|
Child Protective Services laws and agencies are abusive to families and children. This site provides support and information to parents falsely accused of child abuse by Child Protective Services.
FightCPS does not advocate or condone violence or illiegal activities of any kind.
FightCPS is intended to help people learn enough about the law to be able to successfully defend themselves and their families against false accusations using legal documents and strategies that put parents in a stronger position when they go back to court.
For more information, see the FAQ.
Child Protective Services, CPS, has devastated and destroyed hundreds of thousands of families in America during the last thirty years leaving a trail of broken hearts, broken dreams, and shattered childhoods.
Rather than helping families, government agents have used unconstitutional laws in Juvenile Court to rip children away from their loving parents, break asunder God-given, natural, parent-child bonds, and adopt the children of the grieving out to others who profit financially with large monthly adoption subsidy payments.
Child Protective Services must be stopped! The law that started this, CAPTA, must be repealed. We must work tirelessly to inform the public of this very dangerous travesty of justice. We must keep faith knowing that if there is a God, there is an answer and a way to end this heartache.
Child Protective Services Agents - please come to your senses! Family destruction on false or trivial grounds is wrong, reprehensible, and inhumane.
Fosterers - be aware that for the money you get you are holding much-loved children away from their grieving families while the parents are forced to perform a service plan that is anything but a service to them. I call this hostage holding for the government. This is not kindness - to help misguided government agents destroy family relationships and break loving bonds.
CPS workers and fosterers - I ask that you now let the children of the innocent return to their homes where they are truly valued, adored, and loved by the parents God gave them.
Family rights are God-given rights. And they should not be ignored or postponed. Every moment these loving parents and children spend separated from one another is a torment beyond what anyone should ever have to bear.
It is unworthy of human dignity to allow this terrorism and torture of families to go on without saying something, speaking out, and trying to make a change.
Site mission: To provide information and support for families attacked by Child Protective Services and child welfare agents, especially those families facing false or trivial accusations of child abuse or neglect; and for researchers working to protect natural family rights.
|
Fighting Child Protective Services False Accusations
May 25, 2008
I’ve been getting a lot of comments and emails saying “Please someone, do something to help me!” This is the answer. – ljm
…
Child protective services caseworkers almost always go to court working against you. At court the judge can and often does rule in favor of the families and against the social meddlers.
Be dignified around caseworkers – do not lose your temper. Do not let them see you in fear. Do not bother trying to kiss up to the caseworker. Do not try to give them more evidence of how good you are. Your evidence is to be shared with your lawyer and presented in court to the judge or juvenile court referee. If you give evidence to a caseworker you’ll find out everything you say can be twisted and used against you. This is a LEGAL case. Caseworkers are not nice friendly do-gooders trying to help you.
Caseworkers are your adversaries, though they are very deceptive and pretend to be your friend so they can get more evidence against you. What they do is practice sick deception for family destruction. They spend their days preparing a case against YOU.
To win in juvenile court and get a judge to rule in your favor, you must be able to present “a preponderance of the evidence”. That’s the standard of proof needed in juvenile court. To come up with a preponderance of the evidence, you must give the court more documentation & evidence than the other side.
Listen, very few of us are ever gifted with a good lawyer. We won (those of us who did) through our own hard work. We gathered the evidence. We documented things in writing and on tape. We typed up our own legal documents. We learned how to do it because we had to, for the well-being of our children trapped in the inhumane child “welfare” system.
If you feel you can’t type your own legal documents, then find a typist or paralegal to do it for you at a lot less than an attorney charges.
You can give your compiled legal documents and evidence to your attorney for review. Be sure to do it a few weeks before court so there’s time for the attorney to look it over and file it at the county clerk’s office for you. If the attorney won’t talk to you send the documents via certified mail along with a letter demanding his time and response on the documents so you’ll be prepared for court. You deserve fair representation – be sure your attorney knows you’re aware of the law.
If it’s too late for that – prepare legal documents anyway. The judge may accept them in court. Be sure you have plenty of copies for the judge, your attorney, the child’s attorney and the CPS attorney. You may have to ask for a continuance while your attorney deals with your compiled legal documents and evidence.
Use online resources, and help from friends, but mainly – it’s up to YOU.
PREPARE for court.
…
See these sample documents: The FightCPS Legal Document Library
…
Written by Linda Martin for Fight CPS.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Please do not leave LONG comments. We don't need to know your last name, the details of your case, or the names of the social workers or judges. Do not leave any self-incriminatory statements on this blog. Please read the privacy policy before posting. All comments are approved before posting as of 2010. Excessively long comments or comments in all-caps will not be approved.
Privacy Policy - please read before posting anything to this site. (Link opens in another window or tab.)
Copyright Notice: According to US Copyright law, copyright vests initially in the author(s) of the work. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have an interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: Title 17, Sec.107. If you are the copyright holder and choose to have your work removed from this website, email the webmaster and it will be done. However we here at fightcps.com hope you prefer that our researchers continue to benefit from access to your work.
