Ok, on my way out the door on Thursday one of the workers that interviewed my child at school showed up at my door. I was literally throwing on my flip flops and grabbing my purse when my daughter said she pulled up to our house (and parked in the no parking zone of course.) I say hello and continue to my car and she looks confused. She tells me who she is and I tell her that we have to be at Madison's orthopaedic surgeon appointment in 15 minutes, and I've never been to the office before so I'm in a big hurry. I told her that I also had called to speak with a supervisor and no one had called me back. She asked who it was and I told her the name of the supervisor I was sent to. She tells me that supervisor is on vacation until Monday. Oh, of course right?
So she asks why I had called to speak with a supervisor. I tell her that I was a bit more than upset that she had come to my daughter's school to speak with her before even verifying the claim at my house first. My daughter was not only embarrassed, but she was also upset. Ms CPS says that she asked no questions that would be upsetting. I told her the questions weren't what upset her. The fact that you pulled her from her class was. Not only that, but by coming to see my child at her school you also damage my reputation with the school. She said that it is their policy to make contact with children in all referral cases. I told her, that I understand the need for policy, but I also understand the need to think for myself. I would have thought that the claims for this case seemed strange, investigated it, and then asked if I could speak with the child if I felt it necessary. Granted I am not a social worker and I don't fault them having to follow rules, however I know for a fact that their 'rules' caused laws to be broken here. She said that those laws don't apply to her. I said that she may want to start researching the law herself rather than rely on someone else to send her in to break it.
I told her the reason these decisions have been made by the court system is because of a great need for CPS to have checks and balances. Families have rights too. Children have rights. My daughter has the right to not be detained for questioning without a parent or lawyer. No option was given as such. In addition, the proof of psychological trauma to children in these false cases where their necessary policy warrants them to investigate and interview the children is just unbelievable. Something like 75% of all cases are false or exaggerated claims. Around 65% of those the children found the interviewing to be upsetting despite the cautious line of questioning given.
Ms CPS then informs me that it is not traumatic and I ask her if she is qualified to make that assessment. She asks what I mean. I ask if she is a psychologist. She says to me, "no are you?" to which I reply smugly, "as a matter of fact I am working toward a PhD in clinical psychology with an emphasis on developmental disabilities and family integration. What is your degree in?" She replies to me, "Social work and education, I have a bachelors." So I tell her that clearly it seems that I would have more knowledge and possibly more ability to assess the level of trauma that my special needs child has compared to her. I tell her that I wouldn't rely on my own education and experience though. I have 2 therapists and a counselor for my child that would agree with me 100%.
She looks at me and says "you don't intimidate me" and I tell her, "good, because you definitely don't intimidate me" (please note the designer sunglasses, faux croc skin bag stuffed with various papers, umbrella, makeup, and wallet hanging out in addition to her perfect fake nails.) I happen to know for a fact that this worker doesn't have children. Only because I've seen her once before somewhere and I remember the therapist I was working with for my daughter mentioning the fact. I only remember because of her unique first name.
So she asks if I will be home Friday. I tell her yes and no. I have a lot of things I'm working on, I try to get my errands done first thing, but if I have to pop out I will. I asked her if she has my phone number and she confirms it. I tell her that she can call me to make sure I'm home and if I'm not I can let her know what my ETA is so I can meet her. She doesn't seem overly agreeable to this. She tells me that she can just come back with an officer next time. I tell her that is fine with me, be sure to also have a warrant and I'll make sure my attorney is present. She scoffs and says they don't issue warrants for this. So I tell her that it is in her best interest to be cordial and professional and just call me so I can arrange to have enough time to spend with her at the house to satisfy her investigation.
She is really flustered at this point and I tell her that, as I said before, I'm in a big hurry and I'm not sure I'm even going to be on time at this point. I ask if she is going to setup a time to come back. She tells me that she is trying to do that but I refuse to tell her when I will be home. I told her that I do not have a set schedule right now except for my daughter's appointments every week for therapy. I told her that I just can't stay home all day and wait for a large window of time that she may or may not show up. This is not the cable service and I'm not paying for the privilege to wait around.
I told her that if this whole ridiculous mess wasn't started in the first place neither of us would be wasting our time right now. She says to me......
"if you didn't have chicken poop and feces on your floor we wouldn't be investigating you."
WHAT!? Oh no she didn't! She just said that. And it was redundant. She's not grasping for straws. I smile at her and tell her to have a lovely day and I hope to hear from her soon.
I did call later to tell them "I think I scared off your girl today. I was in such a big hurry I really wasn't able to verify if she was going to be coming tomorrow." they said they'd get her a message.
I never heard back on Friday.
So ladies and gents. That is the key. Just don't get emotional and know your rights. Know the facts and know people that you can use as experts rather than yourself since you won't be believed. We'll see if I hear from her this week. My house is still clean. I still have chickens and now 2 rabbits in my bathroom. In boxes like before. No poop OR FECES on the floor.
LOL So happy to hear Sunny came home. Sweet story.
