Got a visit from Child Welfare services last Friday.

[Loneiguana]

Originally Posted by Flybone McTimmerson

My wife and I both work evenings. When we arrived home from work Friday night, there was a letter on the door saying that Child welfare URGENTLY needed to meet with us. This was extremely odd. We have one son, that is 2 1/2 years old, and I consider him to be taken care of very well. I immediately went into panic mode, as I assume a lot of parents would. I do spank the kid when necessary and use time out with it. Never hard spankings, though. Just enough to get the message through.

So, I ask my wife if he's had any weird bruises(I assume all young kids get a lot of bruises because kids are a bit reckless on their own). She say no.

I next start to worry if some random weirdo driving by didn't like something I was doing in the yard with the kid. Our driveway is off of a highway, but the house sits back about 200 yards. He is outside working with me a lot. He loves riding the mower, so we do that quite often. Sometimes it's spur of the moment, so he's not always wearing his ear protection. We also check the mail with the mower which requires driving right up to the highway. I always make sure there's not even any cars in sight though, so that there's no danger. Anyways, I started nit picking stuff like that to see if there was any way some random asshole reported us as they drove by.

I also worried that maybe the babysitter was under investigation. Maybe he was being harmed there. Lots of crazy shit went through my head.

Like I said, we got this notice on Friday night. Their offices are closed until Monday. We were left to worry about this all weekend.

I called them first thing this morning. The lady who left the note was out in the field, and she didn't call back until 1:30 this afternoon. She casually explained to me that they put the notice on the wrong house.

I was relieved and pissed off all at the same time. I calmly explained to her the worry that note caused and that maybe they should create a policy of not leaving those kinds of notes on the doors of people on Friday afternoons if they have yet to have any initial contact with those people. If it's someone who already knows there is an investigation going, then fine, leave a notice if you want. But leaving us that note left us on the dark and worrying for 72 hours.

Am I crazy for suggesting that?

1)Yes, you are crazy for suggesting that.

2) If they were actually investigating you for something serious, they would not have left a note on the door. Do you think they tip off people accused of child abuse? They were probably looking to interview family and friends of someone under investigation. Or it was an assist from another county. Or non abuse call.

3) CPS has deadlines for ensuring children safety, usually 24 hours. Therefore, no one who is actually being investigated will wait 72 hours to learn what it is about. The number one priority is the safety of children. That doesn't wait for the weekends.

4) CPS does not "close" on the weekends, anymore than police "close" on the weekends" They have on call staff and supervisors. If you were so "worried" you could have gotten a hold of a supervisors who would have cleared this up for you. Anytime Friday or Saturday, or Sunday. Even if the worker who left the not wasn't on call, they are still required to work the cases they have on weekends if that is when they get a hold of the party. See number 3 for why.

5) Sorry someone made a mistake and distressed you. We are all human and CPS is one of the hardest jobs out there.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by Loneiguana

1)Yes, you are crazy for suggesting that.

2) If they were actually investigating you for something serious, they would not have left a note on the door. Do you think they tip off people accused of child abuse? They were probably looking to interview family and friends of someone under investigation. Or it was an assist from another county. Or non abuse call.

3) CPS has deadlines for ensuring children safety, usually 24 hours. Therefore, no one who is actually being investigated will wait 72 hours to learn what it is about. The number one priority is the safety of children. That doesn't wait for the weekends.

4) CPS does not "close" on the weekends, anymore than police "close" on the weekends" They have on call staff and supervisors. If you were so "worried" you could have gotten a hold of a supervisors who would have cleared this up for you. Anytime Friday or Saturday, or Sunday. Even if the worker who left the not wasn't on call, they are still required to work the cases they have on weekends if that is when they get a hold of the party. See number 3 for why.

5) Sorry someone made a mistake and distressed you. We are all human and CPS is one of the hardest jobs out there.

1. I don't believe so, but you are entitled to your opinion.

2. Someone who has no prior history with CPS does not know this kind of information.

3. Someone who has no prior history with CPS does not know this kind of information. Also, I wasn't sure it was me being investigated. One of my main concerns was that it was somebody such as the babysitter being investigated, and they just wanted to speak to me. Even if the child is safe for the weekend, I was concerned that he had been in an unsafe environment while at childcare.

4. They were closed. The only phone number left for me was the office number. They didn't even have an answering machine. Just a recorded message saying they were CLOSED on the weekend and that if I had an emergency to call the police. I don't know if policy around here is different because I live in a small town....but I'm telling you I had no way to get in contact with them. The lady acknowledged that on Monday afternoon.

5. Apology accepted, but I do not blame you, good sir. I can only imagine the tough job they have. I would have an extremely hard time visiting families where children were being abused. I was very polite to the lady when I spoke to her. It's not like I unleashed a weekends worth of rage.

Would I be correct in assuming that you work in CPS, or something similar? Or at the very least have been associated with them in the past?

