When The Threats Of The CPS Hits Too Close To Home
For those of you that know me and what I stand for, you know that I strongly support @familyprotection because my own family would be considered a target for the CPS. As a homeschooling family that does not vaccinate, we have to always be on guard and in “the know” in order to protect our family. I began researching, learning and writing about the system and certain forms they try to get you to sign to trick you into a horrible contract that could get your kids taken away from you. I was excited to support this movement to help bring awareness of the crookedness and abuse and to help families avoid the dangers and dodge being the next victims of this craziness.
On Monday I received a phone call that got my heart racing. I am no longer on Facebook and a lot of my family that I regularly kept up with on there as well as on Messenger, I haven’t talked to in quite some time. I was informed that my cousin whom is deaf, made a video about the CPS trying to take her son away. She was signing and crying and seemed very upset. I immediately reactivated my Facebook and Messenger account so that I could view the video and reach out to her.
It’s pretty ironic because I recently did a post about teaching my children sign language. I mentioned this very same cousin in that post because she is the reason I gained interests in learning how to sign at a very young age. So to hear her family might be in danger of these crooks really took me into defense mode.
We talked through messenger for awhile that night and what I learned is very sad. I learned that the deaf community attacks each other by calling the CPS on one another when they are feuding or when they dislike someone. They don’t realize this is not a game and how seriously damaging to families this could be. They know that deaf parents are targets for the CPS because their ability to raise their “hearing” children is always being questioned. They are constantly looked at as unfit parents and unable to give their children a proper upbringing because of their incapabilities. My cousin and her partner (her son’s father) are both deaf but their son is hearing. They wil automatically be looked at as unfit to raise their child together.
I read a pdf article titled Adapting Through the Looking Glass’ Intervention Model for Deaf Parents and their Children. It stated that many deaf parents have raised their children successfully but are inappropriately stigmatized because of misguided presumptions about their parenting capabilities. Sadly deaf parents are at risk of losing custody of their children due to presumed negligence or maltreatment.
The article lists a few barriers that may increase the risk of family dysfunction such as:
• lack of parenting knowledge
• deaf parents being poorly parented themselves
• cultural differences within the family (almost 90% of children born to deaf parents are hearing as in my cousin’s case); many deaf parents report minimal contact or interaction with hearing people until the birth of their hearing child
• limited access to deaf peers
• inadequate support and services
My cousin was raised by both of her hearing parents along with two hearing siblings. She has always had access to help and support and has been teaching others how to communicate with her since I can remember, I was one of those people. She has kept contact with her family and participated in events, she never let her incapability keep her from her loved ones. She is apart of an online deaf community and has several friends that support her. She knows how to access information and help if needed.
The reason she was reported was very ridiculous and immature. She was reported by another women in the deaf community. My cousin has a problem with someone that happens to be this women’s friend. This women decided to attack her by trying to get her son taken away. It saddens me that people can gamble the life of a child just to make a point or to get back at someone. Thankfully this women gave the CPS my aunts’ address because my cousin no longer lives with her. Of course my aunt didn’t give them any information on where or how to reach my cousin but they are now trying to find her. This will open up unnecessary doors for these creeps to be in her life which is something she definitely doesn’t need. She loves her son and has taken good care of him and he can communicate with both the deaf and the hearing. Sadly even with these facts she will still be prejudged and it will be assumed she is not able to be a good parent for the reasons stated above from the article.
Because of @familyprotection and the support in this community I was able to give my cousin some valuable advice on what and what not to do should the CPS come to her home. All of the articles and personal stories have given me a heap of knowledge that I could share with her and that I know will help prepare her for the worst.
Before being apart of Steemit I had “some” knowledge on these matters and knew I never wanted to run into these people. But it wasn’t until after joining Steemit and joining this fight that I had clearer knowledge of their capabilities and how serious and dangerous it was to ever get involved with them. I have learned ways to protect my family better and be prepared should we ever have to face them. My cousin now knows these things and how serious this could be. She knows not to let them step foot into her home without a warrant or court order from the beginning. I have also sent her helpful articles that outlines these things so she can refer back to them.
So if you are one that has ever asked these questions “how useful is the @familyprotection account, is it really set up to help families, has this community benefited anyone?”, I’m here to tell you it is very useful, helpful and beneficial. Because of this growing community and the efforts to stand up against illegal kidnapping and abuse and raising awareness to protect our families, I had the confidence and resources to help a family member get equipped to protect her family. I feel so empowered with knowledge being apart of this community. My cousin told me she will reach out to me if they contact her or if she feels she needs more help because she knows I am equipped with valuable information and could be a great support and help to her.
Thank you @markwhittam for creating such a valuable space to help protect families. Thank you to everyone for all of your efforts and sharing of stories and scenarios because they are really helping families to avoid being the next victims. It felt so good to be able to reach out to my cousin to help get her prepared and equip her with all sorts of information that I have learned just by being apart of something like this. Thank you @canadian-coconut for your role in this community and for helping to make these stories more visible. I would still like to ask for your prayers that my cousin doesn’t have to deal with the CPS and that they do not find her. If they do, I feel more relaxed knowing she is not clueless and knows what she needs to do.