Broken Links: Because many old news articles are taken offline you will find broken links in the archives of this weblog. There's nothing we can do to prevent this problem.
|
That is the best advice you can give. Anything you want the Court to know you better put it in writing, words are forgotten and twisted any way. Once you get started its not so hard
Comment by Lisa Smith — May 29, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
I really appreciate reading your advice. I have had CPS in my life for years, when I lived in the state I grew up in, in the two other previous states and now in California. My mom called on me a lot..most were unfounded but instead of helping me, I had to place my daughter with a friend and lost her in court to that friend! CPS was allowed to testify in that hearing even though CPS didn’t take my child from me! Now it seems I may lose my 4 daughters(14,12,8, and 6 months). The worker acted like my friend and when I told her a few things she asked me she wrote them down..then wrote all other states I have lived in for their records, and told her supervisor I lied and didn’t tell her everything! I had signed up for voluntary extra services as I thought I needed the help…but did the worst thing possible as now the worker claims she had to request longer voluntary services and that opened up the need for a court investigator. I am being told that this person will review all my past CPS records, ask me questions about things and decide wether my kids are removed or if I can keep them with me while doing what the court wants me to do. My charges are neglect and well actually I don’t know what else. I was in an abuse shelter earlier this year do to my husband and had my baby girl, I didnt have insurance and wasn’t given Medi-Cal..so her shots were late, up til her 6 month shots. I tried to get insurance..also had no money to go by bus to the clinic and waited for weeks for the bus pass the worker promised me. She really set me up to fail on top of my actual mistakes. I am talking to a lawyer(I got my stimulis check so all that may be going there instead of for my kids new school clothes). This is really horrible. I suffer from depression and am now back on my med. However also now worker wants me to get a psychological eval(I had one three years ago..she said oh no, we need one from at most a year ago). I really fear I may lose my kids. The worker also read to me what another state said..a lot of lies. I was never hospitalized numerous times for my mental health, I never lost my kids in court to CPS(her supervisor said AZ records said I did). I cannot believe these people can lie and take my kids like this. My kids are old enough(except the baby)and voice their opinion to me, they have all three said they don’t want to be taken away. It will kill me if I lose my kids, they are my life. How can they just say whatever they want and not have to prove a thing. I have never been in jail, don’t drink or do drugs. I am a Nurse and take care of the Elderly. I am not a perfect mother as I am learning(I had no parental role models growing up). My husband is in the Navy so maybe something they can do to help. I am gonna go see the Navy legal Aid Monday. I have been crying even and now it is 12:30am. I am in shock and terririfed. My husband is away at Sea near Iraq for 6 months…so I don’t even have any support to help me get through this. I heard today the 400 kids from the TX compound have been ordered to be returned, I don’t get it. I have done nothing so wrong that I should lose my kids. Sorry for going on and on but I feel like I am lost. I feel like I am in a nightmare and I want to wake up so badly. Thanks.
Comment by Noel — May 30, 2008 @ 12:29 am
My ex-wife submitted three referrals against me, all DENIEDsince our divorce in 2004. The county tells me I have no right of due process, a writ, or 5th amendment rights and any avenues to expunge the record unless it is a Cat II or higher. The best CPS can do is state untruthfully, “I don’t Cooperate.” I requested a detailed account with an explanation to qualify the term ‘Doesn’t Cooperate” They respond, the worker is no longer employed and that is good enough to use against me in my ex-wifes FOURTH attempt to file a referral. FOC has never taken away my custody rights until now, and it is based on the Three previous Non-substantiated reports, in which I had no due process, no writ and apparently no 5th amendment rights. Does anyone have infomation on how to challange CPS on Cat. III, IV and V cases other than “Objections and Corrections” statement?
Comment by R.Schmidt — June 5, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Hi I want to know how I can sue people involved with taking my girls and my whole life away then telling court I’m unstable and live in an unstable home dss made up lies and sistert is convincing my kids I abuse them even by tellin my youngest I put her to bed at 530 when she s the one who fell asleep once after school that was three yrs ago she s trying to say it was recent which for one thing she s had them since july 2007 and its now bein said along with I never had a birthday cake what lies I can’t take it anymore she s a joke n a drunk and coke addict who has told court I’m an alcoholic now I have to leave my job to do breathalizer tests while she giving my daughter alcohol her son drinks too and thinks its funny all this two weeks after we were havin a cookout with the family together there’s more too please tell me how I can sue them one site said their was constingency fee based one swho do it but I can’t find it after all the other info I’m trying to collect she told court lies then antagonizes me that I don’t have them for holidays and I didn’t get them anything which I did please tell me. Where to turn I want to sue for damages and bring them home my number is 5085259181 please call with any info help before its too late I’m in massachusettes
Comment by sharon pritchard — November 5, 2008 @ 11:02 am
Sharon, here’s the place to post a lawyer request: Lawyer Requests . . . and here’s the place to look to see if a lawyer from your area has placed their contact information on this site: Lawyers.
Remember, no matter who represents you, you’ll have the best chance of winning your case if you become your best advocate by learning the laws and how to fight for your rights in court.
You might also get help here: How to make your court appointed attorney work for you … and don’t forget, if you need feedback on your case, register and post at the FightCPS Message Board Forum.
Comment by Linda — November 5, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
I’m Dee, Serena’s mother. Our lil girl was taken by CPS 3 mos ago. She was reported on a few occasions to have hollered at her lil girl, 3 yr. old. We went to court and they agreed that if there was another incident they could automatically take her. On a Sun. S was having trouble with our lil angel and called baby’s therapist to see if there was anything she could suggest to help the baby and her thru this terrible temper tantrum. Therapist suggested possibly a 24 hr observation at a hospital. We’d do anything to help this little one. S got the numbers from the therapist to call and set something up, assuming it would be for both of them or Mom would be there with her. Made a couple of calls, she was either too little or they didn’t have that kind of setup. Ok, just get thru it. The next day, CPS took our little girl. The therapist called them and told them S was planning on putting the baby in a mental institution!!! That was a crock. They didn’t even bother to ask S if she had called the therapist and what was said. They have since dropped that case and decided to take on a case from NY, where S lived previous to coming home and was involved with CPS. S got papers from NY stating they were dropping their case. What the hell. I just don’t know how this has turned into such a nightmare. Can they do this? Guess so, they have our little girl. Wyoming isn’t listed for help and we could sure use it just to understand how they can keep our lil girl when the reason they took her wasn’t an incident and it was dropped.