[Loneiguana]

Originally Posted by Flybone McTimmerson

1. I don't believe so, but you are entitled to your opinion.

2. Someone who has no prior history with CPS does not know this kind of information.

3. Someone who has no prior history with CPS does not know this kind of information. Also, I wasn't sure it was me being investigated. One of my main concerns was that it was somebody such as the babysitter being investigated, and they just wanted to speak to me. Even if the child is safe for the weekend, I was concerned that he had been in an unsafe environment while at childcare.

4. They were closed. The only phone number left for me was the office number. They didn't even have an answering machine. Just a recorded message saying they were CLOSED on the weekend and that if I had an emergency to call the police. I don't know if policy around here is different because I live in a small town....but I'm telling you I had no way to get in contact with them. The lady acknowledged that on Monday afternoon.

5. Apology accepted, but I do not blame you, good sir. I can only imagine the tough job they have. I would have an extremely hard time visiting families where children were being abused. I was very polite to the lady when I spoke to her. It's not like I unleashed a weekends worth of rage.

Would I be correct in assuming that you work in CPS, or something similar? Or at the very least have been associated with them in the past?

A quick google search would have calmed the majority of your fears and would have been the first thing I would have done had I not already known this.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...s%20guidelines

From that google list:

After a report of suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation has been made to the Hotline, the information is referred to the appropriate CD county office. The law requires that a CD children’s service worker initiate an investigation/family assessment within 24 hours of the receipt of the report, unless the incident relates to educational neglect only, in which case an investigation/family assessment must be initiated within 72 hours. The purpose of the investigation/family assessment is to detect cases of actual or potential abuse or neglect and to help the family and the child. If the child is reported to be in immediate danger, the children’s service worker must immediately and directly observe the child.

http://dss.mo.gov/cd/cani.htm

As you can see, the information is freely available for you.

It is a valid concern to worry about a babysitter being investigated. Again though, I would point out, they still would have contacted you over the weekend had your kid been the subject of a non educational abuse or neglect.

CPS employees do not give out personal phone numbers for obvious reasons. That is why the office phone number was left. But, again, a Quick google search pulls up the supervisor number, who will, if not immediately, check her messages over the weekend.

For example:

http://dss.mo.gov/cd/office/cole.htm

Yes, my wife works as a CPS investigator.

And it is, mentally, the hardest, most thankless job out there for people whose number one concern is child protection.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by Loneiguana

A quick google search would have calmed the majority of your fears and would have been the first thing I would have done had I not already known this.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...s%20guidelines

From that google list:



http://dss.mo.gov/cd/cani.htm

As you can see, the information is freely available for you.

It is a valid concern to worry about a babysitter being investigated. Again though, I would point out, they still would have contacted you over the weekend had your kid been the subject of a non educational abuse or neglect.

CPS employees do not give out personal phone numbers for obvious reasons. That is why the office phone number was left. But, again, a Quick google search pulls up the supervisor number, who will, if not immediately, check her messages over the weekend.

For example:

http://dss.mo.gov/cd/office/cole.htm

Yes, my wife works as a CPS investigator.

And it is, mentally, the hardest, most thankless job out there for people whose number one concern is child protection.

I agree that I should have hit the internet and did some googling. That is a very fair point. I'm not sure why it didn't cross my mind. It may be because I was working most of the weekend.

I figured you had to be associated with them in some fashion. Like I said before, I could only imagine how mentally taxing it must be to deal with what a CPS worker deals with on a day to day basis. The type of people that they have to deal with must be unbelievable. I couldn't imagine having to be cordial with a child abuser as I'm removing their child from the home. I'm not so sure I'd be able to handle it.

It's fine that you're coming in here to add your perspective, and defend your wife's profession, but it seems as though you don't want to acknowledge at all that this specific situation could send a parents mind spinning. I don't think that is fair.

[Loneiguana]

Originally Posted by Flybone McTimmerson

I agree that I should have hit the internet and did some googling. That is a very fair point. I'm not sure why it didn't cross my mind. It may be because I was working most of the weekend.

I figured you had to be associated with them in some fashion. Like I said before, I could only imagine how mentally taxing it must be to deal with what a CPS worker deals with on a day to day basis. The type of people that they have to deal with must be unbelievable. I couldn't imagine having to be cordial with a child abuser as I'm removing their child from the home. I'm not so sure I'd be able to handle it.

It's fine that you're coming in here to add your perspective, and defend your wife's profession, but it seems as though you don't want to acknowledge at all that this specific situation could send a parents mind spinning. I don't think that is fair.

I don't want you to see it as defending. You had every right to be concerned and worried, and I can and will not hold it against you. And I can see why it would send a parents head spinning.

Which is why I want to give out the best possible information to calm those fears now and for anyone reading in the future.

99 percent of people are great parents. CPS exists for those who are not. The 99 percent of great parents should never fear CPS and my goal is to help them understand that and Why.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by Loneiguana

I don't want you to see it as defending. You had every right to be concerned and worried, and I can and will not hold it against you. And I can see why it would send a parents head spinning.

Which is why I want to give out the best possible information to calm those fears now and for anyone reading in the future.

99 percent of people are great parents. CPS exists for those who are not. The 99 percent of great parents should never fear CPS and my goal is to help them understand that and Why.

Understood. Thanks for the info.