CPS And Foster Care: 10 Testimonies Of Pain
Greetings fellow Steemians!
I was scrolling Facebook yesterday, and a suggested post appeared. Yes, FB suggests things to me. This particular articleis about CPS worker's most memorable moments.
Fearing it to be clickbait (when you click on something interesting, but you have to navigate through a bunch of ads to get the whole story), I checked the comments for information. This is the cover story:
"I was a case manager for CPS. I had a toddler on my caseload who came into care because of a severe beating that left her with a skull fracture and two broken femur bones. She was in a full body cast. She was in medical foster care. The mission of the agency was to have to children reunify with the parents.
So, the parents had to complete a case plan and attend court hearings. It took a while, but the parents completed the case plan and the child was reunified. During this time mom became pregnant again with a baby boy. She delivered around the same time the reunification occurred.
The parents found the baby boy dead one morning. He was 6 weeks old, the same age his sister was when she came into care. And he had the same injuries. Before the reunification and the birth, I did everything I could to prevent either child from going back to that house.
I even begged and cried in court. Dad was a suspect, but there was not enough evidence. He was a true monster. I waited two weeks. Put in my notice and walked out."
There are 1800 comments on this post, and I noticed some people agreeing with how horrible it is that these children were subjected to such abuse by their parents, and don't get me wrong - I agree. Some comments also praised social workers and foster parents.
What I found interesting while reading these comments though, is that there seems to be a sea change taking place in our society, because even in the face of these horror stories, many, I mean countless people spoke out calling CPS a broken system, acknowledging that CPS rips loving families apart, and the truly abused children slip through their fingers.
What impacted me the most though, were those who have been raked over the coals by CPS and foster care. Story after story of people who may never make their way to Steemit. They chose Facebook to share their experiences.
I picked 10 personal accounts to share here. Examples that tell the other side. The sad truths that this article leaves out. I will copy the comments word for word, but out of respect, I will not share their Facebook names.
Story #1
"I just lost my son after 2 years of doing everything I was court ordered to do. I signed papers for him to come home and less than week later they said I wouldn't get him back because I had a negative hair topical test. For 2 years I passed every drug test given. I begged to redo test as it was not right. I was hospitalized for depression less than 2 weeks after test and they tested for drugs in urine and blood said nothing was in my system. Bottom line the foster parents wanted my son and my CPS worker was on their side. So much to this story. I know I will see my son again in 5 years when he is 18. What gets me is we had his room ready, he was told he was going home we had a welcome home get together only for him to be crushed. Let me add that on Easter Sunday his father died so in less than month time he lost both his parents. CPS let's the children go back to harm filled families that don't love their kids and take the kids away from a loving family."
Story #2
"Everyone is worried about CPS. But I think you shouIs also look at the foster homes. I was a foster child for 6 years. And Most of the homes were worse then my family. I've been beaten, left hungry, torchered, and practically left for dead. And CPS DFS and my GL didn't do a damn thing about it but tell me to hang in there. 6 years and 47 foster homes later and I still didn't have a home I had to make my own at 16. The entire system is corrupt yes you may save us from our family but sometimes your putting the children in even worse situations because you don't do enough screening on parents. Yes there are amazing foster parents. But they are rare anymore."
Pixabay
Story #3
"My sisters and I were taken away by cps because my dad used to beat the crap out of us. My parents followed all the rules needed to try to get us back (my dad legitimately did a 180 and completely changed his entire life over completely just to get us back) and cps did everything in their power to keep us apart. My dad wound up killing himself in hopes my mom would at least get us back. But they refused. We were shipped to our uncle's and aunts in New York and they still worked against us. We weren't even allowed to see our mother or even speak to her and she didn't even do the abusing. I finally got to live with my mom a month before I turned 18 because my uncle kicked me out, and she wound up passing away 2 months later from cancer. Cps sucks overall in my opinion. I've had no luck with them ever. I called them complaining about my meth head neighbours smoking with the kids in the house. They used to beat the crap out of their autistic kid. Nothing was ever done, not even after the father od and died."
Story #4
"I've been told (as a foster child) to find somewhere to stay for the weekend when I called the emergency number because I was beaten by a foster home... I'm not talking a spanking either. Knock down drag out fight.
I ended up staying in the trunk of a car for 3 nights.
Another home, I was taped, another home I was constantly told I was only there to pay their mortgage and I was unwanted while getting very long creepy hugs from the foster father. Home after home. I had 3 good ones in all the places I was...3 out if maybe 15! And these are licensed people?!? Just let me be homeless please was my thought for years!"
Story #5
"I hate cps they take kids that don't need taken but leave kids that need removed and let them stay with parents I lost my 5 kids to cps due to the grandfather abused her and lost all five they told me I new he was abusive i told them no I did not so I did everything that was required of me and still lost them they got adopted out and my kids I love them but can never get them back they even changed their name so I can not find them."
Story #6
"My best friends daughter was murdered by her foster parents less than a week before she was permenatly placed back home then the state said if her kids weren't in the system she wouldn't have died and they gave her son to a prick that told her if she wanted to see him she had to sleep with him.... yrs later said guy got in trouble for getting her 12year old son and his friend ( a girl) drunk and getting them to have sex so he could watch! She has 5 other kids she has raised all healthy and happy!"
