Comments on: Pennsylvania: Non-Abused Child Ripped From Loving Grandparents

By: Steven's foster sibling

Steven's foster sibling — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:37:35 +0000

i would just like to say that Steven went to my family. His grandparents werent “too” old to parent but when you have to ask someone to pick up your child and put them in the cart at the store, you need to make some changes. We sent them pictures of steven to show how happy and safe he was and they put them on the abc news saying that they took them and that was “when” he was happy. What people dont know is that i was in one of those pictures but you cant really see it. Yes its hard to be away from family but he was so happy and what the grandparents did was very tough for us. They lied to us and didnt tell us certain things that put my family and steven at risk. We had steven for 1 year and welcomed him into our home with love and i just want to say that not everything you hear in the news is true. He wasnt “snatched” from school. The state tolf the grandparents that he had to go live with someone and they refused and wouldnt let anyone take him, even if it was to help him so then they had to take him so the grandparents couldnt refuse again. We all loved steven and wouldnt do anything to hurt or be mean to him.

By: Linda Martin

Linda Martin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 04:04:50 +0000

Flora, welcome to the site. You can get feedback on your case on our message board. Be strong and learn to work on your case: Who Will Help Prepare Your CPS Case?

By: Flora

Flora — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 01:21:48 +0000

I just posted in the wrong section i’m mad.(over it):))
I am Flora the mother of 3 beautiful girls, they look like there mommy and daddy. i love and miss them. i am being harrassed by my counties system. not only do they want to adopt my little girls out to their financially struggling grandparents, they know my 6 year old needs a paternity test. they are so lazy and inconsiderate they arent on top of this. not only do they keep pushing for this adoption they keep rescheduling the date. as if things couldnt get any worse, they send me to a different state and shut my case. cool. well almost a year later these peiple come out of the woodwork with their referrals, they came to the house a couple weeks ago, talked to my daughter; left and sent a letter stating their was no need to hang around(pretty much summed up) they have decided to close the case, letter date: sept 13th. sept 17 she calls up, she needs me to come in for a drug test and she needs to talk to my lil 3 yr old. i say fine i have nothing to hide so what unlike other parents yes i have spanked my child but am i abusive, no. (my mother grew up in the system, so did i, Ill be damed if imma let my baby girls go through the same thing!!! those girls love me and if you ask them if they still want to come home; i stand my word they will jump in a heart beat. you can always fine me on fb under flora L. i have my eldest daughters pic up in pink, shes beautiful i know…God blesseed me with her. can anyone tell me more of what my rights are? i know my girls belong home, i have a story to tell and i’m telling it.

By: christina

christina — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:10:45 +0000

DHS COMPLAINT: philadelphia pa
after an abusive relationship & I went into a shelter since I had no other options.
Not even a year later, I lost my transitional housing when I could not confirm, I’ve achieved the primary goal of finding long term housing assistance when DHS’s housing program accepted me, Around this time the DHS worker who had been on my case for several months and going to my children school said she wasn’t aware that my daughter wasn’t in the right class and she was filing a motion to remove all my children because I neglected my daughters emotional needs unless I moved her right then, which was 2 weeks to the graduation my daughter earned. I declined. When I enrolled my daughter that school they told me I had to wait for another school’s slot to open, it never did.
At that I made a complaint to the DHS workers supervisor, it was ignored while we waited for a court date. The DHS worker was promoted and I began to get a bunch of unscheduled visits..
I had gotten very ill with bells pausey, my mother started to die with cancer (which she did a month after they removed my children). I try to focus on these things although I already asked for child care assistance, I was turned down because I was only in treatment 7 days a week and not a job search program.
During this time, there was another unexpected visit, my children were taken into custody & put in placement for lack of suitable supervision. My 15yr old (now 17) daughter was was babysitting for me since my help was limited, she left 2 of my children alone when she misunderstood & thought I wanted to get milk before I got home from my treatment provider. I was 10 min. away, my daughter returned and had the boys dad on sight and me on the cell phone before the police even arrived.
The next day the kids school offered to make room for my children in before care and after care at the emergency hearing, which should have been cause to return my children didn’t happen when the new worker told him I was getting evicted, the Judge ordered to keep them in placement in till I secure stable housing, like I broke a law being poor.
Almost a year later with a little forced help from DHS after I complained to the whole city, I was able to get a security deposit (only after they waiting so long to apply, i lost everything i owned in storage), and I was able to get the section 8 voucher, that I had applied for 10 yrs. ago. Now I have had a new home since Nov 09.
In the first home out of the shelter, DHS waited nine months for us to get bedding, 3 months to help us get a refrigerator. Since they took the kids, my daughter was originally separated from her brothers and ran from every place they put her, which resulted in her not being able to be stabilized on her medications or therapy.
My 2 older boys 10 & 9 yrs old, were in therapy when they were removed, they ignored there treatment for 9 months, when I complained, they acted like my kids never needed it in the first place. The contracted agency fired the boys social worker because of something else but apparently all my children’s information that I gave them was lost, like social security card and birth certificates and even the medical referrals.
They didn’t even follow up with dental work my 10 yr old needed, until I complained.
My 5 yr old was in a daily theraputic day care program referred by his therapist and diagnosed with adhd and possibly bi-polar, like my daughter and my self. They was cut back to once a week mobile therapy and then switched to speech therapy. Originally the dhs worker lied in court and said he was in head start, when he was only on a waiting list.
To top it off, there was another young girl who was placed in the foster home the night before my boys who was sexually molested. Although I raised concerns they were ignored until she tried to grind her body on top of my 5 yr old, while he was in bed. Luckily he pushed her off. A social worker from a contracted agency didn’t pull her out to I called everyone.
I never broke any laws, I have been compliant, maintained my visits. I maintain my own healthcare and accompany my children to their wellness visit, I never abused my kids but dhs wants to terminate my rights simply because they’ve been in there for so long. Every time we go to court, I get more orders to do things like submit random urines, take parenting classes, have a drug and alcohol evaluation which i passed and even a parental capacity test, which was bias.
The judge never gets to hear these things, the dhs lawyer preps my worker by telling him that she wants to hear good things, which I personally overheard. I had court a few weeks ago, dhs said they wanted to continue my weekend visits but terminate my rights. Which didn’t make sense, that’s when my lawyer requested a new parental capacity test and now the judge wont see us again till Sept. 2010. .