Thank you so much for reading! Let’s help each other keep our families safe and together!
Please support @familyprotection because...
Spreading Awareness To Keep Families Safe
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
And I thank you for your continued support and valuing my input and contributions to this community~ ❤️
Thanks for raising the bar and keep us informed.
Always 😊
Typical cps that is, preying on the weak, vulnerable and people with disabilities.
I'm glad that your involvement in @familyprotection has equipped you with the knowledge to be able to give advice in a situation like this.
If nothing else, I believe familyprotection is educating people and giving them the confidence to stand up for their rights if cps ever come knocking, like they so often do.
Thank you for sharing this with us, yet another example how bad things really are.
Exactly, typical CPS. They love targeting the vulnerable.
I agree Mark, @familyprotection is definitely educating people and giving us the strength and confidence we need to stand up. I am so thankful I am apart of this, especially because I can now help my loved ones in dealing with these situations :)
Seems like if you don’t follow status quo on anything, you’re a target, if not just heavily scrutinized by the public.
That’s exactly the case and it’s very sad.
I don't think it's just the deaf community; in my years of heavily reading on Babycenter, particularly on the forum for dysfunctional families (what can I say, I was there for the drama), false CPS calls are a typical tactic for revenge during family feuds, especially by vindictive grandparents who want more access to their grandkid(s) and think CPS will place the child(ren) with them. Same with blended families where one parent is trying to get more custody from the other parent, or out of jealousy coaching their kids to make false calls to get a stepparent in trouble.
It's truly mindblowing that people use this to get the government involved in private squabbles.
I had this fear before moving to Panama. Talk about relief when we touched down at 2am on Panamanian soil with all 5 kids. I can just say that not everyone I knew was on board with our move...
Oh gosh @apanamamama I couldn't imagine having a move like that hijacked by a CPS call😱 @crosheille I don't even think it's a matter of not being able to work things out among themselves, but rather people trying to leverage the power of government on their side to usurp control from the rightful parents in situations where they disagree. Either way it's terrible to put that target on families for purely selfish reasons, and even worse it merely increases the power of government bit by bit.
This is terrible! The problem is they “think” getting the CPS involved will help them (referring to grandparents) get access but it will only cause more damage. This is exactly why we have to keep spreading awareness that this is serious and nothing to gamble with. It’s sad that families can’t talk to each other any more or work out problems within themselves instead of relying on the government.
Thanks for your input and making us aware this is happening in all sorts of situations.
WOW! Calling CPS is not a fucking joke and idiots need to start realizing this. We had a neighbor call a few years ago cuz my then 4 year old was throwing a fit. She actually called the cops and told them a baby was screaming. They came about 4 hours later with CPS and had the entire block surrounded. Long sory short they never came in my house and I never wound up having a case. But it was a shitshow nonetheless. I have a video of the encounter which I posted on Dtube a while back. I'll reupload it to Dlive and send it to you sometimes this weekend. Keep up the good work.
I agree! People need to start realizing this is nothing to play around with. That’s good you never let them into your home, very smart move.
Yes I would like to see that video if you get it up and running. Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
Wow! I am so sad to hear that the deaf community will attack each other in this way. People just don't even realize what their actions will do at times, especially in cases where they call CPS to just get even. I am glad you were able to help your cousin out and inform her of some of the things you've learned through @familyprotection. So many people are just clueless when it comes to CPS, or they think they really are there to help them. I hope that she will take your advice if they do track her down. Keep us posted if you hear anymore. Will be praying for her!
Isn’t it sad? It’s so heartbreaking that they mess around with people’s lives like this. I think most of them are clueless on how serious this is.
I am so thankful I was able to help her . I really hope she takes my advice too and is strong enough to resist any threats they might make or scare tactics they might use. I will definitely keep you all posted if I hear anything else. Thank you so much for your prayers <3
Family comes always first....
Absolutely!
I find myself obsessed with this topic. I feel like a target too because we will be officially homeschooling as of this fall when my son is school age. I know a lot of homeschoolers in this area and it doesn't seem to be much of an issue, but still scary.
I think it’s a good thing that you are tuned in to what’s going on so you can be prepared and able to protect your family if need be. Especially since you are about to homeschool, I think it’s really important to know what to do and what not to do in situations like these. Are you considering joining the HSLDA?
I'm going to look into HSLDA. I have been researching and working with my son for ages on the actual teaching, but just scratching the surface on the legal stuff. Will be researching it all deeply before the fall.
Awesome! I did the same thing before I started. I took like a whole year to research and gather together my plans and ideas.
This is an example of how social services can be far away, and that they are not interested in the true well-being of children. How sad that all this happens.
Yes it is very sad. Thank you for reading and for your comment~