"CPS really can hurt you. CPS really can impose extensive controls over your life. And CPS can take your child using only the most flimsy of accusations against you, and based on virtually no evidence at all, with only the weakest mechanism of due process to protect you - even if you have done nothing wrong."
source: http://www.justicewomen.com/tips_bewarechildprotectiveservices_2.html
On Thursday (Aug 25th) I took my wife to Salish Lodge for our 9th anniversary. Kira, our six week old daughter, came along while the other kids stayed the night at Bridget's cousin's house. On Friday morning (Aug 26th), before we left, Bridget noticed that Kira had a strange bump on her collar bone. It seemed like something was wrong, but we weren't sure what. It was just different than her other collar bone. Kira didn't seem to mind at all. She continued to be her normal, mellow self.
Concerned, Bridget brought her into the pediatrician the next day (Aug 27th) . It turns out that Kira had a broken clavicle. The bump was a sign that it had happened over a week ago and had already begun healing. Medically there wasn't much to be done. The doctor assured Bridget that babies bones heal quickly and that nothing more was needed.
Later that Saturday afternoon, around 2 p.m.'ish, the doctor called to say that since we didn't know how the bone broke he was obligated by law to let the CPS division of Children's hospital know what happened. Note: the referral to Children's was what the pediatrician felt was legally necessary, not what was medically necessary. As much as we appreciated the recommendation, we weren't too excited about the prospect of bringing Kira to the hospital. We were just told she was fine. Regardless, Children's was expecting us to take Kira in that same day.
Bridget knew a friend that had some previous experience dealing with CPS and hospitals so she gave her a call to get her advice. It went to voice mail so she left a message and then went out to run some errands. I was home when the friend called back. She told me of her nightmarish experience with CPS and being forced to stay overnight at the hospital with their child who had broken her leg.
The friend called Bridget after talking to me and relayed the same information. Bridget then called me so we could decide what to do. Our options at that point were to comply with Children's, take Kira in and subject her to whatever tests/exams they deemed necessary, or to not take her in. We weren't sure what the consequence of not taking her in was so Bridget called Children's and asked. The consequence was that they would have CPS come to our house. We decided that we would rather have CPS come to our house and see that we weren't abusing or neglecting our children and be done with it rather than have Kira subjected to potentially cancer causing tests (Children's told Bridget they would likely do a CT scan on her).
Bridget called Children's back to let them know what our decision was and came home. At around 6 p.m CPS showed up at our door with two deputies (Horton and Whipple). I explained the situation and said they could check our house for abuse or neglect and we could be done with this whole thing. Their response was that they came because we had to take Kira to Children's or they would take her from us and bring her to Children's themselves.
I was very surprised by this. I explained again that nobody was being neglected. We brought her in to the doctor. He diagnosed her and sent us home. He only talked to Children's out of legal obligation. One of the officers had previously broken his collar bone and said it was very painful so he was surprised the doctor didn't make a prescription or wrap her arm or something. He recommended we get a second opinion, which I thought was probably a good idea (we later found out that there are different kinds of clavicle breaks and the kind Kira has isn't the kind that needs bracing and, since she isn't in pain, doesn't need medication). That officer was content with that and ready to leave us in peace.
Unfortunately, the social worker and other officer weren't satisfied. We had to take her in to a hospital that day. They said we had a choice in which hospital but that we were guaranteed to be referred back to Children's anyway, so we might as well go there. They said we didn't need to worry about being forced to have Kira run through a CT scan and we wouldn't be held against our will. We still didn't agree that it was necessary, but on the threat of having our child taken from our home, Bridget took Kira in to Children's that night.
They were brutal with her and probably caused more pain and anguish than the broken bone ever did. They did a full body x-ray where they had to hold her foot down flat, which she didn't like. She cried straight for half an hour (for Kira this is a very long time). The diagnosis matched the original pediatricians. Kira had a broken clavicle but it would heal on its own. There were no other broken bones in her body. They just wanted to run a quick CT Scan to make sure there wasn't anything else going on with her and Bridget could leave.