Story #7
"I dont do drugs of any kind, hardly ever drink, don't abuse my 4 sons (although I am very stern with them), I have never acted maliciously toward my children. CPS has never once seen a bruise on any of my boys while in my care, yet they have my 4 sons in foster care right now threatening to put them up for adoption. They have had to remove 3 of my boys from a foster home due to abuse on my 12 year old, my 2 year old has febrile seizures, which are being neglected. And the more I complain, the more they punish me through my kids! But if I don't complain my children could be in so much more danger than they could have ever been in with me! How can they be so backwards???? How can they take children from loving parents and give them to twisted foster parents who are supposedly educated in caring for children? Not to mention that the children that truly need their help seem to never get it! Looks to me like they only want the children with fewer psychological problems so that they can adopt them out much easier and make more money for them!"
Story #8
"My sister and I were put in foster care. Kelley was 14 months older than me. .She was 2.5 she was beat to death in the foster home....all I got to say..."
Story #9
"I had 3 out of 15 foster homes that were actually good to me. I was in the system for 11 years, my mom abandoned me to be raised by the state once I was taken. People keep complaining about cps being awful child snatchers but we need to look at some of those homes. I had one foster mom basically tell every one I was retarded and to talk slow to me because I wouldn't understand and then would turn around and say I was fat and give me 20 bucks for the week to feed myself because I needed to diet and my caseworkers LET HER. I eventually aged out of these homes and moved out at 20."
Pixabay
Story #10
"Glad my case wasn't so severe. I still went through a lot. I've been in the system twice. The people who adopted me treated me much worse than my biological family. Later they gave me up because they didn't want me anymore and I aged out."
Unfortunately many more accounts remain untold, but I hope this gave you a look at the other side of the coin.
Thanks for reading.
Love, snowpea ❤
I guess no idiot took some time to think why there is a subsidy program for adopting kids. If you get paid to adopt kids, it means you are not adopting at all. You are simply doing business gaming the system.
Additionally, if these families need additional income to foster these kids, doesn't that mean that these people are not financially secure enough to be foster parents to begin with? Money isn't a must to be a good parent. But if you are giving away money, the worst parasites are going to pop up.
There is an easy fix fox CPS (at least an Austrian Economics based one).
Make sure no one gets paid! When there is no pay, less parasites will be attracted and there won't be a system to be gamed.
Thanks for posting. 100% upvoted.
You bring up some excellent points @vimukthi. Unfortunately, so many foster parents think of the dollar signs and make that the main priority. Just take care of some kids and get paid for it. Easy money! Very few of them will love the children as much as their parents.
True. Those who really want to help would come forward. Unfortunately pedophiles would also still be attracted to being a foster parent, even if they weren't paid.
Thanks so much for the follow, resteem, and upvote! Following you back. :)
Pedophiles would be attracted regardless. Without pay at least poor pedophiles won't be able to continue their actions too long. I see lots of resources being wasted fighting good parents. These resources can be easily diverted to take action against real criminals that create actual victims.
Keep up the good fight!
Each story is a life. And each life has been colored and molded at the hand of the CPS. we see shades of sadness depression devastation and even death. An unnecessary Wasteland scattered across each country. CPS chooses to litter and pollute the world. Where there was once innocence as virgin as the first snow, is now tarnished and trashed into a vast Wasteland. Thanks for sharing @snowpea
So true. And there are so many more stories out there that need to be told. Out of all the comments I read (and I browsed them all), there were only a few people who spoke of having a positive result from CPS intervening in their life. Thanks for your comment @enjoywithtroy! :)
I fear the ones that have good results are only accidental! The day to day output of CPS is carnage and death, in frightening quantities!
>:(I don't know what to say about these stories @snowpea. They're heartbreaking. 😥 Children don't deserve to be treated this way. And if the Child Protective Services (CPS) doesn't protect children in the first place, they don't deserve to be called one.
God have mercy on this nation especially with all the cruelty and inhumanity that's happening.
I know, the stories are very sad on both sides. We need a miracle in this nation. Thank you for your comment.
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Each one of those testimonies is a news article in itself, yet on FB the article was the one exception to the rule, chosen to influence the uninformed into thinking CPS is not doing enough to separate children from dangerous parents. @ironshield
I couldn't have said it better myself @ironshield. There is definitely an agenda behind this article. It's meant to cause people to be outraged so they will demand stricter enforcement against parents.
Son historias que hacen pensar. Son cosas que no deseamos que le pasen a nadie. Si tenemos un hogar... apreciemos eso, sino... mantengamos la esperanza y las fuerzas. En verdad amiga a veces me bloqueo y ya no se me ocurren más palabras dulces que decir. Pero quiero que sepas que esa es mi intención... decir algo dulce que de alguna manera sirva de ayuda... saludos... #thealliance
There should be zero financial gain for the state to take children. When we made it a business, we doomed the children! I personally only know of ONE kid who was helped by placing her in a Foster home. I know of over a dozen who fought CPS, at great expense, and about half were successful. The one that was helped , was helped because the Woman was a Good Christian Lady, who adopted the girl.
Then they said on the news last month that they had "misplaced" 1500 kids that were supposed to be in the System! The whole system does more harm than good!
>:(You are 100% correct @smithlabs. As I remember someone else saying recently: If we take away the rewards, less parasites would come forward to "help".
The whole thing needs to be redone 100 %. It causes more problems than it solves these days, and needs to be removed, like the cancer it is!
:'(To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
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