Comment by serena — November 13, 2008 @ 9:14 pm
I am now involved with cps now as well. My 2 boys were removed from me last Monday. I was wondering if anyone knew whether or not it was a good idea to write a letter to the judge on my behalf, who is presiding in the “plea” hearing?
Comment by missing my kids — November 27, 2008 @ 12:34 am
My ex trashed my apartment, and called DHS on me, I came home with my apt trashed and DHS at my door, now I lost my boys. And it’s been 2 months of hell so far and there not even close to coming home… this is stupid and the workers are all “its a process” ive done everything i was told to do and i am very scared… good luck to you all
ladyamikai@msn.com
Comment by MercuryKunoichi — December 12, 2008 @ 12:23 am
Just like so many other people on this site my wife and I are looking for help.CPS removed our children not the same day of our son’s accident but 2days later.It all started when our son 2yrs.old at the time and our daughter 6 at the time were at home playing with their christmas toys.And our son jumped off a chair and poked his forehead on a toy.the first thing out the doctors mouth was that I hit him in the eye with an eletric cord.There was a police officer at the hospital who was asking us questions in seperate rooms,he even questioned our son ,who told the officer that he had fell and hit his head on a toy.The police officer told my wife and I that even though our son fell and he believes that he fell but white people are not used to a young black couple being together ,married and living in the same household and sharing the same two kids and that I don’t have any more children besides the ones I have now that in his words ,these white people don’t and want believe that ,and that is like an alien to them .And by there being a man in the household that he would have to blame it on me anyways.So the police took us to jail giving me a charge of injury to a child.Every since day one my wife and I been telling the police officer and CPS that our son always hurting himself and that we’ve tried to get help for him in the past.CPS knows that our son hurts himself everyday at day care ,he’s been in three different day cares doing the same thing and they have to scrap him down in a high chair just so he want harm himself.He’s jumped off a table at day care and injured his back and his chest CPS knows this,plus the caregiver has told them many times that he hurts himself daily .They have documents stating he hurts himself.The caseworker told the judge all these thangs and the judge told my court appointed lawyer that he would dismiss the case and after that CPS and my lawyer called for an mediation to prolong our dismissal date.When we said we wanted to take the case to trial everyone jumped down our throat saying our rights would get took away ,so scared of that we sighed the paper but now think we made a mistake sighing.Sorry for goig on and on be we are tried of this B.S.and don’t know who to turn to and don’t have money for a lawyer.
Comment by The Cruse Family — December 16, 2008 @ 8:20 am
I have been there, I know how it feels like. it is so awful. YOu need to be rich to fight CPS. Ordinary people are the ones suffering.
It seems that you should never agree on anything with CPS and always go to court to have a real judge to decide. Otherwise, they just do not do you any justice.
Comment by same situation — December 16, 2008 @ 8:36 am
I have been visited by C. P. S. today he had a folder from my children’s school and he said the teachers and the school said all kinds of crazy things about my children’s absenses. I hae submitted doctor’s notes and etc. The School’s main Social Worker and I don’t get along and she is using CPS to retaliate for past arguments and etc…
She was in the room with my children as CPS was asking questions. My children said she was biting her nails as the CPS workers tried to intimidate my children. Maybe she was excited who knows.
I followed some of the advice given in fight CPS.com.
I am a single mom of six living in Syracuse, N.Y.
I could use all the help I can get!!
P.O. Box 298
Syracuse, N.Y. 13205
Comment by S. S. C. — March 27, 2009 @ 4:29 pm
SSC, congratulations on getting through the first phase of the investigation! Hopefully they’ll close the case. Obviously they didn’t think it was an emergency or they would have taken your kids. I’m so grateful they didn’t (as I know you are). You might want to join us on the message board if you need feedback on your case. I’m glad you found ideas here that helped you!
Comment by LindaJoMartin — March 27, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
August 2002, I moved from my apartment in Anamosa, Iowa to Yuma, Arizona with my boyfriend at the time, Tony. I had my two oldest daughters with me, Abby was 4 at the time and Katelyn was a month shy of being a year old. Things were going great in Arizona with Tony, we were living with his dad. But in early October things between me and Tony started to get bad. We started fighting and everytime we fought he thought I was going to leave him and he would threaten to kill himself. One day, I was on the computer with my mom…this was late October. He thought I was talking to another guy. We got into a fight and I told him I had enough and that I was going to leave. He then got a box of bullets that were “hidden” in his dad’s dresser (the gun was in the garage which was locked. Tony threatened that if he couldn’t have me no one could. He opened the box of bullets and when I showed no remorse when he threatened to kill him self he threw the box at me with my daughter Abby behind me. I proceeded to pack my things and went to a woman’s shelter. I stayed there for a few days until Tony’s dad promised that if me and the girls came back home he wouldn’t leave me alone with Tony. So I went back home, just for the fact that at the shelter there were no beds available so me and the girls were sleeping on the floor. After being home for a week or so I started missing Iowa and my mom and my family. So on November 4, 2002 I flew back to Iowa (on a plane of course).