CT Scans are not good for babies. They lead to an increased risk of cancer later in life. As parents we didn't feel like there was any need for this kind of treatment so Bridget asked if she was being forced to have Kira tested. They strongly urged it but weren't compelling her by law to do it (though they let her know they could if they wanted to). Bridget respectfully declined further testing and came home.
On Tuesday afternoon (Aug 30th) another CPS worker came and talked with Bridget. He went through what happened and left a couple hours later. I wasn't home so really don't know the details of what went on.
On Wednesday (Sep 1st) I came home from work at about 5 p.m. to find that we had two police detectives and another CPS worker in our house. One of the detectives was walking around taking pictures of everything in our house...pictures, cabinets, toys on the floor, etc. They had been there for two hours interviewing Bridget. They were just leaving when I got home, but did get my contact information which they used the next day (Sep 2nd) to make an appointment to interview me later next week.
On September 7th I had my interview with Detective Steve Martin and J. Brady, the CPS worker assigned to our case. They stayed for about 1 1/2 hours asking all kinds of questions. I recorded the conversation to make sure they stayed honest. The detective asked questions all over the spectrum, from where in the room Kira sleeps to which country our foreign exchange student from two years ago came from. He didn't seem too happy that we still don't know what happened to Kira.
The CPS worker has told Bridget that Children's has decided they want to run the same tests they ran last time again and do the CT scan. So now we need to decide whether to comply to a government agency that works in secret with very little oversight and subject our daughter to an increased risk of cancer, or fight them by going to court, getting a lawyer, and running the very real risk of having them take our daughter away from us and have the tests run anyway.
Today (Sept 12th) J.B. went to our children's school and asked to interview each of our children. This was without our knowledge or consent. Graeden told them, "no thanks" and Elliott and Jett accepted the interview. Jett has been five years old for less than one month. Is that really a credible witness? I understand why the law exists for CPS workers to be allowed to interview children without their parents, but in this case it is a blatant abuse of power. She e-mailed Bridget today as well telling us that she has now opened up an investigation on Evan. Wow! They are really digging for something to catch us on. The safety of Kira doesn't even seem to be an issue at this point...just finding some dirt on us seems to be the top priority.
We'll see what tomorrow brings...
source: http://www.justicewomen.com/tips_bewarechildprotectiveservices_2.html
On Thursday (Aug 25th) I took my wife to Salish Lodge for our 9th anniversary. Kira, our six week old daughter, came along while the other kids stayed the night at Bridget's cousin's house. On Friday morning (Aug 26th), before we left, Bridget noticed that Kira had a strange bump on her collar bone. It seemed like something was wrong, but we weren't sure what. It was just different than her other collar bone. Kira didn't seem to mind at all. She continued to be her normal, mellow self.
Concerned, Bridget brought her into the pediatrician the next day (Aug 27th) . It turns out that Kira had a broken clavicle. The bump was a sign that it had happened over a week ago and had already begun healing. Medically there wasn't much to be done. The doctor assured Bridget that babies bones heal quickly and that nothing more was needed.
Later that Saturday afternoon, around 2 p.m.'ish, the doctor called to say that since we didn't know how the bone broke he was obligated by law to let the CPS division of Children's hospital know what happened. Note: the referral to Children's was what the pediatrician felt was legally necessary, not what was medically necessary. As much as we appreciated the recommendation, we weren't too excited about the prospect of bringing Kira to the hospital. We were just told she was fine. Regardless, Children's was expecting us to take Kira in that same day.
Bridget knew a friend that had some previous experience dealing with CPS and hospitals so she gave her a call to get her advice. It went to voice mail so she left a message and then went out to run some errands. I was home when the friend called back. She told me of her nightmarish experience with CPS and being forced to stay overnight at the hospital with their child who had broken her leg.
The friend called Bridget after talking to me and relayed the same information. Bridget then called me so we could decide what to do. Our options at that point were to comply with Children's, take Kira in and subject her to whatever tests/exams they deemed necessary, or to not take her in. We weren't sure what the consequence of not taking her in was so Bridget called Children's and asked. The consequence was that they would have CPS come to our house. We decided that we would rather have CPS come to our house and see that we weren't abusing or neglecting our children and be done with it rather than have Kira subjected to potentially cancer causing tests (Children's told Bridget they would likely do a CT scan on her).
