instruct them to contact your lawyer, even if you don't have one (yet).
Never believe a single word they say. They lie all. The. Time.
I strongly advise against trying to deal with it without a lawyer’s advice. They know all the tricks, and there are a lot of tricks that happen in this house of horrors.
As soon as you have a lawyer, notify CPS. They will treat you very, very differently knowing that you have legal representation, and that their usual tricks won't work.
Why do they do this? Because they are mostly young, inexperienced people with no training in investigation or enforcement, and they have convinced themselves that they are White Knights who are Always In The Right. The few that are more experienced are profoundly jaded, because they've seen firsthand the worst things that adults can possibly do to kids.
But there are relatively few with experience, because turnover is huge due to the low pay and awful nature of the work.
Why do they get away with it? Because police and prosecutors and courts prefer to err on the side of caution, where kids are concerned. Their absolute worst nightmare is having a kid seriously harmed under their watch. So they give CPS a LOT of line to run with.
In my state, nearly HALF of all negative findings by CPS that are appealed, are overturned. NEARLY HALF (yes, mine included). That should tell you something about the quality of their investigations.
It absolutely, totally sucks. But that's the way it is, and that's the way it's going to stay, because everyone with the power to change things knows that there are no easy solutions or clear answers, and that all pathways are fraught with the potential for career-ending bad PR.
That was such a crazy frightening story. I wonder if some of this can be traced to kids running the classroom where teachers become afraid lest a crazy parent complain. I knew of a longtime teacher who was placed on leave because an unstable girl claimed the teacher hit her. It was a crazy claim and 70 parents wrote in protest but it didn't matter. Luckily the teacher found another position but the kids lost a dedicated teacher. Mix this with the emphasis on the teachings by Paulo Freire where education must be activism and the Hegelian principles of continuous change to reach a utopia.
From someone who's been there:
Never, ever, ever, EVER talk to CPS/CFS/DCF or allow them in your home without talking to a lawyer first.
They do not mean well. Once they decide you're the bad guy (and they decide that very early on before getting the whole story), they will do everything they can to take your kid, including lying to you, lying to the police and lying to the courts on their affidavits.
Hundreds of thousands of parents have learned this the hard way, including this poor couple. Don't be another one. They would still have their daughter today if they had only known.
If you see CPS coming, just don't answer the door.
If you don't realize it's them until after you've answered the door, immediately end the conversation and instruct them to contact your lawyer, even if you don't have one (yet).
Never believe a single word they say. They lie all. The. Time.
I strongly advise against trying to deal with it without a lawyer’s advice. They know all the tricks, and there are a lot of tricks that happen in this house of horrors.
As soon as you have a lawyer, notify CPS. They will treat you very, very differently knowing that you have legal representation, and that their usual tricks won't work.
Why do they do this? Because they are mostly young, inexperienced people with no training in investigation or enforcement, and they have convinced themselves that they are White Knights who are Always In The Right. The few that are more experienced are profoundly jaded, because they've seen firsthand the worst things that adults can possibly do to kids.
But there are relatively few with experience, because turnover is huge due to the low pay and awful nature of the work.
Why do they get away with it? Because police and prosecutors and courts prefer to err on the side of caution, where kids are concerned. Their absolute worst nightmare is having a kid seriously harmed under their watch. So they give CPS a LOT of line to run with.
In my state, nearly HALF of all negative findings by CPS that are appealed, are overturned. NEARLY HALF (yes, mine included). That should tell you something about the quality of their investigations.
It absolutely, totally sucks. But that's the way it is, and that's the way it's going to stay, because everyone with the power to change things knows that there are no easy solutions or clear answers, and that all pathways are fraught with the potential for career-ending bad PR.
That was such a crazy frightening story. I wonder if some of this can be traced to kids running the classroom where teachers become afraid lest a crazy parent complain. I knew of a longtime teacher who was placed on leave because an unstable girl claimed the teacher hit her. It was a crazy claim and 70 parents wrote in protest but it didn't matter. Luckily the teacher found another position but the kids lost a dedicated teacher. Mix this with the emphasis on the teachings by Paulo Freire where education must be activism and the Hegelian principles of continuous change to reach a utopia.