poor communication from CPS

[KellyHabersham]

*I apologize if this gets long, just a frustrating situation because of the communication issue*

For some background info - Heather (my daughter) had a suicide attempt in December 2013, it was recommended that she spend time in a behavioral facility, but I was NOT thrilled with the one doctors/medical staff wanted to place her in. I was told that because this was against a doctor's recommendation, there was a chance CPS would be contacted, and they definitely WOULD get involved if Heather got back into the mental health system again.

Sure enough, someone from CPS did stop by, but I was at work, and she wouldn't give info on the purpose of her visit without me being home. She did leave a business card, asked that I call her, but my phone call was not returned, nor did she stop by the house again.

Heather has another overdose in December 2014, and while it was not recommended that she stay in a mental facility for observation, this same CPS worker stopped by a few weeks later. (same situation.....I was at work, business card was left, she didn't return my phone call)

This week, we had a court hearing to get Heather's probation terminated early, and on getting home, found a note taped to the door......from another CPS worker, it briefly said she was following up on a case from 2013. I called to leave a message, she called back when we were running an errand, so I left a second message, and haven't heard back. (because of the timing, and because it was a different CPS worker, I was suspicious that my sister and her husband were pulling something)

[Aragarthiel]

Where I live, they would have stuck around all day and one way or another left with your kids, probably after calling the cops. Then you'd go to a hearing where they'd determine if you got your kids back before actually showing any evidence one way or the other, and you'd be waiting years to finally go to trial where the evidence would be examined.

A friend of mine has a 5-year-old she hasn't seen since she was 6 months old, because my friend's grandma accused friend of not taking her meds for bipolar disorder (which she has never been diagnosed with).

[KellyHabersham]

That's the sort of thing I was worried about happening the first time a CPS worker had stopped by, and to some degree I still worry about, even though nothing has really happened. (and admittedly, a lot of it is that I don't know exactly why they have gotten in touch or who referred them)

[Aragarthiel]

From my understanding, in most states, the system is broken but not in the way it is here. Our version of CPS, DFACS, is horrible. Most of the calls to them are because someone's angry at someone else, and 99% of the time they end with the kids being taken away. DFACS officials are encouraged to lie, and they face no penalty for it, and it's hard to find a lawyer willing to take these cases since they're so muddled. Kids are traumatized for it and parents are heartbroken, all because the parents wouldn't let the neighbor/drug-addicted cousin/stepbrother borrow their lawnmower/crash on their couch/buy their car.

[Shangri-laschild]

My sister actually just had to deal with CPS or maybe even is still dealing with them. It was a mess. The whole thing stemmed from my 5 year old niece seeing something she shouldn't have seen but she's stealth level quiet at random times, just rare enough for you to not get used to it and she was supposed to be asleep. It was one of those accidental things where someone made a minor stupid mistake and she didn't even realize exactly what she had seen. But she then asked someone else about it and when I heard how she said it, I'm not at all surprised that CPS was called. It took forever to get any information, even just the rules as far as what restrictions were in place while things were being investigated so that they could follow the rules correctly. It was like pulling teeth getting any info or returned calls. It really sucks that it was set up like that. I think everything has been cleared now but at the last minute she called and said there was a last minute detail being investigated and now my sister hasn't heard back. She's pretty sure it's all over, but not enough to completely stop being worried.

It really sucks how the system is set up. Not enough employees or resources and I can see how easy it would be for people to burn out and stop making the efforts that should be made.