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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    8

    Default CPS and Family Placement

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

    My daughter is addicted to drugs and her 3-yr old (my grandchild) was taken by CPS 3-weeks ago. A good thing in this case as the child was being neglected terribly. Many of the calls to CPS came from me. I want the child placed with me now but CPS blows me off. She is in shelter care still.

    WAC 388-25-0445 says (1) When the department determines that a child needs to be placed outside the home, the department must search for appropriate relatives to care for the child before considering nonrelative placements. (2) The department reviews and determines the following when selecting a relative placement:

    (a) The child would be comfortable living with the relative;

    (b) The relative has a potential relationship with the child;

    (c) The relative is capable of caring for the child and is willing to cooperate with the permanency plan for the child;

    (d) The relative is able to provide a safe home for the child;

    (e) Each child has his or her own bed or crib if the child remains in the home beyond thirty days.

    (3) The department may consider nonrelated family members as potential resources, ( I meet all of these)

    I guestioned them when they said they want to rejoin my daughter and her child in treatment after only 30-days. I am a drug and alcohol counselor and know with chronic meth use 30-days is not enough to regain ANY parenting skills. It seems questioning them on this set them off and I am now a 'bad guy." I seem to have challenged their God complex.

    I have hired a lawyer and shelled out some big bucks for her to prepare a motion to intervene. It seems like the staute is so clear. It shouldn't be this hard.
    I just see them following grids and guidelines selectively and little care is spent on the best interest of the child. Any thoughts on this please?

  2. #2

    Default Re: CPS and Family Placement

    If they followed grids and guidelines indiscriminately, the child would probably already BE in your care. But although grandparents are often eager to step in to intervene to care for grandchildren, CPS takes OTHER things into consideration along with the very black and white published guidelines; not the least of which is that grandparents who are wanting to obtain guardianship of children in question already raised ONE child (their child) whose child (the grandchild) is being taken away. To put it bluntly (which CPS will never do), they don't want to create a dynamic where the grandchild becomes the "I'll get it right THIS time" child. Because of this dynamic, they have a duty to the child to consider seeking family members not in the direct "chain of command" that produced the problem parent in question (ie aunts, uncles, etc.). Not saying this happens in all cases, but in the spirit of accountability, choosing a new guardian who has raised functional offspring of their own is preferable and they'll consider and evaluate ALL possibilities within the family rather than "defaulting" to grandparents. With that said, their FIRST choice, as they've noted, is reunion of the child with their biological parents whenever possible and to exclude that reunion only when they feel there is overwhelming evidence that doing so would pose immediate risk to the child. I'm in agreement with you that 30 days for a meth problem seems to be a very cursory level of treatment before considering such a reunion, but I'm also aware of the really low standards that parents are held to - in other words, if the mother is able to do a few key things, reunion is probable:

    1) put a roof over the child's head
    2) feed it every day
    3) provide a couple of changes of weather appropriate clothing
    4) provide sanitary living conditions (drinkable water, flushing toilets, no dead animals laying around in the house, and "acceptable" levels of other issues)
    5) not using convicted child molesters or sex offenders as baby sitters
    6) making sure that age-appropriate care is available - for a 3 year old, that would mean SOMEONE (someone not excluded by #5 above) watching the child at all times

    If she can do those few things, then that's typically enough for reunion. The standards really are pretty low, sadly.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    8

    Default Re: CPS and Family Placement

    Thanks for the feedback so far. What was really hard in this case was, the case worker offered me the job of foster parent, had me get day care ready, set up a home inspection, etc and then within 3-hrs, called me and said “never mind.” Her supervisor had put the brakes on everything. I mean you just can’t do this to people in a situation that is emotionally charged anyway. When I complained to the supervisor, he was very condescending telling me “Go ahead and hire a lawyer or give your money to charity for all the good it will do you.” I decided not to give my money to charity and hired counsel.
    My position is: The child has a statutory right to be cared for by family and not strangers. I am the only family this child has that does not do drugs ( I never have) and I am here to defend her rights. My attorney agrees.

  4. #4

    Default Re: CPS and Family Placement

    The emotional jerking around you're experiencing is all too common in such situations, whether that yes/no, on/off, get the child/don't get the child occurs due to CPS action or court action. It is an inherent element as such cases move through the system, as human beings with human judgment assess and evaluate options and as things, situations, and opinions change over time. I agree that the people skills of those involved and who are working with families can sometimes be crass, at best (but on the other hand, most people don't know what it's like to have to be in the position to make those calls either, and there really IS a reason why CPS jobs have incredibly high turnover). The only smidge of solace to those who love children in such situations, and what keeps them going, is often the love itself.

