Who Decides Abuse?

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:10 pm

Right this second, MSNBC cable is showing a docu on child protective services & just how far they can go to take kids away from parents.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:11 pm

i'm turning it on.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:05 pm

My unqualified opinion:

She hit the mom.

The dad hit her.

She wants to stay in foster care because there are fewer rules.

Also, why couldn't they have taken the dad & left the kids with mom, as the dad suggested??

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:25 pm

i missed the first 15 minutes...did she hit the mother? as far as having the dad leave, no guarantee he wouldn't be right back, and there had to be some determinations made as to the ultimate welfare of the kids in that family. and i also noticed that one of the conditions of counseling had to do with drug assessment, so that was an issue i did not see addressed.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:31 pm

lady cop wrote: i missed the first 15 minutes...did she hit the mother? as far as having the dad leave, no guarantee he wouldn't be right back, and there had to be some determinations made as to the ultimate welfare of the kids in that family. and i also noticed that one of the conditions of counseling had to do with drug assessment, so that was an issue i did not see addressed.
The mom had marks & said the daughter was fighting her. Of course, the daughter said she would never hit her mother; she respected her too much for that. That was after running away without contact for a month, and shortly before telling the mom that she didn't want to come to see her in that meeting.

The dad asked to be taken into custody.

Apparently there was also some issues prior to the cameras showing up because he had mentioned that the social worker or somebody was aware of the situation. They didn't go into detail.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:48 pm

The dad asked to be taken into custody. ........you can't simply take the dad into custody without cause/charges. and nobody saw fit to charge him with striking the girl, that i am aware of. reading between the lines i think both parents were suspect by social services. it was best to make the kids wards of the court until it was sorted out. a lot gets edited out of programs like this. there were certainly problems all around since the parents divorced after getting the kids back. oh well, back to masterpiece theatre! ...but this could be a good thread to discuss removal of kids by childrens' agencies in general. i've served my share of removal papers.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:52 pm

And as teachers we have to file papers when we suspect abuse, it is a hard thing to do. We have to be sure of it, false claims do no one any good. But there was one I filed, the poor little guy was beaten so bad and came to school the next day. Long sleeves on in hot weather. He told me about it, and I took him to the nurse. He never cried, and held my hand the whole time. And when he took off his shirt it was so bad the nurse cried out at the thought of it. They only sent his parents to parenting classes, I always worry about him still, whatever became of him.