When I came back here, Abby’s dad and his brother picked us up from the Chicago O’Hare airport. I stayed with Kenny and Tylin (Joe’s brother and sister in law) for a month. They lived out in the middle of no where and I had no transportation to get to Cedar Rapids and I wanted to get a job, get my own apartment and raise my daughters. So in December, just right before Christmas I came back to Cedar Rapids. At the time, my mom’s boyfriend wouldn’t allow me and the kids to live with them, so we stayed in the Catholic Worker House (a shelter here where you get your own room and they give you so many months to get on your feet). The only bad thing about staying there was I had to leave at 7a and I couldn’t go back until 3p. It was cold outside and I had no transportation and I had two small children with me. My mom started taking Abby and Katelyn so I could go out and look for a job. One day, I was out looking for a job and I ran into an old highschool friend of mine, Mike. We talked for a bit, he told me about his girlfriend and I told him about what I was going through. He offered for me to stay with him until I got my own place. I was skeptical because they only had a one bedroom apartment. On New Years day I got my car back. Before I left to Arizona my 1991 Pontiac Gran Dam broke down. The auto place that was fixing it, Mt. Vernon Rd Auto Center here in Cedar Rapids, said they would hold onto it until I could get it back. I finally got the money, from my FIP check that month. So, now I had transportation. One night, I decided to go to Mike and Laura’s. I was there kinda late and I had to get back to the shelter, curfew was at 9p and it was already 8:30p. So I left but on the way back I got pulled over because my head light was out. By the time I got back to the shelter it was after 9p. I showed them my ticket and they said I had to leave in the morning. So the next day I took Mike up on his offer and stayed with him. Since he only lived in a one bedroom I let my mom keep Abby and Katelyn until I could get into my own place.
I’m not going to lie and I’m not going to leave anything out. Mike smoked pot. But he never pressured me to do it and if I had Abby and Katelyn over he never smoked it with them there, and he never had any of his pipes or anything out, even when they weren’t there. I’ve known Mike since I was 12 years old and I trusted him. He was like a brother to me.
In middle January of 2003 I found out I was pregnant, 17 weeks pregnant. I was scared. I found out at that first ultrasound that I was having a girl. At first I didn’t want Tony to know but I felt he had a right to know. So I contacted his dad to find out where Tony was. See, shortly after I left, Tony left. He was staying a friend’s house here in Cedar Rapids. So I called over there and when his friend told me he was home I went there. Tony came out of the apartment, I stayed in my car. I showed him the ultrasound picture. He congratulated me and the baby’s father, then I told him he was the father. He started crying and apologizing. I didn’t want to hear it, I wasn’t there to “make up”…I was there to tell him about his child. He started asking me where I was staying so I told him. He then offered to talk to his friend Nichelle and her husband Arturo about letting me have the basement so I could have Abby and Katelyn with me. I told him I would think about it and I left.
Around this time, my mom let Joe (Abby’s dad) take Abby for a “visit” but he never gave her back. It took days for me to get a hold of him and when I did he said he was keeping Abby until I got back on my feet, which I was trying. He wouldn’t tell me where Abby was and he wouldn’t even let me talk to her or see her. He had her for a little over a week when my mom cooked up a “plan” to get Abby. We scheduled an eye doctor appointment, we told Joe and his mom it was a follow up since Abby has glasses. We told them the day and time and told them they needed to have her there. The plan was for me to stake out the eye doctor’s and when I would see them I would go in and take Abby. Since there was no custody agreement between me and Joe there was nothing nobody could do, especially if it wasn’t Joe taking her to the appointment. As I was staking out the eye doctor’s, 10 minutes past the time of her appointment, my mom called me on my cell phone. She sounded so happy and her exact words were “Abby’s here, she’s here…come get her…she’s here”. So I did. I went and got Abby. We went to Mike’s where Abby watched cartoons, with me. It was time for Abby to go to bed and I was tired so we laid down (on the floor because Mike’s girlfriend fell asleep on the couch). I couldn’t get any sleep that night because I was watching Abby sleep. The next morning, another old friend of mine, Cory, called Mike’s. I answered. He asked if Mike had any dish soap and I told him yes. He then asked if I could bring some over so I got Abby ready and we went over there with the dish soap.
When I got to his apartment it was Cory and a friend of his that was there. I met his friend a few times and he was nice. His girlfriend was a sweetheart. As Cory and I were talking, Abby was in the living room watching Dr. Doolittle. Within 15 minutes she fell asleep. Cory’s friend was asleep and I was tired so I asked if I could lay down for a bit. He let me lay down in his bed where I fell asleep. Cory said he would wake me up when Abby woke up. I woke up to a police officer.
