CPS Investigation of Child's Abuse Claim

**lovingparents** · 04-26-2012, 08:53 PM

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: California

My 12 year old son had cancer 3 years ago. He went through intensive treatment with chemo, radiation and bone marrow transplant. During this time, he was on Dilaudid (a very strong pain medication) IV due to the painful procedures. He is now cancer free even though we scan every 3 months to be sure. I drive him over 4 hours (each way) for all of his doctors appointments as his type of cancer is treated at a specialized hospital. During this time, my husband (his dad) continued to work and take care of our younger son who is now 10.

About 6 months ago, my son started to complain of headaches. We had him in the hospital for almost 2 months doing every test and scan possible to make sure nothing was wrong. They found the headaches to be most likely related to depression and anxiety. When he came home from the hospital, I set him up with a psychiatrist and therapist. I should mention that while he was in the hospital, he was again put on Dilaudid IV due to his complaints of pain.

About 3 weeks ago, my son's depression became worse. He complained of head pain and begged me to take him to the ER for pain meds. I refused as the doctors felt it was drug seeking behavior. Then he started saying he was going to kill himself. Again, I got him in with his therapist, psychiatrist ect. We tried to keep him very busy so he wouldn't "think" about it. Then, one night he became violent. Throwing things, hitting me (mom), kicking me and stating over and over that he was going to kill himself. My husband had to restrain him because he was out of control. My husband is an officer and knows how to restrain people but did so as gently as he could with our son. Mental health came and attempted to take him in but he was trying to kick out the windows of the car. The police were called. He was admitted to an adolescent psych unit, his medication was doubled and he was sent home 7 days later.

Once we were home, I received a call from a county social worker. She said a report had been filed for "abuse" of our son by the psych facility. Our son did have bruises up and down his legs when he was admitted. However, we had just had a paintball birthday party for our younger son and our oldest was hit repeatedly in the legs. He even "showed off" his bruises to his friends and our family. Also, we had taken the boys to a skate park during Easter break and they fell numerous times while trying to do "tricks". However, he told the nurses at the hospital that his "dad hit me with his fists". We were heartbroken.

Later in the day, when we found out about the report, our son once again became violent. He hit me, pinched me, kicked me. I had to physically restrain him this time as my husband was afraid to touch him. He then told me he took a bunch of pills to end the pain since we won't help him get pain medication. I called 911. While we were on the phone our son said he was going to "tell lies" about us so that he could live with another family and they would take him to the ER for pain meds. Our son was readmitted to the same facility. He is being discharged tomorrow after 7 days. We are trying to get him into a residential treatment center but have to come up with close to 50,000 as it's not covered by insurance. I should mention that he admitted to getting into his old medication, pouring it into a container and hiding it in his treehouse. He had been taking Oxycontin this way for about 3 weeks which explains all of his behavior.

The worst part though is this CPS report. The social worker interviewed our son today at the facility and our son told me that now he's claiming dad hit him with a coat hanger. Tomorrow, the social worker is interviewing our other son and my husband and I.

My question (sorry this is so long)....I KNOW we have nothing to hide but should we seek representation? How do you defend yourself against a child who will do anything to get drugs?

Thank you for your time

lovingparents..

**LawResearcherMissy** · 04-26-2012, 09:08 PM

I KNOW we have nothing to hide but should we seek representation?

Yes, especially since you're coping with a child who is engaging in drug seeking behavior.

Get letters of reference from all of his physicians. If there were other adults at the party that can attest to him being whacked by the other kids, get statements from them. Get statements from the people he proudly flashed his war wounds to. Get character references from his teachers. And for the love of all that is sacred and profane, let your attorney do all the talking when you meet with CPS.

They are just doing their jobs, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do everything you can to protect yourself. CPS workers are often very young and inexperienced, not to mention straining under unreasonable caseloads. You don't want one jumping to the wrong conclusions.

Good luck.

**PQN** · 05-01-2012, 07:32 AM

CPS could be a help in this case. They have the ability to fund RTC. I would let your attorney know that your goal is to get your son the help he needs. It is a two-edged sword to accept CPS's help, a local attorney would be best able to guide you based on how CPS works in your county.