    The problem is that your attorney agreeing means little to the judge who will be making the decisions based on the CPS recommendations (not to mention that your attorney has a vested interest in you - while CPS and the judge don't give a hill of beans about you, only the child). You hit the problem nail right on the head here:

    The child has a statutory right to be cared for by family and not strangers. I am the only family this child has that does not do drugs
    Yes, it's always preferable that a child be cared for by a family - however you are ONE person - and given that by your own description that the REST of the family are all drug users, what that means in the BIG picture is that placement of the child with you will result in one of two dynamics:

    1) the child has NO contact with any family other than you (which courts dislike for the same reasons that courts dislike one parent trying to give up all parental rights and responsibilities to the other - what happens to the child if something happens to you? and yes, your age and the age of your spouse if you're married could be a factor here considering that the child will be dependent for another 15 years), or

    2) she, as a continuing member of this drug-user laden family has contact with lots of drug users.

    Neither of those is desireable for long term, much less permanent placement - and even in cases like yours where the consideration is only for TEMPORARY placement (which foster care is), it can still make a difference. In short, if I had to guess at the notes scribbled on a yellow legal pad at CPS (and I'm not saying I support or agree with it, only that here's what experience suggests) I'd guess that this approximates their thinking:

    1) the mother might get out soon, let's wait and see what happens before making a decision and moving the child AGAIN - there's no justification to the courts or CPS in something being done on an immediate basis with a 3 year old who is adjusting well in a current environment - a 3 year olds emotional state doesn't come close to the separation pain that the adults are feeling

    2) if mom doesn't complete her program, or upon completion is still for some reason not a candidate to reunite with the child, we need a backup plan

    3) the preferred backup plan includes foster placement with other family (UNTIL MOTHER CAN REUNITE WITH CHILD - no permanent placement under consideration at this time), so find out what family is available and under what circumstances would be child be placed with them

    4) most of the family are drug users (HUGE RED FLAG FOR PLACEMENT WITH ANY FAMILY MEMBER, USER OR NOT)

    5) grandmother willing and financially able to take the child (but grandmother raised drug user parent involved in this case, and is member of family with a key factor of widespread chronic drug problem - BIG RED FLAG)

    6) check age of grandmother and if grandmother is single (may be a factor - don't want to place a child who MIGHT need several years of placement, only to have to place the child again later - look for LONG TERM stability, even if not needed now, PRIOR to making any recomendation for placement)

    7) given 4, 5, and 6 above, prudence would suggest that non-family foster care be considered - if time before parent reunion is expected to be short, better to leave the child where they are now (3 year olds are remarkebly flexible and bond easily - more disruptive to the child to make a change for a short time), if time is expected to be longer or impossible for parental reunion, non-family care still desireable given factors indicated

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    8

    Default Re: CPS and Family Placement

    Catherine,
    Thank you for your through replies. I have no desire in trying this case on a blog. That being said, CPS would have no reason to be cautious because of family issues. I cut ties with my meth using ex (before she stated using meth) many years ago and we have had no contact for over 10 years. She introduced my daughter to meth 10 years ago. I am a licensed counselor and a former member of our local Sheriff’s dept. I have had background checks, drug tests, polygraphs and psych evals up the kazoo.
    Again, my whole motivation is to show this child some kind of normalcy with her own family- Me, all she has left. I love her and know she’d want me to if she could articulate that. I am unmarried and estranged from my daughter. CPS plans to rejoin them in a 1-yr long inpatient treatment that would meet the bare-bones criteria you described. Scary!! So in 30-days she is supposed to go from seeing ghost people and fearing the swat team is watching her to suddenly parenting.

    In another bizarre twist, a former step mom to this child ( I mentioned this is the 2nd dependency for this child didn’t I?) stepped up to help and offered to take the child to get her out of shelter care. The case worker said she must be willing to adopt the child if needed or they would keep the baby in shelter care. She was shocked at the request-hence the term “foster mom.” She reports feeling totally manipulated. They quickly lost interest in her.

    I continue to be shocked at the tactics used by CPS to get their way. I am finding websites and local legislators calling for the system to be dismantled-the welfare of children being so lost in all this posturing.

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