I was confused as to why the police were there. I went to the leave the bedroom but the officer wouldn’t let me. He then started asking me if I knew where my daughter was. I told him, she’s asleep on the couch. He then started telling me to try again. I kept telling him she was asleep on the couch. I started panicking, fearing the worst. What happened to Abby? I started crying. The officer wasn’t telling me anything. He then escorted me outside where I saw 3 police cars and a State of Iowa car. I remembered seeing those at the DHS office but I didn’t know what it was doing here. The officer asked if the gray Gran Dam was mine and I said yes. He started asking me questions about Abby, how old she was, what she looked like. I told him and I kept asking “What happened? Where’s my daughter?” This whole time I’m crying and freaking out because I didn’t know what was going on. The officer finally told me what happened. While I was sleeping Abby had woken up, gotten out of the apartment and was found by a neighbor who called the police. Abby told them she didn’t know where her mommy was and said that the gray car was ours. When the officer told me that my heart stopped. I felt sick to my stomach. I asked if she was ok and if I could see her, he then led me to his police car where Abby was sitting in the back (UNATTENED MIGHT I ADD, IN A RUNNING POLICE CAR WITHOUT THE DIVIDER THING). Abby saw me and started crying “Mommy! Mommy!!” I opened to door and grabbed her and held her and started crying. The officer told me to buckle her in, without a carseat and after I did he started asking me questions like what I was doing, if I had been smoking pot, etc. I told him no. He started accusing me of my eyes being “glossed over”. I told him it’s because I’ve been crying non stop for the past 15 minutes. He told me he didn’t believe me so I offered to pee in a cup, right then and there to prove it. He chuckled and told me to get into the car. I was in the backseat with Abby for about a half hour when the police officer opened the front passenger side door. He asked me again if I had been smoking pot. Again, I told him no. Why would I lie? He told me that they found pot under the couch and that there was a sharp knife on the kitchen table (which wasn’t there before I laid down). I was angry. I was scared but my fear was nothing compared to how Abby must have felt. I felt terrible. I didn’t think anything like this would ever happen. I started praying. I started wishing for a chance to go back in time and not even go over to Cory’s. I held Abby the whole way to the police station where a DHS worker started asking me questions, in this little room, with Abby there. She was asking me if I was having sex with Cory around the time Abby got out of the apartment. I told her no, no I wasn’t having sex with him and if I was it wasn’t any of there business. How was I to know that Abby was going to get out of the apartment? They started talking to me like I meant for it to happen. Why would I mean for something like that to happen?
After asking me a lot of questions like my living situation, my family, etc the DHS worker asked if I had anyone who would take Abby. I told her my mom so she left the room and called her. A few minutes later she returned and said she was taking Abby to my mom’s. I asked her what was going to happen and she explained that I was getting charged with child endangerment and I would get an assesment soon. I gave Abby a hug and a kiss and told her “Mommy is so sorry. I love you sweetie. I’m sorry.” I started crying, Abby started crying when the DHS worker picked her up and I could hear Abby crying “Mommy! Mommy!” as she carried her out of the room. Next thing I knew, a police officer came into the room, put hand cuffs on me and took me to the Linn County Jail, where I stayed one night.
Staying that night in jail and being 4 months pregnant was scarey. I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat, I was worried. I didn’t know what was going to happen to Abby and Katelyn. I knew they were with my mom but I was still worried. The next morning we had to see the judge, the “inmates”. The judge talked to people through this tv in this little room. After calling everyone’s names, I was the last one in the room. I just sat there. The guard came up to me and I asked her why my name wasn’t called. She told me she’d be back in a few minutes and when she came back she said that I wasn’t even suppose to be there. I guess DHS wasn’t going to press charges for child endangerment. So, a half hour later, I was released. I walked 14 blocks to get my car which after I started driving it, it started over heating so I had to stop at a gas station to put water in the radiator, just temporarily. I was lost, not literally, but confused, tired, hungry, scared, worried. I kept trying to call my mom but she was mad at me, every right to be too. I drove by her house to see if I could see Abby and Katelyn and I couldn’t, I didn’t stop. So I contacted Tony and I moved in with his friend.
For the next few months I waited. I had an appointment with the DHS worker who was there that day, my mom and Joe were there. It took a little over a month to get a DHS worker. When I did get one, his name was Kevin, he suggested I move into these apartments called Inn Circle. They are transitional housing for people who are homeless and who are trying to get on their feet. He said once I got into there I could start seeing Abby and Katelyn. Eventually within this time my mom started talking to me again so she was letting me go to her house to see the girls. I finally got an apartment a month later. It was an efficiency. In order to get a 2 bedroom I had to be working 30 hours a week and attend life skills classes. Well, I tried getting job but when everyone found out, at that time I was 7 months pregnant, they wouldn’t hire me. I finally applied at a temp agency, Sedona Staffing. I wore a large sweetshirt to cover up my belly. They called me a few days later asking if I wanted to work at a plastics factory in West Branch, IA. I said yes, even though it was a half hour away, it was a job and there was a chance I could get hired. My first day was the next day. The next day I went to work. The supervisor was shocked that I was pregnant, she told me she didn’t think that Sedona would send someone who was pregnant. We laughed and she said that as long as I could do the job I’d be fine. I worked there for about a month. I loved it. I basically sorted through parts to Amana refrigerators. If they were defected, not molded right I tossed them out and packaged the good ones. When my feet hurt people would bring me a bucket to rest one foot at a time. They even gave me a carpet rug to stand on. I loved it there. The supervisor kept putting in good words for me to be hired on permanently. But…I started experience bad back pain. So bad, that at times my legs would go numb. My pregnancy started to become more uncomfortable, back pain all the time, hip pain, leg pain. The doctor advised me not to work. Then there was the gestational diabetes scare, the high blood pressure scare, the doctor basically told me to be on bed rest, not the strict bed rest but I had to limit my activity. After several ultrasounds and tests the doctor found the reason why I was always in so much pain, I had to taking sleeping pills to go to sleep. Sarah, was sideways in my uterus, head first, facing my spine. So, on my birthday I had to go in and have an inversion (I think that’s what it was called). They gave me muscle relaxers and with the help of an ultrasound machine the doctor, a different doctor, an OBGYN surgeon, started pressing on my uterus to turn Sarah. It was painful.
