
Quoting
auntinworry
Well, the major problem there is that I have already been told I am not allowed to be around the child by the mother (even though my brother and the grandmother still allow me access since the mother is often not around too often and they both know that I just want to hug/kiss/love on him which is good for him) because of me telling the mother that an 8 month old child should be asleep before 1 am (literally just in passing when I noticed the child was still awake at 12:50 am). She does this in hopes that the child will sleep until 2 pm or later like she does, but instead the child just wakes up even earlier (usually around 6 or 7 am). This is when my brother will bring the child to the main house for my mother to watch him while my brother heads off to work. Because of the lack of sleep he is often extremely agitated for my mother (his grandmother) because of lack of sufficient sleep. If the child actually sleeps until 8-9 am then my brother must leave him while he heads off to work, and the child is left crying in his crib until he makes enough noise to wake the mother up. Which in turn makes her extremely angry, and she often yells at him for waking her up. Then she makes him lay on the bed with her until she decides it is time to get up. Which again is around 2 pm or later, and this is often the times that he is neglected because she sleeps on and he climbs off the bed, and gets into things. Like eating the dog food. Which gives him 5 hours of being completely unsupervised at the very least. When she does wake up and notices that he has gotten into things, again he is yelled at, and often physically punishes him, but again... she is the one that thought it was a good idea to sleep for 5 hours with a obviously awake child that isn't even a year and a half. The few times that she has gotten up with him at 8-9 in the morning, then the emotional and physical abuse is often exasperated because she isn't happy that she has to be awake.
Next, I do know a lot of cases that CPS has deemed to not be harmful, but by the 4th visit they finally see the evidence that they need. Or after a bunch of visits (which often means a lot of calls) they finally have enough evidence to take the child away. This is where I say they are "limited" in what they can do. They have flagged their file, and it isn't a "closed" case, but they have decided not to actually go through with taking the child away at the current moment unless more evidence comes to light; mainly because of my brother (the father) who is attentive to his son, but again has to work so that the child has food/clothes. Which I just don't find fair, or safe for the child. I am scared that the child will harm himself, and that he will not be taken away until long after something truly bad happens. Let alone once there is a 2nd child in the mix to make the whole situation more stressful for the young mother who already is having a hard time coping with the one they already have. So I was hoping for advice that didn't involve calling social services again as I would like something that is quicker for the safety of the child. As any morning that he isn't being watched by the grandmother (my mother) he could officially get into something that could kill him. Just like the cleaning chemicals that are not locked up, or burn himself bad on the gas heater that is sitting on the floor when he is unsupervised for hours on end.
Again, the CPS agreed that there is something "wrong" but because of the lies that the mother stated when questioned, and because they never did a home visit, they don't have much to go on, and so far the case isn't going anywhere (where I get the word "dropped"). So again, I was hoping there was more I can do. But again, from a different forum I have been informed that I should just call CPS whenever I witness marks from physical abuse, or notice the emotional abuses. AGAIN, since I only see the child about once a week, I am fearful that something major will happen before I notice an incident that can be called upon, and that I will get a call that he is in the hospital or worse dead when being unsupervised.