By: Tracy

Tracy — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:53:57 +0000

I live in Westmoreland county PA. About a year ago my son (who I have had trouble with many times prior) stole some items from the house that I was living in and was apprehended by local police upon attempting to hock the items at a local pawn shop. Due to the fact that I was having trouble with him in many other ways, i.e. not attending school, smoking marijuana, extreme disrespect issues, etc. I pressed the issue in order to get my son help. He was then placed in the care of a foster family who is working for a new program developed by Wesley Spectrum. Basically now, I am being harassed and every bit of dirty laundry from my distant past is put into the spotlight in order to make ME (the mother who has a college degree, is a hard worker, does NO drugs, does NOT drink alcohol,has a lengthy record of trying to get her son the counseling and help that he has needed, etc) look like an unfit parent. They are now going so far as to tell me that my boyfriend, who has NEVER done anything around or to my child, is not allowed in my (his) home. Their extremes have even led them to stalk me on social networking web sites. My son will have a court hearing coming up within a couple of months. I always end up in tears at the end because of the way that all of the information is twisted in order to make me look incompetent (keep in mind the fact that MY SON was the perpetrator and I initiated this dreadful process). I really need some direction. I do not want to attend another of these hearings unprepared and unaware of my rights. This entire situation has caused me so much stress that it has made me sick at times. Could somebody out there please offer me some resources and let me know where I can look for help?

By: ANN SWIRE

ANN SWIRE — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:44:34 +0000

This is a cruel world, cps can give a 74+ widowed foster woman a 3yrs old child, yet! find the biological grandparents unable to care for her grandson/daughter?
it is all in the name of “Almighty dollars”
Ann Swire.

By: karla

karla — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:10:56 +0000

Bottom line though, our coping mechanism should be more healthy. If anyone has any info from our publics, Children, Youth and Family Services Depts. on how they ASSIST us in making our coping mechanism more suitable to them (and our children), please let me know!!!!
Because they have NOT, I am a failure to them.
Thanx

By: karla

karla — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:04:46 +0000

Best interest of children, right? How so! This is sickening! But they are CYS or DHS, they can do what they want. Do you know they hire freelance social workers???? hmmm. Within a 4-week period, a freelance Social Worker, made decisions in your loved ones lives. There is also a few SUPERVISORS, whom you may never meet, who will make calls in your families lives, without even meeting you (or the children). Hows that work?

By: GWA

GWA — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:08:25 +0000

Updating the case, grandfather had severe medical issues he was hiding. Having the child in the home could have cost him his life.
Father of child was hiding drug addiction and chronic mental health issues.
Child was diagnosed as having Aspergers.
Grand Father eventually passed away from hidden medical condition. Grand Mother ended up in a Nursing Facility last I had heard per reports.

By: LindaJoMartin

LindaJoMartin — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:21:51 +0000

That’s pretty clever of the government, Maggie — first they cause autism with vaccines, then they steal the kids from their parents because they’re autistic — and probably because they qualify for SSI and want to keep that money for the county.