To skip ahead, Sarah was born on June 16th (on her due date). She had to stay a week in the NICU due to breathing complications. She weighed 9 lbs 11 and half ounces and was 22 inches long. I spent every single day with her in the NICU, even when it was time for check ups with the post natal nurse. I didn’t want to leave my daughter’s side. The first day I got to hold her, besides the few seconds I had with her after her birth, was 3 days after she was in the NICU because she was in an oxygen tent. I never put her down since, except when I had to go to the bathroom or eat which wasn’t long.
Anyways, DHS kept promising me they wouldn’t take Sarah or Katelyn. But they decided to put Katelyn on the CINA petition so I could get speech services and parenting help for her. So they lied to me, AGAIN.
Then one day, our world came crashing down. I let my daughter’s grandma have her overnight one night when I had the kids. I gave her a bath that morning before she went over there, they picked her up that afternoon. On Sunday, they called to tell me they were making a report with DHS because Abby had a bruise on her bottom and she says my mom’s boyfriend Jeff hit her with a book. Funny thing is, I didn’t see a bruise on her bottom when I was giving her a bath and I had them for a few days before this. So if Jeff caused a bruise I would have seen something. DHS filed a report and within a week decided to remove Abby and Katelyn from my mom’s care. They didn’t even have PROOF to remove them. My mom called me the day they were coming over so I went to her house and took Abby and Katelyn. Abby was suppose to be going to her dad and they were going to send Katelyn to emergency foster care. Nobody knew where I was. I called Abby’s dad to tell him that I was keeping Abby but everyone kept telling me that if I kept her I would go to jail for breaking a court order, which me and my mom never saw, and kidnapping. So, unwillingly I let him take her. But I kept Katelyn until the next day. I was suppose to take her to the DHS office and drop her off with the worker. Well…I showed up without Katelyn, my mom and had her. The worker asked me where she was and I told him I wasn’t letting them have her, that all of this was nuts. My mom would never ever allow anyone to hurt her grandchildren and if Jeff did hit Abby she would have known and he would have been sent to the curb. But they accused me of lying, protecting my mom and they accused my mom of lying. This was a Friday and after arguing with the worker he agreed to let me have Katelyn that weekend. I had Katelyn sleep in bed with me, with Sarah, I didn’t leave their side. I was worried about Katelyn going into Foster Care. I remember talking to Joe’s sister in law (Joe is Abby’s dad). She has 4 children of her own and she’s real nice and a really good mother to her kids. I told her what was going on with Katelyn and she said she would take her. So Monday, when I took Katelyn to the DHS office, I told him that I wanted Katelyn to go with Joe’s sister in law and brother since she knows them. Katelyn has a hard time opening up to people she doesn’t know. She ended up going to temporary foster care for a week. The DHS worker convinced his supervisor to let Katelyn go to Joe’s sister in law and brother’s. It hurt to leave her with the DHS worker. I cried and she cried. As I was walking out of the room I could hear her cry “Mommy! Mommy!” My heart was breaking. Since the day Katelyn was born, I was the only one in her life. I was the only parent she’s known.
As the months passed, I was doing everything DHS wanted me to do. Then one day DHS sent me a letter saying they recommended putting Sarah on the CINA petition. I called my attorney and he said we could contest it. At the hearing I asked the worker, outside the court room, on what grounds does he have to put Sarah on the CINA petition. He said because I was denying her medical care. That was BS! The story behind that is, when Sarah was in daycare, out at the transitional housing place I lived, she came down with rotavirus. She was running a fever so I picked her up from daycare but I took her to the ER right away, where they admitted her for dehydration. I was worried it was my fault and they no, it was the rotavirus. She stayed in the hospital for 5 days where I stayed to…I even lost my job because I did but that didn’t matter. Staying with my child was more important then leaving to go to work and if my boss couldn’t understand that then I was working at the wrong place, Taco Bell, by the way. The day care kept telling me how concerned they were because every now and then Sarah’s feet and hands would turn cold and purple. I kept telling them that it was raynard’s syndrome (something like that). I had already had Sarah seen by a specialist, a cardio. She had an echo done, x rays to check and see if her lungs were working properly and blood tests. I had all this done before I got her into daycare and I even told the lady who enrolled her about it. The daycare “didn’t believe me”. They said if I didn’t get her to see the doctor they were going to report me to DHS. So even after I got reports from the doctor, they said they didn’t believe me and told my worker. With that, on top of one night it was raining and I ran out to my car to get something out of the glove box. I saw lightening so I hurried to get in the car and get out. As I was closing the door I didn’t move my head out of the way and ended up smacking myself with the corner of the door right above my eye. I ended up going to the ER for stitches, 2 layers, 8 stitches per layer. DHS accused me of being drunk and getting into a fight. Even after I showed them reports from the ER saying the doctor didn’t suspect intoxication they didn’t understand it so kept accusing me anyway. It’s frustrating when you KNOW the truth and people accuse you of lying.
