The bio dad said he had talked to authorities past year trying to tell them it was an unfit home. As usual, Children’s Services let the child down. The worthless bleeding heart MSW/social workers rarely do their jobs and children die.
biodad should have filed for a modification immediately
Unfortunately, their heart doesn’t seem to bleed for the child. They always coddle the dysfunctional adults - and when the child ends up dead, it’s just an “oops” moment. And the judges who award custody are guilty too.
I have family in LE and I have heard these stories all too often.
I’m not here to argue. Bad things happen but it’s not always the children’s services worker’s fault. I once held that job so I know a bit more than most on the workings of CPS and the courts. First, the father should have documented, documented, documented the home situation and presented it to his lawyer. His lawyer should have taken it to court and had the custody amended.
CPS has to follow the rules set out by the state legislators and they have to abide by the court ruling. They can not interfere in custody cases. They can not take on a case that merely involves “I don’t think my ex is doing a good job or I don’t like her boyfriends around my kids.” A messy house isn’t CPS’s job. Dirty kids aren’t either. Just like a police restraining order, there is nothing that can be done after the fact or you know for sure something is going on. There must be bruises on the child. There must be a statement from the child that mama’s boyfriend beat her or molested her. If there is neglect, there must be substantial evidence such as mama leaving little kids home alone for hours and the neighbor has witnessed it. It can not be rumor or the neighborhood gossip.
Even when the case worker goes to the home, there isn’t much that can be done other than give mama a warning. A case worker can not take a child out of the home without supervisory approval and then it must be a serious situation where the child is in danger. Being dirty or not eating regularly is not a life threatening situation.
When a child is removed from the home, the court must be notified and the judge will hear it within a few days and the child is assigned an attorney ad litem. This attorney is picked at random so he may or may not want to be bothered with it or may not have time so most times will do nothing but occupy a chair in court. CPS presents its findings and the judge decides what happens with the child. Since the state legislatures have said the goal is to return the child to the home, that’s what usually happens only this time it’s the judge who gives the parents a warning. Judges very much dislike cases involving custody disputes, so again, whatever the other parent says doesn’t get much weight.
I have seen time and again, even with documented sexual abuse, judges returning children to the home and asking for monthly visits with the case worker. That’s mainly why I quit.
Case workers tend to get a bad rap on FR, especially from those who know nothing about the law. I was the only CPS to cover 3 counties and was on call 24/7. There was no cell service because it was a rural area. Beeper service wouldn’t reach my town so I’d have to rush to the grocery store at the end of the day and be home pronto just in case the phone rang. I had no life because I had to be at a landline phone number the state hotline knew. Sometimes, I was put on night call for two additional counties. Now, consider travel time. Two or more hours one way to a home visit and two hours back. That’s your day but you have 30-45 active cases and 50 messages to return and a pile of paperwork waiting at your desk. There were many nights I would spend in an empty courthouse until the wee hours just doing paperwork. And people complain CPS wasn’t camped out in someone’s house 24/7 waiting for something bad to happen. It IS NOT the worker’s fault.
And when a kid is taken out of the house, all hell breaks loose. The big bad mean government worker stole a kid from a loving home. How DARE they!!!! Well, folks you can’t have it both ways. Yes, I’ve seen many on FR complain kids were taken. Either you give the workers a reasonable number of cases that can be effectively handled and you make the courts leave the kids in foster care long enough to wake the parents up and place punishments on the parents or sit back in your easy chairs and grumble. Workers aren’t there for the perks or lousy pay or long hours. They’re there to help children and at no turn ever get thanked.