Bridget called Children's back to let them know what our decision was and came home. At around 6 p.m CPS showed up at our door with two deputies (Horton and Whipple). I explained the situation and said they could check our house for abuse or neglect and we could be done with this whole thing. Their response was that they came because we had to take Kira to Children's or they would take her from us and bring her to Children's themselves.
I was very surprised by this. I explained again that nobody was being neglected. We brought her in to the doctor. He diagnosed her and sent us home. He only talked to Children's out of legal obligation. One of the officers had previously broken his collar bone and said it was very painful so he was surprised the doctor didn't make a prescription or wrap her arm or something. He recommended we get a second opinion, which I thought was probably a good idea (we later found out that there are different kinds of clavicle breaks and the kind Kira has isn't the kind that needs bracing and, since she isn't in pain, doesn't need medication). That officer was content with that and ready to leave us in peace.
Unfortunately, the social worker and other officer weren't satisfied. We had to take her in to a hospital that day. They said we had a choice in which hospital but that we were guaranteed to be referred back to Children's anyway, so we might as well go there. They said we didn't need to worry about being forced to have Kira run through a CT scan and we wouldn't be held against our will. We still didn't agree that it was necessary, but on the threat of having our child taken from our home, Bridget took Kira in to Children's that night.
They were brutal with her and probably caused more pain and anguish than the broken bone ever did. They did a full body x-ray where they had to hold her foot down flat, which she didn't like. She cried straight for half an hour (for Kira this is a very long time). The diagnosis matched the original pediatricians. Kira had a broken clavicle but it would heal on its own. There were no other broken bones in her body. They just wanted to run a quick CT Scan to make sure there wasn't anything else going on with her and Bridget could leave.
CT Scans are not good for babies. They lead to an increased risk of cancer later in life. As parents we didn't feel like there was any need for this kind of treatment so Bridget asked if she was being forced to have Kira tested. They strongly urged it but weren't compelling her by law to do it (though they let her know they could if they wanted to). Bridget respectfully declined further testing and came home.
On Tuesday afternoon (Aug 30th) another CPS worker came and talked with Bridget. He went through what happened and left a couple hours later. I wasn't home so really don't know the details of what went on.
On Wednesday (Sep 1st) I came home from work at about 5 p.m. to find that we had two police detectives and another CPS worker in our house. One of the detectives was walking around taking pictures of everything in our house...pictures, cabinets, toys on the floor, etc. They had been there for two hours interviewing Bridget. They were just leaving when I got home, but did get my contact information which they used the next day (Sep 2nd) to make an appointment to interview me later next week.
On September 7th I had my interview with Detective Steve Martin and J. Brady, the CPS worker assigned to our case. They stayed for about 1 1/2 hours asking all kinds of questions. I recorded the conversation to make sure they stayed honest. The detective asked questions all over the spectrum, from where in the room Kira sleeps to which country our foreign exchange student from two years ago came from. He didn't seem too happy that we still don't know what happened to Kira.
The CPS worker has told Bridget that Children's has decided they want to run the same tests they ran last time again and do the CT scan. So now we need to decide whether to comply to a government agency that works in secret with very little oversight and subject our daughter to an increased risk of cancer, or fight them by going to court, getting a lawyer, and running the very real risk of having them take our daughter away from us and have the tests run anyway.
Today (Sept 12th) J.B. went to our children's school and asked to interview each of our children. This was without our knowledge or consent. Graeden told them, "no thanks" and Elliott and Jett accepted the interview. Jett has been five years old for less than one month. Is that really a credible witness? I understand why the law exists for CPS workers to be allowed to interview children without their parents, but in this case it is a blatant abuse of power. She e-mailed Bridget today as well telling us that she has now opened up an investigation on Evan. Wow! They are really digging for something to catch us on. The safety of Kira doesn't even seem to be an issue at this point...just finding some dirt on us seems to be the top priority.
We'll see what tomorrow brings...