Before the next hearing, I was cleaning Sarah up after eating lunch. Someone was knocking on the door but what I was doing was more important then answering the door. I was changing Sarah’s diaper and getting her ready to take a nap. This was May of 2004. Then the knocking stopped but my phone rang. After getting Sarah layed down I called who called me back. It was the office to where I lived. They said I had visitors. Confused as to why whoever was visiting me would go to the office to have them call me. Then the knocking started again. I peeked out the peep hole and only saw my DHS worker. I didn’t know why he was there so I answered. When I opened the door I saw him wave at someone and then I saw a cop come up to him. I asked them what they were doing here and he said he was here to take Sarah. I went to close the door and lock it but they pushed against me. The officer told me to do this without any fighting so I don’t end up going to jail. But I was devastated. I told the worker that Sarah was laying down for a nap…I had her on a good routine that I didn’t want disrupted and told him to come back after her nap. He said he wouldn’t. I started asking him to see the court order so he showed it to me. I was reading it, and while I was I called my attorney. I accused my attorney of lying to me because he said that DHS couldn’t remove Sarah until the next court hearing because I contested it. He kept apologizing and he was telling me to do what they say. I ripped the court order and told my attorney and the DHS worker to “f off!” and “go to hell!”. I hung up on my attorney and went into Sarah’s room to hold her because she was crying. The cop followed me. I told the cop to back off and leave me alone. He just stood there. I started yelling at him, asking him he has children and how he would like it if his kids were being taken away. So, he left the room. I just held Sarah. She started to fall asleep in my arms. I contemplated jumping out the window with her…I was on first floor and there’s only less then a foot difference between the window and the ground. I was tempted but then I started fearing going to jail. The cop came back in to check on me and told me they had to go now. I started yelling, threatening to take the worker’s children while him and his wife were sleeping and threatening to take cop’s children. The cop started backing me into the wall so I pushed him telling him to leave me alone. This whole time I was crying. I yelled to my worker to drop dead and told them there was no way they were getting Sarah from me without cutting my arms off. Then the cop said he was going to call back up and put his hand on his handcuffs. So I told him to let me do it….let me take her to the car. I got some of her clothes together and some of her toys (all but a blue bear that I have to this day, that was her bear she slept with, chewed on, she got it in the NICU). So..I walked with the worker to the car, the whole time threatening him, and I buckled Sarah in. He told me he had to go, that I had to shut the door. I asked him how I’m suppose to say good bye, how I’m suppose to do this. He then asked if I wanted to go with him to take Sarah to the emergency child care because the foster parents she was going to were out of town for the next two days. I asked him about keeping Sarah since he let me keep Katelyn and he said he has a court order that Sarah is to go to the emergency child care. It was upsetting to leave her there but I knew she was in good arms because she was with the same lady that watched her overnight when I had my tubes tied a month after she was born.
Months went by and no matter what I did was good enough to DHS. Everything I did always got turned around to be a bad thing. My mom left town and let me move into her house thinking it’s stable housing and with me working and having a good running car, going to my appts. would get my kids back but it didn’t.
In October of 2004 I signed my rights away to Katelyn. Seeing how happy Katelyn was with Joe’s sister in law and how well she adjusted I knew it would be selfish of me to remove her. I had my final visit with her in early November. But I still get to see her when I want and she knows I’m her mom and that Tylin is her adopted mom.
In November 2004 I signed my rights away to Sarah because I couldn’t fight anymore and I knew no matter how hard and how long I fought I wasn’t going to get her back. Also, DHS drilled it into my head that I wasn’t a good mother, when I knew and everyone that knew me knew I was. And I am. I wanted to have Sarah a better life, a life without DHS. And I couldn’t provide that to her because I knew even if I got her back they would always be watching, waiting for me to mess up just so they could take her again. Sarah deserves better then that.
It’s hard, every day. I miss her so much every day. It’s hard and my heart breaks to think that because of DHS we have to go through life without eachother. Abby misses her sister everyday. When we start thinking about Sarah, start missing her, I hold the blue bear and it helps but it doesn’t make the pain go away. It helps for Abby too, to play with the bear or sleep with the bear. We call it ‘Sarah’s Bear’.
I wrote enough. If I write anything else I’ll put it in a new blog. Thanks for reading this. Comments are welcome.
Comment by Candace — May 19, 2009 @ 5:34 pm
Now my question is I want to know how I can sue cps for damages done to me and my daughters where do I turn I feel they should have been together instead of torn apart and I feel they did not help keep me and my daughters together
Comment by Candace — May 19, 2009 @ 5:37 pm
Candace, please register at the message board for feedback on your case and information on suing. You’ve been through the mill… I’m so glad you were able to keep one of your children.
Comment by LindaJoMartin — May 20, 2009 @ 10:01 am
I understand what your saying however I’ve been in both postions I’m fighting to get my little girl back that I was adopting that her mother abandoned almost 2 years ago. Also I’ve had 3 foster children that had burn marks all over their body including their butt. the 5 year old could tell you how to load a pipe. I lost my adoptive daughter trying to protect them from the woman who did this to them now I’m fighting for the little girl who only knows me as her mother. It will cost me close to 30 thousand dollars to get her back from DCFS so I don’t give a damn about money. I’m selling my house at a 90 thousand dollars loss. So we all don’t do it for the money. I have also tried to help others get their children back.
Comment by dianarc — May 20, 2009 @ 8:48 pm
Dianarc, I’ve seen foster parents lose thousands of dollars trying to get a foster child back after CPS took it, only to find out the child was quickly, irretrievably adopted out to someone else. There’ no guarantee your 30 thousand dollars will get your foster child back. If it did – that would be child buying… and I don’t think it works that way. You’re dealing with a rogue agency that pretty much makes its own rules. Even when there are clear regulations, they can get away with nearly whatever they want because of judges that apparently won’t hold them accountable. Two judges were recently found to be getting kickbacks for putting children in foster homes or group homes.
Comment by LindaJoMartin — May 21, 2009 @ 10:28 am
The Information I received is helpful but the its late for me and the damage of emotional trauma upon me and my son has been imense. I am a victim of injustice, and discriminated because of disability. and most of all everything lost no support no assistance no nothing but post traumatic stress, I protected my son thats all i can say my parents were there. to help under kinship guardian act, which i was had to agree, but that trauma is life long and well i have not given up hope, i hope to make a difference one day. and recovery is life long. and healing of me and my son, well i am grateful that the help from parents, has helped me, facing a disability, with no assistance, has been awful, what i hear from my doctors, that this could have been prevented. I am a victim but a survivor of injustice and domestic violence, that suffered a head injury tbi. i pray ,,, and pray. i have a strong little boy his name means warrior. a smart little boy.. i risked all to tell the truth. and well speaking of court case well you all contempt of court orders , just like me, and they say in court that you can talk about your case, many parents and victims risk this, i did and had to remove my journal,, i will face federal judge on my disability. and emotional trauma and head injury is both being expressed, has for may be trouble, more then i would like, so you see the name catherine courage,L please remember it and hope the best for all , and have courage, and keep the faith,
Comment by Catherine Courage — May 22, 2009 @ 9:17 am
I am in Paramount, california. I have a child at foster care and I did the affidavit and now the police came to remove my other 3kids. I did not do anything to my children but one of my daughter call the social service because I did not let her go out, she is only 13th, the sherriff and the social worker came in the first time without permission. Now, they want to take the other kids. Please, I need a lawyer to help me..
Comment by wendy — June 17, 2009 @ 11:25 pm
Wendy, did you get a court appointed lawyer?
Comment by LindaJoMartin — June 18, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
california
after doing the affidavit, the social worker send me the sherrff with new allegations, I took the 4th amendment and did not allow the sherriff in my house. I did let my 3 kids showed themselves thru the window, well the sherriff were there for few hours but did not take them, next day a socia worker came and the sherriff again this time I let my children talk to them but under different approach, I found out that I had order for my arrest but the sherriff gave me 24 hrs before he will pick me up – time to clear the warrant. Now, I have a lawyer who is working for my criminal charges and also for the children court. I got an offer from DA 90 days jail time but won’t take it. Fighting still. The family court wants my child to come back but the social worker had made lots of false allegations and my daughter told the court that she never said any of what the report of abuse states. It is very hard, the other 3kids are very depress, my 17 year old want to drop out because she feel that is not worth to go school and then loose everything because now, I am about to loose 2 important license that I worked very hard to get and that I am still paying the school loan. Because I am register at caci index. I am thankful for your prayers and information I gather in this site. I am figthing for my other 3 kids which are still with me and also my freedom. Any information that can help me is always welcome. sirias @ prodigy . net
Comment by wendy — August 25, 2009 @ 8:23 pm
I need help in Alabama for a defense attorney in my DHR case against the course. Call Crystal at 678-964-0044 or email me at cpoedennis[@]yahoo.com hurry up before I lose my parental rights…..
Comment by Crystal Poe-Dennis — March 25, 2010 @ 2:16 pm
Anyone seaking to find an attorney
try this website http://www.avvo.com
anyone who wants to report any crime and stay annonymus call http://www.wetip.com
you can report what the social workers are doing to you that is illegal or misconduct. wetip works
Comment by Mark — April 4, 2010 @ 1:42 pm
Is there a Michigan organization that you can put me in contact with for parent advocacy services? Please help me.
Comment by Serina — June 12, 2010 @ 11:25 pm
I was also wondering if sending a letter to the judge may help. With no due process, it’s very hard to dispute any of the lies made by CPS in court.
My 6 year old was taken from me about 8 wks ago because I reached out for help after my son exhibited some strange sexual behaviors 2 1/2 yrs ago. The case was closed when my son didn’t disclose anything. I had 50/50 custody with my ex husband. My son ended up telling his pediatrician about his Dad beating up his paramour. He was told God would punish him if he told anyone. He also stated he was touched on 1 occasion by his Dad. I didn’t ask details, I called CPS hoping they would not make him go back to Dads till this was sorted out. They decided this was a custody dispute when knew we had a modification hearing coming up. Anyway’s I am accused of coaching my son and my ex is accused of sexual abuse as well as other things. They took him one day after myself and a family member on my behalf called DCF and threatened to make a formal complaint because of how they were handling everything. They told me it’s protocol to remove him if 2 calls were made the same day. Later I found out about the coaching allegation. The judge would not agree to having him placed back with me or his grandparents because they still don’t know where the abuse is coming from, even though my son has said where. If they agree there was abuse doesn’t that cancel out the coaching automatically? I have a private attorney, but he hasn’t accomplished anything yet. The court just follows CPS’s recommendations blindly it seems. I have a pretrial hearing in a week and was hoping a letter would give the judge more info, truthful info and get my little boy home. This is ridiculous, I reached for help about the other household he stays in, and they took him from both. So now I’m jumping through the hoops they tell me to. It does state reunification is the goal, but obviously you can’t believe anything they say. I’m still shocked about the power they have and their ability to trample on our rights. Even a murderer gets a bond and is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but they can take a child without proof or evidence and not give due process.
Comment by mbros — June 28, 2010 @ 1:44 pm